The Seed Thief

“Lulu!”

The voice called again from beyond the flames.

Lulu hesitated. Should she answer? Even when facing her own death, there was only one thing she was worried about.

She couldn’t call out to him. What if he came for her? What if she saw him and found herself unable to hate him? And what if… what if he died with her?

Hearing him say her name, in her final moments, was enough. So she decided to endure the pain and remain silent until he left.

But then…

“Argh!” 

A sudden, excruciating pain ripped through her abdomen. Lulu writhed, her body feeling as if it were being torn apart. At the same time, water gushed down between her legs.

“Aaaaagh!”

Lulu couldn’t help but scream at the sudden pain. As if triggered by the sound, Ervandas’s voice, which had been calling for her, suddenly stopped. 

“Ah! Ah!”  

Unbearable pain, unlike anything she had ever felt, twisted and tore at her nerves, along with the approaching flames. The agony of being twisted, crushed, and scorched all at once consumed her from within.

Lulu thrashed wildly. It hurt so much. She wished someone would just kill her quickly.

Then…

“Lulu!”

His voice, the one she had longed for, was right beside her. A heavy blanket was thrown over her, shielding her from the flames. Momentarily away from the heat, her mouth gasped for breath.

“Lulu!”

Lulu looked at the owner of the hand gripping her shoulder. There stood Ervandas, looking disheveled. His hair was tousled, his face covered in soot and tear stains, his clothes singed.

He was calling out to her in a way that he would never have allowed himself to do under normal circumstances. As Lulu struggled to look at him, a sharp pain surged down to her stomach again. 

It was happening. Her baby was coming, now, in this moment, in this place.  

Why? Why now? Why here? Why did her child, her heart’s desire, choose to be born in the midst of such agony?

She no longer had the mental capacity to blame anyone. Gathering the last shreds of her sanity, she gasped.

“Er… Take the baby…”

“Please, Lulu. Stay with me!”

“If you don’t go quickly… we’ll all die…”

Blood, mingled with amniotic fluid, gushed between her legs. It felt as if a burning coal was being ripped from her body. 

Her child, the life she had carried for so long, was fighting its way into the world, desperate, urgent. As if it knew the situation she was in. Realizing this, Lulu felt a sense of relief.

Er had come. He would take the baby. If he hurried, if he took the child and ran, that would be enough.

She had lived. She had been loved. She had tasted the sweetness of life, and she wanted her child to have the same. But it seemed like she wasn’t allowed to go that far.

“Ah…” 

Another sharp pain, this one stronger than the last, ripped through her. 

She squeezed her eyes shut, her world dissolving into a chaotic symphony of pain and sound. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even tell if the screams tearing from her throat were her own.  

The only certainty was that her child was being born, right now.

The moment the being she had carried for so long left her womb,

“…!”

Mana. Hers. Rushing back to her. And then…

“Waaaah!”

The baby’s first cry rang out amidst the chaos.

At the same time, the mana erupted in a massive explosion.

* * *

The citizens of Issolto looked at the castle with fearful eyes. Days ago, a strange, powerful explosion had occurred within the castle, its mark still visible throughout the entire lord’s castle.

The mark resembled flickering flames, and in a way, it also looked like surging waves. What was certain was that a tremendous surge of power had left a scar on the massive stone walls, a scar that would remain until the castle’s eventual demise.

The ground, despite days of clear skies, was still muddy as if a summer’s worth of rain had fallen in a single night.

People walked through the muddy streets, recounting what they had seen and heard.

“They say it was the witch, the one they tried to burn.”

“Witch? They said she was the Prince’s wife.”

“I heard she gave birth right there, in the flames. And her baby… they say it used magic to put out the fire and summon the rain.”

Surprisingly, their stories were true.

Ervandas gazed down at Lulu, her face pale in sleep. Beside her lay their child, a tiny bundle wrapped in soft blankets. Its hair, fine and downy, was a deep red, like her mother’s, a beautiful, fiery shade.

The baby had been born in the midst of the flames. Ervandas picked up the child whose umbilical cord had not yet been removed. He knew. He knew that he had to escape the flames and save the child, even if it meant leaving Lulu behind.

He knew that if he left, he and the child would survive. But what then? What would his life be worth, without her?

He had chosen the path of God, a path of service and sacrifice, because the world held nothing for him, no joy, no purpose. 

Yet, he had met Lulu. Moments of happiness had blossomed into days, weeks, months, until his life, his very being, was filled with love. 

To lose her, to watch her die… It was like the collapse of the world he had to live in.

What reason would he have to live without her?

As if answering his question, the child in his arms began to cry. Yes, there was the child. But… still, Lulu was more precious to him. Precious enough that he’d rather die with her than live without her.

He pulled her close, burying his face in her hair, knowing it was a betrayal of her wishes, a sin against his faith, and a death sentence for his child. But he couldn’t let her go. 

For months, he had longed for her, had ached for her, had pictured her alone in the forest, waiting for him. He had promised himself, when he saw her again, he’d never let her go.

And now, to abandon her? To leave her to die alone?

It was a fate worse than death.

Lulu had always been alone. If she died now, if she passed into the next world alone, she’d be alone there too, forever. He couldn’t condemn her to that. He’d rather die with her, now, than face an eternity without her.

The moment he was about to give up on everything and embrace death, the child in his arms cried. The cry brought Ervandas back to his senses. He couldn’t give up, not at this desperate moment. He had to try, to save Lulu and their child, even if it meant sacrificing himself.

At that moment, a miracle happened. 

A wind, powerful and fierce, whipped around them, swirling around Lulu and the baby. It wasn’t a normal wind. It was magic. He’d seen it a few times in the forest, when she was casting her strongest spells. 

But this… this was different. It wasn’t coming from outside, it was coming from Lulu and their child. As if they were conduits, drawing on a source of power greater than the world itself. The flames that had threatened to engulf the three of them were quickly extinguished. 

Dark clouds gathered overhead, blotting out the sun. And then, the rain came, a torrential downpour that extinguished the last embers of the pyre, washing away the smoke and ash, cleansing the square, a final warning to those who had condemned her. 

A room was immediately prepared in the castle, and a physician was summoned. He examined the baby, cut the cord, and tended to their injuries. Throughout that time, Ervandas never left Lulu’s side.

The baby was healthy. Lulu… wasn’t. She lay on the bed, her body a testament to the abuse she had suffered. She was thin, emaciated, as if she had been starved for weeks.

“She was protected by magic! I couldn’t hurt her, I swear!” 

The lord and the guards, sweating profusely, answered Ervandas’s furious questions about what they had done.

“Then explain this.” 

Ervandas held up Lulu’s hand. Her finger, the one where he had placed the ring, was broken, twisted at an unnatural angle. The mark of the ring was still visible, a testament to her desperate attempt to hold on to it. 

“It was like that when she arrived! The old woman and her son said they injured her when they captured her!”

“Bring them to me.”

Soon, two people were brought in. Before Ervandas could even question them, the old woman and her son burst into tears and began to plead for mercy. They rambled on and on, even about things he hadn’t asked, and thanks to that, Ervandas realized they were the villagers Lulu had once mentioned.

Lulu had given them precious ores, valuable finds from her forest. In return, they had offered only stale bread and feigned kindness. She had cherished their attention, believing they were her only friends in the village. 

At that time, he chose not to disillusion her. He didn’t want to disappoint her, who had proudly boasted about having humans who were kind to her. And he believed that once she was with him, they’d never have the opportunity to exploit her again.

Now, he cursed himself for shielding her from the truth. From the beginning, he didn’t want to tell her how ugly the world outside the forest was. That’s why he tried to tell her slowly while staying by her side, but who would have thought it would backfire like this? 

The old woman and her son continuously begged Ervandas for mercy. They defended themselves, saying they had only heard that she was a wicked witch and had captured her unknowingly.

It was a valid excuse. There was no way to prove they had known of her innocence. But there was one sin they couldn’t deny. Their claim on her ring.

Somehow, after the explosion of magic, the ring had returned to its original form. 

“Is this the ring you spoke of? The one you claimed was yours, the one the witch stole from you?” 

“….” 

They were silent at Ervandas’s words.

“You could only utter such nonsense because you didn’t know that this emblem on the ring is only permitted for royalty and their partners.”

The blood drained from their faces. They could argue about the witch, they could claim ignorance, but they couldn’t deny their claim on the ring since Ervandas had seen it with his own eyes.

They were dragged to the dungeon. But before they were taken away, Ervandas broke their ring fingers. 

The royal knights, as well as the castle servants, all broke out in a cold sweat, watching Ervandas calmly and meticulously break their fingers.

The pious, honorable knight they had heard about… he was gone. In his place stood a man consumed by rage, a man who would stop at nothing to avenge his woman.

Not only the old woman and her son but also the lord and his vassals, who had tried to shift the blame for their own corruption onto Lulu, were punished. They didn’t even try to defend themselves. They knew that doing so would only further anger Ervandas.