The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 168

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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 apologize, Your Majesty.”

Karin’s bedroom.

Philomena bowed her head deeply.

In front of her, the screen of a magic mirror displayed the forest scenery.

Karin, who had been sitting on the bed stroking her belly, muttered.

“…I’ve always found it unbearably irritating that crystal balls don’t capture sound.”

Her gaze was fixed on the Abner Duke’s daughter in the magic mirror.

“Look at this now. I can’t tell what that little bitch is babbling about to the Crown Prince.”

Karin clenched her fist so hard it made a cracking sound.

“Why is she perfectly fine?”

When she waved her hand, the screen switched.

The view showed noble young ladies and lords walking through the forest, each holding a weapon.

They were all walking like dolls with unfocused eyes.

This was proof that the spell was taking effect well.

“I used up a lot of my stored magical power. So much that I won’t have any left until the next time I meet that being!”

Beside her lay something black about the size of a palm.

It was an object with a glossy surface and unique shape that resembled a giant snake scale.

Karin’s fierce blue eyes turned toward Philomena.

“Answer me, Philomena. How did Annellia Abner break through your spell?”

Philomena lowered her gaze with a solemn expression.

“I apologize, I’m not sure either.”

Karin let out a deflated sigh and slumped back against the bed.

Her firmly opened eyes beneath her eyelids rippled fiercely.

“Annellia Abner was no different from usual.”

She could tell because she had been watching all day.

Annellia hadn’t performed any ritual to break the spell, nor had she used any special magical tools.

Yet somehow, she had managed to break through Philomena’s spell.

“So making Annellia Abner kill Tian has failed.”

Silence fell over the room.

Philomena clasped her hands together and silently lowered her gaze.

“How many demon beasts are left to be released into the forest?”

“All five summoning circles are in their final stages. At most, we can summon about three or four more.”

“Are all the summoning circles properly hidden?”

“I’ve cast double concealment magic on them. They won’t be visible to ordinary human eyes.”

“Direct all the demon beasts toward the Crown Prince.”

Philomena nodded her head.

She placed her hand on the black object beside Karin.

Soon, purple spell formulas began to appear on her body.

Karin, watching this scene with disinterested eyes, added.

“Also. Send all my new dogs in that direction too.”

Then she giggled.

“It’ll be quite a sight. Wouldn’t it be perfect if even one of my dogs could bite the Crown Prince?”

“…”

“Even if they can’t, it doesn’t matter. If the Crown Prince kills my dogs, that would be entertaining in its own way.”

Just then, the magic mirror showed two fully grown boys.

They were Kilios and Jas, the eldest and second sons of House Longton.

“Which family would acknowledge a Crown Prince who massacred the heirs of noble houses?”

One thing was certain: this wouldn’t be resolved by simple opposition to his succession.

“Unless everyone wants to kill the Crown Prince.”

Philomena closed her eyes and concentrated on her spell.

Empress Karin fixed her gaze on the ceiling and hummed softly.

At the moment when both women’s gazes were directed elsewhere.

Suddenly, the magic mirror’s screen flickered.

The screen that had briefly gone black soon returned to normal.

“Annellia, here. I brought one more.”

At Tian’s voice, I quickly raised my head.

And I checked what Tian had brought me.

“Wait a moment? Let me activate the wave blocker first…”

What Tian had brought was a crystal ball removed from a tree.

After separating the panel beneath the crystal ball, I examined the area connected to the magic stone.

As expected, familiar buttons and devices revealed themselves.

When I operated the necessary devices in order, strange formulas appeared around the crystal ball.

“As I thought. The transmission isn’t going to just one place.”

Tian lowered his posture.

And he blinked while looking at the formulas I was pointing to.

“All situations in the hunting ground are first transmitted to Abner Castle. From there, they’re transmitted throughout the Empire via another amplification magical tool.”

“But?”

“Here, do you see the transmission coordinates?”

Tian’s eyes narrowed.

“You mean that incredibly long formula-like thing?”

“Yes. One is the coordinates for Abner Castle, but the other seems to lead to another encrypted location.”

As Tian looked at me, I continued as if to say not to worry.

“It’s okay! Even though it’s encrypted, I think I know where those coordinates lead.”

It couldn’t be anyone other than me who would know.

After all, this magical formula was something I had developed.

And,

‘Who else but Empress Karin would be spying on the situation here?’

I examined the formula carefully and spoke again.

“Look at this too, Your Highness.”

The record of information transmitted to Abner Castle was completely messed up.

Due to the demon beasts’ magical power disrupting the waves, only black screens would have been broadcast to the capital.

But the information transmitted to the encrypted coordinates was different.

“There’s no loss at all. It means that whether demon beasts pass by or not, it’s perfectly transmitting the situation here.”

I was about to check how this was possible but shook my head.

There wasn’t time to examine all the records right now.

Instead, after memorizing the encrypted coordinates, I took out parchment, pencil, and a ruler I had prepared from my bag.

“…What’s this?”

Tian asked, but instead of answering, I quickly developed a magical formula on the paper.

Then I placed the magic stone I had removed from the crystal ball in the center of the magical formula.

“We can’t let Empress Karin use Abner’s crystal balls like surveillance tools.”

Soon, light starting from the magic stone spread along the lines I had drawn.

“If other people can’t see, then that person can’t see either. Plus, we need to block their view so we can move more freely…”

The light from the magic stone soon completed the magical formula in mid-air.

The magical formula made a whooshing sound, then the light gathered at one point.

The light stretched straight toward the sky, then,

Kiiing-

With a strange sound, it enveloped the entire forest in a large sphere shape before disappearing.

“That just now…”

“I installed a barrier. Now no one can see. What happens here.”

I pointed to another spot on the trees around us.

“So Your Highness. Please take down that visual orb over there too. I need more mana stones.”

“Uh, uhh… Alright. What are you planning to do this time?”

“I’m going to call Dimas, Armin, and Brother Awin here.”

Tian quickly began climbing the tree.

Even in that moment, I didn’t rest and kept identifying the positions of other visual orbs.

‘Since I scrambled the information, they won’t know we’re collecting the visual orbs.’

And while Karin Empress was endlessly staring at the empty forest, I had something I needed to do.

“It seems the Empress sent weapons for children to several households.”

This morning, as we moved to our respective surveillance points, that’s what Awin had said.

“According to the young nobles in the same club, Spencer Socount received a hunting rifle. House of Longton also received two longbows.”

“So it wasn’t just Patricia Melgon who received them.”

“What did you say?”

“Huh? It’s nothing!”

According to Awin, there weren’t just one or two children who received weapons from the Empress.

It seemed like more than 70% of the children participating in the hunt had received weapons from the Empress.

‘The important thing is that even my crossbow, which wasn’t given by the Empress, had black magic cast on it.’

Then what about the weapons Karin Empress directly bestowed upon the children?

At this point, I couldn’t deny it any longer.

Karin was evil and insane, but she was equally sharp.

She knew very well how to corner Tian.

If children under black magic spells attacked Tian, the situation that would unfold afterward was obvious.

Tian would have to subdue them to protect himself.

If even one person got hurt in that process…

‘Tremendous criticism would pour down on Tian.’

Most of the children gathered here were from prestigious noble families.

Karin Empress wouldn’t just let such an opportunity slip by.

She would somehow greatly escalate the conflict with the household of any injured child.

‘Moreover, the weapons Karin distributed to the children are also problematic.’

All the weapons were long-range ones like guns or bows.

Even for Tian, it would be impossible to face children wielding such weapons without them getting hurt.

In the end, Tian would inevitably have to hurt someone else in order to survive.

Karin Empress must have envisioned this kind of situation too.

I took a short deep breath.

And I received the second visual orb that Tian handed to me.

‘For Tian’s sake.’

And for my immediate safety.

I had to prevent such a battle from happening at all.

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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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