The Baby Isn’t Yours

Although it had become thinner, it was, after all, a dragon egg, so it wouldn’t easily break if it fell to the ground.

Hemmie thought that was fortunate as she yelled in frustration.

“Let go of me! If you don’t, I’ll scream! Aaah!”

Hemmie screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to threaten Viscount Shelton further.

But there was something odd about the way the lord’s eyes looked from up close. His gaze was vacant, as if his pupils were empty, and his pupils were vertically elongated.

As Hemmie frowned in confusion, something moved and wriggled under her buttocks.

At the same time, the lord was about to crush her completely and get on top of her.

‘Eeeek!’

Hemmie was so startled that she let out an internal scream. She raised her fist and struck the lord’s chin with all her might, sending his head spinning.

Even though her fist made a squelching sound as it landed, Viscount Shelton didn’t seem to feel any pain.

“You madman! No, I’m precious!”

While she kicked with all her might, and her knees shot up into the air, something squishy and unpleasant brushed against her knee.

With a sickening feeling, the lord’s movements came to a halt.

The attack she had made to his groin seemed to have worked, as he suddenly turned pale. His vertically elongated pupils returned to their normal size.

Hemmie didn’t miss the opportunity and quickly retreated, looking at the shadow that had grown menacing.

She felt the fallen egg on the floor behind her waist.

“Craaa!”

At that moment, a beastly, anime-like cry came out of the lord’s mouth and his pupils pulled into vertical slits again. He couldn’t move properly, perhaps because the impact Hemmie had inflicted on the vital point was too great.

A deep, thick shadow moved under him.

The shadows as dark as a void swirled, gathering like an endless sea of darkness, and moved towards her. Or, to be exact, towards the egg.

Bzzz, bzzzzz! 

A stream of mana burst forth from the egg , striking at the shadows to threaten it.

The shadow stopped and seemed to pulse angrily. It gradually increased in volume; the black void of shadows pooled thickly outwards.

As if responding to it, the amount of electricity exploding from the egg also increased. 

Hemmie, who was hugging the egg, could immediately feel the increase in power. Though the power the egg was releasing was overwhelming, she guessed that it was forcing itself to do this.

Hemmie hurriedly hugged the egg tighter.

‘No, this egg is going to die.’

She felt the temperature of the originally hot egg gradually grow colder. From the looks of it, the more magical power that flowed out of this egg, the faster it seemed to die. It was as if it was squeezing out the remaining mana that had barely been sustaining its vitality.

“No, no, no… don’t die. You can’t die. You’re going to survive, don’t die like this.”

Hemmie kept whispering to the egg, hugging it tightly in sorrow.

The bulky shadows were still growing and were gradually rising off the ground. Having gotten to her feet somewhere in the commotion, Hemmie backed away with a white face. 

Her back touched the wall behind her.

She felt a cool breeze blow around her body and realized that her back had hit the window she was looking out only a little while ago.

Should she jump out the window?

The thought crossed her mind briefly, but she quickly abandoned it.

Jumping out wouldn’t solve everything. Her body would splatter, and the egg would find a way to roll, and besides, this was Viscount Shelton’s castle.

Chances were that she would just be caught again.

She could hear the rain falling outside.

Listening to the sound of the pouring rain, Hemmie thought about Kalia.

If only she were here…

But then, she thought that was absurd. She had depended on Kalia’s strength and had believed that Kalia would protect her when she was desperate…

Once again, thinking about her own weakness, Hemmie felt helpless.

“You, shadow… You… just come closer! K-Kalia will scold you later!”

Hemmie gritted her teeth and used Kalia’s name as her final bluff.

Holding the egg close and sharing her warmth, she stared at the towering shadow with determined eyes, trying not to tremble.

But it was all in vain.

“…Kalia.”

Given the situation, the only thing Hemmie could wish for right now was to return safely tomorrow.

Ah, Kalia would soon give birth to Sasha. She had promised to be the first to give Sasha a bath… Kalia would be so worried… If she thought for a second that this was her fault that we got hurt…

‘Please, please… Let’s go back to Kalia safely tomorrow.’

With closed eyes, Hemmie fervently made that wish.

Swish!

With the sound of the wind parting, Hemmie sensed something.

The mad shadow creature had launched an attack toward her while holding the egg.

She had trembled in anticipation of pain or agony, but strangely, she didn’t feel a thing.

‘What’s going on…?’

Hemmie raised her tightly closed eyes with suspicion in her gaze, looking ahead.

The shadow, which had expanded like a thorn, was now frozen in a wide, sprawling shape. Behind the trembling shadow, which couldn’t move an inch, Hemmie heard someone’s footsteps.

“The castle management is a mess.”

Unknowingly, in an annoying, low voice, a voice she found oddly familiar grumbled.

“That’s true. Who the heck is this guy who suddenly showed up? Oh, there’s someone lying here… Isn’t he the lord of this castle?”

The following voice was unfamiliar, but when that familiar voice was heard again, Hemmie felt her heart tremble more than when the shadow was about to engulf her.

“…Very unsightly.”

With that displeased word, the enormous shadow, which had been restricted, trembled and made a final struggle.

At that moment, a part of the defiant shadow, which had been wriggling back and forth, rushed out.

It was only the size of a palm, but it was unnaturally fast.

Simon’s gaze briefly noticed the shadow retreating, but he didn’t pay it much attention.

Soon, a bright blue flame erupted, covering most of the massive shadow, and then burst forth.

Overwhelmed by the flaming blue, Hemmie watched the shadow collapsing. Without even screaming, it quickly perished, and through the vanishing black aura, dazzling silver hair emerged.

“Huff.”

Unintentionally, Hemmie gasped and quickly covered her mouth.

‘How can he be here…!’

Golden eyes, towering figure, and perhaps Sasha’s father, Simon Terroan – Kalia’s one and only friend.

She was so startled that she stared at him like an idiot, forgetting even to breathe.

His initially indifferent gaze, which was fixed on Hemmie, began to change gradually.

His complexion, which had stiffened unpleasantly, started to twitch subtly, and soon his chest swelled as if surprised.

With raised eyebrows, he looked at Hemmie beyond the shadow.

His face contorted into a heart-wrenching look and his chest clenched.

Disregarding the two bodies on the ground, he quickly approached Hemmie.

Hemmie, who saw him getting closer, trembled even more than the moment the shadow tried to attack her. Hugging the egg tighter, she hurriedly lowered her head to avoid his gaze.

She stammered out a sentence from his lips that were trembling like a fool.

“Tha-Thank you for saving me-“

“Kalia.”

“Hick.”

Hemmie froze, biting her lip.

Seeing her response, Simon hastily grabbed Hemmie’s wrist and asked in a simmering voice.

“…Where is Kalia?”

His unfathomable emotions threatened to well up and bubble over. She glanced down. He tightly held Hemmie’s wrist, showing a firm grip with his white fingers.

Though it wasn’t painful, it assuredly conveyed that he wouldn’t let go.

‘Oh no, I’m doomed.’

Hemmie closed her eyes tightly, keeping her lips shut.

This night seemed too long.

* * *

It was a chaotic dawn.

The night-long sound of rain couldn’t lull the bustle in the castle.

Woken from sleep due to loneliness, the lord’s wife had ventured outside in search of her absent husband, only to hear the loud commotion on the fourth floor.

Surprisingly, she found her husband bathed in cold sweat, lying on the floor. The guest rooms were in disarray, as if a catastrophe had occurred.

Even imperial magicians were present in one of the rooms, and one of them was an immensely powerful figure she would rarely meet in her lifetime.

In amazement, the lady of the castle was lost for a moment. Then she quickly regained her composure.

Her husband, sprawled on the floor, groaned in agony, causing her to promptly gather her wits.

“Um, first, let’s take care of my collapsed husband. Hey, call the physician immediately and escort the lord to his room!”

The castle’s knights rushed over and carried the lord to his room.

Unfortunately, the local physician who resided in the castle was absent, but Allen, who had been unconscious but had now woken, examined the lord’s condition.

After the examination, Allen explained the situation to the lord’s wife with an awkward expression.

“He fainted due to exhaustion, that’s all. It’s… it seems his abdomen was struck considerably or he suffered from severe pain. I’ve prescribed painkillers, but… fortunately, there should be no permanent damage to his functions, though he should take it easy for a while.”

Though a specialist in obstetrics and pediatrics, as a man, Allen could empathize with how much pain the lord was currently experiencing.

He was embarrassed as he spoke, and the lord’s wife had turned bright red and simply nodded her head.

However, upon seeing Hemmie, who couldn’t raise her head, the Allen could only make a vague guess about the extent of her involvement.

Having suddenly fainted and woken up to this strange situation, everything seemed to have become abnormal.

Hemmie, who couldn’t raise her head, likely had an essential role to play.

When he woke up after he had suddenly fainted, the situation became strange in many ways. Putting aside his urgent need to leave, Allen tried to figure out the precarious situation.