The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 140
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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 140
“Father!”
I deliberately pretended to be extremely delighted and ran toward Father. I rested my chin on the desk and stretched out my arms to shake his collar.
“I missed you so, so much.”
His dry, emotionless gaze slowly swept over me as I smiled brightly. His cold stare was so chilling it made my knees weak, and I unconsciously tensed my hands, startling myself.
‘Oh no, I let it show…’
I tried to calm myself and smiled innocently at Father.
‘I can’t get caught. I can’t lose my family.’
“I’m hungry. Sir Meiju (the Imperial Physician) said I needed to eat recovery food, so I’ve been eating nothing but oatmeal every day. You know, recovery food isn’t sweet or salty, so it tastes terri—”
“Long-distance teleportation circle.”
“Pardon?”
“Youth medicine.”
“…!”
I widened my eyes at the sudden mention of a long-distance teleportation circle, then gripped my dress hem in shock at the mention of youth medicine.
Everyone knows I developed the long-distance teleportation circle with Veronica’s help, but the youth medicine is different.
The development and distribution of youth medicine had absolutely nothing to do with ‘Lady Dubbled.’
“Hope Trading Company.”
Finally, the name I least wanted to hear from Father came out. As I trembled and hung my head low, his blade-like gaze fell upon the top of my head.
“When will you finally tell me everything?”
“H-how did you…”
“When I finally had to bring it up first, I hoped your response wouldn’t just be asking how I knew.”
“…”
Father’s gaze was very clear and direct.
“I, well, I…”
“I also hope it won’t be an excuse.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I knew it. Perfectly deceiving Duke Dubbled, who constantly engages in bloody political battles among cunning politicians, was nearly impossible.
‘But I wanted to be a little more childlike in front of Father.’
Admitting that I faked the poisoning wouldn’t be difficult. The problem was what came after. If Father asked why I deceived him, I would have nothing to say.
I couldn’t tell him that I knew Marquis Nodelli was the mastermind behind the attack on Father, or that I needed to find the water source first that I planned to obtain from the Marquis Nodelli’s house.
Saying that would be tantamount to revealing that I had regressed three times. I would have to tell him that I’m not really the Child of Fate.
‘My family would be disappointed.’
They might be horrified.
They would be afraid.
They might not consider me family anymore.
I had deceived my family, who had genuinely loved me for five whole years. Pretending to be an ordinary child, acting like I knew nothing while winning their hearts, I had orchestrated countless schemes in the shadows.
Of course, it was all for Dubbled, but that alone couldn’t easily forgive deceiving my family for five years.
What would everyone think if they learned that the child they kindly adopted wasn’t actually a child, and that surviving by parasitizing off Dubbled’s power was my goal?
‘Even I couldn’t forgive myself.’
Even if by some chance my family forgave me, our relationship would change. We might not be able to maintain the peaceful and harmonious family we had before.
‘If I lose my family again….’
“I’m disappointed in you, Leblaine. I regret the past ten years when I considered you my child.”
“I truly thought of you as family. I believed we were sisters, that we could rely on each other. …Just go, Leblaine. I don’t want to see you right now.”
The words I heard from Duke Amitie and Mina in my first life came to mind.
Back then I was wrongfully accused of being a poisoner, but this time there was nothing unfair about it. I had intentionally deceived my family.
“How pathetic you must have found me, desperately trying to survive. Horrible. You’re truly a disgusting child, Leblaine.”
The memory of when I revealed my identity to ‘that child,’ the only person I could call a friend throughout my past lives, also flashed through my mind.
Father leaned back deeply against his chair and slowly crossed his legs.
“Leblaine.”
“….”
“Leblaine Dubbled.”
“…I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
“….”
I sobbed and rubbed my hands together. Desperately, and desperately again.
“I was wrong. Duke, I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please don’t hate me.”
Seeing me slowly sink to my knees and cry, Father sat up.
“I wasn’t trying to harm Dubbled. I just, just wanted to live. I didn’t want to become a sacrifice again. I was wrong. I was wrong.”
My vision was completely blurry from the tears that soaked my entire face. But I didn’t take my eyes off Father as he walked toward me.
“Please forgive me. Don’t abandon me…!”
“…blaine.”
“I was wrong. I’ll do better. I can do better. So, so….”
“Leblaine!!”
Only after hearing his angry shout did I come to my senses. When I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them, the pooled tears fell with a patter and my vision cleared.
Father was frowning. Very painfully.
“Don’t make me any sadder than this.”
As I slowly lowered my desperately rubbing hands, Father pulled me into his arms.
The warmth of the person I loved most touched my trembling body. I gripped Father’s waist tightly and cried out loud.
I absolutely don’t want to lose this warmth.
I don’t mind dying several more times.
It’s okay if my body crumbles and my soul gets torn to shreds.
‘Please let me continue to be Leblaine Lisette Dubbled.’
* * *
Henri turned his gaze to Isaac, who was frowning with his ear pressed firmly against the wall.
“Stop fooling around and sit down.”
“Why isn’t she saying anything? Did Father make her cry again?”
Johan grabbed Isaac by the scruff of his neck and practically threw him into a chair.
The three brothers had been eavesdropping on the conversation between Leblaine and Theodore from the very beginning.
They had noticed from the start that Leblaine’s poisoning story didn’t add up. Moreover, Johan, who had been present at the scene, was certain that the butterfly that had appeared at such perfect timing was actually created by Leblaine using Divine Power.
Most importantly, their father, who was endlessly weak when it came to his youngest daughter, hadn’t visited her even once while she was hospitalized at the Imperial Palace.
Something serious must have definitely happened.
When Leblaine returned today, it wasn’t difficult to guess that the two would have a conversation.
That’s why the three of them had been pacing around the adjacent room to Theodore’s office.
“So what is it? Why did the little one have to drink poison? And what’s this about doing something wrong?”
When Isaac asked impatiently, Henri frowned and kicked his shin.
“Ow! What? Why?”
“You idiot.”
While the dense Isaac might not know, Henri and Johan had noticed.
That Leblaine was hiding some enormous secret that they didn’t know about.
So they were confident they wouldn’t be surprised by whatever she said…
[I’ve died three times and regressed four times. I’m a fake that the Temple wrongly identified, and when the real Child of Fate comes, I’ll be offered as a sacrifice.]
‘What?!’
Henri’s eyes widened. Johan also stiffened and stared in the direction of the office.
Henri, holding his forehead, was showing all his inner thoughts for once as he looked confused.
‘That’s impossible.’
There was no way that could be true.
It wasn’t possible.
There was no way magic related to time could exist.
Johan was also gripping the armrest of the sofa tightly with a flustered expression.
Was she playing a trick on the family? Or perhaps she was in cahoots with the Temple and couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth?
All sorts of thoughts were churning through their minds when it happened.
“Ah.”
Isaac nodded with a nonchalant expression.
“So that’s why she was so mature.”
“What?”
“When she was little, I mean. She was a four-year-old baby but she spoke in such a mature way. …And she ate her carrots well too.”
As Isaac crossed his arms and nodded saying “So that’s how it was,” Henri frowned.
“You believe what she said? Being stupid has its limits…”
“The little one said so.”
“…”
“Are you guys idiots? The little one is our younger sister, so even if she’s lying, we believe her.”
Henri and Johan looked at Isaac with slightly widened eyes.
Soon Johan burst out laughing, and Henri also chuckled while tilting his head sideways.
“What are you going to do if you get stabbed in the back of the head?”
“I’ll scold her severely.”
“As if you could ever scold Leblaine.”
That’s when it happened. The conversation resumed in Theodore’s office.
I thought Father didn’t resemble Isaac at all, but apparently the way he acted toward someone he loved in crucial moments was exactly like Isaac.
[So.]
The questioning voice was very calm.
[I tried hard because I didn’t want to become a sacrifice, but I always died. When I lived as Duke Amitie’s Young Lady, and when I lived as Duke Valois’s Young Lady too… When I was Duke Amitie’s Young Lady, I died as a sacrifice, but when I was Duke Valois’s Young Lady, I died from being beaten. It seems like in this place─]
[What?]
[Yes?]
[What do you mean you died from being beaten.]
[Duke Valois abused me… Oh, it’s okay. I also abused Duke Valois in this life so─]
When Leblaine spoke innocently with a sniffling voice, silence filled Theodore’s office for a while.
Johan asked.
“Where is William Valois’s corpse buried?”
“His limbs were torn apart and hung at the castle gate, so he would have turned to powder long ago.”
Johan’s fist clenched with force.
Henri glanced to the side.
Isaac, who he thought would be throwing a fit, was strangely calm for some reason. Instead, he was holding his chin as if deep in thought, even furrowing his brow.
“What, why?”
When Henri asked, Isaac asked with a serious face.
“…Since she’s lived three times, does that make Little One older than me?”
“What?”
Isaac asked in a dejected voice.
“Then do I have to call her big sister instead of Little One now?”
Henri looked at Isaac like he was looking at an earthworm on the street.
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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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