Chapter 35.
Two Men
When I woke up from sleeping with the baby, nine out of ten times, we were both lying together. I thought it was just my professional instinct to protect the baby, but the real reason was my own sleeping habit.
“Yes… fortunately, there’s no pain anywhere… Ah, I think I have a bit of body aches.”
Adelen, who was about to say she was fine, quickly changed her words. In reality, her body felt broken, so it wasn’t a lie.
“That makes sense. I can tell how tired you must have been after playing all night.”
The baby usually cries the moment he’s held, but it seemed that playing with him was fine. Even after Adelen fell asleep, the two men probably played for a long time.
“I think you played with him even after I fell asleep…”
“Yeah, we played almost until dawn.”
“Really? The baby too? You didn’t wake him up on purpose, did you?”
“He did take short naps in between, but he woke up quickly. He’s got amazing stamina. If he’d grown up like this in a normal place, the Teplan might have almost been destroyed in the next generation.”
Rakalt looked at the baby with a threatening gaze.
As someone from Teplan, it would be chilling to hear that his country almost perished, but instead, the thought that the baby was strong enough to prevent that made me relieved.
That was wrong. I should have said this earlier.
I already gave him all the affection I could.
What will happen to me now? How far will my fate go with this baby?
“Adul?”
Did he sense my thoughts? The baby opened his eyes and looked for Adelen.
“Ah, you’re awake, baby?”
“Aduuu!”
“Yes, good morning.”
Seeing the baby’s bright face, all the thoughts that had confused my mind until just now disappeared.
Whether I give affection or not, whether I raise him well or not, thinking about it logically was useless. In the end, people do what their hearts tell them to do.
Adelen gently spoke as usual and picked up the baby.
“Hmm!”
But something felt different with my body.
Because I had overexerted myself yesterday, because I slept on the floor, my body was making cracking sounds here and there.
And the baby had gotten heavier.
It wasn’t like he gained weight overnight, but with my body in poor condition, I could feel the added weight more clearly.
He really was growing like a weed.
“Adduu! Ah, ooo!”
As soon as he opened his eyes, the baby reached for the ball before anything else.
Adelen looked down at the baby in a daze.
“Do you want to play?”
“Uhm! Koo!”
“How about we eat first…”
“Uuuuuh!”
The baby’s stubbornness had grown with his weight.
Adelen looked at the ball lying in the corner. It seemed as though, in just one day, it had gone through the harshest test of time.
The ball could grow old, too…
Looking at the very worn and tired-looking ball, Adelen sniffled with a lump in her throat.
Thank you for holding up without bursting, ball. And today will probably be the day it bursts. Along with my stamina.
“Today, I have no schedule either, so I’ll play with you a bit more. I think I’ve figured out a way by now.”
At that moment, Rakalt stood up, stretching his body.
“You must be tired too, master, but still, I…” I bit back the humble words and swallowed them. If the master helps, I can only be grateful.
“Let’s see how long you can last, baby.”
“….”
But I wasn’t sure if this was really helping.
It felt like the master was just continuing his own game.
The truth didn’t matter. What was important was that the master was taking care of the baby instead of me.
‘You told me to take care of my own life…’
It seemed the master had forgotten that advice.
He put everything aside and focused on the baby.
Though I worried whether that was okay, I secretly hoped he’d continue forgetting.
Adelen watched as Rakalt picked up the ball, then carefully set the baby down, who was struggling to break free from Adelen’s arms. The baby’s energy was as intense as Rakalt’s.
“Did you cough?”
Hearing movement from inside, the butler knocked on the door.
Instead of the two men starting to prepare for playtime, Adelen opened the door.
“Hello, Butler.”
“Ah, Adelen. You look like you haven’t had much rest… I see.”
“Well, the master is playing with the baby again today.”
“Thank goodness… The master?”
The butler’s eyes widened in surprise, not knowing about last night’s events.
Lately, there had been a series of surprising changes.
The master had been eating with the maids, transformed the master’s room into a children’s room, and now he was even taking care of the baby.
“Kyahh! Yaaah!”
To the butler, who couldn’t believe what he was hearing, the baby thoughtfully threw the ball.
“Ugh!”
Unlike Rakalt, the butler wasn’t quick enough to block the ball, and it hit him right in the face.
As he crouched, holding his forehead, the baby quickly crawled towards him.
“Jedd!”
“…! Baby?!”
Anyone would be taken aback and stunned after being hit in the face.
But before the butler could react, the baby called out his name, the one name he hadn’t been called in a long time.
“One more time…”
“Jedd!”
“Oooh!”
The butler, unable to hold back his joy, lifted the baby up in the air.
He had tried not to touch the baby, claiming his age was starting to show, but in that moment, he couldn’t resist.
“Kyaaah! Jedd!”
The baby, enjoying the moment, called the butler’s name again.
“Oh my, our baby!”
The butler responded joyfully, but that was the problem.
“Who’s the ‘our’ baby?”
The joy of the butler froze at Rakalt’s cold voice.
“M-Master, it’s just that… I didn’t mean to…”
“Whether it’s this one or that one… I told you to keep your distance.”
The butler quickly set the baby down and bowed his head.
“I-I’m sorry. The baby keeps getting cuter every day, and before I knew it, my heart was taken.”
Adelen flinched, sensing something.
Heart?
As if Rakalt read Adelen’s mind, he looked at her.
“…I didn’t say that.”
Feeling guilty for no reason, Adelen spoke first.
“…But I think the butler’s right.”
Yet, she didn’t retreat.
Even though her stamina hadn’t grown at all while working, her courage had.
Now that she was certain the master wouldn’t cut off her head or punch her if things went wrong, she instinctively realized there was no need to be afraid.
“It’s because it doesn’t go as planned that it’s a matter of the heart.”
The argument about the heart ended with Adelen’s victory.
A message arrived from the palace.
It was a reminder and an order about the change in plans.
“Not just greetings, but a song too?”
The king had changed his mind.
He thought greetings alone wouldn’t be enough, so he ordered them to have the baby sing as well.
The birthday party of the king was just an excuse.
The real purpose was to announce to the world, “We have the heir to the throne of Mone.”
The baby, who had become the center of attention without consent, stared at Adelen with wide, innocent eyes, unaware of the situation.
“Addu! Koo!”
In the baby’s hands, the ball, which seemed ready for retirement, was tightly gripped.
Adelen looked down at the baby with empty eyes.
She had to take this innocent child, who didn’t know any malice, to a party full of enemies.
And on top of that, there was the task the king had assigned her.
“Right now, you can barely say anything that makes sense other than your name, and you want me to make the baby say ‘Happy Birthday’ too?”
“The king said that’s the most important part.”
“Do you think it’ll work?”
“It has to work.”
“….”
Once again, the king was unwavering in his insistence, without considering the position of the one doing the work.
“Addu! Aduu!”
The serious conversation among the adults didn’t concern the baby.
The baby insisted on continuing to play with the ball.
“It seems like you’ll do well just by calling your name.”
“He does well with his name. But the rest…”
The baby, with clear likes and dislikes, seemed to have extreme preferences even for words.
Apart from “ball,” “Adelen,” and “mama,” there was no improvement.
“But, master, are you still okay with being called ‘ya’?”
“….”
And Rakalt’s nickname was still fixed as ‘ya.’
Is this really okay?
***
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