The Baby Isn’t Yours

Colorful dresses fluttered like flower petals.

The ladies added beautiful lace to their outfits, each hoping to look the most sophisticated.

Yet their jewelry was simple, as if adhering to a rule that they shouldn’t look more beautiful than Helena, who stood at the center of the crowd.

Helena Terroan, the beautiful widow of the late Duke Terroan, who passed away from an illness.

She had a distant kinship with the royal family, and her son, the current Duke Terroan, was a powerful magician and a young minister in the Ministry for Magic, leaving a mark in history.

Even without all these factors, the middle-aged lady, who retained the beauty of her twenties even past her fifties, had an attractive pull that drew people to her no matter where she was.

She always smiled, spoke elegantly, and was kind to everyone, yet people were afraid of her.

Even the Marchioness Calvert, the black sheep of the social circle, behaved like a docile lamb in front of Helena.

When she laughed, the social world laughed with her, and when she cried, the social world shed tears with her.

When she paused, everyone stopped and looked at what she was looking at without her saying a word.

Just like now.

“Madame, did you leave something behind? There’s nothing behind you.”

Helena, who had stopped in her tracks, turned around and looked at the western star palace.

The western star palace seemed very far away since they had walked quite a distance, but the ladies were willing to go back if Helena wanted.

Silently, very silently, she had been looking somewhere on the second floor of the western star palace, then she turned her head and chuckled.

“It’s not that I left something behind, but that there was something I hadn’t seen.”

“Something you haven’t seen? Oh, are you going to go back and see it now?”

“No. Thanks to Lady Kalia, what was hidden has now come out. I have seen it from afar, so that’s enough.”

People exchanged glances at Helena’s cryptic words, but no one could ask her directly what ‘hidden thing’ she was talking about.

Helena had already begun to walk away, and they too stepped into the door leading to the main palace.

Just at that moment, a window somewhere on the second floor of the star palace, where Helena had been looking, opened wide.

* * *

Whoooosh—

A rich breeze blew through the wide open window of the terrace, making the neatly lined curtains dance.

Along with the trailing hem of the flowing white chiffon, hundreds of papers stacked on the desk flew into the air.

In that wind, the deep golden hair of Crown Prince Louismond, who was sitting at the desk reviewing the documents, also fluttered wildly.

As a sliver of sunlight grazed over Louismond’s golden hair, it sparkled as if honey would flow from it.

The Crown Prince, who brushed his beautiful hair away with a large finger, sighed briefly and raised his head.

“Sigh.”

Deep blue eyes, reminiscent of the ocean and resembling those of the previous Emperor, shot a look at his cousin, who was holding onto the terrace railing and had his back turned.

Because he was facing away, only his hair, which shone like silver threads in the sunlight, was visible.

His broad shoulders and straight back possessed a fiercely upright beauty.

“…Simon. Why did you open the window all of a sudden? Return the documents that flew away right now.”

The man who had turned his back made no answer, but simply raised his hand and flicked lightly.

With a sharp sound, the movement of the papers fluttering in the air stopped.

As he gently shook his finger, the papers moved as if they were going back in time and returned to their place.

He uses such an incredible magic so casually.

Life was rampant with such unfairness of talent and ability.

Even he, who was born as the son of the Emperor, sometimes felt a sense of deprivation. How much helplessness must other magicians who walk the same path feel in the face of this man’s behavior?

‘…No, if it’s too overwhelming, they might end up admiring him.’

That’s why the cold and ill-natured head of the magic department is somewhat respected.

Louismond, changing his bitter thoughts, turned his eyes back to the hundreds of documents tormenting him and spoke indifferently.

“Has Aunt left?”

“Yep.”

“But why aren’t you leaving?”

“…”

The Crown Prince’s cousin, without responding, just fixed his gaze beyond the terrace in silence.

There was no particular speech or gesture, but Louismond, who had spent a long time with him, noticed from his back alone that he was slightly excited.

There was only one thing that could excite that guy, who was cold to others and indifferent to worldly affairs.

Scribble, scribble.

With a well-sharpened fountain pen, Louismond left his signature on the documents for verification and blurted out a name of someone passing by.

“Is Kalia coming, by any chance?”

At those words, Simon’s head, which had been fixed, turned slightly to the side.

The corner of his mouth, visible only in silhouette, lifted slightly as he murmured in admiration.

“It’s nice that the future Emperor of this Empire is quick-witted. Of course, he is a tyrant who doesn’t give his subjects a moment’s rest and works them like dogs.”

If… when I become the Emperor, I should seal that young wizard’s mouth first.

Yes. The greatest advantage of that fellow is being able to cast a reasonable amount of magic without a spell, reaching the level of silent mastery.

So, wouldn’t he be okay without a mouth?

‘No, since a summoning spell needs a chant, the mouth should be needed. I wish I could hit him on the back of the head someday though…’

A concrete thought about a small wish he wanted to accomplish someday unfolded, although it is not straightforward.

“When is Kalia coming?”

Even while saying something else with his mouth, his eyes were on the documents.

Only the Crown Prince, who has been struggling with work from writing, could do these three things at once.

“Right now.”

“What? Right now?”

But in such cases, thoughts usually stop, hands stop, and tongue stops.

Like when you hear an unexpected visit announcement from an unexpected person.

Raising his head quickly, Louismond mumbled as if it was strange.

“I know today is the Knight General’s day off… It’s strange. Why did she give back her day off and come?”

“Well…”

Simon, raising his shoulders, muttered as he watched the two long legs walking under the long corridor with a roof.

“She might have come to see you….”

The voice faded a little, and the corners of his mouth rose.

“She must have come to see me.”

Louismond clicked his tongue inside at Simon’s confident voice.

He didn’t know where this confidence came from. He wouldn’t confess even if he died.

Generally, Simon has always been confident about Kalia.

For a good reason, Kalia was a typical swordsman who only knew about the sword, she stood at the forefront of the war without being distracted for the past seven years, and there was an invisible glass wall called Simon by her side, so it wasn’t easy for anyone to approach her.

Even the Crown Prince Louismond.

In that sense, he could understand Simon’s confidence that he was the only man left for Kalia, but the confidence that Simon has been showing lately seemed a bit different.

Because Kalia also seemed to have feelings for him.

‘It looks like something happened a couple of months ago…’

To be precise, it was since the victory celebration party for Kalia, who swept the Battle of Mahatari Sea and came back about two months ago.

Since then, Simon has been angry to the point of strangeness, staring into space, or closing his eyes and thinking a lot.

And if he saw Kalia, he would become anxious or unreasonably angry.

But on the contrary, Kalia has been similar for two months.

No, actually, Kalia has consistently treated Simon like a rock for many years…

Louismond couldn’t understand why the great young minister was acting so confident lately.

“…Well, looking at the uniform she’s wearing, it seems like she’s not here for me, but for His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Simon muttered as if regrettable, but there was no real regret in his voice.

Anyway, the fact that she came here meant that he could face her at any time.

“I was going to see her for a while in the evening because I have a work trip tomorrow, so it’s good.”

“I hope you don’t use my office as a meeting square.”

Simon responded sarcastically to Louismond’s words shaking his head in disapproval.

“I was just about to leave.”

“No, that doesn’t mean you should really leave.”

“I’m done. I don’t want to interfere with business matters. I’ll go.”

As soon as Simon finished saying he was leaving, the guard reported that Kalia had asked for an audience.

As if to show this, Simon, who was laughing quietly, went up to the balcony.

“…Why are you going up to the balcony when you said you’re leaving?”

“I’m disappearing here for a dramatic encounter.

“Why bother when there’s a door…”

“I want to wait and meet her, just the two of us. Oh, make sure to let me know what you talked about with Kalia.”

Unable to comprehend Simon’s actions, Louismond shook his head helplessly.

“Do you find the Crown Prince amusing?”

“Of course not. How much I love my cousin, the great Crown Prince.”

“…It would be better if you actually acted affectionately.”

Simon, standing on the balcony, exaggeratedly greeted the displeased Louismond.

“With respect and affection, I’ll step back, Your Highness.”

Louismond, who had gained the upper hand in the fight with his brothers, became the Crown Prince.

The two who contributed the most to him gaining the upper hand were Simon of the Terroan Duchy and General Commander Kalia.

The three of them have been through various crises together since they were young, and together they envisioned the future of the Empire.

Louismond needed Simon.

The Empire he envisioned had to be strong and young.

In that sense, Kalia was also necessary.

If Louismond staked his life and killed his heart for the future of the Empire, his cousin…

“Your Highness, General Kalia is here.”

He staked everything on Kalia.

Louismond, who had been watching from the side, had no choice but to know.

No one could win against that man’s feelings for Kalia.

Louismond turned around and looked at someone beyond the closed door.

Then, as always, he spoke with a reasonably friendly smile.

“Come in.”