The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 297
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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 297
Strictly speaking, Mother didn’t directly give me the Life Extension Technique.
The ‘incident’ when Mother passed away. During that incident, Mother was in the middle of giving birth to me. So Lea kept her belongings, and apparently the Life Extension Technique was among them.
‘But how did Mother have Grimoire’s family treasure?’
When I frowned as if I couldn’t understand, he said.
“Why did Duchess Dubbled leave you the Life Extension Technique?”
“….”
“Answer me!”
I looked at him with a stern expression.
“Isn’t the question you just asked strange?”
“…What?”
“I said my mother, but I never said Duchess Dubbled had the Life Extension Technique. It could have been my birth mother, so why did you think Duchess Dubbled left the Life Extension Technique?”
“…Is there anyone who doesn’t know you’re an orphan?”
“My birth mother could have left things when she abandoned me. Wouldn’t a wise Duke like you know that?”
“….”
Before meeting Father, Mother lived almost her entire life in the shrine. She had no contact with Grimoire at all.
But how does Duke Grimoire think Mother would have had the Life Extension Technique?
Startled, he tried to remove his hand from me, but I quickly grabbed hold of him.
“What do you mean? Why do you think Duchess Dubbled might have had Grimoire’s family treasure?”
This time it was Duke Grimoire who closed his mouth. He removed my hand and said.
“As you said, if it’s the power of the Life Extension Technique, you can prove you didn’t kidnap Father. Bring the Life Extension Technique. The day after tomorrow at midnight, let’s meet in front of the large tree on Seton Street.”
With those words he left, and I stared intently at his retreating figure.
The butler appeared from the side room connected to Seria’s office.
“Little One.”
“The Life Extension Technique. It’s definitely Mother’s, right?”
“That’s what I was told.”
“Tell me in detail.”
“Previously, His Excellency told me it was the first and last gift your maternal grandmother gave to the Duchess.”
“Maternal Grandmother gave it to Mother?”
The butler nodded.
“Just before being sold to the shrine, she silently put it in the Duchess’s belongings.”
“Is there any possibility Maternal Grandmother was related to Grimoire?”
“None at all. Your maternal grandparents lived their entire lives in a tribal village. How could they have any connection to Grimoire?”
I frowned while holding my chin.
“No, something’s definitely strange. I need to find out more accurately.”
“Pardon?”
“They were people who couldn’t bear hunger and sold their child. If they had such a precious magic tool, why would they sell their child? Selling the Life Extension Technique would have been much more profitable.”
“Perhaps she didn’t know it was a life-extending artifact?”
“If she didn’t know its value, she would have sold it more easily.”
“…That’s true. Yes, certainly so.”
How did Maternal Grandmother come to possess a life-extending artifact?
Why didn’t this heartless person who even sold her own child sell the life-extending artifact, but instead gave it to Mother?
“Look for any survivors from Mother’s hometown. I need to learn about my Maternal Grandparents.”
“Yes.”
The aide immediately summoned the Dark Bird (Dubbled’s intelligence agency).
* * *
The life-extending artifact.
It was an ultra-advanced magical tool created by the First Family Head of Grimoire using divine relics.
First Grimoire secretly divided the life-extending artifacts among three organizations.
1. 【Grimoire】, the origin of the Magic Tower.
2. 【Neriad Temple】, the representative of divinity.
3. 【Imperial Palace】, neutral between sacred and magical.
However, Grimoire’s life-extending artifact disappeared during Karim’s reign.
The previous Duke Grimoire, that is, Karim, had given the life-extending artifact to Lisette’s Mother.
When she was Karim’s lover, Lisette’s Mother was in an extremely unstable state.
She had desperately fled from the Shayman Tribe Village and reached the ‘Outside World’ she had dreamed of, but the ‘Outside World’ was far from her imagination.
The people of the Outside World looked down on Lisette’s Mother, who had only grown up in the Shayman Tribe Village and knew nothing of society.
To blend into society, she had to follow the order created by the people of the Outside World, but their order was like ill-fitting clothes to Lisette’s Mother.
She was ostracized from society and trembled with anxiety that even Karim, the only one who accepted her, might abandon her.
Her condition gradually worsened and reached its peak after learning that Karim was being pressured by his family to marry.
She would cause a commotion several times a day, holding a blade to her own throat.
“You’re going to abandon me too, aren’t you? Right?”
“Linford!”
“You were the one who stopped me from returning to the village! Why are you trying to abandon me? Why is there no place for me in this world?”
“That’s not true. Please put down that sword.”
Sometimes she would scream in anger then cry and plead, and other times she would embrace The Man while whispering love, then slap his cheek and reproach him as a traitor.
“I can’t trust love that’s only words. I need proof that you won’t abandon me.”
Karim gave the life-extending artifact to Lisette’s Mother, who buried her face in her hands and wept sadly.
“Linford, listen carefully. This is a family treasure passed down to the eldest son of Grimoire for generations. Therefore, it’s the family’s honor, and proof that I will love you as long as I live. Keep it safe and pass it on when our child is born.”
“…”
“I’m proposing to you right now, Linford.”
Karim Grimoire still vividly remembered the moment he gave away the life orb.
Distorted eyes, deeply carved dimples on her tear-soaked cheeks. The hands that embraced his waist trembled finely, and the voice that whispered love was filled with certainty.
But a few days later, Lisette’s Mother left the Imperial Capital and returned to her tribal village.
[I promise to pass down the proof of our love to your child.]
Leaving behind only a single note.
Nikolai Grimoire, recalling the story he had heard from his father, slowly closed his eyes.
“Foolish bastard.”
At this, the Adjutant who was in the middle of his investigation report flinched and looked at him.
“Pardon?”
“….”
“…Are you referring to me, sir?”
When the Adjutant spoke cautiously, Grimoire’s expression turned cold.
Giving away the family heirloom life orb to his lover, creating illegitimate children left and right. His father had caused all sorts of trouble throughout his life, and now he had even gotten himself kidnapped.
Grimoire irritably swept his hair back and spoke.
“The background investigation on that bastard.”
“The first Child of Fate was at Quanteum’s National Orphanage before being transferred to a Private Orphanage. We searched through both national and private records and sent people to investigate the Private Orphanage, but there was no mention of him having a life orb.”
As expected, Lisette must have had it.
She received the life orb from her Mother, and after her death, Dubbled must have been keeping it.
‘But how is it that the Child of Fate can use the life orb?’
“Seria! Bring the life orb! I’ll have to make an oath with the life orb that I’ll explode if these words are lies!”
That bastard spoke as if he could use the life orb himself, but that was impossible.
The Shrine and Imperial Palace believed that special incantations were needed to activate the life orb, but that was a lie told by the Creator, the First Grimoire Family Head.
The life orb was a magical tool that could only be used by ‘those who carry Grimoire blood.’
It would be possible if the Three Dubbled Brothers used the life orb. They are Lisette’s children, after all.
‘But how could that bastard use the life orb? …Was it bluffing?’
While Nikolai Grimoire was pondering, the Adjutant spoke carefully.
“His Excellency, regarding the investigation into Dubbled’s movements that you ordered.”
“Yes.”
“They are the world’s only manufacturer of long-distance teleportation circles. If they move using teleportation circles, there’s no way to track them.”
“Bring skilled ones from the Magic Tower. Station them permanently in the Vicinity of Dubbled Estate and create a barrier. If there are fluctuations in the barrier, they’ll be using teleportation circles.”
“Won’t they notice that we’re tracking them? If that happens, an all-out war will be inevitable.”
“….”
“If His Excellency finds out, he will be extremely opposed to this.”
There had been many opportunities for Grimoire and Dubbled to clash.
Grimoire believed that Lisette’s death was ‘something orchestrated by the Previous Duke of Dubbled to pressure Theodore.’
Therefore, Karim harbored deep resentment toward the Previous Duke who killed his Daughter and Theodore who failed to protect his Daughter.
However, Grimoire couldn’t lay a hand on Dubbled.
It was solely because of the Three Dubbled Brothers that Lisette had left behind.
The Three Brothers were descendants of the Previous Duke Dubbled who had killed his daughter, but at the same time, they were also of Grimoire bloodline.
Duke Grimoire lightly rubbed his chin and spoke in a cold voice.
“The Old Man who was Grimoire’s symbol has disappeared. Is this the time to be picky?”
“…I apologize.”
“Find anyone in the family who possesses Divine Power. Whether they’re from a branch family, or distant relatives not even listed in the registry, if they have even a speck of Divine Power, find them and bring them here.”
“What? Why…”
Duke Grimoire clenched the blue spinel he had obtained from Hope Trading Company.
“My back feels unsettled. As if I’m being toyed with by something.”
Duke Grimoire closed his eyes tightly and massaged his neck. Through the gaps between his fingers, a mark was briefly visible. It was a subtle pattern that closely resembled someone else’s.
* * *
Two days later, in the afternoon.
I sat in the Greenhouse waiting for a Client.
Last night, Dark Bird brought news that they had found a man from the Shayman Tribe Village.
I immediately arranged a meeting with him, and he would arrive soon.
“Annoying, so annoying.”
As I muttered while crossing my arms, Trigon, who had come to the Mansion to meet me, blinked his eyes.
“Pardon?”
“The life-extending orb matter. Something keeps bothering me. I feel like I’m being played.”
“The man from the Shayman Tribe Village will arrive in thirty minutes. Once we know the details, it will be resolved, so please wait patiently.”
“Ugh, so frustrating…”
I leaned forward and pressed my cheek against the Table.
“By the way, Little One.”
“Yeah.”
“Setting aside the life-extending orb matter, what will you do about Grimoire? What if they join hands with the Shrine?”
“I have to prevent them from doing so.”
“How?”
“That’s the problem…”
That’s when it happened.
“Little One!”
Viscount Dubois, the leader of Dark Bird, came running into the Greenhouse.
“What’s wrong?”
“We think we’ve located Grimoire Elder.”
“What? Where!”
“Calosium Ship. They say a man with similar appearance and clothing to Grimoire Elder boarded it.”
“Calosium Ship is Dubbled’s trading vessel, isn’t it?”
‘Don’t tell me…!’
I bolted upright.
“It was a scheme to drive a wedge between us.”
“Pardon?”
When Trigon asked what I meant, I shouted.
“The Temple kidnapped Karim Grimoire to drive a wedge between Grimoire and Dubbled! If the previous head of Grimoire dies in there, everyone would suspect Dubbled!”
Grimoire’s arrows would turn toward us, and the Temple would ally with the Magic Tower owned by Grimoire.
In that case, there would be no chance of victory in a war between Dubbled and the Temple.
“Contact them immediately to stop the departure!”
“….”
“Viscount Dubois, what are you doing… don’t tell me.”
“Yes, Miss. They already departed to avoid the evening rain forecast.”
I hurriedly grabbed my overcoat and the Long-Distance Teleportation Circle.
“Check the coordinates of the Calosium Ship immediately. I’m going!”
Viscount Dubois rushed out, and I gripped Etoile.
‘Are you ready?’
[Yes, Little One.]
[Hmph, of course.]
[Yes, my lord.]
[Wow, this is awesome.]
Grandfather Grimoire, I’ll save you, so let’s be on the same side.
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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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