The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1

I blinked several times to clear my hazy vision.

After pressing down on the soft bed and barely managing to sit up, I looked at the mirror hanging on the wall and what I saw was…

Hands as plump as maple leaves.

Chubby arms that looked like a string of frankfurters.

Soft cheeks that bulged out.

A three-head-tall body that wouldn’t move as I wanted.

This tiny body that looked like nothing more than a four-year-old child even if I did a forward roll.

I stared blankly at myself in the mirror and thought.

‘Again. I’ve regressed again.’

I have to live this damn life all over again!

* * *

My name is Leblaine.

My life wasn’t a complete mess from the beginning.

It was certainly lucky that I, an orphan with no family, became the ‘Child of Destiny’ because I was ‘the only child born on February 29th who possessed Divine Power.’

Thanks to the distinguished title of Child of Destiny, the Empress Dowager arranged for me to be adopted by a noble family.

Just by sitting on the Empress Dowager’s lap and choosing one of the portraits she presented to me, I became a child of the family I had selected.

There were three choices in total.

1. 【Duke Amitie】, a righteous hero who protects the order of the Empire.

2. 【Duke Valois】 of a prestigious family that has produced a thousand scholars.

3. 【Duke Dubbled】, who possesses tremendous military power and wealth, but is the villain among villains.

The family I chose in my first life was Amitie.

Though I chose without knowing anything with the mind of a complete baby, Duke Amitie was quite a decent father.

He was a prudent, righteous, and rational person, and I respected and followed such a new father.

Until then, it was quite a peaceful life.

‘Until Mina, the real Child of Destiny, appeared in this world.’

That’s right. In fact, I was a fake Child of Destiny who came about due to a misinterpretation of the oracle.

Unlike me, who trained by sleeping only three or four hours a day but couldn’t properly manifest Divine Power, Mina was the perfect ‘Child of Destiny.’

She could summon spirits during droughts and had even prevented wars with Prophecy.

Not only that. She, bright as the sun, was loved by everyone.

Even Duke Amitie, the father who adopted me.

She seemed like a perfect half-and-half mix of the two, as if his first love had given birth to their daughter in another dimension and brought her here.

Father and Mina were drawn to each other like destiny. Eventually, with the help of the Papal Court, Mina became father’s second daughter.

And I….

‘I was sacrificed for Mina in the ritual to seal the evil god.’

When I first regressed, I was happy. I thought it was a new chance at life given by God.

In my second life, I chose 【Duke Valois】.

And I got beaten by Duke Valois every single day.

That bastard was truly a bad person.

Every day he would beat me with his pot-lid-sized hands under the guise of education, only washing and dressing me up properly when going to the Imperial Palace.

The last day of my second life was the same. After getting thoroughly beaten, I hit my head on the corner of a desk, and when I opened my eyes, I had regressed again.

In my third life, I ran away.

But what could I do with a baby’s body? I joined a gang of begging children, suffered all kinds of hardships, and starved to death.

After three regressions, in my fourth life, I realized something.

‘Yeah, this place is wrong. Let’s flee the country.’

As soon as I thought that, the door burst open and an elderly woman dressed magnificently entered.

She sat me on her lap and gestured. Soon, a maid came with three palm-sized portraits.

“It’s time to choose your father.”

She smiled very kindly.

But I know.

How cold those eyes become the moment it’s revealed that I’m actually fake.

The Empress Dowager stroked my fluffy hair and held out the portraits.

“Come now, child of destiny. Make your choice.”

I looked at the three portraits and felt so frustrated that I rubbed my eyes vigorously with my chubby fists. Then I soon composed myself.

‘Calm down. I need a place to stay anyway.’

I can’t live and die begging with a gang of street children like in my previous life.

A family where I can live quietly, just quietly, without worrying about starving or dying until I can flee the country.

I need to choose such a family.

‘Then this time─’

“Oh my.”

The maid and Empress Dowager’s eyes widened as they saw the portrait I had chosen.

* * *

Arriving at the family I would be adopted into along with the Empress Dowager’s Imperial Edict, I swallowed dry saliva upon seeing the man who would become my father.

‘He’s really handsome.’

The man was a gorgeous beauty who could make a whole day pass just by looking at him.

A delicate jawline as if carved.

Sharp eyes with brilliant cyan blue irises.

A neat nose bridge and well-positioned lips.

A solid physique hidden beneath his shirt.

Tall height.

Broad shoulders that stretched wide.

What was strange was that this beautiful man’s gaze was as chilling as that of a killer.

It was the kind of look that would probably sting exactly like getting stabbed in the head with a bamboo spear.

The man who had been staring at me intently finally opened his perfectly shaped lips.

“Did they send that chestnut-like thing for me to boil and eat?”

To cut to the conclusion, what I had chosen was Duke Dubbled, who was said to be the greatest villain in the world.

‘He was actually the mastermind in my first life.’

I wondered if I might be heading into another pit, but the other options were too terrible.

The man’s aide stood beside me and answered in a rather troubled tone.

“There was an imperial decree from the Empress Dowager asking you to raise the child.”

Duke Dubbled, who had been slowly stroking his sharp chin with his long fingers, rose to his feet.

“She’s gone senile.”

Then he declared without a moment’s hesitation.

“Send it back.”

“But Your Grace, this is a chance to mend relations with the Religious Order. Wouldn’t flatly refusing the Empress Dowager’s request complicate matters later?”

The aide tried to persuade him enthusiastically, but I shook my head inwardly.

‘No. You’re wrong, mister aide.’

I’d never lived past twenty, but this was my fourth life.

Based on all the experience I’d accumulated so far—

‘Threats from the Empress Dowager or the Papal Court won’t work on him at all.’

But that would be troublesome for me.

This was the only place where it would be easy to run away once I’d grown up a bit.

Amitie, who prioritized the greater good over individuals, or Valois, who valued honor like life itself, wouldn’t give the ‘child of destiny’ sent by the Empress Dowager even a chance to escape.

This person who had no interest in me was perfect as a new father.

‘I guess there’s only one way after all.’

I tugged at the aide’s trouser leg with both hands.

“Shibirol chiril mutonbo tegeum gamsa. (December 7th unannounced tax audit.)”

Both men’s gazes focused on me at once.

“Pardon?”

The aide seemed unable to understand what I said. He just looked flustered by the sudden babbling.

I felt like beating my chest in frustration.

‘Ah, this immature body.’

The pronunciation was already difficult, and since I’d only recently regressed, my tongue wasn’t working properly.

This was supposed to be my secret weapon.

I had definitely seen it in my previous lives.

This winter, there would be an unannounced tax audit targeting Duke Dubbled.

Of course, the Dubbled family, masters of tax evasion, paid an enormous penalty.

The Duke had three sons, so shouldn’t he be able to understand? People who had dealt with many children often understood quite well even when my pronunciation was garbled.

However, I quickly gave up hope after getting my hopes up.

There’s no way such a cold-blooded person would have raised his heirs with his own hands. He probably can’t understand me, right?

‘If only I could write. But there’s no way I could handle a pen properly when even my speech is immature— Ack!’

In the blink of an eye, Duke Dubbled lifted me up in his arms.

Feeling the sharp intensity in his eyes right before me made my knees go weak.

“An unannounced tax audit on December 7th?”

…How did he understand that?

I felt amazed, but that wasn’t the issue right now.

Worried he might find me creepy for not acting like a child, I spoke as innocently as possible.

“Uh-huh. Shh, it’s a secwet. (Yes. Shh, it’s a secret.)”

“North.”

Duke Dubbled turned to look at his aide.

The aide, who had been somewhat flustered watching us, quickly composed his expression and answered.

“Yes.”

“How far have the ledgers been organized?”

“What…. Those are the words of a four-year-old child. Do you truly believe them?”

“You seem to believe that a four-year-old baby knows the term ‘unannounced tax audit.'”

“…I’ll verify it immediately.”

After answering that way, the aide quickly rushed out of the room.

The Duke and I, left alone in the room, looked at each other.

‘He really is scary….’

With this appearance, this wealth, and this power, I had wondered why he remained celibate for life after losing his wife, but it must have been because of this.

‘Women probably found it hard to approach him because he was so intimidating.’

He strode over and pulled the bell cord. Before long, a young woman in a maid’s uniform entered.

The Duke gestured toward me indifferently with his chin and said.

“She smells like a rain-soaked pony.”

“Shall I help the little miss with her bath?”

“Yes.”

The woman bowed while holding me, and I dangled from her neck as we left the room.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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