The Maid With a Child

7. You Are Our Only Hope.

 

The baby’s cries were a little different from before.

It has a dangerous edge to it, as if he was gasping for breath.

“What should I do? Should I go fetch the baby…Huh?!”

Adelen, who belatedly noticed the person in front of her, because of how her eyes blurred from sleep, was so surprised that she almost fainted.

“W-w-who…”

It was dark, so she couldn’t see the face of the person in front of her.

But even in the darkness, she could see their huge height, broad shoulders, and thick, strong arms and legs.

They had an intimidating presence.

An alarm bell rang in her head.

Could it be that she was being attacked at this time?

But she didn’t know anything. The only information she could leak was that the baby was cute!

“Please spare me! I don’t know anything! I really don’t know anything! I’ll answer any questions you ask me, so just spare my life!”

Adelen shouted without even taking a breath.

“…Should I really kill you?”

Adelen recognized the voice and opened her eyes wide. The master’s unusually heavy voice was easily recognizable even in the darkness.

“Master?”

There was no need to ask. It was the master.

Why had the master come all this way here?

However, the bigger problem was the fact that she had just said that she would say anything if threatened.

“Ah, no, I was not really going to tell anyone…Of course not! I really don’t know anything!”

Adelen made an excuse urgently. However, what came back was a fierce interrogation.

“The color of your eyes and hair, your age, the date you were brought in, the person you were brought in by and the place you have stayed at.”

“…”

“Everything you know can be information.”

“I, I don’t know!”

“…”

It was a futile effort.

The master’s gaze was fierce.

While Adelen trembled and shrank to the point of wanting to disappear, Rakalt pondered over how to deal with this dangerous molecule. But he had another purpose for coming to Adelen.

“Come with me. It’s too late to send you away quietly, so cooperate.”

“Huh, cooperate? You’re asking me to cooperate in you killing me?! You’re going to drag me away like this and slit my throat?!”

Adelen shouted, holding onto the edge of the bed with her whole body.

If Rakalt had used his strength, he could have pulled her off with just one arm, but this was the maximum resistance she could put up.

“If that were the case, I wouldn’t have come here myself.”

Rakalt let out a long sigh and ran a heavy hand through his hair.

Adelen rolled her eyes at the unexpected words. That’s right. Why did the master come all the way here? Curiosity welled up in her.

“Your retirement hasn’t been processed yet.”

“Yes…”

“Go and look after the child.”

“…What?”

“Look after the child.”

She hadn’t noticed it until now…But, the master’s appearance was quite shabby. Just like someone who had stayed up all night like her.

Even when he had just returned from the battlefield, his face seemed to have been more radiant than this.

His voice also sounded tired. It certainly didn’t seem like he had come with the intention of killing someone.

“First, go and stop that child from crying. Then, we will negotiate.”

“What negotiation…?”

“Think about the conditions while you’re on the way.”

Rakalt grabbed Adlen’s arm and dragged her away, as if he had no intention of waiting any longer.

Adelen also didn’t hold out any longer and was dragged away obediently.

“Waaaaaaah!”

The baby’s cries echoed through the hallway as they walked.

And as the baby’s cries grew louder, Rakalt’s steps also got faster.

Adelen had to practically run to keep up with Rakalt, who had quickly gotten further away.

After passing through the long hallway and almost reaching the master’s room, the two knights guarding the door swung the door wide open before he even arrived.

She heard a voice saying, “Welcome Adelen!”

And inside, instead of auditory hallucinations, enthusiastic welcomes actually poured out.

 

* * *

 

Right after Adelen left the master’s room, the Sigelion mansion was turned upside down.

“Ugh, oh my, baby, let’s calm down, okay?”

“Aaah-uh-aah!”

“If you keep crying like this, I won’t give you delicious momma for dinner, let’s just stop now.”

“Wah-ah-ah!”

The butler’s persuasion and threats didn’t work at all. The baby rolled over and continued crying.

The butler had devoted his entire life to the Sigelion family. He had no family or children. This was his first experience holding a baby.

The baby was heavier and stronger than he had thought. It was difficult for his old body to handle.

So..that’s why Adelen gave up on her letter of recommendation and decided to quit.

“Ugh! Oh my! Ugh!”

If he just watched a little longer, it would be elder abuse.

Rakalt, who couldn’t stand it anymore, got up and snatched the baby away.

“U-ugh, thank you, Master…”

“What on earth is the problem?”

He tried holding him this way and that way. He tried putting him on his shoulder, and laying him face down on his lap.

But nothing worked on the baby.

“Waa-ah-ah-ah! Keu-ah-ah-ah!”

The baby’s cry was cute when it was uh-ah-ah. While the baby, overcome with anger, would cry keu-ah-ah. And as he became more stubborn, the crying would become longer.

He refused to sleep, to eat, or play.

The baby had been crying ever since he was taken from Adelen’s arms.

As time passed, she would break down on her own. She would do that if she wanted to live. Rakalt confidently predicted.

And that was…arrogance.

“Wa-ah-ah-ah! Keu-ah-ah-ah!”

The baby was strong.

He tried to find someone who could take care of the baby and hold him, but everyone ran away after not being able to hold him for ten minutes as the baby’s crying did not stop.

In the end, the baby was handed over to Rakalt.

In Adelen’s case, he would cry when she sat down, cry when she was put him down, and cry when she was shaking him and stopped, but with Rakalt he took it up a notch.

He would cry more when he sat down, cry more when he was put down, and cry even more when he was being shaken and stopped.

The parenting hell that Adelen had been through the night before came upon Rakalt equally.

There was no way out.

 

* * *

 

“Come on, hurry!”

“Huh? Oh, no. Yes!”

Adelen, who had caught the baby in a panic, tried to comfort the baby who was on the verge of death.

“Ugh…”

The parenting hell that had been burning the Sigelion mansion from morning till dawn, was slowly extinguished.

Those who remained barely managed to hold on to their sanity as they scattered like ashes.

The baby who had stopped crying immediately began to sleep soundly.

“…Did he sleep already? He is sleeping, right? He is not dead, right?”

The butler muttered in a tearful voice and looked at the baby.

The baby was neither dead nor fainted, but sleeping. With a very comfortable face, he slept soundly, even babbling.

“I, I survived…”

The baby almost died, but the people who had been with him the whole time also seemed to be dying. Just like Adelen the night before.

“Adelen, there is no one else but you. You are the only hope of Sigelion.”

“…”

Adelen could not answer.

The matter seemed to be already set, but she was not ready to accept it yet.

“The butler should go and rest.”

Rakalt pushed the butler aside as if it was non-negotiable.

“Yes, master. Thank you.”

The butler stepped back and patted Adelen on the shoulder solemnly.

“We are Sigelion! Fighting!”

“…”

Adelen did not respond to the Sigelion-style cheer. She still hasn’t gotten used to it, and she doesn’t want to get used to it.

After the butler left, Adelen, who was left alone with Rakalt, lifted the baby and rolled her eyes here and there, filled with anxiety.

What would the master say now?

“Sit down.”

“…Yes.”

Unlike before, Rakalt politely offered her a seat. This was not normal.

Adelen carefully sat on the sofa opposite Rakalt with a trembling heart.

The baby slept soundly without waking up even after her buttocks completely touched the sofa.

Rakalt watched the scene until the end with his hands interlocked in front of his lips.

“The baby definitely listens to you well.”

“I, I think it’s because I had many younger siblings, so I’m somewhat used to taking care of children.”

“I see. So…”

Rakalt nodded and stared at Adelen intently.

His eyes were cold and firm.

He was burning with the determination to get what he wanted.