Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 234: Episode 233: Cleansing Bath

Caspian smiled, a soft, forgiving thing. "Shh. It is forgotten. We are here now, that’s all that matters."

Roxy shook her head slightly, the tears spilling over.

He thought she was apologizing for the fight. He thought she was apologizing for the insults.

He didn’t know.

She wasn’t apologizing for the past. She was apologizing for the future. She was apologizing for the empty bed he would find in twenty days. She was apologizing for the ghost she was about to become.

"No," Roxy choked out, pulling him closer, hiding her face in his neck so he wouldn’t see the truth in her eyes. "I am just... so sorry."

Caspian didn’t press her. He simply held her, his large hand stroking the back of her head, his chin resting on her wet hair. The scent of him filled her senses.

It was a scent she had learned to associate with safety and imprisonment, even here in the crushing dark.

For a long time, the only sound in the Pearl Wing was the hum of the thermal vents and the soft, gurgling coos of the bundle between them.

Eventually, the baby grew restless. He didn’t cry; he simply squirmed, kicking his legs against the purple silk swaddle with surprising strength.

Roxy pulled back, wiping her eyes. She looked down at the child.

He was awake again, his mismatched eyes tracking the movement of the bioluminescent particles floating in the water.

He looked serious for a moment, his tiny brow furrowed as if contemplating the physics of the ocean, and then, as Caspian leaned in, the baby’s face broke into a wide, gum-baring grin.

"He likes you," Roxy whispered, a fresh wave of ache hitting her chest.

Caspian looked terrified and enchanted all at once. "He is... remarkably pleasant. The midwives say royal babies usually scream for days to expand their lungs. He just... smiles."

"He’s a happy baby," Roxy said, tracing the curve of the infant’s round cheek. "He knows he’s safe."

She watched them. The King of the Deep, scarred and powerful, hovering over a tiny, fragile creature with legs instead of a tail. It was a tableau of everything she had fought against and everything she was now forced to leave behind.

Stop it, Roxy told herself fiercely. Stop counting the days. Stop planning the exit. Just be here.

She was done with the spiraling thoughts. She was done with the panic attacks in the air pouch. The clock was ticking, yes, but staring at it wouldn’t stop it.

If she only had a few weeks left with this child, she wasn’t going to spend them mourning a loss that hadn’t happened yet. She was going to memorize him. Every giggle, every blink, every pulse of his tiny heart.

"Does he have a name?" Caspian asked softly, extending a finger. The baby grabbed it instantly, holding on with a grip that turned Caspian’s knuckles white.

Roxy hesitated.

But he was hers. And he deserved a name that carried the weight of both his worlds.

"Zale," Roxy said, the name rising to her lips as if it had always been there.

Caspian tested the word, rolling it around in his mouth. "Zale. ’Power of the Sea’."

"It’s a surface name, too," Roxy admitted quietly. "It means ’sea-strength’."

Caspian smiled, and for the first time in weeks, it reached his golden eyes. "It is a strong name. A King’s name. Prince Zale of the Spires."

He leaned down and kissed Roxy’s forehead. His lips were cool, but the gesture was warm.

"You have done well, my Pearl," he whispered against her skin. "You have given the ocean a future."

Roxy closed her eyes, leaning into the kiss.

The moment was shattered by a polite, rhythmic tapping on the open doorframe.

They broke apart.

A servant, a young mermaid with nervous green scales, hovered in the entryway. She kept her eyes lowered, terrified of interrupting the Royal Family, especially given the King’s injuries.

"Your Majesties," she squeaked. "Forgive the intrusion."

Caspian frowned, his protective aura flaring instantly. "What is it? The Queen is resting."

"It is the Matriarch’s command," the servant said, bowing so low her forehead touched the coral floor. "Queen Nerissa requests... she insists... that the Queen be brought to the Sacred Pools."

"Now?" Caspian growled. "She just gave birth."

"It is the Ritual of Cleansing," the servant explained hurriedly. "The birth-magic must be washed away before it stagnates. The mana of the event is... potent. It attracts predators if not cleansed."

Caspian stiffened. He looked at Roxy. "She is right. The scent of birth-blood is dangerous in the Deep. Even here in the palace."

Roxy tightened her hold on Zale. "I have to leave him?"

"Only for an hour," Caspian assured her. "The nursery is prepared. Kaia is there. I will be there."

Roxy looked down at Zale. He was asleep now, exhausted by his first hour of existence. His tiny chest rose and fell in a peaceful rhythm.

She didn’t want to let go. The instinct to keep him close was a physical pain, a clawing desperation in her gut. Every minute away felt like a wasted minute.

But she saw the bandages on Caspian’s side. She saw the exhaustion in his face. He needed to heal, and she needed to not attract sharks to the bedroom.

"Okay," Roxy whispered.

She kissed Zale’s forehead, inhaling his scent one last time.

"Be good for your dad, Zale," she murmured.

She handed the bundle to Caspian.

The transfer was heavy. Seeing Zale in Caspian’s arms, so small against the King’s broad chest, cemented the reality.

"I will guard him with my life," Caspian promised solemnity. "Go. Get cleansed. Rest. We will be here when you return."

Roxy nodded, unable to speak. She pushed herself off the clam bed, her body feeling light and strange without the extra weight of the pregnancy.

She followed the servant out of the Pearl Wing.

As she swam into the corridor, she glanced back. Caspian was rocking Zale gently, whispering to him in the old tongue of the sea. It was a beautiful, heartbreaking image.

Roxy turned away and swam faster.

****

The journey to the Sacred Pools took them away from the polished, civilized districts of the Spires.

The servant led her down, deeper into the rock foundation of the palace. The coral walls gave way to rough, dark stone. The bioluminescent lamps became scarcer, replaced by the natural, eerie glow of phosphorescent moss.

The water grew colder. The pressure increased slightly.

Roxy wrapped her arms around herself. The silence here was different. It wasn’t the peaceful quiet of the nursery; it was the heavy, oppressive silence of the wild.

"Where are we going?" Roxy asked, her voice echoing in the tunnel.

"The Cave of Origins," the servant whispered, as if speaking too loudly would wake something up. "It is the oldest part of the Spires. Where the First Matriarch bathed."

They turned a final corner, and the tunnel opened up into a massive, natural cavern. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Roxy stopped. Her breath hitched.

It was déjà vu.

The cavern was vast, with jagged stalactites hanging like teeth from the ceiling. In the center lay a perfectly round pool of water that glowed with a soft, ethereal teal light. The water in the pool was distinct from the ocean around them—it was denser, warmer, and smelled of ancient minerals.

It looked exactly like the cave where Caspian had first taken her. The cave where he had kept her "safe" from the Kraken. The cave where she had realized she was a prisoner.

"The circle closes," Roxy muttered to herself, a shiver running down her spine.

The servant stopped at the entrance.

"I can go no further," the servant said, bowing. "The waters are for Royalty only. You must enter alone."

Roxy nodded. She steeled herself. It was just a bath. A ritual bath. She would go in, wash off the "birth magic," and go back to Zale.

She swam into the cavern.

The water here was still, devoid of currents. It felt heavy against her skin, charged with a static electricity that made her hair float in wild tendrils.

She approached the glowing pool in the center.

"You look smaller without the burden," a voice rumbled from the shadows.

Roxy jumped, spinning around.

Emerging from the darkness on the far side of the pool was Queen Nerissa.

The Matriarch wasn’t wearing her usual heavy ceremonial armor or the crown of black pearls. She was stripped down to a simple wrap of dark silk. Her massive tentacles moved lazily in the water, stirring the glowing sediment on the floor.

She looked ancient. And powerful.

"Mother," Roxy stammered. "I... I thought the servants would attend me."