The Baby Isn’t Yours

As the noon sun began to decline, even those who had been eating, drinking, dancing, and enjoying themselves all day took a moment to rest.

“Shaik, Allen has just arrived at Purito. Shall we go and greet him?”

Simon was busy tidying up the palace, which was crowded with various races.

By the time Shaik had been moved around by Gaia, Hoa, Nua, and Ganini, he was exhausted.

Kalia came to rescue him.

‘Oh, Mother!’

Shaik, who had been wandering from one embrace to another without a moment’s rest, brightened up and reached out his hand.

“Hnn!”

‘Mother, please hold my hand quickly. Mother… Mother!’

Desperately, Shaik reached out his hand from Hoa’s embrace.

“Ah~! No, Shaik, let’s play more with Auntie! Okay?”

“Hoa, why do you exclude the word ‘Grand’? It’s not Auntie, it’s Grandauntie.”

When Gaia pointed that out, Hoa pouted and retorted.

“But he calls Grandma and Grandpa or parents, doesn’t he? How can we be on the same level as Grandma and Grandpa?”

“That’s right! We can’t be like that!”

Nua chimed in.

Ganini, who stood beside them, nodded quietly in agreement.

Gaia hesitated for a moment, thinking that what they said made sense.

But still, Grandauntie and Granduncle, isn’t that a bit too much? He’s her grandson after all…

Gaia blinked and asked:

“Well, then… what should he call you?”

“Just call me Auntie. Auntie.”

“Yeah, no one really calls themselves Auntie or Aunt. You can call me by my name.”

In fact, in the fairy realm, lineage or titles didn’t matter much.

The tradition among the fairies was that the more they called each other by their given names, the happier they became, so most of them called each other by their names.

Of course, the exception was the royalty.

Nevertheless, the words ‘Grandma’, ‘Grandpa’, and ‘Auntie’ that came out of Shaik’s mouth were so cute that the fairies couldn’t help but keep asking him to say them.

“…Hmm. Well then, I guess that’s fine.”

Gaia roughly agreed and turned his gaze to Kalia, who was watching them with an expression of amusement.

“You must be tired too. You don’t have to go and greet them. They’ll be here soon.”

“No, I want to see them first. I’m curious about how much Drea has grown.”

“Well, it has been a year since you last saw her, right?”

“Yes. It feels empty without seeing the child I used to see every day. Well then, I’ll go.”

“Yeah! Hurry back, Kalia!”

Gaia turned around with a smile and raised a hand, cheerfully waving.

Lost memories came flooding back, but among Gaia’s memories, the most vivid ones were from before Kalia gave birth, so Gaia still had a girlish charm.

When Kalia came out, holding Shaik tightly, from the fairy family resting in the room, Shaik’s body slumped against Kalia’s shoulder.

He seemed quite exhausted.

“You’ve worked hard, Shaik. You’ve been through a lot because they find you so adorable.”

“…Mama.”

Shaik raised his head, still in his mother’s embrace.

The loving gaze that looked at him with an affectionate smile was warm and tender.

In his mother’s embrace, there was an indescribable comfort and ease.

Despite complaining, Shaik didn’t dislike it when other family members ran to him with a face that wanted to give him anything when he looked at him.

The unconditional love, touch, and gaze of those around him made Shaik feel a warm and fuzzy emotion that he had never felt before.

Pat, pat.

As the hand patted his back, Shaik leaned his head against Kalia’s shoulder and thought quietly.

‘Is it okay for me to be this happy…?’

Whenever he had such thoughts, young Shaik would feel extremely uneasy.

Shaik’s memories weren’t complete.

When he was born and let out his first cry, many of his memories flew away.

Sometimes when he woke up from sleep, he couldn’t remember anything and only lived as a baby.

Despite that, he made an effort to not forget the memories of his past life.

His past life had been swayed by his ‘mission’ several times.

So, he believed that there would surely be a mission for him in this reincarnation as well, and that he had to fulfill it in order to find true peace.

Other than that, he couldn’t think of any other reason for him to be born again.

‘So, in order to fulfill that mission, I have to recover all the memories of my past life.’

Only then could he calm his anxious heart and move forward for true rest.

“The carriage coming over there looks like Allen’s carriage…”

Kalia, who was watching the approaching turquoise carriage from the top of the hill behind the sanctuary, kissed Shaik’s forehead.

Shaik could feel it, and there was no way Kalia wouldn’t feel it too.

The two quickly turned their heads to look at the approaching presence.

Before Kalia could call the name-

“Ssasha!!”

A little girl with vibrant purple wings fluttering vigorously and a white, shimmering mane of hair flew towards them like lightning.

“Ssasha! Look, Kalia! Ssassha!”

Before Sasha could even say something, Drea, with her significantly grown wings, swiftly flew in and embraced Sasha.

Shaik had expected her to grow faster as a dragon, but Drea exhibited a similar rate of growth as Shaik.

Dressed in a pretty pink small dress, Drea, who had been eagerly waiting to meet them, playfully kissed Sasha’s cheeks and forehead multiple times before spinning around briefly and letting out a short roar above Kalia’s head.

“Wow! Kyaa!”

“Drea, you’re as energetic as ever.”

Amused by the sight of the carefree baby dragon soaring into the sky and frolicking, Kalia laughed and spoke.

Drea swiftly flew to Kalia’s side and planted kisses on her cheeks and rubbed her face against Kalia’s, expressing affection.

“Mama! Mama, Drea missed you too! Kalia mama!”

“Mama missed Drea too. How have you been?”

“Good! Drea has been doing well. Drea missed Sasha so much! Hehe!”

Drea burst into a peculiar laughter and tightly hugged Shaik, playfully bumping their heads together.

Shaik secretly enjoyed Drea’s presence, but he still found her overwhelming display of affection and noise irritating.

“Ahh, Dwea. Stop it.”

“Shush! Drea has been waiting for Sasha for a whole year! Endure it!”

“It’s annowying… Why do I have to endure it?”

Shaik grumbled as he pushed Drea away, but she remained firm.

The little lady planted kisses on Shaik’s cheeks and forehead, repeating the words she had learned from Allen a few days ago.

“Because we’re engaged!”

What does that even mean?

Shaik looked at Drea with a bewildered expression.

Drea confidently raised her chin and exclaimed loudly.

“We’re engaged! Even engaged ones can act like this! Right, Mama?”

Kalia, seemingly surprised, raised one eyebrow and then burst into laughter, finding it amusing.

Engagement? Where on earth did that little one learn such words from the imperial family?

Finding her adorable, Kalia nodded her head with a smile while biting her lip.

“That’s right. You two… Yeah, you’re right. Since you’re marked, we could say you’re engaged.”

“Yeah! Oh, but does Sasha know what an engagement is?”

Shaik turned his head abruptly and denied it.

“…I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Then let me tell you!”

Drea giggled and pulled Sasha close again, hugging him tightly.

“Engaged are in love and in an alliance. They get married and spend their lives together. Aunt Janice said so! So, I will always be by Sasha’s side. That’s what an engagement is!”

It was just the words of a 4-year-old.

With her little hands wrapped around his neck, pouring out affection that had been there since his birth, the young dragon who had always liked him.

Despite finding this little presence annoying and bothersome, Shaik couldn’t help but feel a strange fondness for her.

“…I don’t know, do whatever you want.”

Shaik turned his head and buried his face in Kalia’s embrace.

Drea, hanging on his back as if she liked it, whispered the words she had prepared.

“Hehe, Sasha, I’m glad. And happy birthday. Let’s keep going like this! I love you! Ssssha!”

…Really.

Shaik could only pick a fake smile, hiding his face, in response to the baby’s topic.

* * *

“You’ve been through a lot to come here, Allen, Derek.”

“No, not at all. Thanks to the improved teleportation gate from last year, we came comfortably. The time has been reduced by half compared to before.”

Allen greeted Kalia and Simon, whom he met after a long time, with respect and spoke.

His face showed signs of joy.

“Yes, that’s right. Last year’s hardships paid off with the Gate. We came really quickly. It took only ten days. Ah, thinking back to the hardships and lack of sleep last year… But it’s good as it is.”

Beside him, Derek, who made his eyes sparkle whenever he saw the fairies and spirits playing outside the window, made a half-hearted comment.

He did his best to talk about the hardships of last year without any gaps.

But no matter when he looked, Derek couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of the spirits and fairies mingling together, always fascinating and mysterious. Suddenly, he raised his head and looked at Simon.

“Oh, right! And I heard you’re implementing the New Gate across the entire continent? Isn’t that a bit too much, Simon?”

“Now that Mage Tower has become the neutral eye overseeing and protecting the continent, it’s only natural to develop the whole region in a balanced way, isn’t it, Derek?”

Simon’s words implied that the Mage Tower left the Empire two years ago and has grown into a pan-continental magic organization.

They had the intention of becoming an institution that encompasses the entire continent, monitoring the dark energy of each country and devoting more effort to training mages to contribute to peace.

Of course, no country refused that.

On the contrary, there was a flood of requests for them to establish branches in their own countries.

Due to Kalia becoming the Queen and Mage Tower becoming a transcontinental power, the newlywed life of Simon and Kalia was forcibly interrupted.

Due to their extended periods of absence, last year the three families only spent a total of two months together.

Although this year their situations have stabilized to some extent and they are gradually increasing their time together.

The problem was… the fact that the Queen and Mage Tower Master were so busy meant that their advisors were truly overwhelmed and had no time to breathe.

Even one of the most talented mages, Derek, was in the same boat. Now he barely had time to catch his breath, and yet, they were recruiting specialized mages due to the construction of the New Gate?!

“I can’t go this time, Simon. Seriously, really, it’s soooo difficult.”

“The position of the Top Advisor…”

“…!”

“I want to appoint you this time…. If you become the Top Advisor, maybe there will be benefits, like owning the rights to the mana mines.”

“I… I will! I will go. Yes. Yes, there’s no one else, really. After all, wasn’t it me who created the spatial coordinates for the New Gate? Haha. Ha…”

‘In the end, it turned out like this again.’

Behind the frustrated Derek, Allen quietly suppressed a laugh.

Despite always grumbling about being exploited, Derek was always the most diligent worker, corresponding to the appropriate rewards.

As co-guardians of Drea, Derek and Allen had become quite close in their own way.

He gently patted Derek’s back and pulled out an important item.

“Your Majesty, in fact, His Majesty had a letter for you.”

“A letter?”

“Yes. He said he would be pleased if you read it together with Simon.”

What is it? Why would they send a letter instead of using communication devices?

Kalia and Simon looked at Allen with puzzled expressions as they opened the luxurious letter he handed them.

And as they slowly read the contents, they both looked up at each other at the same time.

“Oh, finally…!”

Locking eyes, the two of them burst into laughter and spoke.

“It seems our Majesty is finally going to get married.”