The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 188

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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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“Brother Awin, do I really have to tell him? Really!”

Annellia’s voice echoed throughout the greenhouse.

Awin nodded with his entire body tense.

The teleportation circle emitting light.

Four people standing on top of it.

An unbelievable scene was unfolding before their eyes.

“If he worries too much, tell him I’m really okay! That I came to my senses completely energetic! Got it?”

“Yes, I will.”

Soon a humming noise filled the greenhouse.

Annellia’s smiling face was briefly visible through the brightening light.

“…They’re gone.”

Owen muttered in a deflated voice.

Darkness had already settled inside the greenhouse.

Awin blankly turned his gaze to the greenhouse floor.

The teleportation circle still emitting a faint light was visible.

But the four people who had been standing on it just moments ago had vanished without a trace.

“Let’s return to the bedroom for now. The atmosphere in the palace isn’t good due to the Prince’s confinement.”

Butler Roger, who had been standing behind them, suggested.

Owen patted Awin’s shoulder.

“Let’s go, Awin.”

Just as Awin nodded and was about to turn around.

“…Huff, huff!”

The greenhouse entrance burst open and someone rushed in.

Hair disheveled messily across his forehead.

Even droplets of sweat flowing between the strands.

“Where’s Annellia?”

A voice asking with labored breathing could be heard.

“Did she leave?”

The person looking at the dying teleportation circle in disbelief was Tian.

“Already, did she leave?”

Awin, who had frozen in surprise for a moment, soon nodded.

“Just a moment ago.”

Tian took a short breath.

Then, frozen like a faithful wife waiting for her husband’s return, he muttered quietly as if speaking to himself.

“…Right, it must have been urgent.”

His voice was clearly hurt.

Seeing him like that, Awin took a step closer to Tian.

“Please don’t make such an expression. Annellia left a letter.”

Then he held out something he had been carrying.

Tian’s gaze wavered slightly as he looked at him.

“She said to tell you she was sorry for leaving without seeing you because it was urgent.”

Tian accepted the letter and opened the paper folded in half.

Soon familiar handwriting came into view.

Unlike her usual neat handwriting, it looked hastily scrawled.

Your Highness, it’s Annellia.

As Your Highness must have noticed, the mastermind behind the dark magic is Empress Karin.

The hunting event incident was just something Philomena took the blame for.

Jayden Abner is also on the same side as those two, so we decided to confine him first to prevent him from doing anything rash.

I’ll explain the details when I return. And, um.

A section where ink had spread black appeared, as if she had hesitated while writing.

Tian read through the last paragraph with sunken eyes.

I heard that Your Highness worried about me a lot while I was unconscious.

I really wanted to see Your Highness’s face before leaving, but I’m sorry I had to depart so urgently.

…You can curse me out to Brother Awin as much as you want.

Drop.

A hot drop of water fell onto the letter.

Awin stared at Tian with surprised eyes.

Tian’s face was expressionless.

But several tears were flowing down his cheeks.

Your Highness, there’s something I haven’t told you all this time.

When I return from this trip, I’m going to confess everything to Your Highness.

So please wait just a little longer, okay?

Afraid the writing might smear, Tian quietly wiped away his tears.

Now only one last sentence remained in the letter.

Becoming friends with Your Highness is one of the best things I’ve done in my life.

Tian’s gaze lingered on that last sentence for a while.

He barely managed to fold the paper again and put it in the deepest part inside his robe.

With the Blessing Festival canceled, the Empress secluding herself in her palace.

And the Longton Duchy about to be incorporated into the Abner Duchy.

The Imperial Palace was busier than ever.

And Tian was the person with the most things to do within it all.

Actually, that was why he couldn’t come faster.

“Your Highness, the weather is cold. Please allow me to escort you to a warm place.”

Then a quite familiar voice was heard.

Tian blankly raised his head.

Butler Abner was standing across from him with his waist bowed.

Only then did he notice his surroundings.

The snow that had covered the world white and the ice-cold air.

He hadn’t noticed at all because he had run here as soon as he got off the carriage.

“…Let’s do that.”

Tian answered quietly.

And slowly followed behind Roger.

His own footprints from just moments ago were stamped at wide intervals on the snow-covered stone path.

As soon as he heard the news that Annellia had awakened, he wanted to use a teleportation circle immediately.

But lately the Empire was suffering from a shortage of teleportation circles.

Due to the sudden decrease in the supply of teleportation circles from the Magic Tower, even the Imperial Palace was having supply difficulties.

Tian gazed at the sky where complete darkness had now fallen.

Had Annellia arrived at Debokio Island by now?

Even though he was certain she was under the same sky, he felt somehow hopeless.

As if she had gone to some unreachable, very distant place.

‘…Just writing a few lines in a letter.’

The past month had been nothing short of hell.

So much so that I often thought it might be easier to just die.

The Imperial Palace was completely turned upside down by the black magic incident.

The Dowager Empress was waging war with the Empress Faction nobles every day, and Tian had to handle the backlog of government affairs.

He repeated the cycle of waking up at dawn and going to sleep late at night.

But what was truly difficult wasn’t the suffocatingly tight schedule.

It wasn’t even the existence of the Empress who had cleverly escaped,

‘Annellia.’

It was simply Annellia, who hadn’t been able to wake up for days, for weeks.

Naturally, that day from a month ago came vividly to mind.

It was Tian who had carried the collapsed Annellia all the way to the Central Outpost.

Tian kept repeating the same words that day.

Please, please.

Even in front of countless gazes, tears flowed down like a child’s.

These were the first tears he had shed since his mother, the former Empress, had died.

‘…Is that why.’

When he discovered the already empty greenhouse, the one Annellia had left behind, it felt like his heart was shattering into pieces.

He had wanted to see her.

He had desperately wanted to see her awake, to see her with her eyes open.

Selfishly, he felt resentful.

I’m sorry.

Until he read those words written in the letter.

Feeling heat gathering around his eyes again, Tian faced forward.

He could feel the stiff texture of the letter in his inner pocket through his outer garment.

Please wait just a little longer, alright?

‘…Yes. I’ll wait.’

Tian answered inwardly.

After all, that was what he could do best.

“Ugh…”

Rico’s groaning sound came from the darkness.

I blinked my eyes while sitting collapsed on the floor.

The teleportation circle Rico had created was surprisingly stable.

It was unbelievable that it had worked by breaking through the twelve hundred barriers placed on Debokio Island and the Magic Tower.

However, if there was just one problem.

“…I think I’m going to go blind.”

It was the flashing light that blazed every second throughout the teleportation.

And how bright it was. When we arrived, we were all sitting collapsed on the floor, unable to lift our heads.

“Please wait just a moment. This, the light…”

Rico groaned, and somewhere there was a crashing sound of something breaking.

The creaking sound of stepping on old floorboards was the same.

After a long while like that.

Finally, with a click- sound, the view brightened.

As I frowned, I could see dim magic stone lamps attached to the ceiling.

“If I had known I’d be bringing everyone like this, I should have at least cleaned up. Since it’s a space where two men live, it’s somewhat…”

Rico muttered, but I looked around with my nose bridge wrinkled.

A huge bookshelf that filled one entire wall.

A wide table placed in the middle of the room, and papers and experimental tools covering its surface.

And further back, a bed placed in one corner.

As I stared at the bed, I slowly closed my mouth.

Hair disheveled as if just awakened.

Golden eyes sparkling in the pale light.

Someone was sitting on the bed, looking at me as if they couldn’t believe it.

I jumped up and started walking toward that person.

I almost tripped twice on the miscellaneous items scattered on the floor, but it didn’t matter.

Finally, I firmly grasped Theo’s clothes.

“…B-Brother. You see, what happened was…”

As Rico stammered behind us, I burst into tears.

I hit Theo randomly and then buried my face in the clothes I was gripping tightly.

From Theo’s clothes getting wet with tears, there seemed to be a somehow familiar scent.

The faint scent of wildflowers.

It was the fragrance of wildflowers from Ivehill Plains, from the scene Lasandra had shown me.

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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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