Click.
The wooden door of the room where Arthur was breastfed finally opened.
Mei Qin stepped out with a look of extreme exhaustion on her face. A thin sheen of sweat moistened her forehead, and both her legs looked slightly trembling as they supported her body. In her embrace, Arthur curled up helplessly. The baby's face was completely covered by his own tiny palms, trying to hide the deep red blush spreading all the way to his ears.
'What have I done... The biological hunger of this baby's body truly cannot be fought. I went way too far,' Arthur cursed inwardly, his pride as a King of Knights completely shattered into pieces.
'Ah, Sir Lancelot... is this what you felt back then? The unbearable guilt of involving another man's wife in a disgrace... Forgive me, my friend, I now understand a little of the burden of your sin,' Arthur thought.
From between his tiny fingers, Arthur peeked toward the living room. The village mothers and children had apparently gone home. In the room, only Mama Mia and Grandpa Jack remained, sound asleep on their wooden chairs.
"Grandpa Jack... Mama Mia... I'm done," Mei Qin called out softly, waking them both.
"Yawn... Oh, it's finally done, huh," muttered Mama Mia while rubbing her eyes and slowly standing up. Grandpa Jack also woke up from his sleep.
"Why did it take so long, Mei Qin? It's almost noon, you know," complained Grandpa Jack while stretching his stiff back.
The old man then looked at Mei Qin with one eyebrow raised. "And also... maybe my old ears misheard, but earlier in there... did you make some weird noises?"
Hearing that innocent yet piercing question, Mei Qin's face instantly turned as red as a boiled crab.
"Th-that's just your imagination, Grandpa!" Mei Qin refuted quickly in a slightly stuttering and panicked tone.
Trying to change the subject, the young mother hurriedly continued, "I-I took so long inside because initially Ah-Long refused to drink. It seems he felt awkward. But after I patiently coaxed him for almost an hour, he finally wanted to drink too."
"An hour of coaxing?! Wow, your patience in waiting for him is quite strong," Grandpa Jack marveled while shaking his head.
In the woman's embrace, Arthur could only bite his tiny lip. 'Ugh... It seems I really troubled her. This useless pride of mine actually made things difficult for this lady,' Arthur thought, hit by a second wave of guilt.
"Hehe~ Of course. This is the strength and perseverance of a mother," Mei Qin replied with an awkward laugh. However, her smile slowly faded, replaced by a serious expression mixed with exhaustion. "But, there is something I must tell you two about Ah-Long's appetite..."
Mama Mia narrowed her eyes, noticing Mei Qin's tone changing to a serious one. "Hmm? What's the matter with his eating?"
"You see... it seems Ah-Long won't be satisfied if he is only breastfed by me," Mei Qin explained with her breathing still slightly heavy. "He drinks very ravenously. My entire supply of breast milk was almost completely drained in just a few of his strong sucks earlier!"
"Well, well! It looks like our new resident is a very greedy little piglet, huh?" Mama Mia chuckled. The muscular woman looked down and affectionately pinched Ah-Long's chubby cheeks.
Hearing that, Grandpa Jack nodded in understanding. "If so, tomorrow I will look for several other wet nurses in the village to help you nurse him in turns."
Arthur, hearing that sentence, instantly jolted stiffly. His emerald eyes widened in horror, staring at Grandpa Jack.
'WHAT?!' screamed the King of Knights in his mind.
The remnants of his dignity were now truly free-falling into the bottom of the deepest abyss.
"Thank you very much, Grandpa Jack," Mei Qin replied in relief as she handed Arthur into Mama Mia's embrace.
"No need to thank me. I should be the one thanking you for taking the trouble to care for him," Grandpa Jack said, smiling warmly.
After releasing Arthur from her embrace, Mei Qin trembled. She slightly crossed her legs with an anxious expression. "By the way, Grandpa Jack... where is the toilet in this house? I-I need to go for a moment."
"Oh, you can go through that hallway. The toilet is in the kitchen area, right next to the stove," Grandpa Jack pointed.
Before the old man even had time to lower his hand, Mei Qin was already half-running in a hurry toward the indicated direction.
Grandpa Jack and Mama Mia could only exchange confused glances seeing her behavior.
"Does she need to go that badly?" Mama Mia muttered in wonder.
Meanwhile, before completely disappearing behind the kitchen hallway, Mei Qin took a moment to look back, staring straight at the baby in Mama Mia's arms. Her cheeks were still flushed bright red, and her eyes looked slightly droopy yet shone brightly.
"That earlier... was truly so pleasurable..." Mei Qin whispered softly to herself.
Arthur indeed couldn't hear the woman's soft murmur from the living room. However, for some reason, his instincts suddenly reacted strongly, making the hairs all over his tiny body stand up in horror.
(Transition)
And just like that, the hellish days for the King of Knights officially began.
Grandpa Jack truly kept his promise by bringing a troop of wet nurses to his house. Seeing Arthur's face turn pale and looking extremely tormented, his survival instincts awakened. He even tried to crawl away with all his might toward the door. However, his effort was easily thwarted when a large and muscular hand caught his tiny body, lifting him into the air.
"Where are you going, Little Brat? You haven't eaten yet, you know," Mama Mia smirked.
Arthur looked back in panic. In the living room, a line of village mothers was already staring at him with sparkling eyes, getting ready for their turn.
'Damn! This muscular lady is so strong!' Arthur thought in despair as he tried to struggle in Mama Mia's grip.
However, it wasn't only the torture from the "wet nurse troop" that he had to face. Arthur also couldn't run from his biological destiny as a normal baby. While lifting Arthur high up, Mama Mia's nose suddenly wrinkled, catching an unpleasant scent. Her eyes narrowed, looking suspiciously at the back of the baby's pants which looked bulging.
"Damn! Boy, did you hold it in silence again?!" exclaimed Mama Mia in an exasperated tone mixed with annoyance.
Mercilessly, the large-built woman immediately laid Arthur face down on her lap and pulled down his pants.
"Look at this! Your pants are even fully bulging! What kind of baby are you, anyway? Why do you never cry or fuss when you soil yourself?! So we never know when you wet yourself, right!" scolded Mama Mia while moving quickly to clean him.
In that embarrassing position, Arthur's face was already as red as a boiled tomato. He could only close his eyes tightly, truly wanting to die.
Letting a lady take care of his excrement and look at his bottom was another disgrace that destroyed his knightly dignity.
'Aaaaaah! Merlin, where are you?! Stop this crazy joke! I really need you right now!' screamed Arthur hysterically in his mind.
Smack!
Arthur gasped when he realized his tiny bottom had just been lightly patted by the woman.
"There, your bottom is clean. Next, it's bath time!" exclaimed Mama Mia enthusiastically.
Hearing the word "bath", Arthur instantly writhed brutally like a worm on hot coals. 'No! Please not that! Anything but that, I beg you!' his inner voice screamed as he struggled, trying to break free.
"Oh, you want to resist, Boy?" smirked Mama Mia. With ease, the muscular woman locked Arthur's movements. She then turned toward the crowd of women in the living room and shouted. "Girls, lift him!"
"Yes, Mama Mia!" answered several mothers there in unison, enthusiastically.
The helpless Arthur was finally caught and immediately herded toward a special building in the village that had a large bathing pool.
"It's a good thing this old building hasn't been torn down yet. So we can use it as a public bath again," said one of the women while turning on the water heater.
"That's right! It's a good thing it still works. The Village Chief had thought about tearing it down because the maintenance was difficult. But ever since Ah-Long arrived, Grandpa Jack canceled his plans," chimed in another woman cheerfully.
At the edge of that pool, Ah-Long, who was held tightly from various sides, could only sigh in resignation with a blank, hopeless stare.
Ever since Grandpa Jack reopened the village's public bath facility specifically for him, the place had changed its function. Instead of being a peaceful place to bathe, the pool instead became an execution arena where Arthur was treated like a living toy doll to be bathed, scrubbed, and affectionately pinched by the village women.
Besides that series of embarrassing routines, there was one more thing that truly tested Arthur's sanity. Specifically, when it was those mothers' turn to breastfeed him. As a knight who held honor in high regard, Arthur always closed his eyes tightly to avoid looking at the women's private assets. However, even though his eyes were closed, his ears could still clearly hear the strange sounds escaping their lips.
"Ah... yes, keep going... suck harder, Ah-Long..." moaned a young mother who was nursing him, her breathing sounding a little ragged, her face flushed red.
The other mothers waiting in line for their turn stared at the sight with deeply flushed faces. "S-so the rumor is true, huh..." muttered one of them softly.
'Damn! Why is the result always like this?!' Arthur cursed in frustration within his heart. 'I swear I've tried to reduce my suction power to the absolute minimum, but the effect is still the exact same! It shouldn't be like this! Could it be that when I was a baby in my previous life, I also caused a mess like this?!' The sight of several mothers always hurriedly running to the toilet with bright red faces after finishing nursing him completely shattered the remnants of the King's sanity.
'Is this what you felt, Sir Lancelot? Sir Tristan?...' Arthur thought with a resigned face, like an ascetic who had reached enlightenment. 'Forgive me for often looking down on your behavior in the past. I used to consider it disgusting, but now I understand your suffering a little. If we meet again someday... let's sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk.'
In the end, that "strange sensation" when nursing Ah-Long became a common secret and exclusive gossip known only among the nursing mothers of Holy Spirit Village.
Finished with that exhausting bathing and lunch session, the women began to put clean clothes on Arthur. While drying the golden-haired baby's hair, their gossiping instinct ignited again.
"Hey, did you hear? That blacksmith is starting to cause trouble again," whispered a middle-aged mother to her friend next to her.
"Blacksmith? Oh, you mean that disheveled man who lives on the outskirts of the village?" replied another young mother.
Hearing the word 'blacksmith', the ears of Arthur, who was being surrounded and played with by the village children, immediately twitched with interest. 'Oh? Apparently this small village has a blacksmith too,' he thought. After all, as a knight who was closely attached to swords and armor, the blacksmith profession always managed to attract his attention.
"Yes, who else if not him!" continued the middle-aged mother in a concerned tone.
"Even though that man has a son who is the same age as Ah-Long, it seems he doesn't take care of his baby at all. I feel sorry for that child, his father just gets drunk every day."
Mei Qin, who was joining in tidying Arthur's clothes, chimed into the conversation. "If so, why don't we take care of that baby too, just like we take care of Ah-Long? If he is brought here, Ah-Long will definitely be happy to have a friend his age."
The middle-aged mother hurriedly shook her head. "It's best not to look for trouble. That blacksmith is very closed off and doesn't like to be disturbed, especially if we try to approach his child. Grandpa Jack has often tried to help him and bring him food, but the man acted cold and ignored him instead."
"Is that so... what a pity, that child must be lonely," Mei Qin muttered while sighing softly.
Her gaze then returned downward, staring at Arthur who was now being surrounded and laughed at cheerfully by the village children. Seeing the calm smile of that golden-haired baby, a warm smile bloomed once again on Mei Qin's lips.
(Transition)
Time passed so quickly. Before they knew it, six months had passed since that chaotic first day.
That morning, Arthur sat quietly on Mei Qin's lap on the porch of Grandpa Jack's house. His pair of emerald eyes stared straight at the yard, watching a group of village mothers arguing fiercely with Mama Mia.
"Does it really have to be stopped now?" protested a young mother with an unwilling expression.
"Yes. It's very bad for Ah-Long's health if you all keep overfeeding him like that," Mama Mia stated firmly, crossing her large arms over her chest.
"Please, can't we do it just one more time? For the last time..." whined another mother with a pleading face, followed by hopeful nods from the women around her.
"I said no, so it's a no!" Mama Mia refused, shaking her head with an indisputable expression.
"Come on, Mama Mia! We promise this is truly the last time!" they coaxed again.
"NO!" snapped Mama Mia fiercely. "Yesterday you also said that! The day before yesterday you also kept making the excuse 'this is the last one, this is the last one', but in reality, you just kept continuing it! Listen here, Ah-Long is now seven months old! Breastfeeding must start to be reduced and he has to start learning to eat soft baby food. From this second on, except for Mei Qin, no one else is allowed to nurse him! Understood?!" scolded the muscular woman in an absolute tone.
Hearing Mama Mia's firmness, the village mothers finally looked down despondently and surrendered in resignation.
On the porch, Arthur, who had been watching the debate the whole time, instantly let out an incredibly long sigh of relief. 'Thank goodness... this nightmare is finally over,' Arthur thought, feeling as if he had just been freed from an eternal curse. The burden on his tiny shoulders felt like it had been lifted.
He then looked up, staring at Mei Qin who had been holding him on her lap. The beautiful woman looked down at Arthur with an incredibly sweet smile and a pair of eyes that sparkled with triumph.
She hugged Arthur a little tighter and whispered softly, "Hehe~ Now, from now on... it's just the two of us, okay, Ah-Long."