The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 275

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

“She said she knows you well? The interview was one thing, but she made it clear she came here because of you.”

Owen creaked as he rose from his seat.

Memories from long ago were gradually becoming clearer.

Thirteen years ago, there was a time when he had searched the entire Empire to find treatment costs for Awin.

The place he had stopped by just before coming to Abner Manor to meet Annellia was the Berti Count’s Mansion.

Count Berti was a sharp man.

He had rejected Owen’s request without even listening to his plea for a loan to the end.

However,

“Please use this for travel expenses at least.”

There was someone who had pressed carriage fare into his hands as he left as if being chased away.

The Count’s youngest daughter, Sancia Berti.

“Wh-what, what should I do?”

Owen muttered incoherently.

“What should I do in this situation? Should I write a letter first? Huh?”

Sancia Berti.

He couldn’t remember exactly, but she seemed to have been quite cute.

“I-I’ve never done anything like this before.”

Owen looked at Shasha, Rico, and Awin with desperate eyes.

He had never even held hands with a woman other than Annellia.

In his teens, he was busy running around trying to find treatment costs for Awin.

In his twenties, he had no time for romance as he devoted himself to the Abner Family.

Thinking about it made him feel sorry for himself and frown.

But then the corners of his mouth twitched on their own.

“Ha, but she still remembered me after just seeing me briefly back then? Was my first impression that good?”

“….”

“Well, I was quite handsome. When Mother and Grandmother were still alive, they used to say almost daily that there was no one as good-looking as me.”

“Even a hedgehog thinks its own babies are pretty.”

“Shut up!”

Owen glared at Rico and began pacing around the research room.

“Where should we have our first meeting? It shouldn’t be too burdensome, so maybe a restaurant would be okay? Drinking might not be appropriate?”

“…Brother.”

“Ha, I’ve only studied all this time so I’m hopeless at romance… Should I swallow my pride and ask Annellia? She should know something about this. She’s getting married soon too.”

“Brother.”

“Right, asking Annellia would be faster. She doesn’t have much to do these days anyway….”

“Brother!”

Owen closed his mouth.

When he looked up, Awin was staring at him as if he couldn’t stop him.

“Just how far are you going to go by yourself? You think Countess Berti wants to get along well with you in that way.”

“…Huh?”

“Not romantically, but as a business partner.”

Rico quietly buried his face in the sofa.

Shasha cleared his throat and turned his head away.

“She seems to want to invest in you. That’s the main income of the Berti Count’s household, investment.”

“….”

“Since you know about pharmaceuticals well, she apparently has a business she wants to try together. While she’s at it, she seemed hopeful that getting close to you would also bring her closer to Annellia.”

“…Ah.”

Owen walked back dejectedly and sat down in his chair again.

And he stared blankly down at the stack of documents in front of him.

“How about it. Should I give the Countess your contact information?”

Owen didn’t answer.

He just stayed quiet and then muttered softly.

“…Everyone get out.”

This time everyone left without a word.

Each of them was holding back laughter, snickering.

“Oh my, your shoulders are very tense.”

“Ahhhh….”

A groan escaped naturally at the touch of hands rubbing my shoulders.

As I lay sprawled like melted ice cream, a gentle question was heard.

“Shall I apply a little more oil?”

When I nodded, warm hands began massaging my entire back.

Every time fingers of appropriate strength passed over the tense muscles, my head tingled.

“How is it? Not bad, right?”

A pleased question came from beyond the curtain to my right.

I opened my mouth in great excitement.

“Not bad? Calling this heaven just ‘not bad,’ Your Majesty?”

The Emperor burst into loud laughter.

“If I had known you’d like it this much, I would have called for this sooner.”

“I love it so much! Could you call for this every week, no, every day from now on? I’ll come no matter what, really.”

The Emperor’s laughter continued without end.

“Our puppy Annellia is always so humble. Even when I do small things for her, she’s so happy and grateful that this old man finds it quite entertaining.”

This time the Dowager Empress, who was behind the curtain to the left, spoke.

I giggled while feeling the touch massaging my scalp with appropriate pressure.

“It’s all because you two cherish me so much. Letting me receive massages that only royalty gets….”

“Well, you’ll become royalty in two weeks anyway. Aren’t you going to have a wedding ceremony with Tian?”

I smiled without answering.

After everything was finished, time had passed quickly.

The promised wedding ceremony with Tian was already approaching in just two weeks.

The Emperor muttered leisurely.

“Once you two get married, I can finally rest a bit.”

As if his body had relaxed, his voice had become completely drowsy.

“After I pass the throne to Tian, I should do things I couldn’t do in the Imperial Palace.”

Tian was scheduled to inherit the throne at the same time as marrying me.

This was because the current Emperor wanted to step down from the throne immediately.

“Because of scars from poisonous insect bites since childhood, I never once played by the water. But recently, your medicine completely erased all those scars. Finally.”

My eyes widened.

It was because giving the Emperor scar removal medicine was something from my very early childhood.

Perhaps noticing my puzzlement, the Emperor added.

“I could have done it long ago, but I couldn’t do it all this time because I wasn’t mentally prepared.”

Unlike the Emperor, the Dowager Empress was quiet.

Even without looking, I could tell she was listening intently to the Emperor’s words.

“Being subjected to assassination attempts as a child, growing distant from my mother. Those things were wounds deeper than scars for me. I thought they would never heal in my lifetime, but hahaha.”

The Emperor laughed quietly.

“Now I’m okay. Your help really meant a lot, Annellia.”

I kept my mouth shut tight, then answered in a bright voice.

“Please don’t be in pain, Your Majesty.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

A warm atmosphere surrounded us.

Before long, the caretaker gently rubbed my back.

It meant the care was finished.

After I changed clothes, the right curtain opened and the Dowager Empress approached.

She hugged me tightly and affectionately stroked my hair.

“Pretty thing.”

As I hugged the Dowager Empress’s back in return, this time the left curtain opened.

The Emperor was looking at us with a pleased expression.

“Shall we get going soon? Tian seems to be busy all by himself.”

“Yes!”

I quickly linked arms with the Emperor.

I didn’t forget to firmly hold the Dowager Empress’s hand on the other side either.

When we came out to the corridor and reached the first floor, several ministers spotted us and their eyes widened.

They always had that reaction when they saw me sticking close to the Emperor and Dowager Empress.

I didn’t mind and passed in front of them with light steps.

‘What does it matter, we’re family now.’

Though it was implicit, the Imperial Palace prohibited too many things under the name of maintaining dignity.

‘How does it make sense that parents can’t even hug their child once?’

It was a meaningless culture that was perfect for building nothing but misunderstandings.

“Your Majesty. Do you happen to like tarts?”

When I asked the Emperor, he narrowed his eyes.

“Tarts would be the dessert that comes after meals, wouldn’t they?”

“That’s right! If you like them, would you like to go to a dessert shop I frequent often? It was in the Imperial Capital but Father acquired it. Mother only eats desserts from there these days.”

The Emperor’s eyes lit up slightly.

“In that case…”

Then he looked at me as if something had occurred to him.

“But when did you say the Duke’s due date was?”

“There are still about three weeks left. The midwife is already at the manor though.”

The Dowager Empress spoke with a worried tone.

“She needs to have a safe delivery. You said it’s a boy?”

I nodded my head.

“Yes! We decided on a name a few days ago too.”

Mother and Father wanted me to name the baby that would be born.

At first it felt burdensome, but after thinking it over, I was able to decide on my sibling’s name quickly.

“Ruellion. My sibling’s name is Ruellion.”

The Dowager Empress’s eyes widened, then she smiled brightly.

“The light continues, that kind of meaning?”

I nodded my head.

Ruellion meant ‘the light continues’ in the ancient language.

“Because the world is very bright now.”

It would be a lie to say we hadn’t lost anything getting this far.

That’s why I knew.

That this light we had obtained was all the more precious because of that.

“That’s wonderful. How good that the children will live in a world without shadows, right?”

I was giggling at the Dowager Empress’s words when it happened.

“Your Majesty! Lady Annellia!”

Someone burst out from around the opposite corner with steps that looked like they might fall at any moment.

It was Jeremy, who had been Tian’s butler and recently got promoted to Vice Minister of Palace Affairs.

Jeremy came right up to us and spoke while panting breathlessly.

“Your siblings, your siblings have been born…!”

My eyes widened.

There was still time left until the due date though?

Not just that labor had started, but that they were already born?

“Jeremy. What on earth do you mean by that…”

Sure enough, the Dowager Empress stopped mid-sentence and hesitated.

My eyes met hers.

We were both thinking the same thing.

Something was strange just now, wasn’t it?

“Not sibling but siblings?”

“Yes! There wasn’t just a son but a daughter as well! Right now the Crown Prince is on his way here…”

The next moment, I started running without even listening to the end of Jeremy’s words.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————