I Became the Youngest Sister-in-law of the Ruined Reverse Harem’s Male Leads - Chapter 145

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#.145

“Sniff. Sniffle.”

After crying while embracing each other for a long time, Lilliana and Antonio pressed their swollen eyes and tried to calm themselves down.

Antonio, who had pushed his short hair behind his ears, boldly demanded.

“Edgar. Water.”

“Ha.”

Why is he ordering me around?

Edgar squeezed out his last bit of patience and handed over the water.

Antonio gave the first glass to Lilliana, then reached out his hand to Edgar asking for another one.

Edgar, who was getting heated, slapped Antonio’s hand away.

“You’ve made up now, so go home.”

“Ah, I’m going. I am going, but I still have business left.”

“What is it?”

With a voice soaked from crying, Antonio kicked Lilliana’s shoe with his foot.

“Liliana. You buried a time capsule with him, right? I’m curious about what’s inside, so since we came all this way, let’s open it before we go.”

“Right. I forgot about the time capsule!”

Lilliana, who had been drooping saying her head hurt, got up with sparkling eyes.

“Let’s check it today and then go home.”

“Good. But it’s been so long since I’ve been here that I don’t remember where we buried the time capsule.”

As soon as Lilliana finished answering, Antonio looked at Edgar.

“You’re pretty bold with your demands when you didn’t even entrust me with anything.”

“I may not have, but Liliana did.”

“…You buried it in the garden. Did you really forget?”

“She says she doesn’t remember. Ten years old is a very young age.”

“I remember everything though.”

“So you won’t guide us?”

Lilliana, who had been standing with her arms crossed and pouting, asked in an angry voice.

The one who had committed a sin was Edgar himself.

He had ignored letters for a whole four years, yet when he actually saw her face, his emotions were shaken – that was also Edgar.

So he had no power to refuse.

“Let’s go.”

His heart was troubled the entire time he led the way.

Over the past few years, Edgar had entered the garden so few times it could be counted on his fingers.

“Edgar. Are you okay?”

“I’m not okay. Everything got ruined because of Antonio.”

Both ignoring Lilliana and continuing the peace of mind he had worked hard to maintain by ignoring her – everything was completely ruined.

Antonio Benichka was like hail that suddenly poured down on Edgar’s life.

“Hmm. Cheer up.”

Unlike Chris who gave soulless encouragement, Lilliana and Antonio who were following behind were making a commotion.

“Antonio, look at this! This flower is so pretty!”

“Liliana, look at that pond! There are frogs living in it!”

“Whoa. That tree, doesn’t it look like the tree where the protagonists pledged their love in 【Birkit and Moynihan】?”

“Right. I wonder if there are any legends tied to the trees here?”

Edgar had to turn around several times and drag the two by their necks, as they were beyond distracted and completely mindless.

It took twice as long to reach what should have been a 20-minute distance.

“Ah.”

Lilliana let out a short exclamation upon seeing the lemon tree.

Her blue eyes traced through the vaguely emerging past.

Lilliana checked the ground and then stepped on a small open space between the roots.

“I remember. We buried it here.”

Why did those few words make his chest tighten so much?

An emotion that could be excitement or nervousness spread hotly from his stomach.

Edgar’s fingertips tingled, so he clenched and unclenched his fists.

“Let’s dig it up quickly.”

Antonio dug into the ground with the shovel he had prepared.

Lilliana looked around the lemon tree area, lost in thought.

“We used to sit around here and play.”

He thought he had forgotten all about life in the Empire… Edgar felt like crying for some reason.

“Lilliana. The boxes are showing.”

Thanks to Chris joining in to dig up the ground, two boxes quickly revealed themselves.

[Lilliana’s!♡]

[Edgar]

Each box had their names written on top.

Antonio looked at the crooked handwriting and giggled as he urged them.

“Hurry up and open them. I’m curious.”

Clunk.

When they opened the waterproofed lid, various children’s items spilled out.

From small dolls to picture books, diaries, hair pins, and more. These were objects that had been part of the daily life that Edgar could vividly recall whenever he closed his eyes.

“Wow. Look at these gloves. Chris, was I really this small?”

Even now she couldn’t be called fully grown, but even when the gloves were fully stretched out, they were tiny.

Lilliana didn’t mind her skirt getting covered in dirt as she sat on the ground and began examining the box in earnest.

“This is a tongue candy. Chris, do you remember? The four of us including Helene broke this apart and shared it.”

“Yeah. Helene and I checked each other’s tongues and laughed.”

Chris quietly checked on Edgar.

Edgar, who had plopped down across from Lilliana, hadn’t said a single word since opening the box.

With his lips pressed tightly together and breathing low, Edgar looked precarious, as if he would crumble at the slightest touch.

“Liliana. You really had fun here. I can see the happiness in your belongings.”

“Right. I was really happy.”

Her voice was bright and dreamy, lost in vaguely emerging memories.

Lilliana recalled the emotions that remained intensely in her hazy memories.

“Every day was fun like going on a picnic. Everything was perfect. Except that my older brother wasn’t there.”

In her unconsciously rising smile, Edgar could see traces of the girl he remembered.

Just as young Lilliana’s world had been perfect, young Edgar’s world had also been perfect.

Each day had been happy. Overwhelming, joyful, and fun.

That’s why he had desperately turned away from it.

Because reminiscing about the happiness that was taken away one day was painful, because just longing for the disappeared world made him feel like he would die from loneliness. And because it was obvious he would spend his whole life only yearning for the past.

Edgar barely managed to swallow the hot lump that surged up.

“Edgar. Can I open yours too?”

Chris asked carefully.

Edgar, who had swallowed his breath to somehow calm his heart, opened the box himself instead of answering.

The box was completely empty. Lilliana frowned as she glared at the box that contained nothing.

“Why is there nothing in it?”

“…”

“You thought I wouldn’t come back.”

“Even if you came back, I thought it would have nothing to do with me. That’s what the changes that time brings are like.”

Edgar, who answered with forced composure, rested his arms on his knees and pressed his forehead firmly with his hands.

It felt like many things would pour out from inside with his exhale.

It was the same kind as the solitude that quietly settled in darkness and cold on a short, cold winter dawn.

So even though he knew Lilliana was glaring at him, he couldn’t say anything.

The moment I opened my mouth, I would obviously cry like an idiot.

Then Chris carefully spoke up.

“This already has traces of being opened?”

“Huh? You mean someone else opened it first?”

“Hey, Edgar. If you’re embarrassed about having it stolen, just be honest about it.”

Antonio joined in too. Edgar swallowed his tears and confessed with difficulty.

“I opened the time capsule by myself.”

His chest tightened. The sense of loss that the young boy had felt and couldn’t resolve came flooding back intact.

The moment he dug through the dirt crying because he missed Lilliana, and all the time he spent suffering alone, not knowing what to do after coming back with the doll from inside the box.

His stomach churned and he felt like he might vomit. Edgar explained while half pulling at his bangs.

“Cookie… do you remember?”

“Cookie? The doll I gave you?”

“Yeah. That one. I put Cookie in there. I was afraid I’d think of you when you left… I was scared of that. Because the perfect world I had with you had disappeared…”

“…”

“But I couldn’t even last a week. I couldn’t erase that much, so I took it out by myself.”

Edgar spread his palm to cover his eyes.

His choked voice embarrassed him.

Revealing emotions he never wanted to show was because of Antonio, who had freely shared his feelings the night before.

The behavior he thought was shameful was actually something he should boldly reveal.

Even so, he couldn’t show his face to Lilliana.

He felt sorry to Lilliana and the wound still hurt like death.

The person who broke the awkward atmosphere was Antonio.

“Lily. You need to understand this.”

Antonio grabbed Edgar’s other hand and forced him to hold it with Lilliana’s.

When the soft texture touched his palm, Edgar’s shoulders flinched.

Lilliana hesitated for a moment, then relaxed and wrapped Edgar’s hand.

Actually, due to the difference in hand size, it was more like grasping than wrapping, but that’s how Edgar felt it.

“Shake hands to make up.”

Antonio forcibly shook their clasped hands.

“Now a reconciliation hug… no way! Hey, Lily. Even if you make up with him, I’m still your best friend. Got it?”

Lilliana couldn’t say anything because she was trying to hold back tears that were about to spill out.

Edgar’s true feelings, which she learned belatedly, were so different from what she had thought.

* * *

After finishing her daily tasks, Edith tilted her head while looking at a drawing that was not just strange but completely messy.

“Is that the sun?”

“It’s the pasta I ate yesterday.”

“Hmm. Lilliana has talent in drawing though…”

The black-haired young child put down the colored pencil with a thud as if bored.

The young child, who had buried himself deep in the chair, asked.

“Mom. When do we arrive at the Empire?”

“We’ll arrive after sleeping two more nights. When we get to the Empire, you can’t call me mom. What did I tell you to call me?”

“Aunt.”

“Right. You call me aunt.”

“If mom is aunt, then who is our mom? Is she just gone like dad?”

“That’s right.”

Edith stroked the child’s head.

The relative who was originally supposed to take care of the child suddenly fell in the bathroom a few days ago and broke their tailbone.

As a result, there was no proper place to leave him, so he ended up coming along.

‘I can’t leave a child who’s only five years old alone.’

She could only hope they could stay quietly in the Empire and then return.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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