The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 85

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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 85

My brothers approached me as if they had been waiting.

“Are you okay?”

“How’s your body?”

I nodded my head.

“I’m all better. Uncle was just playing a prank earlier. He said I’m all healed without needing medicine.”

Then Isaac muttered ominously, “Then I should have just killed him.” Then he looked at me and shut his mouth tight.

“Why?”

Henri carefully took my hand and said.

“When you get better… let’s eat together. Have snacks together in the garden too.”

While Mireille was pretending to be the Fourth Child, they seemed sorry for not being able to pay attention to me.

“It’s okay.”

“…”

“…”

“You don’t need to worry about it. You thought she was Baby Bird. It’s natural to cherish your real younger sister.”

When I spoke with forced cheerfulness, both of them hung their heads.

‘Oh dear, the atmosphere…’

I changed the subject.

“Where is Johan?”

“He’s torturing the inn couple in Father’s place.”

“What is Father doing?”

“Work.”

“Work?”

“He’s always working. Except for when he briefly saw you this morning, he’s always in his office. It seems like he wasn’t as affected by this incident as we thought?”

When Isaac said that while looking at Henri, Henri nodded.

“Since he’s a thorough person, he probably didn’t completely trust her.”

“Yes, he was investigating Mireille’s background.”

Though the two said that, I gripped the sheets tightly.

Given Father’s personality, no matter how much evidence there was that Mireille was the Fourth Child, he would have checked twice, three times. He wouldn’t have completely trusted that child until he finished his verification.

‘But…’

Even so, how could there be no impact?

Father never once got angry at Mireille’s excessive clinginess. It must have been because of a glimmer of hope that ‘maybe that child really is Baby Bird.’

My brothers also never truly got angry even when Mireille threw excessive tantrums.

Having lived together for five years, I know well how scary my brothers can be when they get angry. How much they hate annoying things, things that cross the line.

The reason they tolerated Mireille was because they were all seeing Baby Bird overlapped with her.

When it was revealed that Mireille wasn’t Baby Bird, Javelin shut herself away. Unable to return to the Imperial Capital or get angry at Mireille, she spent the whole day staring blankly at the sky like a corpse.

Everyone didn’t show it, but I knew. How bitter this incident had been for my family.

* * *

North watched Theodore silently reviewing documents in the same position until the sun set.

“Um, Your Excellency…”

“How is Leblaine’s condition.”

“She opened her eyes today, they say.”

“Restore Taylor’s status as promised. Set up his residence near the palace so he can be used when Leblaine’s condition becomes critical in the future.”

“Yes.”

North, who had answered, carefully continued speaking.

“More than that, please rest for today. Didn’t you stay up all night yesterday as well?”

Theodore gave no answer. In the end, North had to sigh and leave the office with an armful of documents.

Only after the door closed and all signs of human presence completely disappeared did Theodore raise his head.

The sun was setting.

“I hate sunset because it makes me feel lonely.”

At the voice that suddenly came to mind, Theodore moved his pen again. Though he immersed himself in work, the memory that had once slipped through the cracks came rushing in like a storm.

“Theodore, I guess we should have bought strawberries from the Imperial Capital after all.”

“I’ll send someone tomorrow.”

“But that’ll take two whole days. Let’s go together now. Our daughter says she must eat those strawberries right now.”

They were a mother and daughter he simply couldn’t win against.

The daughter had already grasped his collar before she was even born. At Lisette’s words “our daughter,” he had to wake up at dawn and drive the magic carriage all around the country.

“She just kicked. Touch my belly!”

“Why doesn’t she move when I touch?”

She would move excitedly when her older brothers’ hands touched her belly, but she was always quiet when his hand touched.

The moment he felt the baby’s movement after more than 8 months. A strange emotion welled up. A very strange feeling, as if his throat was ticklish and something was weighing on his chest.

“Our daughter is teaching me emotions I couldn’t even show you.”

His grip tightened on the pen.

The memories he had locked away came rushing in, shaking him helplessly.

His senses became sharply acute. It was when he ran his hand through his hair and stood up.

Small footsteps could be heard from outside, then suddenly scurried away. Something was wedged in the gap of the window connected to the corridor.

A small note.

[Please apologize.]

[Apologize to me.]

The firmly pressed handwriting brought back memories of Lisette once again.

He opened his eyes wide and looked outside the window. Fluffy light brown hair could be glimpsed from behind the corner.

“….”

After fiddling with the note for a moment, he picked up the memo paper placed on the desk.

[For what.]

After writing and slipping it through the window crack, then hiding behind the wall, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard again.

[You didn’t give me a goodnight kiss yesterday.]

Notes were exchanged several more times.

[Didn’t you say you didn’t want it because you were embarrassed.]

[I wasn’t embarrassed yesterday.]

[I’m sorry.]

[Then will you give me a goodnight kiss today?]

How does this child know? She always knew what I longed for most.

When Theodore opened the door, Leblaine hiding behind the corner could be seen startling.

As I approached, she slowly raised her head.

“….”

“….”

“…Why are you crying?”

As soon as she saw me, Leblaine’s large eyes became misty with tears.

“Because Father has a sad face.”

Like someone crossing a desert without a destination, his dry gaze turned toward the child’s eyes wet with tears.

When Theodore knelt down to meet Leblaine’s gaze and carefully reached out his hand, Leblaine wrapped her arms around his neck.

Her small body trembled faintly and sniffling sounds could be heard near his ear.

“You’ve become a crybaby after getting hurt.”

“I’m not a crybaby.”

“Then?”

“I’m just, just… Father’s daughter.”

Theodore, holding the child, buried his face in her small shoulder.

The thoughts that had been tormenting him so terribly had somehow retreated.

* * *

After crying until my nose turned bright red, I looked up at Father.

I rubbed Father’s eyes with the back of my hand. His eyes turned slightly red, so he no longer looked like a corpse.

I was pleased with that and giggled, but my stomach growled.

‘Ugh.’

What a tactless stomach clock.

It was such a touching moment just now!

“You should have a meal.”

“Lamb potage would be good. I had it before and it was really delicious.”

“Right after getting up from the sickbed?”

“You have to eat meat to get healthy!”

He chuckled.

“I’ll have them prepare a meal, so wait here.”

“Yes!”

I answered brightly and jumped down from Father’s embrace. Then I waved my hand and left Father’s office.

My next destination was the underground prison.

The guard who saw me asked in a slightly flustered voice, “What brings you here?”

“I want to go in for a moment.”

“But there are orders not to let anyone in…”

“I’m not just anyone.”

Since I normally wouldn’t throw a tantrum like this, the guard seemed a bit confused, but soon stepped aside.

As I went down the stairs, the smell of blood wafted up.

The inn owner couple was unconscious and sprawled inside the iron bars, and Mireille was imprisoned in the iron bars to their right.

I approached Mireille.

The child who had been trembling while hugging her knees looked up.

“Hello?”

“What do you want with me.”

“Hey, that’s wrong. You should say ‘What do you want with Mireille?'”

“…”

The child stubbornly kept her mouth shut.

She seemed to think it was all my fault that she ended up like this after being caught. Above all, since she was dying from alchemy anyway, she probably had no fear.

I smiled sweetly. And then.

BANG─!!

I activated my power and blew away half the iron bars.

“Wrong.”

“Wh-what?”

“The point is ‘how you die.'”

I grabbed Mireille’s neck in one swift motion.

“Now, think carefully and answer. Who told you Baby Bird’s information?”

“I-I don’t know, I don’t know─ Aaah!!”

As the activation seal appeared on the back of my hand, Mireille’s neck turned red as if it was burning.

“I told you to think carefully and answer.”

“Huu…”

“Who let you in here? Who is the person that stabbed my family in the heart?”

“I, I really don’t know, really─ Kyaaaaaaah!!!”

A spark erupted from my hand. Mireille trembled like someone who had been electrocuted, then turned pale and collapsed, gasping for breath.

After seeing Father’s eyes, I no longer wanted to show this child any mercy.

“Again, who let you in here?”

“I, I don’t know their identity, but they wore a dark blue jacket, and… and, aah, I really can’t remember well. I was wearing a blindfold… Please, I’m begging you…!”

“You shouldn’t underestimate human memory. When desperate, you can somehow recall things. Shall I make you more desperate here?”

As I smiled sweetly and made the activation seal appear on the back of my hand again, Mireille screamed out.

“W-wait, wait… So, so… Ah! A rash! There was a rash on the back of their hand shaped like a rotated X !”

After that, Mireille tried desperately to recall the culprit, but it seemed there was nothing more she could remember.

“Good. That’s enough.”

When I spoke, Mireille’s face brightened. She seemed to think I would let her go now.

However.

“Ah, kuaaaaaaah!!”

Mireille let out a terrible scream and convulsed before collapsing with a thud.

Then, familiar footsteps followed from behind. It was the chairman who was in charge of torture in the underground prison.

“This is different from our promise, isn’t it? Weren’t we supposed to let her die peacefully if she gave us information?”

“Backstabbing is Father’s specialty. And I’m that Father’s daughter.”

The chairman chuckled.

“Well, now we need to catch the spy…”

That’s when it happened.

The door burst open and Johan, Henri, and Isaac all came in.

In Isaac’s grasp by the collar was a retainer with a familiar face.

“P-please spare me. Please spare me!!”

Seeing him cry out pathetically, Isaac frowned, and Johan kicked the retainer in the abdomen.

Crack!!

There was a sound of bones breaking and organs bursting, then the retainer rolled and fell down the stairs.

“Leblaine?”

Henri spotted me and spoke.

“Mm, hello.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I was just with the chairman for a moment… What about you brothers?”

“Father told us to catch the spy.”

Isaac grumbled afterward.

“He said he’d give us half a day to catch them.”

I looked at the retainer.

Baron Sugaoe. The man who had left with Viscount Misenk to bring Johan back.

‘He even advised me to get along well with Mireille.’

It wasn’t advice—he was trying to make me shrink back so I couldn’t talk back to Mireille.

‘Anyway, I hit the jackpot. I won’t need to catch the spy.’

If my brothers torture him here, I’ll be able to extract all the information easily.

I was smiling contentedly to myself when my brothers, who had come down the stairs, looked at Mireille, who was trembling convulsively with her soul practically knocked out of her.

“What’s this? Who did this to her?”

I flinched at Isaac’s words.

“Well, you see, um…”

I mumbled and hastily pointed at the ceremonial guard.

“The ceremonial guard! He went all rumble-crash and…!”

Then all three of my brothers’ gazes fixed on the ceremonial guard.

“He had mana? He seems to know how to handle it quite well.”

“There’s no residual mana left. To cause this much damage with minimal mana isn’t just handling it well.”

“Was he this skilled?”

As Isaac, Henri, and Johan looked at him in turn, the ceremonial guard frowned. His expression seemed to say, ‘Why are you directing their arrows at me and making them needlessly wary?’

I mouthed words to the ceremonial guard from behind my brothers.

‘Ceremonial guard, you’re dazzling! Amazing! The best!’

At my desperate flattery, he looked at my brothers with a reluctant expression.

“Yes, I’m somewhat capable.”

—And.

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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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