The Baby Isn’t Yours

Within the regime, both the dark and the bright coexisted.

The glamorous places were excessively glamorous, and the dark places were darker than any city.

The downtown that Kalia was heading to was one of the dark places, and it was also the beginning of the back alleys where the immigrants she grew up with lived.

Kalia looked out at the passing scenery of the alley from a modest carriage roaming the city.

It wasn’t a place she visited often due to busy work and training. To be honest, she was coming here for the first time in about 7-8 years.

Even though it was the same city, the regime was vast, and she had only just returned to the regime a little over a year ago after fighting a war for seven years.

The year after the war ended was busy in a different way than during the war.

Especially for the general commander, there was no time to even pay attention to the back alleys.

Her work was the nation’s overall security, and the trivial matters of the regime were under the jurisdiction of the institution.

‘…It’s all just excuses.’

Thinking about the detailed reasons, she ended up laughing cynically.

She was simply reluctant to return here.

Even setting aside the excuse that it was during the war, she hadn’t set foot here since she entered the aristocratic house.

It was the same when she was attending the academy.

She was not afraid of anything, but she strangely felt averse to that dark alley.

She wasn’t scared, but she just had an inexplicably unpleasant feeling.

Even though it was just a narrow alleyway less than 100 steps long.

“Just a moment.”

Just before entering her destination at the crossroads, she briefly stopped the carriage.

And looked at the entrance of the dark alley next to the bustling area.

As she narrowed her eyes and looked down the alley, she could see the young Kalia huddling somewhere.

A child, wrapped in a ragged blanket, with dirtier, darker yellow hair than now, huddled in the corner of the alley.

She suddenly felt strange.

The day she saved Simon is as vivid as yesterday… why is the memory before that as faint as fog?

Even if she was too young to remember, how did she, an orphan, survive in that dark alley?

She had never doubted before, but suddenly she had a question.

Even when she ordered an information search to find out about her parents and tried to trace her past, nothing came out.

Nothing about Kalia before that either.

Despite it being her own past, she knew nothing.

As Kalia was staring at the dark alley with her eyes narrowed, Hemmie, who had been observing her, coughed lightly and called her.

“Um, if we’re any later, we won’t be able to make it in time for the appointment.”

“Ah, we can’t have that. Let’s go.”

Kalia belatedly nodded and set the carriage in motion.

Behind her, the dark alley was holding its place as always.

* * *

The carriage stopped in front of the casual pub ‘Slow Time’.

Kalia lifted one side of her skirt awkwardly and got up from the carriage.

The dress hem winding between her legs was quite annoying.

Hemmie offered his hand as if to escort her, but Kalia just found his small hand cute.

‘…Just don’t run.’

Kalia jumped down from the carriage.

Not a single speck of dust rose from her light steps, like a butterfly.

It was quite a casual move for a well-dressed lady, but no one in downtown cared about such things.

As Kalia was stretching out her waist in relief, she had a moment of regret.

‘I told myself not to act as I usually do, but I ran again, didn’t I?’

Even though her movements were light enough not to raise a single speck of dust, she reproached herself for her lack of caution.

Don’t run, definitely don’t run.

With that resolution, she stood in front of the store.

“Wow, I didn’t know such a place existed!”

Hemmie, who was straightening Kalia’s clothes, looked at the store as if it was a novelty.

Hemmie, unlike Kalia, often came to the city, but she had never ventured this deep into downtown.

Her curious eyes were scanning the surroundings.

Fortunately, there were many people passing by as it was close to the bustling area.

“Let’s go in before we’re late.”

“Yes!”

Kalia, adjusting her glasses without lenses, went in.

The wide-brimmed rattan hat didn’t suit the indoors, but she didn’t feel like taking it off.

As she sat down at a table inside with her hat still on, a few gazes were drawn to her.

Especially, a little boy sitting alone at the next table looked at her hat as if it was very interesting.

“…Wow, that hat looks really expensive.”

The little boy, who muttered to himself without realizing it, quickly lowered his head when his gaze met Kalia’s.

His flushed face suggested he was quite shy.

The boy, who seemed to be about 7 years old, was drawing on a sketchbook on the table.

He seemed to be a child of the owner or an employee of the store.

‘What a cute boy.’

Would the child in her womb be a boy?

A lively rascal would be fine, and a mischievous girl would also be fine.

As she was warmly looking at the child who was drawing and playing, Kalia unconsciously reached for her stomach.

She stroked her flat stomach, oblivious to Hemmie who was watching her with a strange look.

“Ah, go sit over there… Sorry, customer. He’s my son and he’s been very disobedient lately.”

The young woman, wearing an apron, brought a menu over to Kalia’s table and started a conversation with a smile.

Kalia said it was okay and ordered a few cakes and two fruit smoothies from the menu.

“He hasn’t come yet, I guess.”

Hemmie looked around, taking a sip from the juice that the employee had just left on the table. Kalia laughed at the sight of her, looking around like a wild animal on guard.

“Do you know who I’m meeting and that’s why you’re looking around?”

“Huh? No, not that… but… just… it feels like I should…”

Hemmie blushed and laughed awkwardly.

As Kalia, shaking her head with a ringing sound, looked out of the wide window, she felt the gaze of the little child next to her.

The child was staring at the various cakes that Kalia had ordered, as if enchanted.

There was a strong desire in the child’s gaze.

‘… Do you want to eat it?’

“Hey, kid, do you want one of these?”

“…!”

The startled child bowed his head in surprise.

It took a few seconds for a barely audible voice to be heard.

“I’ll get in trouble with my mom.”

“Your mom?”

“Yes, she told me not to bother the customers.”

‘Ah…’

She must have been worried that the child would be rude to the customers.

He seemed to have been strictly warned.

Nevertheless, Kalia changed her strategy at the child’s peering gaze.

“Hey, kid. Will you draw me just one picture?”

“Huh…?”

“Actually, I’m a collector of drawings. It seems that there is a very promising young artist here… Can you draw me a picture? The price for the drawing… how about this lemon cake?”

She offered the cake that the child had been looking at the most.

The child swallowed hard and nodded decisively at Kalia’s plea.

Soon, the child’s finger swiftly drew a line and handed over a picture of a beautiful lady wearing a large hat.

“…It’s big sister.”

The child was shy, and the freckles on his nose turned red.

“Thank you, um, your name is…?”

“It’s Clark!”

“Okay, thank you, Clark. This is a small token of appreciation for your drawing.”

Kalia pushed the cake onto the child’s table.

The child happily picked up a fork and headed for the cake that he had been drooling over.

Please calm down, customer. Our store is not a specialized bar, so we don’t handle tequila.”

“Ha! What are you saying, you cheeky girl! Bring what the customer asks for, you talk too much, shit!”

“Kyaa!”

A commotion broke out at one side of the store.

The child, who had been looking at the commotion, turned pale.

Because the woman who was being grabbed by the wrist and swung around by the drunk man was his mother.

“Ah, mom…”

The child jumped up in surprise.

This caused the fork the child was holding to fall to the floor.

“If there’s no tequila, shouldn’t you sell it even if you have to buy it? Where’s the owner, call the owner! Do you know who we are? We are first-class mercenaries of the Wind Wolf Mercenary Group!”

“Let go of me. I will call the security guard!”

“Huh, you’re stupid! Do you think the security guard will come faster, or do you think we’ll destroy this place and disappear faster?”

With a clanging noise, Kalia’s gaze fell on the fork and the pale child’s face.

And then it fell on the men who were playing a cruel prank with the employee in the middle.

The warm look in her eyes that had been watching the boy disappeared without a trace.

And a cold, expressionless look settled on her face.

Looking at Kalia’s eyes, which had become thin without a trace of warmth, Hemmie’s face finally turned pale.

“What… what are you doing? Let go of her right now! Somebody, call the security guard!”

A man with black hair, who had just come down from the second floor, rushed into the men, shouting in a panicked voice.

Despite his red face with anger, no one was paying attention to his words.

Instead, the customers who were there clicked their tongues and hurriedly left the store.

“Do you want to ruin the store just because you didn’t get one bottle of tequila? Huh? Do you want us to stop this store from operating for three months?”

The drunk men burst into loud laughter.

And all the while, they didn’t forget to shake the woman’s wrist as if it were a plaything.

The man with black hair who tried to stop them was kicked and fell backwards, and the screaming employee was slapped in the face by one of the men.

Slap!

The sound of hitting skin made the inside of the store silent for a moment.

The woman, holding her swollen red cheek, quickly glanced at the child who was watching this scene.

She stood up with pale eyes and shook her head at the child who was about to cry.

‘Don’t come here. Stay there!’

As the mother, who had been slapped, desperately gestured, the child finally burst into tears.

Watching the child’s reddened eyes, Kalia quietly stood up with a fork in her hand.