Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 178

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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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Side Story 2, Part 5, Episode 1
How much do you adore that child? Yerenika let out an amused laugh and gestured toward Alexio.
“Lexie, give your aunt an afternoon kiss too.”
Alexio approached with some hesitation, but dutifully pressed a kiss to her left cheek.
“But where is your soul’s other half? Why are you here alone?”
“Brizni said she doesn’t need me today.”
“What? That can’t be right.”
Yerenika tilted her head in confusion, and Auredhian leaned down to whisper something in her ear with a rather serious tone. Yerenika listened intently to his words, then suddenly burst into laughter.
“What, really! Lexie, that’s not it at all!”
* * *
Seeing is believing. Yerenika decided to clear up Alexio’s misunderstanding herself. As she and Alexio set out to catch the other troublemakers, she teased her husband playfully.
“So you were listening so seriously to your nephew’s worries about having a crush on your son?”
“It might be a serious concern for Alexio. And I don’t want him to dislike me.”
Alexio, walking while holding Auredhian’s hand, looked embarrassed.
“I don’t dislike Uncle at all….”
“Good, thank you. Want to have another sparring match later?”
Auredhian seemed more eager than Alexio himself. Since Decarve was still too young to safely handle a wooden sword, Auredhian had been muttering about wanting to teach the boy swordplay whenever Alexio’s name came up. His wish had finally come true.
Yerenika smiled and changed the subject.
“By the way, do my mother and father know that His Majesty is here?”
“No. I haven’t gone yet because I was worried they might faint in shock if I showed up alone. I thought it would be better to go with you.”
At the thought of the King and Queen of Lebovni, Auredhian’s brow furrowed slightly.
“And… he’s been sending me letters in secret for several years now.”
“What? Father has?”
“Yes… It seems he still can’t let go of his attachment to the wedding gift he rejected back then.”
Yerenika gasped audibly.
“A wedding gift? You don’t mean the one about handing over the entire Glucaman Road?”
Before they married, while they were exchanging love letters, the King of Lebovni had felt guilty about intercepting their correspondence and marriage proposals. After agonizing over it for days, he decided to give them an extraordinarily generous wedding gift—nothing less than the Glucaman Road, a desert passage connecting Belgot and Azekhien and part of Lebovni’s territory, which he offered to transfer entirely to Belgot.
“I inadvertently interfered with my daughter’s romance! I should do something this grand!”
“No, Father! If you do that, Lebovni will go bankrupt immediately…!”
“You don’t need to go to such lengths. Looking back, it wasn’t really such a serious matter.”
“Do you perhaps not want to receive it…?”
“No, that’s not it!”
The sight of the King holding the documents containing ownership of the Glucaman Road in both hands, his eyes glistening with tears, was utterly pathetic. However, the Glucaman Road was the shortest direct route connecting east and west across the continent—Lebovni’s only advantage and sole source of revenue.
It was no exaggeration to say the nation was sustained by the magical stones collected as tolls from travelers on the desert road. If he handed it over for free, Lebovni’s bankruptcy would be as certain as seeing fire.
After several rounds of negotiation, they finally reached a compromise to drastically lower the toll rate. Yet the King of Lebovni seemed unable to shake his guilt about not being able to give a grand enough gift, and kept quietly pushing the ownership documents whenever the opportunity arose. It was excessive remorse for merely obstructing his daughter and son-in-law’s romance for half a year.
“I should tell him he doesn’t need to apologize anymore. …Though I’m sure by next year he’ll be subtly sending the documents again.”
“I can’t take it.”
Yerenika shook her head firmly.
“Anyway, my father has no middle ground. Thank goodness for my brother-in-law; otherwise, Lebovni would have been annexed by Belgot or Azekhien long ago.”
“Yet he’s always managed to keep Lebovni safe and at peace.”
“Did you forget how you nearly got trampled by Belgot while trying to pocket the commission?”
“Well… everyone makes mistakes, don’t they?”
As they exchanged playful banter, they had already arrived at the garden courtyard before the Main Palace. Yerenika’s eyes widened at the sight of people huddled together around a table in the courtyard.
“Oh? Everyone’s out here.”
At the courtyard table, the King of Lebovni and Queen sat at the head, with Tezebia and Duke Lebanon on the right, along with the Cardier couple, all engaged in cheerful conversation.
In the courtyard, Brizni was diligently brushing Jena’s hair. This was the child who had bombarded her with letter after letter over three years, written in clumsy script asking, “Aunt, when will you bring my little sister?” Invisible hands seemed to be waving pickets above Brizni’s head.
[Milky-white Jena! I love you, Jena! You trust your sister, right?!]
“Do you like the red ribbon or the blue ribbon? Hm? Jena, look at your brother. Don’t fall asleep.”
Decarve was earnestly selecting ribbons in front of his sister and niece. Brizni tied Jena’s silver hair into two pigtails with the ribbon Deb had chosen. Then she let out a delighted squeal.
“She’s so adorable! Why is Jena so beautiful?”
Tired of her older siblings’ intense attention, Jena drowsily climbed onto her grandfather’s lap and used his round belly as a cushion, beginning to drift off to sleep. The King of Lebovni laughed warmly and stroked the head of Jena, who had buried her face in his belly.
“Our granddaughter seems to love my belly. For Jena’s sake, I suppose I can’t lose weight.”
“You’ve avoided dieting your whole life, and now you speak as if you’ll change, Father. …Oh! Yeni, you’re awake. And His Majesty has arrived as well. I thought you would.”
Tezebia, who had been affectionately scolding her father, turned to look at them and gestured warmly.
“Welcome.”
“It’s been a long time, Your Majesty.”
“…I’ve told you to speak comfortably when we’re among family.”
Auredhian was still unaccustomed to joining the bustling family. He had grown up alone in the quiet Imperial Palace and led the empire by himself, and such solitude had become ingrained in him.
But after marrying, having a child, and gaining more family than he had possessed his entire life, he found that the quiet peace he had always longed for now came in a much warmer form. This winter, his beloved youngest child would be born, and… for the past few years and for countless years to come, he would know this warmth.
Yerenika smiled brightly and pulled her husband’s hand.
“Let’s have some tea, eat dinner, and rest well. There’s nothing to worry about here.”
“…Yes. Thank you.”
“What else?”
“Nothing, just… everything.”
Auredhian clasped the hand of the woman who had brought him such overwhelming, radiant happiness.
Meanwhile, Brizni was barely containing her overflowing emotions as she watched the sleeping Jena.
“Deb, help me paint Jena’s portrait before you leave. And send me a new one every year, alright?”
“Mm-hmm. Okay.”
Unable to contain her excitement, Brizni pinched Decarve’s cheeks repeatedly. Only after she casually turned her head did she notice Alexio.
“Oh, Lexie. Where have you been?”
Brizni grabbed Decarve’s hand and scampered toward Alexio with light, cheerful footsteps.
“Deb said he wanted to play with his older brother. Since Jena needs to sleep now, let’s all three play together.”
Decarve looked up at his brother with sparkling eyes, his smile so wide it curved like a crescent moon, and he clung firmly to his waist.
Alexio eventually gave in and lifted Decarve up. Being slightly smaller than his peers, Decarve settled comfortably in his brother’s arms.
“Jena is cute, but Deb is pretty too. You really have the same personality as Aunt Yeni.”
Brizni spoke brightly, then glanced at her friend as if struck by a thought.
“You know, Lexie.”
“What? …What is it?”
Alexio let Deb play with his hair, then lowered his head slightly at Brizni’s gesture. His eyes widened at the sensation of her forehead touching his. Brizni, who had playfully pressed her forehead against his, whispered softly.
“You know there’s no one but you for me, Alexio?”
“….”
“Don’t be upset with me, friend. You know I love you.”
Alexio Cardier felt heat rush to his ears in a moment of embarrassment. But he quickly reminded himself that this “I love you, friend” was simply Brizni’s habitual manner of speaking, and his spirits deflated somewhat.
“There’s no one else but you, you fool…. At least keep your lies within reason.”
“I’m serious! Alexio Cardier! My soul’s other half! The most handsome swordmaster in Lebovni!”
“…Sure you are.”
Though the words were merely meant to placate him and held no real weight, the knot of discomfort that had lingered in my heart dissolved away like frost. Alexio Cardier sighed and gently bumped his forehead against Brizni’s in their private gesture of reconciliation.
“That’s enough. I’m not upset. Stop with the pointless flattery and just focus on sword practice tomorrow morning.”
“As you wish!”
The girl with raspberry-red curly hair laughed as brightly as the season that enveloped them both. Spring was in full bloom.
【Side Story 2. A Spring Holiday】 Complete

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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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