TYHL SSS 02 🍷💫

~Special Side Story 2~

Several days before the incident.

“Kyyaaaaah!”

“Buaaah!”

Kal blinked slowly.

What is this chaos?

A memory he had once seen from the future surfaced.

A sturdy young man being forced to run laps around a training ground in the dead of winter……

No.
That wasn’t it.

“Ahh! Kids! No charging!”

“Ugyyaaa!”

“Omnyam.”

“Baby? Spit it out! Ptoo, ptoo! Hair—hair is not food, okay?”

Ha… so this was it.

Khalid pressed his forehead and let out a hollow sigh.

In the future he had seen, two squirrels hanging limply from Rubian’s arms.

“Kaaaal… save meee……”

Indeed—exactly as he had witnessed.

Except—

“Puhuhu. Maybe it’s because they take after Sir Oberon, but the twins are so energetic~”

—they weren’t his children.

“They’ll grow up to be big, beautiful troublemakers.”

“Please give them to me. At this rate, our young lady will collapse first~”

Rubian handed the babies she was holding over to Hazel.

The twins were the children born recently to Oberon, the vice-commander of the Jebert Knights, who had married not long ago.

They were full of energy.
Not satisfied with wrecking the reception room, they rolled around in every direction with their chubby bottoms.

“Babies! It’s magic soap bubble time!”

In the end, Rubian moved her mana.

Pop, pop, pop!

Clear bubbles formed in the air.

“Kyyaaaa!”

“Abuu!”

Roll, roll, roll……

And just like that, they were safely stored in the playroom.

“Wow… that was really exhausting.”

Rubian flopped down onto the sofa, looking completely drained. She wiped drool off her silver hair, looking dumbfounded.

“Why do they eat other people’s hair?! I’m not even their dad…….”

“……”

“Hmm, no—was it that their dad is on the same level as babies?”

“……”

“……Hello? Excuse me? Are you there?”

“Ah.”

Kal snapped back to reality.

“You’ve been quiet for a while now. Something on your mind?”

“No. Nothing.”

I thought I was going to have twins with you……

There was no way he could say that.

Feeling awkward after such a massive misunderstanding, Kal simply sat neatly beside Rubian instead.

Rubian rolled her eyes.

“Wait…… was I weird taking care of babies? Did I do something wrong?”

“No. Not really.”

It’s not like I know anything anyway.

“They really liked you. But more importantly—turn around.”

Kal gently turned Rubian by the shoulders. He carefully brushed her messy silver hair, tidied it up, and tied it again. He had done it so often that it felt natural now.

They weren’t my baby with Ruby.

Once he realized that, a strange feeling rose up.

What is this feeling?

Kal tilted his chin slightly.

Don’t tell me I’m feeling…… relieved?

It was strange.

“But you know, you didn’t hold them even once. The babies.”

“Do I need to?”

“Wow. That’s cold.”

For some reason, sweat formed on the back of his neck.

Should I have held them?
Was she disappointed?

At that moment, Rubian suddenly turned around and opened her arms wide.

“Then what about hugging me?”

“Huh?”

“That too…… unnecessary?”

Only then did Kal smile and gently pull her into his arms.

“No way.”

All distracting thoughts disappeared.

Every time her small, soft body leaned into him, Khalid felt a fullness unlike anything else. As long as he had this warmth and weight, nothing else seemed necessary.

“Hehe. This is nice. It’s warm.”

“Want to eat something? You barely ate lunch while watching the kids.”

“I’ll eat after they leave. Sir Oberon should be heading back soon anyway. He said he didn’t have much to discuss with Dad. Wow! A senior taking parental leave!”

“……Tch. Why bring kids to the capital in the first place.”

“Why~ They’re cute. Don’t you think so?”

Kal looked down at Rubian gazing up at him and replied casually.

“To me, you’re the cutest.”

“Oh my.”

A shocking true story.

A real person who beat a zero-year-old baby in cuteness.

(Only applicable to a fiancé with extremely thick love-filter glasses.)

“Oh, honestly~”

Rubian lightly patted Khalid’s solid chest, enjoying herself, then carefully glanced at his expression.

“……But, Kal. There’s something I’ve wanted to ask for a while.”

Kal looked genuinely hurt.

“I wanted to ask for a while, and you only ask now? That’s hurtful.”

“Um…….”

“Don’t think so much. Just say it right away next time.”

“Okay, got it! Then…… what’s your plan for kids?”

“Cough!”

He choked—even though he hadn’t been drinking anything.

“You—how can you say something like that without any hesitation……!”

“You told me not to think and just say it.”

“Even so, asking like it’s someone else’s business……!”

“I wouldn’t ask anyone else. It’s rude.”

That was true. Khalid’s eyes spun.

Rubian quietly watched him.

Then, as if something crossed her mind, her blue eyes trembled slightly.

“Why……? You don’t want to have a baby with me?”

“……Cough!”

Are you joking right now?

“……I want one. Absolutely.”

“Oh?”

“Having a baby—that, that’s something I……”

He was waiting for it so desperately……

Kal felt like he was burning to ash.

Up to that point, it was fine.

I lay sprawled on the sofa in my room, thinking.

The problem came next.

After calmly replaying his own words, Khalid glanced at me and said—

“But making one is one thing…… actually having a baby with you…… I don’t really think I want that.”

“Are you trash?”

Taken out of context, it sounded terrible, but when organized, it meant this—

“I don’t know why a baby is necessary. Honestly, I like being just the two of us more. It’s enough—more than enough.”

“…….”

“What about you? Do you really need…… something like a baby?”

“Well, I mean. I’m also fine as long as I have you.”

“Right?”

“Hmm.”

He looked almost desperate.

So I brushed it off.

Still, I was surprised that Khalid had so gently refused the idea of children.

He worked so hard and even became a noble.

Doesn’t he think about an heir?

More than that—

Honestly, seeing the twins made me even more curious.

What would kids who looked like me and Kal be like? It’s normal to imagine that when you’re getting married!

It felt like there was another reason he couldn’t tell me……

After that, he subtly avoided the topic, so I couldn’t press him further.

“Well, I can talk about it again when he comes back!”

I stretched wide—kyaaa—and my whole body felt refreshed.

Right now, I was on a long vacation from the Magic Tower, lazing around at Jebert Castle in the north.

“Kal isn’t here…… I’m bored…….”

Kal had temporarily left the north for matters related to his territory.

“Oh! Right—I had plans with my brothers!”

Suddenly remembering, I jumped up and ran straight to the training grounds.

Yeah, why think so hard? When Kal comes back, I’ll sit him down and squeeze the truth out of him!

The sun was blazing!
The weather was bright!

It was full summer!

Second shocking true story.

A real person who catches a cold in summer.

“Ughhhhh…… I really overdid it.”

I hugged my blanket tightly, shivering.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“Nooo…….”

“Let me see.”

Liam placed a hand on my forehead. With his naturally cold expression and glasses, he looked exactly like a competent doctor.

“Doctor, me—achoo!—do I have hope? I feel like I might just drop dead like this.”

“……? That won’t happen, so don’t worry.”

“It’s real. My head hurts, I’m cold, my stomach feels bad, and my throat is all scratchy…….”

“Classic cold symptoms. Plus a bit of—hmm. According to my data, Fairy, you are……”

“Cough, cough! I’m dyingggg!”

“You’re not listening at all.”

“……Are you pretending not to hear because you’re afraid he’ll start talking long again?”

“……?!”

Liam turned in shock to look at Void, who was sitting against the wall in the distance.

A ghost.
How did he know?

Phew. I was so scared when I couldn’t move this morning.

When the two of them found me sick and barely breathing, they had gone completely pale.

They hurriedly called Borbel for a checkup, and only calmed down after watching me take my medicine.

Good thing Kal isn’t here.

If the person who cared more about my body than I did found out, he would’ve gone berserk and turned the entire north upside down.

“Ugh… my head…… I really shouldn’t have gone as far as the ice lake…….”

At that, Void—who had been sitting quietly—muttered gloomily.

“I said I was sorry……”

That’s right.

This whole situation started because of Void.