The Baby Isn't Yours

Leah blinked her eyes slowly as if she had heard unexpected words.

Then, tilting her head as if puzzled, she asked.

“Why?”

Titiana didn’t hesitate to answer.

“There’s no need for that.”

Pause.

Leah’s hand stopped in mid-air.

“What do you mean? Are you saying that the Primordial Tree is a tree that doesn’t need to be revived?”

Titiana’s calm but cold words confused Leah a little.

Titiana filled an empty teacup and spoke again.

“Leah, the Primordial Tree has watched over this world for much longer than we have imagined.”

“But…”

“It must have experienced countless deaths and crises. Did the tree sacrifice itself each time to protect its place?”

The Primordial Tree.

The existence that could turn a single small tree into a forest.

To the fairies and elves who relied on the forest as their foundation, the tree was no different from a mother.

There was no way such a tree would have stood by without witnessing the tragedies of the races it had nurtured and raised.

Like the Holy War hundreds of years ago.

But what did the Primordial Tree do back then?

Did it sacrifice itself to protect this world or the generations?

No, it didn’t.

Until now, the tree had merely watched over the course of that war from its place.

“What does that mean, Titiana?”

However, now the tree was protecting and guarding Leah even at the cost of its own life force.

It was a completely different aspect from its silent and unmoving presence until now.

Titiana, perhaps, thought that the meaning behind its actions was very clear.

The end.

It was the end of life itself.

“It may have already sensed its own end. Like a dazzling flame that burns most brilliantly just before it extinguishes, it may have poured all its strength to protect you.”

Leah closed her mouth, unable to utter a word in response to Titiana’s words.

“….Ha.”

Because she herself might have thought the same way.

Titiana sighed softly and looked at Leah.

She was well aware of Leah’s affection and trust towards the Primordial Tree.

Since it was the tree that had protected her while she was in slumber, she would be even more eager to save it.

She couldn’t just let it die.

“Leah, you know that Nation and Ektarion have enough power to annihilate the demons. We can fight against them even without relying on the power of the Fruit.”

“But…”

“Yeah, if we have the Fruit, we can gain even greater destructive power. But it’s not necessarily essential. Not to the extent where you have to sacrifice your revitalized life force…”

Titiana looked straight into Leah’s eyes.

“I don’t think it would ever want that.”

Leah sighed softly and brushed her shortened hair as she spoke.

She couldn’t say anything because Titiana’s words were right.

“But I still want to save it. I don’t want to lose it.”

“Yew, I understand your feelings, Leah. But…”

Leah paused.

“Would the tree actually want you to sacrifice your own life force after going through such hardships to bring you back to life?”

She hadn’t considered that aspect until now.

“With great determination, it protected and revived you. I’m not sure if the tree would want you to sacrifice yourself and save it in return.”

Titiana showed a sad smile towards Leah, who stared at her without saying a word, seemingly shocked.

“Perhaps it’s time for a new sprout to grow.”

* * *

Leah backed up more easily than expected.

She realized her own impatience, as she had not considered the will of the tree.

Titiana held Leah, who appeared tormented, and infused her with the energy of the elves.

She couldn’t give her the answer Leah wanted, but she wanted to alleviate Leah’s self-blame towards the tree, even if only slightly.

It may not have been a grand treasure, but it would have a significant effect in relieving the tree’s pain.

Titiana stood by the window and waved her hand towards Leah, who was returning to her own forest.

‘Leah.’

A beautiful, kind, and resilient fairy.

And Titiana’s very old friend.

“I may have captivated you with grand words like the will of the tree… but, to be honest, maybe I just didn’t want you to fall into danger again, Leah.”

She spoke as a wise adversary, feigning coldness, but perhaps deep down she simply didn’t want to sacrifice Leah.

Now that she had become an old woman, Leah was a precious friend with little time left, a companion of seemingly eternal time.

As this thought crossed her mind, it seemed that Titiana herself had become much weaker.

“Yeah, it seems I’m getting older.”

She let out a wry smile and adjusted the shawl draped over her bony shoulders.

“By the way, my great-grandson and Leah’s granddaughter. It seems I’ll live to see quite a lot.”

Titiana smiled strangely at the unexpected thread of fate that had entangled them.

Like it couldn’t be helped, or perhaps finding it slightly amusing.

There was nothing as unexpected as this fate and connection.

Never could she have expected that the granddaughter who had left the Elven race behind would become entwined with Leah’s family.

“…Helena.”

Titiana recalled her great-granddaughter with long black hair and deep green eyes.

To be honest, her face didn’t come to mind distinctly.

However, the silent venom in those deep green eyes had not been forgotten.

“…I will give birth to the greatest child who can go anywhere, on this continent.”

The child with those eyes full of venom had claimed to give birth to the greatest child.

“I am curious. What kind of child he is…”

Being born doesn’t automatically make someone great, but Titiana couldn’t even imagine how Helena would have raised her child.

“Your affection for the child should not have been twisted.”

Titiana gazed at the sunset, worried that it was already too late.

* * *

To catch up with their delayed schedule, Kalia and her party hurriedly moved their feet.

The carriage passed through suburban cities without rest, and Simon maximized the distance traveled, teleporting hundreds of kilometers in an instant.

Even after rushing like that for several days, the carriage carrying Kalia’s party couldn’t cross the imperial peninsula.

However, it was impractical to continue marching for several more days in a row, so they decided to find a suitable city and rest for a day.

Looking at the map, Simon pointed out a suburban city called Lakoa, which was just a little further ahead.

“Why are we going there?”

Kalia asked curiously, as there were other towns they could enter right away.

Simon smiled mischievously and replied, “There’s a fairly large Lakoa Magic Branch there. The head of the branch is someone you know too.”

“Someone I know?”

“Yeah, Hendrik Chanceller. The guy who clashed with you pretty badly during the academy days.”

‘…Clashed? Why?’

Kalia quietly tried to recall her memories of the academy days, but she couldn’t remember anything specific.

Most of the time, she was with Simon, and whenever she tried to make friends or engage in activities with others, strange things would often happen in the middle.

For example, a friend who had many classes together with Kalia would set up a lunch appointment, but would always be absent the next day. Or a friend who often sparred with her would invite her to their mansion, only for a sudden fire to break out and cancel the appointment.

There were even instances when as part of the academy’s scholarship activities, some scholarship students planned a one-night, two-day expedition to an area infested with monsters, but suddenly, that monster-infested area turned into a wasteland, and the monsters were cleanly exterminated.

Since this pattern repeated consistently, Kalia didn’t have much time to interact with other students or build friendships.

Furthermore, she didn’t have the nature to feel resentful or lonely about it, so she simply graduated without dwelling on it.

Also, because Simon was practically with her every day, she didn’t have much room for other thoughts.

During the tumultuous period, there was no time to spare due to the heavy responsibility of guarding the crown prince.

‘…Hendrik Chanceller? Who is that?’

In her pensive thoughts, a momentary image of a red-haired man came to mind.

“Ah, could it be that stalker!”

As Kalia clenched her fist and slammed it on the palm of her hand, Simon nodded in agreement.

The perennial third-ranked Hendrik Chanceller!

Until the time before Simon and Derek entered the academy, he was a genius magician who attracted everyone’s attention.

One day, he got caught putting laxatives in Simon’s food and received a severe beating from Kalia.

An unprecedented confrontation between a magician and a swordsman took place, and unfortunately, Kalia overwhelmingly won.

Hendrik’s spine was shattered before he could even manifest his magic…

Since then, he stopped following Simon around or even casting a glance at him.

He lived quietly and graduated quietly.

“To hear his old name here… It brings back memories. Although we weren’t close.”

They weren’t particularly close friends, but hearing a familiar name still brought a sense of joy.

Of course, she didn’t expect that person to welcome them with open arms, but well, they had to temporarily change their appearance wherever they went.

‘I haven’t seen him since graduation.’

They weren’t on such familiar terms that she would take an interest in his whereabouts, but…

‘Come to think of it, I feel a bit sorry for how I beat him up back then… Well, it’s fine. I should let it go.’

Kalia’s carriage immediately headed for Lakoa.

* * *

As Kalia and her party rode the carriage and approached the outer walls of Lakoa, they came to a stop because of the gatekeepers who held their carriage.

“We request your identification.”

The gatekeepers wore hats on their heads, masks on their faces, and thick gloves on their hands as they sternly demanded identification.

It was natural for them to ask for identification, but the atmosphere was unexpectedly severe for a commercial hub like this.

Furthermore, they were completely covered from head to toe, hiding their appearance…

Simon’s eyes gleamed sharply.