The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 193

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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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“This way.”

With Rico leading, people began to move.

The floor, walls, and ceiling that had been ordinary corridors gradually transformed to look like the innards of a beast.

Seeing the pulsating blood vessels on the dark red membrane surface, I gripped Theo’s arm tightly.

Theo walked as if carrying both me and Lady Isabel simultaneously was nothing to him.

“The cliff teleportation circle.”

“Already finished. About 200 people in total, just the mages.”

“Can all personnel be transported?”

“As long as there are no major errors?”

“Of course there shouldn’t be any.”

I listened carefully to Theo and Rico’s voices.

From what I heard, it seemed Theo had already predicted this phenomenon.

The fact that he had thought of an escape route to get out of the palace when nestification occurred was proof of that.

Rico spoke to the mages.

“Now, now! We’re going to the Mage Tower Master’s ground floor office. There’s a secret passage leading to the back of the Magic Tower, and we’ll escape through there.”

“Yes!”

The disciplined mages answered loudly.

I watched Grandmother, who was being carried on one of their backs, with worried eyes.

One of Grandmother’s arms was still covered with severe wounds.

The blisters had somewhat disappeared, but the bleeding was clearly visible.

Of course, Wendel, who was also being carried on another mage’s back, was in the same condition.

Perhaps because of Wendel’s large build, the mage carrying him had been struggling to keep up with us, panting heavily.

I bit my lips as I looked at the black spots spread across Wendel’s entire body.

‘I should be able to heal them with Ulgen’s gift…’

Then the corridor gradually narrowed.

When I looked up, I could see the ceiling and walls where ‘nestification’ had progressed much further.

The blood vessels and cells extending over the bricks were emitting a strange stench along with the smell of blood.

“Everyone hurry up a bit more!”

Following Rico’s instructions, we entered some kind of space.

I couldn’t believe that the squishy something we opened and entered through had once been a door.

Soon I could see relatively clean wooden walls and a huge tapestry hanging on them.

While scanning the surroundings, I gripped Theo’s clothes tightly and asked in bewilderment.

“Is this Theo’s office?”

Theo nodded.

He went to the wooden table placed in the center and caught his breath briefly.

I continued observing the surroundings with curious eyes.

Theo’s office.

I could picture Theo spending many hours here under Crookiatus’s surveillance.

Meanwhile, Rico, who had run to the opposite wall, shouted.

“Please wait a moment!”

Rico tore off the tapestry hanging on the wall and was drawing some kind of formula on it.

I turned my head again to watch Theo’s profile.

His smooth forehead and well-shaped eyebrows.

His sharp-looking eyes, his lips that were always pressed firmly together.

Theo looked exactly the same as he had during the past few years we hadn’t seen.

“Once we escape the island, I want to return to the Duke’s castle quickly.”

When I spoke quietly, Theo turned his head to look at me.

“There are still mountains of things to resolve, but when I go back, I’ll rest peacefully for a week. I’ll take naps, soak in hot baths, and eat delicious food. I should also ask Teacher Ann to read me the papers that came out during this time.”

His golden eyes blinked slowly.

He was clearly trying not to show it, but I could tell.

That Theo was exhausted.

Theo had been running desperately toward a single goal all this time.

But now that plan had been completely ruined.

Because the situation had changed.

“I’m not sure what Lady Isabel will do. But I think Grandmother will try to bring her to the Duke’s castle somehow.”

After speaking in a bright voice, I looked up at Theo.

“Theo will come too, right?”

Theo didn’t answer.

He just stared at me blankly.

I forced a smile and asked again.

“Theo will come too, right?”

“…”

The golden eyes that had been looking at me slowly lowered.

Theo opened his lips very slowly.

“I…”

“It’s done! Come this way! Quickly!”

At that moment, Rico’s voice echoed.

Theo closed his mouth again.

In the meantime, nestification had progressed considerably more.

Strange flesh pulsated incessantly over the wooden walls that had been fine just moments before.

Theo went toward Rico while holding me.

And stepped onto the teleportation circle completed on the tapestry surface.

“We have to go quickly!”

Rico stamped his feet, and I reflexively looked back.

The flesh that had completely devoured the wall surface was now rapidly consuming the floor.

When cells filled up to just a few steps away, everyone stood beside us.

“Here we go!”

With Rico’s shout, my body floated up.

When we came out of the Magic Tower, the rising sun was spreading light in all directions.

The sunlight shining on my skin was unbelievably warm.

“Over there! Over there!”

Rico started running again as soon as he came out of the teleportation circle.

Two mages followed behind him, and Theo walked at the very back.

I looked at the scenery beyond the cliff visible on the opposite side.

The sun half-risen over the open water surface.

The gentle waves reflecting that light.

At that moment, a tremendous roar came from behind us.

Bathed in brilliant sunlight, the highest citadel of the Magic Tower was collapsing.

Dark red flesh that sprouted instantly wrapped around the tower’s debris and stretched toward the sky.

Feeling Theo’s quickening steps, I kept my gaze fixed on the Magic Tower.

The Magic Tower built by Crookiatus.

The Magic Tower that led the brilliant development of magic across the entire continent.

The Magic Tower I had once greatly admired.

“Give me that! Brother and Lady Lili, both of you come this way too.”

Rico’s voice snapped me back to attention.

I could see Lady Isabel, who had been moved to a stretcher at some point, being carried toward the other patients.

Grandmother and Wendel were the same.

Mages wearing Magic Tower robes busily passed by around us.

“Brother? Aren’t you coming?”

Rico urged Theo once again.

Only then could I see the boundary of the massive teleportation circle shining clearly just two steps ahead of us.

Looking now, most everyone except Theo and me had already entered the teleportation circle.

The Magic Tower left behind was no longer in its original form.

The dark red flesh transformed into scales, gathering together to create something like a giant egg.

Starting from around the Magic Tower, the grass and plants quickly withered, and the island shook violently.

“Brother! At this rate the island will sink!”

The moment Rico shouted again.

“…don’t know.”

A choked voice was heard.

When I looked up, I saw Theo with unfocused eyes, his brow furrowed.

“I know it’s stupid to say. Where I should go, where I can go, how I can live from now on… I don’t know.”

Theo very slowly set me down on the grass.

Rico made a gasping sound.

“…I haven’t done anything for Lili. Made her lonely, made her die. In the end, I couldn’t even completely eliminate Crookiatus.”

“No, brother.”

“The promise I made to Isabel is the same. I couldn’t keep any of it. I said if she just endured, if she just held on, I would definitely keep Annellia safe…”

The knuckles on Theo’s clenched fist protruded.

“What right do I have to go to Abner Territory?”

“…”

“I was the one who intentionally approached Isabel, I was the one who brought her out and exposed her to danger, I was the one who made her suffer for years.”

Theo drew in a shaky breath.

“I haven’t done anything right, not a single thing. No, now I don’t even know what I should do going forward, so how…”

“Why don’t you know! Be like a father!”

At that moment I shouted.

“Do all the things you couldn’t do before! Teach me how to throw a ball, eat snacks together… like other kids’ fathers, like a real father… *sniff*”

Plop, tears I couldn’t hold back fell down my cheeks.

“The kids who tease me for being an orphan, for being from the orphanage… scold them for me…”

Theo closed his mouth.

That’s when it happened.

“I will. You’re my daughter, so of course I’ll do that.”

Suddenly I felt warm warmth on my back.

When I turned my head, someone was holding me tightly with two arms trembling desperately.

“So don’t cry, don’t cry, my baby…”

The sound of a rapidly beating heart filled my ears.

I don’t know when she regained consciousness, but Lady Isabel was behind me.

It was the first time I touched my mother.

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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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