The Baby Raising A Devil

The voice of the individual flowed into my head and somehow, the mere sound managed to distort my vision. With my sight out of control, everything in front of my eyes became fuzzy and dark.

I could feel my heart beating against my ribcage, racing against the emerging dizziness in my head.

“Child.”

“Ah……”

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

The sound of my heart pounding filled my ears. My lungs felt tight and I couldn’t breathe. The dizziness was maddening and my vision just kept getting darker and darker.

I could feel the world spun around unceasingly. My feet staggered and….

Thump!

I fell on the cold hard floor with a thud.

‘…’

“Blaine!”

I could hear Henry’s and Isaac’s voice nearing the room. Before they could arrive, my mind was already lost in my final thoughts.

‘Who the hell is that person?’

‘Why did I feel so nauseous when I heard the voice?’

***

How much time has passed…? I tried to open my eyes and moved my body, but my eyelids felt like it was sewn tight and my hand weighed a ton.

“Why hasn’t she opened her eyes when there’s no problem with her? Did you check her thoroughly? Answer me unless you want to die!”

“Check her again. Find out why she fell. If you can’t, don’t even think of leaving this room alive.”

My ears were soon filled with thundering angry, impatient voices.

“Stop it, Henry, Isaac. “

‘Is that the duke’s voice?’

A dull sound of footstep was heard in the pin-drop silence. The footstep finally stops. A sudden shriek pierced everyone’s ears and barrage of pleas followed.

“I’m telling you, sir! There’s nothing wrong with her! She is healthy!”

“Then why isn’t she awake yet.”

“Bu-but really!”

“If you can’t wake her up, I’ll cut off all of your throats. “

‘What?!’

Out of shock, I opened my eyes wide. It didn’t feel as heavy as before.

“Blaine…!”

“Leblaine!”

Two blurry shadows started to form under my hazy sight. It was Henry and Isaac.

‘No, why are they here?’

I scanned the room as I blinked my eyes to dispel the thin fog cloaking my sight. I was lying on the bed, while Henry and Isaac were glued to my bed’s sides. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Lea’s figure behind them. Thirty doctors were kneeling on the floor and standing in front of the doctors was the duke with Nos behind him.

“Dyuke.” (Duke.)

I called him, but my voice was hoarse, yet still the duke managed to hear my voice. He came to my bedside immediately.

“Are you all right?”

As I nodded, a relieved sigh came out from the duke’s mouth. Soon after, he turned his head towards the doctors. I let out a deep sigh in my mind.

‘Thankfully, I woke up in time.’

The child of fate who was sent from the church collapsed at Dubbled, so the doctors were called to check on the child. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to diagnose what’s the issue and why I blacked out.

But me fainting wasn’t their fault. It’s my fault for sneaking into the room.

The duke opened his mouth.

“Now that Leblaine has woken-”

Yes, I would like to let the doctors go.

“Kill all the doctors. “

‘What?!’

I stared at the duke in shock. The doctors weren’t better off than me. Everyone could see the trembling of their limbs in the room.

“There’s no use for incompetent people who couldn’t even find out why a child fainted.”

Henry and Isaac, next to the duke, were looking at the doctors with cold eyes. It could be seen from their unchanging expression that they were supporting the duke’s decision.

‘What are you both doing?!’

“Your Excellency, please reconsider your decision.”

Nos tried desperately to persuade the duke to let them off, but Dubbled was adamant and nothing could change his verdict.

“If you try to call other doctors to the estate, it’ll take a good two weeks.”

“So?”

“When the little miss’ body is in trouble again, there will be no doctor to look after her?”

The duke frowned. When Nos saw the duke’s reaction, he realized that his words had worked. Seeing a ray of hope, Nos’s face brightened.

I didn’t want Nos’s efforts to dissuade the duke down the drain, as an effort to back him up, I quickly made up an excuse for the doctors.

“Dyuke, I wasn’t swick. It’s becawse of the divine welated stuwff, dat’s why the doctows cowldn’t help. If I was swick, suwely the doctowscwuld helwp.” (Duke, I wasn’t sick. It’s because of the divine related stuff, that’s why the doctors couldn’t help. If I was sick, surely doctors can help.)

When I said so, I looked pleadingly at the duke,

Everyone’s eyes in the room turned towards me and the duke. The doctors wore hopeful expressions as they looked at me as if they had found their savior.

I could only roll my eyes and cover my mouth as I fake a cough.

“…Cough!”

“…!”

The duke’ eyes widened before he gave out a thunderous roar.

“Isn’t it a cold? Go and treat her!”

“Hurry!”

More than thirty doctors rushed to my bed in a perfect line. After that, I spared no effort to act as if I’ve caught a cold and all the doctors were relieved that they had avoided the duke’s death penalty.

***

The desperate child’s lie was eaten by the duke and the doctors were fortunate enough to save their life.

Of course, the doctors who were experts saw through my trick. When they checked on me, they immediately found out that the cold was only an act. Perhaps that’s why whenever they saw me, they would call me with gratitude, “Child….”

Seeing their tearful expression, my jaw dropped.

The favor deeply moved Baron Morr, the director ofDubbled Castle Medical Center, in particular.

“Little miss, I, Adam Morr will definitely repay this favor.”

“I’ve been married for ten years and my wife is pregnant with our child. Without your aid, I would have died without ever seeing my first child,”

he continued.

“Little miss, you’re my benefactor.”

It’s a good thing that I saved these innocent doctors. Most of them were a husband and father of a family. If they were to die, their family would surely be devastated.

‘But what is that voice?’

The voice appeared from time to time since I’ve touched Newt.

‘Was the stone cursed?’

Whether I was cursed or not could be found as soon as I went to the priest, but I really didn’t want to get involved with the church in any way.

I had been asking around what had happened after I blacked out. Apparently, it was Isaac and Henry who moved me right away from the west wing. Both of the children have been scolding the doctor when they couldn’t find out my sickness.

‘It was unexpected.’

Especially Henry.

The same was true for duke who has always been cold-hearted.

‘You guys don’t hate me.’

On the contrary, wouldn’t their feelings be more like a favor? I covered my mouth with both hands and laughed cheerfully. All the time, I used to chase them around and build up good feelings was worth it in the end.

When I got adopted, it was like heaven to me, but obstacles would come as I grew older. The real child of destiny will be revealed in the future. Soon after that, I’ll be the sacrifice in a ritual to seal evil spirits and this was not something Duke of Dubbled had a say in.

‘How much money do I need to save up for the future?’

I crawled up to the bed with my elephant bag.

“One, two, three, …, twenty five.”

I looked at the piling coins with a happy smile and put them back in the bag.

‘When I’ve accumulated enough money, I’ll go to the information guild and make a fake ID.’

I should do this as soon as possible. Soon, around one year later, the law will be revised and the guild workers will be more attentive with the local resident’s data.

‘I’m short on time and I can’t depend on a single source forever. If this keeps on going, The money I’ve amassed would be far from enough.’

It was time to create slush funds. I couldn’t make gold slush funds like Henry, but I could look for other ways to make money. I grinned and looked at the calendar.

‘A wanted criminal is coming to Dubbled soon.’

The amount of the bounty is enormous because he was involved with an incident at the imperial palace. If I hand him over to the authorities, I would be awarded for capturing him.

Even a child could earn the reward.

But how did he come into Dubbled’s castle again? I heard he got caught while working in the estate. Was he one of the servants?

‘Now that I think of it, finding him would be a breeze. I just need to check on all the new servants in the estate.’

Just as I was about to leave the room, a soft body collided into me.

‘Ouch!’

Lea was standing in front of me, she was rubbing my red nose and scanning my body for any injuries. As it was only a small bump there was no bruise on my body. When Lea saw that I was fine, she released a relieved sigh.

“You’re up early today, little miss.”

Lea asked affectionately and I replied brazenly,

“Yes!”

“I’m glad you’re so energetic in the morning. By the way, where are you going?”

I couldn’t possibly tell Lea that she was going to visit the servants’ lounge to check on the servants’ list.

I shifted my eyes and murmured.

“Libwary.” (Library.)

“Didn’t you borrow a lot of fairy tales yesterday?”

“I wawnt a new wone…. studwy! I’m gwoing to study!” (I want a new one… study! I’m going to study!)

Leah wrapped one cheek with her hand, pondering, before she nodded her head in approval.

“I see. You’re getting close to learning letters. I’ll tell the duke right away. He’ll give you a good teacher.”

‘No!’

I already learned the Imperial language three times. It’s not necessary at all.

However Lea said proudly, “You’re very admirable, little miss.”

I felt despair at the idea of having to learn the Imperial language from scratch in my fourth life as well.

***

When the duke heard the news he immediately sent Leblaine a teacher. He was the alumni of the School of Medicine and was ranked the first when he graduated. He also was the youngest person ever to pass the infamous imperial administrative examination and was experienced in teaching nobles.

“Nos.”

Of course, the famous teacher that taught Henry and Isaac as well.

“Down’t you have wowk?” (Don’t you have work?)

“Little miss… If you could see how many papers were piled up on my desk, you’d be shedding tears with me.”

Nos murmured with misty eyes.

I couldn’t imagine how much work would Nos have, especially with the recent incident. That must’ve added more workload for him.

He’s really pitiful. Working with such a cold-blooded and demanding boss.

“Now, let’s start the class. For our first meeting, you should learn the Imperial alphabet first. Look at this card, please.”

Nos was undoubtedly a capable man. He was not only good at handling documents, but he was a competent teacher as well. His explanation was smooth and his examples were on point, no wonder all the children under his education could learn quickly.

“Come on, little miss, repeat after me. Game.”

“Game….”

“What about other words that use G?”

“Gweat, gwow, go, gush, guwible….” (Great, grow, go, gush, gullible….)

Only

As I continued, Nos whispered in a low voice.

“Ahh… I’m dying from cuteness.”

“You’re very clever, little miss. I can’t wait to have more administrators in the estate, so I can focus on taking care of your education.”

Appointing an administrator?