The Baby Isn’t Yours - Chapter 18

Translator: Ashlyn Rose

Editor: Yui & Chanri

Proofreader: Ashlyn Rose

It was due to the existence of an archmage with monster-like talent called Simon Terroan.

He was someone who stood alongside Kalia, a hero revered as ‘The Iron Lady’ and ‘The Goddess of War.’ Simon Terroan was a once-in-a-century type of wizard.

His silver hair was something only those who crossed the line of ‘Enlightenment’( Enlightenment is a level of magic wizards in this world can obtain) were allowed to possess and it was proof of his abilities. In the almost 700 years of imperial history, Simon was the only one who passed Enlightenment at the young age of twenty and he also inherited the breathtaking beauty of his ancestors, the Elf Race!

There were no women in the Empire who had not imagined what it’d be like to fall in love with him…except for only one. The problem was, the one in question was the one that Simon loved.

Either way, the thought that one could work with a wizard so powerful and beautiful and possibly leave behind a legacy of achievements together was inevitably the reason the imperial department of magic saw an increase in size and popularity among young wizards.

Though he was like a main character, his colleagues who worked alongside him treated him as if he were the devil. In fact, the business trip this time had been expected to take about a month. The business trip agenda was brutal. During that month, they were scheduled to visit 7 cities, repair 17 magic circles and visit 3 magic branches for meetings.

However, it was Simon Terroan who mercilessly cut the duration of the already packed schedule in half from a month to fourteen days. All the work from the initial month-long schedule was crammed into a short 2 week period. He busted through the vice minister’s blood-like magic circles(I think this is referring to the magic circles Simon had to repair…).

Even if we lost against a 12th rank (Referring to their magic power level most likely), we just entered the 8th rank! Scoundrel! Dirty man! Eat all by yourself you pretty-looking bastard!’

The curses stayed stuck in their throats because they didn’t dare utter them aloud.

He was a being born into an era of great power… Not only was he highly ranked, but he also had a great talent for magic. They couldn’t go against a man who was so loved by God.

Those with a bad temper, were late with their work or made excuses without valid reason, were all demoted on the spot. The only one who could raise his head in front of Simon to express his opinion was that crazy person, Derek. However, even he was useless right now because he had been listless these days. Simon’s mood had been fluctuating up and down these past few months after the trouble that Derek had caused with his masterpiece.

‘…No, it couldn’t have failed(Here, the ‘it’ that Derek is referring to his masterpiece).’

That pink scroll really was his masterpiece. The scroll prodigy, otherwise known as the genius mage, Derrick Descartes, had honed his love spell to the fullest and written it into the pink scroll with all his might.

Ah~ The magic of lust. When a heart holds feelings of love as small as even an earthworm, with the scroll, those feelings could be amplified to be as big as a golden dragon! It was a powerful scroll with no secondary side-effects because it was based on the ‘feelings’ you harbored, not on hypnosis or psychic shackles.

‘I studied for 165 days and stayed up 7 nights to make this…!’

Whether it was friendship or brotherhood, General Kalia had feelings for Simon so Derek was sure that she would react to the scroll. Not to mention, Simon had no intention of hiding his feelings(Derek created a magic scroll where if both parties that tore it had even slight feelings towards each other, it will arouse lust within them. Above, he’s saying that Kalia had feelings for Simon (or at the very least, considers him a very important person to her) and Simon himself made no effort to hide his feelings towards her. Thus, he believes his scroll couldn’t have possibly failed, unless…).

“Get rid of it. I don’t need something like this, Derek,” Simon had flatly refused, but Derek still left it nicely wrapped in his lab.

The next day, when he went to look for the scroll, it had already been accidentally triggered. The problem was, even though it was activated, it seemed to have been activated incorrectly. Originally, when activated, the scroll should have elevated the surrounding temperature with blinding sparks which, in turn, should have triggered heart pounding, eye blurring and whitening effects. The scroll should have caused a situation so dramatic that they(Derek is referring to the 2 people who triggered the scroll. In this case, Simon and Kalia.) couldn’t help but stare blankly at each other.

So, why- why the hell did Simon’s lab become so messy that it looked like a battlefield?

‘Did a fight break out because of the scroll..?’

Everything on the desk had been knocked down and dirty clothes were scattered and strewn all over the floor. There were marks on the corridor walls leading to the room, and the ropes hung up for decor were missing. According to the cleaning maids, Simon’s bedroom, which was always neat, was a mess. Later, when the servants came out of Simon’s bedroom, Derek had no choice but to turn his doubt into conviction(Above, Derek was saying “It (the scroll) couldn’t have possibly failed” but after witnessing the mess, Derek is convinced that his scroll had failed because it was supposed to enhance their feelings towards each other, not cause a wreck…).

General Kalia’s mental strength probably overpowered Derek’s spell. She must have been angry when she realized the magical properties hidden in the scroll and as a result, probably confined and tied Simon up(The above part (describing the messy room) is Derek seeing the aftermath of Kalia and Simon’s night together after the scroll was torn. Derek doesn’t know what happened because the scroll isn’t supposed to cause such a mess so he is speculating. He thinks Kalia noticed what he did to the scroll and overcame the lust spell with her sheer mental strength then punished Simon for having the scroll….)….

‘… Hyuk!’(A sound of exclamation)

Imagining what happened up to this point, Derek then snuck a look at his boss who was walking ahead of him with a contemplative expression on his face. If it really happened as he’d imagined it, then this really was an emergency situation.

Come to think of it, Kalia and Simon’s relationship has been estranged since then. Kalia didn’t seem to want to see Simon and avoided him. As a result, Simon had already blown up the palace garden a few times already.

‘No, smart Derek. Think carefully. If the situation was actually really serious, Simon-nim would have already strangled me but look! I’m alive with all my limbs intact!’ Derek came to his senses. He knew he’d done something wrong but he couldn’t tell if it was too late to mend the situation.

At any rate, wasn’t the fact that he hadn’t received any punishment circumstantial evidence? Derek’s heart relaxed. ‘When I return to the tower, I have to conduct another study on the scroll. Okay. Let’s finish work quickly so I can go back!’

Anyways, the hellish two weeks were almost over and there was only one day left before they could head home. No matter how painful the trip had been, a similar smile graced the faces of Derek and his colleagues when the thought that they could finally head home tomorrow came to mind. Derek and his colleagues, who were walking behind Simon, all secretly made eye contact. Their eyes seemed to be glinting with the same message.

‘Let’s go fuckers! To home!’

‘Woohoo!!’

Passersby looked at them with envy as if the wizard’s furtive smiles were part of a high-level language that ordinary people could not understand… In reality, they were no different from ordinary office workers who were desperate to finish their work and go home.

The academy they were supposed to visit was only a 5 minutes trip on foot. Though they had to climb a hill to reach the school, the wizards gathered the strength to climb it from the fact that this was their final scheduled event. It was then.

“Waaah!”

On the way up the hill, they reached a plaza square that had a store occupying one corner. The wizards were surprised by the loud applause coming from the people gathered there. The group stopped walking at the boisterous cheers of men and women from the crowd to watch the commotion.

‘What? What’s going on?”

A man, who seemed to be the store owner, happily came out holding a sign. He looked around gracefully as if he were a theater actor and bowed his head briefly to the people watching. The crowd laughed loudly.

The owner of the store, no different from them, placed the sign in front of the store with an exaggerated gesture and a face full of smiles. The writing on the sign was simple.

[Pink pearls just in.](The ‘just in’ means the stores just received a new batch of the product)

When he hung the sign up, people pointed at it with joy.The laughter and chatter were so loud that Simon unconsciously frowned.

“Pink pearl?”

Henry, a boy with red hair and a small physique, who once studied ‘local culture and how it affects human nature’, replied to Simon’s muttering.

“Pink pearls are very rare pearls found only in this region. They say that, at most, only one can be obtained a year. It can’t be farmed, only mined directly and is a very beloved jewel in Tania so news of it is protected very tightly. There is an interesting tradition surrounding it; only the people who stayed until the end of the day can bid on the pearl in the auction houses. Looks like it was that store’s owner’s lucky day today.”

As Henry went on and on with his explanation, Simon turned away with a dismissive, “I see.”

To him, it was still nothing more than a gem. Whether it was in his house or Kalia’s house, there were many jewels. There was nothing special about this pearl. However, the next few words caught Simon’s attention.

“Oh, I’ve heard of it too. It’s a very pretty and expensive pearl.”

“They are not just beautiful and expensive pearls. In Tania, a pearl symbolizes ‘love’, and the pink pearl represents eternal love or a happy family. Although it’s not definitive, there is even a saying that the receiver of a pink pearl will die on the same day as the gifter. That’s why even lovers don’t gift these casually. You can only give it to a lover you really really want to be with, even in the moment of death.”

In a second, Simon had turned back to the store. He stared down the store owner as if he was about to eat him. The owner flinched when their eyes met and he was scared to the point where he stumbled and faltered a few steps back.

‘What- what is it all of a sudden?’

The wizards turned around to watch Simon quickly approach the store with wide strides. They waited for awhile, trying to decide whether they should follow him or not when a thunderous roar was heard from around them once again.

” Woaaah!”

“Wow! Hey!”

The cheers were definitely louder than before. The eyes of the people in the crowd were filled with longing and envy. Amidst the uproar, Simon walked out expressionlessly. The crowd split in two, just like the parting of the Red Sea, to give way to Simon. Despite the numerous shimmering eyes directed at him and their cheers, Simon still had no special expression.

People looked at the jewelry box in Simon’s hands, their eyes wide. In Simon’s hands was the pink pearl that had been in the hands of the store owner less than an hour ago.

The owner, the one who had sold the pink pearl to Simon, stared blankly at his back almost like the pearl had been stolen from him. Because of Simon’s personality, the owner had sold the pearl to him at a generous price(Here, generous price means cheap price). Though he wasn’t disappointed, he was still a bit surprised. A man bearing the mark of the Imperial Wizard had suddenly bought a pink pearl at a price that almost seemed like he was robbing it(The crowd was going wild because Simon’s group of wizards all bore the mark of imperial wizards. On the other hand, the owner is surprised because an imperial wizard like Simon had bought the pearl at such a cheap price….).

Simon left behind the cheers of the crowd and returned to the group of waiting wizards with a distant and casual expression as if he had only left to go to the bathroom.

He put the small box of pink pearls into his inner chest pocket, and said curtly, “Let’s go.”

Simon walked ahead, leaving the confused wizards behind. Compared to before, his gait seemed much more majestic.

Eternal love, happy family, but most of all…

‘This means that we could die together within the same hour.’

A smile, so subtle it was almost invisible, spread over his face. His silver hair shook in the salty sea breeze. He carelessly swept it back, wondering how he should give it to Kalia whom he was to meet tomorrow. Tomorrow was too far away.

Time seemed to pass terribly slowly.

‘I want to see Kalia as soon as possible.’