The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 28
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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 28
“Being sold as a slave is so pitiful. Poor people are sad people. Isaac, it makes me sad.”
“That’s… that’s because those weak ones are bad. The Previous Duke said so. Because they’re weak, they get eaten by the strong.”
“Then am I bad too?”
At those words, Isaac’s eyes widened as he shouted.
“Why would you be bad!”
“I’m weak too. I’m this small, and I’m not strong like Isaac and Father.”
The boy hesitated.
He opened and closed his mouth, but having no words to reply, he soon shut his mouth and made a dejected expression.
I gently tugged at his collar.
“But Isaac won’t buy me a slave, right?”
“I won’t buy one. Actually, I’ve never bought one before. I just… the nobles said slaves are the best toys these days, so… I wanted to give you the best thing…”
“I see. Then Isaac really is wonderful!”
Isaac’s face brightened again.
‘Raising a child is hard.’
I inwardly let out a sigh.
* * *
When we returned to the Imperial Palace, for some reason the Duke was in a very foul mood.
Because of this, the employees, administrators, and retainers were walking on thin ice.
“We need to prepare for the guests in advance…”
“So that His Excellency won’t be displeased, thoroughly… decorate the East Wing… the guests are…”
I could hear the employees whispering nervously here and there.
Lea and my maids were equally frantic. And that was good news for me.
‘I should take this opportunity to examine the new administrators.’
I said I would go to the greenhouse where the administrators I had been keeping an eye on were located, using the excuse of going to do homework.
“The greenhouse… Yuni, go with Young Lady.”
At Lea’s words, I quickly waved my hands.
“No, it’s okay!”
“Young Lady, you must be careful when new people come to the Imperial Palace. Since Dubbled accepts people regardless of their background or status, we never know who might be mixed in among them.”
I thought the same way and was going to find out who the wanted criminal was, so I had no words to argue back.
“Yes…”
“How good you are.”
Lea kissed my cheek and handed Yuni a stack of homework papers.
Yuni and I headed to the greenhouse like that.
At least the fortunate thing was that only Yuni was accompanying me, so it didn’t seem like she would be much of a hindrance when observing the administrators.
As we entered the greenhouse, a sharp voice could be heard.
“So, it’s too expensive. Cedar saplings are usually traded at 40 francs!”
Seria, a newly arrived administrator, was arguing with a plant supplier.
Soon another administrator, Charlie, intervened.
“Girls always make a fuss over trivial things.”
“It’s more than double the market price. With this amount, you could say the original manager embezzled money in collusion with the merchant.”
The merchant jumped up, saying “Oh my, sir! You’re talking about serious trouble!” Charlie snorted.
“Seria, you don’t know because this is your first time with such matters, but noble families sometimes deliberately buy things at expensive prices. To show off their wealth.”
“Even so, this is too excessive…!”
“This is why commoners are…”
“Why bring up commoners here? The rule for Trainee Administrative Officers is not to distinguish between social classes…! Young Lady.”
She who was about to shout discovered me and hurriedly bowed.
“I greet Dubbled’s precious one. I am Seria.”
And The Man who had been blankly watching the fight between Charlie and Seria also hurriedly greeted me.
“I, I am Jacob.”
He was the person who got on North’s bad side for calling me a ‘kid.’
He couldn’t take his eyes off my hand holding Yuni’s skirt hem.
Then he muttered, “About 9 centimeters to the middle finger… small.”
‘Does he like children?’
But Charlie didn’t greet me.
Seria poked his side with her elbow.
“What are you doing?”
“What.”
“Greet Young Lady.”
Then Charlie clicked his tongue briefly and said “Yes, I am Charlie Meyrol,” giving only a perfunctory nod.
Seria and Jacob looked at him with bewildered expressions.
My maid Yuni’s face contorted with anger.
“What kind of rude attitude is that!”
“What?”
Charlie looked Yuni up and down as if incredulous.
“How dare a mere maid shout at the palace administrator and call someone rude.”
“What did you say?”
“What’s your name, wench. I’ll immediately refer you to the Disciplinary Council…!”
The Disciplinary Council was a trial for those who disrupted the family’s order. If more than half of the District Chiefs agreed that order had been disrupted, terrible punishment would follow.
Seria glanced at me and grabbed Charlie’s wrist.
“Stop it. The fact is you were rude.”
“You seem to think you’re something special, but stop meddling unnecessarily and get lost.”
Charlie brushed off Seria’s hand and dusted off his sleeve that had been grabbed.
Then he clicked his tongue and left his spot, but as he passed by me, I heard a small muttering.
“Sucking up to mere commoners.”
It was something I had heard countless times in the past.
Almost no one believed that I, with divine power even weaker than the priests, was truly the Child of Fate.
Even the temple had essentially just handed me a name plate to promote the miraculous power of the god they believed in.
Only deeply devout people tried to believe their words. People like the Empress Dowager.
But even the Empress Dowager didn’t completely trust me.
That’s why when she was looking for a place to have me adopted, she excluded her own family, the Duke Marshu Family, from the candidates.
A kid who would be kicked out anyway once revealed to be fake.
That’s what most people thought of me, so Charlie’s words didn’t bother me at all.
‘But.’
I grabbed his sleeve and yanked it hard.
“What, what is it?”
“You have to say goodbye before you go.”
Charlie let out a hollow laugh.
“I did. What I just did by introducing myself is called a ‘greeting.'”
His expression suggested I was stupid.
I said with a bright smile.
“Since you greeted when we met, you should greet when you leave too. Are you dumb, mister?”
“Hah…”
He glared at me and twisted his lips.
“Yes, yes. I’ll give my greetings. Have a goo─d night.”
Again, his tone was sarcastic.
I kicked his knee hard.
“Argh!”
He screamed and bent one knee while grabbing the opposite knee that I had kicked.
“Oh my. When greeting, you’re supposed to bend your knees and bow your head to the ground. Come on, do it again.”
Charlie’s face completely hardened.
The new administrative officers’ eyes widened, and Yuni was also startled with her mouth agape.
‘It would be troublesome if you think being ignored is natural.’
In my previous life, I didn’t know much and was naive, so I just took it, but now it’s different.
Once you think ‘it can’t be helped,’ the second time gets worse, and the third time they try to trample you underfoot.
Charlie, his pride severely wounded, gritted his teeth.
“What kind of behavior is this!”
I pretended not to hear and tugged at Yuni’s skirt hem.
“Yuni, Yuni.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
“What did daddy say? Everyone except daddy and the young masters has to greet me, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“But what happens to people who don’t greet?”
Yuni looked down at Charlie and raised the corner of her mouth wickedly.
“Their heads should be cut off.”
Then she asks, “Shall I inform Lord North?” Only then did Charlie’s face turn deathly pale.
He quickly pressed his forehead to the floor.
“I, I was foolish and forgot my manners toward Young Lady. Please forgive me!”
I smiled brightly and approached him.
“Don’t forget next time.”
That I am the Young Lady of Dubbled.
Understanding my meaning, he swallowed dryly.
* * *
Charlie ran out with a flushed face, and I sat at the greenhouse table.
Seria and Jacob looked at me with slightly tense expressions.
“Even though Young Lady isn’t blood-related to Dubbled…”
“Yeah, she has such presence.”
At their whispered voices, Yuni was excited.
Her face showed she was itching to say, “This is what our Young Lady is like.”
Meanwhile, I sat with my chin propped up, concentrating on my thoughts.
‘Ah, what bad luck today.’
First going to the slave auction hall. Then, the auction hall exploding.
On top of that, I have no clue who the wanted criminal is.
Charlie was the most annoying, but the wanted criminal is someone who infiltrated a noble’s mansion alone and killed the noble without being detected by anyone.
‘In other words, they’re smart.’
But no matter how I looked at it, Charlie seemed rather stupid.
‘From what I can see, Seria seems the smartest…’
She didn’t seem like a bad person who would commit crimes. At a glance, she appeared to be a very diligent and rational person.
‘Or maybe, Jacob?’
I glanced at Jacob.
He was looking at me with gentle eyes. Watching my feet swinging in the air due to my short height, he muttered, “14 centimeters…”
‘He just seems like a fool who really loves children.’
I sighed with my chin still propped up.
For today, I’ll be satisfied that I didn’t receive a slave as a toy gift, and tomorrow I’ll observe them again.
‘Wait, slave?’
I flinched at a sudden thought and clenched my fist.
Why didn’t I think of that!
‘Then my money, no, the wanted criminal is that person.’
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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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