The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 239

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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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“It’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t trust this imperial court, and furthermore, I don’t trust myself!”

I stared at the Dowager Empress, speechless.

The Dowager Empress’s eyes were trembling finely.

“Long ago, Tian said this. That you saved him! As soon as I heard that, I answered like this!”

“….”

“You weren’t the only one who was saved!”

The Dowager Empress pressed her trembling hand against the table.

“I have never once thought of you as anything but family. So you, you must remain free until the end!”

“…Grandmother.”

“Annellia. You don’t know how wicked people’s hearts can become. When you enter the palace, it will seem smooth at first. The officials will be satisfied too. There’s no household as established as Abner right now!”

“….”

“But what do you think will happen the moment you show weakness? If you make even the smallest mistake, they’ll turn on you! They’ll surely question your qualifications as Crown Princess, and furthermore as Empress!”

The Dowager Empress’s eyes became red and bloodshot.

“That sort of thing, you can endure on good days. What’s so important about being talked about by others? But when you’re exhausted, it’s different.”

The Dowager Empress gripped my hand tightly.

“Annellia. Everyone breaks down. You can’t always be strong and upright. Look at me. I lived trapped in a prison of my own making for over 30 years!”

“….”

“But the problem is, no one knows that pain. Even if your insides rot away! No one outside can know it!”

Finally, tears welled up in the Dowager Empress’s eyes.

“I am old. I don’t know how long I can stay by your side. And the imperial court is a place cruel enough to completely destroy a person.”

I stared blankly down at the Dowager Empress’s hands.

I hadn’t realized until now.

How much the Dowager Empress’s hands had changed from the day we first met.

As I gazed at her wrinkled hands, the Dowager Empress continued in a trembling voice.

“Please listen to me. If you enter the imperial court, you’ll lose many things. I became estranged from my natal family first. It’s not because of the people themselves, but because circumstances make people that way.”

“….”

“I don’t want you to lose something like I did. I don’t want you to suffer. I just want you to shine as you have until now, surrounded by people you love in your own place.”

Desperation filled the Dowager Empress’s eyes.

“It’s not that I don’t know Tian is a trustworthy boy. But that alone isn’t enough….”

“This isn’t a decision I made trusting Tian.”

I spoke up at that moment.

The Dowager Empress hesitated.

I pulled my hand from the Dowager Empress’s and instead gripped her hand tightly.

“Grandmother. I’m not trusting Tian, I’m trusting myself for choosing Tian.”

“…Annellia.”

“I understand what you’re saying. I understand that circumstances shape people, and that I might grow distant from those close to me.”

The Dowager Empress’s pupils shook slightly.

But unsurprisingly, relationships were originally like that.

They seem stronger than anything in the world, yet sometimes break as easily as frayed thread.

I felt this more keenly watching Jayden and Grandmother.

People sometimes push each other away even when they love each other.

The more precious someone is, the less they can stay by your side.

Like Armin who distanced himself from Dimas at the Academy of Pharmacy.

Like Karin who cut off Adrian, not wanting him to live in her shadow.

Like Anstis who gave up Bloz for her happiness,

‘Like Mother and Father who left me on Ivehill Hill where wildflowers bloomed in full.’

“I know too. That sometimes circumstances grab and shake people.”

What the Dowager Empress wanted to say was probably this.

The position beside Tian was high, but also one where even trivial matters would be interfered with.

A noble yet most vulnerable position.

I’d become easier to attack than now, and being isolated, I’d likely face mental breakdowns too.

The Dowager Empress simply didn’t want to see me suffer.

“But Grandmother. If I fear circumstances, I can’t do anything. I think I need to have confidence in myself all the more. Tian said the same to Adrian.”

“….”

“That a tree with deep roots cannot be shaken by any wind.”

The Dowager Empress’s lips trembled.

I continued in a voice slightly more choked than before.

“I like Tian. And I like myself for liking Tian.”

“….”

“Perhaps being by Tian’s side, this imperial court too, might be my place.”

Finally, the Dowager Empress’s tears dropped onto the back of my hand.

I gripped her hand tightly and added my final words.

“So… please trust me too, Grandmother. I want to be here as well.”

After a brief silence.

“Who could win against you….”

The Dowager Empress murmured as if whispering.

I embraced the Dowager Empress who was hugging me tightly.

“Sign it.”

“Yes, stamp your seal there.”

At mine and the Dowager Empress’s words, Tian’s eyes widened.

After freezing for a moment, Tian soon approached and sat on the sofa.

Then he looked at the parchment placed on the table and asked.

“What is this?”

“A marriage contract.”

Tian’s eyes grew even larger than before.

He asked back as if he couldn’t believe it.

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s not break our engagement and just get married. My birthday is in two days, so we’ll announce our marriage then, and I’ll persuade Father.”

Tian picked up the paper with an unreal expression.

And began reading through it quickly.

“Annellia Abner, hereafter ‘Party A’ and Tian Lacteus Carillonia, hereafter ‘Party B’ hereby conclude a marriage contract as follows and promise to faithfully observe the below terms with signature and seal…?”

“As I said before, I think I’m a bit more precious, so I put myself as Party A.”

Tian looked up at me bewildered and continued reading the document.

“Article 1, Mutual Respect. Party A and Party B promise to respect each other in any situation and actively reflect the other party’s opinion in decision-making.”

“You agree, right? That’s what married couples should do anyway.”

“There’s also marriage duration and… terms about pregnancy and childbirth.”

“Yes. Once your succession plan is set, I’ll cooperate with a sense of responsibility as your partner!”

“Childcare during infancy after birth should be done by ourselves as much as possible rather than entrusting it to others, and I’ll bear more than half of it?”

“Do you dislike it? I’ll be carrying the baby for ten months in my belly. Also, academia these days increasingly values the bond between baby and father.”

“I don’t dislike it at all. I just….”

Tian looked at me with a somewhat dazed expression.

“If you’d just stay with me, I was planning to follow your wishes entirely anyway.”

“Huh? What if I said I didn’t want to have babies? Who would inherit the throne?”

Tian glanced at the Dowager Empress.

“…Going back, there are a few distant relatives. Though they’re quite far removed.”

“This boy is determined to ruin the empire!”

The Dowager Empress immediately shouted, but it wasn’t an angry tone at all.

She was hiding a smile that wanted to form at the corners of her mouth, when the Dowager Empress stood up.

“Enough, I’ll be going. Since you’ll be married soon, you should get used to making decisions together.”

After the Dowager Empress left, Tian put down his documents.

“Well… I can hardly believe it. You said we should just date and then break up.”

I rolled my eyes around.

“That’s what I was going to do, but after talking with Lady Bloz, my thoughts suddenly changed.”

“What thoughts?”

“The thought that maybe I don’t just like you a little bit.”

Tian closed his mouth.

I tapped the marriage contract for no particular reason.

“That lady said love isn’t confirmed when things are good. It’s confirmed when things are hard and exhausting. So I thought about it. If a crisis came to me… who would come to mind first.”

A calm silence flowed through the room.

“For me, it was you after my family.”

When I raised my gaze, Tian’s red eyes were directed toward me.

“You let me rely on you, from when there was no one by my side. I still remember how you comforted me, saying I could now use the Imperial seal.”

Somehow my nose tingled.

The day I got scared and ran to the garden when Grandmother said she would adopt me.

Back then, I was afraid of everything.

It felt like all the terrible pain I experienced in my previous life was coming back to life.

I silently brought my hand to my neck area.

And I pulled out something I had never once taken off and showed it to Tian from outside my clothes.

A relic of Miraena, who was the former Empress and Tian’s mother.

“If you wear it, good fortune will come to the owner.”

The necklace Tian had given me, saying he wanted to bring me good fortune.

“…Thank you for suddenly visiting my room on the day we first met.”

I could see Tian’s fist clench slightly.

“Come to think of it, you’re always my good fortune, Tian.”

Just as I finally said what I wanted to say, Tian stood up from his seat.

Before I could stop him, he gripped the table and leaned toward me.

As I felt his hand cupping my cheek and closed my eyes, Tian deeply pressed his lips against mine.

The moment our lips briefly parted, I heard Tian whispering.

“I felt the same way, Annellia.”

“…”

“You were my good fortune too. From the beginning until now, always.”

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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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