The Baby Isn’t Yours

For some, a minute could feel like hell, but for others, a month passed in such a rush that they didn’t even know how it went by.

In Lua, a local noblewoman named ‘Lia Rayman’, who had come to the hometown of her deceased husband, took up residence.

Since her arrival, the appearances of goblins and ogres have mysteriously ceased, and the townspeople welcomed ‘Lia Rayman’ as a lucky lady.

Every time that happened, Kalia smiled quietly, Allen tore his hair out, and Hemmie clenched his fists with a passionate face.

Anyway, the three strangers found their place in Lua without any major problems.

They bought a two-story house with ten rooms and spent a whole month cleaning and furnishing it. There weren’t many, but they also had to hire a few more servants to manage the mansion.

In less than a month, Kalia’s group settled into Lua without a hitch.

After a few more days, an unexpected news story appeared in the yellow-tinted newspaper that reported the capital’s news.

* * *

[Who Dared to Set Fire at the top of the Mage Tower?

If you ask who the most beautiful man in the Empire is, 7 out of 10 people will point to the Imperial Minister of Magic, the one who achieved Enlightenment, the Archmage and the Duke, Simon Teralong!

(Reference: Empire’s Power 717, 03/29

‘Please Select the Most Beautiful Man’ – Survey Agency ‘Golden Money’. 1st Place: Duke Simon Terroan (69%), 2nd Place: Prince Louimond Luhas (28%), 3rd Place: Viscount Papico Massishua (2%))

Unparalleled silvery hair that no one has ever seen, golden eyes resembling the sun, an absolute lack of gentleness – these characteristics only added to his elegance.

However, no matter how beautiful he was, he was a rose with sharp thorns. What could possibly have pricked the thorns of this cold rose?

This publication would like to carefully refer to Lochiarte, the representative of the beautiful island nation, as the source of the answer.

On the 28th, Lochiarte’s navy violated a part of Duke Terron’s territory, known as the ‘Ahokan’ waters.

Whether it was intentional or accidental is unclear, but what matters is that the magic barrier guarding the Ahokan waters was immediately activated!

A horrific attack followed against the navy.

As a result, half of Lochiarte’s proud maritime resort and tourist district,Luaman Bay, was obliterated.

Fortunately, there were no casualties, but Lochiarte had to invest an enormous amount of time and effort to rebuild their cherished tourist district.

Duke Simon Terroan claimed it was a malfunction of the magic barrier, but could it be that it was an act of retaliation against Lochiarte’s 3rd Princess who had visited the Rojas Empire last year?

This publication previously reported last month on an issue that set record sales figures since its founding, which was called ‘The One Who Incurred the Wrath of Lochiarte’s Princess.’

It was a story about Princess Luina of Lochiarte lamenting her dissatisfaction and displeasure with Duke Terroan during her stay in the imperial palace throughout the last summer.

At that time, she criticized Duke Teralong’s tastes as ‘terribly strange and bizarre’ and unhesitatingly called him an ‘arrogant and rude man’.

Not only that, she openly showed hostile feelings toward Duke Terroan, saying things like ‘Maybe he likes men’ and ‘I should doubt a thousand years of friendship with such a perverted look’…]

Reading up to this point, Kalia simply covered the thin newspaper she had been reading. Upon doing so, the familiar face on the cover was staring straight at her.

Unmatched nobility, incredible silver hair, piercingly perceptive eyes, that stubbornly pursed mouth, and a challenging gaze.

Kalia tapped the lips of the person in the picture with her finger, muttering in a serious tone.

“What on earth are you thinking, Simon?”

Unless it was something special, meaning a formal event like a war or national commemoration, Simon barely filled the newspapers or the yellow sheets. He was never a troublemaker, and he didn’t even like to be bothered by the tabloids, let alone publish a newspaper dedicated to himself.

And now, he appeared so prominently in the news.

If it wasn’t for the Duke’s permission, there wouldn’t have been such a commotion to have a publication come all the way to a rural village.

Moreover, this was already the third time it happened.

“Do you want to become a troublemaker?”

Kalia shook her head and stared blankly at her friend’s face, who she had been looking at for a long time but now couldn’t understand.

At first, the news that the imperial palace’s half had been blown up had arrived. In fact, Kalia had already guessed that Simon would do something like that. Just before she left, Simon had been extremely sensitive to anything about her for months.

The magician with a filthy temper might be angry  just because she had left him without explanation.

At the time of her departure, Simon had been extremely sensitive for some time.

But even so, she had already predicted it, so the news was less shocking.

Fortunately, the magicians of the Mage Tower said that the Crown Prince’s palace had been restored to its former state. The Crown Prince had also calmed down the surprised public with a smile, saying it was an accident that had occurred while playing a light prank on Simon.

But then, less than a week later, she heard that Simon did a ‘Full Release’ of his magic. Kalia was so surprised that she shot to her feet right then and there.

In addition to that, another piece of news followed, saying that Simon Terroan had fallen into a 3 day coma as a result of his ‘Full Release’. The news was too much, dizzying Kalia.

What did ‘Full Release’ mean?

To magicians, the ‘Full Release’ of mana was pretty much equivalent to one draining their body of blood.

It was a technique used only when there was something to gain or something to be secured by risking one’s life, or when one knew they were in danger.

But Simon had just used it. Moreover, the range of his ‘Full Release’ extended to a whopping 1 000 km.

The most extensive ‘Full Release’ recorded in history had a range of 800 km.

Of course, not all those who had reached the ‘Enlightenment’ level had used ‘Full Release’, so it wasn’t an entirely accurate comparison, but Simon had just set a new record.

‘Hah…’

Kalia was somewhat bewildered and slightly angry. It wasn’t a national crisis, and it wasn’t even during a serious battle, so why did he go into a coma-like state through ‘Full Release’?

‘Could it be that he’s doing this to find me…?’

She pondered seriously, her chin resting on her hand.

It made no sense. Why would her friend, who had simply left without a word, and not known to be the kind of man who goes around looking for people, suddenly use ‘Full Release’, something that could put his life in danger?

Was Simon really that sentimental?

No, the Simon she knew was not the kind of man to look for those who left and push away those who came. So, that wasn’t a reasonable explanation.

So that was a reason that didn’t make sense.

But… at this point, there was no other way to explain why he had used ‘Full Release’ and released his magic to this extent, other than to indicate his intention to find her.

‘No, no matter how angry that damn bastard is, is there really a need to use ‘Full Release’? He’s crazy, isn’t he?’

Although she had known this, she felt it more strongly now. Sometimes her friend behaved so sensitively and irritably for reasons she couldn’t understand, and she suspected that something similar might be happening this time.

Kalia looked at the face of Simon printed on the newspaper and sighed deeply.

Suddenly, she remembered her last conversation with the Crown Prince before leaving.

“I hope you can keep the conversation with Simon a secret. I want to leave when he’s not around.”

“It would be very, very, very annoying if he knew… Why?”

“I have personal reasons.”

“What’s that?”

“…I’m sorry. I don’t think I can answer that.”

“Even if it’s an order?”

“If Your Highness can take responsibility after hearing it. I’ll gladly…”

“…If you say that, I’ll be too scared to ask.”

In the end, the Crown Prince didn’t inquire further about Kalia’s highly personal reasons. In her conversation with Louismond, Kalia had used all the means she had.

She boasted about how she had saved Louismond, although it had been risky, and she used Louismond’s strong sense of duty to make him accept her request.

As she expected, Louismond reluctantly agreed with a very desperate expression. But he had one condition.

“…All right, let’s do it this way. I’ll allow a temporary retirement. However, if Simon finds you, you’ll have to return at that time.”

“Your Highness…”

“A few years later, the Empire will release you from your obligations, but if Simon finds you, you must return as a General.”

“Your Highness.”

“I’ve made quite a concession. You know very well that your request is quite difficult for me. Don’t make it any more difficult for me.”

Louismond firmly opposed her rebuttals and spoke affectionately with his warm green eyes.

“The Empire… I too, very much need you, Kalia… very much so.”

In the end, Kalia could no longer stubbornly go against him.

If the Crown Prince hadn’t agreed to her request and told Simon everything in advance, Simon would have blocked all the retreats so she couldn’t go anywhere until she had told him the truth.

It wasn’t the kind of personality that would leave a close friend and go into retirement without any reason, no matter how much she wished for it.

Even so, Simon, who always had a big heart for her, was like that.

“…No, no matter what, you don’t need to go so far as to risk your life to find me, Simon.”

How can you be so foolish?

Tsk.

By habit, Kalia stroked her firm belly. She lowered her head and whispered in a sweet voice so low only she herself could hear:

“My baby, see? Your dad is this kind of person. Once he’s made up his mind, nothing can change it. I’m guessing he won’t stop at nothing until he finds me. Well, he can do whatever he wants. Mom will be very well hidden.”

…Until you’re safely out into this world and I can finally meet you.

As long as she was able to safely and healthily birth her baby, Kalia was confident she could protect the child at all costs.

To put it bluntly, if she were to suddenly bring back a baby in a year’s time, who would even think it to be Simon’s child? If Kalia didn’t open her mouth, no one would be able to guess the identity of her child’s father.

As long as the child wasn’t a carbon copy of Simon… Either way, this was something Kalia couldn’t predict. A very famous saying often circulated the marks, “Even if you steal other things, you can never steal seeds.”

Anyways, this was a problem that will only arise after the child is born and for now, Kalia was still safely in her 15th week of pregnancy.