The Baby Isn’t Yours

Simon’s face turned deathly pale.

He stood there, unable to dare to approach Kalia in that state, as if a massive hammer had struck the back of his head.

“Ah…”

Only an ‘Ah’ came out of his trembling lips.

In the end, Simon tightly sealed his mouth.

“…”

“…”

The two of them remained silent for a moment, unable to find the words, both too surprised to speak.

The sight of Kalia in pain, her dry lips nervously moistening her lower lip, was evident from the grimace on her face, but Simon was still in a state of shock.

Simon’s trembling pupils instinctively roamed over Kalia’s face.

His hungry gaze stuck to her, greedily drinking in her presence.

Kalia had gained some weight, and her cheeks were rounder, making her look more captivating. Dressed in a fluttering house dress, she appeared somewhat innocent.

Her hand was lovingly cradling her round belly, which seemed unfamiliar yet beautiful.

“You… Your belly.”

Trying not to let his voice shake, Simon finally managed to speak, clearing his dry throat.

“…What happened?”

Kalia responded with a mocking smile, as if the question was ludicrous.

“What do you mean? It’s exactly what it looks like.”

Hearing Kalia’s voice, which he hadn’t heard for so long, made Simon feel relieved. It was the voice he remembered, the familiar sound that warmed his heart.

“So… I mean, right now, what I’m seeing… No, how… No, more than that, who… When…”

In that moment, a flash of an image from a day in the past crossed Simon’s mind. He blinked, looking at Kalia.

Kalia’s gaze had become somewhat uneasy as if she had read his expression.

Simon hesitated for a moment and then took a step closer to her.

“You, don’t tell me, that time…”

Before his sentence even ended, Kalia replied in a calm voice:

“No.”

“…Kalia!”

“I said no… Ah, ugh…”

Kalia’s face, which had been fine just a moment ago, suddenly contorted. She clutched her belly, swayed for a moment, then sat down on the floor.

Simon, who had been standing there in a daze, snapped back to reality and rushed to Kalia.

He held her shoulders, stiff as a board, as he whispered soothing words, stroking her as if to calm her.

“Kalia, Kalia… Oh, my goodness, Kalia…!”

“Wait… Just a moment…”

Kalia’s breathing had become rougher than before. She clutched Simon’s arm urgently.

Her grip was so tight that her hand turned pale.

“Ugh, huu… Allen. Call Allen.”

When the name of another man came out of her mouth, Simon’s pale face crumpled.

Kalia asking for Allen to be called felt like thorns were jabbing into his chest.

“Why… that guy…!”

“Stop… Uh…”

Unable to speak, Kalia panted heavily.

After taking a deep breath, she suddenly shouted in a loud, harsh voice.

“Simon, call Allen… Quickly!”

In response to her resolute command, Simon quickly came to his senses.

‘I shouldn’t be foolish… not a time for jealousy.’

Gritting his teeth, he lifted Kalia’s trembling body and hugged her.

With a few words, a teleportation gate opened.

Without hesitation, Simon leaped inside.

* * *

The teleportation gate quickly pushed the two of them into a room where Allen and Hemmie were.

The two were pacing back and forth anxiously in the room, and when the space suddenly tore apart, Simon leaped out of it, surprising them.

However, what left the two even more bewildered was the sight of Kalia moaning in Simon’s arms.

“My, my goodness, Miss Kalia!”

Hemmie’s voice rang out loudly enough to tear through the air.

Alarmed by this unusual sight, Allen and Hemmie hurriedly ran over to Kalia.

“Lady Kalia! Is it labor pains?”

“Y-yes, it hurts. I… don’t know…”

“Is it very painful? What’s the timing between contractions?”

“Every… two minutes. I… don’t know. Just… it hurts… it hurts.”

“Take deep breaths. If you focus on your breathing, it will hurt less. Just breathe, pay attention to your breathing.”

“Haa…”

Kalia gripped Simon’s arm tightly while taking shallow breaths, biting down on the pain.

Simon saw Kalia in such pain for the first time.

Kalia, who hadn’t suffered this much even when her arm was cut off or when her abdomen was pierced…

The Kalia now was drenched in cold sweat, her face deathly pale as if she might die any moment.

“Kalia, Kalia! Is it painful? How painful is it? Should I cast a spell? What should I do…”

Simon, overwhelmed by shock and fear, held her hand and implored desperately. He wanted to make Kalia feel better, to ease her pain in any way he could.

But it was Allen who stopped Simon.

He firmly said:

“Magic won’t work! A mother has to push the baby out, and if she’s under a spell, her ability to push will be reduced. This is a pain that the mother must endure on her own. Kalia will be fine; she’s a strong woman.”

Allen spoke as if reassuring himself more than Simon.

No one could help her. Childbirth was something only the mother could endure, a moment of pain only she could bear.

As Kalia felt the contractions subside, she clenched her teeth. Her breathing seemed to quicken, as if breathing was becoming difficult.

Simon seized Kalia’s hand, his face contorted with anguish. It felt like his heart was being crushed to pieces.

“The contractions are less than three minutes apart. The baby could come soon. We need a delivery bag, but…”

Allen bit his lower lip in anxiety.

He had never imagined the need for an unplanned delivery during a time of unexpected encounters with unfamiliar people.

Ironically, Simon was the one who reassured Allen, albeit with a hostile glare. He asked:

“If you need anything, I’ll fetch it. Where is your bag?”

“It’s in my room on the second floor, inside the wardrobe.”

Allen, foreseeing that the childbirth was imminent, had prepared everything he might need for the labor at any time.

Simon immediately moved to retrieve Allen’s bag.

After a short spell, he disappeared from the room.

Meanwhile, Hemmie immediately prepared several sheets of clean towels and a bucket of hot water.

This was something that Allen had taught Hemmie in advance.

The lord’s castle was in panic again because Simon suddenly brought in a pregnant woman who was about to give birth.

The castle’s residents, who hadn’t been able to sleep a wink, were shaken to and fro, wondering why the dawn was so long today.

“Who on earth is she?”

The tired lord’s wife took a break from caring for her husband and came to see what was happening.

“She is an important person. So, please help this person to give birth safely now. Do you have a clean room where we can carry out the birth?

Allen’s face was so desperate as he spoke urgently that the lord’s wife immediately erased her tired expression and led him straight to her room.

“This is my bedroom. You can use it, let the mother rest there.”

“Thank you.

“There are maids in the castle who used to help with childbirth. I’ll call them.”

Soon Simon returned with the bag Allen had mentioned.

His pale face remained the same, but his golden eyes sparkled with regained determination.

He looked at Kalia, lying on the bed and biting her lip in pain.

He could only optimize the conditions of this room. He sanitized everything in the room with a simple spell, even though Allen didn’t ask him to.

Allen left Simon to his work and, with the two maids that the lady of the castle had sent, went into the room.

After a while, Allen came out of the room and said, his lips pressed firmly:

“We have to wait. As time passes, the contractions will become stronger. We can only wait for the door to open.”

Simon stared at Allen with a distorted expression, challenging him.

“Is that all you can say? Is there nothing else you can do?”

Allen met Simon’s defiant gaze with a firm one of his own.

“As I said, childbirth is a pain that only the mother can endure. It’s not something you can share, but at least, the pain of giving birth is something both partners should experience together. I believe that witnessing just how difficult and challenging it is to give birth to a child is also the responsibility of a partner.”

What did that mean?

Allen’s gaze was inscrutable, but it seemed to hold a lot of meaning.

Allen’s dark eyes gazed directly into Simon’s golden ones.

Glancing at the watch on his wrist, Allen looked back at Hemmie.

He spoke languidly, his tired face matching his voice.

“Hemmie, call me when the waters break. I’ll be up there for a while.”

“Where do you go leaving a patient in such pain?”

Simon grabbed him, but Allen just looked at him without saying a word. Allen, who had hesitated before, finally found his words and said:

“Because I’m not Sasha’s father.”

It was a bitter statement but also a resolute one.

‘Allen isn’t Sasha’s father.’

As Kalia once said, Allen wasn’t the baby’s father.

But the man in front of him…

‘It makes sense. There’s no one else closer to the lady than this person.’

Simon raised an eyebrow as if asking what he meant.

‘It’ll be right. This is the only person close enough to her to confuse love and friendship.’

Simon raised his eyebrows as if asking what that meant.

“This means that the person who has to hold her hand now is not a doctor.”

If he still didn’t understand after saying that…

Allen turned calmly, suppressing his innermost thoughts and feelings.