The Oracle of the Villainous Baby - Chapter 172
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 172
Still, I had much to accomplish.
When all the Demon Clan Members returned, I had to ensure that war would not break out again. To do that, I first needed to convince the High Priest that I was not a bad person.
With my fists clenched, I threw myself onto the bed.
Today had been rather exhausting.
* * *
Recently, High Priest Michael Lobanov had been at his wit’s end.
It had been good to find and protect his younger sister Arha Lobanov, who had lost her memory. When Salome Yudia had happened to find the pendant his sister had lost and returned it, he felt grateful.
It was also good when his sister, upon receiving it back, said her memories had returned.
But that was where it ended.
Her face had brightened only briefly when her memories returned. Then suddenly, as she looked at him, tears streamed down her face, and after that, she had locked herself in her room all day, doing nothing but crying.
She didn’t eat, didn’t drink water properly, consumed nothing adequately—just shed tears every single day.
When I asked why she was crying, she wouldn’t answer, only bursting into sobs. There was nothing I could do for a child like that.
Unable to even ask why she was crying, I could only pace back and forth beside her.
Recently, she had even attempted self-harm, making me even more cautious. Fearing she might harbor dark thoughts, I couldn’t even approach her freely.
“…I have no idea what to do.”
I rubbed my face roughly.
I couldn’t leave my one remaining precious family member like this. No matter how much I pressed, coaxed, or pleaded, she wouldn’t open her mouth—what could I possibly do?
As I came out onto the terrace and crouched down from exhaustion, burying my face in my palms to compose myself, it happened.
“Hello.”
Suddenly, a voice echoed from empty air, and I lifted my head abruptly.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
The moment I raised my head, I collided violently with something hanging above me.
Michael grabbed his head with both palms, reeling from the sensation of having struck a stone, and slowly lifted his head again.
“…Demon King?”
Above my head hung Bunny with her pitch-black wings spread wide, grinning like some sort of bat suspended upside down in the sky. At this bizarre sight, my jaw dropped.
“Did you come to kill me?”
“No…?”
Bunny flipped right-side up and strode right up to my face, leaning in close.
Her eyes widened round.
“What would I gain from killing you?”
“How did you even infiltrate here? This is the sacred Holy Temple….”
“If it’s sacred power, I have that too.”
Pure white sacred power floated up from Bunny’s palm.
Horns sprouted from her head.
Pitch-black wings.
Pupils slit vertically like a beast’s.
Despite possessing all of these, the sacred power she manifested was far purer and more potent than mine.
How was such a thing even possible?
The Divine bestowed upon humanity the power to vanquish evil. Thus, the Holy Temple was born, and with it came the Priesthood.
Yet if that power were to fall into the hands of the very evil it was meant to destroy, how could one possibly interpret the Divine’s will?
Was that creature human?
Or was it a demon?
This was what tormented Michael.
The Demon King had never directly harmed them.
When driven out, she packed her things and left of her own accord. Then she simply returned on a whim.
“Didn’t you return to the Demon Realm?”
“I did go back. But being expelled felt unfair. I haven’t done anything wrong—I was simply born a Demon Clan Member. Yet I’m called evil for that.”
“Do you know what I lost in the Holy Demon War because of your kind?!”
As Michael raised his voice, Bunny blinked.
Fury roiled in Michael’s eyes as his fists clenched. Bunny gazed at him in silence for a long moment, then slowly tilted her head.
“I lost things too.”
Bunny spoke quietly.
“…!”
“I lost my Mother and Father. I lost my uncles too. I lost so much.”
Bunny spoke matter-of-factly.
Michael’s eyes widened, then slowly contracted. Exhaustion etched itself across his face as he breathed heavily. Confusion began to cloud his gaze.
“War is like that. It’s not just you who loses—I lose too. So why did that war start in the first place?”
Bunny asked quietly, and Michael fell silent. He had never once considered the war’s origin.
“Did the Demon Clan start that war? Did we?”
Indeed. Who had started that war first?
As Bunny’s eyes grew quieter and more still, Michael’s eyes began to tremble with increasing intensity.
‘A war begun to vanquish evil….’
That was all he had ever been taught.
But if it was ‘begun to vanquish evil,’ then wasn’t it only right to say that humanity had started the war?
Because he had never delved that deeply into the matter, he found himself unable to speak.
The Demon Clan was evil—he had always believed that regardless of how it began, the Demon Clan was naturally wicked.
Not only him, but everyone would think the same.
“I don’t want to fight. And I’ve lived righteously all this time. I want to be a good Demon King. I want to get along with humans. I want to exchange visits with Father often, and travel around. But you’re getting in my way.”
Bunny spoke.
Her words carried desire, yet it was not a wicked desire. She wasn’t coveting or trying to seize anything—she simply wished for connection with humanity.
“So I decided to remove you.”
“…In the end, you’re trying to kill me.”
Michael uttered the same words as before.
Bunny’s face crumpled.
His words had irritated her from the start!
“No! I came to ask what your grievances are! How can I help the Demon Clan and humans get along? I need your help!”
“What…?”
He let out a hollow laugh.
So the Demon King came to me asking me to help humans and the Demon Clan get along? She needs my assistance?
‘What in the world….’
I let out an incredulous laugh.
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“Roel will help me. So if you just help too, it’ll be perfect! Demons and humans can be friends again!”
“You think it makes sense for humans and demons to get along? Demons are inherently violent by nature—whenever they’re around humans, all that happens is fighting…!”
“That’s because you’re always hostile to them! Of course the Demon Clan gets annoyed and irritable! Have you ever once tried treating them kindly?! I’m completely fed up with how you act!”
“Ha! This is absurd. Is this how someone asks for a favor?”
“You don’t listen properly even when I ask nicely! You idiot!”
“If I’m an idiot, what does that make you, you beast!”
“Wow, that’s really harsh. Should I tell Father and Grandfather about this? Should I? I’ll spread it everywhere and tell Roel too!”
“How childish. I don’t understand why I should play along with your word games. Stop spouting nonsense and get out. There’s nothing I can help you with.”
He scoffed and turned his head away sharply. He was clearly aware that this had devolved into a childish argument.
‘If I keep talking, I’ll lose my mind.’
The moment he shook his head and turned to leave with a sigh.
“What if I help your younger brother?”
“What?”
“I’ll talk to your younger brother about what the problem is and how to solve it, then let you know. Otherwise, your brother might die. You know that.”
Bunny already knew the entire future. That’s why it seemed like I could help somehow.
‘If he wants revenge on someone, I can make that happen.’
If someone he cared about died, he’d be furious.
So he might want to do something terrible to that person.
And Bunny was the Demon King!
That meant I was the great Demon King of evil who could do anything like that. So I could definitely help.
‘But it’s a secret since he’d hate it if I told him.’
Michael looked at Bunny with a suspicious expression before speaking.
“…How exactly would you…. Don’t tell me you’re the one who made my brother like that….”
“No. I haven’t done anything. I just came to help. I wanted you to know that I’m not a bad Demon King.”
At Bunny’s words, Michael closed his mouth. I know. What I just said was incredibly narrow-minded.
Bunny hadn’t done anything. In the first place, there was no possibility she’d done something to my brother back then. Isn’t it me that my brother is avoiding now?
….
But is it right to entrust my brother to this child?
“It’s fine. I’ve never had anyone hate me so far.”
Bunny folded her wings and descended, smiling with confidence.
“Hmm, probably.”
Without horns, wings, or vertically slit pupils, Bunny was simply human itself.
Bunny, who had tumbled from the air, grinned and widened her eyes round.
Michael stared intently at Bunny standing before me.
A child.
If I hadn’t just seen the Demon King’s form, Bunny would have seemed so ordinary that she could be described with just a single word: child.
Bunny slowly closed her eyes, then opened them again.
“….”
“Should I help you? Or not?”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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