Choosing the Baby’s Father From the Following – Chapter 123

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐𝟑

Leander gulped.

He recalled his lord, who had contacted the Magic Tower several times, saying he had something to apologize for.

Weren’t they friends?

Had their relationship deteriorated to the point where the Tower Master would hold the Babenberg heir hostage?

It was incomprehensible.

Following his lord’s orders, Leander activated the emergency communication orb connected to the Magic Tower.

Since the communication network was open due to the northern wall defense, he received an immediate response even at this late hour.

Leander hoped the Tower Master would be outraged by the absurd accusations and come to help them, but a young mage’s puzzled voice answered from the communication orb.

―”Excuse me? Not the northern wall, but an emergency in Edessa? Ah, the Tower Master has been confined to the treatment room these days…… Please wait a moment.”

However, even after that eternal ‘moment’ passed, only the mage’s bewildered voice continued.

―”Huh? Where did he go without a word, after staying by Moghald-nim’s side for weeks?”

After exchanging glances with Leander, Callisto threw the communication orb away.

―Crack!

The glass communication orb shattered into pieces.

Belatedly, he remembered the Tower Master’s gift to his only daughter.

“It has a protection spell on it, so make sure the baby wears it as soon as I leave.”

Callisto’s parted lips twitched.

His mistake was assuming that the necklace only had a simple protection spell.

It must have had tracking and summoning functions as well.

‘Of course, the best shield the greatest mage on the continent would provide to protect his bloodline would be himself.’

The problem was whether the Tower Master would also be a shield for the baby, who was not his bloodline.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

I stood alone by the window, looking up at the black night sky.

There was no way I could see the situation in Edessa or Babenberg through the window, but strangely, my heart was uneasy and I couldn’t sit still.

‘Would they have departed by now? Or not yet?’

The plan to burn the temporary gate while Prillice was fast asleep was known not only to me but also to Lurik.

So Lurik must also be secretly concerned.

Just then, a vibrating sound rang out from somewhere.

―Buzz, buzz!

Thinking it was the communication orb, I looked through the drawers and on top of the desk, but all the communication orbs were silent.

The source of the sound was unexpectedly the jewelry box.

With trembling hands, I opened the jewelry box and froze at the sight of a small white stone vibrating relentlessly.

‘……Prillice!’

The white stone was not a means of communication with anyone, and it should never have rung.

Callisto had quietly handed it to me on the day I first arrived in Edessa, saying,

“If something happens, your room will be blocked off from the outside along with the baby’s room. When that happens, a kind of warning will sound from this protection stone. And once the barrier is activated, it can only be deactivated with this protection stone.”

At that time, I had already experienced Ren’s barrier.

The square stone was as small as a necklace pendant, but it was amazing that it could perform such a function without a mage.

As I rolled the stone in my palm in wonder, Callisto chuckled and said,

“But this is just a souvenir for you. Since you’ll be safely protected inside this room, it’s an unnecessary item. I have the remaining protection stones, so if the barrier is activated, I’ll be there before you even notice. Don’t worry.”

I had thanked him, but pretended not to care and joked,

“Cal thinks I’m a very important person……”

“What could possibly be more important to me than you?”

Callisto had said that while shyly avoiding my gaze……

I had then put the white stone in the jewelry box and had almost forgotten about its existence recently.

The protection stone had been just a souvenir for me, as Callisto had said, and I had never imagined the day would come when it would sound an alarm.

I ran to Lurik in my nightgown and gasped,

“Prillice is in danger, Brother. Let me go back to Edessa.”

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

When I finally persuaded my brother and returned to the Edessa Hotel, I came across a pale-faced Callisto.

“……Cal?”

I desperately hoped that he would be holding Prillice and telling me that our baby was okay, that nothing had happened.

Callisto opened and closed his lips with a pale face, then lowered his gaze and apologized to me.

“I’m sorry, Lou. I’m afraid there’s something…… in the room……”

“……Something? What do you mean something? Did the…… barrier not work? Is our baby hurt? Is she? Where’s Phoebe?”

I was already out of my mind.

Callisto was startled and grabbed my shoulders.

“No, Lou. It’s not that……”

He started with difficulty.

“It seems the Tower Master has come. He’s controlling the barrier, so I can’t see what’s going on inside.”

“……What?”

Callisto’s large hand painfully swept across his face.

“I tried to contact him several times to tell him the truth, but he wouldn’t answer. It’s too crude for him to have orchestrated this from the beginning, but……”

Tears streamed down my face.

Ren hadn’t been answering my calls lately, just like Callisto’s.

Ever since my brother suddenly arrived in Edessa, everything had happened too abruptly.

It was all my fault that I hadn’t been able to ask for Ren’s forgiveness and understanding before things got to this point.

I could understand if he was angry with me.

I hadn’t properly rejected his feelings and then he had heard the news of the national wedding, so I would apologize to him for as long as it took for his anger to subside.

But even if he was angry, I couldn’t imagine Ren coming to harm Prillice.

“That can’t be true.”

I said resolutely, but everyone around me avoided my gaze.

Their eyes seemed to suggest that I was avoiding the obvious truth.

“He……”

I stammered, but continued firmly.

“Ren has been protecting me all this time. He’s been protecting me and our baby from all those things. How could Ren……”

I ran to the door of the room where I had been staying.

It looked as if a translucent membrane had been placed over it, isolating it from the building.

“Ren.”

I desperately knocked on the door, knowing he wouldn’t hear me.

“Ren, are you there?”

I wouldn’t even entertain the thought that he might harm my baby.

“I’m sorry, Ren.”

Still, I apologized.

There was no response from inside, and several collapsed knights were visible in the hallway.

Whoever did it, something had happened here, and my baby was still inside the room.

She couldn’t even speak yet.

She couldn’t even roll over.

She couldn’t do anything, so she couldn’t have done anything wrong.

“Oh, Prillice……”

Just the thought of something happening to my baby was too painful.

It felt like thorns were embedded all over my body and then pulled out all at once, leaving me bleeding profusely.

“Ahh……!”

I collapsed in agony at the door, and memories like grains of sand poured out and covered me, despite my wounded body.

“Ouch!”

I was in so much pain that I clutched my head with both hands.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Memories swirled madly.

My tearful childhood, my painful adolescence, the night I finally felt loved, and the day I realized I was pregnant……

Since I only had one month left of my destined lifespan, my heart ached unbearably back then.

‘I shouldn’t have been greedy.’

I should have taken the wish to be with him, even for a day, to hell.

In my agonizing loneliness, I ended up summoning Moghald again.

Because I remembered the parallel travel magic he had taught me as a child for fun.

“Please help me, Moghald-nim. Please help me……”

Moghald shook his head.

“I can’t, Your Highness. That magic is only theoretical. The success rate is low, and the cost and side effects are too great. If you do that, you will never be yourself again!”

I gasped and knelt before him.

“I’m pregnant. It doesn’t matter if it’s not me. As long as I can save the baby…… As long as I can save the baby, I’ll do anything. Please……”

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Scrolling Through Reddit: “I’m an English man travelling India. Fancied some British food and ordered fish and chips… wow, what a sight this was”
• How to Not Die Like Jiraiya: A Guide to Staying Alive
• The Unmentionable Truth About Anime Waifus: Why They’re All So Smooth
• Is Your Cat Plotting Your Demise (While You’re Face Down, Drunk)?
• Hidden Villages, Hidden Countries? Where’s the Rest of the World in Naruto?