The Baby Isn't Yours

“It’s amusing.”

Buford laughed cruelly as he looked around the empty square with the Fairy Tree.

It had been a boring month-long journey.

Throughout the trip, he had spread Akan Cream generously.

He hadn’t forgotten to send one or two chimeras near the Fairy Forest to create an atmosphere of terror.

According to the message from Marquis Aonti, who had become Buford’s lackey, the atmosphere in the capital was gloomy and tense, much like during a war.

Things were going as planned. According to his intention to destroy the Empire inside and out step by step.

Just one thing bothered him…

‘Kalia Tacskate.’

Wasn’t that woman coming to the capital now?

In fact, Buford had deliberately expedited his current schedule to cross paths with her.

There was no specific reason.

He just wanted to meet her up close, a little closer.

‘Just one more time…’

Even just thinking about her made his mouth dry and his heart beat anxiously.

If he could meet her up close again and have a conversation, he felt like he could learn more about the symptoms of this abnormality.

He chuckled softly, holding the spinning Akan Cream in his hand.

“…I wonder if I can save this country once again.”

“Hmm? What did you just say, Buford?”

“Oh, nothing. Could you stop here, Damon?”

Matching his lips with Damon’s slightly pursed lips, Buford stepped out of the carriage and stood outside.

There were hardly any people wandering around.

He saw one or two children who seemed to have come out to beg due to hunger, and a few shops with no customers.

Buford approached the children who were weakly sitting near the trees.

Though they looked worn out after days of starvation, their faces were bright and clean.

They were the uninfected children.

“Hey, kids. Hello?”

Buford smiled and lowered one knee to the ground, making eye contact with the children.

“Are you hungry?”

The children nodded without any sign of suspicion, looking at Buford warmly.

He reached out to them, holding out the Akan Cream he had brought for them.

“Then how about we go to that house with this? You can exchange it for something to eat.”

“Um, this is…”

“It’s very precious…”

The children murmured weakly in a faint voice.

Then, they looked at Buford as if asking if it was really okay to accept such a thing.

Buford just smiled without saying a word, and one of the children who seemed to be their leader hesitantly took it and held onto it.

Then, following Buford’s instructions, he ran towards the largest and most secluded mansion visible from the square.

Since Buford entered the square, it had been the house that attracted the most attention.

The child knocked on the door of the mansion.

No one came out.

The child bounced up and down, showing the Akan Cream, and the door creaked open.

“Where did you get this…?!”

Buford heard the voice shouting loudly and slowly walked towards the carriage he had arrived in.

There was a commotion between the child and the owner of the mansion.

To give you an idea of how big the commotion was, it was big enough for people from the neighboring house to come out and see.

Buford chuckled and returned to the carriage he had arrived in.

Then he opened the door and bought all the Akan Cream that was packed inside.

Meanwhile, the owner of the mansion where the commotion had taken place rushed towards him.

“Sir, sir!”

“What’s the matter?”

Buford turned slowly, facing the man, while holding the open carriage in front of him as a response.

The man had a ferocious gaze, with his face already covered in black spots.

The irises of the man who had been peering into the carriage that Buford had opened wildly flickered.

“Oh, how is there so much Akan Cream…”

“Well… since I came from Akan.”

“Exactly! I heard about you. It’s about the noble from Akan who is coming up to the capital!”

The man spoke as if trembling, shaking his thin hands.

“The man who gives out Akan Cream! That… that’s you, isn’t it?”

Buford raised an eyebrow in surprise, slightly curling the corners of his mouth.

“It seems like it’s me… How did such a rumor spread?”

“I am Max, the head of the Antik branchr of the Giorgio Firm. I heard it while exchanging news with the heads of the company’s branches.”

“I see.”

Buford nodded as if understanding, and Max pleaded urgently.

“Are you really going to distribute the cream?”

Buford chuckled and took a step back.

“Take as much as you need.”

“…!”

The astonished man looked at Buford with trembling eyes.

But his hesitation didn’t last long.

He immediately rushed towards the trunk and grabbed a handful of Akan Cream with both hands.

“However, there’s only one chance for each person. So… if you want more, how about calling others to come and take it?”

Buford whispered like a devil.

Max dashed into the mansion as if possessed.

Soon, his family members came rushing towards Buford’s enormous carriage.

The people in the neighboring house who had been watching them, as well as those from the next house, were also running towards them.

It was like a swarm of ants converging on a fallen candy, Buford thought.

Taking a step back, he asked the crowd with a pitiful voice.

“Oh… it seems like our cream was in high demand. What is the Imperial Family doing until the imperial citizens suffer like this?”

He sighed in a hypocritical voice.

The people who were picking up the cream spat out curses.

“The noble snobs in the imperial family must be gobbling up the cream among themselves! Bleh! Dirty nobles!”

“For heaven’s sake, they’re probably only looking out for themselves, the Emperor and the Crown Prince!”

“Even the foreign guests are more considerate of us!”

In the midst of their excitement, manipulated public opinion was spreading.

Taking advantage of the moment, Damon, who had come out of the carriage, called Buford as if it were a mistake.

“Prince Buford, we’re running late. You should leave quickly…!”

“Shh. Damon.”

The people in the square started murmuring when they heard the name ‘Prince Buford’.

“The prince… Prince of Akan.”

“The Prince of Akan brought cream for us!”

“The Prince of Akan himself! For us…”

The murmuring crowd surrounded Buford as if moved.

Amidst the sounds of gratitude, Buford took a step back with a troubled smile.

“Oh… I’ve been caught. Everyone, Akan has brought thousands of creams to help the citizens of Rojas. Please don’t worry too much.”

“Oh! Ohhh!”

“Thank you. Thank you!”

“Long live Prince of Akan!”

“Long live Akan!”

Buford smiled awkwardly and concluded with a polite greeting before stepping onto the empty carriage.

As he departed towards the capital, the residents of Antik followed behind, calling out his name.

Inside the carriage, Damon and Buford were laughing mischievously.

* * *

After Kalia and Simon’s group left for the lord’s castle, Allen and Hemmie took the children and went to the bathhouse.

“Let’s clean ourselves and eat something delicious. If we have a full stomach, we’ll sleep well too. It would be nice to take a short nap until Lady Kalia arrives.”

Hemmie gently wiped the foam, which was bubbling up and tickling Arin’s ribs, off her body.

Arin shrunk her body as if feeling embarrassed, but then she sniffed the pleasant fragrance rising from the shower foam.

“It smells good, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“The foam is so squishy and feels good. Do you want to try it too?”

“Um… yes.”

Blushing, Arin placed her hand on top of the foam bottle that Hemmie offered.

The white foam moved like jelly on the child’s hand.

Arin played with the fascinating foam for a while, and then Hemmie let her play for a moment before rinsing off the foam with warm water.

“It’s a pity. The foam was nice…”

Arin expressed her regret, soaking wet.

Hemmie placed a clean towel on Arin’s head and said.

“You can do it again. Foam bath.”

“…Can I do it again?”

“If you want to.”

With a gentle smile, Hemmie reached out and held Arin’s hand again.

“Huh…?”

Arin looked at her own hand that Hemmie lifted and widened her eyes.

The two girls’ eyes met in the air.

In a dazed voice, Hemmie murmured, “The stain is gone.”

The black stain that should have been on Arin’s fingertip had mysteriously disappeared.

* * *

At that moment.

Kalia and Simon couldn’t hide their despair after witnessing the condition of the people quarantined in the lord’s warehouse.

Most of them had infected areas that extended to their faces, with black wounds so severe that even scabs couldn’t form, revealing raw red flesh.

The problem was that the majority of the people had already progressed to that state.

Locked in the massive warehouse, the 80 or so individuals glared at each other, getting angry over trivial matters.

If their shoulders accidentally bumped into each other, they would resort to violence, showing signs of animosity and hatred.

It was said that quite a few of them ended up getting seriously injured in fights.

Because there was a shortage of places to accommodate them, the lord had to open up the underground prison that hadn’t been used for a long time.

“If we don’t confine those severely affected, we won’t be able to control them. When we tried to restrain them, they went crazy, claiming that their entire bodies hurt… So we had to bind their hands tightly to prevent them from scratching, but then they started fighting using their bound fists.”

The aged lord of the ancient city, Antik, expressed his difficulties to Kalia’s group with a heavily fatigued face.

Among the few individuals confined in solitary cells were also the lord’s sons.

Fortunately or unfortunately, only two of the lord’s sons were afflicted with the demonic disease.

“Once the rumor spread that people could turn into demons, those who were applying the Akan Cream… The most cautious ones were the first to be affected and ended up turning into lunatics like that.”

On the way back to the Magic branch.

Kalia, Simon, Derek and Hendrick rode in silence.

It was a chosen path to observe the overall atmosphere within the city, but they didn’t come across a single person throughout the entire way.

After seeing the scene there a little while ago, Kalia could somewhat understand people’s fear.

No one would wish for themselves or their family to transform into something resembling a ‘demon’.

Then, Kalia suddenly shook her head.

“Simon.”

“Hmm?”

“Have you ever seen a demon?”

Simon glanced at Kalia, as if wondering why she would ask such a question.

After a moment of contemplation, Kalia spoke with an uncertain voice.

“I haven’t seen a demon myself… but I’ve heard stories about dark sorcerers who made contracts with demons.”

“That story… wasn’t it the one I told you?”

“Well, maybe? There’s no one else who would tell me such stories besides you.”

Kalia smirked and then revealed a lingering story in her chest.

“At that time… you didn’t act like it, did you? You said that dark sorcerers who made contracts with demons transformed like demons. They said their magic became corrupted, and their hearts and skin turned pitch black.”

Simon nodded in agreement.

Derek and Hendrick, who were following behind, were also silently listening to Kalia’s story.

Kalia made a thoughtful sound and then turned to Simon.

“But… the people affected by the disease earlier didn’t exactly resemble that, did they?”

“What?”

“The dark sorcerers tainted by magic… I felt like their distorted appearance resembled demons less and more like demons.”

Simon was taken aback by Kalia’s words.