The Baby Isn’t Yours

Allen furrowed his brows as he faced him.

He couldn’t understand why Simon was so agitated toward him.

Simon smiled and lay down leisurely.

Although his heart was torn into a thousand pieces, every minute and every second felt excruciatingly anxious, but he showed no signs of it on the surface.

His golden eyes, like those of an arrogant Emperor, gazed at his interlocutors without a hint of tremor.

In the dim darkness, those shining golden eyes were both eerie yet beautiful.

What was amusing was that the more time passed, the more uneasy his interlocutors seemed.

Both of them were so uneasy, so uncomfortable that they couldn’t hide it.

Especially the man introduced as Allen with the black hair.

‘…He seems very dear. He looked like someone very precious, holding hands, fearing she might break or hurt if he let her go. A lovely lover, it seems.’

Without a doubt, it was him.

The man with the black hair.

The very man who held Kalia’s hand dearly.

‘Who on earth is he? If he had been close to Kalia from the beginning, there’s no way I wouldn’t have known.’

Simon stared at Allen’s hand with his eyes narrowed, his thin pupils swirling with coldness.

He could make that hand disappear with just one word or even without the need for a spell.

No, he didn’t even need to do that much.

If Simon decided, he could erase that hand so thoroughly that not a trace of it would remain, along with its owner, without anyone ever knowing.

Except if the person had any relation to Kalia, Simon couldn’t carelessly kill him.

At most… it was a terrible consideration, but if he was the one Kalia loved, Simon couldn’t do anything to him.

Out of fear that Kalia might be upset?

Simon sneered at himself.

That wasn’t it.

It was just that there was no need to kill him when it was so blatantly clear that he killed the man. If a situation arose where he truly needed to eliminate him, he could do it so cleanly and thoroughly that it wouldn’t even be remotely connected to him.

So that man’s existence can disappear from Kalia very naturally…

He wanted so badly to do that, but Simon forced himself to suppress the raging jealousy with desperate patience.

The Kalia he knew wasn’t someone who easily fell in love.

To be in love, to abandon the prince, to give up her position, and to escape – she wasn’t such a person.

So there must be a reason for Kalia to leave for this distant place and be with that man.

Yes… there must be some other reason.

That’s when Hemmie, who had been lost in thought with her mouth shut, spoke up.

“Um, I have a question.”

Hemmie’s voice was trembling, but her gaze, now directed at him, was no longer fearful.

Simon replied in a composed tone:

“Feel free.”

Hemmie bit her dry lips firmly, clearing her trembling voice.

“As far as I know, Kalia left a letter saying that she would definitely return to you. So… why are you searching for her so desperately?”

Simon looked at Hemmie with a glance that seemed to ask why she was asking such a question.

However, this was a very important question for Hemmie.

If she were to revisit her thoughts from a while ago, her desire for revenge against the lord’s death had somewhat disappeared due to the downfall of her family.

In its place, she was enchanted by the very noble back of the ‘common-born knight’ she saw that day.

That image was branded into her mind. The noble sense of justice that had saved the people of the province, and even the strong and unyielding demeanor that brushed off the insults and indignations was what fascinated Hemmie.

That day, Hemmie packed up all her returned possessions, went up to the Capital and immediately put in an application for admission to the Military Academy.

At the time, Hemmie was only fifteen years old. It was somewhat late to enter the Academy, but it didn’t matter.

For Hemmie, who had lost everything, there was nothing else to hold onto.

Fortunately, the Military Academy was more lenient in terms of social class than the magical or administrative academies.

Thanks to this, Hemmie was also able to enter the Academy relatively easily.

Whether it was due to the intense effort of the past three years, a matter of life and death, Hemmie managed to consistently maintain a high rank among her peers in her year, except for the first year.

This qualification allowed her to apply for the role of a squire to the knights, and one day, Hemmie’s miracle came.

“Congratulations on your appointment as General Kalia’s squire.”

Every year, only the top 10 students were eligible to participate in the squire selection lottery.

Right before, the student ranked above Hemmie had left the Academy, which allowed her to win the lottery and become Kalia’s squire.

“Oh my god.”

On that day, Hemmie cried her eyes out until dawn.

She wasn’t sure why she did it, but that day, she cried for the first time in three years.

Perhaps she thought it was the help from her family in heaven that helped her get that lucky lottery (the squire selection was done by lottery to prevent too many students from aiming for specific knights).

She remembered her mother, father, and two older brothers, whom she had forgotten and went to Kalia the next day with puffy eyes.

Yes, that plague from that day, it could also be attributed to a cruel twist of fate.

But it was the lord and his son who took away hope and happiness from her life and led her family to death.

The one who saved Hemmie on that day was definitely Kalia.

So Kalia had a great influence on Hemmie’s life.

If Kalia hadn’t passed by that place that day, or worse, if she had ignored the misery of that place and passed by, Hemmie would surely have fallen into even greater misfortune.

She would have lived a life cleansing the estates of nobles who had killed her family.

“But that future never came. If it weren’t for Kalia, I wouldn’t be here now…”

Kalia was surely a strong person, but she was also lacking in many ways.

“So I must live for Kalia now. I have to be her strength.”

Growing up in poverty, it was only after tragedy struck and she entered the academy that she swung a sword for the first time.

“No…I’ll definitely be her strength.”

For example, natural things like being loved by someone or being in love with someone or obvious things like the importance of a mother and father’s affection to a child. 

Of course, if someone called a father is a scoundrel, it’s a different story.

In any case, Hemmie had made her decision a long time ago. 

She won’t be Kalia’s hands or feet. Kalia was an active person anyway, so she didn’t need anyone else to act as her hands or feet. 

So, after some thought, Hemmie decided it would be better to be a part that Kalia didn’t have. It’s being flexible according to the situation or… having wits! 

Hemmie resolutely glanced at Simon in front of her, her shining eyes glowing with determination.

A man who could be Sasha’s father.

That alone was of great importance, but there was something even more important than that.

‘Is Simon someone who can cherish Miss, even after she becomes a mother, more than anyone else in the world?’

She wanted to know if he was a man who could love Miss no matter what.

And the answer seemed to be right in front of her.

Hemmie knew how terrifying the person was staring at her like he was going to eat her up. The man could hear the answer he was looking for in various ways without waiting for Hemmie to open her mouth if he so wished. 

There’s no way someone with the title of Archmage wouldn’t know mind-manipulation magic. 

The fact that he didn’t do that was him trying to respect Hemmie. 

By now, even Allen was staring him down like he was a mortal enemy.

Why was he, the Duke of Magic, being so respectful towards them?

There could only be one reason…

He was self-conscious of Kalia.

And he was trying not to harm the people who were clearly involved with her.

That was the only answer.

‘Haaa. Huu.’

Hemmie took a short but deep breath and lifted her head stiffly.

‘Maybe this is something I can’t decide on my own. But… Staying here and now won’t be the right answer.’

Simon, who stared at her as if he could see right through her, was certainly terrifying. However, there was no reason to fear him.

‘Hemmie.’ Allen called her name softly as if he was worried.

But Hemmie and Simon’s eyes remained locked together, both of them had no intention of backing down. They stared at each other for a few seconds.

Finally, Simon, who was grinning slightly, spoke.

“The reason for looking for her?”

His tone was indifferent, and he stroked his chin with a dry touch.

The golden eyes, though seemingly lost in thought, carried a trace of Kalia’s shadow in them.

“…Because I feel like I’ll die if I don’t find her.”

His mumbled voice sounded dejected.