The Baby Isn’t Yours

“…Are you okay now?”

A gentle voice whispered.

The warmth in the voice made his fingertips tremble.

Soon, a soft hand swept over his cheeks and forehead.

“You’ve been hurt so badly.”

The tender voice was filled with concern as if his ears were melting.

She had applied medicine to his bruised body, fed him food, and covered him with a warm blanket.

Yes, it was her voice, exactly ‘her.’

“Thank you… Ah, next time, I want to give you flowers.”

She shyly smiled while accepting the small wildflower he handed her.

He wanted to see her face, he wanted to see her affectionate eyes, but cruelly, he couldn’t see anything.

Her colors scattered like a watercolor painting.

Only her pitch-black and beautiful hair stood out vividly.

He remembered her dry and slender fingers.

And… and the dizzying and ecstatic feeling of their first kiss.

Before the lingering sensation of the kiss could fade, his body was forcefully pulled somewhere.

‘No, no! Please, let me go. Don’t drag me away!’

I knew this feeling.

The sensation of his body and soul separating. The feeling of being carried away to another world!

In that place where he was dragged into, he encountered demons for the first time and fought against them.

Without a chance to regain his senses, he was thrown back into a dreadful battlefield once again. And he repeated the slaughter.

In the midst of defeating and annihilating his enemies, he met five companions.

The mark of the gods appeared on his body, and a divine sword was clenched in his hand.

The surging fate, the calling, the lives hanging behind him.

‘…Damn it, I’ll go back! I swear!’

He fought and fought with the sole determination to return.

The cycle of life and death continued relentlessly for about four years, without a single day of rest.

When the balance between good and evil, the struggle of righteousness and malice, began to tilt towards one side.

‘No… I can’t. I have to hold on. I can’t collapse here.’

His body gradually started to crumble.

He couldn’t help but realize that he was self-destructing.

From the moment he was born until now, his body, which had been struggling just to live, could no longer endure.

As the dazzling sunlight pierced through the dark clouds, and the scattered rays of sunshine seeped to purify the demonic energy that has permeated the earth.

Shaik’s body was completely destroyed.

To the point where not even a single finger could move, completely.

As his face crashed onto the ground, the God spoke.

“My faithful apostle, you have saved this world.”

Many people were grateful, rejoiced, and shed tears at the end of despair.

His comrades, despite shedding much blood, rejoiced as they finally achieved victory on the purified land, pressing their lips against it.

Shaik wanted to curse, to spew out vulgar words.

Did they think he wanted to save this kind of world?

…He wanted to say it, but he couldn’t.

He knew the desire to live, he knew the joy of being saved by them.

So he didn’t regret saving this world until his body crumbled.

However…

‘Hu… huu… huuu… huuu…’

He felt desolate.

Why was he the only one like this, like this…

Moist tears welled up and burst endlessly beyond his fading field of vision.

He wanted to go back.

Back to that brief moment when he was happy.

He wanted to be happy. He wanted to be ordinary.

If possible, he wanted to be with her, in a small and modest happiness.

Above all else…

Never again, never again… did he want to feel so exhausted.

Beyond his darkening field of vision, he remembered the girl who used to gently caress his face.

‘Damn it, why can’t I remember?’

He wanted to hit his chest.

It was the only facet of happiness he cherished.

Regrettably, he couldn’t remember.

He wanted to resent the heavens, curse the gods.

But he was just a useless doll, a mere human exploited by the gods.

“…Apostle.”

So, just leave me alone.

Let me die like this.

“…If you don’t resent me… it must be a lie.”

Shaik heard the murmuring of the God, but he didn’t want to listen.

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t blame them.

He closed off all his senses and buried himself deep into the darkness.

* * *

“Shaik… Shaik.”

A tender voice woke him up.

The gentlest voice in the world called his name as if singing a song.

The touch that caressed his cheeks and forehead was filled with love.

Startled, Shaik blinked his eyes and quickly opened them.

Then, in the morning sunlight, he saw ‘Mother’ looking at him with eyes full of love.

“My little child, did you sleep well? You’ve been playing so happily lately, but it seems like you’re tired… What happened that made our Sasha oversleep?”

While Shaik was still blinking, unable to fully wake up, Kalia picked him up and held him close.

With a light embrace, she gently stroked the back of the small baby.

Warm kisses gradually landed on his forehead, nose, and cheeks.

The scent of his mother, comforting and soothing, reached him.

The sacred sunlight tickled his face, and a warmth that felt like melting enveloped him.

“Saa-Sha!!”

From somewhere, a rumbling voice could be heard, followed by the familiar weight that lightly bumped into his back.

“Sasha! Sashashasha!”

Before Sasha could turn his head, indiscriminate kisses rained down on his cheeks.

The wet lips of the excited baby poured over his face in a random pattern.

And at that moment…

“…Huhhh!”

Shaik unexpectedly burst into tears.

His nose tingled, and with inexplicable overwhelmed emotions, he cried out loudly, feeling like his chest was about to burst.

“Whaaa! Uuuhhh! Uuuuhhh!”

“…Sasha? Sashasha? Why, why are you crying? Is it because of Drea?”

“Oh, did our Sasha have a scary dream all night? Why are you suddenly crying? Huh?”

Drea, surprised, circled around Kalia and Sasha, and Kalia comforted crying Sasha by patting his back.

“Sha, Sasha. If it’s because Drea. Huh? Don’t cry. Huh?”

“No, it’s not becawse of Drea. It’s not becawse of you… Just, just…”

“Huhhh!”

Just… tears started to flow…

The burst of tears didn’t stop.

Sasha had to quickly tell Drea that it wasn’t her fault, but it wasn’t easy.

Unable to stop the sorrowful outburst of crying, Sasha could only shake his head helplessly.

The memory of Sasha’s happiness, which suddenly collided one day, began with warm tears like this.

Sniffle, sniffle.

The tears stopped, but the rough sound of breathing still couldn’t calm down.

While everyone was busy preparing to go to the palace, Sasha sat gracefully inside the prepared carriage, wiping his reddened nose and looking out the window.

Of course, many spirits gathered around him and tried various funny tricks to make the young prince laugh, but it was so difficult to brighten Sasha’s eyes today.

-Kyu kyu?-

The somewhat grown-up mole who had grown in size over the years circled around Sasha and asked why he was like that.

Sasha shook his head lightly.

He didn’t want to say anything.

“…You don’t understwand… Men… even have dways like this.”

He wanted to say it bitterly, but his clumsy pronunciation made it sound funny instead.

Swoosh.

Shaik wiped his nose with the back of his hand and looked at his father, who was giving stern lectures to the ministers, prime ministers, ministers of state, and ministers of internal affairs while being seen off by the smiling magicians.

It was just a journey that would take at most a month.

Yet, even the journey itself wasn’t easy for parents who held such a significant position.

The only fortunate thing was that the moment teleportation gates were greatly improved last year, the travel time was drastically reduced.

It was a revolution in travel, as it cut the travel time by more than half.

However, the route Kalia and Simon’s party were taking now was a direct gate that could only be used by Simon Terroan, which further shortened the travel time.

In the previous war, his father studied the principles of the spatial gates used by fairies and the black gates used by dark magicians and finally acquired a way to travel long distances in an instant.

‘…My father is truly amazing.’

It wasn’t possible to acquire everything just by studying it.

The gate used by the fairies opened to a two-dimensional world, and the demons had their own method of opening a different dimension.

However, it was a quarter-elf human mage who accomplished that, neither a fairy nor a demon.

Shaik looked at each of the magicians with renewed admiration as his beautiful father explained detailed instructions to them.

As he successfully tormented the twelve magicians, he turned around with a satisfied smile.

When Shaik’s eyes met his, his father’s gaze, which had been strict towards the mages just a moment ago, softened into an affectionate smile, and he waved his hand gently.

Shaik reflexively smiled and waved his hand back.

After the lively farewell ceremony ended, everyone boarded their respective carriages.

“Hmm? Where is Drea?”

As Kalia boarded the carriage, she turned her head to look for Drea, who hadn’t been seen until then.

Shaik pointed in the direction Drea flew off just a moment ago.

“She’s over thewe.”

Upon his words, Hemmie, who appeared during the farewell, turned her body.

“I’ll go find her. Oh, there she is!”

Flapping her white wings, Drea flew over. She swiftly entered the carriage where Shaik was sitting.

Upon closer inspection, she was holding something in her hands.

“Sasha!”

Automatically repeating ‘Sasha’ with her mouth, Drea gently placed a delicately crafted flower crown made of various flowers on Sasha’s head.

The shape of the crown was quite beautiful, seemingly with the assistance of spirits or fairies.

“Drea brought a crown for Sasha? It’s so beautifully made.”

Kalia praised Drea first.

Drea was as lovely as Sasha in her eyes.

“Sasha, pretty! Sasha pretty!”

Drea circled around Sasha, who was wearing the flower crown, wiggling her bottom.

Simon also laughed as if he found such Sasha and Drea quite adorable.

Only Shaik was surprised, looking at the flower petals fluttering above his head.

Somehow, the white petals felt familiar.

That flower, which he couldn’t quite place, revived fragments of memories from a past life.

“Thank you. …Ah, next time, I want to give you flowers.”

He remembered.

The appearance of the woman he had loved. That promise.

“Sasha! Pretty!”

Just as Drea, as usual, was about to pull Sasha closer and attempt to kiss him, Shaik suddenly stood up and pushed Drea away.

With a thud, Drea was pushed back and fell onto the floor.

Startled, the wide-eyed child looked at Shaik, who had pushed her away.

“H-Hai, stop it!”

…I have a woman who swore her purity to me!

Although they would probably never meet again, he didn’t want to lose that memory, and he didn’t want it to be overshadowed by someone else.

“I don’t need your flower…!”

Shaik forcefully removed the flower crown that was still on his head.