'He's so much. So much more than I ever imagined.

What can Plourr say to that, when she agrees for her own reasons and for her own 'he'? Nothing, without coming across as a hopeless sap.

She may be married and she may be an empress and she may be pregnant and she may (though she might not admit it) be happy, but Isplourrdacartha Estillo will never be a hopeless sap.

'I care about him a great deal.'

"I know," she says, her face still upturned to the other woman. "That's how I know he's going to be fine. You won't let him be otherwise."