807

 [Chapter 203]

[For the Fierce Battle(4)]

Recently, her body feels strange.

Strangely, her lower abdomen feels tight.

She reaches for sweet foods.

"Ah... I shouldn't be doing this..."

Is it because she's been working so much?

Is that why she's craving sugar?

Han Seo-hyun, who was reaching for candy brought by Ha Baek-ryeon, hesitated.

She ate too much.

She needed to restrain herself.

She slowly withdrew her hand.

Yet her gaze remained fixed on the candy.

"Just one more..."

In the end, she compromised with her emotions.

She reached out and ate one more candy.

It was unavoidable even knowing her weight would increase.

Anyway, recently her body wasn't being controlled by her will.

Come to think of it, it seems like it's been a long time since she had her period....

Then suddenly.

Han Seo-hyun was stroking her stomach when she became curious.

It seems her body isn't feeling well.

She should go to the hospital soon.

Until then, Han Seo-hyun didn't know what state she was in.

She found out her condition that week, when eating dinner together with her in-laws.

"─Huh? What's this? Hm? What's this? What is it? Hm? Huh? Huh? Huh...?"

"Eun-ae, what's wrong?"

While eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

Han Seo-hyun reached for the fried dumplings first.

She was strangely drooling.

But at that moment, Noh Eun-ae tilted her head in confusion.

The family's gazes turned to her.

Mother asked as a representative.

Then Eun-ae's face became serious.

"I thought it was just my imagination earlier, but I keep hearing the voice of someone who isn't here. It doesn't seem to be the voice of plants in this room..."

"Could there be a mouse hiding somewhere? Noh Eun-ae, your gift is really strange. I told you not to listen to useless sounds?"

"Pa-rang, do you have to say that while we're eating?"

"Pa-rang oppa, unni, please be quiet. And don't worry, I can't hear the sound Pa-rang oppa is talking about. The sound I'm hearing now is..."

""""...."""

Eun-ae's gaze turned to Han Seo-hyun.

Han Seo-hyun blinked.

She peeked at Noh Eun-ae's emotions using her gift.

What on earth is that color?

A shade close to yellow.

It was a meaningful color.

Bewilderment, surprise, joy.

Such emotions were being transmitted.

Han Seo-hyun kept tilting her head.

"Kang!"

"Beep beep!"

Then Han Seo-hyun realized she had Kang on her lap.

Buldak was on her shoulder too.

Could Eun-ae have heard the spirit beasts' voices?

Han Seo-hyun put a fried dumpling in her mouth.

The fried dumplings were especially delicious today.

Then Noh Eun-ae's eyes sparkled.

"Yeah, it's definitely that. Seo-hyun unni, I think you should go to the hospital once."

"Do you think I'm sick somewhere?"

"Eun-ae, what are you saying? Is there something wrong with Seo-hyun's body? Why suddenly the hospital..."

Eun-ae smiled and.

Han Seo-hyun was still puzzled and.

Eun-ha was startled and hurriedly checked Han Seo-hyun's condition.

And mother finally looked like she solved the puzzle.

"Seo-hyun."

"Yes, mother-in-law."

"Let's go to the hospital together tomorrow. I think that would be good."

"What?"

"What's this? Why are you acting like this too, mom? Do you have some guess? If it's serious, we should take out an elixir..."

"Ah, could it be..."

Whether Eun-ha was severely flustered or not.

Starting with Noh Eun-ah, now the family members realized something.

Han Seo-hyun also finally realized the possibility and looked down at her stomach.

Only then did Eun-ha notice too.

"What? What's wrong? Did the first daughter-in-law gain weight or something? Well, she does seem to be eating a lot lately... Guherk...!!"

"Pa-rang oppa, be quiet."

"N-Noh Eun-ae, you! You tiny thing always pulling tails..."

"Pa-rang hyung, don't bully Eun-ae noona. If you keep doing that, I'll beat you..."

"Ah, stop it. Put away your fist. And what did I do wrong to be treated like this? That tiny Noh Eun-ae attacked me first..."

"First, a fist."

"I got it! I got it so stop!"

That day, everyone present except Jin Pa-rang and Avenir guessed something.

And the next day, Han Seo-hyun visited the obstetrics and gynecology clinic with her mother-in-law.

The result was as expected.

"─Congratulations. You're pregnant. It seems you're entering the 12th week now."

"See, I was right?"

"...I'm pregnant?"

"Yes, can you see here? Though it's small, you can see the baby sac forming, right?"

The doctor's words weren't even heard.

Han Seo-hyun was absorbed in looking at the ultrasound image.

☆

Han Seo-hyun was pregnant.

All the family members were happy and.

All the clan members congratulated her.

And Eun-ha didn't know how to accept this situation.

Seo-hyun is pregnant?

Seo-hyun is pregnant?

...

Only those words kept circling in his head.

Eun-ha was happy about Han Seo-hyun's pregnancy, but in his office he was only absorbed in thoughts going round and round.

It's a happy thing but....

It's hard to believe.

It didn't feel real.

Han Seo-hyun was pregnant with his child.

He had thought that since he married her, she would become pregnant with his child someday.

Even so, when it became reality, it was just sudden.

"To think I'll become a father..."

"Lala?"

Today too, Buldak and Kang were guarding Han Seo-hyun's side.

So only Eun-ha and Lala were in the office.

When Eun-ha muttered vaguely.

Lala who was sitting on the flower she was born from flew over showing curiosity.

"Lalala?"

"Thank you for worrying."

Lala pats his cheek.

Eun-ha stroked her head with his finger and smiled bitterly.

Yet in his heart, he imagined becoming a father.

Can I really become a father?

I don't think I'll do well....

Now he's becoming a father.

No matter how much he thought about it, he had no confidence.

Whether he could become a good person like his own father.

Eun-ha shook his head.

It didn't seem likely.

Rather, he felt like he would become someone to apologize to the child to be born and Han Seo-hyun.

And also─.

─Will I really be able to love that child?

Eun-ha was too anxious.

He basically disliked children.

He was afraid he might not be able to love even the child being born.

"Lalala♪"

"...Thank you."

Unlike his feelings.

Lala touched Eun-ha's cheek as if telling him to cheer up.

She makes pleasant sounds.

Eun-ha could feel relieved.

Come to think of it, Lala was a child too.

Yet Eun-ha liked her and often found her cute.

"Lalala♪"

Soon Lala came down from his shoulder and grabbed Eun-ha's finger.

She pulled on Eun-ha's finger with her tiny body, heave-ho.

It meant to stand up.

Eun-ha stood up from his seat.

"Where do you want to go?"

"Lalala♪"

Follow me, she says.

Lala urges.

Eun-ha obediently followed.

Eventually, the place she led him was the office right next to his own, where Han Seo-hyun was working.

"Lalala!"

"Ah, Clan Lord, welcome. It's unusual for you to come with Lala."

"Oh, Shakira noona. Is work going well? How's Seo-hyun?"

Entering Han Seo-hyun's office.

Shakira who acts as her secretary welcomed Eun-ha.

Eun-ha who was led in by Lala asked in an awkward tone.

"She's inside. While you're here, Clan Lord, please tell the Administrator."

"Tell her what?"

"Now that she's pregnant, tell her to work more leisurely. There are many people below, and we can even hire more people if needed, so she doesn't need to do everything alone."

"...Does Seo-hyun have that much work?"

"The reason a certain Clan Lord is relaxed is because the Administrator in charge of internal affairs is working hard."

"...I'll be careful. Okay, I'll tell her."

Shakira smiled brightly.

It was no small pressure for Eun-ha.

In the end, Eun-ha nodded at her pressure and went to meet Han Seo-hyun.

Lala didn't follow, she seemed to want to play with Shakira.

"─You came? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong..."

"Then?"

"I just... wanted to see you."

Han Seo-hyun who was in the middle of work.

She welcomed Eun-ha.

Her face that was looking at documents with a serious expression melted.

As she stood up from her seat, Kang who was sitting on her lap came down.

"I was just about to take a break, let's rest together. I'll ask Shakira unni to bring some refreshments."

"Kang!"

"Beep beep beep baba baba pupu pupu!"

"Yeah, let's do that. We should work while resting."

Han Seo-hyun ordered refreshments from Shakira through the intercom.

Soon when Eun-ha sat on the sofa, she sat next to him leaning her shoulder.

Buldak and Kang approached and occupied her lap and shoulder.

She carefully touched her stomach.

"These guys seemed to know. That I was pregnant."

"Now that I think about it, there was a reason they kept trying to be by your side. You don't have any pain anywhere, right?"

"Is that all you say every time you see me?"

"What do you want to eat?"

"You."

"...Huh?"

"I'm joking. I'm craving something sweet. I wonder who the child takes after, always looking for sweet things."

"Can I... touch your stomach?"

"Are you someone who needs permission to touch? It's your child. Touch as much as you want."

"Okay."

Eun-ha carefully stroked Han Seo-hyun's stomach.

I can't tell.

It was hard to believe his child was in this stomach.

"It's a bit fascinating. How is it inside this stomach?"

"Right? I find it amazing too. That there's a child in my stomach. I looked it up and it seems it will take a bit longer for the pregnancy to show."

"I think it will be fascinating when your stomach swells. Ah, and how about stopping work? Focusing on prenatal education..."

"I can still work for now. You don't need to worry that much. Besides, isn't this the most important time?"

"..."

"I can't be absent when Pandora Clan can gain hegemony in the northern Gyeonggi region."

"...I started unnecessary trouble."

"Are you going to give up because of that?"

"No, not that."

"Right, you shouldn't. This child would have been disappointed too if you did."

Han Seo-hyun placed her hand over Eun-ha's hand.

The two spent time like that until Shakira brought refreshments.

"Feed me that snack."

"Which one? This?"

"Yeah, the baby says it wants to eat."

Han Seo-hyun smiles.

Eun-ha granted all her requests as she said.

At that moment, she opened her mouth.

"You're anxious, right?"

"..."

"Actually, I'm anxious too. I'm not sure if I can become a mother."

Han Seo-hyun could see emotions.

She would have long since grasped his emotions.

Eun-ha realized this and hugged Han Seo-hyun's waist.

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. Everyone would be anxious. Listen, Eun-ha."

"Yeah."

"Can I really become a good mother? Like your mother?"

"You can."

"Then you can become a good father too."

"..."

"If you don't become a good father, then you'll have to be scolded by me."

So don't worry.

You just need to welcome the child happily when it's born.

Han Seo-hyun comforted him.

Eun-ha nodded.

He felt strangely reassured.

"Come to think of it, we were already raising a child. Such a big child at that."

"Am I your child?"

"You're acting like a child right now. The child will be born at the end of this year, will you still be acting spoiled to me then?"

"That won't do. I'll try."

"Yeah, let's try together. You and me. It's the first time for both of us, right?"

"Yeah."

"What kind of child would you like? A daughter? A son?"

"Both. Either is fine."

"Right, as long as it's born healthy."

Vague anxiety.

Unknown future.

Han Seo-hyun gently resolved the emotions Eun-ha was harboring.

Eun-ha was grateful for her consideration, and happily thought about the family they would create together in the future.

"Come to think of it, we haven't properly given a fetal name yet. What would be good?"

"Fetal name? Hmm, with the meaning of growing up healthy, how about Tun-tun or Tun-sil..."

"When the hospital told me I was 12 weeks along, I thought back and realized it was probably that time."

"Huh? We were talking about fetal names but why are you suddenly talking about that time? Why that time?"

"That time, in your office."

"...Oh, right."

"In that sense, how about calling it Office?"

"Sorry, I'll do better. So let's not give that as the fetal name."

Han Seo-hyun giggles playfully and.

Eun-ha who recalled what happened then had his face turn bright red.

He pleaded desperately.

"Okay, then let's go with Tun-tun. Please be born healthy."

After teasing Eun-ha for a while.

Han Seo-hyun decided on the fetal name.

☆

Entering the 15th week of pregnancy.

Changes began in Han Seo-hyun's stomach.

Her stomach swelled.

I'm here now, it seemed to say.

The cute little belly.

Clan members were fascinated looking at Han Seo-hyun's stomach.

Clan members who could tell at a glance that she was pregnant treated her carefully.

"Your child is in here."

"Yeah, I can tell."

Meanwhile, Han Seo-hyun also acted carefully after her stomach swelled.

Yet when with Eun-ha, she would bring his hand to her stomach and repeat the same words over and over.

Your child is in here.

Those words seemed to tell him he would become a father.

Each time, he felt like he was growing attached to the child in her stomach.

Gradually, the fear of the child to be born faded.

Eun-ha also began counting the days until the child's birth.

As time passed like that─.

─What should I do.

The Maegu subjugation battle was approaching.

Fairy Force Year 21, May.

The Fairy Government was preparing to start the follow-up Uijeongbu Recapture War before the heat began.

Pandora Clan was preparing too.

Everyone participating in the subjugation battle had entered intense training.

"..."

Eun-ha was the same.

Visiting the training ground in the middle of the night, he looked down at his hand.

He was holding a blue elixir.

It was Belphegor's inner pill.

"Should I use this, or not..."

At first, Eun-ha had no intention of eating the inner pill.

An elixir that would surely make him reborn as a Ma.

Instead, an elixir that might transform him into a monster if it goes wrong.

He was already strong enough, there was no need to dangerously challenge it.

So Eun-ha planned to fight Maegu without eating the inner pill.

However─.

─If I die...

What will happen to Seo-hyun and the child in her belly and the others?

Can they live without me?

Fear crept in.

He had made a happy family.

No, he was in the process of making one.

But thinking that family would collapse if he was defeated here, he started to feel anxious.

As the Maegu subjugation battle approached, the anxiety kept growing.

Eat it, or not?

So he was agonizing.

Should he eat the inner pill, or not.

And even after eating the inner pill, he had to worry.

Even if he successfully became a Ma, would he still fully maintain his personality as Noh Eun-ha then?

"..."

Anxiety about his own existence.

Fear of Maegu.

Eun-ha wavered in front of that.

It was right at that moment.

"─Eun-ha? Did you come to train?"

"Ah, Yeon-hwa noona."

Ryu Yeon-hwa appeared.

It seemed Ryu Yeon-hwa had come to train in the middle of the night too.

Eun-ha who was lost in thought snapped awake at Ryu Yeon-hwa's call.

She approached.

"What's that in your hand?"

"Ah, this is..."

At that moment, Ryu Yeon-hwa's gaze turned to Belphegor's inner pill.

She asked curiously.

Eun-ha hurriedly tried to hide the inner pill but stopped.

Come to think of it, he had roughly told her about the existence of this inner pill before.

Didn't he receive advice then too?

What will this noona think?

Time had passed since then.

What would Ryu Yeon-hwa say?

Eun-ha suddenly became curious.

He showed her the inner pill in his hand.

"Do you remember what I told you before? About an elixir that strengthens you in an instant, but could have side effects just as much?"

"Yeah, I remember. Is this that?"

"That's right. This is it."

"Can I take a look?"

"Here, take it."

Eun-ha held out the inner pill.

Ryu Yeon-hwa carefully examined the inner pill.

Her eyes narrowed.

"...It's strange. I don't know what this is, but I can tell it contains strong power."

"You can feel it too, noona."

"And it feels dangerous."

"Yeah, that's right. It's dangerous."

"Are you thinking of eating this? Perhaps... because of Maegu?"

"I was thinking about it... I'm not alone anymore."

"..."

Since when did he become like this?

He became weak.

Eun-ha spoke self-deprecatingly.

Ryu Yeon-hwa was silent for a long time.

She seemed to be thinking about what to say.

Eun-ha waited quietly.

Eventually she spoke.

"─Do you think you can become stronger without any side effects after eating this?"

"I'm not sure. I just have to pray I can."

"Then I think you shouldn't eat it."

"..."

"If you eat something like this when your mind isn't firmly set... I don't think you'll be able to overcome the heart demon. This inner pill, from what I see, has enough danger for that."

Inner pills that rarely drop from monsters contain stronger power compared to naturally occurring elixirs.

Instead, the side effects were severe.

The monster's poison energy was directly infused in the inner pill.

Therefore, when eating an inner pill, you had to fight the monster's poison energy.

In that process, it was common for the mind to not endure and fall into a heart demon.

Being Belphegor's inner pill... It probably contains powerful poison energy.

His gift had resistance to brainwashing attacks.

But heart demons were different.

It wasn't a brainwashing attack.

It's falling into a heart demon by your own will, not an attack from outside.

He didn't know if his gift would activate to save him even in that state.

That's why Eun-ha was agonizing even more.

"If you can't be certain, don't eat it. Even a tiny anxiety can grow uncontrollably without you knowing."

Ryu Yeon-hwa's point was correct.

Eating with an anxious mind would only result in being devoured by a heart demon.

Eun-ha who received the inner pill back from her nodded.

"Thank you. I'll postpone eating it after all."

"Yeah, don't eat it. I don't want you to go wrong from eating that."

"...Thank you."

"Yeah. And don't worry so much. Even if you don't eat that, we're already strong."

Ryu Yeon-hwa conveyed her thoughts.

A gaze without a hint of doubt.

Eun-ha smiled slightly.

She was right.

Not just himself, but all the clan members had become stronger too.

The same situation as when they fought Maegu last year won't happen.

"Then I'll just trust you, noona."

"Yeah, just trust me."

"Still, just in case, I wonder if it might be better for noona to just stay at the clan and preserve our strength."

"We'll definitely win so there's no need for that. Above all, I want to fight together with you."

"...Okay, I got it. I'll be counting on you."

Perhaps the inner pill in his hand.

It might continue to test him in the future.

Will you give up being human to gain power?

Or will you remain human as you are?

Someday, a day may come when he has to make a choice.

Eun-ha still didn't know what he would choose then.