...which was why he had spent so long calling him "mother."
Adelgius had explained that whether someone was an Omega or an Alpha, a man should be called "father," but habits were frightening things. Every now and then, like now, Kwon Minseong still ended up addressing his patients by the wrong title.
"Your father only managed to have you after five miscarriages."
Naturally correcting himself, Kwon Minseong continued speaking.
Or rather, threatening.
"To be honest, you're scared you'll miscarry too, aren't you?"
Lord Yumer's eyes widened into perfect circles. He bit his lower lip. Fear hung plainly in his gaze. Kwon Minseong had struck the bullseye.
"If you keep getting worked up over every little thing, your body releases cortisol."
"Cortisol...?"
Lord Yumer murmured the unfamiliar word in a tiny voice.
"The hormone your body produces when you're depressed or irritated. If it causes your muscles to contract, it can lead to a miscarriage. In other words, it's bad for the baby."
"I see..."
"So try to think positive thoughts. Stop getting angry. And quit talking down to people."
"...If I don't get angry..."
The moment he heard that his child could be in danger, Lord Yumer folded his hands politely.
"...I won't miscarry?"
"The chances will be lower. Now then, let's begin today's examination."
Smiling brightly, Kwon Minseong guided Lord Yumer to the examination bed.
Already changed into a patient's gown, Lord Yumer rolled up his linen shirt and exposed his abdomen. Kwon Minseong spread a thin layer of gel over the patient's belly.
Startled by the cold sensation, Lord Yumer hunched his shoulders.
"Cortisol... cortisol..."
Trying to calm himself, he repeatedly muttered the strange word he had never heard before.
But the moment Kwon Minseong took out a brass instrument, Lord Yumer's face crumpled, and he began trembling all over.
"W-What is that?"
he asked fearfully.
"A stethoscope."
"Is it really safe to put that on my body? It won't hurt the baby, right?"
"It's an ordinary stethoscope."
Kwon Minseong paused.
"Well, considerably better than an ordinary stethoscope."
He gently pressed the flat end of the instrument against Lord Yumer's abdomen.
From left to right.
From top to bottom.
Slowly and meticulously, he examined every section.
He had called it a stethoscope because it was easier for Lord Yumer to understand, but this was, in fact, an ultrasound machine.
Naturally, ultrasound machines did not exist in this world.
There were no modern medical devices here, but the Elunem Empire possessed one thing just as valuable.
Adelgius.
At Kwon Minseong's request, Adelgius had designed a special maternity stethoscope.
The device detected minute vibrations from inside the womb and transmitted the recorded waves to a printer concealed within the desk. The printer then converted those vibrations into numerical data and produced a printed image.
The desk, which had been steadily feeding paper out as though operating a spinning wheel, emitted a sharp beep.
Beep.
Then it stopped.
Kwon Minseong handed Lord Yumer a towel before walking over to the desk and tearing off the printed sheet.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
The stethoscope might look ridiculous, but its performance was unquestionably reliable.
"W-What came out?"
Lord Yumer wiped the gel from his stomach and craned his neck toward Kwon Minseong.
Against a pitch-black background was a single white, circular blotch.
The shape vaguely resembled an embryo in its earliest stages.
"What is this...?"
Lord Yumer frowned at the bizarre stain.
Despite cherishing the child so much, he couldn't even recognize a picture of his own baby.
Humans really were fascinating creatures.
Pointing at the blotch, Kwon Minseong answered,
"This is your child."
And this was the world's very first steampunk ultrasound image.
Thanks to the unprecedented ultrasound images and the miraculous pain-free injection everyone called a wonder drug, Kwon Minseong's hospital prospered more with each passing day.
Unfortunately, human beings were creatures incapable of contentment.
Kwon Minseong was no exception.
"I'm thinking about converting some of the unused rooms upstairs into patient rooms."
He spoke while surveying the second floor of the mansion.
A man with dull brown hair carefully wrote down every one of Kwon Minseong's requests in a notebook.
The cocoa-haired man was the hospital's anesthesiologist and also Kwon Minseong's secretary.
Ian.
He had once served as a military physician along the border before catching the attention of the Court Physician Reiner, who brought him on as an assistant. Reiner had later told Kwon Minseong—without Adelgius knowing—that Ian's talents deserved to help more people.
At first, Kwon Minseong had worried that Ian might be a royal observer sent to keep watch on him or that hiring him would only create unnecessary complications.
Those concerns now felt laughable.
Ian had become utterly indispensable to the hospital.
He was intelligent.
Sharp.
Even an offhand remark never escaped his notice.
His meticulous and methodical personality made him dependable, but that was hardly the extent of his talents.
True to his military background, Ian was exceptionally skilled with anesthetics. Thanks to that expertise, Kwon Minseong had been able to develop the pain-free injection.
He possessed both the temperament and the ability of someone born to be a physician.
Kwon Minseong relied on him completely.
Even if Reiner demanded Ian back, there was absolutely no way he could return him.
"Are the inpatient rooms not sufficient already?"
Ian asked.
"I'm thinking about opening a postpartum care center."
"May I ask what that is?"
"It's a place where patients recover after giving birth. Once a person has a baby, their body looks like a battlefield after a war. Nothing's left in one piece. We take care of them until they've recovered."
"Would there be demand for such a service?"
"The baby cries. The house becomes a disaster. You have to eat every meal if you want to produce milk. Your body doesn't feel like your own anymore. If we handle all of that for them, do you really think nobody will be interested?"
"The nobility employ wet nurses and servants. They have little need for such a facility."
"Maybe. But business isn't about giving people what they need."
A grin spread across Kwon Minseong's face.
"It's about making them think they need it."
"You are a physician, not a merchant."
"I'm doing it to make money, so that makes me a merchant."
He shrugged.
"And even nobles can't stop their families from being annoying. Our last patient today was Baron Steed, wasn't he?"
"That's correct."
"He was exhausted after having his first child, and he spent the entire appointment complaining that his Alpha kept releasing pheromones around him and making a nuisance of himself."
"I ended up staying thirty extra minutes just listening to him vent."
Ian listened silently before nodding.
Nobles might be able to escape housework and childcare, but they certainly couldn't escape an Alpha who started broadcasting pheromones and demanding attention the moment they had recovered enough to stand.
Standing in the middle of the hallway, Kwon Minseong looked to either side.
The central staircase divided the second floor into eastern and western wings that stretched outward like a pair of wings.
There were ten rooms in total.
The room at the far eastern end belonged to Kwon Minseong.
Ian occupied the room directly next to his.
The other employees—the nurses, cooks, and maintenance staff—had homes in the city, so only Kwon Minseong and Ian lived in the mansion.
Even Ian returned to his family home on weekends because he needed a private life of his own.
In practice, Kwon Minseong was the only permanent resident.
"It's a waste leaving all these rooms empty. Let's start by opening a few rooms in the west wing as a trial run."
"And if the trial proves successful?"
Ian asked.
"You'll expand?"
"If it goes well."
In other words, if it made enough money.
"In that case, rather than expanding the mansion, I would recommend establishing a separate facility outside the city. Arkwing, in eastern Ellun, is famous for its hot springs. A postpartum care center there would undoubtedly aid patient recovery."
"Sounds expensive."
"Arkwing belongs to His Grace Visha. Considering how highly His Grace values you, surely he would provide a single estate without hesitation."
"Ian..."
Clasping his hands together as though in prayer, Kwon Minseong turned toward him.
One suggestion.
That was all it took.
And Ian immediately understood exactly what he wanted.
Where had such a treasure of an employee fallen from?
"Let's spend the rest of our lives together. I'll make you happy."
"I'm sorry."
"Come on, why not? I make good money, and I'm not exactly ugly."
"You are considered quite handsome."
"Then why refuse? Men can legally marry each other in this country. Is it because I'm a Beta? Is that why?"
"...That's correct."
After a rather suspicious pause, Ian finally answered.
Apparently, his employer still had no idea what secondary gender he possessed.
People occasionally failed to manifest until well into their twenties, so it wasn't unprecedented.
Still, there was something undeniably amusing about a man aspiring to become the greatest obstetrician in the Empire while remaining completely ignorant of his own secondary gender.
That was why Ian had taken so long to answer.
He had been holding back laughter.
"Starting tomorrow, we'll announce registration. First come, first served. Then we'll draw lots, and only three people get in."
"We can accommodate more than three."
"If we take five, it loses its appeal. Three sounds exclusive."
"I am impressed, Doctor."
Ian had no idea what "exclusive" meant, but he sincerely admired Kwon Minseong's business instincts.
Perhaps his employer really was closer to a merchant than a physician.
"Tomorrow's the weekend. Heading home tonight?"