The Oracle of the Villainous Baby - Chapter 23

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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 23
“What should we do?”
“We must find them. The Demon Clan must be rooted out from this land.”
“Yes, I’ll organize a team. Now, Bunny. The Marquis’s adjutant is waiting outside.”
“Y-yes….”
Bunny, if you’re discovered, you’re done for.
Bunny steeled herself despite her trembling body and leaped down from the sofa with a composed expression.
Upon stepping outside, a stern-faced man came into view.
The man who had exchanged light conversation with Pel approached Bunny.
Red hair, blue eyes, lips pressed into a thin line, and an expressionless face—he stood out distinctly. To Bunny’s eyes, he appeared to be someone utterly devoid of emotion.
“Good day, Bunny. I am Lebon, adjutant to the Marquis Kiriel. This is our first proper introduction.”
“H-hello. Bunny is four years old. The Marquis’s child.”
Lebon bowed in greeting, his expressionless face fixed intently upon Bunny as she returned the courtesy.
As Bunny tilted her head in confusion, he retrieved something from his jacket pocket.
“I see. If you don’t mind….”
Lebon trailed off and stepped back a few paces.
“Would you mind standing in that position for just a moment?”
“Y-yes….”
What is this?
Bunny tilted her head in bewilderment.
Click, click.
At the sound from the small sphere Lebon held, Bunny’s body jolted.
Left and right, click, click, click. Bunny turned her head, blinking as she tried to locate the source of the sound.
Click. Click. Click.
Of course, Lebon did not miss the timing.
“W-what is…?”
“Nothing at all. There was dust in the air, so I processed it with the latest machinery. The Marquis is looking for you. Would it be alright if we went to him together?”
As Lebon’s words came rapid and lengthy, Bunny’s eyes began to spin.
As Bunny’s body swayed, Lebon carefully cradled her in his arms.
“Allow me to escort you.”
“Y-yes….”
Bunny’s heavy eyelids fluttered before her head suddenly drooped.
“You must have been quite tired.”
Lebon carefully steadied Bunny’s head to prevent it from falling as he walked slowly forward.
By the time they reached the room, Bunny had already fallen fast asleep.
* * *
Breathe, breathe—
At the sound of breathing echoing through the usually silent space, Kiriel Yudia slowly turned his head.
Two children occupied his bed, sleeping soundly.
It was Bunny, whom Lebon had brought earlier, and Allen, who had come searching for Bunny in his room and, upon finding her asleep, had curled up beside her before drifting off himself.
I had never once entertained the thought of raising a child for life. I had never felt the inclination to take responsibility for anyone. To exist as though present and absent simultaneously—that was Kiriel Yudia’s philosophy.
The world was structured to exploit the capable, and such exploitation was deemed inevitable.
A realm where the powerful were condemned for not dispensing their strength, where the talented were reviled for not wielding their abilities for the masses.
In that world, my brother—once hailed as a “hero”—crumbled and vanished.
He met his end in the war against the Demon Clan before reaching thirty.
A wretched death: neither his whereabouts nor his corpse could be recovered. The manner of his demise remained unknowable.
Until I stormed the Demon King’s Castle and faced the Demon King herself.
“A hero? You mean your precious hero? That wretch who wept beneath my feet, begging for his life? He was utterly contemptible. He screamed himself hoarse about changing the Demon Clan, even as he was drenched in blood, even as his limbs were severed one by one.”
“A corpse? A corpse, you say… Let me think. Where did I dispose of it? Perhaps I fed it to the dogs, or to the demonic beasts… A hero is truly beneath contempt. How amusing he was, trembling and unable to retreat despite being on the verge of collapse from the pathetic expectations of humanity…”
When I arrived at the Demon King’s Castle, drenched in blood from slaughtering demons, the Demon King who spoke of my brother’s death was beautiful.
Yes, a beautiful woman.
And more cruel than anyone I had ever known.
Each word dripped with malice that overflowed and rippled outward—this was surely the incarnation of evil that the Demon Clan worshipped.
Vast black wings stretched across the expansive hall.
Two enormous horns stood firm and proud.
Sharp fangs gleaming.
Seething black demonic power writhing with savage intensity.
“Just as I heard—stubborn, skilled, and utterly devoid of charm… Wretched human… Does your world truly call you the next hero?… That one will weep again…”
After the fierce battle, when I drove my sword through the Demon King’s heart, her parting words—like a curse—still clouded my mind.
“Wretched human… Does your world truly call you the next hero?…”
The esteemed eldest son of the Yudia Family possessed a somewhat tender heart, yet he was unquestionably a true hero who had summoned the sword of a hero destined to annihilate the Demon Clan.
But because he was a hero, my brother had to stand at the frontlines of the war against the Demon Clan, had to battle the Demon King, and ultimately met a wretched end.
That was to be my future as well.
So after the war ended, I released the sword from my grip. I ceased summoning divine beasts.
I ventured nowhere, merely sprawled endlessly in my room—decorated as the Temple Prayer Room—sleeping away my days.
I helped no one. I spoke kindly to no one.
Instead of leading by example, I chose indifference. I relinquished everything I held and abandoned it all.
I became dissolute like a wastrel, indulging in food and pleasure, drowning in apathy.
Years passed in this manner.
Kiriel Yudia was still called the hero of the Demon King’s War, yet no one harbored expectations of me anymore.
To live unnoticed, to be gradually forgotten—that was the path.
That was what Kiriel Yudia desired.
Yet despite this, my declaration to adopt Bunny and Allen—those troublesome hot potatoes—was…
Because I sensed the presence of demonic power that unsettled me.
The fact that only I perceived it likely meant the power was not particularly strong.
Kiriel Yudia’s nature was somewhat unusual, making me exceptionally sensitive to demonic auras.
“Daddy, daddy! Bunny and Snake don’t have a mommy and daddy. So we should all be together…”
“What?! I don’t need that nonsense. You’re just a brat far younger than me—get lost! You worthless thing!”
“But Bunny… It’s Bunny’s turn…”
Or perhaps it was because I glimpsed my brother in the child’s unwavering spirit as he gently stroked his own head—a resolve that would never yield.
“Bunny, big demon….”
Kiriel gently stroked the child’s head a couple of times as she murmured in her sleep, then settled into the empty space on the bed.
The two children burrowed into his warmth, and Kiriel hesitated for a moment before slowly rolling his eyes and gently closing them.
Kiriel’s arm had already come to rest over the children’s bodies.
* * *
Bunny was serious.
Because….
“Hey, this is that bastard child, right? The one who begged for adoption.”
“Yeah, seriously looks pathetic.”
“The way she wanders around sniffling everywhere is so annoying.”
The crisis that Luriel had warned about had arrived.
‘Bunny, bullying…!’
It was something all the protagonists in the “28 Romance Fantasy Novels for Young Demons” that Bunny had heard about from Luriel had experienced—a necessary ordeal to become a true protagonist.
‘If I get bullied, then Bunny becomes a real protagonist.’
Heh.
Bunny let out a scoff and smirk, shrugging her shoulders as the boys clustered around her.
Bunny was not afraid. Because until now, she had imagined experiencing such things countless times.
‘Bunny is super big and super amazing and perfectly invincible.’
Having already imagined so many scenarios, she was not hurt by the words of these mere children.
Heh.
Bunny scoffed again and thrust her chest forward proudly.
“Hey, loser! Stop showing off! Your face is so ugly!”
She was not hurt by such words. Bunny was a magnificent adult, after all.
“You tiny thing. Do you think carrying that rabbit-shaped backpack makes you cute? It just makes you uglier!”
…She was not hurt by such words either.
The chest she had thrust forward quietly retreated.
“Right, right, who would carry such a ridiculous animal-shaped bag in the first place? You have no sense of nobility whatsoever, do you?”
Bunny was a magnificent adult….
“Ahahaha! As if she’d have any sense. I always thought something smelled terribly foul whenever she came near.”
“Smell? What kind of smell?”
An adult….
“The smell of a commoner~!”
Puhahahaha!
As laughter erupted and rough hands shoved her shoulders repeatedly, Bunny’s patience finally snapped.

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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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