The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 186

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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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‘From what I remember, it was around the beginning of summer.’

Sharon couldn’t take her eyes off the old woman’s slowly moving hands.

The old woman sat quietly in her chair, continuing to sign with her withered hands.

‘Very late May or early June.’

Annellia’s birthday according to the orphanage was June 7th.

It matched the time when the old woman said she delivered the child.

“Do you remember the mother’s appearance?”

‘Yes. Her eyes were violet-colored. Her height came up to about the lord’s shoulders.’

Sharon quietly clenched her fist.

It wasn’t easy to maintain her composure, but she continued questioning as calmly as possible.

“How did you meet the mother? You weren’t even a registered official midwife in the medical ward.”

The old woman nodded.

She gave a short cough before beginning her explanation.

‘I was the eldest of thirteen siblings. I naturally learned midwifery by helping my mother deliver my younger siblings.’

The midwife’s name was Marian Claude.

At eighty-four years old, her irises were cloudy and her face was full of wrinkles.

‘I wasn’t an official midwife, but when I was young, quite a few mothers came looking for me. How could poor women go to the medical ward? Even if it went against territorial law, it was better than dying in childbirth.’

Marian’s gnarled fingers moved without rest.

‘After I turned seventy, I couldn’t do midwifery work anymore. It was too much for me. From then on, I looked after the herb stall that my younger sibling ran. That’s where I met that young lady too.’

At the mention of the herb stall, Sharon’s heart sank.

Isabel had loved herbs since she was young.

When her husband was alive, the father and daughter would even grow herbs together in the greenhouse.

‘That young lady first asked me if I knew any midwives. When I said I knew how to do it, she asked me to help her.’

Marian said she hesitated for a moment but soon accepted the request.

‘She was such a kind girl. She bargained well without making the seller feel bad, and she was polite too.’

The longer the story went on, the more strength gathered in Sharon’s hands.

Marian, who had paused her signing for a moment, moistened her throat with water before continuing her explanation.

‘On the appointed day, that young lady’s husband came to fetch me. Their house was in such a remote place, and when we finally arrived, the young lady was earnestly pleading for one thing even while in labor.’

Perhaps because the memory was vivid despite the considerable time that had passed, Marian’s hands moved faster.

‘She asked me not to tell anyone about what happened that day. From the fact that I delivered a child to this and that, everything.’

Sharon bit her lips silently.

‘So I told her. I’m not an official midwife anyway. I’m just an old mute woman, where would I have anywhere to talk about it? Then that young lady thanked me and paid me generously…’

Finally.

Marian raised her gaze to meet Sharon’s eyes.

‘The child was a daughter. She was a beautiful baby with hair that looked exactly like her mother and eyes that were a perfect mix of both parents.’

And she added with a small smile.

‘Usually those kinds of eyes get darker in color as they grow, don’t they?’

Sharon remained frozen like a wooden statue, unable to take her eyes off Marian’s hands.

She recalled the color of Annellia’s eyes when she first adopted her.

Light amber like diluted milk, with just a hint of purple visible in the irises.

Those irises gradually became a deeper purple as Annellia grew.

It was certain on the night of the hunting event.

Annellia’s pupils under the lamplight were definitely violet.

Very similar to her own eyes, the characteristic of Michaeliann… purple.

‘I went to get warm water to wash the baby, and I heard the mother tell her husband the baby’s name, asking him to try calling her by it.’

Marian’s hands stopped moving there.

Sharon raised her head.

As if it was difficult to say in sign language, Marian was staring at Sharon Abner.

Soon her hesitant lips opened.

“…”

Sharon placed her fists, white at every knuckle, on her knees.

The word Marian uttered had strange pronunciation and was slurred, making it impossible to understand by sound alone.

Nevertheless, the shape of her lips was clear.

Annellia.

‘She definitely called the child that.’

Marian looked after newborn Annellia for several days before returning to her own home.

Not long after, paralysis symptoms came to her legs.

Though the illness began with aging, Marian eventually disappeared from the herb stall.

After that, she had to stay at her sibling’s house, spending most of her time lying in bed.

The reason Sharon had no success when she was searching through Evehill Town was ultimately due to this.

Sharon gently stroked Annellia’s white forehead.

“…Now I finally know who you are.”

Knowing the truth, she could see it.

Who Annellia’s round forehead and small, cute nose resembled.

Tucking the silver hair that caught between her fingers behind her ear, Sharon bowed her head.

“How could I not have recognized you.”

Teardrops fell one by one, wetting the bed.

“I’m sorry, my child.”

Sharon had thought “what if” about Annellia long ago.

But Sharon deliberately denied that assumption.

Just in case, without knowing it, she might end up hoping the assumption was true.

She was afraid that Annellia might get hurt.

Sharon tightly held Annellia’s small hand.

“Please… just open your eyes.”

There were many things she wanted to tell Annellia when she woke up.

Sharon slowly exhaled a wet breath.

Ironically, these days she had more things to do than ever before.

The complicated situation in neighboring Longton Territory was also affecting Abner Territory.

Everything was because of the imperial trial that was held after the hunting event was hastily concluded.

“Let me make one proposal officially in front of everyone. How about absorbing Longton Territory into Abner Territory?”

The Dowager Empress suggested integrating the two territories.

Of course, the Empress faction nobles strongly opposed it.

Nevertheless, the situation was flowing in the Dowager Empress’s favor.

“Karin Empress won’t come out of the Empress Palace. She’s afraid of being in the Imperial Palace and has expressed her desire to recuperate at her family’s Hunt Duchy for a while.”

According to Wendel’s report, Karin Empress was in a weakened state from the great shock.

Moreover, since she was carrying a prince, speculation was rampant that she seemed to be protecting herself.

“No matter how much the Empress faction nobles rage, without the Empress’s appearance, they’re just small fry.”

“…”

“Your Excellency. It seems like… you’ll really get your hands on Longton Territory.”

It should have been something to celebrate.

No, it was such good fortune that it wouldn’t be enough to hold a festival throughout the entire territory.

But the atmosphere in the palace was only bleak.

It was because Annellia was unconscious.

At some point, Abner’s celebrations without that child were no longer celebrations.

“…I’ll come again.”

Sharon forced a smile.

Then she stood up from her seat and gently stroked the back of Annellia’s hand a few times.

It was the moment she was finally about to let go of the small hand she had been holding tightly.

“…No.”

A small force was felt from Annellia’s hand that had been motionless.

“Don’t go….”

Between her lips, a clear voice was flowing out.

Sharon’s eyes widened greatly.

“Wendel!”

Sharon cried out urgently.

It had been a month since Annellia had collapsed.

“I love you, I love you more than anything else in the world, Annellia.”

[There are quite a few possibilities that opened up when you regressed.]

Cold air brushed through the strands of my hair as it passed by.

Around me, familiar faces appeared and disappeared repeatedly.

[When small variables gather, sometimes very different results can emerge, right?]

“She must already like her father.”

I looked around in the fiercely blowing wind.

Below my feet, I could see an endless cliff.

“Your Highness is the very first friend I made.”

“Annellia! Let’s play house!”

“Thank you for raising me!”

“You’re the most angel-like person in the world.”

My voice, my friends’ voices.

The voices of the people I love echoed like an echo.

And….

“I’m sorry.”

With Theo’s voice as the last, my vision suddenly opened up.

At first, I couldn’t come to my senses and just frowned deeply.

As I waited, my focus gradually became clearer.

The first thing I saw was Grandmother.

Next to her were Teacher Ann covering her mouth with her hand, and Wendel….

‘Miel, Soya, Butler Grandfather, Owen and Awin.’

Finally, my gaze that had settled on one place slowly sank.

“…co.”

I hated hearing my cracked voice, but I spoke once more.

“Uncle Rico.”

Rico looked bewildered, but I got up from my seat while panting.

Then I stared intently at Rico with my fists clenched tightly.

“Theo, where is Theo right now?”

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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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