The Oracle of the Villainous Baby - Chapter 4
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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 4
I laid out the belongings I’d brought with me in a neat row, then arranged the daily necessities Roden had received on my behalf beside them. Towels, pajamas, a pillow, and a toothbrush—the essentials.
I picked up each item with my small hands and organized them carefully. After arranging Toto, the Demon King Bear Doll, and even an elephant plushie along the bedside, I exhaled a long sigh and wiped away sweat that hadn’t even begun to form with the back of my hand.
Knock, knock.
At the sound of the knock, I sprang to my feet.
“Yes!”
I rose onto my tiptoes with determination, bounced up, and dangled from the doorknob to open it.
The moment the door swung open, I saw a woman with crimson hair dressed in a maid’s uniform. Her expression was just as stern and expressionless as Roden Heiner’s, and she bowed respectfully in greeting.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Bunny. I am Jessie, the maid who will be assisting you from today onward. I look forward to serving you.”
“Hello there, Demon King—”
Oh no! If she finds out I’m destined to become the great Demon King, she’ll eat me alive!
Even the Crab is dangerous in the Udiah Duchy!
“I mean, I’m four-year-old Bunny, who dreams of becoming a lawyer!”
At my grand declaration, Jessie’s cheek twitched slightly.
The maid quickly composed her expression and produced what she’d been holding in her arms.
“Yes. I’ve brought the necessary materials. This contains your schedule, and you will begin your classes in Class F, the easiest class. From there, you may advance to Class A depending on your grades.”
At the rapid-fire explanation, I blinked my eyes.
“Since you’re unfamiliar with everything, I plan to guide you to the Classroom for the first week.”
“Okay…”
This Dormitory Mansion is called the ‘Mansion of Trials,’ and it’s a boarding school operated on a grand scale by the Udiah Duchy to identify talented individuals and ensure they receive thorough foundational education.”
“Okay…”
I nodded my head with a vacant expression.
Seeing that I clearly hadn’t understood a thing, Jessie knelt down to meet my eyes and spoke again.
“In other words, you simply need to attend classes during class hours each day. Can you read?”
“Yes! Bunny is a genius!”
I puffed up with pride and shrugged my shoulders. Jessie’s lips curved into a small smile as she watched my tiny mouth rise in a smirk.
“Excellent. If you can read, you’ll be able to climb the ranks quickly. And there will be a summoning ceremony coming up soon—if you summon a powerful familiar there, your rank will jump up immediately.”
“A familiar?”
“Yes. All those who carry the blood of the Duke’s House can summon divine beasts or divine creatures. The Udiah Duchy is blessed with divine grace.”
Creak.
My head turned slowly with a grinding sound.
‘But I… don’t have divine blessing…?!’
Luriel had said so.
Divine power and demonic power are contradictory forces. When strong divine power touches a weak demon, they turn to ash and the demon’s body crumbles to dust.
‘I’m doomed…’
Bunny’s future as a pile of ashes…?
“What if I can’t summon?”
“Pardon?”
“What if I can’t summon one?”
“There has never been a case where summoning failed. Do not worry. If you carry the blood of the Duke’s House, you will surely be able to summon.”
Rumble, crash!
Thunder and lightning struck once more, surrounding only Bunny.
Bunny, woof woof, a grave crisis….
Already the second time!
Because….
‘Bunny… is she even human, really…?’
Luriel had said it once before.
Demons and humans were fundamentally different.
As Bunny remained frozen like a statue, unmoving, Jessie tilted her head slightly and opened her mouth.
“Then I shall return to escort you at mealtime. You must be quite exhausted, so please rest comfortably.”
“Y-yes….”
With a click, the door closed behind Jessie, and Bunny immediately scrambled onto the bed, throwing herself down with a thud.
“Luriel… Bunny’s totally doomed….”
With only that one word she knew to express despair, Bunny cried out her doom once again.
* * *
“As commanded, I have brought Miss Bunny from the Orphanage. Your Grace.”
Roden Heiner bowed his head as he made his report.
An elderly man, who had been processing towering stacks of documents, slowly lifted his head.
His eyes, with their outer corners sharply raised as if in a perpetual glare, held a stern expression; his mouth was set in a firm, unwavering line; and his blue eyes were accompanied by silver hair that had faded slightly with age, appearing somewhat dull.
Buttons fastened all the way to his neck, his posture perfectly upright without the slightest tilt or dishevelment, seemed to embody the man’s unyielding nature.
Though advanced in years, he appeared remarkably vigorous for someone with three grown children.
“Has the child’s parentage not yet been revealed?”
“No, Your Grace. We have not yet discovered it.”
“When my partner suddenly informed me that the family bloodline existed in some unknown orphanage, I wondered what was afoot….”
The elderly man clicked his tongue in displeasure at the prospect of the family expanding.
Once he discovered which fool had abandoned their child at a facility without taking responsibility, he would not let them off lightly.
The Udiah Duchy had inherited the blood of the divine through generations—a sacred lineage.
If the blood ran true, whether thick or thin, most could summon sacred beings; thus they managed their bloodline meticulously.
They did not wish for the blood to leak carelessly and overflow into the world.
Yet as time passed and their numbers grew, a considerable portion of those now living in the Territory were distant branches of the Duchy.
Indeed, because of that bloodline, one had to undergo a ceremony to sever the divine blessing in order to leave the Duchy.
The reason the originally small Udiah Duchy had suddenly expanded so dramatically was entirely due to plans promoted by predecessors several generations prior.
A plan to create an army composed solely of those bearing the Duchy’s bloodline—individuals capable of summoning sacred beings.
The current Marquis, Ludbreed Yudia, had shaken his head at this mad scheme since childhood, yet all he had managed to do was inherit the title at the most inconvenient moment.
Even this child was already the second defector.
One had borne a child with a beastkin, and another had created a bastard and abandoned them outside.
As the numbers grew unmanageable, he had decided to end this entire “Mansion of Trials” business in his own generation.
If the children currently in his care failed to reach the standard by age twenty, he planned to sever the blessing of the child and their entire family through ceremony, and provide them with financial support instead.
Otherwise, he simply could not manage this madly proliferating—and ever-growing—collateral line.
“She seemed to have grown up at the orphanage for quite some time. What sort of child was she?”
“….”
At the Marquis Ludbreed Yudia’s question, Roden Heiner’s thoughts drifted momentarily to Bunny—her plump cheeks as she trudged along with a bag nearly as large as herself, the radiant brightness of her smile, those adorably tiny sausage-like fingers.
“She was quite adorable.”
“…What?”
He had asked about her character and temperament, and the man called her cute? What in the world was he talking about?
Ludbreed Yudia stared at him with an expression of utter bewilderment, but Roden Heiner made no attempt to correct himself.
* * *
“Yes, then best of luck with your first lesson, Miss Bunny.”
“Yep! Bunny’s gonna read and become a genius great de…!”
King.
…is a secret!
Trailing off mid-sentence, Bunny struck a fighting pose, then cutely shouldered her rabbit-shaped bag with its dangling limbs and pattered into the classroom, settling into the front-most seat.
The desk and chair at the very front were noticeably smaller than all the others.
‘Get a perfect score and become a young lady of the Duke’s House!’
Bunny pulled out her book, placed it on the desk, and set her bag down beside her.
“Now then, today’s lesson begins on page twenty-seven of the textbook. Would anyone like to volunteer to read the first page? Please raise your hand.”
Hmph.
At the Teacher’s words, Bunny let out a scoff, her proud little nose held high as she thrust her right hand up eagerly.
For Bunny, this was child’s play—easy as could be!
“Oh! Our new student today…ah, you must be Miss Bunny, yes? Then would you be so kind as to read the first page for us?”
“Yep!”
Bunny rose from her seat and opened the textbook with triumphant confidence.
“….”
And then silence fell.
The page was filled with strange, twisted characters. Only then did Bunny grasp a crucial truth.
“Miss Bunny?”
“….”
Bunny doesn’t understand human language.
“I…I can’t read this….”
Bunny murmured softly, her face trembling on the verge of tears.
All Bunny knew was the magnificent demon tongue she had diligently studied under Luriel’s instruction since childhood.
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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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