Psyche was holding the baby and crying silently, stifling her sobs.
Cloud was a little surprised by the unexpected situation, but he quickly knelt down in front of her, comforting her with a gentle touch.
“…”
Whether she was afraid that the Duke would hear her if she cried, she suppressed her voice so forcefully that her lower lip was about to burst from biting so hard.
What made her so sad? You made his heart hurt for no reason.
After Cloud turned his attention away, Psyche seemed to let out a sigh of relief, and sat down on the floor with the child in her arms.
The child who was sucking his finger did not seem to be in the best mood.
As time passed while they were hiding, the child seemed hungry.
So, just in case, Cloud tried feeding the baby...
“…”
The baby made a sound, indicating that she needed to feed, breaking the dam of tears that Psyche had been holding back.
Her body was adapted to the baby, but there was no baby.
Only the child's absence suddenly brought a very sad thought to her mind.
Even after she put her clothes back on and sat down hesitantly, the sadness did not dissipate.
The truth was so heartbreaking.
However, Saiki couldn't allow herself to cry freely.
In a situation like this, it seems to push her even further.
Even though the baby in her arms smiled happily, it didn't make her feel better.
لكنها لم تستطع أن تسمح لنفسها بالبكاء، لذلك حاولت يائسة منع دموعها.
“Sigh...”
“Oh my God.”
Cloud, finding her in such a state, knelt in front of her with a surprised expression.
He had thought that Psyche would be happy after barely getting rid of the Duke and his entourage, but that was not the case, which surprised him.
“What happened? Seriously...”
As soon as Cloud heard Psyche's voice, he saw her quickly wiping away her flowing tears.
It was like she didn't want Cloud to know that she was crying, so she tried to hide it as much as possible.
He decided not to interfere further for the time being, choosing to watch her silently until she could control her emotions.
Saiki quickly wiped away her tears and pretended to look at him as if nothing had happened, but her remorseful face was unable to hide it.
“…”
Cloud decided not to press her further about this behavior and suddenly stood up, showing her the reins he was holding.
Should we go comfortably?
“…”
Psyche looked at him, still sitting.
Her pale face and moist eyes were reflected in the moonlight. Cloud couldn't help but feel a strange sensation upon seeing her somewhat exhausted face.
“Hmm.”
“Oh…”
It was as if Psyche regained her senses at that moment, as she exchanged glances between Cloud and the child in her arms, and slowly opened her mouth.
“The baby… we need to find the baby’s mother...”
“This could be very difficult.”
"What?"
When Cloud shrugged, Saiki became annoyed and added more to her words.
“How did the mother find the baby? So, you must help me find her!”
“Hmm… There is no need to address me in such a formal manner, ma’am.”
“Ah…”
She never imagined that she would hear the word “lady” again in this place. She wanted to deny it with all her heart, but there was too much revealed.
When Cloud called her “Psyche” instead of “Ma’am,” she closed her mouth again.
“Originally, that woman was probably not the child’s mother.”
“…?”
Psyche sent a puzzled look to Cloud.
"This happens a lot here. Maybe she was a surrogate for someone important, like a high-ranking person… Or maybe she was just a woman hired to take care of the baby while traveling. Given the length of the trip, they chose a woman who was able to breastfeed."
“How can you be so sure?”
Psyche looked at the child again, his nervous hands were adorable.
Upon closer inspection, the baby was very cute.
The round eyes were smiling happily.
“Gia?”
Now she started laughing happily as if she was in a good mood.
It seems that the child has quickly become accustomed to Saiki...
She couldn't believe Cloud's words. Yet, somewhere, this child's mother may be desperately searching for her. This made her feel a strange heaviness in her heart.
"When the bandits attacked her, she abandoned the child and ran away. Most mothers try to protect their children. But you seemed more motherly, ma'am."
“…”
Although Saiki became more upset by his words, she decided not to show it in public. She couldn't tell the story of how she lost her child.
“But...”
Cloud was staring intently at Saiki.
“Although I heard stories about you marrying a member of the Huangdu nobility… I never imagined that you would become a duchess.”
“...You know me?”
“أخفضِ صوتكِ.”
“...You know me?”
Saiki's eyes widened like lanterns.
It felt even weirder because she had left the area a long time ago, and she thought no one would remember her. Meeting someone who recognized her in a place she left, especially Cloud who knew her, was very surprising.
What was even more surprising was that she didn't mind Cloud getting to know her.
“You are familiar to me.”
"how?"
Saiki asked out of pure curiosity.
“حسنًا… أنا أيضًا من أليستر.”
"What?"
Saiki's eyes became wider.
How could such a coincidence happen? What was even more surprising was that their paths were overlapping from Huangdu, and on top of that, they were from the same place.
“However… I normally wouldn't have known. How can you remember me?”
“Ah…
Cloud scratched the back of his head.
When Psyche stood up, she said: “Let's go. We cannot leave the child behind. "Let's go and try to find the mother, at least."
“We won't find her.”
“It's still like that! Nobody knows. Let's go.”
“Are you sure? “It seems that the Duke is also moving towards Alastair.”
Cloud, who had strangely slurred his words, looked embarrassed.
Although he didn't want to pretend to know, he felt like he had to say something. Suddenly, a grim expression appeared on Saiki's face.
“Anyway, there's nowhere else I can go back. Let's go. "We can't stay here with the baby like this."
"Good. “I don’t know if I should be thankful, but since the Duke said so, it seems that we can travel more comfortably.”
“…”
As Saiki stared at Cloud, who was deliberately making a scratching sound, he finally turned his gaze elsewhere, pretending nothing had happened.
“First… we need to secure the baby by holding or stabilizing him in some way.”
“Oh, if it's like this, I can...”
“Can you do this too?”
"Haha," Cloud added clarification. “Nobles may not know it, but when life gets tough, commoners sometimes abandon their children.”
“…”
“Because they cannot afford to raise them themselves. Ironically, the place where these children are often abandoned is the Mercenary Guild. Someone is always collecting them, thinking they can raise them. “So, sometimes we end up having to take care of the kids.”
“I didn't know that giving up a child was so painful.
شعرت سايكي أن وضعها الحالي مؤلم للغاية. However, it seemed as if there were many people in this world suffering as much as she did. For some reason, this made her heart ache even more.
“They think they are giving the child a better environment than they can provide.”
“…”
“Everything is ready!”
He looked at Saiki with a satisfied expression.
The baby seemed to be in a good mood, as he was laughing as he stretched and writhed behind her.
"Gia? Gia!"
“Hey baby, you don't even know your situation!”
Once again, the baby looked cute, and Cloud gently pinched his nose and patted his head.
Then he stood in front of Saiki again.
“Shall we go?”
“Oh, right.”
Saiki was about to speak as if she had forgotten something but stopped.
"What is this?"
“Even when we get to Alistair, I would prefer if she knew I was a duchess.”
“Oh, please call me Claude. That’s my real name.”
Now that they thought about it, the two who had not introduced themselves properly smiled awkwardly.
"Yes, Cloud. I don't want others to know that I'm a duchess. There's no need for me to be called a duchess anyway…"
“Is this true...”
"I don't consider myself a duchess anymore. So, talk to me at ease. I don't want to be suspected just because I'm called a duchess for no reason."
At that moment, for some reason, Duke Clint Valentine's face came to mind. His face looked strange as he looked for Saiki, and she was afraid of the consequences if she spoke carelessly.
“I won't speak officially until it's just the two of us. When there are people around, let's act accordingly.”
“Thank you...”
"No problem. Shall we go?"
“But… won’t you ask?”
"What?"
Saiki caught him again wearing a strange expression.
“Why is the Duchess running away? Is something wrong? I’m just curious… You’ve been doing everything as I said earlier.”
“Mmm...”
Cloud looked a little embarrassed at this.
He was really curious, but he felt there was no need to ask. And there was another reason.
“Uh… I didn’t want to mention it because I didn’t like that kind of thing.”
“Huh?”
“I have learned to obey everything the teacher says.”
"What? What does this have to do with me?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Cloud looked at the sky, then at Saiki with a slightly embarrassed face, and suddenly scratched the back of his head.
Then, unexpectedly, he knelt in front of Saiki.