Luna

It was her child.

A girl.

Gazing at the tiny life, Vivian’s heart felt seized by an invisible hand.

Ignoring the searing pain and weakness in her body, she scrambled forward, almost tumbling in an unprecedentedly disheveled state.

With trembling hands, she carefully lifted the warm, soft, incessantly crying infant into her arms.

When her gaze settled on the wrinkled little face, she froze.

The child’s eyes hadn’t fully opened, only squinting as she let out a loud cry.

Yet, through the narrow slits, Vivian clearly saw faint purple irises, like newborn violets.

The damp, sparse fetal hair shimmered with a silvery-white hue tinged with a soft purple glow.

‘…This child resembles both me and Lucia.’

She carried her own bloodline, yet bore the imprint of that other person.

The thought surfaced unbidden in Vivian’s mind.

The infant, perhaps sensing her mother’s trembling and the slightly stiff embrace, cried even louder, her voice tinged with grievance, her tiny body wriggling restlessly in Vivian’s arms.

“…Right, the umbilical cord.”

Snapping back to reality, Vivian instinctively summoned a sliver of her dwindling mana, forming an invisible blade to sever the cord connecting her to the infant.

With a soft “pfft,” the cord was cut.

The infant’s cries paused for a moment before resuming even more vibrantly, proclaiming her complete independence as an individual.

But Vivian had no time to dwell on this.

Ignoring the untreated wounds and mess on her body, a pressing question consumed her: Was the child healthy?

Born of the combined powers of a Demon Lord and a Hero, could she bear some horrific deformity or curse?

While offspring between demons and humans weren’t unheard of—often born from captives, like goblins—this was the first time a child had been born from a Demon Lord and a mighty Hero.

The powers of a Hero and a Demon Lord were inherently conflicting.

Could this cause the newborn to be malformed or mutated?

This had been a lingering worry for Vivian throughout the past months.

Swallowing hard, Vivian began inspecting the infant in her arms with trembling, blood-stained hands, her touch impossibly gentle.

Ten tiny fingers, all intact, tightly clenched.

Ten tiny toes, curled, with the tender pink of new life.

Her limbs were symmetrical, showing no obvious abnormalities, no signs of mutation or deformity.

Her life force was vibrant, far from frail, even possessing a demon’s mana core… alongside a human heart.

Vivian’s fingers delicately traced her child’s body, feeling every inch of skin, every joint—no extra limbs, no ghastly defects.

The heartbeat pulsed through the thin chest into her palm, strong and steady, and the nascent mana core beside it faintly resonated with her own mana.

When her fingers lingered near the infant’s slightly parted mouth, the little one seemed to sense it.

She stopped crying, her tiny mouth moving unconsciously, letting out a soft, kitten-like whimper.

That faint sound instantly dissolved the anxiety in Vivian’s heart.

Huff.

She exhaled a long, blood-tinged breath.

Her body, stretched to its limits, seemed to lose all strength, collapsing heavily onto the birthing bed.

An overwhelming tide of exhaustion engulfed her like dark waters.

In the final moment before her consciousness sank into darkness, Vivian gritted her teeth, using her last shred of mana to pull a clean cloth from nearby, wrapping it around the newborn as a swaddle.

Then, her strength depleted, she fainted.

****

After an unknown time, the persistent, discontented cries of the infant yanked Vivian back from deep unconsciousness.

She struggled to lift her heavy eyelids, her vision blurry, but the wriggling and crying from the tiny bundle in her arms were unmistakable.

‘She’s hungry. She needs to nurse.’

Coming to her senses, Vivian looked at the fussy newborn.

With a sigh, she realized the issue.

With the awkwardness of a new mother, she gently tugged open the front of her shirt.

She had done her research: newborns typically needed to feed within half an hour to an hour after birth to establish a “bond” with the mother.

Her faint hadn’t lasted long, so the timing was about right.

But, well…

It felt tingly, strange.

The newborn instinctively latched on, eagerly beginning her first meal.

During her faint, Vivian had recovered a sliver of strength.

While experiencing this unprecedented sensation, she freed a hand that had regained some energy.

With a slight gesture, she summoned an Evernight Crystal from the nearby pile into her grasp.

Though her body remained weak, and the wounds below sent dull throbs as her consciousness cleared, the pain was far milder compared to labor.

Drawing energy from the Evernight Crystal, Vivian could feel her mana and physical strength recovering rapidly.

Gazing down at the little one feeding intently, at her silver-white hair tinged with faint purple, feeling her steady, strong heartbeat and the subtle resonance of her mana core, a quiet warmth welled up in

Vivian’s heart.

“Well then… it’s time to give you a name.”

After a moment’s pause, Vivian lowered her head, looking at the child in her arms.

After some thought, a name surfaced in her mind.

“My child, your name…” She gently stroked the infant’s soft hair. “You’ll be called Luna.”

May this name carry her deepest hopes and dreams for this forbidden daughter.

As Vivian bestowed the name, Luna seemed sated.

Her suckling slowed, and she finally released, her tiny head tilting back, letting out a soft, satisfied coo before sinking back into sleep in her mother’s warm embrace.

Vivian gazed quietly, her fingertips brushing ever so gently across the infant’s tender cheek, a faint smile tugging at her lips.