The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 9

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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 9

“….”

“….”

Silence hung in the bathroom, but for some reason, the Duke no longer felt scary to me.

Was it because this great man was kneeling before a child, washing my feet?

Or was it because his touch while washing my feet was so gentle?

After finishing washing my feet, the Duke even rinsed my hands in the water before standing up.

Soon we left the bathroom. When the door opened, Lea, who had been waiting anxiously in front of the bathroom, quickly rushed over.

The Duke handed me over to Lea and said.

“Go apply medicine to her.”

“Yes?”

“Medicine.”

“Ah… Yes, yes!”

Lea and the maids, who snapped to attention in surprise, took me and walked through the corridor like arrows. It was almost as fast as running.

The maids who entered the room collapsed, panting.

“I thought the master was going to do something to the baby…”

“M-me too.”

I fidgeted and watched their reactions carefully. Lea’s expression twisted painfully as she looked at me like that.

Lea stroked my rain-soaked hair and whispered softly.

“It’s okay, baby.”

“….”

“No one is angry at you, baby.”

“….”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Her voice was so tender that only then did tears start to trickle from my eyes.

* * *

I spent the next few days in anxiety. But the Duke really didn’t scold me.

He didn’t demand that I get Newit from the Empress Dowager, nor did he send me back to the capital. He didn’t even show any sign of displeasure.

Moreover.

‘He didn’t throw away the flower I picked.’

It was dark when I picked it so I didn’t know, but seeing it in the light, that wasn’t a carnation.

It wasn’t even a carefully cultivated flower, but just a wildflower that happened to bloom while laying grass in the garden.

Yet that wildflower was placed in a flower vase in Duke Dubbled’s office.

Seeing the wildflower sitting alone in an incredibly luxurious vase made me feel uncomfortable.

‘What is he thinking?’

If it had been someone other than the Duke, I would have thought they couldn’t bear to throw away flowers that a child had struggled to pick in the middle of the night…

But this is Duke Dubbled?

That Theodore Dubbled who massacred an entire foreign tribe just because he was displeased.

He had even become a little kinder to me since that day. Kind enough to share meals with me.

“Did a beggar possess your stomach?”

Though even his kindness was only very slight.

The Duke looked at me with a strange expression as I chomped away at the chicken leg.

But it didn’t bother me.

‘Because a beggar did possess me, didn’t it?’

Since I was indeed a beggar in my past life.

And right now, something more important than that was…

‘This is incredibly delicious!’

The young chicken dish, steamed with various spices and then braised in sweet sauce, was truly delicious.

The meat was tender, and the sauce was sweet and savory.

The Duke stared intently at me as I frantically devoured the chicken.

“…”

“…?”

What’s with him, why is he acting like that?

‘…Does he want some?’

I stealthily covered my plate with my arm, worried he might steal my precious chicken leg.

Then the Duke’s eyebrow twitched.

‘Really petty, so petty.’

He’s eating that big lamb steak all by himself, yet he’s eyeing a child’s food too.

I groaned inwardly.

I was truly grateful that he had just let the Newit incident slide.

Newit was a precious treasure. When it fell into the Emperor’s hands, the Pope personally visited the Imperial Palace to request that the Religious Order be allowed to keep it.

As the last remaining divine artifact of an evil god, it had not only historical value but also infinite potential uses.

After alternating my gaze between the chicken leg and the Duke for a while, I made up my mind.

I bit my lips tightly and suddenly held out the chicken leg.

“I’ll give it to you.”

He narrowed his brow as he watched me glance longingly at the chicken leg with a pitiful expression, despite having offered it myself.

“Really…”

A brief chuckle escaped from between his teeth.

“I’d like to open up your head and see what’s inside.”

Is he really going to open my head? The Duke is someone who would do exactly that.

I was startled and quickly grabbed my head with both hands.

“I’ll die if you open it!”

Then I heard chuckling sounds from the doorway. It was North, who had come carrying documents.

He cleared his throat when the Duke’s gaze turned toward him.

“This is the list of tribute gifts for the Emperor’s birthday celebration.”

“The item to replace the Newit.”

“The trading company seems to have secured quite a decent item. The merchant leader was quite confident. We received word that they’ll arrive at the castle this afternoon at the earliest.”

An item to replace the divine artifact Newit.

I don’t know for sure, but it must be unimaginably expensive.

‘Still, I’m glad they found something.’

If House Dubbled was planning to present Newit to the Emperor, there must be something they wanted to gain from him in return.

If the deal fell through because of me, my adoption would be as good as gone.

The item the trading company found really had to be good enough.

‘But was there any mention of a trading company bringing in something of Newit’s value during this time period?’

I absentmindedly muttered, “Trading comp… (Trading company…).” Then North smiled brightly.

“Are you curious about what a trading company is?”

“Hm?”

“A trading company is a merchant group that travels between countries selling goods.”

Come to think of it, it seemed like a difficult word for a young child, so I acted surprised and said, “Wow!”

“You seem to want to see the trading company.”

“Mm-hm… yeah, I guess.”

Actually, I’m not that curious. Maybe about the item they brought, though.

While I was thinking that, North said,

“You can look at the goods together, little miss. There will be many interesting items, so it should be fun to browse.”

Of course I’d like to do that, but…

I glanced at the Duke. I was worried he might ask if I was planning to break something again, but he didn’t say anything particular.

‘I guess giving him the chicken leg was the right move.’

Around the time we were finishing our meal, word came that the trading company had entered the Dubbled Duchy.

The Duke and North left the dining room to discuss matters related to the Emperor’s birthday celebration.

And I decided to go to the library with Lea and the other maids to kill time until the trading company arrived.

“You haven’t seen Dubbled Castle’s library yet, have you, little miss?”

“No.”

“It’s full of all kinds of books. Of course, there are many fairy tale books too.”

When I entered through the door Lea opened for me, my eyes nearly popped out.

‘My goodness.’

What kind of library is this magnificent?

The room was large enough for horseback riding, and even the ceiling was dizzyingly high.

Only the center was open, with spiral staircases connecting the levels, and countless bookshelves were placed on each floor.

The tall bookshelves, which easily seemed to exceed 3 meters, had no empty spaces to be found.

It was an incredible library that seemed to have gathered all the books in the world.

I looked around the library with its tremendous grandeur and headed toward the fairy tale book section.

The maids said with sparkling eyes,

“Go ahead, choose one!”

They had the look of doting parents watching excitedly to see what kind of book their child would like.

I was pushed forward by the burdensome gazes toward the bookshelf.

Since I still had to pretend I couldn’t read, I should just pick a book with a pretty cover.

As I looked around to see which book was the most colorful, I discovered something unusual and blinked my eyes.

‘Why doesn’t this one have a title?’

Moreover, only half the book remained, with the other half cleanly cut off.

I tilted my head and opened the book.

‘This isn’t a fairy tale.’

[The most sacred achievement of Founding Emperor Freed I would be defeating Ivan, a servant of the Evil God.

(Omitted)

According to Ivan’s records, there are two conditions for manifesting the Evil God’s Supernatural Ability.

First is contact with a Divine Artifact, which serves as the key to awakening dormant power, and second is obtaining a medium that enables the wielding of that power…]

That was where it ended.

The rest was cut away, so I couldn’t read any more content.

‘What’s this, how unsettling.’

Just then, Lea asked.

“Young Miss, have you chosen?”

I quickly put back the book I was holding and pulled out any random book next to it.

“Mm-hmm. I picked one.”

“I’ll read it to you enjoyably when we get back.”

I took Lea’s hand and left the library.

The maids, who had tremendous talent for storytelling, put on a magnificent performance, but my mind was complicated.

The titleless book I read in the library kept coming to mind.

‘Of all things, why did it have to be content related to the Evil God?’

The Evil God was also related to me.

Neriad, the righteous main god of the Empire, sealed away the Evil God, the source of all evil, for the sake of humanity.

However, the seal loosened over time, and to re-seal the Evil God, the power of Mina, the Child of Fate, was needed.

‘And I was the sacrifice for that ritual.’

The ritual was truly so painful that I just wished they would kill me quickly.

As I recalled that event, my face darkened, and Lea watched me with a worried expression.

“Why does Young Miss have such a sad face?”

Since I couldn’t say that memories from before my regression had surfaced, I rolled my eyes around and said.

“Lion scary. (The lion is scary.)”

I made an excuse that the part where the lion in the fairy tale tried to eat the protagonist elephant was frightening, and hugged Lea’s arm tightly.

Then the maids squealed “Kyaa!” and shook both their fists.

“That’s right~ Our Young Miss is scared of the lion~”

“The mean lion went roar~ So our baby went ah, scary!~”

The maids who had been cooing and playing peek-a-boo with me frantically rubbed their cheeks against my face from both sides.

‘Ugh, these ladies are getting worse and worse.’

It seems I’ve been too enthusiastic in pulling the wool over their eyes.

I endured the maids who couldn’t contain themselves from how adorable they found me, watching them with weary eyes.

While this was happening, there was a commotion outside.

Lea cracked the door open slightly and peered into the corridor.

“It seems the merchant has arrived.”

Then she extended her hand to me, asking, “Shall we go take a look?”

I took Lea’s hand and left the room.

When we arrived at the Grand Audience Hall, the Duke was seated on an ivory chair adorned with luxurious craftsmanship.

Behind his chair, I could see the Founding Emperor’s tapestry that Duke Dubbled had obtained while conquering the Ice Lands.

That tapestry inscribed with ancient script was a symbol of Dubbled’s military power, and nobles who admired it all followed suit, decorating tapestries behind their family heads’ chairs.

Below the Duke, a man who appeared to be a merchant was prostrating himself.

“I greet Duke Dubbled.”

I recognized the man immediately.

‘Why is that fraud here!’

Great Merchant Turba.

He was trash who would later become a wanted fugitive for selling forged paintings to the Imperial Palace.

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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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