The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 274
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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 274
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who the hell is Lisette!”
Mina stepped away from the wall with a bewildered expression. Her back was completely numb from the violent impact.
“I don’t know what misunderstanding you have, but doing this out of nowhere is not proper. You were surprised, weren’t you, Duke? …Duke.”
Something was strange.
Duke Amitie had frozen stiff and was staring intently at her.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Don’t tell me you think I actually did something like Leblaine said?”
“….”
“No! I don’t even know who Lisette is!”
Though Mina gasped as if greatly shocked, the Duke’s expression showed no signs of softening. Leblaine stared at them intently.
‘Just as I thought.’
The confirmation was complete.
* * *
A few hours earlier.
North had returned from Dubbled Territory.
“As you requested, I compared the divine power of Cattleya Winston with that contained in the spinel.”
“How did it turn out…?”
“The Second Young Lady and Dubbled are complete strangers.”
The expressions of the Dubbled family gathered in the small drawing room froze. Similar enough to mix with Leblaine’s divine power, but completely unrelated to Dubbled, her paternal family?
Then….
‘It’s maternal bloodline.’
Isaac frowned and looked at Theodore.
“There’s no one on Mother’s side who could be connected to Mina. After they sold Mother to the shrine, a plague swept through the village and everyone died.”
“That’s right.”
“Then how the hell did this happen? There’s no one who could be connected to The Second, so why─”
“Mother’s corpse….”
At Leblaine’s words, everyone simultaneously looked at her.
“Little One, what are you trying to say? Why would Mother’s corpse.”
“….”
“Don’t tell me you’re trying to say The Second’s body was made from Mother’s corpse? That can’t be! The Second is someone from the Other World. She definitely came from the same world as one of your familiars. How could such a person enter Mother’s corpse!”
Isaac shouted in agitation. It was a horrifying thought. Horrifying… truly absurd….
Henri slowly opened his mouth.
“We know that method, don’t we.”
“…What?”
“Mireille’s soul was transferred to the body of a child from the House of Hope.”
“That can’t be. Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Think rationally.”
“If what you’re saying is true, then Mother was toyed with by the shrine, those damn bastards, even after death.”
“….”
“We were sitting there like idiots, not even knowing what was happening to Mother’s corpse─!!”
Isaac’s voice echoed through the small drawing room.
North and the chairman, who were with the Dubbled family, couldn’t continue speaking in their bewilderment, and the expressions of the Dubbled family darkened deeply. Leblaine’s hand, gripping her skirt, trembled finely.
Leblaine covered her mouth.
She had thought that Duke Valois creating Mireille and sending her to Dubbled was meant to intimidate her.
When the real one returns, you will lose your family. So think carefully about whose hand you should take.
That’s what she had thought it meant.
‘I wasn’t the one being intimidated. Duke Valois was intimidating the shrine!’
By showing Dubbled that souls could be transferred, he intended to make the shrine uneasy.
‘At that time, Valois was developing medium-range teleportation magic together with the shrine. That was the reason why the shrine entrusted distribution to Duke Valois, who had only provided the materials.’
Because they were being intimidated.
In case he would tell Dubbled that the shrine had created Mina’s body from Lisette’s corpse!
Leblaine’s eyes reddened with heat.
‘Real Child of Fate and fake Child of Fate? What a joke.’
In the end, there was no real one anywhere.
Everything was fake.
Isaac said with a furrowed brow.
“If we can just prove that The Second is a fake created by the shrine, we can completely drive the Neriad religion from this continent.”
Henri, with his arms crossed, leaned deep into the sofa backrest and said.
“There’s no way to prove it.”
“Evidence?”
“Yeah, if we, who have the First Child of Fate, claim that The Second is fake, who would believe us.”
“If we reveal that she has enough divine power to mix with Little One─!”
“Then the shrine will say ‘both are Children of Fate, so they’re similar.’ Since it’s unprecedented, it wouldn’t be hard to fabricate.”
“Is there really no way?”
When Isaac gritted his teeth, Leblaine spoke.
“There is a way.”
She said, gripping her skirt tightly.
“If the fake herself directly confesses.”
“That would be simple. But The Second would never confess that.”
“Maybe, you know. Maybe… Mina doesn’t know that she’s fake.”
“What?”
“Mireille was the same. Even when tortured until just before death, even when dying in the end, she thought her appearance had changed due to alchemy. That’s why we only found out that Mireille’s soul had entered the body of a child from House of Hope after getting confirmation from Seria.”
“She could have been lying. Out of fear of the shrine.”
“Being afraid of the shrine means thinking they might kill you. But she didn’t tell the truth even while dying?”
“…You’re saying Mireille was brainwashed?”
Then, the chairman interjected into the conversation.
“Among the demons, there is one with such an ability. ‘Ose’. He can transform bodies, and the person who has been transformed lives their entire life without knowing that it’s not their real body.”
“Then….”
“Yes, if a soul was placed into a body and the appearance was changed through a demon’s ability, they might not know.”
Leblaine’s gaze sharpened.
‘It’s definitely worth checking.’
If things go well, I could get Mina’s help to completely drive out the Shrine. Even if I can’t get her help, I can at least shake things up.
* * *
I stared intently at Mina and Duke Amitie. That girl’s expression twisted painfully, and I was certain.
‘Mina doesn’t know anything.’
Mina and I had an irreparable bitter relationship, but precisely because of that, I knew that girl better than anyone. Mina wasn’t the type of person to lie with that kind of expression.
“Next time, let’s talk next time. Today I have something I need to hear from Leblaine.”
“What is it? What exactly are you trying to hear? Do you want to hear about how I harmed someone named Lisette?”
“Mina.”
“How… how can Father suspect me? I would never harm anyone!”
I stared blankly at Mina who was shouting.
“Go ask the Shrine.”
“…What?”
“You’ve never harmed anyone, but there’s someone who was harmed. There’s only one answer, isn’t there?”
“….”
“Go ask! Ask what they did with Lisette’s body! Go to the Pope and ask what they did to that person’s corpse under the excuse of helping you!”
“What are you talking about? What does that person’s body have to do with me….”
“I’m curious now, is there magic in your world?”
“What?”
“Could you use magic in that world too?”
“….”
“You had a body that couldn’t use magic, so how is it that you can use it after coming to this world?”
Mina’s eyes trembled finely. That girl looked down at her hands, then startled, glanced back at the Temple Spire and hurriedly ran away.
I watched that girl’s back until Mina disappeared.
The communication stone rang. It was Henri. I connected the communication and spoke.
“Mina is coming. Keep track of the Shrine’s movements.”
Just as I was about to turn around after saying that, Duke Amitie grabbed me.
“Explain to me. What’s happening between you two─!”
“Is what’s happening to us important to you, Duke? Aren’t you curious about what happened to your first love instead?”
“….”
“It was Lisette, wasn’t it? That first love who resembled Mina.”
“….”
“For the first time, I feel sorry for Mina. I was always envious of that girl, so envious that I felt like I couldn’t breathe every day, but now I just feel sorry for her. Both that girl and I were just substitutes for Lisette.”
“….”
“In this life, did I resemble Lady Lisette? Did you think I could be a replacement? Ah, it wasn’t that I resembled her, but because I was Father’s daughter. You thought bringing me in place of the stolen Lady Lisette would bring you comfort.”
“Stop it. It’s not like that. I just… Leblaine, I…!”
“Hypocrite.”
“…!”
Duke Amitie’s expression hardened stiffly. I bit my lips tightly.
“There was a time when I respected you as a father.”
“Leblaine…”
I shook off his hand and said.
“I won’t do that anymore. Probably for the rest of my life.”
I walked away, leaving him staring at me in bewilderment. It felt like fragments were falling behind my back.
The time when I respected him and desperately longed for his affection scattered like glass shards.
‘Goodbye, Father.’
Goodbye.
* * *
Deep night.
Mina sat on a terrace chair, staring at the sky with a vacant expression.
The red-spotted man Benedict knelt before Mina, looking up at her half-dazed state.
“Lady Mina.”
“…”
“Please allow me to speak.”
“…Did you know too?”
Benedict bowed his head, and Mina let out a bitter laugh. Her expression gradually contorted.
After hearing those strange words from Leblaine during the day, she immediately visited the Papal Court. As soon as she asked the Pope’s aide if he knew someone named Lisette, she was able to meet the Pope, who was usually difficult to see.
The Pope wore a benevolent smile, but the moment she faced his expression, she realized.
“It’s true. Leblaine’s words were real.”
“…Young Lady, ‘that’ is a body arranged by God. I merely returned it to its rightful owner.”
“Does that make sense? You desecrated a corpse. You did something that should never be done! …Don’t tell me you killed this person because of me?”
“Did I not tell you? It had to be returned to its rightful owner.”
The Pope’s smile was chilling.
She found herself disgusting for thinking the world was beautiful while knowing nothing.
Tears welled up in Mina’s pupils. She gritted her teeth and glared at Benedict.
“Why did you deceive me? Why did you make me so horrible… the complete opposite of my ideals!”
“Because hope cannot arise without despair.”
“…”
“Lady Mina is the hope of this world. Minor sacrifices were inevitable.”
“You…”
“But if you wish, I will announce it to the world.”
Mina’s expression hardened.
“What did you say?”
“The Temple created a fake Child of Fate using corpses. In truth, Jung Mina is not a hero sent by God. She is merely the result of horrific alchemy. …If you wish, I will announce this here.”
“….”
“Do you truly wish for this?”
“….”
“Everyone will be disappointed in you. No one will love you. Your justice will fade, and all the ideals you desire will become worthless rags.”
“….”
“Can you give up this world you barely obtained?”
‘If my identity is revealed….’
Adrian, Johan and Henri, Isaac, and even Father would turn their backs on me.
The friends I love would also not believe her and she would wander through piercing loneliness once again.
Benedict smiled brightly.
“Now, Lady Mina. What shall we do? Do you truly wish for your identity to be announced?”
“I, I am….”
“If you keep your mouth shut like this, minor flaws will be forgotten, and Lady Mina can fulfill the mission God has given you.”
“….”
“Now, Lady Mina. Please tell me. Who dared to spout such wicked words to Lady Mina?”
Mina, clutching her skirt hem, moved her lips slightly.
“The one who told me, that was….”
“Yes.”
Mina’s eyes darkened.
“…Leblaine.”
If only that girl wasn’t there, she could have continued being the righteous Child of Fate.
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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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