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In the old days, there was a saying, wasn’t there?

It goes that it takes a village to raise a child, not just the parents.

Of course, that saying isn’t applicable in Seoul. It’s not that there aren’t communities in Seoul, nor is there a lack of mom gatherings.

But for us… well, we were quite in a tough spot when it came to getting assistance from such ‘communities’.

So, that’s how it is.

We’re two wives.

I haven’t completely discarded my identity, but that doesn’t mean others see me as a man either. It’s probably just my colleagues and my family that do.

Yeah, maybe it would be better if we were just two wives.

But we have two kids too.

And those kids are only a half-year apart.

Both of them are mine and my wife’s, and they all carry our bloodline, but that actually poses several issues in modern South Korean society.

Same-sex marriage isn’t legally recognized yet. Basically, marriage registration is impossible from the start.

Nor can individuals adopt a child.

If we give birth to a child in a South Korean hospital, it’s possible to register them under my household and my wife’s. The problem is that the registered status wouldn’t indicate ‘our child’ but rather simply be treated as ‘an illegitimate child.’

But… for now, there was no other choice. So, our kids were registered under the households of the respective person who gave birth to them.

Up to that point, one could say it was due to the system, but…

The problem lay in the people’s gazes.

The two of us live together. That’s a given. Because we’re a couple. In this world and even in the Elf city, we formally got married. Additionally, the kingdom invited us to a splendid banquet that didn’t skimp on the term ‘wedding.’ We both viewed each other as wives.

But people saw it differently.

It was incredibly difficult in this world, but with some advanced magic, it was possible for women to have children with one another. However, on Earth, no matter how far science has advanced, it’s still impossible. In fact, just attempting such experiments could lead to a futile failure due to the backlash from all societal sectors.

Moreover, revealing anything about Irrelaysia was something I immensely hesitated to do. Given what people did when they learned about regions less developed than their own on Earth… I didn’t want to treat Earth people as demon races or be at the forefront of war.

As a result, to others, we appeared as ‘two single mothers supporting each other.’

Even if someone were to doubt us, it would only amount to a notion that ‘two single mothers found each other.’

This was the best we could manage.

If we invited others into our circle, they’d undoubtedly cast very strange looks at us. I didn’t want rumors like ‘we wanted to have children so we slept with other men’ spreading around.

I plan to tell the kids how things went down later…

“Waaah!”

“Yep, mom’s here! Peek-a-boo! What could our Se-yeon be upset about? Hmm?”

“Waaah!”

“Oh, A-yeon too….”

Anyway, back to the point.

In the old days, it truly felt real that kids were raised by not just their two parents, but the whole neighborhood.

By pushing others away like this, we eventually ended up with no one to help us out.

While we held back from belonging to a community like this…

I don’t regret having the kids. When I see both of them smile, I really think we did a great job. If there are two of us to lean on each other, then I feel we made the right decision…

But being overwhelmed is inevitable. It’s my first time raising kids after all.

My older sister—ah, I mean, my wife went out to work.

We could live well without her working. But for some reason, we didn’t want to stop that work.

How should I put it? It’s like an irreplaceable memory or something.

Thinking about why my sister had to own that bakery, and what kind of neighborhood was nearby…

Even if we stretched our days off and shortened our working hours, we didn’t want to give up the bakery itself. My sister, my wife, and even I all agreed on that.

“Good, good, there, there…”

Holding one crying child in each arm, I wasn’t quite sure if what I was doing was right. Is this really how it goes…?

Objectively speaking, their crying did seem to lessen a bit, but I couldn’t tell if they were just tired of it or if they were content enough to stop. It definitely wasn’t because of their diapers… well, I’m pretty sure about that.

While I was dedicatedly soothing the two kids, a strange sound suddenly fluttered from Dana’s study.

But the expression that surfaced on my face upon hearing that suspicious sound wasn’t unease at all. If anything, I would’ve just smiled brightly.

“Oh, sorry. I had an urgent matter…”

Just then, someone called from Dana’s study, and the door to the room I was in burst open.

“Se-yeon! A-yeon! Arna’s here too!”

Of course, just because I said that, it didn’t mean the kids’ crying would stop.

Even though Arna had much sharper hearing than humans, she didn’t even flinch and quickly came over to me and took A-yeon from my left arm.

“Looks like they’re hungry.”

“Ah, I guess so…?”

By the way, Arna was still being told that ‘she’s not of marrying age’ yet. She had just become an adult, after all.

And even though that ‘just became’ was already over six years ago and was nearly entering the seventh year, it still didn’t seem like a long time for an elf.

Even so, Arna’s hearing ability was extraordinary, as she immediately realized what the kids wanted just from their crying.

We hurried to the kitchen while holding the kids together, and once I put a bottle in their mouths, they finally quieted down.

“Phew…”

Finally able to let out a deep sigh, I sat down, and Arna took a seat beside me, emptying a spot while still holding A-yeon.

The sight of the two kids suckling on their milk bottles while playfully chewing on their lips was simply adorable.

“Sorry for being late.”

“Hmm? Ah, no, it’s fine. I shouldn’t say anything to someone coming to help.”

That’s right. Arna was coming to help purely out of goodwill. It wouldn’t do to expect more than that.

“… If you only say things like that, I might feel hurt.”

“… Uh…”

When Arna said that, I found myself at a loss for words.

“Actually, I just wanted to say thank you.”

It wasn’t just Arna. Kalia, Dana, and Pia were all helping us out. Even without us asking for help, they all came over to laugh and watch the kids together.

“And I’m coming because I want to. Both A-yeon and Se-yeon are such lovely kids. Elves don’t often get to see children.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Considering they live for such a long time, elves naturally have a longer gestation period. If they gave birth to too many kids during that long gestation period, it would lead to population issues. Elves… well, they just live long lives.

To begin with, the average age of adulthood for elves is 150 years. If one couple had children in quick succession over those 150 years…

“Don’t let your imagination run wild. To begin with, elves have different gestation periods compared to humans.”

“… Is that so?”

“Yep.”

Right, human women don’t exactly have that many days in a month when they can get pregnant.

“Anyway, thank you. You’ve really saved us.”

“Me too, and my friends too, we’re not just coming to help for no reason.”

Saying that, Arna looked at me and smiled slightly.

Everyone said our kids were cute and lovable. Kalia, who was a bit younger than Arna, would squeal whenever she saw A-yeon and Se-yeon. When the two of them were around, the time they spent holding the kids was often longer than when my wife and I were holding them.

Of course, they were aware of the proper limits and would enjoy holding them for a while before returning them to us.

… Speaking of which, I think Dana teared up when her hand touched Se-yeon’s cheek, leading to her crying, and that kind of took me by surprise.

Even though she was a confident mage, she must have still been a bit worried. After all, they were children born of magic she had never seen before.

“Your wife’s finishing work… in about two hours, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Since there were no significant issues with the revenue, we decided to reduce our working hours until we could manage childcare a bit better. It was mostly my wife going to the bakery anyway.

“Other friends should be arriving around that time too, so it should work out.”

I nodded in agreement with Arna’s statement.

As Arna leaned back in her chair and relaxed, she spoke.

“Well then, why don’t we share some stories from what’s happened lately?”

“Ah, there’s really not much to talk about.”

“Well, even if you say that, stories tend to come out naturally as you talk.”

As I caught Arna’s smile, I leaned slightly back in my chair and drifted into thought for a moment.

 

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