I Became the Youngest Sister-in-law of the Ruined Reverse Harem’s Male Leads - Chapter 184

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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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#.02

Three months had passed since that day.

It had already been four years since Edgar came to Trowance.

He had long finished adapting and had become familiar with his work.

Of course, at first there were some who looked down on him as just a young diplomat.

But as long as his skills were solid, he could easily crush them underfoot.

Though fundamentally quiet and gentlemanly, Edgar was Marius’s cousin.

By the time those who had underestimated him for his youth learned the temperament of the newly arrived youngest diplomat, Edgar’s nickname had become ‘the Imperial Family’s Mad Dog.’

Edgar lacked nothing in bloodline, status, profession, or looks—only his personality was problematic—but even he had his worries.

“What on earth is wrong? You’re not sick, are you?”

Leopold, who had just arrived at the cafe, carefully examined his younger cousin’s face.

Though he seemed somewhat displeased about something, his complexion looked good.

There was no way a healthy guy who was only 23 years old could have something wrong with his body.

“It’s been a while, Leopold.”

“Ah. Francois was here too.”

Leopold shook hands with Francois and exchanged light greetings.

He squinted his eyes upon seeing the strange stains on the shirt Francois was wearing.

Even if others didn’t know, Leopold understood well what those marks meant.

“It looks like you’re busy taking care of Elisa.”

They were drool marks from where the child had sucked and chewed.

This past January, Francois, who had his first child at the late age of 39, insisted that since the mother had suffered enough through childbirth, the father should take full responsibility for childcare.

And so he had thrown aside all his work to devote himself entirely to parenting.

“I feel like I’m dying. How on earth did you raise twins…?”

Francois pressed firmly on his dark-circled eyes.

“We were young back then. Still, we did hire a nanny. If you look carefully in Trowance, you should be able to find a childcare helper too.”

“No. I’d rather suffer myself than let someone else handle her. And I recently figured out how to make her go ‘goo-goo ga-ga’ with magic, so I have enough time to do the dishes and can manage somehow.”

Goo-goo ga-ga?

Coming from none other than the capital’s most notorious playboy, the sense of incongruity was enormous.

“Well, that’s fortunate. Elisa doesn’t cry much and is gentle, so she should be easy to care for.”

“You can’t compare her to the twins. Your sons were just recently called troublemakers from the Empire at school.”

Leopold, who had moved to Trowance the year after defeating Lazarus, had decided to stay in Trowance until the twins graduated from their elite school.

Filippo and Yosiyas, who turned 14 this year, were famous figures at school.

Filippo for his outrageous pranks, and Yosiyas because he couldn’t control his overflowing strength and kept breaking school property.

“Still, you wouldn’t believe how many friends they have. Filippo is so smart he’s already been offered to skip grades three times.”

“Our Elisa is already talking. Just yesterday she looked at me and went ‘pa-pa.’ I think she might be a genius. Well, if she takes after even one of us—me or Emilia—she’ll be smarter than anyone.”

“Yosiyas takes after Regina in cooking talent. Yesterday he made seafood pasta with his little hands.”

Little hands?

Yosiyas, who was the spitting image of Leopold’s build, was already over 170cm tall and had hands the size of pot lids.

Leopold was probably the only person who would describe a kid who could lift sofas with one hand as having “little hands.”

When the two men started bragging about their children, Edgar quickly interjected between them.

“Save the child bragging for when we meet at Andrea’s birthday next week, and please listen to my story.”

“Right, right. What’s wrong, Edgar? I was surprised that you called even me, not just Leopold.”

“First, thank you for coming, Francois.”

“I keep telling you to speak casually.”

Edgar found it difficult to bring up his concern and sighed several times.

No matter how he thought about it, these two were the only people he could discuss this with.

First, his friends, especially Antonio, were out of the question without even considering.

His sister-in-law and Emilia were Lilliana’s closest confidantes, so the risk was too great—they were out.

That left only Leopold and Francois, who were appropriate confidantes and, being fellow men, could empathize with him better than anyone.

“What is it? Money problems?”

“You know I wouldn’t worry about money problems. It’s just…”

But these two seemed a bit too old to bring up this kind of story with.

“Well…”

“Edgar. It’s about Lilliana, isn’t it?”

“What? How did you know?”

“Sigh. That’s the only thing you’d worry about. What’s the problem? Is Lilliana going to study abroad in another country?”

“No, that’s not it. Actually, I’m planning to… ahem… propose.”

“Propose?”

“Kids these days are fast. Leopold, didn’t you also get married in your mid-twenties?”

“I did. Edgar, you’re only 23 now.”

“It’s not that I want to get married right away, but I want to get engaged first and then take it slowly. What I really want to say isn’t this—I’m worried that if I propose, Lilliana and I might grow distant.”

“Why do you think you’d grow distant?”

“From Lily’s perspective, it might be burdensome. There’s also the possibility she might reluctantly accept because it’s uncomfortable to refuse… And even if she does refuse, she might feel guilty about it alone. If that’s how it’ll be, it might be better not to do it at all.”

“That’s a difficult problem.”

Francois nodded, saying he understood.

“Is there a particular reason you want to propose already?”

“That’s…”

When Edgar couldn’t readily answer, Francois clicked his tongue at Leopold, saying he had no sense.

Though he had been formal in the Empire, after Emilia’s marriage, seeing each other more often, they had long since become close friends.

“It’s probably the same reason you proposed to Regina.”

“Ah.”

Leopold tried hard to suppress his laughter as he watched Edgar blush.

“Since childhood, Lilliana has always had many people around her.”

Being pretty, lovely, and having a good personality, Lilliana had always been popular.

But when she became an actress and took the stage, the number of people who knew Lilliana’s charm exploded.

After performances, enthusiastic fans would line up at the theater’s back door, and at parties, various men would hover around trying to at least shake her hand, even knowing she had a boyfriend.

Thanks to this, Edgar was forced to make appearances at parties he would have refused entirely back in the Empire.

“But you’re not someone to be taken lightly either. You don’t need to be so impatient. So you don’t need to feel burdened.”

“Hyung, that’s not what’s important. The key point is that I can’t live without Lilliana.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lilliana.

He simply wanted to confirm that he was Lilliana’s number one before the world surrounding her grew even larger.

Having been separated for a long period during childhood and having a long-distance relationship for several years even after they started dating, he wanted to get engaged despite his young age to definitively close the distance between them.

“Edgar, you still want to propose though. I think your feelings are important too.”

Edgar gained some courage from Francois’s advice.

“Francois is right. Sometimes you need to be brave for your own happiness.”

“Right. And while you’re worried about growing distant, you might actually become closer. That’s what happened to me. After signing the marriage contract, I grew closer to Emilia and became like this.”

“When did you grow up so much? When I first introduced you to my sister-in-law, you were annoyed and said you wouldn’t be friends or anything.”

“Did I? I thought you’d been chasing Lily from the beginning.”

“It was quite a scene.”

Seeing the guy who had even fought demons because of Lilliana now trembling over a proposal, Leopold suddenly remembered the old days and burst into laughter.

Apparently remembering those times clearly, Edgar rubbed his reddened nape and asked in an awkward tone.

“I was too foolish back then, so please bury those old stories. Anyway, Lily will return from her training camp in three days, so I’ll carefully bring it up then. I’m feeling more confident now.”

“…Training camp? As far as I know, she went to a friend’s wedding?”

“What?”

Both men’s gazes focused on Francois.

Making excuses here would only increase anxiety, so it would be better to tell the truth.

He scratched at his shirt, which reeked of Elisa’s drool, and said:

“She stayed at our house last night. As soon as morning came, she packed her bags and left with her friends. The wedding is at a castle on Aranos Island. I understand she’ll be there for three days, including the wedding reception party.”

“You’re not joking, are you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t like parties, so you probably went alone. Don’t worry about it.”

“Calm down. The training camp might be real too.”

This is trouble.

Francois clicked his tongue inwardly as he saw Edgar’s face turn pale in an instant.

He had misspoken, knowing full well how Edgar had been following Lilliana around like a puppy. He felt bad about it.

“Well, um… I should go check on Antonio. Thank you for coming out today. I’ll head out first.”

Edgar immediately rushed out of the cafe in a hurry.

Left alone, Francois broke the heavy silence that had settled and asked Leopold.

“By the way, at what age did the twins start crawling? Our Anne has already started. No matter how I look at it, she’s a genius, a genius.”

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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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