The Baby Isn’t Yours

“Yes, that.”

Seeing Kalia nodding in response, Nua scratched her cheek as if embarrassed and smiled.

“Well, nothing like that. Hoa mentioned that my father said that you’re quite strong… That’s why I came up with some tests. I didn’t want to get attached to a weak child. What if I love you and you suddenly die?”

-What? Just for this? Is that why you attacked Kalia? What kind of fairy are you? So I’m not your family? I’m weak.-

Gaia listened to her sister with an unkind look.

“What are you talking about? Where are you weak? Well, of course it could be physical, but… I’ve never seen a braver fairy than you, Gaia. How brave are you to love people?”

-…I can’t say anything because I don’t remember.-

“I was just trying to scare her. That’s why I put so much effort into this from the very beginning… God, she didn’t blink an eye. That’s why I went a little further.”

There was no expression on Nua’s face as she spoke with a shrug.

She laughed out loud as if she really couldn’t help it.

Hoa and Nua seemed to be the most belligerent women of their family.

Perhaps if Gaia had been born strong, wouldn’t she have become the same?

Kalia, who had only part of her blood flowing through her, was quite belligerent and perhaps didn’t even know that this temperament was in her blood.

‘If that were the case, Gaia would not have died quietly in a place no one knew about.’

Kalia’s face suddenly darkened as she came to that thought.

Gaia, how did her mother die?

Where and how did she give birth to her and what did she die of? And what happened to her father?

And until then, vague doubts and curiosity grew uncontrollably in her.

-Kalia?-

Gaia brought her face closer to Kalia’s worried face.

Seeing her reflection in her eyes, Kalia smiled as if she was fine.

“I’m okay.”

-Tell me if something hurts you. Oh! Or tell me if someone is bothering you. Now I’ve become stronger.-

“Have you become stronger?”

Gaia smiled brightly and whispered secretly into Kalia’s ear.

But no one in the room heard her.

-It’s a secret, but by becoming the spirit of this bracelet, I can do something. I can even change shape?-

“Change shape?”

‘What do you mean?’

-Yeah. For example, I can turn into something like a sword or an arrow. Oh, of course, I’m not changing on my own, but the shape of the bracelet is changing, and at the same time I’m in it to control the power… Anyway, it’s possible.-

“Ah, if that’s so, I’ll tell you when you need it.”

Nua, who was listening to them, intervened. Her hand pointed to the bracelet on Kalia’s hand.

“Amuntia. This is the name of an ancient spirit who helped the god of the sun, who destroyed evil in the sacred temple, the first and last place on earth. It’s funny because it’s the most evolved form of spirit.”

“The spirit of the sun god who destroyed evil?”

“Yes. So Amuntia’s bracelet can use both divine and natural powers. It’s very valuable.”

“Oh.”

Kalia stroked the simple bracelet that fluttered around her wrist.

Kalexia said he would lend it to Kalia, but she didn’t seem to want to take it.

And Gaia, who was sleeping inside, didn’t seem to leave either.

‘But this is too valuable a thing for me to own. What should I do?’

Had Gaia read Kalia’s mind?

-Just take it.- Gaia, who was studying her face, whispered into Kalia’s ear.

“…Yes?”

-Take it for yourself. They should have given it to me anyway. It would be nice to give you something like that, Kalia. So keep it to yourself, okay?-

As if in reassurance, Gaia winked one eye.

‘What is this boldness…’

Apparently, her mother was much bolder and more reckless than she seemed.

In the end, Nua also told Gaia that she was the bravest fairy in the world.

Kalia looked at Gaia, who was smaller than her; she looked at Kalia and suddenly stepped closer.

-You got hurt.-

A small hand traced the scar on Kalia’s earlobe.

“Hurt?”

-Yes, you have a scratch here.-

Kalia, who felt no pain at the touch, touched her earlobe.

The piece of ice that broke off during the fight with Nua seemed to have hit her.

It wasn’t a wound for Kalia, but not for Gaia. She puffed out her round cheeks and rushed towards Nua with a frightened face.

-Nua! Kalia was hurt because of Nua! You’re stupid! What if I hurt you! –

“What, what? Are you hurt? Where?”

Gaia hit Nua on the back with a clenched fist and scolded her.

But Gaia’s fist against Nua’s hard body was hardly a light pat to her sister. It was just a nice sound.

Nua approached Kalia with wide eyes.

“It’s okay. I don’t even feel it.”

It was only a superficial wound, barely touching the earlobe.

Kalia waved her hand like it didn’t matter much, but Nua stared at the scar on her earlobe.

“Right. Oh, is it still bleeding?”

It was non-lethal, but a reddish color appeared over the wound.

However, Gaia looked at Nua with a distressed face. As if to indicate that she was angry, yellow flames flared up around her.

“What, Gaia? Now can you use this?”

-Yes I can. So don’t treat Kalia so bad in the future.-

“Oh, that’s amazing. You used to be afraid of fire. On the day when you saw the burned forest, you were so afraid of it that you didn’t even want to leave me even in a dream.”

-…I don’t know what you mean. I don’t remember that. Hmph!-

At Nua Gaia’s words, she quickly turned away, as if she didn’t remember at all.

A sense of shame showed through pouted lips.

Because she was only a fragment, it seemed like she didn’t have all of her memories.

Nua, who was looking at Gaia with a sad expression, stroked her little sister’s hair as if she wanted to mess it up.

Then she smiled and turned to Kalia.

“However, I’m sorry I hurt you, so I’ll give you a gift.”

‘…Another gift?’

Kalia shook her head as she remembered the countless gifts she had received from her family.

“It’s okay. It’s not a big wound. What I have received so far is too much…”

“I would like you to accept it. Or Gaia will burn me to death.”

-Yeah! Take what she gives you, Kalia. No matter what, Nua is generous.-

While Kalia hesitated, Nua bit her fingertip until it bled. Then she reached out and pressed the tip of her index finger against Kalia’s forehead.

[Nua Fonterno Cassias.]

As she whispered in the ancient fairy language, a kind of power passed from her fingertips to Kalia’s forehead. At the touch, her forehead became hot, as if she had been burned.

When Nua removed her hand, a snowflake-shaped mark flickered dimly on Kalia’s forehead.

“Here, I leave my power, and if you call Nua, an ice sword will appear. You already know what it is when you saw it before. It can be used at any time.”

Nua’s cool fingertips ran through Kalia’s lemony hair like Gaia’s.

Kalia felt cold, but the tenderness of her aunt’s hands was warm.

This is a present from your aunt.

“I think I got rich these days. I have too many gifts…”

“My siblings gave you a lot of things, didn’t they? I feel the strength of my family everywhere here.”

Haha, Nua laughed and smoothed her short hair, looked around and sighed.

They brought you a lot of good things. Wow! They didn’t give me anything, although I asked a lot!

Nua’s gaze found the small vial on the nightstand.

It was icy tears that, just by drinking them, made you immune to the cold for years to come. How she longed for it. She’d never had the strength to tame the northern cold… She couldn’t believe she was seeing it here.

Nua felt ridiculous.

‘By the way, where did my father go?’

She returned from the country of the far north for the first time in a long time, but she was never able to meet her father, who called her.

According to her siblings, he seemed to be long gone.

‘Since he’s the head, I’m sure he went to the dimensional rift… But it won’t take long if I go there, right? Is there something wrong? And the strange Ganini’s attitude…‘

The first older brother who was kind of tough. He said that he could not leave the Forest of Sources until his father arrived.

Moreover, there is something to pay attention to.

Nua, who was silently thinking about her thoughts, suddenly looked out the window.

‘Father, what happened all of a sudden? Where have you gone?’

The red sun was setting.

* * *

Crack.

There was a rustle of leaves under the feet of a huge man.

It was too close to the city to call it a forest, but too deserted to be a private home.

The small building, which might have been a beautiful home in the distant past, was surrounded by strong vines, making it difficult to recognize its shape.

“It’s been 26 years.”

Kalexia stood before it.

The old abandoned house didn’t suit him at all, as if it was about to fall apart along with him, who had grown up due to travel through dimensional rifts.

Kalexia silently looked at the disgusting house, then waved her hand and cleaned the vines. At his gesture, the moss disappeared, the vines receded, and a house appeared in front of his eyes, a little old, but still intact enough to think that this house was abandoned only recently.

Kalexia slowly entered the house.

This house was very small and old, but to him it was clean and beautiful.

The ceiling barely touched his head, damp furniture rotted here and there.

However, the reason why Kalexia returned to this place, no, the reason why he couldn’t get rid of it.

Because Gaia lived here, and Gaia died here.