The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 253

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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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Even though no one knew what tomorrow would bring, the Second Gate was peaceful.

I sat in front of the tent, watching the army moving toward the Imperial Capital.

Warm body heat touched my hand.

“There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a while.”

I could see Tian’s profile reflecting the campfire light.

“I’ve wanted to ask this ever since I learned that you had turned back time seven years ago.”

I blinked blankly.

Seven years ago, after rescuing Mother from the Magic Tower and returning, I had confessed the truth to Tian.

My first life and lonely death.

The regression that made that death never happen.

Even Crookiatus, who had been involved in every single event without exception.

Back then, Tian had never interrupted my words even once.

He had just sat quietly and listened in silence.

“What was I like in that life?”

So I couldn’t help but be flustered by the question that followed.

“In that world where I didn’t know you, where I had no relationship with you at all… I want to know how I lived.”

I unconsciously lowered my gaze.

And after maintaining silence for a long while, I barely managed to answer.

“…Why would you ask something like that. You died early.”

“After being deposed from the Crown Prince position?”

Tian was staring directly at me.

“I remember you calling me a deposed prince when we first met. So I vaguely guessed. That I must have been deposed in that world.”

“Tian…”

“How old was I when I died?”

I closed my mouth, unable to find words to say.

As if reading my heart, Tian squeezed my hand tightly.

Though I was confused, I eventually answered quietly.

“Adrian was born when you were about fifteen. You were deposed a few months later.”

“…”

“I don’t know exactly what happened. But back then, you kept wandering outside the palace. Rumors spread throughout the entire Empire that you were going out and committing terrible acts.”

“That must have been Karin’s doing.”

I nodded.

“That’s all. One day you left the palace as usual… and came back as a corpse.”

It was a story I had never spoken aloud before.

I still remembered Tian’s funeral.

The nobles chattering noisily, and Karin sitting in the seat of honor sipping brandy.

The Emperor had just guarded the throne for hours with a soul-drained expression.

The Dowager Empress couldn’t even come to Tian’s funeral.

Because she was confined to the palace under suspicion of harming Tian.

“As expected, things didn’t work without you, even back then.”

At that moment, Tian muttered in a strange voice.

When I looked up, he was quietly looking down at me.

“…Please don’t get hurt.”

Tian’s voice that followed was very low and quiet.

“Without you, I’ll die again.”

I stared at Tian with bewildered eyes, unable to answer.

The next moment, before I could stop him, he pulled me into a tight embrace.

I stiffened, then soon wrapped my arms around Tian’s waist in return.

Tian’s trembling was transmitted through our touching bodies.

We held our breath while embracing each other for a while.

Because we couldn’t easily say anything at all.

About half an hour until dawn.

Just before daybreak in the Imperial Capital, the scout’s report echoed.

“They’re caught! Demon beasts have entered the detector!”

Tian slowly rose from his seat.

Behind him, knights from various territories and the Imperial Army formed ranks.

“The main body.”

“What appears to be the evil dragon’s main body hasn’t been detected yet. It seems like they’re sending lower or intermediate level demon beasts first…”

“Good. Activate the magic device.”

At Tian’s command, the knight bowed.

Soldiers brought something large.

It was a massive magic device with complex formulas carved on its surface.

When the activation button was pressed, the magic device began operating with a whirring sound.

The knights’ mouths fell open at the strange light that began emanating around them.

With just one button press, an eerie energy was already flowing around the magic device.

The communication stones the knights carried began glowing on their own, and the magic mirror floating in the air became even clearer.

It was a device made directly by Theo that emitted Annellia’s energy.

“Crookiatus’s main body.”

Tian asked again.

The scout swallowed nervously.

His eyes widened as he checked the detector with anxious eyes.

“It’s there! It appeared!”

On the surface marked with north, south, east, and west.

One giant white dot that hadn’t been there before was blinking.

The dot was rapidly approaching the Imperial Capital, breaking through hundreds and thousands of existing small dots.

“The evil dragon has appeared! Prepare for battle!”

The army moved in perfect unison.

Shasha’s face also appeared on the magic mirror in the air.

[We’ll prepare as well!]

Tension swirled in Tian’s eyes.

Sunrise was beginning beyond the horizon.

The magic mirror floating in the air showed the vibrating Michaeliann Gorge.

It meant Annellia was starting the ancient magic.

Between trees, between stone cracks, earth clumped together creating hundreds of Ancient Soldiers.

[We’re ready here too!]

Shasha shouted, and Annellia removed Lasandra’s Ring from her hand.

It was exactly at that moment when the white dot blinking on the detector hesitated.

“Annellia! Look at this!”

I checked the detector Euriko handed me with a tense expression.

Near the Imperial Capital, I could see one bright white dot changing direction and coming this way.

I shouted into the magic mirror.

“It’s a success! Crookiatus is coming this way!”

[There are demon beasts moving together with it. We’re checking what their full strength is…]

I swallowed nervously and caressed my now-empty finger.

As soon as I put the ring deep inside my armor, Tian’s words continued.

[Fortunately, there aren’t many demon beasts following Crookiatus.]

My hands trembled with relief.

I had been worried that Crookiatus might bring all its forces to this place.

However, it seemed burdensome for them to all move together as well.

“Good. So it’s not to the point where we need reinforcements…”

[But we still don’t know how strong the evil dragons are. We can’t let our guard down.]

I nodded at the magic mirror.

“Grandmother is on standby at the Duke’s Castle. She said she’s opened a portal, so if things get dangerous, reinforcements will come over immediately.”

“My disciple! The magic amplifier is complete, so come check it out!”

Just then, Owen shouted from behind.

I hurriedly approached him.

Owen had just finished installing the device Father had designed at the place where heavenly realm magic power gathered.

“…It looks good! The ritual altar is responding!”

The place where the device was installed was a uniquely shaped ritual altar.

The ritual altar located in the center of the village where Michaeliann lived looked exactly like a thick thermometer.

Long stone slabs connected like a coffin, with a circular dais at the very bottom.

The place where the power of the heavenly realm could be felt was precisely that dais.

As I looked at the ritual altar, I suddenly hesitated.

“Wait a minute. Now that I think about it…”

When I was young, the place where Grandmother hid from Crookiatus was also said to be beneath a ritual altar.

I turned around and looked at the upper part of the coffin-like ritual altar.

The fact that it looked like a coffin also meant that the surface of the part excluding the dais was shaped like a lid.

When I released magic power onto the dirty surface, dirt and moss immediately scattered.

Complex magic formulas were revealed, and I quickly found the beginning and end of the circuit.

I could see a small groove carved in the upper right corner where the circuit ended.

As soon as I placed my hand on it, the massive stone began to move with a heavy vibration.

Owen, Shasha, Euriko, and I all stepped back with surprised faces.

When the ritual altar opened, what was revealed was a space large enough for one person to lie down.

But I frowned.

I had the strange feeling that the space was somehow rippling.

As if something had been hidden by magic.

“…Annellia. Doesn’t it feel like there’s wind coming from here?”

Euriko also seemed to sense something strange and asked meaningfully.

I lowered my body and bent my head toward the inner space.

Annellia-!

And I shot up at the voice I heard.

“…What?”

I raised one hand and channeled powerful magic power toward the ritual altar.

I could feel my magic power thoroughly searching the entire ritual altar.

Then, the unidentifiable spell that had been cast on the ritual altar was broken.

At the same time, the floor beneath the ritual altar rapidly receded.

The space below wasn’t just large enough for one person to lie down.

Far below, in the pitch-black and vast chasm, a human figure was revealed.

“Annellia-!!”

I froze in place.

And I looked down at the person trapped in the distant depths below with an expression of disbelief.

“…Father?”

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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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