The Baby Isn’t Yours

“Exactly, what is happening in the middle of the night? Why is my father suddenly…?”

“Our lord would never engage in such strange behavior…”

As they awoke drenched in cold sweat, the people around the lord, who couldn’t regain consciousness, sent bewildered glances toward Hemmie. Their eyes pleaded for an explanation about the inexplicable situation.

Hemmie was in a position where she had to explain herself, and this made the situation even more bizarre. In normal circumstances, you would suspect that the lord had ill intentions towards Hemmie, or that he had come into their room for some mischievous reason. 

However, the trust that the castle’s people had in their lord was unwavering. He was a great father, a noble lord, a virtuous nobleman.

This was the reputation and reality of Viscount Shelton, the lord of Lua.

Until just this night.

Then again…

The first time Hemmie saw the lord was also like that. On the day she came to settle in the lord’s castle with Kalia.

“I don’t have much, but I hope you settle down comfortably.”

The lord warmly smiled at Kalia and offered his hand, shaking hands as they exchanged greetings, leaving a deep impression.

‘…Did I go too far?’

She felt a little sorry for the lord with how brutally she had struck him with her knee.

Of course, if she hadn’t acted as boldly as she did then, she might not have come out of it unscathed…

Anyway, she was glad that she didn’t cripple the rare good lord. Luckily.

After all, she had almost become the target of everyone’s hatred in the castle.

The lord’s people were also attentive to the lord, and the servants were fervently praying for his well-being. This scene alone demonstrated how good of a lord he was.

‘It would be nice to have more people like him as central nobles.’

Hemmie thought vaguely as her mind drifted.

In reality, her body was filled with tension, as though she might faint if she didn’t think of anything.

Someone’s gaze felt like it was drilling into her, and it was intense, as if it could kill her.

‘…Central nobility. Yes, central nobility. If that central nobility bastard didn’t have such excessive ambitions, maybe I wouldn’t be here now.’

Most of the central nobles were greedy.

To satisfy that greed, they tormented the lord’s people and harmed others. The lord where Hemmie lived was also like that.

The wealthy city of Cherlo was not far from the capital, and Hemmie’s family were citizens of Cherlo.

When Hemmie lived there, her family, though commoners, made a decent living thanks to her father and older brother’s skills in leatherwork.

However, when the epidemic spread, all the doctors were called to the castle due to the lord’s high-handedness.

To receive medical treatment or prescriptions from the doctors, one had to pay a large sum of money to the lord.

Hemmie was fortunate not to fall ill, but all her other family members contracted the disease. It started with her mother, then her father, and her two older brothers.

Hemmie used up the last of their remaining property to buy medicine from the lord, but she came too late, and eventually, her family…

‘Even so, they left together, so my family… was not lonely even in death.’

Without a moment to grieve, Hemmie, who had become destitute, entered the cursed lord’s castle and had to perform chores.

Her family’s property was all gone because of her desperate attempt to obtain medicine.

Just around that time, Kalia, who had returned to the capital, learned about her situation and visited the castle.

Kalia freed the doctors who had been detained by the lord’s ambition, and she also forced the lord to return the property he had plundered from the people.

The lord had a son who was just like him, and that son, after losing the stolen wealth, hurled curses at Kalia and threw a rotten egg at her.

The lord’s son was a man who was deeply entrenched in the mindset of a noble. Thanks to this, he ridiculed Hemmie, who, in his eyes, was a mere commoner, and openly expressed his anger.

“Who do you think you are, a commoner like you, to be called a hero for wielding a sword? I will inform the Emperor of this and request a grand punishment!”

So, was Kalia angry? No.

Without blinking an eye, Kalia uncovered all the stolen properties and returned them to the people.

The Emperor, whom the lord’s son was calling for, didn’t even answer until his family’s property was confiscated.

Kalia left the city very calmly with great fanfare amid the cheers of the city’s commoners after draining the lord of his wealth.

On the day Kalia left, the lord’s son, who had poured out all kinds of curses at her behind her back, fell down empty stairs on his own, resulting in broken legs and smashed ribs. There was even a rumor that a pot had fallen from the second floor, shattering between his legs and narrowly missing his crotch. 

It was a very serious injury for a fall from a small staircase with only 7 steps. The people muttered that it was divine punishment.

But Hemmie knew better.

Right after Kalia left, she saw a cold, deadly glare from a handsome magician muttering something short to the young lord who was cursing at Kalia.

The moment the word ‘Light…’ came from his mouth, Hemmie had no doubt that if Kalia hadn’t called him back that day, the young lord would have truly been struck by divine lightning, as the word implied.

‘Without a doubt, it was his doing.’

She turned her eyes to the side for a moment, her gaze fixed on Allen, who was examining her with his prescription.

At that moment, on that day, the magician was silently staring at Hemmie with a murderous gaze that could dry a person up.

Gulp.

A dry swallow passed her throat with difficulty.

At the same time, the cold emanating from the side felt closer.

As Allen finished his prescription and rose from his seat, Hemmie heard him distinctly call her name:

“Hemmie.”

Damn. it seemed he had remembered her name as well.

He urged her with a cold smile:

“I think it’s time for you to tell me now that you’ve cleared your minds…”

Allen, who had approached without anyone noticing, cast an inquisitive look at Simon.

Hemmie, who was nervously biting her lips, forced herself to hide her frightened eyes by changing the subject.

“Aren’t you here to retrieve the dragon egg? Are you not concerned about the egg…”

“That is something other magicians can handle. You don’t have to worry about that. I’d like you to tell me something else.”

With his arms crossed and his head slightly lowered, Simon stared intently at Hemmie, the atmosphere growing colder.

“Excuse me, but who are you?”

In an instant, the gaze of Simon towards Allen intensified, and a low voice murmured. ‘Black hair…’

On the other side, Allen took a quick glance over the magician’s outfit with wonder.

A snow-white uniform and black, leather half gloves. In addition, gorgeous silver hair and enchanting golden eyes. He was very similar to the appearance of one of the most famous people in the Empire, but he wouldn’t be here.

…Right?

Wasn’t this one of the farthest provinces from the capital? And, no matter how precious the dragon egg was, the distance wasn’t so short for the Archmage to move immediately.

With a glare towards the bewildered Allen, Simon spoke in a chilling voice.

“As for you, I’m very curious about who you might be… You’re the one with the unmatched black hair.”

“What? What do you mean…?”

Simon’s eyes turned intense, and a low voice murmured.

“Kalia.”

Allen’s eyes flickered at his reply.

Simon looked straight at him and a corner of his mouth tugged up, as if he were smirking.

“Where is she?”

The polite tone quickly disappeared, and there was only a cool sneer directed at Allen, who was looking at him with suspicious eyes.

It was still the deep predawn darkness, and the rain was falling even more heavily.

* * *

The three of them couldn’t linger in the lord’s chamber any longer, as the peculiar atmosphere alone was suffocating.

The lord’s wife, who had regained her composure, assigned the finest guest room in the castle to Simon.

However, Simon didn’t settle in the room; instead, they gathered in the living room.

The room was barely illuminated by a dim lantern, and it was evident that the deep predawn darkness would persist for several hours more.

Simon, seated on the plush sofa, legs crossed and arms folded, gazed intently at the two.

An hour had passed since they had moved to the living room.

Simon held Hemmie and Allen in suspense, conversing in a heavy silence about Kalia’s whereabouts.

“Do you need more time to think?”

“…As we told you before, we don’t know.”

“To act all innocent now after revealing everything so naively… it’s a bit too much.”

Simon stopped speaking for a moment, pondering his words, and then sealed his lips as if choosing the right words.

“As foolish as it seems.”

Although his lips curved into a smile, his tone and the prevailing atmosphere were filled with unmistakable hostility.

What was puzzling was that his hostility was singularly directed at one person.

“If you intend time, I can wait as long as you want. I’ve spent several months in hell…”

Simon, with his gaze fixed on Allen, mumbled languidly.

“It’s not too hard to endure just one night.”