The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 157
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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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Grandmother’s words were true.
Dark, sun-tanned skin.
Bright golden hair that looked like the sun itself had been transplanted.
Even sparkling eyes of bright blue and pink.
“What are you two doing here…?”
Looking at Dimas and Armin standing in front of the Abner Townhouse, I took a step back.
“Why are you two here? You said you’d come in winter.”
“Abner Territory already has snow. This is winter enough.”
Armin strode over, lifted me up, and grinned.
Then Dimas tapped Armin.
“Armin. Annellia is a lady now. You can’t treat her like you did at the Academy.”
Armin made an “Ah” sound and put me down.
As I narrowed my eyes into triangles, Dimas smiled warmly.
“Annellia. Have you been well?”
I finally relaxed my guard slightly and nodded to Dimas reluctantly.
“Yeah, I’ve been fine. You’re the one who’s been busy because of me…”
Dimas was still investigating the black markets of Marque Kingdom these days.
It was to find any information that might be related to Crookiatus among the intelligence flowing back and forth.
“I’m not that busy. It’s actually become quite interesting.”
“What? Why are you only praising him?”
Armin, who had been listening, stepped forward.
“Annellia. I helped with the investigation too. I even made time for it despite being incredibly busy.”
“Mm-hmm…”
I turned my head pretending not to hear, when someone’s voice came from behind me.
“Oh?”
Dimas, recognizing him, smiled brightly.
“Awin. How long has it been?”
Behind us stood Awin, who had arrived at some point.
“Weren’t you two supposed to arrive in winter? I’m sure that’s what I heard.”
“That’s true, but Abner Territory is having a ritual hunt.”
Armin grinned mischievously.
Dimas also chimed in with an excited voice.
“Armin and I are pretty good at throwing spears. We were curious if we could catch deer or bears with them.”
I shook my head as I watched the boys who had started laughing among themselves.
‘I should have known.’
Dimas, Armin, and Awin were teenagers at the age when they should be running around and playing.
It would have been stranger if such boys weren’t interested in hunting or tracking.
“Sigh…”
I finally put on a stern expression and placed my hands on my hips.
Awin was one thing, but Dimas and Armin were princes who would be responsible for the future of a kingdom.
For such princes to come running over saying a hunting event in a foreign country would be fun.
‘I thought Dimas was at least somewhat mature.’
It seemed even Dimas wasn’t strong enough to overcome the magical age of fifteen.
“This isn’t the time for all of you to be laughing.”
The three boys looked at me.
I narrowed my eyes and lifted my chin slightly.
“What are princes doing, getting distracted by a hunting event and rushing over like this? His Majesty the King of Marque must be so worried.”
Dimas and Armin exchanged glances.
Then they nodded.
“Father does have a lot on his mind.”
“See! So…”
“He’s worried that we won’t be able to play more during this time.”
I closed my mouth in bewilderment.
“Huh?”
Armin grinned.
“He said that once we inherit the throne later, we won’t be able to play even if we want to, so we should play a lot now.”
My mouth gradually fell open.
“Armin’s right, Annellia. We play every day in Marque anyway once we finish our scheduled duties. A week ago, we even snuck onto a fishing boat and came back after three days.”
Awin burst into laughter as if he couldn’t stop them.
I looked bewildered.
“W-wait, is it okay for princes to just board fishing boats? What if something dangerous happens? Like meeting pirates…”
“Annellia. Don’t you remember? My brother manifested his aura at eleven and became a swordsman.”
Dimas smiled as if embarrassed.
“Right. So if our fishing boat met a pirate ship, wouldn’t the pirates be in danger? Not us.”
“Hahahaha! Brother, that joke was good just now. Pretty funny.”
I was closing my mouth while watching the boys who had started giggling again when
Armin added in a somewhat mysterious tone.
“And it’s not just because of the hunt that we came.”
“Then?”
“We wanted to see what kind of guy… I mean, what kind of person Crown Prince Taranta is.”
I gaped.
“Why do you two want to see His Highness Tian?”
“Well, you only talked about the Crown Prince throughout your time at the Academy.”
Dimas muttered from the side.
“And what about you two exchanging letters every other day?”
Armin looked at Awin.
“This hunting event is also led by that Crown Prince Taranta, right?”
“That’s correct. His Highness the Crown Prince is leading the entire Blessing Festival.”
“The Crown Prince is only leading it, right?”
“Pardon?”
“The sacrifice becomes the strongest and largest beast caught during the hunting period. It’s not necessarily a beast caught by the Crown Prince.”
Awin smiled.
“That would be correct. At the last Blessing Festival 40 years ago, the current Orgeon Duke caught a bear and offered it at the altar. The event host was the Late Emperor.”
Dimas and Armin exchanged glances.
“Annellia. The beast I catch will be placed on the altar at this Blessing Festival. Won’t that be interesting?”
“What are you talking about now? Who knows if it’ll be a beast you caught or one I caught.”
I stared at Dimas and Armin with an incredulous expression.
Awin quietly approached.
“I’ll skip the hunting and stay by Annellia’s side. It would be terrible if she fell on a forest path. If Annellia even scraped her knee, I don’t think I could forgive myself.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
“…Should I give up hunting too?”
The three boys had already put their heads together and entered into serious discussion.
“The weather’s been a bit chilly lately, so I’m worried Annellia might catch a cold.”
“So Awin, you need to prepare double layers of outerwear for Annellia. Marque Kingdom is hot year-round, so we don’t have anything helpful.”
“Right, Awin. By the way, nothing too long. If it drags on the ground, she’s bound to step on it and fall.”
“Of course. I heard we might have to live in the forest for about a week…”
I made an “ugh” sound and turned around.
And I walked creakily toward the manor.
Behind me, Awin, Armin, and Dimas continued their heated discussion whether I stayed or left.
Two weeks later, Abner Territory.
“Gasp.”
Having arrived near the estate using a teleportation circle, I gaped in the bustling marketplace.
“Wh-what is all this?”
The bustling marketplace had become incomparably more splendid than when I had moved my residence to the Imperial Capital.
“Young Master, this is your first time stopping by the bustling marketplace like this, isn’t it?”
Soya, who had returned from the Evehill herb cultivation site after a long time, asked warmly.
I nodded hesitantly.
“Yeah. I’ve only used teleportation circles to go straight to Abner Manor all this time.”
“These days, Abner Territory is like this everywhere you go. The population of estate residents has increased dramatically because of the free distribution of Lubarinna and Lubaven.”
Soya was right.
I had provided free distribution of Lubarinna and Lubaven to the residents of Abner Estate.
Thanks to that, the population of estate residents had grown significantly, and the villages had become much more vibrant than before.
But this was the first time I was seeing it directly with my own eyes.
“All the buildings have become incredibly magnificent!”
The bustling marketplace was clean and full of vitality at first glance.
Not only that, there were so many people that our carriage could hardly move forward.
Especially the red flags planted on top of every building rooftop caught the eye.
“Soya, those flags – are they by any chance the Blessing Festival flags?”
“That’s right.”
The flags were planted all along the residential homes and shops.
Occasionally, they could be seen on streets and walls too.
“Young Master, do you know this? The number of outsiders who came to watch this hunting event has already exceeded ten thousand.”
My jaw dropped at what she said next.
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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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