The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 222

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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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“Ow, my back…”

Owen opened his eyes with a grimace.

He could see Theo, Isabel, and Sharon lying sprawled out.

“Is everyone alright?!”

When he asked urgently, Sharon sat up while holding her forehead.

Theo and Isabel did the same.

“Where are we?”

Owen looked up at the sun high in the sky and made a perplexed expression.

Naturally, the situation from moments ago came to mind.

The light that had begun emanating from Annellia’s body and suddenly engulfed the room.

“That was…”

“We were also sucked into Jayden’s hallucination.”

At that moment, Theo spoke.

Sharon and Isabel looked at Theo.

“You know too, Bell, that when sorcery is powerful, it draws in the surroundings like a whirlpool.”

However, Isabel had a confused expression.

“…But honey. Sorcery that creates a whirlpool can’t be achieved with just moderately powerful magic. It literally requires tremendous power.”

She looked around.

“Even the regression spell I cast on Annellia only sucked in one person, Hiana Longton, when it activated.”

“We’re already at least four people. Judging by how the light spread out, there might be several more people caught up in this.”

“…It doesn’t seem like it’s just a few people.”

Just as Owen, who had been making a troubled expression, muttered this.

“Sharon!”

As he said, a familiar voice could be heard from the distance.

Everyone who turned their heads widened their eyes.

Sharon muttered in disbelief.

“Your Majesty the Dowager Empress?”

At the edge of the forest.

The Dowager Empress stood there blankly with her fourteen guard knights.

“What happened? Just before arrival, suddenly there was this light…”

And there was another person standing beside her.

“…Karin.”

It was Karin with both hands bound.

“Huff, huff-! Stop right there!”

With each step I took, I became more breathless.

Whether it was because this place was inside Jayden’s hallucination.

Or because I had been running through the forest for over thirty minutes already.

“You! You, stop running away already-!”

When I could taste blood in my throat, finally the steps of Jayden who had been running ahead stopped.

I leaned against a nearby tree trunk and swayed greatly.

As I bent over and gasped for breath, my vision spun and my stomach churned.

“Why are you following me?”

Jayden muttered from across.

“Don’t follow me. I don’t want to talk to you.”

I stared at Jayden with an incredulous expression.

Jayden’s voice was a very childish voice.

But at the same time, it was thoroughly cold and emotionless, making it a chilling voice.

I held back my rising breath.

And just as Jayden was about to turn his back again, I urgently shouted.

“Where are you going!”

In theory, if I lost sight of Jayden who was in the form of a young child, escaping from the hallucination would also be over.

‘If I don’t purify the lingering resentment, Jayden won’t be able to wake up from the hallucination.’

Then I, who voluntarily stepped into this place, would be trapped forever.

“Let’s talk, let’s have a conversation.”

When I spoke urgently, Jayden frowned.

“I know who you are. What kind of conversation am I supposed to have with you?”

I took a step forward and spoke again.

“Just for a moment, please. Okay?”

Jayden burst into laughter.

And then asked with the clear sound characteristic of a young child.

“What are you so curious about? Even if you’re curious, even if you know a bit more, nothing will change.”

I was speechless and closed my mouth.

To me like that, Jayden said coldly.

“I’m returning to my place. So don’t interfere.”

“…Your place?”

“Yes. The cottage in the forest. Where my real father is.”

I barely managed to answer while hiding my trembling voice.

“What are you talking about? Your father is Lloyd Abner. The Lord of Abner and His Grace the Duke.”

Jayden’s expression darkened.

I could somewhat guess the reason.

From the moment I stepped into the hallucination, the puzzle about Jayden had been completely solved.

‘The incident in the prison cell too.’

Above all, I could tell by recalling what Grandmother had said long ago.

That confession that Jayden wasn’t her biological child.

“Lloyd Abner and Sharon Abner are not my parents. They’re liars.”

At that moment, Jayden muttered.

The child’s eyes flashed with anger.

“Hypocrites. Those people deceived me. Pretending to love me when they’re not even my biological parents. Pretending to understand me.”

I stood up with my pounding head.

And I opened my mouth while catching my breath.

“Those two aren’t like that…”

“Shut up! You wouldn’t understand even if you died anyway!”

The furious shout echoed through the forest.

Faint veins stood out on young Jayden’s forehead.

“I was born at the bottom, and you were born up high. There’s a vast gap that was decided from birth, yet you think you can understand me.”

Jayden gritted his teeth.

The wind blew and the sunlight shadows on his face swayed slowly.

“In the Duke’s castle, I’m a troublemaker. I learned to read late, and I don’t smile much so the vassals dislike me. Even when the wet nurse reads sad fairy tales, I never cry once, so everyone thinks I’m a strange child.”

“…”

“At first I thought those people were mean. I hated them thinking they disliked me for no reason. But, but now I know.”

Jayden slowly clenched his fist.

“It’s not that there’s no reason.”

I unconsciously held my breath.

“It wasn’t my place from the beginning. Because the child of a butcher who kills people was there beside kind and warm people.”

“…”

“Because it wasn’t a place I should have been from the start, it was natural that I didn’t fit in.”

What I felt in Jayden’s voice was thorough despair.

In his sunken voice and labored breathing, despair and disappointment filled every gap.

“I’m angry at Mother…”

Jayden sobbed.

Large teardrops continuously flowed down his pale cheeks.

“Why can’t you abandon me. Why won’t you just leave me alone? It makes me angry.”

The moisture sparkled as it reflected the sunlight.

Jayden squeezed his eyes shut and began to tremble.

“Just give up on me! Abandon me as quickly as possible!”

I slowly took a step forward.

Jayden clutched his forehead and shook his head violently.

“Every day is terrifying, everything gives me chills, it hurts, I hate it…!”

One step, and then another step.

“Do you know?! The feeling of time crashing over you like a swamp, the feeling of dying while still alive – you don’t know!”

At that moment, I finally reached out one hand.

“I’m sorry. I don’t… really know about that.”

Jayden, who was right in front of me, raised his gaze.

His cheeks were glistening, soaked with tears.

“But I know this. You were just unlucky. There’s no responsibility on your part, nothing that’s your fault.”

Jayden’s pupils trembled slightly.

“Grandmother… no, Sharon Abner is your mother no matter what anyone says. Family isn’t only formed through blood relations, right?”

My outstretched hand drew closer to Jayden’s cheek.

This hallucination was a mass of resentment formed from Jayden’s long-held thoughts.

Something like a panoramic life review shown by a body that had reached its limits.

“It’s hard, isn’t it? It must be confusing. Lonely, painful, and frightening.”

Jayden’s panting breath gradually calmed down.

“But you have to overcome it. You can live differently. In the end, what determines life is will and conviction. I know.”

Actually, it was a lie.

Jayden cannot overcome it.

Of course, he can’t live differently either.

He had already lost, already lived his past life in the wrong way.

What remained for him was probably only the path of paying for his sins through death.

However, there was no other way to wake Jayden up.

I could only escape from this place if I somehow soothed this mass of resentment.

“So please, okay?”

It was the moment I placed one hand on Jayden’s shoulder.

“Liar.”

Jayden’s body, where my hand touched, crumpled with a squishy feeling.

I stepped back and stared blankly down at my hand.

My hand was thoroughly covered with black, sticky liquid.

“…Father died. Because of me.”

When I looked up, Jayden’s pale face was melting away.

Tears mixed with black liquid dripped onto the grass with soft plops.

“Dead things never come back. So I can no longer return either.”

Jayden cried and smiled at the same time.

“Now there’s only one path left for me. Being abandoned by everyone, being pointed at. The path of falling down, falling even further down.”

“No! That’s not true!”

I desperately reached out to Jayden.

But there was nothing for my hands to grasp.

If this happens, my way out of Jayden’s hallucination completely disappears.

“Please, please! I said that’s not true!”

It was when I was trying to grab Jayden’s arm somehow.

“Ugh-!”

I collided with someone who had rushed over silently and tumbled backward.

When I got up, I saw someone embracing the melting Jayden.

“Eden, Eden! Snap out of it!”

I closed my mouth.

It was Karin who was holding Jayden as if he might break.

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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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