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"Everyone apart from Josie, please leave the room immediately!" Jean commanded authoritatively. "Oh! And please call the midwife in again."

"Umm, Young Miss," Josie interrupted. "Teacher Larks is in a crucial state at the moment."

Jean followed Josie's extended finger and saw her Teacher seated in a meditative state in a cross-legged pose. "Is Teacher having a breakthrough?"

"It is progressing at a steady but unwavering pace. Teacher Larks appears close to breaking into the External Stage, and at this rate, it will eventually be achieved," Josie corrected. "And I believe that it isn't just Teacher Larks' cultivation, but also his spirituality that is undergoing a form of breakthrough. This slave believes that it is risky to interrupt during this process."

Jean pursed her lips and nodded contemplatively. "Nonetheless, everyone else must evacuate."

"By the way, Josie," Jean added immediately after. "Do we happen to have any strong sedatives, preferably ones that target the spine?"

Josie shook her head apologetically and answered, "The ones I'm carrying are far too toxic for a mortal human, I'm afraid. This slave wouldn't recommend it even after dilution."

Jean scratched her forehead in frustration. "That is suboptimal..."

"Umm, Medium Sis?" Dora called out meekly.

"Dora!" Jean exclaimed. "What are you still doing here? Quick, go, go!"

"Actually..." Dora reached into her satchel and pulled out a small phial. "Do you think this will help?"

"What is that?" Jean approached with furrowed brows.

"Insect Queen Sleep Pollen!" Josie exclaimed. "Where did you get that?!"

"What?" Jean blurted out in shock. "Dora, where did you find this?"

Dora lowered her head and twisted her feet in distress, "Umm..."

"Leave it," Jean sighed, noticing the girl's discomfort. "Thank you for this, it's perfect. The Sleep Pollen of an Insect Queen contains a toxin that targets the nerves extending from the inhaler's spine. As long as we can control the dosage, it should offer the perfect sedative effect for our patient without adversely affecting the foetus, right Josie?"

"That is correct, Young Miss," Josie affirmed.

"Be that as it may, we will get back to this conversation afterwards, Dora," Jean warned sternly.

"What's wrong?" Marie chimed in with a frown.

"An Insect Queen in an extremely deadly beast. Although it isn't as physically monstrous as most other species, its strength is derived through its sentience and perceptivity that matches - if not exceeds - most adult humans. I won't exhaust you with the details, but a single Insect Queen, if allowed to grow and accumulate sufficient pollen, can eradicate an entire city without raising a single alert," Jean explained. "This pollen could put Dora into an endless sleep if she had ingested even a pinch."

"Dora!" Marie screamed.

"Please," Jean interjected. "Take this outside. We cannot afford to be distracted here."

Marie nodded and led Dora and the patient's husband outside.

"Where are you going?" Jean called out to the midwife who was trying her hardest to make herself scarce.

"I-" The midwife stuttered. "This one believes she isn't needed here, right?" She reasoned while sweating bullets. Things had moved beyond her realm of understanding.

At that moment she recollected a key idiom her mother used to preach when she was younger: "Trying to understand a mage's thoughts and actions is futile. If you try to understand it, you die, if you don't, you die." Back then, she had scoffed at her mother's cowardice and meek beliefs. It was only after personally experiencing it, that the midwife understood the deep meaning hidden in those seemingly bland words.

'The longer I stay here, the higher my chances of dying,' she thought to herself. 'That emotionless girl is a rich Young Mistress, and the woman throwing murderous glares my way is probably her assigned protector. I managed to survive my first sleight thanks to the girl, I don't think a second one will fly here.'

"Of course, you are needed here," the girl said flatly. "You are more experienced in assisting childbirth than either of us."

"But I don't have any knowledge about what the Young Mistress is preparing to perform," the midwife pleaded. "This one feels that she will only be a hindrance."

"The Young Miss asked you to stay," Josie reinforced.

"This one is staying," the midwife nodded obediently and assumed a position close to the pregnant woman cautiously.

"First things first, we need to sanitise all work surfaces and tools," Jean instructed. "Do as I say, Josie."

____

Grace growled audibly at the now barely sober man who was massaging his crotch with a disgruntled expression. The man tried to glare back at her, but could not withstand the vicious aura Grace exuded and, like a submissive beta wolf in the presence of the alpha, shrunk his head into his shoulder meekly. At that point, the man decided to target the weakest link, Mahima.

``Come here, girl!`` The man commanded, causing the recipient to shakily retreat behind Grace.

``I want you to try that again,`` Grace demanded with a forceful retort.

The man coughed and responded by saying, ``That's my daughter. I'm allowed to talk to her however I want.``

Grace leapt towards the man with gusto but was immediately held back by Guy.

"Grace, not now," Guy said with a frown.

"You're letting him get away with it?" Grace shrieked back. "Look at what he did to his wife!"

"What do you plan to do? Mete out frontier justice?" Guy reasoned. "The world has laws, and we will move through the proper channels to ensure that he is prosecuted to its full extent."

Grace clenched her fist and grit her teeth, all the while pulling the girl closer into an embrace.

"People like him don't deserve to live," Grace declared. "They treat those that they consider beneath them as animals. They project their inadequacy onto them and unleash their pent-up frustration without reason."

"It's disgusting!" She spat out. "The worst part is that the victims are so badly affected both physically and mentally that they lose all ability to stand up against the offenders."

"Grace?" Guy inquired with a concerned tone. "What's wrong?"

Grace sighed loudly and uttered, "Did you know that my father died because he choked on a peanut?"

"Every night, after work, he would come home with a 6 pack of beer and a packet of roasted peanuts that a street vendor sold near his place of work. As he drank, he would pop the peanuts into his mouth with practised precision," Grace continued. "Crunch! Crunch! Each nut consumed was like the ticking of a morbid clock - a dreaded countdown timer for my mother and me. Because we knew that when those peanuts ran out, his idle hands would seek something else."

"I was his go-to target to release his frustrations. He hated that I was smarter than him - more accomplished than him. The man barely graduated high school, hearing that his daughter had potential beyond him, he couldn't take it. He would accuse my mother of cheating on him and fooling him into raising a bastard. Of course, those accusations were accompanied by a battery of fresh beatings to highlight the point. Every day he would approach me with red eyes and slurred speech, spouting insults. My mother would redirect his anger, take on the brunt of the attack. Day after day."

"Until one day, my father missed. The peanut he tossed into his mouth, flew too far. It lodged itself perfectly in his windpipe," Grace paused as she stared blankly at Guy. "My mother and I watched as the life faded from his eyes. As his face flushed a deadly red shade while struggling to catch even a mote of precious oxygen. As he clawed into his neck in an attempt to dislodge the rogue nut through his skin. At the very last moment, for the first time, my father showed genuine fear. He pleaded for us to save him."

"I could have saved him, Guy," Grace muttered with a wavering tone. "But I didn't. I didn't want to."

"It's okay," Guy comforted her while pulling her closer by her shoulders.

"No, it isn't, Guy!" Grace exclaimed. "My mother passed away a few months later - she killed herself. Couldn't handle the guilt. But I didn't feel anything, Guy. I didn't feel regret - no guilt. I didn't feel relief. I didn't feel anything!"

"It's okay," Guy repeated.

"It was then that I realised that that man had taken something from me on the day he died. I know he did," Grace accentuated. "Or maybe he took it before, and I was too accustomed to recognise it."

"I don't want her to go through it the same way I did," Grace declared while gesturing at Mahima. "I am confident that I was one of the lucky ones. This girl can never be free of the man - not physically nor emotionally. Not unless we help her."

"We will help her," Guy affirmed. "She won't have to suffer Grace. I will make sure of it."

At that moment, Dr Yagi stepped out of the tent and removed his mask.

"The procedure was successful, and the foetus was born without complications. The mother has regained consciousness and is recovering slowly. However we are still treating the other physical traumas ailing her," the man explained. "She is currently with the newborn girl."

"Girl?" Mahima's father blurted out, seemingly catching the key phrase in the doctor's explanation. He clicked his tongue and said, ``Another money sink. That woman can't even birth a boy? Useless!

``

Grace rushed forward and threw the man to the ground over her shoulders.

"Grace, NO!" Guy quickly intervened and pulled her away before she could descend upon the prone man.

"Dr Yagi, please call the authorities," Guy instructed.

"I've done that already. But the closest law enforcement office is quite a distance away. It will take time," Dr Yagi affirmed before re-entering the tent.

"Let's go check on the baby girl," Guy urged Grace and ushered her into the tent.