After wiping the woman’s face with a towel and changing her clothes, Yuliana gently soothed the baby when he woke.
It was an attitude utterly unlike her usual self.
“Peekaboo.”
When she cooed at him, the baby broke into a bright smile. He was an extremely adorable baby. He looked like a boy not yet a year old, but judging by his distinct features, there was every chance he would grow into a handsome young man.
“How can he be this cute?”
Watching Yuliana hug the baby tightly and shower him with kisses, the mercenaries could only click their tongues in amazement. They were seeing another side of her they had never known before. In the meantime, the woman opened her eyes. She looked around, and when she saw the mercenaries, she weakly parted her lips.
“Wh-where am I? And Timmy?”
From that, it seemed the baby’s name was Timmy. Yuliana smiled brightly and handed the baby to her.
“The baby is safe. Don’t worry.”
“Oh, my baby. Sob, sob.”
The woman burst into tears, hugging the baby tightly. Judging by the situation, there was clearly some story behind it. For a while, the woman did nothing but sob sorrowfully. Heinrich brought over some soup he had cooked, but it was to the point that he could not bring himself to offer it. Yuliana reached out and tenderly stroked the woman’s shoulder.
“Don’t cry too much. Is the baby’s name Timmy?”
“Yes. Sob.”
“We made some soup. Stop crying now and try to eat some.”
But the woman seemed to have no desire to eat at all. Though she must have been terribly hungry, she merely shook her head. However, Yuliana was a more clever girl than expected. She lightly appealed to the woman’s maternal love and made her accept the bowl of soup.
“Even if you don’t want to eat, you must. Timmy seems terribly hungry... If his mother doesn’t eat, how will the baby be able to nurse?”
In the end, the woman accepted the bowl of soup. Perhaps the savory smell awakened her appetite, for she wolfed down the soup in a hurry. Heinrich, who had been watching, ladled another bowl and handed it to her, and the woman emptied that one cleanly as well. After finishing her meal, the woman wiped her mouth with the handkerchief Yuliana handed her and gave a lonely smile.
“Thank you for saving me. My name is Kate.”
Kasim, who had been watching silently, suddenly spoke.
“But how did you come to fall from the cliff? That place is by no means easy to go with a baby...”
At those words, Kate’s expression grew extremely heavy. It was difficult to expect tact like Yuliana’s from the taciturn Kasim. After keeping silent for a long while, Kate finally managed to open her mouth.
“The truth is, I was trying to end my life together with my baby. Sob...”
After finishing her words, Kate covered her face and began sobbing again. Needless to say, the mercenaries listening were greatly shocked. Ending one’s life together with a baby was no ordinary matter. All the more so when one considered that the baby was still an infant not yet weaned. But none of them could bring themselves to ask the sorrowfully sobbing Kate anything. None except Yuliana...
“Timmy. That’s a very pretty name. Did the child’s father give it to him?”
Kate silently nodded. Yuliana did not miss the moment and continued.
“How could you make such a decision if his father were to find out? Did you not think the child’s father would be heartbroken?”
“Th-the child’s father won’t know. Because I left without saying anything.”
At this unexpected revelation, the mercenaries had no choice but to be stunned once more. What on earth could have happened that she would think to end her life with the baby without the child’s father knowing? No matter how they thought about it, they could not understand, and so the mercenaries only stared at Yuliana. Because only she could make Kate speak.
“Could you perhaps tell us what happened? We might be able to help you somehow...”
A desolate smile appeared on Kate’s gaunt face.
“Thank you for saying so, but there probably isn’t any way for you to help.”
“Don’t say that. Please tell us. You can’t raise a child without his father.”
In the end, Kate had no choice but to yield to Yuliana, who would use any means necessary. A short while later, Kate laid bare everything that had happened. Yuliana’s specialty was shining for the first time in a long while.
According to Kate, Timmy’s father was a Tervian guard knight named Philip. Rare for someone of common birth, Philip had risen all the way to the rank of guard knight and was a knight with outstanding swordsmanship. He was, in every sense, a young man with a bright future ahead of him.
Kate had met him when he was a squire, and the two had nurtured their love for a long time. Having lost her father in childhood and been raised alone by her widowed mother, Kate loved Philip from the very depths of her heart. Philip, too, cherished the lovely and kind Kate even more than his own body. Even during his squire days, after finishing harsh training, he would still meet Kate with his exhausted body and whisper words of love to her all night long.
Not long after Philip was formally appointed as a knight, misfortune struck: Kate’s mother passed away from old age. Overnight, Kate became an orphan with no one to rely on, and Philip proposed to her. They had promised to spend their lives together.
The two set up a home in a small, cozy house. Though they had no money and could not hold a proper wedding ceremony, they lived each day immersed in the sweet dream of newlyweds. The following year, Timmy was born, and just then, Philip’s swordsmanship was recognized and he was appointed a guard knight. In other words, one happy event followed another. But no one had imagined that this had been the seed of misfortune from the very beginning.
The one who appointed Philip as a guard knight was none other than Marquis Edward, the vice commander of the knight order. In truth, he had appointed Philip as a guard knight with a certain scheme in mind.
A position as a guard knight was not one that could be attained simply through skill. In Tervia, the reality was that if one had no connections whatsoever, no matter how excellent one’s swordsmanship was, one could not become a guard knight. On the day that marked six months since Philip had become a guard knight, Marquis Edward finally made his move. It was a plan to make Philip one of his own people.
Marquis Edward had a daughter named Eliza, who was beautiful of face but had a wanton disposition. She had spread so many scandals with noble youths that Marquis Edward could hardly show his face in public. Because of this, he made up his mind and decided to marry Eliza off.
Of course, given his status as vice commander of the Guard Knights, he could not take just anyone as his son-in-law, so he put considerable effort into searching among the young knights for a suitable candidate. The one chosen was Philip. Marquis Edward valued Philip’s thoughtfulness and upright character even more highly than his swordsmanship. Though he was not unaware that Philip was living with Kate, it was not much of a problem for the marquis. As long as they had not held a formal wedding, there was nothing to hold him back.
Having secretly settled on Philip as his son-in-law, Marquis Edward called his daughter and casually asked her opinion. Unexpectedly, Eliza gave a very positive answer. She, too, knew well that Philip was kind and extremely handsome.
“If it’s Philip, I’ll marry him without a second thought.”
Relieved of one worry, Marquis Edward summoned Philip without delay. When Philip heard the whole story, he could not help but be startled.
“B-but I have a wife and child.”
“You did not hold a formal wedding ceremony, did you? Do you intend to ruin your life over one woman?”
“B-but...”
“Think carefully. This is not an opportunity anyone can seize. If you agree, I will immediately appoint you as captain of a squad in the Guard Knights. After you hold your wedding with Eliza, I promise to promote you to chief squad captain. One day, you will inherit my position as vice commander... So think it over well.”
“Even so...”
Philip continued to hesitate, but Marquis Edward was willing to use any means necessary to achieve his goal.
“You seem to think you became a guard knight purely through your own ability, but that is a clear miscalculation. With a single word from me, you will be demoted back to an ordinary knight at once. Back to where you were originally. Perhaps you may even be dispatched to some remote mountain backwater. In truth, if it had not been for my letter of recommendation, you could not have become a guard knight even after a hundred years. So think about it once more. If you form a marital bond with my daughter Eliza, I guarantee that your future will be a truly smooth road.”
It was an extremely difficult proposal to decide on. It was not as if Philip had no ambition in his heart. To make a name for oneself with honor was the desire of all Tervian knights. Because of that, Philip was plunged into a severe conflict.
Though Kate and young Timmy weighed on his mind, for the sake of success, there was nothing he could do. He truly did not want to return to being an ordinary knight, with meager pay and poor working conditions. Moreover, if he were demoted to a remote mountain region as Marquis Edward had threatened... Perhaps he would have to give up his ambition forever. In the end, Philip could not make a decision immediately.
“I will think about it for now.”
“Think carefully. Your future depends on this. Children can be born again, but an opportunity that has passed will never be caught a second time.”
After leaving Marquis Edward, Philip immediately returned home. Then he called Kate and told her everything that had happened.
“This happened today. What should I do?”
For Kate, it was like a bolt from the blue. Having lost her widowed mother, she had lived looking only to Philip, and now such a thing had happened... She deeply resented Marquis Edward, who was trying to shatter their harmonious family to pieces. But it was an undeniable fact that he held her husband’s fate in one hand, and so Kate had no choice but to follow her husband’s decision.
“What do you intend to do?”
“I have no idea what I should do. But I absolutely cannot abandon you and Timmy.”
Only then did Kate manage to let out a breath of relief at Philip’s words. But that was not the end of it...
For several days, Philip returned home without any trouble, but afterward, he stopped showing himself altogether. He had finally made up his mind. Perhaps he could not bear to face Kate, for Philip did not come home at all. He merely revealed his decision through a single letter.
[I am sorry. Forgive me, Kate.]
Philip’s intentions were clear in those short words. For the sake of his ambition, he had unhesitatingly abandoned his wife and young child.
After that, Kate had to raise Timmy alone for six months while waiting for Philip. But Philip never showed himself again. Even the wages he had faithfully brought home stopped completely, so Kate had to live in extreme difficulty. Because of young Timmy, she could not even find proper work. But when all the food ran out, Kate had no way to endure any longer.
After starving for several days, she finally made a decisive choice. She would leave Bayanka with young Timmy... But from the very beginning, it was impossible for her, weakened by malnutrition, to make such a difficult journey. In the end, when her strength gave out here, she despaired of the world and threw herself from the cliff.
After explaining the whole story, Kate shed streams of tears.
“Even so, I don’t resent him. If anyone had been in that situation, they would have done the same.”
After hearing all of Kate’s story, the mercenaries quietly kept silent. The one who broke that silence was Yuliana. A vicious curse utterly unsuited to her pretty lips burst out.
“Bastard.”
Perhaps her anger had risen to the very top of her head, for she continued to fume.
“He abandoned his wife and child for that pathetic reason? What an utterly wicked bastard. No, how could you just leave a bastard like that alone?”
“......”
“I don’t understand why you just left. You should have sat yourself down in the marketplace and spread rumors. So that bastard could never hold his head up in Bayanka again... A man who abandons his wife and child for the sake of success should be completely buried by society.”
At this unexpected reaction, Kate’s eyes had gone round. Yuliana was now on the verge of exploding, unable to contain her anger.
“If I had been placed in that situation, I would never have stayed still.”
“What would you do...?”
Glaring at Damon, who had suddenly cut in, Yuliana ground her teeth.
“I’d kill him. A man like that isn’t worth letting live.”
At those chilling words, dripping with murderous intent, the mercenaries all felt their spines grow cold. Judging from Yuliana’s tone, it seemed entirely possible that she would do exactly that. But Kate instead lowered her head deeply with a heavy expression.
“I simply couldn’t do that. Even so, the time I spent with him was far too happy. For the sake of his happiness, I had no choice but to leave quietly.”
“Hmph! So you decided to kill yourself for that bastard’s benefit. Did you truly not know that was exactly what he wanted? How can a person be so foolish?”
Yuliana was now taking out her anger on Kate. Kate kept her head bowed low and silently endured the torrent of criticism.
“That human trash. Somehow or other, I’ll make sure that bastard pays the price he deserves.”
Only after Kate, unable to bear listening any longer, finally burst into tears did Yuliana close her mouth.
“S-stop. Even so, he is Timmy’s father. If I can disappear and let him be happy, then I am more than willing to do so. Sob, sob.”
Kate began wailing once more. The mercenaries silently nodded their heads. They could not help but sympathize with her heartrending story.