The Price of Breaching the Contract - Chapter 91

Outside the window, as dawn broke, a light mist scattered. Dew, settled overnight, clung to the leaves in the garden, sparkling in the sunlight. The room was peaceful. The baby slept soundly, one hand near her mouth, while Santia and Yulania sat facing each other, watching the small life and sharing hushed words.

“We should decide on a name, shouldn’t we?”

Santia spoke as if muttering to himself. His tone was nonchalant, but his eyes were earnest. Now that he held his daughter in his arms, even a name didn’t come easily. He could remember thousands of names from the battlefield, and on days when he received the king’s orders, he had to memorize countless titles and lineages, but for this one, most important name, he couldn’t dare to offer even a single letter.

Yulania looked at him with a slight smile before speaking cautiously.

“Actually, I had something in mind.”

“Oh?”

“I combined your name and mine.”

Santia raised his eyebrows slightly, indicating that he was listening.

“Shuria. What do you think?”

Yulania watched his reaction, looking a little nervous. Santia pursed his lips and looked at the baby’s face again. Small, delicate eyebrows, a tiny nose, faint breaths. The being who was accepting the world without knowing anything was so mysterious.

Santia nodded silently. Any name was fine with him. No matter what name he gave, it wouldn’t change this precious being. A name was just a small part of what could be captured in a voice. Any name Yulania gave would be good.

But when he actually heard it, this short, soft name seemed to suit the child so naturally that he couldn’t speak for a while. The fact that Santia’s own existence was mixed into the name felt deeply moving.

“It’s a really good name. Shuria.”

Saying it out loud made him like it even more. The pronunciation that lingered on his tongue felt as sweet as honey. How many times would he call this name in the future? This moment felt more precious than ever. He continued slowly.

“It suits our child perfectly.”

Yulania smiled quietly. The corners of her mouth lifted slightly, and wrinkles of joy spread around her eyes. She reached out to the child and gently stroked her forehead. The soft forehead was so delicate that she was afraid something would go wrong if she touched it. She understood why Santia’s hands trembled every time he touched the baby.

“Shuria. That’s your name.”

At that moment, the baby twitched her fingers slightly. Yulania laughed in surprise, and Santia tilted his head back and let out a small breath, as if deeply moved.

“It seems like she’s already answering.”

“It seems so.”

The two slowly looked at each other. Their faces were smiling silently, but countless emotions passed between them. Gratitude for each other, the emotion of welcoming this life together, and cautious excitement for the future. The trust that had been built up layer by layer over a long period of time was embedded deep in each other’s eyes.

“It’s thanks to you.”

Yulania said quietly, and Santia shook his head.

“No. You protected, carried, and gave birth to this child. You created all of this.”

In response, Yulania took his hand instead of answering. The warm, firm hand had a completely different feel from the baby’s small, delicate hand.

“It’s really fortunate she was born in the summer. If she had been born in the winter here in cold Makari. Ugh, just thinking about it.”

The maids working in the castle repeated these words several times a day. While changing diapers, heating water for bathing, and checking the temperature of the baby’s room, they all repeated that this child was lucky.

That was because the winters in Makari were notoriously harsh throughout the kingdom. It was a difficult time even for grown adults, so how much more so for a newborn baby? Shuria, who came into the world just after that difficult time, was revered as a symbol of good luck.

Her small, fair skin was radiant as if it had absorbed the sunlight, and her tiny fingers groped in the air as if trying to grasp something.

Yulania watched her daughter every day and nodded at those words.

“It’s really amazing.”

Even as she said that, her touch was now skillful. Whether she was picking her up or breastfeeding her, the anxious expression she once had was gone, and a warm smile came first.

Santia was the same. He was always taciturn, but the corners of his mouth often relaxed in front of the child. In particular, he began to spend time every night watching his daughter sleep, kneeling at the edge of the bed and watching her. Yulania found it endlessly endearing to see him unable to take his eyes off Shuria, not even noticing the passage of time. At these times, she would watch Santia instead of Shuria.

If the baby fussed even occasionally, he would move first, and his touch was so careful that even Yulania was surprised.

“Baby, you’ve grown again.”

Joel, who came every few days, said that.

“It hasn’t been long since she was born, but she already has such a clear reaction. Maybe it’s because she contains both of your energies.”

No one knew the exact reason, but Shuria was growing noticeably. Her reactions were fast, and her senses were sharp. More than anything, she recognized her parents’ faces and reacted to familiar voices, moving her body. In particular, when Santia called her in a low voice, her small hands moved as if groping through the air, and when Yulania smiled at her, she made an expression as if she was smiling back.

Yulania came to love the moment when the baby’s black eyes and Santia’s black eyes met each other.

“Isn’t it too fast?”

When Yulania asked cautiously, Joel shook his head.

“It’s a good direction. However, it can consume a lot of energy, so please pay special attention to rest and sleep.”

It was rare for someone of Yulania’s status in the Tinley Kingdom to take care of a child by herself. If Joel had given this advice to other nobles or royalty, he would have been scolded for being presumptuous.

However, Yulania and Santia cherished the child so much that they wanted to do what they could themselves. They were the ones who first sought advice from Joel or other maids on what aspects they should pay attention to for the child.

In that way, the whole castle revolved around Shuria. Soft music flowed more often in the castle, and the baby’s cries, along with the scent of flowers carried on the breeze, were only heard very occasionally. Even those cries softened people’s expressions, and the warm change brought about by one tiny life was beyond imagination.

Whenever Santia held the baby in his arms, he almost lost his sense of reality. He could hardly feel the baby’s weight. The baby was much lighter than the sword he always carried on his waist. When he held the baby, he took great care not to forget her existence.

‘Is this small being really our child?’

At first, he had only looked at her carefully, not believing it, but now his touch had become very familiar. Yulania smiled silently whenever she saw Santia like that. His arms holding the baby were still firm, but Shuria, who was asleep in them, was more peaceful than anyone else.

“You’ve become much more used to it than before.”

“I’m practicing every day.”

Santia replied in a playful voice, but his eyes contained a more serious emotion than ever before.

And, as those moments accumulated, the two of them deeply realized the meaning of family more than anything else. That they were now three, not just two. That fact gave them an even stronger bond and a warm sense of security.

On a quiet night, Yulania whispered to Santia, making eye contact with him beside Shuria’s sleeping bed.

“I feel like we’re complete because of this child.”

Instead of answering, Santia held her hand tightly.

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