The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 120

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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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-I got first place in our group during the winter midterm evaluation.

Armin picked me up and bounced around excitedly.

Cute Armin.

-Theo doesn’t come to see me like he used to.

I guess he must be really busy?

He’s being negligent in his duties as a research institute researcher!

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-Thanks to Soya doing such good work, the greenhouse has gotten even bigger!

All the unused land in the Ibrhill Region is now our greenhouse.

-The scar treatment medicine has started being sold on the market.

It turns out Chairman Hermann really loves money.

He’s enthusiastic about the new trading company business I entrusted to him.

-Tian, Crown Prince Tian seems very busy.

I see him every time during sword lessons, and he looks a bit tired too.

-Louis Longton always walks around alone.

It feels like he’s ostracizing all the other kids by himself, and sometimes I get startled when our eyes meet.

-Why am I the only one not growing taller? Everyone else is growing so fast, why not me!

Tian and Crown Prince and Awin are already much taller than me, why only me!

-I got first place again in the summer midterm evaluation.

Of course I expected it.

Ha. Ha. Ha!!

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-Dimas told me he found something at the black market.

He says it’s oracle content that some tribe in the desert region of the Eastern Continent had, and it mentions something about a divine dragon.

-Ever since the Abner trading company was established, the Apothecary Dean has been watching my reactions.

Is it because the medicines being distributed now have production costs?

Somehow it seems like my experiment scores have become more generous than usual.

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-It’s already winter evaluation period again.

Euriko, Dimas, and Armin keep following me to our house saying the dormitory is cold.

Awin is really wary of Dimas.

He’s actually quite shy around strangers.

-Awin and Dimas became friends.

Awin started learning swordsmanship from Dimas.

Dimas was pleased, saying Awin has talent.

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-I caught a summer cold that even dogs don’t get.

Being sick made me strangely miss Theo.

He said he was researching artifacts, but he doesn’t even come to visit.

I’m wearing Lasandra’s ring every single day though.

-I got contact from the orphanage kids.

Mica looks especially happy.

She was calling Lady Rieri “mom” so naturally.

Grandmother is still looking for my birth parents.

But it seems like it’s quite difficult to find them.

-Tian, Crown Prince Tian started helping His Majesty the Emperor with the Empire’s official government affairs in earnest.

He uses the imperial seal very frequently too, and I’m proud of him in many ways!

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-The Prodigy Program ended. We were naturally in first place until the very end.

“Military support to the Rocaram conflict zone! That’s unacceptable!”

Three years had passed, and it was summer of Imperial Year 1291.

The Grand Hall of Taranta’s Imperial Capital was bustling with an urgently convened state affairs meeting.

“Isn’t Rocaram a place that has lived as our enemy? If we waste precious military forces on such a place…”

“Duke Tibel! How long will you remain trapped in such outdated thinking! They are also citizens of the Empire!”

The officials pounded the table with bang, bang sounds in highly agitated voices.

This commotion had been continuing ever since the meeting began.

“Now see here, you keep saying the Rocaram barbarians are imperial citizens! When have they ever been cooperative with the imperial family even once?”

“Good grief. I acknowledge that they harbor hostility toward the imperial family. However, considering what happened during the unification wars, it’s only natural!”

Rocaram was a small province located in the northwest of the Taranta Empire.

Because it was surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides, it was also the province that was absorbed into the Empire latest during the unification wars.

Naturally, many Rocaram warriors lost their lives in that process.

Therefore, the people of Rocaram province still harbored resentment toward the imperial family.

“Don’t you know how cruel the polar pirates are? Turning our backs on Rocaram is no different from opening a path for the pirates to penetrate deeper!”

The problems in Rocaram province, which had been closed off but relatively peaceful, had started recently.

Pirates roaming the polar regions had begun gradually encroaching on Rocaram province.

“What I’m saying is, let’s just leave it alone. It’s just a cold wasteland with nothing of value anyway. Even if pirates invade there, they won’t be able to advance into the continent’s interior because of the mountain ranges…”

“Such complacency threatens all imperial citizens! Watch your words!”

“This is absurd to hear. Are you saying that some pirate riffraff will wage war against our great Empire?!”

“War indeed!”

The officials divided into two factions would never bend their will.

The Emperor sitting in the highest seat had been holding his forehead with one hand and saying nothing for a while now.

It was because of chronic headaches and dizziness that frequently recurred.

The officials continued their chatter.

“Tibel, you must be living well these days. I heard you expanded business in your territory, so blinded by money that you don’t care what happens to imperial affairs!”

“And what about you, Barus, acting like you’ve been so devoted to the Empire!”

The clash of opinions gradually devolved into meaningless emotional fighting.

Just as the hall was getting noisier.

“The decision has already been made… yet there’s so much talk.”

The officials immediately shut their mouths.

And he turned his gaze toward where the cool voice had come from.

In the seat next to the Emperor, Crown Prince Tian, who had grown tall and handsome, sat upright looking at them.

“Have any of you lords ever once pondered what the unification war truly means?”

Troubled expressions appeared on the officials’ faces.

They dared not add more words and exchanged glances with each other.

Tian smiled faintly.

“It means that this land where Taranta’s flag is planted was never a flower garden.”

“….”

“Stepping on countless corpses, this country was literally built by force in pools of blood.”

The atmosphere became solemn.

Tian continued speaking in a gentle voice.

“Do you know what’s most important in a country built that way?”

“Y-Your Highness. We are….”

“It would be the fairness of treating all members of the Empire equally.”

The Emperor, who had been silent throughout, quietly raised his head to look at Tian.

Then he stood up from his seat, patted Tian’s shoulder a couple of times, and left the meeting hall.

The officials all kept their mouths shut, reading the atmosphere.

Tian waited until the meeting hall door was completely closed, then clasped his hands on the table and spoke.

“Taranta is sand barely held together by sprinkling water. It was scattered as grains for much longer. That also means it could crumble again at any time.”

Tian looked at each of the officials who had opposed sending troops and said.

“Some of you disparaging and discriminating against the Rocaram region as barbarian land—I think that’s an extremely dangerous idea.”

“….”

“Tension and inequality always cause conflict. If that happens, do you think war will really break out because of pirates?”

The meeting hall was enveloped in deathly silence.

Tian shook his head as if tired.

“Rocaram is imperial territory. It’s natural for imperial soldiers to go to threatened imperial territory.”

Then he stood up from his seat with an expressionless face.

“I hope future state meetings will be a bit more constructive. You’re all just finding fault with each other in meetings meant for gathering opinions and achieving harmony.”

The officials who had been vocal hung their heads restlessly.

Tian Lacteus Carillonia.

The Crown Prince had grown into a proper young man.

At fourteen, his once round facial features had become much more defined, and his eyes had grown sharper as well.

His tall frame, resembling the Emperor, had already surpassed several officials in height.

But what stood out most was something else entirely.

‘What kind of presence at such a young age….’

Several officials couldn’t take their eyes off the door Tian had exited through.

Tian’s commanding presence was truly remarkable.

In just two years of properly learning statecraft, Tian participated in all official meetings.

The Emperor’s trust in him was high, and recently the Emperor would delegate decision-making authority to him and leave the meeting hall, just like moments ago.

‘His Majesty the Emperor’s health is the key factor.’

If in the current situation the Emperor could no longer rule the Empire.

Tian would ascend to the throne at a younger age than anyone before.

The nobles of the Empress Faction exchanged glances with tense faces.

Until just a few years ago, he was a Crown Prince shunned in the Imperial Palace.

A piece that would naturally be discarded if Karin Empress bore a new prince.

That was what Tian had been….

An invisible current flowed through the meeting hall.

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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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