The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 152

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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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The Emperor’s condition was serious.

Convulsions occurred due to his body’s rejection of the poison, and dark blue veins bulged on his neck and face.

The Dowager Empress muttered helplessly as if she were witnessing that scene again.

“The servants held Edward’s arms. We couldn’t let that child hurt himself anymore.”

“….”

“So the child burst into tears. It was crying that sounded just like screams. How much pain must that young one have been in….”

The Dowager Empress, who had stopped speaking, only parted her lips again after a long while.

“…But do you know what that child’s first words were when he discovered me?”

I carefully shook my head.

The Dowager Empress let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“It’s nothing serious, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“….”

“You’re busy, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“….”

“You may go, he said.”

Silence descended upon the audience chamber.

“In the midst of all that pain, the only words he could say to his own mother were… no, the only words he could manage were just that.”

“….”

“Because I, as a mother, had never been there by his side when my child needed it most.”

Beyond the Dowager Empress’s voice, which seemed to barely suppress her tears.

Heavy rain struck the windows for a while.

“…I should have been the one who was sick instead of Miraena.”

At that moment, the Dowager Empress muttered.

“Instead of Miraena… that child who was like sunshine. Useless me, me who could never be of any help to Edward, should have died.”

“….”

“If Miraena, or at least Miraena had lived, Edward wouldn’t have been lonely. Maybe he wouldn’t even have gotten sick….”

“That’s not true!”

I shot up from my seat.

I quickly approached the Dowager Empress and knelt down on the floor.

The Dowager Empress’s face was expressionlessly empty.

“That’s not true, Grandmother. His Majesty the Emperor being sick, it’s not because of you.”

“….”

“You’ve been protecting His Highness Tian all this time. As the great elder of the Imperial Court, you’ve continuously stayed by His Majesty the Emperor’s side, haven’t you? That alone is enough. You’re not, not useless at all.”

The Dowager Empress slowly blinked her eyes.

I continued speaking in a tearful voice.

“It’s true. His Majesty absolutely needs you to be there, Grandmother…!”

I had various thoughts while coming to the Dowager Empress’s Palace.

How should I deliver Ulgen’s gift?

How should I convey the fact that the Emperor is exposed to a curse?

In none of those cases had I anticipated such a situation.

I had simply glanced at the law book placed on the table by chance and asked out of curiosity.

Who would have thought the Dowager Empress had such a past?

I bit my lips tightly.

‘Let me think rationally. Perhaps, this might actually be for the better.’

I had heard what Karin said about the child in her womb.

Those words about giving the Empire to the child.

So if I hadn’t noticed the Emperor’s curse.

The Emperor would have gradually weakened and eventually lost his life.

Then the Dowager Empress, with such circumstances, would have collapsed once again.

She would think she bore responsibility for the Emperor’s death.

‘As if I would just stand by and watch that happen.’

I tried to calm my trembling heart.

“Grandmother.”

When I called, the Dowager Empress looked at me.

I continued speaking while trying to maintain composure.

“About coming here today. Actually, I came because I think I figured out why His Majesty is sick.”

Just then, the rain that had been falling outside stopped.

The frozen Dowager Empress asked back in a trembling voice.

“What did you say?”

I stood up from my seat.

“I once happened to see some documents on your desk before. The list of medications brought into the Imperial Palace.”

“….”

“As you know, among the medicines being brought into the Imperial Palace, there are no real treatments. They’re all just painkillers and hallucinogens.”

The Dowager Empress closed her mouth.

“His Majesty the Emperor has been sick for over three years now. It doesn’t make sense that his symptoms have only worsened without any diagnosis all this time.”

“….”

“So I thought about it. Perhaps, His Majesty the Emperor’s illness might be due to black magic or a curse…”

As soon as black magic was mentioned, the Dowager Empress covered her mouth.

I hesitantly continued speaking.

“…I looked into it, and the symptoms of someone under a curse mostly match His Majesty the Emperor’s current symptoms.”

“….”

“They say that prolonged exposure to black magic causes the body to have rejection reactions. Headaches, dizziness, and vomiting are the representative symptoms.”

The Dowager Empress staggered as she stood up.

“Th-that’s impossible. A curse.”

Then she asked with wide eyes.

“Who would dare do such a thing?”

I answered seriously.

“I don’t know that either. But if His Majesty the Emperor is indeed under a curse, I’ve found a way to purify it.”

The Dowager Empress’s gaze turned toward me as if she couldn’t believe it.

After a moment of silence.

She grabbed my hands tightly.

“Tell me!”

The Dowager Empress’s hands, which had been powerless, now had strength returned to them.

“Please, please I beg you, Annellia! Tell me! Edward, that child Edward….”

I looked at the Dowager Empress who began shedding tears and firmly grasped her hands in return.

My small bag placed in one corner of the sofa caught my eye.

Inside was Ulgen’s gift that I had transferred beforehand before getting off the carriage.

“…Manis.”

In the dim room.

Taranta’s Emperor, Edward, called his butler with difficulty in a strained voice.

“Manis. Come in, Manis.”

The butler who usually came in immediately upon being called was unusually quiet today.

Edward raised his dizzy body and barely managed to sit on the edge of the bed.

His ears were ringing and his chest felt stuffy.

Because of the curtains drawn to completely cover the windows, he couldn’t even tell if it was night or day outside.

“…Haah.”

He let out a groan and painfully gripped his forehead.

His physical condition, which was never good to begin with, had hit rock bottom since he visited the Empress Palace yesterday morning.

“Ugh.”

Feeling nauseous, he staggered toward the window.

When he drew back the curtains, he saw the evening sunset just as the sun was setting.

Edward stared blankly at the sunset for a long while.

At some point, whenever he saw the sun, his mind would become hazy.

There was always something that came to mind when he looked at the sun.

But at some point, he could no longer remember what it was.

Should he say his mind felt half-erased and cloudy?

Edward went back to the bed and sat down.

He called for his butler, but the butler didn’t come.

Even though it was a situation that should have made him angry, he felt nothing, as if his emotions had grown dull.

Not even aware of the passing time, just staring at the moving shadows of the candlestick, when suddenly.

“Edward.”

Without warning, the Emperor’s bedroom door burst open.

When he turned his head, someone was standing silhouetted against a dazzlingly bright light.

“Get up.”

That someone strode in and grabbed Edward’s arm.

Edward unconsciously frowned.

The person was an unexpected face.

“…Dowager Empress?”

The other person hesitated.

Eyes filled with the wrinkles of time.

Within them, a gaze exactly like his own quietly looked toward Edward.

Soon, her tightly closed lips opened.

“…Why do you make such a face? Can a mother not visit her sick son’s room even once?”

Edward blinked.

The figure before him was undoubtedly the Dowager Empress, his own mother.

‘But why is Mother here?’

Mother found him uncomfortable.

As proof, she had never once visited the Imperial Palace during all this time.

“Hurry and get up. We’re going to the Dowager Empress’s Palace for dinner.”

The Dowager Empress before him was strange in both speech and expression.

The friendly tone she had never used even in private until now.

That expression that seemed to show deep concern for him.

Mother doesn’t make such expressions.

The expression she wore when looking at Edward was always just one thing.

An expression overwhelmed by guilt, discomfort, and sadness.

“Will you get angry at your mother for entering the Emperor’s chamber without permission and causing a scene? If you will, then do so.”

When Edward didn’t move, the Dowager Empress spoke.

“Even if I have to carry you, I will definitely take you to my palace.”

Edward couldn’t answer.

It was because the Dowager Empress’s voice was trembling.

Her face, when he looked closely, seemed ready to shed tears at any moment.

Edward, who had been sitting dazedly, slowly rose to his feet.

The Dowager Empress immediately wrapped one arm around his back.

The elderly mother’s arm couldn’t even wrap halfway around her son’s back, who had already grown tall.

But through their touching bodies, a faint trembling still came through.

“From now on, we will always have dinner together…”

Whether it was because he had just woken up.

Or because his head was ringing and aching.

“Every night I will prepare plenty of things you like, and this mother will definitely eat with you.”

Edward pressed his lips tightly together at that voice that sounded so distant.

“So… so let’s go out.”

“…”

“I will never leave you alone again.”

Edward slowly took a step outside.

Outside the bedroom was very bright.

The light was so dazzling that Edward bit his lip and lowered his head.

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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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