The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 196

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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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“Lady Lili!”

When we arrived at the meeting hall, an unexpected person was there to greet us.

Owen immediately frowned.

“What? Why is Researcher Roland here?”

Rico let out a cheerful laugh.

“I came as my brother’s substitute today~ He said he couldn’t attend.”

I tilted my head.

“Why? Is Theo sick somewhere?”

Rico burst into laughter.

“Lady Lili, do you think my brother is someone who gets sick? I think it’s not that, but rather…”

Rico made a meaningful expression and gestured for me to come closer.

As I quickly approached Rico, Owen also quietly walked over and stood behind me.

“It seems he’s not mentally prepared yet.”

“Mentally prepared?”

“Mentally prepared to meet his mother-in-law.”

“Cough!”

Owen coughed loudly.

After coughing for a while, he asked back as if bewildered.

“Mother-in-law? Wow, now that you mention it, that’s how it works out!”

I narrowed my brow and kept my mouth shut.

Rico and Owen began chattering excitedly.

“This is really~ I think I’d be scared too. Taking away someone’s precious daughter without properly greeting her once, without officially asking for permission? There’s more than one or two things to feel guilty about. Isn’t that right?”

“Right, right. There’s no greater unfilial behavior than this. If I were the mother-in-law, I would have given the Magtop Lord a good slap across the face first.”

“Huh? But that’s a bit hurtful to say, isn’t it?”

“What’s hurtful about it?”

“If you think about it, wasn’t it Lady Isabel who first suggested living together? And wasn’t Lady Isabel the one who confessed first…”

“Hey now, in front of the child.”

When Owen nudged him, Rico closed his mouth.

Rico soon shrugged his shoulders.

“Anyway, the conclusion is that my brother seems to be avoiding His Grace~ That’s what I’m saying.”

I listened and then quietly nodded my head.

Thinking about it, Rico’s words made sense too.

From Theo’s perspective, Grandmother wouldn’t be entirely comfortable to face.

Of course, Grandmother would feel the same way.

“So Researcher Roland. You should go encourage him and such.”

Then Owen’s voice came through, as if he was holding back laughter.

“What good does it do to have once been the Magtop Lord? What good does it do to have once monopolized Annellia’s favor? Right now he’s in the lonely situation of a wild goose.”

“No! Even though the Magic Tower was destroyed! Even though it completely turned to ash and disappeared! My brother is my eternal brother!”

“Yes, yes. I’m sure he is.”

Owen, who answered, came over to me with a grin.

Then he lifted me onto a chair and sat down next to me.

“Oh!”

Rico rushed over as if he had been caught off guard.

And he tried to sit on the opposite side next to me as well, but,

“…Please sit over there.”

Tian had already taken his place on the opposite side.

Rico retreated with a disappointed expression.

He settled for a seat across from me.

Soon the closed door opened.

“I absolutely cannot stand to see our Annellia in danger. So either make this matter public immediately, or give us time…”

Grandmother with her usual serious expression.

And Lady Isabel, who had been earnestly saying something to Grandmother but closed her mouth.

Lady Isabel looked around the meeting hall in surprise.

“Everyone’s here already? Theo is… well, he didn’t come as expected.”

From beside her, I could hear Grandmother muttering just loud enough to be heard.

“That’s what happens when a man has no backbone.”

“Mother!”

Lady Isabel let out a deep sigh and then walked toward me.

Then she looked around at the crowded seats around me and said.

“Oh my, there’s no seat available.”

Tian and Owen froze with momentarily flustered expressions.

However, both of them quickly stood up from their seats.

Owen knew who Lady Isabel was, and Tian seemed to think he should give up his seat after seeing my expression.

“It’s fine, this works.”

But Lady Isabel shook her head at both of them.

She simply placed me on her lap and sat down in the chair I had been sitting in.

Unlike me, who had gone stiff, Lady Isabel seemed perfectly natural.

“Why is our daughter so light? You’re far too light. I’ll have to drastically increase your meal portions starting tomorrow.”

Grandmother, who had taken her seat at the head of the table, replied.

“Do you think that’s easily done? She’s been the hardest to feed since she was little. She only wants to eat what she likes, and she’s such a picky eater.”

“Mother, really. What child doesn’t have eating preferences? They all grow up that way. But what food does Annellia like? I want to know too.”

While organizing the documents in front of her, Grandmother answered with laughter in her voice.

“Bread.”

Lady Isabel’s eyes widened.

“Bread?”

“Yes, bread. There’s no food I haven’t had the Head Chef put on top of bread. Even things she wouldn’t normally eat, she’d eat well if they were on bread.”

She was talking about when I first came to the Duke’s Castle.

I covered my reddening face and gradually lowered my head.

I could feel Tian’s gaze fixed on me from beside me.

By now, he probably had a rough idea of who Lady Isabel was and what her relationship with me was.

“Anyway, shall we get started?”

Lady Isabel said, as if to clear the air.

Grandmother nodded, and Owen took out his ever-present notebook and quill pen.

“First, the first agenda item… would probably be the contract between House of Hunt and Crookiatus, right? For that, we’ll need to give background explanation to Crown Prince here.”

“I’ll handle that.”

I stared intently at the table, feeling Lady Isabel’s arms wrapped around me.

Grandmother and Tian began their conversation, but I couldn’t concentrate at all.

It was because Lady Isabel’s embrace, which I had expected to be uncomfortable, was more comfortable than I thought.

“Regarding the Second Prince who will be born soon, Dowager Empress has ordered us to keep watch for the time being.”

I came to my senses when I heard Tian’s voice.

When I unconsciously flinched, Lady Isabel’s hand that had been patting me stopped.

“Annellia, it’s okay. You can sleep more.”

At the gentle voice reaching my ears, I shook my head with a bright red face.

“No, I’ll stay awake.”

Dozing off during a meeting.

This was the first time in both my previous and current life.

Moreover, this wasn’t even a light meeting.

It was a gathering where everyone came together to decide what to do going forward, even with Crown Prince Tian present…

“It was only about 10 minutes, Annellia.”

As if reading my mind, Lady Isabel whispered reassuringly.

“We talked about the new information obtained from interrogating Jayden, and likewise about Empress Karin’s atrocities.”

I gathered my focus and asked back.

“What did Tian say?”

Lady Isabel smiled slightly.

“He’s actually speaking about it right now.”

Then she gestured toward Tian as if telling me to listen to the rest.

“The Imperial Court’s judgment—that is, mine and Her Majesty the Dowager Empress’s judgment—is as follows.”

Tian looked at each person gathered in the meeting hall one by one and spoke with a confident voice.

“When we expose the Empress’s crimes, we must expose the crimes of the entire corrupt Empress Faction nobility all at once, not just hers alone.”

People’s expressions became serious.

“If we clumsily expose the Empress’s crimes now, it will only create public opinion that the Dowager Empress Faction nobles are framing the Empress.”

Owen, who had been spinning his pen around, nodded as if in agreement.

“Historically speaking, that’s also a reasonable prediction. Public opinion sometimes forms regardless of facts.”

Owen looked at Grandmother as if asking for confirmation.

“Some people only believe what they want to believe. They only see what’s visible and only hear what’s audible.”

I also focused on Owen’s words.

“The hunting event? It ended with Philomena Longton’s confession. The Longton Family received appropriate punishment by being scattered to pieces. But the moment it looks like Abner is somehow trying to pin that incident on Karin.”

Lady Isabel, who had been listening, quietly replied.

“…I understand what you mean. Karin would become a tragic empress who met the wrong era. Even if we claim the child in her womb isn’t the Emperor’s, it won’t deal much damage. It would just be seen as another false accusation. It’s not easy to subject a prince to paternity testing either.”

Grandmother slowly nodded.

“Above all, the problem is that His Majesty the Emperor hasn’t recovered his health yet. In any case, it means we need time.”

That’s when I interjected.

“But maybe this worked out well!”

Everyone’s attention focused on me.

“I want to leave Empress Karin alone for now, and during that time, I want to see her charging Crookiatus’s scales. I want to know what kind of contract the previous Hunt generation made with Crookiatus.”

Lady Isabel asked back with an uncertain voice.

“You’re curious about the contract the previous Hunt generation made with the evil god? Why is that?”

I turned around and looked up at Lady Isabel.

“If you think about it, that was an ordinary human making a contract with a god.”

“That’s right.”

“Then maybe I, Abner, or Tian could do it too, right?”

I looked around at everyone again.

“A contract with the gods of the Heavenly Realm like Ricaruss, Ulgen, Hegatan, or Lasandra…”

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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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