The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 4

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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 4

Sniffle.

Sniffle sniffle.

Sniffle sniffle sniffle.

I was crying my eyes out, tears and snot streaming down my face as I munched on cookies.

While chewing, they tasted so good that I couldn’t think of anything else, but after swallowing, I felt so miserable that tears kept flowing.

Duke Dubbled is really a petty bastard.

I could have just eaten one piece of leftover bread. Did he really need to get that angry about it?

I glared at Duke Dubbled sitting across from me with resentful eyes.

Lea, who had brought me cookies on the Duke’s orders, spoke in a bewildered tone.

“She fell asleep early and missed her meal. So…”

“So, she went around picking up bread that the servants had thrown away.”

“…”

Lea’s face turned pale. She bit her lips tightly and hung her head, looking terribly guilty.

But Lea wasn’t at fault.

‘You can’t force a sleeping child to wake up and eat.’

Having filled my stomach somewhat, I reached out toward Lea.

“Wanna go…”

Though I regretted not finishing the cookies, I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to look away from the plate.

I don’t want to see kind Lea get scolded by that bad man!

Just then, when the Duke reached out his hand, I quickly hugged Lea’s arm.

The Duke’s hand, which had been reaching out to offer me the remaining cookies, stopped abruptly in mid-air.

“…”

“…”

“…”

A breeze swept across the table where the plate of cookies and milk sat.

“Why is she acting like this when she used to cling to me so well before?”

“…It seems she’s frightened from being scolded earlier.”

Lea was right. I was terrified from being threatened by the Duke earlier. Just his darkening gaze alone made my heart race.

The Duke looked at me with strange eyes, which made me even more scared. So I whined to Lea, “Wanna go back. (Want to go back.)”

Lea tried to comfort me with a troubled expression, then at some point, she bit her lips firmly as if she had made up her mind.

“M-Master!”

“…”

“The little miss needs to finish her meal, so I think we should r-return now…!”

Her tone was like that of a knight charging alone against an entire army.

The Duke stared at me intently, and I fidgeted while hiding behind Lea’s arm.

Soon he nodded his head. As soon as he did, Lea hurriedly bent her waist and scooped me up.

Lea quickly left the room and let out a big breath. Her face was pale and her lips were trembling.

As Duke Dubbled’s employee, Lea must have witnessed just how ruthless a person he was.

He was the kind of man who showed no mercy even to parents and siblings if they crossed him.

So how terrifying it must have been for her to speak to him so demandingly.

‘Ah, dear Lea.’

I was so moved that I rubbed my face against Lea’s arm.

Lea brought me to my room and brought me food. It was milk porridge with chestnuts.

I patted my belly contentedly only after emptying two whole bowls of milk porridge.

When I looked at Lea afterward, her eyes were dark with fatigue.

I fidgeted with my hands and said.

“Dakku baegopaso mianaeh. (Sorry for being hungry all the time.)”

Then Lea hugged me with a face that looked ready to cry.

“Don’t say such things. Babies need to eat a lot and sleep a lot.”

She forced a smile as she laid me on the bed and pulled the blanket up to my neck.

“Sweet dreams, little one.”

* * *

After eating my fill and sleeping soundly, I finally felt like my sanity had returned.

“Nyea, joha! (Lea, I like you!)”

Feeling sorry about last night, I showed Lea my ultimate charm.

The maids squealed as they watched me hug Lea’s waist with my chubby arms that looked like two sausages linked together.

Lea’s lips also curved into a soft smile.

Just then, a maid who looked toward the doorway froze, and soon all the other maids jumped up and lined up in formation.

‘Eek, it’s the bad guy.’

Duke Dubbled and his adjutant were looking at me.

I quickly hid behind Lea and only peeked my head out slightly.

“Ah, little one…”

The adjutant and maids all called out to me in confusion. But I just shook my head.

‘Yesterday was really scary.’

The words he spoke felt like blades cutting into my throat.

The adjutant, who was breaking out in cold sweat, spoke awkwardly.

“Why don’t you try calling her name affectionately? So that the little one’s heart might soften.”

“…”

The Duke was silent for a long time. He stared at me quietly, then frowned slightly. And I shook my head inwardly.

‘Mr. Adjutant, that bad guy doesn’t know my name.’

For the past ten days, he had never once called me by my name. He only called me things like pony, you, little thing, or Child of Fate.

He definitely never read the documents about me that the Empress Dowager had sent.

Just then.

“Leblaine.”

The Duke called my name.

He knew it?

I blinked my eyes in confusion.

Well, that made sense since the Duke had a famous anecdote about how ‘even when a young lady personally arranged by the Imperial Palace stayed in his territory for over three months, he couldn’t even remember her name.’

It was amazing that the Duke, who had not even a grain of sand’s worth of interest in others and only found me bothersome, remembered my name.

‘I guess he’s not completely uninterested after all.’

Though it would only be as much as an ant’s piss.

The Duke spoke to me again.

“Come here.”

Everyone in the room focused on me. I hesitated before slightly leaning forward.

“Are you gonna hit me?”

“…I’ve never hit you.”

You hit me with words though. With words.

When I looked at him with distrustful eyes, he suddenly held something out.

It was a lollipop.

“There are many of these over there.”

“…!”

I ran to him with quick steps and hugged him. Somehow it seemed like an arrogant smile crossed his lips.

Right, from the Duke’s perspective, how surprised he must have been when the child sent by the Empress Dowager was secretly wandering around at night.

Especially a child who readily confessed secrets of the Imperial Palace and the Religious Order.

‘Yeah, that’s it. It’s not like I ran over just because of candy.’

How much candy could there be?

Since he’s rich, there might be about ten pieces.

‘Then if I eat two pieces a day, I could eat them for 5 whole days.’

He picked me up and strode boldly through the Imperial Palace.

Whenever retainers or employees encountered us, they dropped their pens and brooms with their mouths hanging wide open.

Even I, the person involved, couldn’t tell if being carried by the Duke was a dream or reality, so it was a natural reaction.

The Duke, who had stopped walking at some point, put me down in front of a door.

‘The candy must be in here!’

I excitedly opened the door and went inside.

And I froze in place, blinking my eyes.

‘500 days…’

Looking at the candy filling the room, I swallowed my dry saliva.

When a person is surprised, their feet freeze solid no matter how happy they are.

Engraving this newly realized fact in my mind, I glanced at the Duke.

Can I really eat all of this? Is this really all mine? When I looked at him with such eyes, the Duke spoke in a dry voice.

“Eat as much as you want.”

‘Oh my!’

I quickly ran toward the pile of candy.

The colorful candy was so abundant it looked like you could swim in it. There were also packaged cookies, chocolate, marshmallows, and other treats scattered throughout.

I rustled through the golden, shimmering wrapper and popped the fruit caramel inside into my mouth.

‘…It’s so delicious.’

As I remained frozen in shock for a while, the Duke frowned with one eye. I had absolutely no time to worry about the Duke’s reaction.

Do rich people eat such delicious things all the time?

The sweet and sour chunk quickly melted in my mouth, and the fruit syrup inside gently wrapped around the tip of my tongue.

‘How nice it must be to be rich…’

I ate the caramel frantically. Every time I chewed, my chubby cheeks jiggled plumply in my small hands.

After quickly finishing one, I looked for another candy. This time it was a lollipop.

I was about to put the candy in my mouth when I felt a strange gaze and hesitated. Then I glanced at the Duke.

‘It would be inconsiderate to eat alone.’

Hadn’t I learned this during my time with the Beggar Gang? You had to share even a single bean to build relationships.

I quietly offered him the candy.

“Here you go.”

He looked at me with strange eyes and narrowed them.

‘Why?’

Only after I tilted my head in confusion did he slowly open his mouth.

“You look strange.”

“…”

“Your cheeks look like they’re about to burst. Are you a squirrel?”

…Should I pretend to accidentally hit him with the candy?

I considered it, but thought of my goal and calmed down.

‘I need to get adopted here, live comfortably, and then flee.’

If I don’t want to die miserably like in my previous life, I absolutely need this bad man’s help.

‘I’ll really build a good relationship and make him take back those mean words.’

I may look like this, but I’m someone who survived in the household of an adoptive father who didn’t like me. And that was twice, no less.

Although I was naive back then and the results weren’t good, this time I have experience.

‘I’ll show you the Social Maneuvering skills of someone on their fourth life.’

Thinking this to myself, I jumped into his arms.

“Thank you for the candy, Duke.”

As I rubbed my cheek against his chest and giggled, the Duke flinched.

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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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