Chapter 3 : Temporary couple

“Ah, so someone left this baby in front of your house, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m raising it. They just left it today. Thanks to that, I had to go out and buy some breast milk first thing this morning.”

After bringing Ruina, who was crying and causing a scene, into the house and explaining the situation, Ruina nodded, her previously stiff face softening as she understood.

“Seriously, who would leave such a newborn baby behind?”

“Right?”

“So, are those the things you bought because of the baby?”

“Yep. A sling, breast milk, cloth diapers, and some papers for cleaning up the baby’s mess.”

When I answered Ruina’s question while pointing to the things I had bought, she started to express awe with a playful look, as if her earlier stiff expression had disappeared.

“Oh, now you’re a full-on daddy, huh?”

“Don’t joke around like that. It’s just an obstacle thrown into my otherwise peaceful retirement life.”

“But you’re not going to abandon the baby, right?”

“…Well, that’s true. Morally, I can’t just abandon it, and if I were planning to, I wouldn’t have bought all this stuff.”

Even though my hopes for a quiet retirement life had been shattered, how could I abandon a baby that had already been left behind once?

“I would prefer to leave it at a monastery, though.”

“But?”

“Well, there aren’t really any proper monasteries around.”

“…True, most of the monasteries these days have some shady connections.”

Monasteries on the continent of Marika generally have dubious backgrounds.

Although I had never personally looked into the behind-the-scenes workings of monasteries, everyone living in this era knew it as a fact.

Of course, there are rare monasteries that take in orphaned children purely out of goodwill, but it is well known that most monasteries are connected to the underworld.

It was an unpleasant truth, but if I wanted to uproot such a long-established custom, I’d have to go after the entire underworld.

In other words, it would be like declaring a war against the underworld.

So, while I had no intention of digging into that myself, I certainly wasn’t going to leave the baby in a monastery with shady connections.

“So, does that mean you’re going to be a dad now?”

“Well, yeah.”

And as Ruina said, if I didn’t leave the baby at a monastery and instead raised it myself, it was a foregone conclusion that I would become the baby’s father.

The fact that I had suddenly become a dad wasn’t exactly something I was thrilled about, but it was still a responsibility I couldn’t just throw away.

“…I’ll have to find the parents who abandoned this baby and dismember them.”

“Heh, I’ll help you with that. By the way, does this baby have a name?”

“Uh……….. No, it doesn’t have a name.”

There was no paper or anything in the basket where I first found the baby.

And I hadn’t even thought about giving the baby a name yet.

So, right now, the baby didn’t have a name.

“You can’t leave it like that! Since you’re going to be the dad, at least give it a name!”

“Uh……….. I’m not very good at naming things.”

“As long as it’s not too weird, it’s the thought that counts.”

“Hmm……….. A name, huh.”

Having no name would definitely make life more difficult.

And although I wasn’t good at naming things, I couldn’t just give the baby a random name for something it would use for the rest of its life.

I couldn’t name it something like Seohyun or Dabin, which are Korean names, so I had to think carefully and try to come up with something.

“Ugh…”

I had only studied combat skills, physical training, and basic life knowledge in this world, so I tried to pull out any memories that might help me come up with a name.

“Ugh, nothing’s coming to mind.”

No matter how much I squeezed my brain, there was nothing. I could come up with some fancy names I had seen in fantasy novels, but I didn’t feel right giving it a name that was so hastily chosen.

So, after much agonizing, I turned my head toward Ruina, who was sitting beside me.

She was more knowledgeable about this world than I was, so asking her was my best option since I couldn’t think of anything myself.

“…Huh? Me?!”

“Can’t you name it?”

For some reason, Ruina’s face turned bright red at my request.

Curious, I tilted my head, and Ruina avoided my gaze and spoke.

“Well, but if I give the baby a name, doesn’t that mean I’ll… become its… mom?”

“Oh, was that a request you’d find too much of a burden?”

It certainly seemed like asking Ruina, a single woman, to name a baby she had never seen before could be taken that way.

So, as I awkwardly chuckled and tried to take back my words, Ruina hurriedly waved her hands.

“No, no, I didn’t mean it like I hate it or that it’s a burden. I mean… if I become this baby’s mother, then… that means, well… you and I, Kael, would be husband and wife.”

“Oh, I see, so that’s what you meant. It’s fine, I don’t mind.”

Was she worried that if she became this baby’s mother, people would perceive us as a married couple?

But since that wasn’t something that particularly bothered me, I answered without hesitation.

After all, Ruina wasn’t someone who would frequently visit my cabin, so after naming the baby, she wouldn’t see it often.

As long as we didn’t directly tell people, no one would know, right?

Even if they did find out, they would understand once they heard the circumstances.

However, judging by how Ruina’s face turned even redder than before, she didn’t seem to think the same way.

Since she was born among the elves, where marriages were extremely rare, it seemed that she was a bit sensitive about this matter.

Knowing that, I couldn’t say I didn’t understand her feelings.

As I looked at Ruina with an expression that said everything would be okay, she took a deep breath and regained her composure.

That deep breath almost looked like a sigh of relief, but there was no reason for that, so it was probably just my imagination.

After taking a deep breath, Ruina, whose face had returned to its usual pale color, carefully gathered her thoughts before softly parting her lips.

“I don’t really know how humans name things. So, I’ll name the baby in the Elven way. Is that okay?”

“That should be fine, right? No one on this continent mocks an Elven name.”

“Haha, what’s with that vague answer? Anyway, this baby’s name… She’s a girl, right?”

“Yeah, she’s a girl.”

On the way back earlier, I had felt something damp in the baby wrap, so when I cleaned her up, I confirmed she was a girl.

Realizing only then what the baby’s gender was, I felt a little thoughtless, but it wasn’t an important issue now.

Hearing that the baby was a girl, Ruina closed her eyes and fell into thought.

About a minute later, she slowly opened her eyes and spoke.

“Elia… Yes, I think Elia would be nice.”

“Elia? What does that name mean?”

“‘El’ means early winter, and ‘Lia’ means a pure white star. Together, they form Elia. What do you think?”

“It means a pure white star found in early winter. That’s beautiful.”

Early winter likely referred to the current season, and the pure white star probably came from seeing the baby’s white newborn hair.

Put together, it was Elia.

I smiled and nodded at the name’s pleasant ring.

“Yes, it’s a lovely name. I think she’ll like it when she grows up.”

“I hope so.”

Ruina smiled back at me as she responded.

Then, I glanced out the window to see that the sun had almost completely set.

Feeling my stomach growl, I guessed it must be well past six o’clock.

Ruina was probably just as hungry as I was.

So, as I stood up from my seat, I asked her,

“Ruina, if you’re okay with it, do you want to have dinner before you go?”

“H-huh?! Dinner?”

“Well, it’s about dinnertime now. Aren’t you hungry?”

“Uh, um… Now that you mention it, I am a little hungry.”

Hearing my words, Ruina lightly rubbed her stomach and nodded slightly.

Since I got her agreement, all I had to do now was prepare food for two and milk for one.

As I moved towards the kitchen in my cabin, I told her,

“Just wait a little. I’ll have it ready soon.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Maybe the thought of me cooking again brought back memories, because Ruina smiled softly as she thanked me.

Seeing her innocent smile, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I began taking ingredients out of the pantry.

And so, as the sun fully set and darkness took over the evening, smoke rose from the chimney of my cabin, blending into the clouds.