The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 41
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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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“Sister Annellia-!!”
“Annellia, you fool!”
“Waaah, big sister!!!”
I was startled to see the children rushing into the room all at once.
“Lulu and Mica? Tom…?”
And even Karien, Marshall, Bruno, and Rob.
‘Why are all the Evehill Orphanage kids here?’
Miel chuckled softly seeing me bewildered.
Then she placed a fluffy cushion behind my neck for support.
Owen, who had gone to gather medicinal ingredients, hadn’t returned yet.
Because of this, the wound on my back was healing slowly.
Fortunately, the pain had decreased significantly thanks to consistently taking painkillers.
The doctor couldn’t hide his amazement, saying it was remarkable that there was no infection.
Of course, there was a reason for that.
‘Either way, Owen needs to come back quickly.’
I had many things to tell him immediately.
That certain plants scattered throughout Abner’s greenhouse could heal such external wounds in no time.
And that I had been secretly treating myself little by little with those plants.
Just as I was uncomfortably adjusting my position, Ann finally entered last.
“You rascals! Didn’t I tell you Annellia is sick? What kind of children make this much noise when visiting a patient?”
The children hesitantly quieted down.
“You absolutely cannot make loud noises in this room. Anyone who wants to talk, raise your hand. Take turns.”
The first to shoot her hand up was Mica.
“Annellia! Why are you hurt? Why do you have bandages on your legs?”
Mica was one of my peers who lived with me at the orphanage.
The other children stared at me intently, waiting for an answer.
As I couldn’t hide my flustered expression, Ann shrugged and muttered.
“…We couldn’t leave the orphanage empty. Everyone came together.”
So all the orphanage family members are at Abner Manor right now?
My mouth fell open as Mica rushed to the bed.
Then she pressed close to the blanket with a fierce expression.
“I told you not to get hurt! But why are you hurt!”
“Uh, well…”
At that moment, little Lulu, who had been standing far away, plopped down on the floor.
“Is, is Sister Annellia hurt? Is Sister Annellia going to die?”
“Hic. Is, is Sister Annellia going to die? Uh, waaah…”
The sobbing that Lulu started spread throughout the room in an instant.
Everyone began crying and lying down on the floor.
My appearance, wrapped in bandages all over my body like a mummy, must have been quite shocking to the children.
Ann held her forehead.
Miel and Soya also looked at my complexion, not knowing what to do.
‘Absolute rest! Unlimited rest!’
The words the doctor had emphasized over and over came to mind.
“Ah, Young Miss, are you alright?”
Soya approached and asked.
“Your friends should be sent back for now, and later…”
But I shook my head with a meaningful expression.
“No. Annellia is fine.”
Then, after catching my breath, I quietly said one thing to the crying children.
“I have a lot of toys though.”
Mica was the first to stop crying abruptly.
“I think there’s some chocolate cake left as snacks too?”
Tom and Lulu also magically stopped crying and looked at me.
I smiled triumphantly to myself.
And delivered my final masterstroke.
“Annellia will specially share only with those who stop crying first.”
“Have you ever seen a five-year-old doing childcare?”
“No, I haven’t…”
“What about you, Director?”
“Well, Annellia is a bit special after all.”
I smiled proudly watching the three women sitting around the table having a conversation.
The orphanage friends were sitting on the floor with a large rug spread out.
Completely absorbed in playing with toys.
“Wo, woooow… Gasp!”
Tom, who had discovered something, let out a small exclamation.
“It’s a Kingdom Soldier set!”
“Where? Where?”
Kingdom Soldier set.
That was a gift from Lady Harper, who was the Dowager Empress’s lady-in-waiting and Daisy’s mother.
“He, here there’s fairy princess dolls too…”
Mica couldn’t take her eyes off the doll that Butler Grandfather had given.
“It’s a really big bear… I love bear dolls the most in the world…”
Lulu kept rubbing her face against the giant bear doll’s belly.
All the children had blissful expressions as if walking on clouds.
That’s when it happened.
“Sister Annellia! Are all these yours?”
Tom looked at me with admiring eyes.
I felt my shoulders rise with pride and quickly nodded.
“Yeah, of course.”
“Wow! Then did your mom give you all this?”
But I closed my mouth at the following question.
Lulu, who had been playing with the fairy doll, quickly turned toward me.
“Who is your mom, sister? Chloe who left before came to the orphanage yesterday yesterday! With her mom!”
Chloe was a child who had left the orphanage when I was around four years old after finding a good adoptive family.
“Is your mom super pretty too? Chloe’s mom is really pretty! She’s tall and her face is so beautiful…”
Lulu’s eyes sparkled.
The other children also opened their eyes wide, waiting for me to speak.
“Um, I…”
I hesitated and answered in a trailing voice.
“I don’t have a mom yet…”
Lulu’s eyes widened.
Tom, who was beside her, raised his small hand high.
“Then it must be your dad!”
I slowly shook my head this time too.
“…I don’t have a dad either.”
An awkward smile immediately formed.
‘How should I explain this?’
The orphanage kids seemed to think I had been adopted by this family.
Well, these children wouldn’t know what a sponsorship system is yet.
“I am, well….”
I tried to explain somehow, but Lulu made an expression as if her world had collapsed.
“How come you still don’t have a mommy and daddy…?”
“Then who gives you presents like this?”
Tom was the same way.
Even Mica, who had been burying her face in the bear doll, looked at me with a puzzled expression.
I was momentarily seized by a dazed feeling.
Come to think of it, memories from my childhood suddenly came back to me faintly.
When friends left the Orphanage one by one.
‘I envied the kids who left, they looked truly happy.’
The children who left holding their adoptive parents’ hands all had happy faces.
Such faces planted a strange hope in the children who remained.
The hope that I too could meet a good family someday.
‘These kids feel the same way.’
They firmly believe that I, who left the Orphanage, must have met a good family.
But they were shocked when I said I don’t have parents.
‘But I wasn’t adopted, I just became a sponsored child of the Abner Family.’
Sharon Abner and I aren’t family, we’re just in some kind of contractual relationship….
I hesitated, then forced a bright expression.
“I don’t have a mommy and daddy yet, but I can live Here. The Duke is a really good person so I got presents too.”
“Then is big sister still waiting for mommy and daddy Here?”
When Lulu asked, Tom chimed in too.
“Right! I thought big sister had met mommy and daddy!”
“Mm, it’s not like that….”
Lulu tilted her head.
Then she asked again as if confirming.
“But you still eat little cakes every day, right?”
“Yeah.”
For some reason my shoulders that had been raised high drooped, and I unconsciously lowered my gaze.
“Ahem.”
Someone’s low cough came from the direction of the door.
Outside the half-open door, Sharon Abner stood with Wendel in tow.
My expression brightened.
“Duke!”
The other children also looked at Sharon Abner with curious expressions.
Lulu whispered to Tom in a voice everyone could hear.
“Wow, that Duke is Annellia’s family….”
“Dummy! Annellia said she doesn’t have family yet!”
An awkward silence fell.
I blinked restlessly.
Sharon Abner strode toward me.
Then he asked hesitantly.
“How is your body feeling.”
“I’m fine! The doctor said my wounds are clean too! Except for my back….”
“Good. Are you taking your medicine properly.”
“Yes!”
Though I had no choice but to take it even by force because of the pain.
“You’re doing well.”
Sharon Abner smiled faintly, then slowly turned around.
“You there.”
And he spoke to an unexpected person.
“Yes, Duke.”
That person was Teacher Ann.
“I have something I’d like to discuss with you privately.”
Teacher Ann’s eyes widened slightly.
I tilted my head too.
‘Sharon Abner wants to have a private conversation with Teacher Ann?’
Come to think of it, it’s strange.
How did Teacher Ann and the Orphanage kids end up Here, and why was Teacher Ann injured.
There was still so much I hadn’t heard.
As I was tilting my head, I heard Sharon Abner’s low voice.
“Would you perhaps be interested in working Here at the Abner Family.”
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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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