The Baby Isn’t Yours

Patrick knew that Gaia really liked his face.

That’s why he wasn’t sure that Gaia, who should have lived longer than him, would still love him even in old age, but Gaia convinced him every time.

He said hesitantly, as if he had no confidence.

“But this face you love will soon be covered with wrinkles, and I may become a fat old man!”

Gaia laughed and kissed Patrick on the eyes and the bridge of his nose.

“Listen, Patrick. So this moment is important. You are the most beautiful moment I can have. Don’t worry Patrick. You will be beautiful even in old age. Even the wrinkles around your face will be cute in my eyes. That’s what I’m telling you.”

“Huh?”

“Well, if we talk about beauty, my brothers are also quite handsome. However… You are the only one my eyes are on.”

Gaia was brave, and thanks to her determination, Patrick was also able to muster his courage.

They found things they could do, worked hard, and even bought a house. Gaia also took care of household chores, which she wasn’t very good at. If Gaia used her magical power to grow vegetables, then Patrick tried hard to collect them and cook delicious food for her.

Although they were not rich, they were happy because they had each other.

In fact, they were too happy. They were so happy that they were grateful for every moment of their lives.

But when Gaia became pregnant, they realized that it was time to make decisions.

It was their baby.

Their child will bring more responsibility, but also more happiness.

It was a precious existence that fully deserved happiness.

That is why Gaia decided to gather all her courage and announce to her family that they will soon have a beloved baby and a new family member.

“I’m going to visit my father. If he agrees, we can live together in the forest. I’ll ask him to give us a place in the forest of Nua where we can all be together. You can be the magician in the village, and I can be the lord of the forest.”

However, Kalexia was against the future of the two lovers and drove Gaia to the western part of the forest before she could tell him about her pregnancy.

Luckily, with the help of her mother, Gaia was able to recover in the forest of Loa, where she found shelter escaped at the right time with the help of the forest. They decided to wait until Kalexia’s anger subsided.

Gaia and the rest of his family knew he wasn’t going to be angry for long.

They just wanted to show their displeasure until his heart calmed down.

This means that everyone knew and pretended not to be aware of the matter, and they didn’t catch Gaia leaving the forest.

Because no one doubted that in a few months everything would calm down.

But after Gaia and Patrick found a bloodied man lying in the forest, misfortune overtook them.

The fairy’s gestation period was so long that she was not too noticeable until Gaia entered her seventh month of pregnancy.

“Oh, you saved me. How can I repay this…”

The man, who had been ill for several days, recovered enough strength to barely stand on his feet on the fifth day.

Despite the evidence of his injuries, the sight of the man when he first opened his eyes gave a strong impression of confidence.

He introduced himself as a doctor.

While working in an aristocratic family, he made a mistake and was expelled, meanwhile he smiled with a worried face, saying that the knights almost killed him.

“I’m going to Akan. I guess I can no longer live in this country.”

“If it’s Akan. Then you will have to travel from here for about a week by carriage.”

“It’s okay. I have already contacted the Akan nobles, they said they would send a carriage here for me.”

He smiled good-naturedly, but still looked very weak.

They decided to send him away when he was strong enough to walk, and lived with him for a few days.

However, they were naive.

Looking back at those days, Patrick and Gaia were really that naive.

How could you trust a man who had been beaten almost to death and passed out?

But, as always, regret came too late.

“I have to meet the nobleman from Akan tomorrow. Thank you for taking care of me all this time. I will definitely repay you someday.”

“Don’t worry about it. We didn’t help for something in return.”

The doctor looked at Gaia for a long time the next day, wondering if his question would be impolite, but he wanted to ask it anyway, just in case this was their last meeting.

“Could it be, Gaia… Are you a fairy or an elf?”

Gaia and Patrick’s eyes widened and they looked at each other. It was a reflex action caused by surprise. Patrick quickly denied it, but the doctor was skeptical.

“Among the fairies, fairies who have attained human form are considered to be of high rank. Gaia… You are a highranking fairy, aren’t you? Haha, no big thing. I know everything and just wanted to ask. I always suspected and even expected it.”

There was a hint somewhere that she was a fairy, but how did he figure it out?

The doctor looked at the surprised faces of both and smiled.

“Actually, I’ve always been interested in other races… But if I haven’t been sure about it for so long, it means that you were really very good at hiding. I feel relieved to finally confirmed this.”

He smiled softly, said goodbye and left.

On this, they thought that the connection with him ended. It was the end.

But only until he returned three weeks later with bandits…

“Wha- what! What the hell is this!”

“I heard that the life of the royal blood is in danger right now. At the same time, what I have been studying could help to preserve this precious blood. But for this I need a fairy heart. And also the fairy stone inside this heart.”

He said ‘Sorry’ with an apologetic expression on his face.

When Gaia saw him, she fainted and Patrick’s magic power froze.

He, although not a talented magician, was strong enough to release a fireball.

To prevent Gaia from being taken away, Patrick scratched the floor so that his nails fell out and bit the legs of bandits dressed in thick armor. His jaw nearly broke and his teeth fell out.

“Aghhh! N-no! No, no!”

Blood gushed and he called out to her in a hushed voice, but Gaia didn’t wake up.

Patrick writhed in pain as his heart ripped apart.

“You saved my life so I won’t kill you. I also don’t intend to kill Gaia. It’s just a matter of a heart transplant, I just need to replace it. If you feel unfair, you can come and talk to me, haha.”

As if ridiculing Patrick for yelling, they trampled him brutally and left.

Bloody-eyed Patrick stubbornly tried to catch up with them, but couldn’t control the bleeding and eventually passed out.

The first thing Patrick did when he woke up, like a rag on a cold floor, was to go into the fairy forest.

He plucked up courage and entered the forest of fairies, but at that moment the forest already completely rejected people, so he could only be thrown out of the entrance.

No matter how much he shouted Gaia’s name, his voice was scattered in the air, as if blocked by an invisible wall.

In the end, he went to Akan alone, but for some reason, Akan didn’t accept outsiders at that time.

He gathered his magical energy and managed to break into the capital, but he couldn’t find either the doctor or his wife.

He returned home, desperately trying to find other ways. He tried to restore his magic power and searched for solutions like madman.

A few more days passed like this.

Boom!

Along with the sound of something hitting the door, Patrick heard the sound of someone shouting his name.

* * *

Having read up to this point, Kalexia closed his eyes.

“…”

It was a very long letter.

The ten-page story was written on thin parchment.

With what heart did this man write it?

The handwriting was sloppy and the lines crooked.

Sometimes there were places where the ink was deeply absorbed into the paper, as if the writer was holding his breath for a short time.

There were also traces of the letters, which had spread from moisture and blurred into a circle.

Kalexia felt his eyes begin to burn and held his breath for a moment.

He felt like a deep black hole was dug, because of which his heart turned cold and couldn’t warm up.

As if someone tore his heart and then poured boiling water over an empty place.

He was pierced by deep pain and a wail that was impossible to explain in words of pain.

It was so painful.

The most painful thing for him was a feeling of despair and remorse, which he had never experienced before. Remorse that cut sharper than a sword.

“Gaia.”

…My child, my daughter. My little girl, whom I loved more than anyone else.

A lot of light gathered around him, as if sympathizing with his grief.

The spirits following him hovered around the king.

They tried to comfort him by stroking his shoulders, back, arms and stroking his cheek, sharing their warmth with him.

The air slowly vibrated like the cry of spirits, and a warm wind surrounded it.

Kalexia opened his eyes with difficulty, swallowing a trembling breath.

He didn’t want to finish the remaining letter. He was afraid.

He was afraid that the most terrible truth, which he didn’t know, would be revealed.

However, he had to know.

He had to know everything about the last day of his daughter, about the hidden tragedy.

* * *

Boom!

At this sound, Patrick jumped out, hesitant.

And there he found a familiar fairy lying on the ground.

“G-Gaia!”

Patrick rushed to her and hugged her, and gasping for breath, Gaia wept in his arms.

“Pa… Patrick.”

Gaia called out to him in a low voice that seemed about to break off. Looking at him, she smiled faintly, and it broke Patrick’s heart.

“Look… look at me.”

“Oh, Gaia. Gaia. My fairy. My heaven. What, what happened to you?”

Gaia looked very unusual.

She was bandaged all over her body, her face almost pitch black. The color of the blood flowing from her chest was also close to black.

And the most incredible thing is the large bat wings attached to her back.

“Patrick! Ugh…! Concentrate and listen carefully to what I’ll tell you.”

She tried to breathe without losing her gaze, but her voice trembled.

Grabbing Patrick’s hand, she told him a shocking story.