The Baby Raising a Devil Ch. 5

After the bread incident, it was peaceful.

The only thing that happened was when Lea found out that she had forgotten to give seven candies that the Duke had given to me.

But today was different. I was dolled up with the hands of the maids since morning. It was a huge children dress.

On top of that, I wore lace socks that came up to my calf, shiny shoes and they also tied a ribbon on my hair.

"Come on, let's see how comfortable it is.Try walking, little miss."

As I was struggling to walk, the maids shouted, "Whoa!"

Dubblede’s servant was not as bad as Vallua’s servants, but they kept making me nervous. However, in order for me to live comfortably the servant’s hospitality is essential. As soon as I got here, I sucked up to the maids.

“Lwinda’s hwere!” (Linda’s here!)

“Oho, you saw me last night. are you that happy to see me?"

“It’s a secwet.....lingda is my fawvorite.” (It's a secret...... Linda is my favorite.)

First of all, I'll conquer the heart of a maid.

“Hwere, I’ll gwive you a cwandy.” (Here. I'll give you a candy.)

"Why do you only give me this candy?"

“It’s a swcwet.....becwase i like Dawlia the most.” (It's a secret...... because I like Dalia the most.)

I've got the person in charge of the snack’s heart.

“If Ywuni is swick, I’m sad...” (If Yuni is sick, I'm sad...)

"Oh my..."

“It’s a swecret...Yuni is my fawvorite.” (It's a secret...Yuni is my favorite.)

I've captured the person in charge of my daily records.

‘Now, even if I'm hated by my family like Vallua’s time, the maids would secretly pamper me.'

When I saw the maids who were adoring me, I was proud to think of all the hardships I suffered from.

'But why did I dress up like this today?'

I asked Lea , who was smiling affectionately at me.

"Me gwoing where?” (Where am I going?)

“You will attend today's meeting. Master said he would introduce you to the vassals.”

'Introduction?’

I saw some of them, but they were not formally introduced to me. I thought he didn’t have to introduce me if I was going back to the capital city soon.

So...

'He must be keeping me here for quite a while!' 

I followed the maids with a shout of joy in my heart.

But there were people in the hallway who I never saw before. Lea answered me when I looked at her.

“They're children to be sponsored.”

Aha, there must be a sponsored child selection on the agenda for today's meeting.

There was a support system in the aristocracy.

It is to cultivate gifted children from an early age and then develop them into the talent that the family wants.

‘Who's going to be sponsored this time?’ 

If they’re sponsored by a noble family like Dubblede, they must be a famous child prodigy.

When I entered the meeting room, I could see the vassals surrounding someone. He’s pretty big to be called a child. At first glance, he looked like an adolescent boy.

The boy was buried among the adults and could not be seen in detail, but I could hear his voice clearly.

"Hello Mr. Dubos, Mr. Martin, Baron Lux, and...”

The vassals grinned as if they were pleased with the polite little boy who had memorized so many people's name.

"Little Jude is becoming more intelligent day by day."

"My father told me that I have to study hard to become like Mr. Dubos!"

Dubos laughed and patted his shoulder. Then, one of the vassals notices me.

Back then, I told them about the story of the Imperial Palace and the church, there were some vassals here who were also there at that time.

'I'm going to show it to them.’

“Hello”

As I greeted them mimicking how an adult acted, they laughed.

"Oh my, you learned how to say hello.”

When some vassals approached me, I began to see the face of the child who had been hidden.

I stiffened when I checked the child's face. 

‘Marco Jude.’ 

I know that kid, very, very well.

Because he was one of the worst people I've ever met! When I lived as the child of Duke Vallua, I attended an academy for a while. Back then, Marco was my professor.

He was a young and ambitious man and a good professor.

But to me....

‘There was a lot of flirting.’

He was aiming for the position as the son-in-law of Duke Vallua. He touched me inappropriately. He also hugged me without my consent, I couldn't stand it when he tried to kiss me, so I filed a complaint with the academy.

But they drove me away as an assailant.

"If this guy seduced you and offended you, why didn't you file a complain  from the beginning?"

"If you didn't like it, why didn't you scream?.”

‘I was scared, so I couldn't even scream.’

"Then why now...I guess you didn't like it when you thought about it again. Are you a gold-digger?”

My protest didn't work.

He was stopped for only six months because he touched a student, and I was forced to leave the academy under criticism for being promiscuous. After that, I was deemed as a disgrace to my family.

Just thinking about that time, I wanted to get revenge. 

He's still a kid right now. But he’ll be a scumbag in the future!

'Let's calm down. If I acted like that for no reason, adoption's out of the question.’ 

Then, the Duke of Dubblede came into the room. As all of the people bowed down.

The first order of the meeting was to review the sponsor candidates. Sitting at the back, Marco went to the podium.

"Oh my, you're already solving that level of math problems?"

"Yes! You have to be familiar with numbers to enter the board of audit and inspection. But math itself is fun. I made some formulas with my teacher...”

‘Liar...’

It was ridiculous for me to know his future.

Far from joining the Board of Audit and Inspection, Marco Jude joined the faculty of the marginal academy. So he was a fool who boasted to me that he had such a great network. His father Baron Jude laughed proudly.

Judging from the friendly atmosphere, the selection of the sponsored child seemed to be carried out according to the wishes of Baron Jude and his wife.

After the Q&A session, Marco returned to the seat next to me. He looked down at me and whispered.

"You see that, kid? You'll never beat me.”

What? 

I looked at him because I was dumbfounded.

He's keeping a four-year-old in check....

Marco Jude seemed to think that I came to the meeting because of the sponsorship screening.

His face is full of excitement because he wants to crush his rival. He looked reminiscent of when he was a professor at an academic institute.

'Well, maybe you think the Duke of Dubbled has left me alone so far, so I'm going to end up with what he wants after not adopting.’

He continued with a grin.

"You, they said you were a poor kid?"

“........”

"I heard the Empress dumped you in the the trash can called Dubbled. It's the same as being a trash.”

Marco, who said so, went laughing, and I clenched my fist. I was dumb in my previous life. I didn't know anything, and being thrown away alone was scary.

There have been many times when I bowed down without being able to say a word like this. But I'm not the one who's dying three times, now i’m living my fourth life.

And I really bit Marco's arm.

"Argh!" 

While he was lying on his stomach with his arms clenched, I quickly clenched my fist and punched him! Puck!

"Aah! Aah!”

As the scream rang out, more people or employees guarding the hall rushed in amazement.

People immediately tried to tear me away from Marco, but I pulled out a bunch of his hair before I fell off.

“What are you doing!”

the vassals frowned at me and Marco.

"That little thing that made me...... me, all of a sudden...!”

On the other hand, I calmly straightened my index finger at Marco.

"Cwome on, Bwad boy! (Come on, bad boy!)" 

“What....”

"He swaid duke dubbweld is a twash!. (He said duke dubbled is a trash!.)” 

When I was a beggar, i learned something. The one who throws the first punch wins. The calm one wins the argument.

Of course, it was gruesome to make a fuss before the duke’s eyes, but it was better than looking like a fool who was just being beaten.

But it was strange. 

Why it's so quiet around here ?