The Precious Baby of the Bandit Leader Chapter 115

Two days later, at the strait near the capital.

 

“Yeong, I’ll make sure to contact you through this falcon. It’s a falcon with beautiful feathers like this. Got it?”

 

“Mhm, okay.” 

 

Flap—!

 

The falcon flapped its wings and soared into the sky. The falcon with the sparkling feathers was the ‘bridge of communication’ Damho left me.

 

‘We’re already here.’

 

Over the past two days, we had stayed on the ship, making memories together by fishing and eating fresh sashimi. 

 

And only then did Damho realize he was about to part ways with me, finding it hard to leave with tears dangling in his eyes. 

 

“Waaaaah! Don’t go, Yeong!”

 

“D-don’t cry!”

 

I patted Damho’s shoulder and comforted him. Contrary to my calm words, my own eyes were growing red. 

 

‘No, if he cries, I feel like crying too.’

 

A child’s emotions are really bothersome! I bit my lip tightly and held it in.

 

“I’ll contact you. Alright?” 

 

Nod, nod. Seeing Damho nod his head, I barely managed to turn my head away and this time looked at Captain Siho.

 

“Thank you so much for everything, Damho’s Mom!” 

 

I clasped my hands over my belly button and offered a polite bow. The chief also bowed his head slightly alongside me and spoke.

 

“I will surely repay this debt one day.”

 

At that, Siho smiled radiantly and replied.

 

“We are in an alliance, so this much is only natural.” 

 

However, she soon turned her gaze to me and spoke with a face full of mischief.

 

“…Well, if possible, though… I do wish I could see that cute child just a little more often.” 

 

“I want to see her every single day too! For the rest of my life!” 

 

As Damho suddenly stepped forward and spoke, the chief’s expression stiffened slightly. However, he forced the corners of his mouth up and smiled with a rigid expression.

 

“I think it’s a bit early to be discussing the rest of your life, but still.”

 

Squeeze. Holding my hand tightly and hiding me closely behind his back, the chief spoke, putting force into every single syllable.

 

“I am also glad that our Yeong has made a good ‘friend’.”

 

He reached out one hand and lightly stroked Damho’s head as if ruffling it.

 

Damho giggled aloud, seemingly just happy with the chief’s touch.

 

“Then, may the good fortune of the sea be with you.” 

 

As if it were a greeting shared among pirates, Siho placed her hand over her left chest and bowed her head slightly. 

 

Damho also followed her and bowed politely.

 

We exchanged our final farewells like that and looked up at the large mountain range that would become our new home and base near the capital.

 

I held the chief’s hand tightly and rolled my eyes slightly, wondering what kind of expression he was making. This place was probably more familiar to him than Jehan.

 

“…Let us go.”

 

As if recalling old memories for a moment, the chief, who wore an expression tinged with complex and nostalgic light, opened his arms wide. I jumped into his embrace without a word.

 

‘Dad… what is he thinking right now.’

 

I thought, burying my face in his shoulder.

 

“They say he lost his wife and unborn child in the capital.”

 

“The chief read so many parenting books while picturing the child to be born…”

 

While staying at the stronghold, I occasionally had the chance to hear about the chief’s past.

 

Including the fact that he had lost his wife and his child, who hadn’t even been born yet, right here in the capital. 

 

Furthermore…

 

“Crown Princess…”

 

Sometimes, when I fell asleep next to him and woke up at dawn, I would see him sobbing in his sleep, calling out for the ‘Crown Princess’… his deceased wife.

 

His face looked so agonizing…

 

Perhaps that was why. 

 

I suddenly wished for this.

 

‘I hope… Dad doesn’t hurt anymore because of old memories.’

 

May his past sorrows not shake his present.

 

I truly wished for nothing but his happiness now. 

 

* * *

 

A week since then.

 

We walked toward the deep mountains. It was a misconception to think that there would be frequent human traffic just because it was a mountain right next to the capital.

 

This place was exceptionally steep and rugged.

 

Let alone people, even animals were rarely seen. 

 

‘It’s not a single mountain, but a connected mountain range.’

 

The long mountain range looked as if it were carved like a blade, and the forest was dense as needles.

 

“Indeed… it is the hardest mountain range to cross in Great Ho, just as the Chief said.”

 

Gaon admired, catching his breath in front of a slope. 

 

“The last time I came here… was already 7 years ago, so I had forgotten.”

 

As soon as Gaon finished speaking, the Four Ddong uncles following behind opened their mouths.

 

“Huff, huff… this is the first time I’ve seen such a rugged mountain, Chief!”

 

“The capital was chosen precisely because this mountain range is difficult to cross, thus preventing foreign access, so it stands to reason it should be hard to climb.”

 

Phew. The chief also caught his breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

 

The mountains of Jehan were rugged as well, but they didn’t have such steep inclines that looked as if they were carved out from all sides.

 

‘To think we have to operate while going up and down such a rugged place… I’m already worried about the future.’

 

I was worried too, since the plan was to establish our base in the mountains but conduct activities like gathering information or winning over nobles in the capital.

 

But fortunately.

 

“This is the place.”

 

Just as our physical strength was beginning to hit rock bottom, the Chief finally stopped his steps. 

 

The chief carefully set me down on the ground, having carried me all along, and looked around.

 

The place, blocked on all sides by heavily overgrown trees, was a secret location that only appeared after passing through a large waterfall. 

 

“No one would dare approach this place recklessly. How did you know of such a place?”

 

Gaon looked around and asked in surprise, and the chief smiled quietly as if recalling an old memory.

 

“It is a place my late Royal Father told me about. It is a secret location passed down stealthily only to those formally invested as Crown Prince.”

 

The chief walked step by step to the edge of the dense forest and picked up a wooden sword half-buried in the dirt.

 

The small wooden sword, a size suitable for a child to swing during training, was very worn out from age.

 

“It is still here.”

 

“That is…”

 

“In the past, Crown Princes had to complete a week of solitary training here and return before they were finally qualified to ascend the throne. I, too, completed my training here in my youth.”

 

He carefully held the sword and spoke while dusting it off.

 

Then, inspecting the wooden sword here and there, he added calmly.

 

“How delighted my Royal Father was… when I completed my training and returned.”

 

He closed his eyes quietly.

 

“Whenever I asked why he was so happy, he would tell me that I would understand once I had a child of my own.” 

 

The chief looked at me, reached out his hand, and affectionately stroked my head.

 

“Parents feel an indescribable joy watching their child grow… I think I finally understand those words of my Royal Father.”

 

His touch was warm, and his gaze held deep emotion.

 

Looking at the chief, a corner of my heart unknowingly ached.

 

‘But… the child the Former King spoke of back then… wouldn’t have been me.’

 

He would have pictured a future where a real child was born—one who took exactly after the boss—not a fake like me. 

 

As my heart grew heavy, before I knew it, another thought reared its head, biting the tail of the previous one.

 

“If only it hadn’t been revealed… that you are the biological daughter of the deposed Crown Prince…” 

 

‘What if I tell Dad what Park Dohyul said?’

 

The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

 

At first, I only thought I was merely abandoned after getting swept up in a political struggle within the royal family.

 

I had assumed the Prime Minister keeping me captive was also just his scheme to use me as bait to catch the chief, knowing I was a child traveling with him.

 

But looking back now.

 

The scale of the Prime Minister’s ambition, and even those words Park Dohyul ‘personally’ heard.

 

‘All of that… makes sense if I assume I really am Dad’s daughter.’

 

My heart pounded.

 

My mind was a jumbled mess, but my body moved first.

 

Grab—!

 

I reached out half-impulsively and tugged at the chief’s sleeve.

 

“What is the matter, Yeong?”

 

“Da, Dad, I, I… actually…!”

 

My throat felt dry.

 

I gulped down my saliva and, in a state of extreme tension, blurted it out!

 

“I, I…! I heard I might be your biological daughter!”