The Baby Isn’t Yours

kick was vigorous and bold.
He could almost feel the strong, throbbing kick with just a glance.

While the Fairy King’s eyes were fixed on Kalia’s stomach, Gaia, who had been watching the two from the side, stamped her feet and intervened.

– $&*@(!*[email protected]*&^$- 2

Gaia pushed the king away, hugged Kalia, and nagged her father loudly with a silent mouth. 3

He couldn’t perfectly read her fast-moving lips but he could vaguely discern that she was cursing at him.

Bad, mean, I hate father, go away.

Her words seemed to be something like that.

How many people in the world were capable of going against the Fairy King this much?

Kalia felt the warmth of the existence that was wildly scolding the Fairy King for her sake in her arms.

It was strange.

‘She is just a little presence made out of a mere piece of her original soul.’

How could she feel Gaia’s warmth?4

The king looked at Kalia’s belly and then at his daughter, who was wrapped around Kalia, for a long time.
In response, Gaia looked helplessly at her father’s hard arm and reached a hand out to pat his shoulder.
With her other hand, she grabbed his other hand as if to tell him to quickly put down the hideous spear, all while making a fuss.

The king’s eyes on his daughter showed no irritation, let alone any anger. He looked at his angry daughter for a moment longer without saying a word and soon lowered the spear with an incomprehensible warm smile.

“When have I ever won against you, Gaia.”

The power that he had gathered in spear was gently dissipated into the air. His arms looked weak when he lowered his spear.
He didn’t know about the him in the past, but now, he could never be angry in front of his daughter.
Even if his daughter did something that threatened him, the poor father was willing to take the risks.

The king gently stroked his daughter’s puffed up cheeks, then looked back at Kalia again.
Kalia had no idea how things were going to proceed for her now.  It seemed to be the same for this mighty king in front of her.
Two pairs of eyes full of confusion interlocked in the mid-air.

She wanted to ask him why he looked at her like that, but her lips were frozen.
Likewise, the eyes of the Fairy King were also asking questions she could not answer. Both were hesitating, trying to figure out which words to ask the other first when-

“Misssssssss! Kaliaaaaaaaaa!” A high-pitched voice so loud it shook the earth sounded from somewhere in the distance.

Suddenly, Kalia, who came to her senses, turned around urgently and ran.

***

Humming was crying with her arms around the two fallen children.

‘You can’t cry.
Crying is something only the weak do.
Don’t cry, Humming Gallas! I am the squire and protector of the great general Kalia! This is temporary!’

No matter how hard she tried to consol herself, she couldn’t stop the tears from dripping from her eyes.
Even when she held her breath, it was difficult to stop the tears from escaping down her face. Kalia, who had moved away by instigating the wolves, did not return, and her sunset over her sky gradually grew darker towards purple.

There was even a child in her arms whose face had lost all colour from bleeding out a lot.
The child’s small body was shivering as if the kid was wracked with chills.

I can’t, I can’t do this….

“Ugh, ugh… ugh!”

From her brown eyes, tears were falling, drop by drop and then slowly flowing down in steady streams.

“Heuk, Kaliaaaaaa! Where are you? Kaliaaaa!”

Humming was supposed to get the children from inside the cave and flee after Kalia lured out the monsters.
It was not difficult for her to enter the cave after the monsters had left.
She was able to stay calm and maintain her composure even when she saw that the children were bleeding.

She encountered a strange situation though.
The two children were holding onto something similar to a large egg but it was translucent and shone red.
She quickly grasped their conditions and stopped their bleeding before quickly taking them out of the cave.
Despite being unconscious, the children didn’t let go of the egg they were holding.

Humming, with the two children and an unidentified egg in her arms, immediately hid behind a rock and waited for Kalia to return.
As the sky grew darker, the tremors of the wounded children grew more violent.
From then on, Humming panicked.
The fear that she had suppressed rose again.

“Mom…mom…mom,” Very out of breath, one of the children unconsciously cried out for his mother.

Their bodies felt like balls of fire and were no doubt boiling with high fever.
If she continued like this,  the children would die.

“No, hang in there, sweetheart.
Kalia will be here soon.
Then you can go back to your mom.
Huh? Please stay strong.
You’ll be alright.”

Humming looked up at the continually darkening sky and with trembling lips, shouted again with all her might, “Kaliaaaaaa!”

In her mounting panic, Humming didn’t even realize how foolish it was to scream in the forest. She didn’t know that the sound would not only alert Kalia but also catch the attention of another monster or fairy.
Fairies weren’t all kind and gentle.
She could’ve encountered fairies that were just excessively mischievous or have caught the attention of a type of fairies known as Death Fairies. 5

Nevertheless, Humming shouted out for Kalia. Embracing the child whose breathing was growing more and more shallow, this was the only thing she could do.

But at that moment.

Crunch.

The forest responded.