The Baby Isn’t Yours

The hem of Kalia’s skirt rustled against the wooden floor.

The mercenary group, who had been making a ruckus, realized late that Kalia had approached them and were taken aback.

“What, who are you?”

A woman dressed in a high-end dress and half-covered face with a wide-brimmed hat approached them, causing the mercenaries to uncomfortably watch her.

Although the clothes were not flashy, they were undoubtedly the type worn by nobles.

Leaving aside the high status, the mercenaries knew that messing with nobility could be troublesome. So they tried to drive her away with threatening words.

“Hah, look at this piece of crap… A lady from a wealthy home doesn’t know to be afraid of us? What, are we pretty to you?”

Ignoring the foul-mouthed man, Kalia approached a servant who was grabbed by the wrist.

Then, in an instant, she thrust a fork into the back of the man’s hand who was holding the servant’s wrist.

Zip!

“…!”

“Ah, Aaaargh!”

The fork precisely shattered the bone and took hold just enough not to penetrate through the man’s palm.

Strangely, hardly any blood splattered.

The startled man strained to let go and stepped back.

His companions also retreated, glaring at Kalia, who stood quietly as if she had done nothing.

“Shit, kill her! Kill her!”

The man, who had been grabbing the wrist, yelled furiously.

The men around him also rushed at Kalia with vicious looks.

‘The public order is this bad. I should inspect the guard. I need to increase the patrol frequency. There’s a lot to do before I leave.’

As they thought too little of her, Kalia took the fan in her other hand.

It was a waste to use a sword on these guys.

She effortlessly raised the fan and struck the men rushing at her on their heads one after another.

Paak! Paak! Paak!

As if being hit by a sledgehammer, the men who were hit fell down one after another with a sound that seemed like their skulls would break.

They were hit so hard that they foamed at the mouth with their eyes rolled back.

“You seem too weak compared to all that bluster. It’s annoying…”

Kalia coldly looked down at the men who fell in one hit, then turned her head toward the last man.

She deliberately left him untouched.

He couldn’t be forgiven just by fainting from a blow to the head.

It was this bastard who slapped the staff’s cheek and snickered.

Quietly, Kalia stared at the man and then struck his cheek with the fan.

Bump!

“Ueuk!”

Despite hitting his cheek, the sound of breaking bone could be heard, not a slap.

“When you slap someone else’s cheek, you have to be prepared to get slapped back.”

Without mercy, Kalia then slapped the other side of the man’s face.

“Like this.”

Bump!

“Ah!”

Even before the man’s scream died down, Kalia once again slapped the other side of his face.

“Like this.”

Bump!

“…Like this.”

Bump!

“…Like this.”

Bump!

Again, and yet again.

“…Guh, ugh!”

His cheekbones sunk in from the repeated hits.

The man, shivering, looked up at Kalia.

Kalia didn’t even look at him and struck the top of his head with her fan.

Paak, the man immediately fell backward.

The man who had been watching this with a fork stuck in his hand let out a shout.

“You, you, this woman… Who are you? You were sent by the Windhead Mercenary group, right? Shit! Go call the guard!”

“Well.”

Kalia, who responded in a calm voice, approached the man with a grin.

“Will it be faster for you to call the guards in that condition, or for me to finish you off here?”

She repeated the man’s earlier words with a grin.

“Just run away.”

The man, who had been blustering, bit his lip and slowly began to back away.

As he suddenly began to sprint towards the door, Kalia, who was watching, picked up a beer bottle from a nearby table.

“I won’t let you just run away, though…”

Just as the door opened with a clatter, and the man was about to bolt outside.

Bump.

The beer bottle Kalia was holding hit the back of his head.

With a precise control of strength, the beer bottle did not break, but it cracked the back of the man’s head.

The man, groaning, collapsed onto the ground.

“Still, it’s a bit too much to have a bloody scene in front of a child.”

As Kalia clicked her tongue as if regretful, a small shadow passed by.

“Mom!”

“Oh, my baby!”

The child who had been blankly watching as if scared, ran to his mother and began to cry as soon as the threat was gone.

Although the one who got hit was the mother, the crying child, as if he was the one in pain, hugged his mother tightly.

“Mom, Mom. Does it hurt? Mom. Here, here, it’s red. Does it hurt, Mom?”

“No, darling. Mom’s not hurt at all. It’s okay. You were scared, weren’t you, my son?”

“Ugh, ah, mom!”

The small hand of the child that had been stroking his mother’s swollen, red cheek, once again hugged his mother’s neck.

Flames flickered in Kalia’s eyes as she watched the scene.

‘Should I just kill them? If I take them to the back alley and quietly…’

While she was thinking that, Hemmie, who had rushed over, grabbed Kalia’s wrist and shook her head.

“We, we sneaked out, didn’t we? We shouldn’t make a bigger scene, should we?”

Hemmie was right.

Then, before leaving, there was no other choice but to step on them again.

As she soothed herself with these thoughts, the woman, who was both the child’s mother and the waitress, approached Kalia and offered her words of gratitude.

“I don’t know who you are, but thank you.”

“…No. I’m rather sorry for causing such a mess.”

“Was this caused by you? This is the work of those damned drunks. Don’t worry. I’ll apply for a restriction order from the guards. This isn’t the first time this has happened!”

The woman, holding her child tightly, smiled as if it was nothing.

For some reason, Kalia’s mouth felt bitter, and she couldn’t bring herself to smile back.

“…That man passing out over there is a bit of a problem.”

The woman, Karen, pointed to the black-haired man passed out behind her, and laughed awkwardly.

“The doctor was the first one to pass out.”

“…The doctor?”

“Ah, yes. He came for a short visit as some lady is pregnant, but he somehow got caught up in this.”

“Do you know his name?”

“His name is Dr. Allen Makker. He hasn’t been here long… oh, do you know him?”

At her words, Kalia held her forehead as if she were in a difficult situation.

She didn’t expect to run into the doctor she was supposed to meet this way.

She looked at Allen, who was unconscious, shook her head, and approached him.

She grabbed him, who was unconscious, and lifted him up with a heave.

Then she asked Hemmie for a carriage.

Soon a carriage arrived, and Kalia, who had first loaded Allen, came back into the store as if she had remembered something late.

Karen and the child, who had been watching them blankly, opened their eyes in surprise.

“I forgot something.”

Saying that, Kalia picked up the picture that the child had given her from the table where she had sat a while ago.

“This is something I bought, so…”

The child blushed at the sight of her picking up the picture with a slight smile.

As she was about to leave, she turned back and approached the child.

“Your name was Clark, right?”

“…Yes.”

“If you want to protect someone precious, you have to become either very smart or very strong, Clark.”

“…”

“I don’t know how to become smart, but I can teach you how to become strong enough not to get beaten up by thugs… do you want to learn?”

The child’s eyes widened and then he nodded vigorously.

Kalia, who was smiling faintly, stroked the child’s head and said.

“Go to the Tacskate Knight Academy and mention the name Joshua Terevan. Then they will guide you to a curriculum where children your age are training. However, that will take up a lot of your time, so you won’t be able to come and watch your mom at work… are you okay with that?”

Tacskate Knight Academy!

It was a private knight academy operated by General Kalia.

Unlike the imperial academy, it wasn’t large, but it was a place that didn’t discriminate based on social status if one had talent.

Of course, there were nobles who refused to take the same classes as the commoners, but they couldn’t exert much power as the owner of the academy was also from a commoner background.

It wasn’t a place anyone could attend just by wanting to go… and he was being told to go there!

‘…Who is this woman?’

Karen just stood gaping in surprise, when Clark tugged at her skirt.

“Mom. Can I go?”

There was a slight excitement in the child’s eyes.

The child wanted to go there but didn’t make a fuss in case it would be a burden to his mother.

He just quietly asked.

Karen, feeling both sorry and regretful, finally softly asked him.

“Do you want to go?”

The child who was watching his mother’s face timidly nodded.

Karen stroked Clark’s head and said,

“…Go and attend. I’ll come and pick you up when it ends.”

Karen, who had been watching her child’s face brighten up, lifted her head to look at Kalia.

She hesitated for a moment, then walked up to Kalia, hugged her and said.

“I don’t know who you are, but thank you so much. I always felt sorry for bringing him to work because I didn’t have a place to leave him…”

Kalia flinched slightly at the stranger’s familiar touch and gratitude.

As Kalia stood stiffly, not knowing what to do, Karen chuckled and let her go.

“If you could tell me your name, I would send a thank you letter later.”

“Oh, no, that’s not necessary…”

“Please. Can’t you tell me?”

Kalia, who had hesitated, shook her head again.

“…If Clark doesn’t attend well, I won’t hesitate to expel him, so please make sure he attends regularly.”

After saying that, she hurriedly climbed into the carriage.

Her cheeks were hot.

Embarrassed, she coughed and quickly started the carriage.

“Sister! See you again!”

Clark waved his hand and greeted her loudly.

Just then, the guards arrived, and Kalia, from inside the carriage, saw Clark holding his mother’s hand and going back into the store, and awkwardly waved back at him.