As soon as Iver returned to the Silver and Tin Palace, he clung to Isabel.
It was April 25, exactly two months since Isabel had become pregnant.
Normally, for safety's sake, they shouldn't have had sex at this point... but Isabel was simply too clingy.
It had only been their first time, and just as Iver had gotten a taste of pleasure, he had left Avalon; by the time Isabel learned she was pregnant, Iver was still asleep atop the giant tree's Top Layer in the Theocracy.
During this period, Isabel had gradually grown into a qualified queen. But that didn't mean she had truly become the cold and emotionless "Iron-Blooded Queen." Rather, she had buried all her delicate and shifting emotions deep in her heart.
Longing, love, grievance, loneliness... At first, when she drank late into the night, it was so she could meet Iver in her dreams. But afterward, it became a habit—because she couldn't even reliably meet Iver in her dreams anymore.
Drinking during pregnancy, especially in its early stages, was very risky. To offset the adverse effects on the fetus, Isabel had to take extra bitter potions to stay healthy. But even so, she still couldn't stop herself from drinking.
Because if she didn't drink, perhaps one day Iver or Aleister would want to find her and be unable to; later on, drinking truly became her way of dispelling her loneliness.
Isabel hadn't touched a drop of alcohol today, yet her cheeks, flushed all the way to her neck, looked as though she were already drunk.
—Fortunately, Iver himself was a Fifth Level healer. He had plenty of ways to eliminate the aftereffects and truly relieve Isabel's physical discomfort.
Whether it was a bishop-level Illumination Spell, a ritual, a potion, or an Alchemy Potion, none of