The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 393: Baby Names

Chapter 393: Baby Names

The news of Mineah’s pregnancy was something that should be spread immediately. Of course, that wouldn’t happen until the couple were both back in Valcrez to do it themselves. As such, the moment they were free, they returned home to deliver the news to the Queen Mother.

As expected, the older woman was ecstatic because of it.

"It finally happened?! Oh, I’m so glad!" Queen Mother Rania shouted in joy as she held onto Mineah’s hands. "I can’t believe it’s finally happening!"

"I know, Mother," Mineah awkwardly smiled, somehow feeling like her happiness was being overshadowed by the older woman’s joy. Not that she minded, but she didn’t think she would be this happy. "I can’t believe it too."

"We should go out and celebrate!" Rania firmly declared, her eyes shining brightly from the news alone. "I can probably throw it all together in an hour or so... Maybe even faster if I can rope everyone else in."

"Uhm... Mother? We can always schedule it for a different day," Nikolai chuckled, his own excitement making it hard for him to speak without smiling. "We’re not in a hurry to do anything. Maybe-"

"But where’s the fun in that?" the Queen Mother firmly protested. "By the time we can throw a celebration party properly, the news of Mineah’s pregnancy has already spread! We can’t have that without a proper announcement, right?"

Mineah couldn’t help but raise a brow at the surprisingly logical reason for such a slapdashed celebration party. Again, not that she minded it one bit. In fact, she was having just as much fun as her mother-in-law at the moment with how quickly things were spiraling out of control. It almost felt like having a baby in her just kicked things into high gear, with everyone around her doing their best to show their happiness for such an amazing development.

"You’re... actually right," Nikolai sighed. "Still, we can probably do that tomorrow-"

"Or right now," the Queen Mother insisted. "Don’t worry, son. I’ll have everything prepared in a few hours. In the meantime, go and enjoy your time with Mineah here."

"Of that, I will certainly do," Nikolai weakly chuckled as he sighed in resignation.

"Also, don’t you dare try to come up with names without me," the older woman jokingly threatened.

"We’ll try not to, Mother," Mineah jokingly replied back, a grin forming on her face as she held onto Nikolai’s arm. "Just make sure to take your time, alright?"

As if taking those words as a challenge, the Queen Mother simply smirked before promptly disappearing to who knows where to prepare for the party. Likewise, Nikolai and Mineah were left standing on their lonesome, the two of them staring at one another as they thought of what they should do next.

"Should we tell the others?" Mineah asked. "Maybe Aunt Alexa next?"

"I’m sure Mother will rope her into her schemes sooner or later," Nikolai shrugged. "For now, let’s just do what Mother wants us to do and enjoy ourselves."

"And maybe come up with names?" Mineah grinned.

"And that," Nikolai smiled. "I’m sure it won’t be a few hours till the party anyway."

***

"Honestly, I didn’t think the party would be this quick to be prepared," Mineah stated, mostly out of surprise as she stared at the crowd now in front of them.

"Mother can be driven at times," Nikolai shrugged. "Still, at least everything’s all accounted for now."

Much to Mineah’s astonishment, the party the Queen Mother planned and prepared in the span of almost an hour quickly came into reality without even much of a hassle. She was just about done coming up with names with Nikolai when a servant came to fetch them for a supposed party.

One thing then came to another, and she was almost taken so off guard by the speed of it all that she almost didn’t notice that they were already onstage announcing her pregnancy to the entirety of the kingdom. Before she knew it, they were on a separate table along with the crowd, a plate of food in front of her just as Nikolai and Aunt Alexa came to join them along with the woman who planned all of this to happen in the first place.

"Congratulations, Mineah," Alexa beamed as she held onto Mineah’s hand in the same way Rania did just hours prior. "I can’t believe it’s actually happening. I’ll be an Aunt soon!"

"Right," Mineah replied back, feeling a sense of deja vu at everything that was happening. "I heard that line before already, I think."

"I can only imagine the amount of people congratulating you," Alexa chuckled. "Still, I hope everything’s going well. We don’t want anything happening to you now, wouldn’t we?"

Nikolai chuckled beside her, and Queen Mother Ranina joined in on the fun with her own bottle of wine in her hand.

"Still, let’s get back to the topic at hand," the Queen Mother firmly stated. "Baby names."

Both Mineah and Nikolai shuddered at the older woman’s tone. Not that they were afraid. In fact, they were very much happy with everything that was happening. But somehow, it almost felt like they were going into a war with words just from the way the topic was currently being presented.

"We already came up with a few names," Nikolai began. "There are a few standouts, but Mine already has something in mind."

"Alya. She’s going to be named Alya," Mineah firmly declared, her eyes spotting the Queen Mother as if she were judging her ideas. "It means heavenly beauty. It fits."

For a second, there was a tense atmosphere at the table as the Queen Mother seemingly judged their naming choices. But eventually, the jovial atmosphere returned as the older woman smiled brightly.

"Is that so? A fine name, I should say," Rania hummed in approval. "Still, what if it’s a boy? There are some things that aren’t set in stone, after all."

"I agree," Alexa quickly chimed in. "I think it could be a boy, and if so, we can come up with a name for him now together."