“Mom, I miss Dad. Let’s go get Dad.”

Cain’s tantrum, which began as they passed through the central part of the capital and entered the quiet outskirts, reached its peak as they now crossed gentle hilly terrain.

“Just endure a little. Time will pass quickly.”

“How much longer do we have?”

“Well, I don’t know…”

Riz couldn’t give a definite answer to the child.

She had originally planned to return when the time came for Hercesis to accept the second.

Biting her lower lip in determination, suddenly, Cain asked.

“Mom, does your stomach hurt? Should I blow for you?”

With that, Riz realized that she was holding her lower abdomen like a precious treasure.

Indeed, the instinct as a mother was inevitable.

Even in moments when she was unaware, she protected and embraced the child.

It was the same when she had Cain. The instinctive action of clutching her lower abdomen when falling, revealed the tiny life crouching in her womb.

Feeling pleased with maternal instincts toward another life, Riz told the child.

“It’s not because my stomach hurts, Cain.”

“Then what is it? What’s in there?”

Sometimes, the child’s intuition was truly astonishing.

“Yeah. Something very precious is inside.”

“More than me?”

“No.”

Riz said without hesitation.

Although the child in her belly was more precious to Riz herself, the little being with black hair and golden eyes, looking up at her with an expectant gaze, was not more precious than him.

Due to the longer time spent with Cain, her affection for him was deeper.

“You are more precious.”

For now. Someday, she would love both children equally.

The child smiled brightly with a relieved expression.

“Mom, then I’ll sing for you.”

Cain brought his face close to Riz’s belly and sang the lullaby I always used to sing with a short humming sound.

Had the baby in her belly developed hands and feet? Could it hear something with its ears?

Riz looked out the window while listening to Cain’s small voice singing out-of-tune and offbeat.

As the wind gently blew and tousled her hair, a few strands of stray hair tickled her forehead.

Suddenly, something crossed her mind, and Riz brought her hand to her forehead.

The rough texture of the scar was still there at her fingertips. It had lightened a lot, but the words claiming it would never disappear were true.

The memory of the day when the scar was first engraved suddenly came to her.

If she hadn’t gone out recklessly at that time, if she hadn’t experienced the accident, could she have become the mother of this small child?

Did she think of protecting another life growing inside her belly?

Fate felt strangely peculiar. It suddenly arrived in the midst of peaceful daily life and completely changed a person’s life.
Hercesis said that even if it wasn’t the day Riz realized the possession, the carriage accident, he would have fallen in love with her. He was convinced that somehow, beyond the familiar scales covering his eyes, he would have realized his love for Riz.

However, Riz still couldn’t understand.

Did he also need a catalyst, like her carriage accident, to realize his past?

Without a catalyst, how could one realize love?

In the past, she might have overlooked it due to being busy, but now Riz could squarely face the situation.

She couldn’t fully believe Hercesis’s words that he had somehow fallen in love with her.

Without a catalyst, one would never realize it.

Unless tied by a very strong destiny with him.

“……!”

The carriage suddenly jolted to a stop. Confusion emanated from the escort soldiers outside the carriage.

Sensing an unusual atmosphere, brave Cain reached out his arm in front of his mom.

“Mom, I’ll protect you.”

Under the sky subtly tinged with the reddish glow of the setting sun, as the escort soldiers withdrew to both sides, bowing domino-like one after another, the situation outside was not properly visible to Riz.

Then, the carriage door suddenly opened.

“Dad !”

Cain, realizing that the person was not a threatening enemy but his beloved dad, smiled broadly.

Skipping down, Cain hopped towards Hercesis like a frog. Hercesis robustly caught Cain, lifting him out of the carriage.

“Dad, what brings you here? Did you follow me because you missed me?”

Hercesis laughed and confirmed it.

After giving Cain a peck on the cheek, he gently placed him on the ground.

“Just wait a moment, Cain.”

Then he turned to Riz and extended his hand.

Riz, with a bewildered face, asked, “How did you…?”

It was like Cain’s question. She couldn’t believe the reason he gave to Cain.

“I came to take you. It seems like you don’t want to go to that place much.”

The deepening twilight made his eyes appear softer. He extended his hand as if to say, “What are you waiting for?” and tapped it against her.

Riz alternated glances between him and her hand before finally grabbing it.

“Oops !”

She was not a child like Cain, but an adult. However, Hercesis lifted her as if she were Cain, not putting her down immediately.

“What are you doing? There are many onlookers.”

“Where are the onlookers?”