The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 190
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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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In the room softly lit by candlelight.
Lady Isabel woke up to the sound of water dripping from the ceiling.
As always, she couldn’t tell whether it was day or night outside.
Her body was trembling, so she pulled the blanket from the foot of the bed to cover herself.
It had been a very long time since Theo had come.
She couldn’t measure it precisely, but since Crookiatus had stolen her magic five times during this period…
“It’s been over two months.”
With an ominous premonition, she buried her head between her knees.
The fact that Theo couldn’t come meant he was that busy.
Worry began to creep up that something might have happened to Annellia.
“Hah…”
As she closed her eyes tightly, she felt a small energy rippling in her chest.
After dying and coming back to life, she had become able to feel the magic flowing within her body.
This magic regenerated no matter how much Crookiatus stole it, and it never disappeared completely.
It was a power that only the Michaeliann Bloodline could possess.
Judging by the amount of magic she currently felt, Crookiatus would come for her within three days at the latest.
The Nest of the Evil Dragon.
When she went there, Lady Isabel would always become unable to move.
Even though her body wasn’t bound, she couldn’t move a single fingertip, and when black smoke surrounded her body, she couldn’t breathe.
Having her magic stolen felt exactly like having her air stolen.
Cold, difficult to breathe, and dizzy.
At some point, she would start seeing and hearing hallucinations.
Lady Isabel’s hallucinations were mostly of her family.
Visions of her mother, Theo, and her beloved Annellia suffering.
By the time the magic absorption was ending, she would always lose consciousness.
And she would always wake up in this empty room.
Without the books and newspapers that Theo secretly brought her, she wouldn’t have been able to endure those times with her sanity intact.
Mother, Theo… and Annellia.
Lady Isabel pushed her weakly trembling body under the blanket.
And with her eyes tightly closed, she tried hard to recall happy memories.
That day long ago when she drank tea with her mother in the garden, the weather was so nice.
The sunlight filtering through the leaves and the wind were so warm.
The day she first met Theo was like that too.
The touch of his hands supporting her when she almost fell made her heart race.
This man is tall and has big hands too, she had thought.
And… the day she felt Annellia’s first movements.
When the child was born, those small eyes, nose, mouth… her rosy cheeks and soft hair.
“Sob.”
She had tried not to cry, but in the end, a sob she couldn’t hold back escaped between her lips.
It was when she was habitually biting her already chapped lips.
Whooom-
At a strange noise coming from somewhere, Lady Isabel quickly raised her head.
Whoooom-
At first she thought she had misheard, but she hadn’t.
A strange noise she was hearing for the first time since being confined in this room was definitely hovering in the air.
“…What is it?”
Lady Isabel got up from her spot.
And cautiously took a step forward.
Whooooom-
At that moment, the noise grew stronger.
Her vision flashed, and a large interdimensional space opened in the air.
Isabel-!
A distant voice came through her muffled ears.
Frowning, she stared at the bright space ahead.
Between the interdimensional space.
She could see several human silhouettes wavering faintly.
“Isabel! Come here! Right now!”
The blanket Lady Isabel had been holding dropped with a thud onto the cold stone floor.
“…Theo?”
Her vision was bright, and her head was dizzy.
She couldn’t understand what was happening at all, but that voice was definitely Theo’s.
“Theo! Why are you…”
She stopped mid-question and closed her mouth.
Why he was here didn’t matter.
What mattered was the fact that Theo was here now.
And he was calling for her.
Lady Isabel began walking toward the open interdimensional space.
The closer she got, the faster her steps became.
Theo’s blurry face became clearer and clearer, and she began to see the faces of other silhouettes standing behind him.
Lady Isabel frowned.
“…Theo, those people behind you…”
“No, Isabel!!”
But before she could finish speaking, Theo’s sharp cry rang in her ears.
Lady Isabel slowly looked down.
She saw something wrapped tightly around her right ankle.
Something black and smooth, that she had seen every time Crookiatus stole her magic…
The pain came right after that.
“…!”
She collapsed from the crushing pain in her ankle, but only briefly.
[Theo, you have betrayed me.]
A chilling voice came from behind her.
Lady Isabel collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
“Isabel!”
I heard Grandmother’s scream, and Theo’s scream.
Soon I felt my body being pulled forward.
I reflexively tightened my arms around Wendel’s neck.
The giant door opened in the air.
The passage connected to where Lady Isabel was imprisoned was sucking us in.
“Get down!”
Theo shouted.
At the same time, we were all thrown out of the passage.
I felt a sharp pain in my elbow as it hit the floor.
[How dare you try to mock me in my own home.]
A strange voice echoed through the space we were in.
The vibration was making my head dizzy.
When I struggled to lift my head, I saw Crookiatus.
Skin covered in black scales, hands and feet with blurred forms.
And those disgustingly bright yellow pupils that seemed to float in the air.
“Isabel, Isabel…!”
Then, from far away, I heard Grandmother’s sobbing voice.
Grandmother was holding onto the collapsed Lady Isabel from a distance.
“Come to your senses, Isabel, sob, please…!”
[Theo-! I am your creator who gave you life!]
Then once again, Crookiatus’s voice thundered loudly.
In my blurred vision, his vertically slit pupils blazed as if they would melt Theo.
[You have a lifespan far superior to humans, and you’re my son who was promised an honorable position in the future!]
Every time Crookiatus shouted, I felt a pain like needles piercing deep into my head.
[You must answer. Surely all of this isn’t because of one insignificant human woman.]
I swallowed my groans and stared at Theo standing before Crookiatus.
Theo stood with his back to Wendel and me, maintaining his silence.
[Well… if you truly intend to treat your father this way.]
At that moment, Crookiatus’s form rippled strangely.
“No! Isabel!”
What happened next was instantaneous.
When Crookiatus waved one hand, thick smoke enveloped Isabel’s body.
The smoke lifted Isabel into the air like a paper doll.
Grandmother screamed and reflexively drew the dagger from her waist.
She tried to cut through the smoke binding Lady Isabel’s body, but,
“Ugh…!”
As soon as her hand touched the smoke, black pus began flowing from her skin.
“Your Excellency!”
Wendel, who was holding me, jumped up from his seat.
However, Wendel hesitated in place, unable to take a step toward Grandmother.
Even in this moment, feeling Wendel’s arms wrapped tightly around me, I could be certain once more.
What order Grandmother had given him before coming here.
‘She ordered him to protect me first, so…’
The tension made it hard to breathe.
Grandmother was biting her lower lip while clutching her left hand that was oozing pus.
[How amusing. Very amusing.]
Crookiatus muttered.
He dragged Lady Isabel right in front of Theo’s nose and pressed his blade-like hand against her delicate neck.
[I still haven’t heard an answer, Theo.]
“…”
[Is your betrayal of me really because of this insignificant Michaeliann?]
Theo bit his lips tightly.
[Answer me, right now-!!]
Crookiatus’s voice rang out so fiercely it seemed to tear my ears, and the moment Wendel flinched.
“Aren’t you stupid? Idiot!”
I pulled myself out of Wendel’s arms and shouted while gasping for breath.
Crookiatus’s pupils slowly turned toward me.
“Asking a traitor why they betrayed you…”
I calmed my breathing and added as if talking to myself.
“That’s why you lost to Lady Lasandra.”
Immediately, his bright yellow eyes dilated.
As expected, sharp anger gathered in Crookiatus’s gaze.
[…What did you say?]
My neck stiffened with killing intent, but I couldn’t stop.
I looked at Theo.
“What’s this, Theo. You said he was once a god. You said he was incredibly strong.”
Then I reluctantly glanced at Crookiatus and frowned.
“That’s not an evil dragon, it’s just an earthworm. A maggot that lost a fight and hid in filth… a loser.”
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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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