After preparing dinner, Matsumae brought the nutritious meal to Rize's door.
For humans, this would be considered delicious food. But for a ghoul, it was quite the opposite...
What Matsumae had brought wasn't the human flesh that ghouls could consume, but normal human food—and she had deliberately chosen ingredients that were as nutritious as possible.
"Madam."
Matsumae called from outside the door.
"Come in."
Rize responded immediately.
Only then did Matsumae enter Rize's room and place the dinner on the table.
Rize looked expressionlessly at the "cuisine" emanating what she perceived as a foul odor.
In the past, she had been extremely skilled at "fake eating"—virtually no one could detect any flaws.
But "fake eating" ultimately meant inducing vomiting afterward to expel the food. Now, she had to swallow this food and keep it down—no vomiting allowed.
"Madam, perhaps... Master might have a solution. I believe you could ask him first. There's no need to force yourself like this..."
Matsumae couldn't help but suggest.
"I've said before—I don't want to distract him during something this important."
Rize's tone remained calm.
"Yes..."
Matsumae, who always viewed herself as a servant, could only hold her tongue in front of the Madam.
But she didn't leave the room. Instead, she stayed.
She was worried about the Madam's condition. Though this food wouldn't be lethal to a ghoul, it would definitely weaken the body and cause considerable discomfort.
Having grown up in the Tsukiyama family, Matsumae had never personally experienced what ghouls who had nothing to eat—forced to scavenge human food from trash cans—went through. So she didn't know exactly what to expect...
But precisely because she didn't know the specifics, Matsumae was too worried to leave. She chose to stay and monitor the Madam's condition.
Just then, Byakuya returned home.
Though Rize had instructed Matsumae to clean up thoroughly, no matter how well the kitchen traces were erased, they couldn't escape Byakuya's eyes.
The moment he returned, he noticed no one was in the living room. Then he noticed the kitchen appeared to have been recently used.
If it were human flesh or similar, the kitchen wouldn't be needed. And he had long since explicitly forbidden Matsumae and the others from hunting live humans—so that possibility could basically be ruled out.
So... who had used the kitchen?
And they'd made normal food...
Keep in mind, besides Byakuya himself, no one in this house was human...
Truly not a single human being...
If someone claimed it was dinner prepared for him, there was nothing on the dining table—so that possibility could also be ruled out.
With suspicions rising, Byakuya went upstairs.
He arrived at Rize's door, because he could smell the aroma of cooked food drifting from inside.
In that moment, he already sensed something was wrong...
Though Matsumae had closed the door when entering, she hadn't locked it. Byakuya opened it immediately.
Matsumae turned around, and Rize also looked toward him.
"...Master, you're back."
Matsumae said immediately.
She was mildly surprised—she'd cleaned the kitchen so thoroughly, yet she still couldn't escape the Master's notice... But since things had come to this, she felt it was better for the Master to know about the Madam's situation.
"..."
Rize was silent for a moment, then spoke with her usual calm expression. "Welcome home."
Looking at the food arranged on Rize's table and the chopsticks in her hand, Byakuya immediately understood.
His pupils trembled. Even he wasn't that slow on the uptake.
Given Rize's personality, she definitely wouldn't eat this kind of food without reason...
Combined with how unusually clingy Rize had been on the way back from the café earlier...
Byakuya understood instantly.
"Rize, could it be that you..."
Things had reached this point.
Rize couldn't hide it anymore.
She could only speak. "Yes. It seems there's already a little one in my belly."
"I only found out in the past two days. After consulting with Matsumae-san, I confirmed the situation..."
Rize explained. "But I heard that a mixed-blood child born from the union of a human and a ghoul must consume both normal food and human flesh. Otherwise, the lack of nutrition will cause a miscarriage. That's why I asked Matsumae-san to prepare this dinner for me."
Just as Rize said, a mixed-blood child needed sufficient nutrition while in the womb.
Regardless of whether the child would be born as a half-human or a half-ghoul, while still in utero, both types of food had to be consumed simultaneously.
Eto's mother had done the same.
Even though half-humans and half-ghouls didn't need to eat human flesh after birth...
"So you're forcing yourself to eat this now?"
Byakuya's question seemed rhetorical—his heart ached for her.
Making a ghoul consume normal food and keep it down was undoubtedly torturous.
Though "fake eating" allowed many ghouls to largely avoid the nausea of swallowing, keeping it in the stomach meant the entire digestion process would be extremely uncomfortable.
This had been evident when Touka forced herself to eat the food her close friend Yoriko had given her—forcing herself not to vomit was agonizing.
At the same time, Byakuya felt somewhat guilty.
He hadn't noticed Rize's abnormality right away—or rather, he'd noticed slight abnormalities but hadn't connected the dots...
At least he'd arrived in time now...
"There's no helping it. For our child..."
Rize spoke in a very calm tone.
As if this were easy for her.
Her eyes held a hint of tenderness. For the child... what was a little suffering?
With that, Rize prepared to pick up her chopsticks and eat all the food.
"Wait. This shouldn't be the only way."
Just then, Byakuya stopped her.
"I know you're concerned about me, and that makes me happy. But honestly, for our little one, this really isn't a big deal."
Rize smiled.
For her, this wasn't forcing herself at all—she was completely willing to do this so their little one could safely come into this world.
...
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