She couldn't believe her first child would be born in this situation. It will be stripped away from her before it will ever have the chance to experience the warmth of its mother's fur. The wolf closed her eyes, but the tears kept falling. She knew they'd never see each other again after the cord is cut. The child will be a servant to the king and will get beaten or killed if any human gets irritated.

One of the nurses did everything she could to support the wolf with the birth and reassure her as much as she could, considering the minimal information they had about any beast's pregnancy. She tried, but they hadn't ever left the palace before, all this was the first time they had seen a beast up close. The nurses continued to only comfort her with simple sentences.

After several minutes spent attempting to figure out how any of this would work. One of the nurses summoned the guard, talking close to his ear and quickly dismissing him. All she could wonder about was whether he would bring something that might transport the humans who remained near the wolf in this little chamber away from here.

The wolf fought to suppress her suffering from the humans. She was trying her hardest not to let the puppy pop out almost immediately. She lifted her head, to look around to distract herself. Noticing the nurse who had been soothing her earlier. Noticed how she maintained her head low, her arms tucked tight, next to her thighs, and her back straight while keeping to her knees. This idiot wants to destroy her spin. The wolf chuckled.

She appeared to have no idea what she was doing. She may as well strain herself if she remained in that position. Pulling her long white veil wrapped around her face, she moved her trembling hand closer to the nurse. Despite her momentary flinch, the nurse did not appear to react. She kept her gaze fixed on the floor, still offering comfort to the wolf.

“Your attire shouts, 'Look, I'm a royal physician. I work at the human palace.' and somehow it would seem that you have no idea what you're doing.” The nurse who had been loitering with the guard earlier returned, the wolf whispered, diverting her head back. “Look at this nurse, maintaining her cool in the face of a huge, terrifying wolf like me and whatever else is going on in those corridors. You don’t have a Celestial lunar crest on your veil as she does, I wonder, why you both wear the same clothes—”

The wolf hesitated to speak, she waited for the discomfort to cease. “However. You both have no idea what you're doing. What a pity.” As the wolf's gaze fell on the nurse who felt nothing but ashamed, her wrath intensified, knowing that this might all end in disaster at any moment. “Only one of you appears to be willing to take a risk tonight. While the other is prepared to crap where they are.” The wolf lowered her head to the floor and held her tummy. The pup had to come out now, even if she didn't choose to.

She has never relied on anybody other than a few beast travelers. She had numerous struggles of her own as a small pup, growing up alone. She has encountered numerous peckish souls who were even worse than mere humans. She suffered a bit of herself as the peak of her left ear was cut clean off. She'd fractured several bones and had to mend them all independently, since magical physicians were more expensive, even though she could afford one.

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Everyone has a different tolerance for pain, and for some reason, this celestial nurse was the only one who cared enough to make the entire baby pooing procedure as painless as possible. It was still painful. Every push evoked a scream from the wolf. That probably doesn't help the soldiers outside in the hallways.

A few halls down from the wolf's original cell, it was unmistakable that a few imprisoned monsters had finally broken loose. “The rabid caged beast is on a murdering rampage,” one of the human soldiers shouted from the top of her lungs as she sprinted past the sole open, guarded room with a pregnant wolf and nurses rested.

Down the corridor, a peal of shrill, harsh laughter cackled through the shouts of man and beast. Everyone could tell that the watchman was having far too much fun, to the point where she didn't appear to care if she was killing her companions or not. It was an effective distraction for the wolf. From the agonizing sensation of having to push a baby.

Her pup was eventually birthed after what felt like a half-hour struggle. “It's a baby boy.” The crested celestial nurse murmured gently, so quietly that only the wolf could hear. The wolf could see the side of her face despite the veil covering it. A smile that no one else in the room could see. She didn't even notice any negative energy emanating from this nurse. She had a different sensation.

Relieved, the wolf huffed for a moment, with very little to no power left, but nevertheless managed to grab the celestial nurse's sleeve. She longed to see her baby for herself. Noticing her motion, the nurse aided in cleaning up the infant, while the utterly worthless nurse got a silky pink cloth from her basket, assisting the lunar nurse in swaddling the furry baby.

Arching over the wolf, she allowed her puppy to greet her mother for practically only a few minutes. The wolf cried with anticipation, she waited for this day, and she was lucky enough to see him. Her son was so beautiful, he got his eyes and her fur. She stroked his delicate, untainted fur between the ears.

In her heart, she gracefully hummed a warm and caring blessing to him. She merely wants this to last longer. She raised her head to kiss his tiny round cheek, but the other incompetent nurse drew the celestial nurse and her son away towards the exits. The wolf didn't even have time to contemplate anything else.

He’s gone.

“Fire! Fire!” The crippled guards shrieked. That crazy watchman set fire to the entire damn building as if she intended to suppress their tracks or, better yet, to kill the wolf and the other beasts that had grown unmanageable. The wolf lay on the hard floor as the other retreated to the woods. By scent, neither Jack nor the prince could be detected. Devastated, she sobbed, not because of the discomfort that had slowly returned, but because she knew it was the last time she would see her son.

She clung to her arm for two minutes while carnage and mayhem erupted all across the dungeon's lowest floor. She remained alone, not caring about anything else, waiting for the watchman to arrive and swing her scythe between the husk fur and flesh, or for the flames to rain down and ignite the wolf. Her last ounce of strength was barely enough to push her son into the next stage of humanity's cruelty.