The Oracle of the Villainous Baby - Chapter 75

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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 75
“….”
He released his grip on the sword he’d been clutching so tightly, then swept his hair back roughly. The moment his eyes closed and opened again—
“…Bunny?”
Bunny had somehow wrapped her robe completely around herself and now stood before Kiriel, looking utterly forlorn.
With the dusty robe pulled up over her head, Bunny gripped the hood with both hands and pulled it down firmly before speaking.
“Father… do you… not like Bunny anymore?”
At the dispirited voice of the child, Kiriel’s eyes widened dramatically.
In that single dejected tone, every thought and worry that had filled his mind vanished in an instant.
“…Bunny, are you being abandoned?”
“….”
“If Father doesn’t like Bunny… Bunny will go somewhere else.”
Thump.
At the sound of his heart dropping, he opened his mouth.
“Go where.”
“…Bunny will sell herself. Bunny will find another father to raise her….”
Kiriel’s brow furrowed as he looked down at the child, whose face was hidden beneath the hood’s fabric as she spoke with her head bowed.
“Father, Bunny isn’t the only one. Bunny is actually quite grown up, so Bunny alone would be fine, but Noel seems like she might die….”
He knelt on one knee and tried to meet Bunny’s gaze. Or rather, he tried to. Had Bunny not buried her head even deeper.
“Bunny, look at Father.”
Kneeling on one knee, Kiriel gazed intently at the child and opened his mouth.
At his characteristically gentle voice, tinged with weariness, Bunny—who had kept her eyes squeezed shut—slowly lifted her head.
“Bunny.”
“…Yes?”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
There was so much he wanted to say.
So much he wanted to ask. But he couldn’t. The child who had lifted her head was staring at him with frightened, clouded eyes.
Eyes brimming with tears—like an ordinary child on the verge of being scolded.
Without a word, he reached out and slowly pulled away the robe that had engulfed her.
Her eyes had returned to their lovely pink hue as if nothing had happened, and the horns and wings I’d glimpsed earlier had vanished.
“…You’ve got a wound on your cheek.”
Her pale cheek was slightly swollen, and above the small scratch marks, dried blood stained her skin.
Something roiled within him, and Kiriel’s face hardened like stone.
Carefully, he reached out and gently rubbed Bunny’s cheek with his thumb, trying not to hurt her.
Bunny’s eye twitched slightly, as if it stung.
“Didn’t I tell you not to go anywhere alone when Father goes out?”
“Yes… so Bunny brought Noel with her….”
At Bunny’s answer, Kiriel felt like he might lose his mind. He lifted his hand to his forehead, barely swallowing the sigh that threatened to burst out before forcing himself to speak.
“You should have brought an adult. A guard knight or Lebon, at least.”
“….”
Bunny pressed her lips firmly shut and lowered her head.
She had wanted it to be a surprise gift, so she hoped Lebon wouldn’t find out. She had planned to give it to Father the moment he returned, but…
As Bunny turned her head away, her eyes brimmed with tears. The box, shattered into fragments and crumpled beyond recognition, upset her terribly. She had chosen it with such care.
A soft sniffle escaped her.
“Why did you come all this way to the Capital?”
At his gentle question, tears finally streamed down Bunny’s cheeks. As the sorrowful droplets fell one after another, Kiriel’s lips moved helplessly, searching for words.
“Father…”
“Me?”
“Father’s… to buy Father a sacred object… hic… but it all broke… hic… some people just… just smashed it… wahhh…”
As Bunny burst into sobs, her trembling finger pointed to a gift box wedged in the corner.
In truth, calling it a gift box was generous—its condition was utterly tragic. It appeared to have been stomped on with tremendous force.
A wave of nausea washed over him.
A dull ache pierced his heart, and an odd sensation of unease rippled through him. Kiriel blinked very slowly.
“…Why a gift for me?”
“Father’s birthday is coming… so Bunny wanted to make Father happy… hic… wanted to buy a gift… wahhh…”
Birthday.
Amid the jumbled words, that was the only thing he could clearly understand, but he grasped what the child had been trying to do.
Watching the child cry so pitifully, Kiriel rose silently from his kneeling position and retrieved the box in his hands.
From within came the sound of clinking and shattering—clearly something made of glass had broken inside.
“You were trying to give this to me as a birthday gift?”
“Yes… hic.”
“Thank you. I’ll repair this, so stop crying now. Be good, yes?”
At Kiriel’s soothing voice, Bunny blinked her eyes. Fat teardrops rolled down her cheeks in succession.
“Sniff… hic.”
“That’s right. Good girl.”
Kiriel secured the box in one hand and stood. Then, after checking Roel’s body sprawled to the side, he lifted the boy effortlessly and placed him atop his Divine Beast.
“Is Noel… okay?”
“Yes, he’ll be fine. He has some bruises and internal injuries, but nothing life-threatening. He’ll recover quickly.”
A soft sniff.
Bunny rubbed her eye sockets with the back of her hand.
Kiriel carefully extended his arms and cradled the child against his chest. Bunny instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, rested her cheek on his shoulder, and hiccupped softly, again and again.
“Is that Father’s Heu-Gyeom Dragon?”
“Not the Heugyeomryong—it’s an Azure Dragon.”
“Father came to rescue Bunny.”
Bunny let out a small laugh and rubbed her wet face against his chest, delighted.
Holding the warmth of the child in his arms, he felt his turbulent heart gradually settle and calm.
“From now on, you must never go out alone.”
“Okay…”
“And not with other children either.”
Seeing she was about to protest that she hadn’t been alone, Kiriel cut her off before she could speak.
“The only ones who saw Bunny become a Demon Clan member were that bastard from earlier… or rather, those wicked men, right?”
“Yes.”
“Right.”
Kiriel murmured softly to himself and nodded.
‘If I kill those bastards, there’s no evidence left.’
There was still a trace of the Demon Clan member’s magical power lingering, but if I detonated it, nothing would remain.
In truth, I wanted to keep them alive and interrogate them relentlessly about what they were after and where they intended to take her, but that would only invite unnecessary trouble.
“Bunny, will you promise me something?”
“A pwomise…?”
“Yes. Unless it’s an extremely dangerous moment, you must never reveal this form to anyone. If you do… you won’t be able to stay with Father anymore.”
Gasp!
Bunny’s eyes widened in shock, and she covered her small mouth with her tiny hands.
“Only if it’s vewy vewy dangerous?”
“Then you must use it. Your survival is what matters most.”
“…But then Father won’t be with me?”
“…Probably not.”
After a long silence, I answered very quietly, then carefully patted Bunny’s back.
“Is it because Bunny is a Demon Clan member?”
“….”
Instead of answering, I clenched my fists tightly.
Crack—!
The pale blue Water Prison I had created instantly turned deep crimson. No one inside struggled anymore.
“Bunny.”
“Yes….”
“No matter what happens from now on, whenever you reach out your hand, I will always grasp it. Never forget that, ever.”
At my words, Bunny tilted her head in confusion. She didn’t understand at all. Even now, whenever she reached out her hand, Father always held it firmly.
“Father’s words are hard.”
“You are my daughter, and I am your Father. That’s what it means.”
At those resolute words, Bunny giggled and nodded. At her confident nod, I patted the child’s back.
Phoenix.
Demon Clan.
The ability to prophesy.
I was certain—this child would be caught in countless storms ahead. She would become lonely, isolated, and in the end, perhaps no one would remain.
“If you wish it….”
No matter the circumstances, even if we were to meet as enemies in the future, if the child reached out her hand and spoke through tears asking for help….
“I will always help you.”
Even if it were a false trap spun by a child who had become the adult she desired, transformed into something no different from the countless Demon Clan members I had slain.

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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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