The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 14

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

Chapter 14

Meanwhile, the priest slumped down, and Dubbled’s Knight dragged him by the scruff of his neck and threw him into the carriage before sending him away.

After entering the Imperial Palace, Dubbled’s employees couldn’t hide their joy.

“Oh my, Young Lady. You must have had such a hard time.”

The butler reached out his hands toward me, so I quickly wrapped my arms around the Duke’s neck.

“Ah, Young Lady…”

The Old Butler’s eyes welled up with tears.

It wasn’t revenge for stopping Lea when she tried to rescue me from the priest.

I was already very shy around strangers, but being so startled by the priest’s rough touch brought back painful memories from before my regression.

Now I was on the verge of being afraid of even familiar adult men.

Most of all, because the memories from before my regression came flooding back so vividly, I seemed to be overloaded and could only think like a complete child.

When the butler was shocked by my rejection and staggered away, Lea and the maids gathered around me.

The maids began gently coaxing me with tender voices.

“Master has just returned home and needs to wash and change his clothes.”

“No.”

“Won’t you be a good girl?”

“No.”

“Come now, Young Lady. This way.”

“No!”

Just leave me alone. I can only calm down in these arms. My heart is pounding like crazy.

It seemed to be because this person was the one who saved me from that frightening situation.

The employees tried to separate me from the Duke, but I desperately clung to his neck, dangling there.

Lea looked at me with a worried expression, then glanced nervously at the Duke.

“Um, Master… Young Lady was very frightened… and she’s been wanting to see you all along. She’s usually really gentle… I… today, no, half a day, no, just a few hours…”

Lea pleaded earnestly, almost biting her tongue. The Duke looked down at me with his chin resting on his hand.

“Everyone leave. I’ll keep this one with me.”

As soon as Lea’s expression brightened, the Duke raised the corner of his mouth at an angle.

“Really, how troublesome.”

“Pardon?”

“She likes me too much.”

The Duke asked with a slight smirk.

“Isn’t that right?”

Lea answered with a reluctant expression.

“Ah, yes… That’s… right.”

I looked up at the Duke with an incredulous expression.

Anyone watching would think I was acting spoiled, demanding to be with the Duke every day.

While I was thinking this, the employees rushed out like a receding tide.

Left alone with the Duke, I sighed “Ahyohyo” and clung to him like a flying squirrel. My chubby cheeks pushed up and my face scrunched, but it was comforting.

‘Still, I was grateful for today.’

If it hadn’t been for Duke Dubbled, I would have been helplessly adopted by House Valois and repeated the misfortune of my second life.

When I peeked up my head to look at him, he was watching me.

Suddenly, the words I had heard earlier came to mind.

“Take your hands off my daughter.”

My daughter.

He had said my daughter.

‘If that’s the case…’

I fidgeted with my hands while glancing at him cautiously.

“Can I stay here? (Can I stay here?)”

However, the Duke gave no answer. Was it just something he said because of his resentment toward the religious order that had crossed the castle gates without permission?

I became anxious and started mumbling.

“If I stay just a little, I can wear socks… (If I stay just a little, I can wear socks…)”

“…”

“I’ll eat just a little food too. (I’ll eat just a little food too.)”

“…”

“I’ll be good. And, and… (I’ll be good. And, and…)”

“Stay here.”

I blinked, and he brushed my sweat-dampened hair behind my ear.

“I will adopt you.”

It was strange. He had the same emotionless expression as always, the same dry voice, yet why did what was contained within seem so very gentle?

Crackle, crackle. The sound of firewood burning in the fireplace echoed softly in my ears.

The large hand stroking my back moved incredibly gently.

The frost on the window gradually melted in the room’s warmth.

“Sleep.”

“…”

“You can sleep, Leblaine.”

Like a lie, I fell into slumber.

Having fallen asleep like that, I missed the news the butler brought to the Duke.

The news that the Dubbled princes were heading this way.

* * *

A few days later.

I lay on the carpet with my belly down, swinging my legs back and forth.

“Write please. Here, here! (Write it. Here, here!)”

“Yes, yes. I’ll write it for you.”

Lea chuckled softly as she picked up the crayon.

【Leblaine Dubbled】

I held up the sketchbook triumphantly and gazed at my name with an ecstatic expression.

Leblaine Dubbled.

Dubbled.

‘I succeeded!’

I cheered inwardly.

When the priest arrived, I thought it was all over, but somehow I even received the Dubbled surname and had my name officially recorded in the family register.

‘House Dubbled really is impressive.’

To think the adoption went through smoothly even after breaking a Neriad Order priest’s arm.

It was none other than the Emperor who calmed down the priests who were foaming at the mouth, saying they couldn’t entrust the Child of Fate to such a violent Duke.

‘He must have taken bribes.’

Ah, the sweet taste of capital.

Now I could say goodbye to those nights of anxiety, worrying about being dragged off to Valois or Amitie.

‘I just need to grow up here for exactly 5 years.’

Before Mina, the real Child of Fate, appears and I end up abandoned and alone.

Around the age of ten, I should be able to control my ‘adult thinking’ and be able to leave.

‘Let’s stay quiet and not draw attention. And I should gradually save up some money for travel expenses.’

Just as I was about to put down the sketchbook, something glinting caught my eye.

A button from a maid’s uniform was dangling loosely from its thread.

“It’s gonna fall off. (It’s going to fall off.)”

“Oh my, you’re right. I’ll have to sew it back on.”

“Give me button. (Give me the button.)”

I politely clasped my hands together and drooped my eyebrows pitifully.

‘Buttons can be sold for quite a bit of money if you collect them.’

“The loose button? Yes, I’ll give it to you…”

As the maid fingered the button and answered, Lea shook her head with a deliberately stern expression.

“No. What if you put it in your mouth?”

The maid who heard Lea’s words smiled awkwardly.

“Oh… what should we do, Young Lady? I can’t give you the button.”

If you collected thirty high-quality buttons like the ones on Dubbled uniforms, they’d give you a whole 3 francs. That was enough money to buy two whole potatoes.

Growing desperate, I entered my ultimate attack mode.

I held out both hands neatly folded together with sparkling, dewy eyes.

“Please give. (Please give it to me.)”

The maids, now looking determined, roughly tore off the buttons from their collars and held them out.

One, two, three, four, five.

‘I’ve already collected five!’

Lea said “You girls…” and tried to take the buttons away from me. I quickly clenched both hands tightly shut.

“I won’t eat it.”

Though she said that, Lea still looked anxious.

Then one of the maids approached and, like a soldier heading into battle, resolutely grabbed and tore off a loose thread from her skirt.

Then she wove the thread through the buttonhole and tied it shut. And she looked at Lea with eyes that said ‘mission accomplished.’

“Now you won’t be able to eat it.”

This time even Lea couldn’t say anything.

“Oh… well, I guess so.”

I was a bit flustered too, but anyway I was glad I could collect the button.

‘Good start.’

I’ll have to put it in my elephant bag when the maids aren’t looking.

Seeing me excited about getting the button, Lea smiled as if she couldn’t help it.

Just then, through the slightly open door gap, I could see several pairs of shoes moving quickly.

“It’s Duke Teramore and his lackeys. Things are going to get busy.”

“What fault are they coming to find this time? Don’t they even fear our master?”

“They’re founding contributors who started Dubbled together, so our master can’t easily dispose of them. In some ways, they’re more troublesome than blood relatives.”

As the maids grumbled, Lea’s gaze darkened.

“Take good care of the young lady. Nothing good will come from catching their attention.”

The maids bowed their heads.

* * *

After noon passed, the maids left to find their respective tasks.

“I’ll bring lunch. You can be good and stay here, can’t you?”

“Yes.”

When even Lea left, I gained a brief moment alone.

‘One button, two. Three… five.’

I was recounting the buttons I’d collected today when I suddenly felt a gaze and turned my head.

‘What a shock!’

Outside the window, a white-haired grandfather with a white beard was staring at me with strange eyes.

‘I thought it was a ghost.’

I pressed down on my pounding heart and looked at the window.

‘Huh?’

But this is strange.

It’s a grandfather I’ve seen somewhere before.

‘Did I see him before my regression?’

The white-haired old man who had been staring at me slowly curved his lips into a grin. When his rotten canine teeth showed, I unconsciously tensed my spine.

It was an unpleasant feeling, yet strangely familiar.

‘Where did I see him?’

While I was struggling internally to remember the old man, a voice came from outside the window.

“Duke Teramore.”

Teramore—that’s the person Lea and the maids were talking about earlier.

The old man answered while keeping his gaze focused on me.

“That’s right.”

“His Excellency sends word that he finds it difficult to make time due to his heavy workload.”

“How is it that whenever this old man comes to visit, his work is always so demanding?”

“Since you always visit without notice, it must be difficult for him to set aside time separately.”

The person conversing with Duke Teramore was North.

North’s expression was more rigid than usual.

Duke Teramore clicked his tongue and nodded his head.

“It can’t be helped. Then may I at least see the Young Lady before I go?”

North, startled upon seeing me inside the window, blocked the window with his body and said.

“She’s quite shy around strangers. She’s still not accustomed to Dubbled, so perhaps we could arrange a separate occasion later.”

“I was hoping to catch a whiff of that baby scent after so long.”

He chuckled and muttered “What a shame” before leaving.

North hung his head like someone who had just dealt with a major crisis and let out a deep sigh. I took that opportunity to grab the window frame and stand on my tiptoes.

Pop—when I revealed my face, North, who had just looked up, widened his eyes.

“Hello!”

“Young Lady…”

He smiled broadly.

Good, good. Children who greet well are always popular with adults.

‘Since North is someone important in Dubbled, maybe I should win his favor a bit more.’

I stretched out my arms and shouted.

“Hug me pwease. (Hug me please.)”

“Sh-shall I?”

He opened the window and scooped me up, and I clung tightly to him.

“It’s nice weather for a walk, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Did you have fun with the maids today too?”

“Yes—!”

When I answered enthusiastically, he said excitedly.

“You answer so well. Good. Let me do something fun for such a good Young Lady. Here, up high, up high!”

North lifted me up high into the sky repeatedly.

‘Oh, this is fun.’

I giggled with delight.

Just then.

“You seem to be in good spirits.”

A menacing voice came from behind North.

“Gasp.”

North froze solid while still holding my sides.

“Y-Your Excellency.”

“You look quite happy. With my daughter.”

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