The Oracle of the Villainous Baby - Chapter 83

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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 83
“Chirp chirp!!”
The Phoenix, who had been dozing on one side, suddenly opened its eyes and soared in a wide circle above my head.
Whoosh!
Flames blooming from the Phoenix’s body cascaded downward like shimmering starlight, raining down in brilliant sparks.
As if blessing this very moment.
A faint smile spread across my lips. The warmth spreading from my chest felt strangely unfamiliar.
I lifted my hand and pressed it gently against my chest.
My world had always been cool and cold, simultaneously drained of all color, which made this peculiar.
Whenever the child slipped into that world, it bloomed with hue. The monochromatic existence became vibrant, and something seemed to sprout within emotions that had long lay dormant.
It felt like emotions I had lost to the Demon Clan’s curse were returning.
‘That child is ultimately a Demon Clan member too….’
Yet amusingly, I felt no desire to push her away.
I carefully reached out and stroked the child’s head.
“Hehe.”
Seeing the child accept my touch—which everyone else avoided and rejected as filthy—with such ease and smile so brightly, I found myself unconsciously pulling Bunny into my embrace.
“Happy birthday, Bunny.”
“…Yes!!”
Bunny, who answered with all her might, suddenly wrapped her arms around me tightly.
‘Please let Bunny become a great Demon King and get along well with everyone.’
It was a peaceful moment where only this small wish lingered.
* * *
After celebrating joyfully with everyone in the Chocolate-Filled Room from late evening until midnight, Bunny trudged along, nodding off here and there, swaying unsteadily.
“Bunny!”
“Whoa!”
Allen and Kalbad caught Bunny’s swaying body.
Bunny stopped walking, her face drowsy as she cradled an armful of gifts.
“Whiiiing….”
At the sound of the child’s sleepy whimper, I crouched down in front of her.
“Allen, Kalbad. Could you help carry some of these gifts?”
“Yes.”
“Well… since I’m her b-big brother, I suppose I have no choice.”
Allen answered readily, while Kalbad glanced at the whimpering Bunny and replied somewhat curtly. Yet both of them dutifully divided up the items that Bunny had stubbornly insisted on carrying herself.
“Whiiiing, Bunny’s….”
Bunny, her eyes half-closed, flailed her arms. I lifted her into my embrace and spoke in a calm voice.
“Yes, I’ll bring everything to your room, so entrust them to your brothers for now.”
As I let the drowsy Bunny rest her head against my shoulder, she gradually blinked and slowly closed her eyes.
“Father….”
“Yes.”
Rising from my seat, I glanced at Allen and Kalbad once, then moved slowly forward and answered.
“Bunny, you’re not sleeping?”
“That’s right.”
“This place, Kiriel’s mountain range. It’s a defeated mountain range, but if you dig at the bottom, there’s bedrock, and they say it often yields great treasures.”
At Bunny’s words—her tongue loosened even more than usual in that half-awake, half-asleep state—Kiriel’s footsteps gradually slowed.
Information that no one should know, much less a child.
I found it slightly concerning that Bunny spoke of it so naturally.
Since only the first family head had summoned the Phoenix as a Divine Beast, I’d verified that information, but nowhere could I find any mention of foresight into the future.
It was the moment I was about to open my mouth to ask where Bunny was obtaining this information.
“Bunny… am I still useful and capable? If I part with Father, Bunny will cry.”
At the small murmur, Kiriel stopped dead in his tracks. My gaze fell upon the child, half-asleep with their head resting against my shoulder.
“I don’t dislike you. Go to sleep now.”
I suppressed the question I wanted to ask and let out a short breath, patting Bunny’s back.
The child murmured a few more times before their head drooped and they fell into deep sleep.
It was a quiet, silent, and peaceful night.
* * *
Huff.
A few days after receiving what was called a “birthday celebration party,” Bunny had climbed one more step up the staircase of adulthood.
Through new experiences, I had become an “adult Bunny,” one step further advanced than yesterday.
“Would you prefer orange juice or grape juice, Young Lady?”
“Bunny is climbing the steps of adulthood today.”
Bunny said this while sitting at the dining table, nose held high with pride.
“Oh my, is that so? Then shall I bring you something other than grape or orange juice?”
“Yes. Bunny will have adult milk today.”
As the maid and Bunny exchanged words while gathered around the round dining table for breakfast, the corners of Kiriel’s mouth twitched slightly.
“Of course! Then I’ll bring you some adult milk with honey stirred in.”
“Yes.”
At Melissa’s natural suggestion, Bunny nodded with all their might. Allen’s lips melted into a smile, and Kalbad’s cheeks trembled slightly.
Throughout that breakfast, no one interrupted Bunny’s “adult conversation.”
* * *
“A glass marble….”
With eyes narrowed, I gazed intently at the gift I had received from Bunny, resting my chin in my hand.
When I unwrapped the gift that Jedrian had brought, it was a glass marble.
Transparent and clean, but nothing more than that—a glass marble.
No matter how I examined it from every angle, there was nothing particularly special or remarkable about it. It was an utterly ordinary glass marble.
‘Did this look pretty to them?’
I could never understand the heart of that young child.
A faint smile rose to the corners of my lips as I thought this.
When I showed the gift back to Bunny, they broke into a radiant smile, beaming with joy across their entire face.
What did it matter if it was just a meaningless glass marble?
It was something my child had bought while thinking of me.
Young Lady.
“….”
Yes, she was my daughter.
A child I adopted and raised myself.
What had been a light-hearted matter had somehow become quite serious.
“Lebon.”
“Yes, it seems you’re finally seeing me as something other than a glass marble.”
At Lebon’s emotionless and indifferent words, Kiriel clicked his tongue softly and lifted his head.
Kiriel opened his mouth with an equally expressionless face, mirroring Lebon’s demeanor.
“Don’t be sarcastic.”
“I’m not being sarcastic. I’m simply stating facts. So why did you call for me?”
“You said that no matter how much information we searched for regarding Bunny, nothing came up.”
“Yes. We’ve investigated every obscure rural village throughout the Empire, but we haven’t found any suitable information. It seems the same applies to Baek Young.”
Tap, tap, tap.
Kiriel drummed his fingers on the desk.
‘Demon Clan….’
However, the probability that she was a pure Demon Clan member was low.
At least it was certain that the bloodline of the Udiah Duchy flowed through her.
Half-human, half-demon.
The very existence of such a thing was remarkable.
The Demon Clan are beings filled with toxic and turbid energy throughout their bodies. A human who forms a bond with the Demon Clan has no choice but to meet death.
The moment their bodies intertwine, it’s equivalent to accepting that turbid energy into one’s own body.
I’ve heard that among the Demon Clan, there exists a very peculiar minority race that seduces humans, grants them a night of pleasure, and then drains their vital essence.
Those who spend such a dreamlike night with them cannot survive longer than a month at most. Ordinary humans lack the ability to purify toxic or turbid energy.
‘…If one possessed divine power, one could counteract it to some degree.’
But even that would only be temporary. As time passes, one eventually falls under the influence of the stronger energy.
If the Demon Clan were weaker compared to the human with divine power, the Demon Clan would weaken and die. Conversely, if the human with divine power were weaker than the Demon Clan, the human would weaken and perish.
The Demon Clan and humans belong to worlds that can never touch, worlds that must never touch.
Unless there existed an object that protected the body so that divine or demonic energy wouldn’t affect each other, there would be no way for them to live long and happily together.
‘Yet despite all this, they bore a child….’
Either the purification ability of that unknown Branch Family member who formed a bond with the Demon Clan was quite exceptional.
‘Or the abilities of the Demon Clan and the Branch Family were balanced enough to be evenly matched.’
It had to be one of the two.
Or perhaps… the Demon Clan member was actually weaker than the Branch Family member.
‘Yet the fact that even Pegasus couldn’t find them….’
It meant both of them were already gone from this world.
From the start, the distance from the Empire to the land where the Demon Clan dwelled was quite far. It wasn’t a short distance.
“It’s not the Empire. Beyond the Empire….”
Kiriel turned his head to gaze at the massive continental map hanging on one side of his office.
The lands where the Demon Clan dwelled were located on the borders of several nations.
A land existing somewhere deep within the vast Dark Forest, its contents unknown.
After the Demon King’s death, the Dark Forest fell silent as if its breath had ceased—all sources of fuel vanished—and everything withered to a sickly yellow, drained of color and light.
No living creature could survive in its vicinity; the stench of decay hung so thick it seemed to vibrate through the air.
A village at the northernmost edge of the Continent.
Oteloid.
The place where the Dark Forest’s borders drew closest.
As the city where Demon Clan Members and demonic beasts appeared most frequently, it served as a demilitarized zone and extraterritorial ground jointly patrolled by two Empires and three kingdoms.
‘If Bunny had been swept away during the Holy Demon War…’
Then she would most likely have arrived at that village first.

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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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