The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 166

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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 166

Immediately, I moved to the mansion with Trigon and Cecilia.

Both Cecilia and Trigon looked pale.

Cecilia had stubbornly followed me despite her body not being fully recovered, and Trigon must have been bewildered that House Dubbled was involved in the corruption of a friend who had been like a brother to him.

When we entered the mansion, people were startled.

There were people who recognized Cecilia, who had left Dubbled ten years ago.

Among them, the most bewildered was Lea, who had served alongside her in the Wolves.

“How are you with the young lady…”

“Where is Father?”

“He’s in his office.”

“Lea, follow me.”

I immediately headed to the office.

Father, who had been talking with North, frowned when he saw Cecilia.

“What’s the matter?”

“I have something to tell you. It’s urgent, so please dismiss the others.”

“…”

Father gestured, and North and the administrators left the room.

Even as they closed the door, they all looked puzzled.

Father sat at the head of the sofa, and I, Cecilia, and Trigon also took seats around him.

Lea, reading the atmosphere, also hesitantly took a seat.

Father asked.

“So, what’s this story you want to share with me that required bringing even Olga?”

I and the people I had brought seemed somewhat anxious, but Father maintained his usual demeanor.

It was the composure of someone who experienced chaotic battles daily at the highest levels of power.

But his composure.

“The day House Dubbled lost Lisette and Baby Bird.”

—The moment ‘Lisette’ and ‘Baby Bird’ were mentioned from my lips, it shattered into pieces like ripples on a frozen lake.

Father’s expression immediately hardened.

Even Lea bit down hard on the tender flesh inside her mouth before calling me “Little One” in a somewhat urgent tone.

I didn’t answer and asked Father.

“Do you remember that day?”

“…Leblaine.”

“Do you remember?”

Father closed his eyes briefly and answered in a very low voice.

“Yes.”

“What about Lea?”

“…I remember.”

“Tell me.”

Lea glanced at Father.

Only after Father nodded did she carefully bring out her memories of that day.

“Master suddenly left the castle due to an attack from the foreign tribes facing the border. The Previous Duke’s attack came targeting that moment.”

“Right.”

“The Previous Duke’s soldiers crossed the castle gate, and Lisette’s guard and my sister who was the head maid escaped the castle with Lisette.”

Up to that point, it was content that all the Dubbled people remembered.

“Just as we were about to leave Dubbled Territory, Lisette began having labor pains. We had no choice but to enter the mountain for the birth, and while my sister helped Lisette give birth in the cave, the guards fought at the mountain entrance. Unable to overcome the numerical disadvantage, the guards fell. So only I…”

From here, the memories of Lea and Cecilia differed.

I placed the Life Extension Technique on the sofa table.

“Do you remember?”

“Of course. It’s the sacred relic that Lisette had, isn’t it?”

“How do you… know that?”

“Well, I served Lisette closely…”

When Lea answered with a puzzled expression, Father’s eyes twisted.

“No. There’s no way you could know this.”

“Excuse me?”

“The usage method of the Life Extension Technique was found after Lisette’s death. She didn’t even tell me how to use the Life Extension Technique!”

“That’s…”

I bit my lips tightly.

‘Why didn’t I realize?’

At that time, Father and the Dubbled people absolutely wouldn’t have known how to use the Life Extension Technique.

If they had known, there’s no way a thorough person like Father wouldn’t have used the Life Extension Technique.

If the Life Extension Technique existed, the Previous Duke wouldn’t have been able to attack Father in the first place.

This is an excellent collar. Whether by threatening the Previous Duke or doing whatever it took, Father would have used the Life Extension Technique to prevent the Previous Duke from harming Lisette and my brothers.

“Lea. How do you remember? Did Lisette ever show you this in Dubbled?”

“Ah… No. That’s…”

She frowned as if confused.

She was looking at the Life Extension Technique with narrowed eyes when she suddenly grabbed her forehead.

“No. Yes. She did show it to me. Where was it… when was it. The bed… room? Was it the bedroom. Ah, yes, I think it was the bedroom.”

When Lea muttered with a dazed face, Trigon turned pale and muttered.

“It’s definitely that bastard’s alchemy.”

“Are you certain?”

“Manipulated memories always have errors. When errors occur, the memories are reestablished. Simply put, it means ‘when someone under alchemy notices something suspicious about their memories, they are re-manipulated in real time.'”

Trigon ground his teeth bitterly and added, “Just like Sir Lea Chabanole right now.”

Father asked me with a stern face.

“Manipulated memories?”

“Lea, Cecilia, and Reina who is Lea’s sister have used the Life Extension Technique.”

“What did you say?”

“The day Lady Lisette passed away. He swore to protect the newborn Baby Bird with his life, standing before her.”

“….”

“Cecilia was there. But neither Lea nor Cecilia remember because they’re under alchemy. Real Trigon cast memory manipulation alchemy on them!”

Father’s, Lea’s, and Cecilia’s gazes turned toward Trigon.

Trigon spoke with a pale face.

“I’m the person who observed that bastard’s experiments most closely. I also know best what flaws exist in his memory manipulation.”

“Flaws?”

“Perfect manipulation of memories belonging to those with strong divine power is impossible.”

It meant that unlike Lea, when errors occurred in memories, they weren’t re-manipulated in real time.

That’s why, unlike Lea, Cecilia could question her manipulated memories.

Thinking that far, I flinched and looked at Cecilia.

“…Tree’s mother, I mean Lady Cecilia’s sister.”

“Yes?”

“Did she really die from an epidemic?”

“What, what are you saying….”

“It’s strange, isn’t it? Lady Cecilia’s sister dying and Tree going missing. The timing is too perfect….”

At my words, everyone gathered in Father’s office fell silent as if struck by lightning.

‘That’s what happened.’

Real Trigon said he died from failed alchemy.

Because he never thought Cecilia, who was a knight, would have divine power, and manipulated her memories.

‘He must have realized after the alchemy failed.’

Perfect memory manipulation is impossible for those with divine power.

If Cecilia stayed in Dubbled, the people of Dubbled might discover the truth of the incident.

So he had to make Cecilia leave.

By killing her sister and making her niece disappear.

Cecilia’s expression completely crumbled.

“…That’s impossible. That can’t be. No! No! My sister couldn’t have died because of me!”

She wailed desperately.

“Cecilia!”

Lea rushed over to support her.

The tears that flowed from her eyes, where blood vessels had burst and blood seeped out, were truly like tears of blood.

“No…. No. Please, sister…!”

In the chaotic room, I looked at Father.

As if time had stopped, he stood blankly staring at his feet.

He couldn’t even breathe properly.

I couldn’t even bring myself to speak to Father, who seemed like he would crumble away like weathered stone.

Wind blew.

The curtain fluttered, and Lady Lisette’s frame that always occupied one corner of Father’s desk fell over.

Onto Baby Bird’s shoes.

* * *

That night.

Everything around was dark. The only light was the pure white moonlight breaking through the giant window.

I sent Trigon and Lea away, and quietly gazed at Cecilia lying like a corpse on the bed in Dubbled Territory’s medical room.

The room was silent.

A full moon night where even breathing seemed consumed by darkness.

I gently took Cecilia’s hand.

As I carefully massaged her cold hand, a voice that seemed about to break reached me.

“Why are you crying?”

“…”

Cecilia squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away.

“I should have listened to Sister from the beginning. …I shouldn’t have been greedy. I shouldn’t have thought about wanting to become a knight.”

“No…”

“My wish killed Sister.”

“No.”

Her silhouette trembled faintly.

She was like a pitiful young lamb, so sorrowful she didn’t know what to do.

“The night is late. It’s time for the child to sleep.”

“…I’m not a child, so it’s fine.”

Cecilia’s eyes slowly moved toward me.

“I’ve died three times and am living my fourth life. I’ve been betrayed by my family as a fake Child of Fate and became a sacrifice, and I’ve died from abuse. I’ve lived as a beggar and been betrayed by a friend. By Tree.”

“…!”

Cecilia’s eyes contorted.

“You…”

“But Cecilia. You can still live.”

“…”

“Even if no one is by my side, even if just breathing makes me feel guilty, I can still live.”

“…”

“Today’s pain, this pain I’m experiencing seems like the greatest, doesn’t it? No. Tomorrow might be even more painful.”

As I forced a mischievous expression while crying my eyes out, Cecilia carefully sat up.

“Then today’s pain becomes nothing. And I think, let the whole world just perish.”

“…”

“But you know what? Hope still emerges somehow. Strange, isn’t it?”

After I said that, she who had been gazing at me intently asked.

“What hope could I possibly have? After killing Sister and being unable to protect Lady Lisette…”

“I’ll become Cecilia’s hope. You can become a knight even without holding a sword.”

“…”

“Protect me. I’ll become Lady Cecilia’s sister, family, and master.”

She smiled softly.

“Such a small sister.”

“Is it strange?”

“It’s strange. Strange, but why is it comforting?”

I tried not to cry, but no matter how much I held back, tears kept welling up.

When I rubbed my eyes with my palms, she gently pushed my hands away and wiped my wet cheeks.

She rose from the bed and knelt at my feet.

And very slowly kissed the top of my foot.

I flinched in surprise, and she said,

“An oath of loyalty.”

I will probably never forget this moment, even in death.

It was the moment when the symbol of peace recorded in history, the strongest Imperial Consort in the Empire’s history, came into my hands.

* * *

Theodore quietly watched Leblaine and the kneeling Cecilia through the slightly open gap in the hospital room door.

“Father.”

When he turned his head at Johan’s whisper, the very similar father and son exchanged meaningful glances.

“I looked into the records of the life extension technique you mentioned.”

“…Was my thinking correct?”

“Yes.”

A faint gleam flickered in Johan’s eyes.

“The fact that those who extended their lives by risking their lives to protect the Youngest are still alive means that the Youngest is also alive.”

“…”

Theodore tightly gripped the ring he shared with Lisette.

“Send a search team to the mountain where Lisette died.”

“Yes.”

“And…”

After briefly turning his head toward Leblaine, he spoke in a flat voice.

“Look into the orphanage where Leblaine was.”

“For what reason regarding Leblaine…?”

“I keep having thoughts that aren’t like me.”

Perhaps Lisette, you might have guided Baby Bird to me—such an impossible imagination with no possibility at all.

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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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