You Say This Child Isn't Yours!? - Chapter 2

The chief secretary handed over the syringe and went down to the reservoir by the road, saying he needed to urinate. The fake brother, not wanting to let go of Erica’s hair, used his mouth to remove the cap from the syringe in his other hand and spat it out. The needle, gleaming blue in the moonlight, aimed for her neck.

“Let’s make this easy…”

“Not a chance.”

After all, patience is meant to gain momentum. Erica headbutted him square in the forehead.

“Argh!”

“Aack!”

As he screamed, a cry also escaped Erica’s lips. As stars danced before her eyes, she revised her assessment of what sat atop his neck from ‘bird brain’ to ‘stone head.’

When he staggered and his grip on her hair loosened, Erica didn’t miss her chance. Breaking free from his grasp, she swung her bound fists into his face.

“Ugh!”

“Ow!”

His face must have been made of stone too.

He fell to the dirt. The syringe he dropped traced an arc through the air before falling into the dark undergrowth.

Though she had won the fight against a man much larger than herself, she felt more anxious. Erica was still bound hand and foot. In this state, she wouldn’t get far if she tried to escape. She couldn’t even steal the car and drive away.

“Listen, you might not know this…”

So she decided to try negotiating.

“I already sent the paternity test results to Father via message.”

The man who was getting up froze in place.

“Now, in this situation, if I don’t return unharmed, who do you think will be the suspect? If you return me before Father notices I’ve been kidnapped and calls the police, you might avoid the worst…”

‘Bird brain’ had indeed been too generous an assessment. He couldn’t even follow the trail of breadcrumbs she’d kindly laid out for a safe way out. Instead of his head, his eyes went wild, and he lunged at her.

“It doesn’t matter!”

Lost in delusion, the guy muttered the same words like a madman while strangling her with his rough hands.

“If you’re gone, I’ll be the king of this group. If you’re just gone.”

Erica soon went limp and stopped breathing. Believing she had lost consciousness, the hands around her neck loosened.

“Hey, hey, wake up.”

This fool didn’t even have the basic sense to check for a pulse. After slapping her cheeks a few times with no response, he paced in front of her collapsed form, whimpering like a child.

“Damn it… They said not to kill her. I’ll be in trouble if she’s dead…”

When he heard rustling sounds coming from the reservoir, he hurriedly picked me up and put me back in the trunk. His hands were shaking violently.

“What? What happened?”

“N-nothing.”

“Did she quiet down?”

“Huh? Yes.”

“Then let’s hurry before she wakes up again. We need to hurry, the old man is looking for her.”

“W-well, about that…”

Finally, as if stones were rolling in his head, he repeated to the chief secretary what she had said.

“What? Damn… Hey, why didn’t you stop that?”

“H-how could I stop that? It wasn’t me watching her, it was you, Fa- I mean, Mr. Kim…”

“You little… Are you talking back to me? Just because I called you young master, did you think I was really your lackey?”

The chief secretary took out his anger on his son and slammed the trunk shut roughly.

“Hey, drive! What are you waiting for? Hurry!”

“Y-yes.”

Only then did Erica release the breath she’d been holding in the darkness. As the car doors slammed shut and the engine rumbled to life, she reorganized her thoughts.

‘The chief secretary at least has some brains, so he’ll keep me alive to use as their lifeline.’

…But that calculation went wrong due to the variable of the fool with shaking hands on the steering wheel.

“Ahhh!”

As soon as the car started, it tilted downward and crashed into something.

BANG!

The moment the crash sounded, cold water rushed in through the gaps in the trunk. The car had plunged into the reservoir.

“Who is it!”

While cursing whoever gave a driver’s license to this stone head who obviously confused the brake and accelerator in panic, she pushed against the trunk door with all her might, but perhaps due to water pressure, it wouldn’t budge.

“Mmph…”

The cramped trunk filled with water in an instant. With not even an air pocket left, Erica strengthened her will to live in her fading consciousness while holding her breath.

‘You think I’ll die like this? No way, not before I get my revenge on those guys!’

Just as she made one final full-force body slam, the door suddenly opened and her body was pushed out.

Her airways suddenly cleared. Had she already reached the surface? Her whole body was wet, but she could breathe, so it seemed so.

“Waah!”

Waah?

But why did her voice sound like this? As she closed her mouth in surprise, someone began to lift and move her. Could it be a rescue worker?

“It’s a healthy baby girl.”

Breaking her expectations, she heard the voice of an elderly woman.

‘A healthy baby girl? Did someone give birth? Then have I already been moved to the emergency room?’

Feeling light, she opened her eyes wide. At that moment, she met her own reflection on the water’s surface.

‘Huh? Why is my hair pink-tinted blonde?’

Her face looked younger than she remembered too. About 30 years younger.

‘Wait, this situation…’

It seemed she hadn’t survived the car incident but had died and been reborn. And into a romance fantasy world with pink-blonde hair, spirits, and dragons, no less.

‘If I died, I should have gone back in time! Why am I possessing someone’s body in a strange place? What about my revenge! Did Father see the paternity test results? Did that bastard who killed me live? Did he die? If he lived, did he go to jail? At least let me know that much. How can I sleep after my life ended in such a cliff-hanger, God!’

But no matter how loudly she screamed inside, all that came out was…

“Waah! Waah! Waah!”

“Erica, why are you crying again? You just had milk.”

How can I think about milk when my life is hanging by a thread?

The first year after her birth was filled with tears every day. Her new parents probably thought Erica was just a fussy baby, but she was simply frustrated.

Then one day, enlightenment struck her like lightning.

‘Maybe instead of going back in time, this possession is God’s deep meaning that I should abandon that ruined life and start anew.’

Perhaps it was an impulsive thought that came after eating ‘milk’ until her stomach was full and taking a long nap. After all, she was more satisfied now, eating well and sleeping deeply without having to watch anyone’s reactions, compared to her previous life where she only studied and worked day and night trying to please her father.

Anyway, from that day on, Erica decided.

A short and intense life is tiring. This time, let’s live long and steady.

The place she was born this time was a mountain village on the outskirts of some kingdom. Her name was Erica. No surname. The daughter of a poor farmer, without even a silver spoon, let alone a golden one.

Could there be a more perfect place to pursue an ordinary life as an ordinary woman?

‘Good. The genre of this life is not like a daytime soap opera but a calm healing story.’

At first, it was exactly as planned. Her life that had been flowing so calmly it was almost boring, started riding the rapids of dramatic events again all because of an accident in the spring of her twentieth year.

***

Baa.

Yodel-ay-hee-hoo.

On a bright day when sheep grazed peacefully on the green hills below the steep mountains where yodeling occasionally echoed.

The shepherdess who had taken in a deep breath of the scent of wildflowers carried by the breeze makes a statement out of place with the setting.

“Even Diamond Mountain is best viewed after a meal.”

A savory smell wafts up as she lifts the cloth covering her basket.

Today’s lunch was a sandwich made with freshly baked oat bread topped with mashed potatoes, boiled eggs, chopped onions, butter, and salt all well mixed together. A sunny smile spread across Erica’s face as she took a big bite.

“This is happiness.”

That’s how she was peacefully enjoying her modest lunch alone that day.

Rustle.

The peace didn’t last long.

“Wolf!”

Parting the bushes ten steps away, a grey wolf poked out its head.

Its yellow eyes, dripping with drool, were fixed on a mother sheep and lamb grazing near the bushes.

“No!”

These sheep didn’t belong to Erica’s family but to the lord. In other words, if they died, Erica would have to pay for them.

The moment she finished her calculations, the ‘princess’ enjoying her elegant meal disappeared.

Erica immediately threw down her bread and grabbed her shepherd’s staff. The sight of her wildly swinging the long staff while running toward the wolf and shouting loudly was no different from any other tough shepherd.

“Get out of here!”

Baa!

However, what actually fled were the startled mother sheep and lamb.

‘Huh? Why isn’t the wolf running away?’

Usually, wolves would get scared of humans and run away at this point. But this one was actually running towards Erica instead. Its hungry eyes were clearly targeting her.

‘Ahhh, this isn’t right!’

Erica made an immediate 180-degree turn and ran until her feet burned.

‘If the lord’s sheep dies, I have to pay for it, but if I die, no one has to pay for my life!’

The vibrations of heavy paws striking the ground behind her made the earth tremble under Erica’s feet. Soon, she could hear the beast’s rough breathing right behind her.

‘Am, am I going to get bitten?’