I become unemployed when I'm four months pregnant, and my husband asks that we become independent of each other in our marriage.

We manage our own finances and pay for our own expenses. Even when I'm suffering from major blood loss during labor, he's unwilling to pay to save my life. My child and I both lose our lives.

When I open my eyes, I find that I'm back to the day my husband asks that we become independent of each other.

I readily agree. What he doesn't know is that I can morph into a seahorse and transfer the baby to his body so he can carry it to term.

I went back in time to the day I lost my job.

On that fateful evening, I announced the bad news to my husband, Bryce Silverman. The moment he heard that I'd been dismissed, he immediately suggested we split our living expenses evenly. He proposed that each of us would manage our own income and pay half of our shared expenses.

"Don't worry, Linny. I promise I won't spend a penny extra of your money. I won't ask you to pay for what I'd already spent on you previously either," Bryce said.

Bryce sounded so magnanimous when he said that. He spoke as if he had spent a lot of money on me. But in reality, we got married with nothing to our name. There were no wedding gifts exchanged, nor was there a wedding ceremony held.

In fact, Bryce took out a loan to buy the house, and I paid for the renovations. After we got married, we split the mortgage and car loan payments equally. Since my job was easier and I had more free time, I paid for our daily expenses and utility bills. In addition, I did all the housework.

Even when Bryce and I went out on dates, I was the one who paid for the meals and movie tickets. The only thing Bryce paid for were contraceptives.

In my previous life, I got mad at Bryce when he proposed this. He never suggested splitting the expenses when I had a job and a salary. Now that I lost my job due to my pregnancy and needed him to support me, he drew a line and wanted to be responsible for only his share of the expenses.

When I argued with Bryce, he explained his reasoning and perspective in a very persuasive and gentle manner.

"Honey, I'm doing this for your own good. You see—you don't have parents, but I do. Moreover, you know the state of their health. If we split our expenses, you won't need to pay for my parents' medical expenses at all if they get sick. Don't you think that would be fairer to you?"

I said I was willing to help take care of his parents.

But Bryce shook his head and said, "I don't want you to take on unnecessary burdens."

His reasoning was utterly perplexing. Though I was reluctant back then, I accepted it simply because I loved him too much.

Little did I know that my love for him would put the nail in my very own coffin.

Two days before my due date, my water broke. At the hospital, the doctor said my baby was too large and recommended a C-section. However, Bryce was unwilling to go through with that option.

"Honey, a C-section is so much more expensive than a natural birth. I'm only willing to split the cost of a natural birth with you. If you insist on a C-section, you'll have to cover the difference in the price yourself," Bryce stated.

It was then that I saw his true colors. Even when my life was at stake, his main concern was how to split the hospital bill.

I held back my anger and told him that I had almost exhausted my savings during this time and asked him to pay for me first. I promised to repay him once I returned to work.

"What? You don't have any money left?" Bryce was shocked to hear that. "Then it's even more impossible. We've agreed long ago that I wouldn't pay more than my share."

Left with no choice, I had to go through with the natural birth. But my baby was too large and got stuck in the birth canal for a long time. When I finally delivered my baby, the poor child had brain hypoxia and needed to be sent to the neonatal intensive care unit.

As for me, I lost too much blood and required a total blood transfusion. A stay in the ICU was also mandatory for me.

By then, I had already fallen unconscious. Bryce refused to pay the medical expenses for me and our baby. He dragged it out, which ultimately led to our deaths.

"Honey, I just want to be fair to you. So, do you agree to splitting all expenses in the future?"

Bryce's words pulled me back to reality. As I stayed silent for a long time, he went on to explain why he wanted to split things equally, just as he did in our past life.

He had a sincere expression as he sat opposite me at the dining table. From the way he spoke, one would think that I'd greatly taken advantage of him.

I responded with a faint smile. "But, Dear… I have parents too."

Bryce's smile froze. "You have parents? Why have you never mentioned them before?"

Well, it was because my parents weren't human. I came from a family of seahorse beastmen. In our society, the male seahorses were the ones who gave birth. So, when I announced that I was going to marry a human and have a child with him, my parents kicked me out without mercy. They believed that I was committing an atrocious act.

I replied, "I have too many siblings, so my parents usually just let us be. So, it's not necessary to split our expenses since I have parents too, right?"

Bryce said to me, "Linny, I don't want money to cause any unhappiness between us in the future. I think splitting our expenses is still the better choice. Let's stick to that."

And so, I pondered for a moment and suggested, "That's fine too, but verbal agreements don't hold any significance. We should put this in black and white."

Bryce grabbed some paper and a pen and wrote down the details of our agreement swiftly. He seemed to be afraid that I would change my mind judging from how fast he wrote.

Five minutes later, he handed me the paper.

After reading it, I asked him, "You only wrote about the expenses and the housework. Where's the part about having a child?"

Bryce was confused. "We'll split the costs of having a child equally, including your prenatal check-ups and any surgeries. Don't worry, I'll make sure you won't get the losing end of the deal."

"It's not just about the costs. Do you realize how much having a child can harm my body?" I questioned.

Bryce's expression shifted upon hearing that. "You don't expect me to pay for everything, do you? The child isn't just mine."

"Well, the child isn't just mine either. Why should I carry the baby for ten months and possibly go under the knife while you get to have an easy time? Shouldn't I carry the baby for five months and you do it for five months in turn?"

Bryce was stunned for a few seconds. Then, he suddenly burst into raucous laughter. "If I could carry a child, I would definitely carry it for five months for you."

I urged, "Alright, then write it into the agreement. I'll carry the baby for five months, and you carry it for five months."

Bryce assumed that I was just having mood swings due to pregnancy hormones. So, he wrote that line at the very end of our agreement. Once he was done writing, we both signed it.

I was delighted to see his signature on the piece of paper. The next moment, I looked him straight in the eye and said, "Dear, I'll take good care of you when you're pregnant in the future."

Bryce laughed heartily. "You're being silly, Linny. How could a man get pregnant?"

Why couldn't he?

The seahorse clan had evolved to the point where our bodies could change according to our will. We could get ourselves pregnant, make men pregnant, or even transfer a half-developed baby from our body into a man's.

Since we were supposed to split everything evenly, we might as well go all the way.

After signing the agreement, Bryce began calculating the cost of tonight's dinner with me.

"We had the empanadas I brought back from my mom's for dinner tonight. You ate four of them. They cost two dollars each, so that's eight dollars. Venmo me that amount."

In my past life, Bryce was like this too. He calculated every expense down to the decimal point. Even if his mother came over and cooked for us, he would still charge me for the meal.

Of course, I felt somewhat upset about this deep in my heart. But then, I decided that I should just put up with it since I had agreed to live this way.

As I considered his actions from a different perspective now, I saw how petty of a man Bryce was. The way he noted the number of empanadas I ate showed how calculative and stingy he was.

Without a word, I transferred the money to Bryce. The moment he heard the ping on his phone, he beamed with joy. "I'll go wash the dishes. Linny, you take out the trash."

"Wait a minute," I spoke up.

Bryce looked at me in confusion.

I chuckled. "You've calculated your share, but we haven't calculated mine yet. Sure, your mom made the empanadas, but when you brought them back, they were raw. I cooked them. Shouldn't the labor cost be taken into account too? That'll be ten dollars.

"As for the cucumber salad you ate, the cucumber costs three dollars. The apple cider vinegar would be roughly three dimes, and the onion is half a dollar. I didn't eat any of it. Plus, I washed your socks just now. That's another ten dollars for labor.

"So, altogether it's $23.80. Venmo me that amount, please."

Bryce's expression soured considerably. "Linny, we're a married couple. Is it really necessary to split everything down to the pennies?"

I flashed him a good-natured smile and asked, "Weren't you the one who said that we should split our expenses evenly to prevent conflicts between us?"

Since Bryce had suggested splitting our expenses in the first place, he couldn't come up with anything to argue with me. He could only transfer the money to me as he was told.

After completing the chores, I went to take a shower. I was currently 18 weeks pregnant, and my belly wasn't showing yet. Although pregnancy usually lasted ten months, I knew I would give birth after 38 weeks.

So, next week would be the best time to transplant the baby. For that, I needed to implant the brood pouch into Bryce as soon as possible.

Implanting the brood pouch was quite simple. I put on some sexy lingerie and sprayed on some perfume. As I stepped out of the bathroom, I saw Bryce working on a table on his computer.

It wasn't until I pressed my body against his back that I noticed he was actually making a price list for household chores. My interest in seducing him immediately dwindled by half. But since this was the only way to implant the brood pouch, I had no choice but to wrap my arms around his neck and softly call out, "Honey…"

When Bryce turned around to look at me, his eyes lit up. I had to admit that Bryce had a very attractive face. Back then, I fell for him at first sight because of that face and married him without a second thought.

Without hesitation, I kissed him.

Bryce resisted and reminded, "You're still pregnant, you know."

"It's been four months, so it's fine," I replied.

Upon hearing me say that it was fine, Bryce got into it. After a passionate lovemaking session, Bryce fell into a deep sleep. The next morning, a pink mark appeared on his belly. That was the mark left by the implanted brood pouch. I felt satisfied with the work I'd done.

However, even with that, there was a risk of failure. To be safe, I did implantations on him for four consecutive days. Bryce was exhausted and kept complaining.

He said to me, "If we keep this up, I'm going to start charging you. After all, you're the one enjoying it while I'm the one doing all the work."

I was speechless for a moment. But when I saw that the mark on his belly had turned into a mature shade of purple, I smiled again.

Bryce noticed this purple mark but assumed it was from my kisses and didn't think much of it.

A week later, I suggested taking Bryce to meet my parents.

Bryce asked, "Why the sudden meetup? Didn't we agree that we would each handle our own parents?"

I replied, "My parents have some free time now and want to meet you. It's only polite that we go, don't you think?"

Bryce was still reluctant to go and wanted to say something. Nevertheless, when I clarified that I had already prepared the gifts, he finally smiled and agreed to go.

When we arrived at my family's place, Bryce's eyes widened in disbelief. "Linny, is your family wealthy?"

I kept telling Bryce that my parents had a lot of children, so they didn't have time for all of us. Therefore, he assumed that my parents lived in some rural mountainous area with seven or eight kids and worked away from home all year.

Owing to this, he dressed quite casually when he left our residence that morning.

Technically, my family did live on a mountain—it was just that the entire mountain belonged to us. From the entrance of our property to the living area, we had to take a car.

During the ride, Bryce kept complaining that I should have told him sooner. "Why didn't you make it clear earlier? Look at how casually I'm dressed… I'm being impolite for showing up like this."

Oh, so he did know that he should dress up properly when meeting his wife's parents.

I said, "It's okay. My parents don't care about that."

I had hundreds of siblings. My parents didn't care about the character of their children's spouses—they only cared about their reproductive capability.

Bryce asked again, "Linny, do your parents own a lot of assets?"

"Well, they have some," I replied with a smile. "But I have many siblings, so each of us would only get under a hundred million."

A hundred million was a staggering amount for an average family. The moment Bryce learned about this, he seemed frustrated that he'd suggested splitting the expenses with me.

As soon as we met with my parents, my father wanted to check Bryce's pulse.

Bryce didn't understand why he would want to do that.

I explained, "My dad is an alternative medicine practitioner who has gained nationwide recognition. He usually only treats important figures."

Upon hearing this, Bryce immediately extended his hand.

My father seemed very pleased with Bryce. He nodded and muttered, "Not bad, not bad… Very good."

Bryce thought my father was praising his good health and looked very proud.

That evening, we stayed at my parents' manor. After Bryce fell asleep, they came over.

My mom looked at his body and laughed. "33, you've really found yourself a great free man. He has a naturally fertile body. How many brood pouches did you implant in him?"

"Four," I replied.

My mom said, "What a shame. You should have implanted a few more. But there's no rush. You can still take your time in the future. You did the best among your siblings."

Fewer male seahorses were willing to have children when it came to my generation. I was ranked 33rd in my family, but none of my older brothers or sisters had kids.

My father asked, "Did he agree to carry children?"

I took out the agreement with the terms clearly written and signed.

My father nodded approvingly. "Alright, I'll help you transfer the baby over right now."

A month later, Bryce's belly swelled significantly, and he gained 13 pounds. He thought it was because he had been overeating lately and started exercising intensely.

But no matter how much he exercised, it was futile and yielded no results.

One day, he felt the baby move.