Temporary Couple
“Aah, so you’re saying someone just left this baby on your doorstep?”
“Yeah. That’s why I’m taking care of her. They dropped her off just this morning. Thanks to that, I had to go buy milk I never thought I’d need.”
After bringing Luina, who had been ready to throw a fit, inside and explaining the situation, she finally relaxed her stiff expression and nodded.
“Good grief, what kind of person abandons a newborn like this?”
“I know, right.”
“So those are the things you bought because of the baby?”
“Yep. A baby carrier, milk, cloth diapers, and paper for cleaning up messes.”
Luina’s face, which had been stern moments ago, shifted into a playful expression as she let out an exaggerated exclamation while looking at the items I’d purchased.
“Ooh, you’re a full-fledged dad now, huh?”
“Don’t even joke about that. This is just an unexpected obstacle thrown into my quiet retirement.”
“But you’re not going to abandon the baby, are you?”
“……Well, no. Morally, I couldn’t, and if I’d planned to, I wouldn’t have bought all this stuff in the first place.”
No matter how much this disrupted the retirement I’d wanted, how could I possibly abandon a child who had already been left once?
“Part of me wants to leave her at an orphanage, but……”
“But?”
“There aren’t any proper orphanages around here.”
“……Yeah, most of the ones that exist are shady as hell.”
The orphanages on the continent of Marika were generally corrupt. I’d never personally investigated their backers, but it was common knowledge among those living in this era. While a rare few might genuinely care for orphaned children out of pure goodwill, the majority were known to have ties to the underworld. It was unpleasant, but uprooting a custom so deeply rooted would require dismantling the entire criminal world—an act no different from declaring war on it. That was why I had no intention of digging into it myself, but I also had no plans to entrust the baby to a shady orphanage.
“So in the end, you’re saying you’ll become her dad?”
“……Well, yeah.”
And just as Luina said, if I raised the child myself instead of sending her to an orphanage, it was practically a given that I would become her father. The sudden reality of becoming a dad wasn’t exactly welcome, but it was a responsibility I couldn’t simply toss aside.
“……If I ever find the parents who abandoned her, I’ll tear them limb from limb.”
“Pfft, I’ll help with that. By the way, does she have a name?”
“Uh…… No, she doesn’t have one.”
The basket where I’d found her hadn’t contained so much as a scrap of paper. And I hadn’t even considered giving her a name. In other words, the baby had no name at all.
“That won’t do! Since you’re going to be her dad, why don’t you give her a name at least?”
“Hmm…… I’m not really good at naming things.”
“As long as it’s not too weird, what matters is the heart behind it.”
“Hmmm…… A name, huh.”
Going through life without a name would be incredibly inconvenient. Even if I lacked a knack for naming, I couldn’t just slap any old name on a child who would carry it for the rest of her life. I couldn’t use Korean-style names like Seohyun or Davin either, so I had to rack my brain as best I could.
“Ugh……”
Everything I’d studied since coming to this world was combat techniques, physical training, and basic survival knowledge. I squeezed my mind to its limits, trying to dredge up memories that might help with naming.
“……Haa, I can’t think of anything.”
No matter how hard I tried, nothing came. I could’ve gone with some flashy fantasy-novel-sounding name, but even that felt like cutting corners. After racking my brain until steam practically rose from my head, I turned toward Luina, who was sitting beside me. She probably had a richer knowledge of this world than I did, so asking her was the best option I had when my own mind drew a blank.
“Luina, could you name her?”
“……Huh, what? M-Me?!”
For some reason, Luina’s face turned bright red at my request. Tilting my head in confusion, I watched as she averted her gaze slightly and spoke.
“B-But if I name her, wouldn’t that make me her…… m-mom?”
“Ah, was that too much to ask?”
Asking an unmarried woman like Luina to name a baby she’d never met before could certainly be taken that way. As I gave an awkward laugh and prepared to retract the request, Luina frantically waved her hands.
“N-No, it’s not that I hate it or find it burdensome! It’s just…… if I become this child’s mom, then, well…… that would mean you and I are a couple, right?”
“Aha, so that’s what it was. It’s fine, I don’t mind.”
She must have been bothered by the idea that becoming the baby’s mother would make people see us as a married couple. But it didn’t bother me at all, so I answered readily. After all, Luina wasn’t someone who visited my cottage often, and once she named the baby, she wouldn’t have much reason to see her again. As long as we didn’t go around telling people, no one would know. Even if they did find out, they’d understand once they heard the circumstances. That was what I thought, but judging by how Luina’s already flushed face turned an even deeper shade of red, she didn’t see it the same way. Being an elf, a race where marriage was extremely rare, she was probably more sensitive about these things. Knowing that, I couldn’t blame her. When I looked at her as if to say it was fine, Luina took a deep breath and regained her composure. That breath almost sounded like a sigh of relief, but there was no reason for it, so it was probably just my imagination.
After her deep breath, Luina’s face returned to its usual pale color. She seemed to organize her thoughts for a moment before softly parting her lips.
“I don’t really know how humans name their children. So I’ll name her the elven way. Is that okay?”
“Why not? No one on the continent would mock an elven name, right?”
“Ahaha, what’s with that vague answer? Anyway, for this baby’s name…… It’s a girl, right?”
“Yeah, she’s a girl.”
On the way back, I’d felt something damp in the carrier and cleaned her up, only to discover she was a girl. I supposed it was a bit careless of me not to have checked the baby’s gender until now, but it wasn’t important at the moment. Upon hearing that the baby was a girl, Luina closed her eyes in thought. About a minute later, she slowly opened them and spoke.
“Elia…… Yeah, Elia sounds good.”
“Elia? What does that mean?”
“El means early winter, and Lia means a pure white star. Put together, it’s Elia. What do you think?”
“A pure white star found in early winter, huh. That’s nice.”
Early winter referred to the current season, and the pure white star likely alluded to the baby’s snowy white hair. Elia. The name had a pleasant ring to it, and I smiled as I nodded.
“Yeah, it’s good. I think the baby will like it too when she’s older.”
“I hope so.”
Luina smiled back at my grin. I glanced out the window, where the sun had nearly set. My stomach was starting to growl, so it was probably well past six o’clock. Luina was likely hungry too. I stood up from my seat and asked her,
“Luina, if you’re okay with it, want to stay for dinner?”
“H-Huh?! Dinner?”
“Yeah, it’s getting to be dinnertime. Aren’t you hungry?”
“Uh, um…… I am pretty hungry, actually.”
At my words, Luina rubbed her stomach once before nodding slightly. With her agreement secured, all that was left was to prepare a meal for two and milk for one. I headed toward the kitchen at one end of the cottage and said to Luina,
“Just wait a bit. I’ll make it quickly.”
“Okay…… Thanks.”
Luina offered her thanks with a small, nostalgic smile, as if remembering the times I used to cook for her. Her innocent expression made me chuckle as I began pulling ingredients from the pantry. Soon, night fell, and smoke from the cottage chimney curled into the clouds.