The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 8

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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 8

North muttered while swallowing dryly.

“Newit is….”

I was startled by North’s muttered words as he looked at the powder in the jewelry box.

‘This is Newit?’

It was something so tremendous that I had heard about it to the point of exhaustion during my three lifetimes.

Because it was actually a relic of the evil god!

When I turned pale, North spoke with a troubled expression.

“Y-Your Grace. This isn’t the young lady’s fault, but rather the storage conditions weren’t good. Otherwise, there’s no way Newit would suddenly turn to powder….”

Though North earnestly made excuses for me, the Duke’s expression didn’t soften.

Trembling while clutching my skirt hem, I grabbed the Duke’s sleeve.

“S-sowwy… I didn’t mean to… (S-sorry… I didn’t mean to….)”

But the Duke pushed away my hand and frowned.

An irritated sigh flowed from his well-formed lips.

“How troublesome.”

My whole body trembled like an aspen tree.

‘Instead of winning his favor, I caused an accident.’

Perhaps because I was too frightened, the ringing in my ears that I’d been hearing seemed to get worse.

On top of that, my vision began spinning and narrowing.

“Don’t be more troublesome and go back to your room─”

“Ugh….”

As soon as the groan escaped, my body tilted and I fell beneath the chair.

“Young lady!”

In my narrowing vision, I saw the Duke frozen with wide eyes.

And then silence came.

* * *

A pitch-black space.

In the darkness, I was looking at Duke Amitie’s back.

My loving, prudent, and righteous father.

I deeply respected and loved him.

Though I had to give up many things to live as his daughter, it was okay.

As long as he would call me “Leblaine” and smile at me.

But I knew there was some kind of wall between us.

Duke Amitie gave me a room to stay in, taught me the duties of nobility, and shared meals with me, but that was all. He didn’t truly open his heart or really consider me his child.

Still, because I liked him, because I loved my first father so very much, I did my best.

I hesitated for a long while before reaching my hand toward his back.

‘Fathe─’

“Daddy!”

Mina, who ran past me toward Duke Amitie, embraced his arms without hesitation.

“Such a spoiled child.”

“What’s wrong with that? I can act spoiled with my daddy.”

When Mina smiled with her eyes crinkling, Duke Amitie stroked her head and smiled brightly.

It was an incredibly radiant smile he had never shown me.

I withdrew my hand and lowered my head.

It’s okay. That can happen.

Mina is the real Child of Fate.

She’s a good child who brings rain to drought-stricken lands and becomes hope for the poor and sick.

If I work harder, Father will look at me too.

If I sleep less and study more, if I give more to others, then.

At that moment, the surrounding darkness rippled.

“Stupid thing!”

A thunderous shout erupted from the void.

I was startled to see a hand emerge from the distorted darkness.

The hand wearing a ring engraved with the Valois Crest immediately grabbed me by the collar.

“Did you think I couldn’t find you if you hid? Foolish little mouse.”

Duke Valois’s shadow kicked me. As I rolled helplessly, the Valois Young Masters with their arms crossed and the Duchess appeared behind him.

“Useless girl.”

“There’s nothing satisfying about her at all.”

“She should die somewhere far away so we can comfortably dispose of her corpse.”

They slowly approached me. I trembled as I crawled backward on my palms.

Don’t hit me.

I was wrong.

I was wrong…!

“Gasp!”

I kicked off the blanket and sat up.

My back was drenched in cold sweat, and my hands were trembling.

It wasn’t until I saw the familiar clock in front of me that my senses returned.

‘It was a dream…’

It seemed to be night as the surroundings were dark and gloomy. Pitter-patter, tap, only the sound of rain hitting the window broke the silence.

There was a basin and wet towel by the bedside. Someone seemed to have stepped away briefly as the chair was still warm.

‘Right, I had collapsed.’

As I recalled what happened in the afternoon, my breath caught in my throat.

‘That Newit, what should I do.’

After dying three times, I had finally found a place worth living.

Dubbled’s employees were truly kind, and Duke Dubbled was a better person than I had heard.

But if these people also come to hate me…

Just then, an urgent voice came from outside the window.

The Duke, Lea, and all the people of Dubbled left the main castle.

The butler and gardeners were surrounding someone. Lea, who spotted light brown hair among them, rushed over frantically.

“Young miss!”

Leblaine looked at Lea who had grabbed her and wiggled her hands.

The Duke walked toward the child.

The servants positioned around stepped back, and finally Leblaine’s appearance became clearly visible.

Her thin nightgown was covered in dust, and her bare feet without shoes were a mess of scratches and dirt.

Her small body, soaked from the rain, trembled violently, and her lips were blue.

Leblaine left Lea behind and staggered toward the Duke.

“You…”

As the Duke furrowed his brow, Leblaine suddenly held something out.

In her trembling hands was a red flower.

“Duke wike carnation. (Duke like carnation.)”

“…”

“Did wong. (Did wrong.)”

He remembered Leblaine clutching his sleeve helplessly when the Newit broke.

“Forgive me pwease. Forgive me pwease…”

The Duke couldn’t give any answer.

Because that child with her blue face desperately rubbing her hands together asking for forgiveness was so pitiful.

And because the moment he coldly struck away that child’s hand was regrettable in a way unlike him.

* * *

Thanks to the thunder, I learned there were carnations in the garden outside the window. So I immediately went searching for flowers in a hurry.

The rain was pouring down heavily, but it didn’t matter. I had to do something to avoid being hated.

I looked up at the Duke with a terrified face. After remaining silent for a while, he suddenly picked me up.

‘Ack!’

Then the flustered Lea and North quickly rushed over.

“Y-Your Grace. The young miss didn’t intentionally cause a disturbance. She’s a child. She’s still a child who doesn’t know anything…!”

“She’s the Child of Fate. If problems arise, the Imperial Family and the Religious Order will rise up.”

However, the Duke entered the castle carrying me without pretending to listen.

‘What is he going to do to me?’

I did my best to apologize, but breaking the Newit wasn’t something that could be resolved with a flower or two.

I didn’t know for sure, but something terrible must be waiting, so I steeled myself mentally while being carried by the Duke.

But the place the Duke actually entered was the bathroom.

‘Water torture?’

I stiffened with fear.

The Duke sat me on the edge of the bathtub, then slowly reached out his hand.

‘I’m falling!’

I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut. But strangely, even as time passed, it didn’t hurt.

When I cautiously opened my eyes a crack, I saw the Duke kneeling on one knee, meeting my gaze at eye level.

Soon after, he took hold of my foot. Wondering what he was trying to do, I watched him with a tense expression and was completely startled.

He had begun washing my foot.

When the water touched my foot, it stung and I flinched, curling my toes.

“Does it hurt?”

“No.”

“….”

He looked at me silently, so I fidgeted with my skirt hem and mumbled.

“…A little.”

His touch became even gentler.

Each time the mud and dirt on my foot dissolved into the water and fell to the floor, the wounds became more clearly visible.

‘I’m quite badly hurt.’

I had been too frightened and rushed to feel the pain.

The Duke’s eyes darkened deeply as he looked at my foot.

“Don’t wander around the Imperial Palace late at night.”

I thought I was finally going to get scolded, but his mouth didn’t open any further.

‘That’s it?’

Since Duke Dubbled wasn’t getting angry, I felt even more anxious. I fidgeted with my hands and mumbled.

“Duke, you not angry?”

A strange silence settled over the bathroom.

He stared at me for a long while before slowly parting his lips.

“I’m not angry.”

Really?

Truly?

When I looked at him with distrustful eyes, he furrowed his brow and lightly flicked my forehead. It didn’t hurt at all.

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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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