I Became the Youngest Sister-in-law of the Ruined Reverse Harem’s Male Leads - Chapter 157
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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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#.157
“Youngest Aunt!”
“Eddie!”
I immediately showered kisses on my puppy-like nephew who threw himself into my arms.
“Did you miss your aunt?”
“I missed you. Aunt, you promised to eat tongue candy with me!”
“You remembered that! Aunt bought five tongue candies to eat with Eddie! I even got the limited edition yellow tongue candy?”
“Gasp! Really?”
“Want to eat them?”
“Yes!”
“Then give me a kiss here.”
When I brought my cheek close, Eduard gave me little kisses.
When I was young, I didn’t understand why my sisters would suddenly hug or pet me, but now I understand that feeling well.
“Youngest Aunt. I want candy quickly. Quickly.”
“Let’s go! Aunt will give you everything!”
He definitely resembles Marius… how can he be this adorable?
I can’t believe our eldest sister gave birth to such an angelic child like Eddie.
I took Eddie to my room and we shared candy together.
“Youngest Aunt’s lips are yellow.”
Eddie, who had eaten the yellow tongue candy, burst into giggles.
Even when I was in Trowance, I thought he resembled his father, but after coming to the Empire and meeting Marius directly, the two were alike to a carbon copy level.
‘I’m sorry to eldest sister, but…’
Smelling the warm body temperature and soft scent unique to children made my heart feel heavy.
I can’t have what I want, but Eddie has his father alive and well.
Marius isn’t a strange person either, so erasing his father seems a bit cruel to a child.
‘If your father is alive, you have the right to interact with him too.’
I hope Eddie doesn’t grow up longing for his parents like I did.
The situation will get complicated, but I believe everyone will resolve it wisely since they’re all mature adults.
“Eddie! Let’s play hide and seek!”
Filippo burst through the door.
“Filippo. Go out and open the door again. I told you to knock.”
“Aunt, I’m busy. I need to finish hide and seek and swinging before dinner.”
I think I know why Liliana’s voice is more hoarse than our hot-tempered youngest sister’s.
Filippo the contrarian and Yosiyas who follows whatever Filippo says. These guys must have been colts or bison in their past lives.
“This won’t do. I need to summon your sister—”
“Okay! Aunt, please!”
Filippo, who firmly covered my mouth, quickly went out to the corridor, knocked properly, got my permission, and came in.
Wanting to tease him a little, I held Eddie tightly and asked Filippo.
“Youngest Aunt is the prettiest in the world, right?”
“Are you trying to make me lie? I’m eight years old now. I don’t tell lies.”
“How is that a lie? It’s the truth. Eddie, don’t you think Youngest Aunt is the prettiest?”
“No! Mommy is the prettiest!”
“That’s true. How can I beat eldest sister? Except for eldest sister, Youngest Aunt is the prettiest, right?”
I even received a confession after coming to the Empire. Even if I’m not as much as my sisters, I’m not a face that falls short anywhere.
“I like Youngest Aunt the best!”
“Kyahahaha!”
Excited, I showered Eddie with kisses and stuffed his hands full of candy.
Then Filippo stretched out his hand with a displeased expression.
“Among aunts, Youngest Aunt seems the most fun.”
“Nuh-uh. No. Not fun, but pretty.”
“Pre, pre, pre… pretty curly hair.”
“What? I couldn’t hear you.”
“Youngest Aunt has holes in her head so she can’t be pretty!”
“What? Hey, Filippo!”
Filippo, who screamed, ran away from me in a rush.
Even Eddie chased after his cousin, leaving me alone to touch my hair while looking in the mirror.
‘If only I didn’t have holes in my head…’
As if he couldn’t become a noble, Edgar came into my room right on time.
Although there was an awkward incident between us at the end, perhaps because the mansion became noisy with Eddie’s existence being revealed, it wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought.
“…You’re the one who asked brother to bring you here. You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I played innocent while brushing my hair. Since it was curly, the strands got tangled and pulling the brush hurt my scalp.
Edgar was reflected in the mirror. He was looking at me. Not me in the mirror, but the real me.
Edgar approached behind me. He took away the brush and began gently untangling my tangled hair instead.
I was sitting and Edgar was tall, so he had to bend his waist to tend to my hair.
“They really look frighteningly alike.”
“They don’t look alike. Unlike that man, Eddie is adorable.”
Through the mirror, I could see his face tilted at an angle.
Eyebrows that seemed to resemble Marius but didn’t, a high nose bridge, a sharp nose tip. And occasionally, large hands visible between strands of hair.
I heard slightly rough breathing behind my neck. No, maybe it was my own breathing.
“I don’t intend to blame Lady Edith. Lady Edith’s best and what was best for brother were different.”
“Eldest sister had a hard time in Trowance too. If Eddie’s existence was revealed, she’d naturally have to think of that man. She raised him in secret, worried it would become a complicated issue.”
“I thought so.”
Edgar untangled a few strands of tangled hair. My shoulders flinched when the still-tangled hair pulled.
He frowned slightly, perhaps concentrating quite hard on just hair.
I could see his protruding Adam’s apple. His eyes also became deeper and sharper.
Edgar was no longer the eleven-year-old boy I remembered.
It’s a fact I’ve been realizing continuously, already several times since coming to the Empire.
“When we were young… why did you like me?”
The hands tending to my hair stopped.
Edgar glanced at me briefly, then quickly looked away. He seemed to be careful not to make eye contact.
His quiet breath tickled my nape. My shoulders hunched. His breath felt quite hot.
“…I don’t know.”
“Liar. You remember everything.”
“I really don’t know.”
Seeing his reddening face, he doesn’t not know.
I could feel the subtle trembling of his hands through my hair.
When I stared through the mirror, Edgar, feeling my gaze, changed the subject.
“Your hair won’t untangle.”
“Do it properly.”
“I think we just need to cut it.”
“I already have holes in my head and now you want to cut it too?”
“It’s just a few strands.”
Our eyes met as he kept glancing at me.
He had been stealing glances just fine, but once our eyes actually met, his gaze was fixed on me.
I once really missed those eyes so much. Those eyes belonged to my only hero.
Even if childhood memories are sparse, I couldn’t forget my previous life even if I tried.
The day I escaped the Imperial Palace, Edgar was my knight.
Why did you become my knight? There was no reason for it at all.
“Ahem. Edgar, listen.”
“What?”
“There’s a child who has an enemy that caused the death of someone precious to them. But that person’s sibling is trapped in the basement of their house, so they go to find the sibling to resent them instead of their enemy.”
“Is this your story? Or a script?”
“Don’t interrupt me, just listen. The protagonist resents and gets angry at the sibling, but one day starts showing small acts of kindness.”
When the madman in the manor causes trouble in the underground prison, they quietly let them use the guest room, and when they don’t eat, they bring food directly. They accept everything – the venting, the sarcasm, all of it.
Then one day, even though the manor’s owner might kill them, they risk the threat and let the enemy’s sibling go.
“Why do you think that child made such a choice?”
“Is it a boy? And the one who escaped is a girl?”
“Yes.”
Edgar forgot about fixing his hair for a moment and thought deeply.
Waiting for his answer made me strangely nervous. I’d always been curious. No, I wanted to hear it clearly from his own mouth.
That’s why when we were escaping with my sisters, when he asked if I knew why he was helping, I answered.
‘I don’t know.’
“He must have liked her.”
“Liked her?”
“Yes. He liked her a lot.”
His confident, calm attitude seemed to say that this was definitely the right answer.
“Even though she was his enemy’s sibling?”
“If he came to like her despite being his enemy’s sibling, his feelings must have been very deep. That’s probably why he risked his life to help her escape.”
My chest felt queasy.
The answer buried in my lost past, the response I wanted to hear, finally returned today.
I can’t even imagine what Edgar’s heart was like during that time, how complicated those feelings were, and how difficult it must have been.
Back then, I endured because Edgar was there. And the moment I escaped, I was certain I would long for Edgar for the rest of my life.
Because back then, I too…
“You, why are you crying?”
I couldn’t hold back the tears that welled up without me realizing. I couldn’t even care about such things.
Emotions I couldn’t even understand surged within me.
Even when I wiped my eyes, tears filled them faster than I could clear them, so I just pressed my sleeve firmly against my eyes.
Edgar, startled, tried to comfort me in a flustered way, but his clumsy hand stroking my back only brought on bigger sobs.
“Why on earth… Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“You, you… *sob*. *sniff*.”
“Did I do something wrong? I don’t know what, but I’m sorry. Don’t cry…”
He’s smart enough to know he did nothing wrong, yet he still apologizes.
I turned around and hugged Edgar.
The Edgar from back then and the Edgar now are different. But Edgar is Edgar. Kind and gentle to me…
“Li, Lilliana?”
Edgar was so startled that he raised both his arms.
I should have thanked him, but I couldn’t. I wanted to apologize, but… I couldn’t even do that.
I offered a greeting that was far too late.
“Thank you.”
For liking me back then.
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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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