"You... aren't you going to tell Su Li first?"
Elena had already picked up her pen again. "Tell him what? Having a baby won't affect my accounting."
"...But you just got two entries wrong."
Elena's pen stopped.
She lowered her eyes to the two crossed-out figures for three seconds.
Then she set down her pen.
"Go call him over."
When Su Li entered the study, Elena was staring out the window.
That was highly unusual. This woman probably stared blankly into space once every ten years.
"How many weeks?" Su Li asked.
"About five weeks," Elonore said softly from the side.
Su Li looked at Elena's back. Her shoulders were drawn taut and straight, her hand resting on the desk, fingertips tapping lightly against its surface.
He walked over and sat in the chair beside her.
The two of them sat facing the window for a while.
"The expedition materials," Su Li said at last.
Elena turned to look at him.
"Tonight, I'll put all of them in the cabinet and lock it."
Elena's expression did not change much. But the fingers tapping on the desk stopped.
"So melodramatic," she said. "It's not like we're leaving."
"Do you think it's appropriate for two pregnant women to board a ship?"
Elena's lips moved, but she did not argue.
Hurried footsteps sounded outside. Saina's voice drifted over from afar.
"Who's pregnant? Who? Is it—"
She rushed into the study and immediately saw Elena sitting there with a blank expression, Su Li silent beside her.
Saina stopped short.
She looked at Elena, then at Su Li, and finally at Elonore.
Elonore gave a small nod.
Saina froze for two seconds.
Then she laughed—the kind of laughter that burst up from the pit of her stomach, impossible to hold back no matter how