The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 68

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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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“Dinner?”

Sharon Abner, who had been reviewing documents, looked up.

Behind the nodding Wendel, she could see the maids attending to Annellia.

“She suddenly wants to have dinner with me.”

Annellia always ate dinner alone.

From when she first took her in, it had been her own way of being considerate, in case it might be uncomfortable.

“I asked what she wanted to do, and she said she’d like to have dinner with you, my lady…”

Sharon Abner looked bewildered and slightly furrowed her brow.

‘Is this proposal praise for Annellia doing well in her role here?’

‘I’ll become independent right away when the Duke wants me to.’

When she had suggested adoption, the child’s serious response came to mind.

The child had spoken as if she was certain that someday she would be cast out.

She seemed to think that the reason for her adoption was also because she had been helpful to the family so far.

‘…Perhaps she wasn’t afraid of me.’

Sharon Abner narrowed her brow.

Naturally, that wasn’t the reason she had decided to adopt the child.

She was the sole survivor of the Michaeliann bloodline.

What that meant was simple.

Sharon Abner had been in quite a similar situation to Annellia when she was five years old.

But she had been fine.

‘Even though I was left alone in the world one day, I had a husband who took me in.’

Her husband Lloyd was the person who had brought her, left alone, to the Abner Duchy and made her family.

Sharon Abner could never forget the childhood days she had spent with the Abner family.

‘I thought that child should also have someone like my husband.’

Whenever the fact that Annellia was officially alone came to mind, she felt strangely concerned.

It became even more so after the child’s friends from Evehill Orphanage came.

‘Annellia can’t be adopted now.’

‘She’s already come here. Annellia will stay here until she becomes an adult.’

It wasn’t just the orphanage children who were bothered by the fact that only that child wouldn’t be able to meet a family.

So, at first, she had even considered having Annellia adopted by another excellent noble family.

After all, sponsorship was possible even if the child had a different surname.

But when she actually tried to put that plan into action, it strangely felt like her stomach was twisting.

‘Grandmother Dowager Empress!’

Especially when she imagined Annellia calling someone else grandmother the way she had called the Dowager Empress…!

Sharon Abner suddenly stood up from her seat.

The two maids and Wendel looked at her with surprised faces.

She said resolutely.

“Let’s have dinner together.”

She needed to check if the child was doing well anyway.

Now she and the child were family.

‘Especially if she wasn’t uncomfortable with me after all.’

“I’ll arrange an occasion to introduce the child to the outside world soon. Come to think of it, there will be a lot to prepare.”

Gradually, various things that needed to be done came to mind.

Sharon Abner wanted to completely renovate the child’s room first.

“First, I need to find out what that child likes.”

Somehow, she felt her determination burning.

If the child became comfortable living as a duke’s daughter in this estate and gained peace of mind.

Perhaps she might call her by that title at least once?

“You all keep this in mind too. From now on, dress her only in better clothes and feed her only more expensive food. As you already know, that child still needs to gain much more weight.”

The two maids nodded enthusiastically.

Wendel was also listening seriously with a grave expression.

“So about having twenty-four guards…”

“Right. That was indeed too few. I’ll assign that many more.”

“…Pardon?”

I froze with my fork halfway to my mouth.

Sharon Abner and I were quietly having our meal at the prepared table.

‘What? I was trying to say I have too many guards.’

“Servants. Don’t you need more servants?”

I blinked with a bewildered face and hesitantly waved my hand.

“Oh, no. Annellia is already very…!”

“Right. It must have been very uncomfortable. Indeed, how could just two people attend to all your needs?”

“Huh?”

“Originally, a duke’s daughter should have at least three or four servants. I’ll assign two more to you as well. No, three?”

My head was spinning, so I put down my fork entirely.

However, Sharon Abner’s words didn’t end there.

“And I’ll arrange an occasion to introduce you to society soon. There happens to be a suitable event as well.”

“A, a suitable event…?”

“Isn’t it almost autumn? His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday banquet is just around the corner. At this birthday banquet, our Abner family is scheduled to receive great recognition from His Majesty, so it will be an appropriate occasion.”

My eyes widened.

Receiving recognition from the Emperor?

If it’s something worthy of that…

“Do you know about the Eastern Continent?”

Sharon Abner put down her utensils and met my gaze.

I nodded.

“As you may have heard, there’s a war raging on the Eastern Continent. The Eastern Continent Alliance and the Kingdom of Pantaon are fighting.”

Of course, I already knew this.

I was the one who gave Tian war information to make this contract happen.

But I continued listening, pretending not to know.

“We supported the Eastern Continent Alliance with weapons, and as a result, they gained the upper hand.”

“Wow…”

“Currently, the Eastern Continent’s victory seems certain. The war didn’t last very long either. Many say it’s thanks to our weapons.”

A faint smile appeared on Sharon Abner’s lips.

I quickly chimed in.

“That’s really great! So His Majesty the Emperor is giving Abner an award?”

“That’s right. And I want you to receive that award from His Majesty.”

“Me, me?”

“Yes. You.”

When Sharon Abner gestured, the chefs rushed over and cleared the plate in front of her.

“I heard you said such things to the Crown Prince. That the Eastern Continent trade routes were blocked.”

My eyes widened.

‘Tian told her that?’

I was so flustered that I couldn’t close my mouth.

He was just beginning to establish his position in the Imperial Palace.

So the story about me providing information on the Eastern Continent could have been omitted.

If that had happened, she could have certainly taken all the credit for herself, right?

‘That’s exactly why I deliberately sent it through a letter!’

“She said everything was possible thanks to you. So you should personally receive the gift His Majesty will bestow.”

“Th, that’s…”

“Now as a truly proper member of Abner.”

I eventually closed my mouth.

Too many assigned guards.

Too much allocated budget.

And who knows how many more servants will be added.

I clearly came to remove a burden, but it felt like another huge burden had been attached instead.

After finishing the meal, I trudged toward the main manor.

Logrio was following behind me at a consistent distance.

This was his special measure because I found the guards so uncomfortable.

‘I cannot abandon protecting the young lady. This is an order from both His Highness the Crown Prince and Duke Abner. So…’

‘…?’

‘I’ll make the other guards stay out of sight. Except for me, that is. This is to ensure complete safety.’

I glanced back at Logrio with dejected eyes.

That Logrio, who should have been Tian’s loyal aide by now.

‘Everything’s ruined…’

Somehow the situation kept getting more tangled.

My guards increased to a total of forty today.

It was because Sharon Abner had added another squad.

Even though I shouted desperately at the end, ‘I don’t need that many! Really!’, it was useless.

‘The escort only needs to be as much as necessary. Have about twenty lie in ambush, and have the remaining twenty guard all four directions in groups of five. Yes. That would be perfect.’

Yet Sharon Abner herself only had Wendel as her single guard!

‘Logrio alone would be enough for me too…’

Logrio was an excellent knight.

Enough to maintain quite impressive swordsmanship skills even after losing the wrist he mainly used in his previous life.

‘But on top of that, thirty-nine more Abner knights…’

The more I thought about it, the more I sighed and drooped my eyebrows.

“It’s burdensome. Really incredibly burdensome…”

Muttering spilled out continuously.

‘Why is Sharon Abner acting like this?’

She just needed to treat me moderately, like a temporary princess.

There were more than a few incomprehensible aspects to her behavior.

‘Let’s have dinner together every day from now on. Unless I’m away from the castle.’

‘Wh, what?’

‘Seeing that you also wanted to dine with me, we are… th, ahem. We are now…’

‘…?’

‘Anyway, we’ll eat together. You should know that.’

She devoured her dinner in an instant, then stared intently at me throughout the entire meal.

She seemed exactly like someone who had come to the dining table just to watch me eat.

Every time she showed that serious look in her eyes, the cooks kept bringing out new dishes.

As a result, I felt like my stomach was about to burst.

Just as I was waddling along with a heavy heart.

“Annellia?”

From far away, across the garden, someone’s voice could be heard.

When I looked up, a welcome face was coming toward me.

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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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