The Baby Isn’t Yours

Simon was stuck in front of the door, unable to hide his nervousness, and Shaik was waiting for his mother, trying to act calm.

At first glance, the two of them seemed like brothers due to the minimal age difference, but they were unbelievably father and son.

Simon’s radiant silver hair, still vibrant without any signs of fading, reflected the sunlight and shimmered dazzlingly.

With his deep golden eyes and smooth white skin, it was hard to believe that the man sitting beside him with his black hair was his son, as he exuded a solid and dignified aura.

His appearance was so youthful and beautiful that it belied the passing of twenty years.

Was it because he was overly beautiful?

Ironically, Shaik, with his black hair, silently sighed by Simon’s side, and gave off a more mature impression than his father.

Unlike his childhood days when he would gently smile and get what he wanted, Shaik had learned to restrain his emotions as he matured.

More accurately, apart from matters related to Drea, he rarely showed any emotional fluctuations.

It was Kalia’s assessment that he had become a man with an aged and jaded attitude that was difficult to believe, despite being only about twenty years old.

“Father, please calm down and have a seat. It’s been four hours already.”

It was Shaik’s role to calm down his father, who still couldn’t hide his restlessness.

In his usual calm voice, he repeatedly asked his father to sit down whenever he stood up.

Simon swept his long hair nervously and looked at Shaik with a furrowed brow.

“Only four hours… How can you say ‘only four hours’? Aren’t you worried about Kalia, who has been in pain for four hours?”

Here we go again.

Shaik, who had experienced his father’s unusual love for their mother more than once, responded calmly.

“I’ve heard that childbirth is painful for everyone. But that doesn’t mean you can give birth in place of mother, so let’s stay calm.”

“Enough. What good does it do to stay calm? It’s also a sin to be relaxed when Kalia is in pain all by herself.”

It was well-known throughout the continent that Simon was exceptional when it came to caring for Kalia when she was in pain.

Especially when Kalia had even a slight cough, he would pour out all sorts of healing spells, to the point that even Kalia felt slightly embarrassed.

Simon’s opinion, that ‘If the pain is strong enough for her to cough, it must be really painful,’ had some persuasive power, but it couldn’t erase the feeling that he was exceptional to those who watched.

Having lingered like that for a while, Simon suddenly looked at Shaik, who was sitting quietly, and let out a chuckle.

“Why are you laughing like that?”

“I’m reminded of when you were born. I was searching for Kalia without even knowing that you existed… Then, on the day I finally found Kalia after much difficulty, her labor pains started. I was so surprised.”

Thinking back, it was a dizzying and breathtaking moment.

With Kalia suddenly disappearing, he was already halfway going crazy, and when he saw her swollen belly when he had found her so hard, his mind completely went blank.

Moreover, when he saw her collapsing in pain right after he found her, even Simon’s soul seemed to crumble.

“Moreover, because you insisted that you wouldn’t give birth in a place without the power of nature, Kalia went through quite a lot of suffering.”

Simon handed Shaik’s hair, grown long, as he spoke, sounding somewhat irritable.

Shaik raised an eyebrow towards his father, as if expressing his disbelief.

Raising an eyebrow in annoyance or skepticism was a habit he had inherited from Simon.

“Why do you conveniently forget the fact of how Mother’s labor was prolonged because you prevented Gaia and my great-grandfather from helping?”

“…Me? Did I do that? That’s strange. I don’t remember well. I’m getting older, after all. Was there such a story?”

If it was about memory, the most skilled Archmage in the world, the seemingly still-in-his-twenties Archmage, conveniently pretended not to remember unfavorable memories.

And to top it off, Shaik could only shake his head nervously since the Archmage in question was his father.

After that short conversation, silence and tension filled the air once again.

Not only Simon but also the entire Fairy King family held their breath for two hours.

In an instant, the air in the silent forest changed.

In that fleeting moment, it was felt that the vibration of the power of nature signaled the imminent birth of new life!

Uh, waaaaah!

A thunderous cry resounded powerfully through the land of the green fairies.

“Finally!”

“Waaaaah! It’s, it’s born!”

As soon as the baby’s cry spread, the gazes of the family members turned towards the tightly closed door of the birthing room.

Simon and Shaik, who were guarding right in front of the door, also stood up abruptly.

In that moment, with a creak, the door opened, and Gaia, her face filled with joy, burst out, holding a newborn wrapped in white cloth, shouting:

“Princess!!! It’s the princess!”

It’s a daughter!

Simon looked at the baby held by Gaia with eyes filled with both excitement and emotion, then quickly rushed into the open door.

Even though the baby was just a baby, Simon wanted to see Kalia, who had endured so much to give birth to this baby, even more desperately.

But Simon couldn’t enter the birthing room where Gaia had rushed in because another person had come out before Simon could go in.

Simon looked at Allen, who had jumped out, with surprise.

His gaze automatically shifted to another cloth bag that Allen was holding.

“No way…?”

Simon looked back and forth between the baby in Allen’s arms and the baby in Gaia’s arms with a bewildered expression on his face.

Allen also smiled with a reminiscent expression and nodded as if confirming Simon’s thoughts.

Simon, feeling his head go blank for once, murmured in a dazed voice:

“No way… Two?”

“Yes. That’s right. Not just one princess, but two princesses have been born!”

The astonished voices of the fairies, who had been listening to this conversation from afar, could be heard.

Leaves rustled, and the waiting fairies flew up in unison, expressing their joy with cheers.

Even the sunlight shining through the forest seemed to scatter glittering particles in celebration.

Twins!

It meant that the joy of birth was doubled.

“…There was a reason why it took so long.”

Shaik chuckled and looked at his little sisters, Shuri and Maeve with fluffy dark yellow hair, with affectionate eyes.

“Welcome to the outside, little sisters.”

Unable to hold back, Simon burst into laughter and rushed towards Kalia.

“Kalia, Kalia! You’ve given birth to twins!”

It was the birth of the mischievous little princesses who would bring both laughter and worry to the Kingdom of Purito.

* * *

The twin princesses of the Purito Kingdom, Shuri and Maeve, grew up receiving love from all creatures and thrived healthily.

The children were always bright, without a hint of darkness, and behind that brightness lay the sacrifices of their father and grandfather, who willingly sacrificed themselves for their mischievous pranks, as well as their older brother and fairy uncles and aunts.

The only person these mischievous twins couldn’t bother was their mother, Kalia, who was also the Queen of the kingdom.

It wasn’t that Kalia was particularly strict with the children, but these troublemakers miraculously turned into docile lambs whenever they were in front of their mother.

Their father was a great Archmage who was famous on the continent, and they were twins who behaved like thunderbolts even to the Fairy King, whom an ordinary person could only see once in their lifetime.

Whenever he saw that, Simon, their father, would occasionally feel a bit resentful, but he knew that because of the twins, there were more days when his beloved wife smiled. So he silently brushed it off.

Of course, the twins didn’t spare Kalia from any pranks.

But it was only to a cute extent that Kalia could laugh off.

For example, they would replace their mother’s jewel hairpin with candy, or they would draw their wonderful pictures on the letters sent by Simon.

Compared to the pranks that were almost like wars or ambushes against Simon and Shaik, it was a very, very cute level.

In this way, these lovable troublemakers, who grew up receiving abundant love from their family, were hiding their bodies tightly after playing some extraordinary prank on the Family Day, today.