The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 19
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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 19
I smiled innocently again at him as he silently ground his teeth in frustration.
“Uncle, do you want to come see Leblanc with me too?”
Viscount Misenk hurriedly turned around and went back the way he came. I waved my hand cheerfully at his retreating figure.
‘Uncle, hang in there. Go fight with Teramore in my place!’
─I thought to myself.
* * *
A meeting was in full swing at the Tower of Wisdom, the stronghold of the Dubbled Council of Elders.
“Establishing an advisory council! The Duke must have lost his mind for this to make any sense!”
One elder let out an angry shout.
“Advising the Family Head has traditionally been the role of the Council of Elders! If this advisory council is established, we’ll become powerless.”
“Since the Duke inherited the family, our influence isn’t what it used to be. Didn’t he already take away the elders’ right to freely enter and exit the Main Castle?”
“Are you going to just sit back and watch this happen, Duke?”
The elders turned their gazes to the chairman sitting at the head seat.
The chairman picked up his wine glass and spoke leisurely.
“His Excellency’s will is stubborn, isn’t it? Servants have no choice but to follow their master’s words.”
“What are you saying…!”
The chairman interrupted the elder with “Therefore,” and smiled coldly.
“We have no choice but to look forward to the day when a new master who suits our tastes appears.”
“You mean…”
“Teramore.”
The chairman turned his head toward Teramore, who was standing by the wall instead of sitting in an elder’s chair.
“Yes.”
“The Young Masters are the future of this Dubbled. You must teach them with all your heart. Of course.”
The chairman smiled coldly and lowered his voice.
“So that they align with our hearts.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve completed thorough preparations in advance.”
Teramore pulled up the corners of his mouth in a sinister grin and bowed deeply.
After the meeting ended, a retainer belonging to the Council of Elders followed behind Teramore as he left the Tower of Wisdom.
“It seems you’re finally about to don the Elder’s Robe, my lord.”
“Don’t flatter the old man too much.”
“The way the Chairman looked at you was quite special, wasn’t it?”
Teramore laughed modestly, but inside, his ambition writhed like a worm.
‘This time, a real opportunity has finally come.’
For the past 30 years, he had been loyal to the Senate, and how much he had longed for this moment.
Though he had repeatedly been denied the opportunity to become an elder by young upstarts due to his humble family background, this time was different.
He was confident he could educate Henri and Isaac in the direction the Senate desired.
Hadn’t he realized this during his days as a tutor to noble children just to make ends meet?
No matter how stupid a human being might be, they could learn even the most difficult passages if ruled by the rod.
If he could subdue them with violence, instilling the Senate’s ideology into the young princes would be no difficult task.
Moreover, Henri had deep trauma.
When he had tested it last time, the boy hadn’t confided what had been done to him to anyone.
‘I’ll brainwash Henri with fists, and Isaac is simple-minded, so I’ll pressure him mentally…’
The retainer rubbed his palms together and fawned excessively.
“When you don the Elder’s Robe, please be sure to remember me.”
“Of course. How could I forget you?”
It was then.
Viscount Misenk, who had been walking down the corridor, heard their conversation and let out a hollow laugh.
“Duke Misenk.”
“What an amusing conversation you’re having.”
“Pardon?”
“You’re selling the bear’s hide before you’ve even caught the bear.”
“By seniority, it should be Duke Teramore’s turn this time.”
“That seniority—have you forgotten who helped you build it? It was thanks to my father giving you a position after you begged while serving as a servant in our house!”
As Teramore’s eyes hardened, the retainer fidgeted while reading his mood.
“Wh-what are you saying…! How rude. Isn’t Duke Teramore an elder who could be Duke Misenk’s father’s age?”
“It can’t be helped. Duke Teramore still has habits left over from when he served me.”
Speaking loudly as if for others to hear, the gazes of passing Senate retainers focused on them.
Teramore’s face flushed with shame.
“To think that you, who served me and barely scraped by, are now the Young Masters’ teacher. What a thing to see in one’s lifetime.”
Viscount Misenk smiled broadly and whispered in his ear.
“Don’t covet a position above your station. How much do you think I know about your weaknesses?”
Then he brushed off Teramore’s shoulder and walked past him.
Teramore froze stiff as if rooted to the ground.
“That bastard I’ll tear to pieces!”
As he muttered murderously, the retainer flinched in surprise and swallowed his dry saliva.
“D-Duke, please don’t be too hurt. He’s just jealous because the Chairman entrusted you with such an important task.”
“Jealous? No, that bastard despises me. Just as he has his whole life!”
“Th-that’s…”
“Just wait and see. Someday I’ll shove a blade down that bastard’s throat.”
Teramore glared at Viscount Misenk’s retreating figure and gritted his teeth.
* * *
The relationship between Teramore and Viscount Misenk grew increasingly worse.
Viscount Misenk kept Teramore in check well according to my plan. He repeatedly interfered with Henri and Isaac’s lessons to prevent him from gaining the chairman’s trust.
“We cannot entrust Dubbled’s future to an unqualified teacher!”
“Please reconsider your personnel selection!”
“A new teacher befitting our status…!”
Those screaming in front of the castle gate were nobles swept up in Viscount Misenk’s public opinion campaign.
I watched the demonstration with a sly smile.
‘Good, good.’
As expected of a man who became a candidate for elder at such a young age. No one can match him when it comes to dirty tricks.
‘Now that all eyes are focused on this, Teramore won’t be able to easily lay a hand on Henri.’
Keep fighting among yourselves like this and get Henri and Isaac’s teacher replaced.
Hehe, seeing me laugh, the maids smiled as if I were adorable.
“Why is our Young Lady in such a good mood today?”
At those words, Yuni, one of the maids taking care of me, spoke with a triumphant expression.
“She knows I brought new toys today!”
“Oh my, she saw that I brought new toys.”
“She’ll like the rocking horse I bought better.”
“No, it’s the three-thousand-piece puzzle I bought.”
The maids growled at each other, then simultaneously looked at me.
“You like the rocking horse better, don’t you?”
“The puzzle is much more fun, right?”
Receiving their intensely burning gazes uncomfortably, I said “I like both…” to stop them, but the fight didn’t end.
“Fine. Let’s show her directly and have Young Lady evaluate them!”
“Let’s do it. I’m confident. If I lose, I’ll even pluck out my eyeballs.”
“Oh my, I’ll pluck out my eyeballs and juggle with them.”
The maids laughed menacingly “Ohohoho!” and stood up abruptly, opening the door saying “Come on, Young Lady.”
I followed them with a transcendent expression, laughing heartily.
‘I’ll have to pretend to play enthusiastically today too.’
─I thought.
I went down the stairs with the maids to go to the first floor where the toys were. But Isaac was coming up from the opposite direction.
“Hello!”
When I greeted him, Isaac acknowledged me saying “It’s the little one.” He had just finished his lesson, as he was holding books and notes in his hands.
“Where going?”
“Training ground. To receive training.”
“Henri?”
“Brother failed the test, so he’s taking a retest.”
Isaac said this and added triumphantly.
“I got everything right.”
Isaac was also an outstanding talent, but his physical abilities were exceptional while Henri was superior in brains.
But I found it strange that Henri failed a test that Isaac passed.
I blinked my eyes and then froze at a thought that suddenly occurred to me.
‘No way…!’
I hurriedly ran down the stairs.
Behind me, I could hear the panicked maids calling “Young Lady! Young Lady!” but I was in no state of mind to answer.
I rushed through the central courtyard and down the corridor toward the common library.
Bang!
When I kicked open the door and entered, Teramore looked at me in surprise.
I looked at Henri, who was bowing his head behind him.
When Henri’s eyes met mine, he quickly turned his head away, hiding his reddened cheek. Through the gap in his shirt collar that opened as he did so, I could see hideous wounds covering his body.
Judging by how the bruises had turned yellow, there had definitely been physical abuse from the very first day of lessons.
‘I was too complacent.’
I had thought Teramore abused Henri in order to become an elder.
I believed he was trying to raise Henri as a successor to the Council of Elders’ liking, attempting to brainwash him through physical abuse.
I thought that if becoming an elder was his goal, he wouldn’t dare lay a hand on Henri in the current situation, being too busy reading the room.
But I was wrong.
‘He just saw Henri as a toy.’
He was taking out his inferiority complex about being from a humble family on the child of a noble lord, feeling thrilled by it.
“Ahem.”
Teramore cleared his throat and said.
“You shouldn’t barge in during lessons like this.”
“This isn’t a lesson. You hit Henri.”
How could hitting a child be called a lesson?
Teramore was momentarily flustered at being caught in the act of abuse, but soon smirked.
His expression said what could a little child possibly do?
“You’re saying something that could cause big trouble. How dare I hit the Young Master? The wounds on the Young Master’s body are from yesterday’s swordsmanship training.”
“I saw it. You raised your hand.”
“I have never raised my hand, but even if such a thing had happened, it wouldn’t be physical abuse.”
He continued with a smirk, lifting the corner of his mouth.
“It would be a loving caress.”
The moment he spouted that nonsense, I quickly grabbed the fountain pen that was lying on the desk.
And then.
“Aaahhh!”
I stabbed Teramore’s hand with the sharp pen nib.
Henri’s eyes widened at what happened in an instant.
Teramore collapsed to the floor, clutching his wrist as blood dripped down.
“What the hell are you doing!”
The old man shouted with his eyes rolling back.
I approached him and whispered at a volume Henri couldn’t hear.
“What do you mean what? It’s a loving caress, you bastard.”
—And.
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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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