The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 285

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 285

Adrian nodded his head.

‘My God, Ami wasn’t just an ordinary familiar?’

When I first met him, he didn’t have just one familiar.

He had two familiars, Ami and Amand, and Ami disappeared at the shrine where he and I first met.

‘Right, Amand still exists even now after more than 10 years have passed, so it’s strange that only Ami disappeared.’

But how exactly was Adrian able to have a demon as his familiar?

As I thought about it, Bune came to mind.

When I first summoned Bune, his wish was to find the gem ‘Goddess’s Tears,’ which was a devil’s passage.

‘Bune called the demon who had the Goddess’s Tears as a passage “Master.”‘

“Could it be that Ami was a demon who served your mother, Empress Elsa, as master?”

“Yes. In place of my mother who died and disappeared, Ami protected me.”

“How were you, who aren’t the Child of Fate, able to have Ami…”

“It was the Late Empress who summoned Ami to this land. That’s why she exhausted all her power just before passing away.”

“Then how did you maintain it?”

“Human sacrifice.”

“What?”

“Just as Marquis Chatelet used shapeshifting to disguise the Late Empress as a child and bind her to this land, Ami was also bound through human sacrifice.”

Adrian looked at me quietly.

“Even if you find me disgusting, please don’t abandon me.”

“…”

“Don’t abandon me, Leblaine.”

I quietly pulled him into an embrace.

“It must have been difficult all this time.”

How much must he have struggled to survive in a world without a single pillar of support?

Resting his face against my shoulder, he murmured.

“It was okay because you were there.”

“Yeah.”

“As long as you’re here, I’ll be okay.”

“Yes…”

I stroked his head.

* * *

Adrian escorted me all the way outside the Imperial Palace. I bid him a reluctant farewell and stepped back.

You go first.

No, you go first.

Only after repeating this back-and-forth several times did Adrian finally give in and return to the palace first. Just as I was gazing at his retreating figure, someone approached me. It was a guard.

“It has begun.”

It must have meant that the shrine’s attack had started.

“They gave us quite some time. I thought they would immediately come forward saying that since Mina became real through the proving ritual, they had to drive out the fake.”

“Mina’s condition seems serious. Was summoning a demon without an Etoile such a strenuous task? I remember that Young Lady wasn’t that seriously affected even after summoning Bune.”

“The summoning wasn’t the problem. She ended up like that because she used a demon’s special ability without an Etoile.”

“Special ability?”

“What Mina summoned wasn’t Gremory.”

“What?!”

I looked at the greatly shocked aide and said.

“The demon Mina summoned was Ami, the 58th pillar. She used his special ability of shapeshifting to make it appear as Gremory.”

“…!”

“Let’s go. I found a way to attack.”

I headed to the carriage first.

The mansion.

Outside the mansion was bustling with protests demanding that the fake be put on the guillotine. I don’t know how fierce the protests were. There were those throwing tomatoes and rotten eggs at the carriage, and some even threw burning picket signs.

As soon as I entered the mansion, my family came running. The expressions of Isaac and Henri, who hurriedly examined me, hardened stiffly.

“Little One, your condition….”

I got hit by a tomato while getting out of the carriage, so my appearance became a mess. Seeing the debris flowing down from my head, Isaac was at a loss, and Henri turned sharply toward the door.

I grabbed Henri who was trying to go outside.

“What are you trying to do! Don’t go!”

“…Let go, Leblaine.”

“If you harm them, the target will change from me to Dubbled.”

“Their target is already Dubbled. Otherwise, they couldn’t do such things to Lady Dubbled.”

“Henri.”

“I won’t let this slide. Let go of this!”

It was truly rare for Henri to shout.

‘Henri is more aggressive than Isaac at times like this.’

I let out a deep sigh and firmly shook my head.

“To them, I’m not Lady Dubbled. That’s probably how it will actually turn out. Look, the reason I was adopted into Dubbled was because I’m the Child of Fate. They think that if it’s revealed I’m a fake, I’ll naturally be disowned.”

“But─!”

“I understand your feelings, Brother. Thank you for worrying about me.”

When I smiled brightly, my family’s expressions grew dim.

“But rather than making the fire spread bigger, we should get perfect revenge!”

I tried to act cheerful, and Henri clenched his fist tightly. While Father and my brothers were darkly subdued, a familiar voice was heard.

“A towel.”

It was Aunt.

I was startled and ran to Aunt.

“When did you come from the territory?”

“Just now.”

“Then who is in charge of the territory?”

“I left it all to Viscount Dubois. Johan will go down soon to replace me.”

Considering the upcoming war, it would probably be better for Johan, the heir, to go down rather than my aunt who is the branch family leader.

Seeing my delighted expression, my aunt smiled bitterly and dried my hair with a towel brought by a maid.

“Remember the faces of those who made you look like this, one by one.”

“Of course!”

“Good.”

“Yes. So, I have something to tell you. Let’s all go to the study together.”

“What for?”

“We need to get revenge.”

When I smiled wickedly, my family members looked puzzled.

Our family, the aide, and North all moved to the study together.

Looking at the people sitting around on the sofa, I took a light breath and began my story.

The story involving Empress Elsa, Gremory, and Adrian.

Of course, I left out the part about sharing my first kiss with Adrian. I was worried about his life.

* * *

When Leblaine finished her story, those bearing the Dubbled name, Javelin, the aide, and North all had expressions of disbelief.

Empress Elsa was the demon Gremory?

It was an even more unbelievable story than Mina summoning Ami to create a fake Gremory.

“W-wait, Gremory is a demon, so how could she grow up?”

When Isaac exclaimed in shock, Theodore, who had been tapping the armrest of the sofa with a stern face, spoke.

“Many people saw Empress Elsa when she was young. I did too. Though she was very frail, she continued her social life by her father’s orders. However…”

“However?”

“Around age 19, she was holed up in the territorial castle for two years. I heard she was critically ill.”

Henri looked up with a start.

“You said the Former Emperor made a pact with Marquis Chatelet? The pact to make Marquis Chatelet’s legitimate daughter the Crown Princess.”

“That’s right.”

“What if the Young Lady of Marquis Chatelet died, and the marquis, unable to give up his desire for the empress position, summoned a demon and switched it with his daughter?”

Leblaine asked her familiars.

‘Pur. Is this possible? What do you think, Bune?’

[If Gremory’s familiar is Ami, then well…]

[That’s right, Little One. Master and servant exchange some of each other’s power when making a familiar contract. My Master and I do the same.]

“It seems possible.”

Isaac let out a hollow laugh and crossed his arms.

“It’s certain now. Marquis Chatelet switched his dead daughter with Gremory for the sake of bloodline.”

Johan nodded and looked at Leblaine.

“So? How are you planning to use this for revenge? If Ami used her special ability to shapeshift into Gremory, there’s no way to expose it.”

“There is a way.”

“There is?”

“We just need to summon the real Gremory.”

“But it’s a demon that’s already been summoned. Once a demon is summoned, the passage loses its function and a different mineral becomes the passage.”

That would make Storas’s records of the existing passages useless. In other words, it would take an enormous amount of time to find the passage.

Leblaine said.

“There are two ways.”

“Two ways?”

“The first is to find Ami. Demon familiars seem to be able to recognize their master’s passage.”

“You’re going to make contact with the shrine? They’ll try to kill you immediately.”

“That’s why there’s a second method, though it might be more difficult…”

As Leblaine hesitated, Isaac, who was resting his chin on his hand, urged her on.

“What is it.”

“I was thinking of investigating gems that had meaning to Empress Elsa. Gems don’t randomly become new passages.”

“That may be true, but I doubt the Imperial Palace would give us gems that had great meaning to the former Empress.”

That’s when it happened.

“I have it, a gem that held deep meaning for her.”

Leblaine startled and looked at Javelin.

‘Right, Aunt was Empress Elsa’s guard captain!’

“Where is it?”

“In this mansion. I’ll bring it.”

The place Javelin headed to was her room. The shabby room that Lisette had used.

Javelin quietly stared at the worn desk dresser.

Regret emanated from her fingertips as she opened the dresser. The diamond at the center of the pendant they had shared still sparkled brilliantly.

“Tell me, Javelin. Would it be alright if I abandoned the ideals we shared and went down a different path alone?”

“…”

“Would you be alright if I married the Emperor?”

“…”

“Would you truly be alright alone.”

The hand holding the pendant began to tremble.

Then, someone peeked their head through the door gap.

“Aunt…”

“Why aren’t you over there.”

“You looked sad, Aunt. So… I didn’t want to leave you alone…”

“Javelin always looks sad. That’s why I can’t leave you alone.”

Javelin stared blankly at her niece with drooping eyebrows.

Why do you resemble those women so much? So intense, incomparably more intense than someone like me, and yet somehow so much like those women who were so intense.

Javelin smiled bitterly as she handed the pendant to Leblaine’s hand.

When the diamond touched Leblaine’s hand.

Kuguugugugugung─!!!

The ground shook violently.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————