The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 125

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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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There were two main ways to bankrupt a perfectly functioning newspaper company.

“The Duchess of Richmond said such nonsense to you? Huh, then this isn’t the time to be sitting around.”

“Grandmother?”

“Just rest here for a moment. I’ll go right now and that Richmond bastard…”

First.

That was called violence.

“No! You can’t kill Count Richmond!”

I hurriedly got up and blocked Grandmother’s path.

But Grandmother just smiled coldly.

“Child, I won’t kill him. I’m just going to let him peek at the Underworld a little.”

“The, the Underworld…”

“When I was growing up, there were young nobles like that too. If you grow up receiving only respectful treatment your whole life, that’s what happens. In such cases, the parents should teach them proper limits, but Count Richmond failed to properly educate his daughter. So I’ll go and completely destroy…”

“Grandmotherrrrr! We agreed not to use such methods!”

I clung desperately to Grandmother’s waist.

“If you keep doing that, Abner will quickly become a family of criminals!”

Grandmother hesitated.

I took that opportunity to stick firmly to Grandmother’s leg.

“How hard did Annellia work to get this far… How hard did she work without even getting the 10 hours of sleep a ten-year-old should have!”

Bewilderment flashed across Grandmother’s expression.

I glanced at that face and continued speaking.

“We’ve only just established ourselves in the Imperial Capital, our academic influence has grown, and we’ve become wealthy! We’ve only just surpassed the Longton Family!”

“…”

“If the family’s reputation gets worse again because of Grandmother, Annellia will be so upset that she’ll want to do all-night research…”

Grandmother was startled and helped me stand up.

“You can’t do research by staying up all night!”

“But the only way to overcome sadness is developing magical formulas!”

“Even so, you have to sleep while doing it!”

“I don’t know! If Grandmother goes to the Richmont Duchy with a club, Annellia will develop magical formulas for a hundred nights without sleeping!”

When I covered my ears and made “beh-” sounds, Grandmother looked dejected.

Eventually Grandmother sat back down in her chair and muttered.

“Sometimes there’s no path as quick and good as a peek at the Underworld…”

Only then did I let out a sigh of relief.

But my feelings were very complicated.

‘When did Grandmother become like this?’

When I first met her, Grandmother had a calm and charismatic personality.

At least in front of me, she never got very angry or excited.

Except for that one time when she shed tears during the Senianna incident.

‘Right. It was around the time I entered the Prodigy Academy.’

Around that time, Grandmother started becoming strange.

A person who would never run for ordinary matters would rush over so busily that her eyebrows would flutter if it concerned me.

And that wasn’t all.

Was it my second year at the Prodigy Academy?

King of Marque and his wife, who were Armin and Dimas’s parents, visited the Imperial Capital.

At that time, the King jokingly said he wanted to take me as his daughter-in-law…

Bang-!!

“Y-Your Excellency? Are you alright?”

Grandmother had slammed down the wine bottle she was holding so hard that the table broke.

Because of the broken table, all the food fell to the floor, and the carpet was covered in red wine…

“Hahahaha! Well, there would be many mountains to cross to make Annellia a princess!”

“Honey! Stay still!”

If the Queen hadn’t stopped the King, who was clueless to the end, a war might have really broken out that day.

‘Even after that, whenever someone said something mean to me, she’d act like that…’

What is social status anyway.

Even now when Abner was growing stronger day by day, there were still people who looked down on me because of my origins.

I tried pretending not to hear, and I saw them suffer after telling Grandmother, but in the end there was only one answer.

‘Let’s give up. It’s something I’ll hear until I die anyway.’

A commoner, and moreover, a duchess from an orphan background whose parents were gone and who was left at an orphanage.

All of that was an unavoidable modifier for me.

So I decided to accept and acknowledge it, but it seemed Grandmother didn’t.

“I don’t get hurt. When I was really young, this happened a lot but I was always fine! Right, Wendel?”

“That’s right. You were always dignified, unlike a child.”

I nodded contentedly and then raised my gaze.

“But that’s only when they mess with me alone.”

Grandmother and Wendel looked at me with wide eyes.

“The Abner Family was already famous.”

“They just can’t distinguish time and place.”

I absolutely cannot tolerate them insulting the Abner Family, our Grandmother.

“Wendel. Do you know what newspaper companies live on?”

Wendel furrowed his brow.

“Isn’t it by selling newspapers?”

I nodded.

To some extent, that’s correct.

Usually newspaper companies make newspapers and make money by selling them.

But the important point here.

“About 10% of total revenue would be earned that way. At most 20%?”

Wendel frowned as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Then where on earth does the remaining 80% come from…”

“Advertisements.”

“Advertisements?”

I nodded to Grandmother who asked back.

“The advertisements that appear in newspapers. You can basically say that all newspaper company revenue comes from there.”

“I knew there was advertising revenue, but I didn’t know it was such big money.”

“I also saw it in history books. 17 years ago, when wars broke out all over the Eastern Continent. The Empire’s economy got bad too because of anxiety.”

“That’s right. I remember.”

“At that time, all the small newspaper companies in the Empire went bankrupt. Because the economy was in recession and consumer sentiment shrank, advertisers reduced newspaper advertising.”

Grandmother looked at me with an admiring expression.

I lowered my voice even more toward such a Grandmother.

“But Grandmother, many newspaper companies went bankrupt just from reduced advertising.”

“…”

“What would happen if advertisements were completely cut off entirely?”

And so, the second method to bankrupt a perfectly functioning newspaper company.

“No matter how large the Empire’s biggest newspaper company is, it would be hard to survive, right?”

It was a method of first cutting off the funding source, then slowly letting it wither to death.

“Miss Christine, you’ve put us in a difficult position.”

A salon and piano school in the Imperial Capital.

Christine, who had been enjoying her break time, looked up in disbelief.

“Because of your reckless chatter that day, Miss Christine, we also earned Her Majesty the Dowager Empress’s displeasure.”

Christine frowned and set down the tea she had been drinking.

“What did you just say, Miss Heder?”

“Because of Miss Christine. We suffered because of you.”

The name of the young lady who dared to look me straight in the eye and talk back was Heder Villaba.

She was the eldest daughter of Count Villaba, who merely did the bidding of Marquis Richmond.

“Listen here, Lady Villaba.”

Christine lowered her voice considerably.

“Are you finished talking? Do you know who I am right now?”

But Heder only snorted derisively.

“Miss Christine. Please stop it now.”

“Stop what?”

“Acting like you’re a princess.”

Christine’s brow furrowed deeply.

Heder continued speaking.

“We believed your words and went along with you. You said Lady Rieri was nothing more than a maid in the Imperial Palace, and that Princess Abner had no particular friendship with Her Majesty the Dowager Empress!”

“No, that was…!”

“But what is this? We’re the only ones who ended up looking immature and wicked!”

The young ladies around Heder nodded their heads.

Christine felt her face flush red as she trembled with clenched fists.

Heder Villaba.

The young lady who had always flattered me like a sparrow by my side.

That same young lady was now looking straight at me and insulting me.

Christine gritted her teeth and spoke.

“Lady Villaba. I trust you’re confident you won’t regret this behavior in the future?”

Though it was clearly a warning, Heder only looked around at the other young ladies and burst into laughter.

“Did you hear that? She says we’ll regret it.”

Heder stared directly at me and continued.

“The one who’ll regret this will be you, Miss Christine.”

Christine blinked her eyes as if she couldn’t believe it.

After moving her lips wordlessly for a while, she irritably rose from her seat.

And stormed out of the salon.

‘They’ve all gone mad… They’re not in their right minds.’

Christine climbed into the waiting carriage and shouted.

“What are you doing?! Leave immediately!”

She wouldn’t let this slide.

She would tell her parents about today’s humiliation and make that damned Heder kneel and beg for forgiveness.

Her father, Marquis Richmond, adored his second daughter Christine terribly.

From a very young age, he would have crossed oceans to get her anything she wanted.

So surely when he heard about this, he would be angry on her behalf, or so she thought.

“Christine Richmond-! Have you truly lost your mind!!”

What greeted her upon arriving at the manor was not her father’s warm embrace.

Crash-!

An expensive Eastern Continent porcelain piece that flew into the wall shattered.

“What grudge did you bear against Princess Abner!!”

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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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