The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 176

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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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Jas blinked as he saw Annellia’s group emerge.

“Oh… Princess Abner.”

Annellia was looking up at Jas with bright, sparkling eyes, properly wearing a fur hat, coat, and gloves.

Then she muttered to her group.

“His eyes seem normal.”

Awin Dennis stepped forward.

“Do you remember being under dark magic?”

Jas closed his mouth in a daze.

Kilios also hardened his expression.

“Dark magic? We were under dark magic?”

“Unfortunately, yes. It seems someone cursed your weapons to make you kill His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Kilios froze with a bewildered look.

Jas quickly threw away the weapon he was holding.

Seeing this, Annellia said.

“It’s fine now.”

Then she added with a somewhat troubled tone.

“Who would have thought the curse would break on its own. I set up so many spore bombs to purify it…”

Jas immediately exchanged glances with Kilios.

“Then what you were calling bombs earlier…”

“Oh, they’re not bombs, they’re spore bombs. I made them to purify people affected by dark magic.”

“So what should we do, Annellia? Since we don’t need to stay here anymore, should we head back to the central outpost?”

One of the Prince Marcs stepped forward.

Annellia made a humming sound.

“That’s true, but… there’s one thing bothering me.”

“One thing?”

“Yes, the demon beasts.”

Everyone fell silent.

“I think there are ritual altars scattered throughout the forest. You need altars inscribed with magic formulas to create demon beasts with dark magic.”

Jas frowned.

Something had suddenly occurred to him.

Annellia continued speaking.

“I want to check if those altars have stopped working. What should we do? I think it would be best to check now.”

“We saw it.”

Then Jas spoke up.

“We saw strange smoke rising from the rocks near the pond.”

Kilios also nodded.

Annellia opened her eyes wide and asked.

“Oh my, do you remember where it was?”

A troubled expression appeared on Jas’s face.

“…Roughly, yes. But I don’t know the exact location. It’s snowing too heavily…”

As he said, thick snowflakes were pouring down from the sky.

Enough to pile up softly on their heads in just a few minutes.

But Annellia said confidently.

“It doesn’t matter as long as I know the direction.”

Tian, who was beside her, nodded briefly.

“Then we should leave right away. The faster we move, the more time we can save. I’ll go retrieve the spore bombs with Prince Dennis first.”

Soon he began climbing up a nearby tree with Awin.

They climbed so quickly that they reached the high branches in the blink of an eye.

Armin, who was watching the two retrieve the magical devices, also stepped forward.

“Billy, was it? Could you hold this for a moment? I need to help retrieve the magical devices too.”

“Yes! Of course!”

Kilios and Jas watched the busy boys in silence.

They didn’t know how to climb trees and still didn’t fully understand what the spore bombs were.

Just as they were clearing their throats, feeling like they would only get in the way if they stepped forward.

“I think this is the first time we’ve had a conversation.”

Kilios suddenly spoke up.

Jas looked at Kilios in surprise.

Kilios was speaking to Annellia.

“It was almost impossible before. The relationship between our households was so bad.”

Annellia blinked as if confused for a moment.

But then she smiled awkwardly.

“Ah, yes.”

Cold sweat trickled down Jas’s back.

He found Annellia difficult somehow.

It was because of the strange dreams he’d been having for the past five years.

Strange dreams where Princess Abner was their younger sister.

Then Annellia answered.

“I’ve talked with Hiana. You both seem like good brothers.”

Jas unconsciously closed his mouth.

The word ‘brothers’ somehow struck his heart.

Then Kilios muttered.

“We could be good brothers to the Princess too.”

Jas stared at Kilios with a flustered face.

‘What has brother been saying since earlier?’

This was officially the first time the two had spoken with Annellia.

Moreover, strictly speaking, Annellia was a princess from an enemy household.

Yet he was saying he’d be a good brother to such a person?

How did he know how the Princess would take this strange statement!

But at the same time, it was true that all his attention was focused on Annellia’s response.

As he froze in anxiety for a moment.

“I’m fine with that!”

Annellia answered brightly.

“Your sister is Hiana. Please be better brothers to Hiana!”

“Annellia, what are you doing over there?”

Just then, the Prince Marcs who had finished retrieving the spore bombs approached.

The princes smiled mischievously as they brushed the snow off Annellia’s head.

“Why did you take your hat off again? I told you it would be cold if your head gets wet, so keep it on.”

“But it’s uncomfortable. I’m already wearing the gloves His Highness gave me and Brother Awin’s scarf, so it’s stuffy.”

“Be stuffy then. Do you want to catch a cold and go around with a runny nose again?!”

The Prince Marcs pressed the thick fur hat firmly onto Annellia’s head.

Kilios and Jas could only stare at the scene blankly.

“It’s strange that the Longton princes saw the ritual altar.”

Walking alongside Tian, I whispered quietly.

In front of us, Kilios and Jas, Dimas and Armin, Awin and Billy were walking together in a group.

Following the footprints the six had made, it was relatively easy to walk even on the snow.

“It’s an altar for summoning demon beasts. Would Empress Karin have left such things visible? She must have cast concealment magic on them.”

“What happens when you cast concealment magic?”

“It becomes invisible to ordinary people’s eyes. It’s hidden perfectly.”

Tian narrowed his brow.

“…Then it must have taken quite a while just to figure out where the demon beasts appeared from.”

“That’s right. It would take months just to investigate whether demon beasts occurred because there’s contaminated land in this forest, or if they’re truly products of dark magic.”

And a few months would be enough time to conceal all of this.

“Then who broke the concealment magic that was cast on the altar?”

“I’m curious about that too. I’m also wondering if the Central Outpost knows about this entire situation.”

At least one thing was certain: Grandmother would probably be safe.

Grandmother was a marksman among marksmen.

Also, this forest was a place Grandmother knew like the back of her hand, as if it were her front yard.

‘Even if there was a battle with demon beasts, she would have returned to the Central Outpost by now, right?’

Perhaps she had already dispatched a search party to find us.

However, the problem was the late hour and the harsh weather.

“It’s snowing too heavily. This will slow down our movement speed and impair our sense of direction.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“Maybe it would have been better to just stay in one place to meet the search party?”

“But you said you wanted to find the demonic altar.”

I nodded.

The sooner we could check the altar, the better.

Getting close would be dangerous, but I absolutely had to know what kind of altar it was, even from a distance.

There was only one reason for hurrying.

‘If the altar disappears, another piece of evidence will be lost forever.’

If we found the altar, I planned to memorize the entire ritual formula carved on it.

Then later, I might be able to conduct various experiments with Owen.

“Annellia! That’s the lake over there! It should be around this area!”

Just then, Armin’s voice came from ahead.

I nodded and turned to look at Tian.

“Your Highness, I think we need to be careful from here. There’s too much snow accumulated, so we can’t see exactly where the altar is. The effect has probably worn off anyway, but just in case we get too close….”

At that moment, my foot caught on a tree root that was sticking out of the snow.

“Whoa…!”

Before I could do anything, I fell to the right and was buried in the snow with a thud.

“Annellia! Are you okay?”

Tian extended his hand, and everyone came running from ahead.

I waved my right hand to indicate I was fine.

“I’m okay! It doesn’t even hurt because of the snow….”

I stopped mid-sentence and froze in place.

Something hard was touching beneath my left palm that was pressed against the cold ground.

I stared at the black smoke that began pouring out from under my palm.

Lasandra’s Ring on my middle finger began to glow, and I felt my body being sucked somewhere.

“Annellia!”

With Tian’s cry, the world went dark.

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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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