I Became the Youngest Sister-in-law of the Ruined Reverse Harem’s Male Leads - Chapter 203

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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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#.01

Dong. Dong.

Edgar, who had been reading a book, looked up at the faint sound of a clock pendulum coming from afar.

Today becoming yesterday meant that Edgar had turned 15.

In the dark night where the sounds of insects and the clock pendulum were the only entertainment, a strange melancholy and loneliness settled on the young boy’s shoulders in the silence.

‘My mood is like this again…’

Edgar certainly had family.

Though his parents weren’t around, he had his cousin Marius who looked after him like a father, and the Baltrahen couple who cherished him like an uncle and older sister.

Nevertheless, the boy would often quietly sink into deep, bitter contemplation.

He didn’t know why. It wasn’t because of puberty either.

This phenomenon had been repeating since before his voice deepened and he grew taller.

“Let’s go to sleep.”

Edgar, concluding that it was because the novel he was reading was somewhat depressing, threw himself onto the bed.

He could hear the insects chirping. When he turned off the light, the loneliness became as vivid as the darkness deepened.

Edgar tried to sleep, though it wouldn’t come easily.

As he stubbornly kept his eyes closed, he eventually fell into a deep sleep, and morning came.

“Edgar! Happy birthday!”

His distant cousin Marius was an emperor, but rarely showed a dignified appearance.

So like this, whenever it was his birthday, he would shake him awake from dawn and offer wild congratulations.

“It’s 5 o’clock now. Let me sleep a bit more.”

“You have sword training with Leo at 6. Think of it as waking up an hour early since you’d have to get up anyway.”

Wouldn’t it be okay to hit him at least once?

Edgar sometimes thought about grabbing Marius by the collar and shaking him, ignoring their difference in status.

But he knew well it was a futile dream.

That’s why Edgar had become too mature, and even if he did vent his anger, as long as the target was Marius, it would only create self-loathing.

“Hah.”

When Edgar forced himself to sit up, Marius suddenly thrust out a gift.

Edgar became suspicious because the box was so nicely wrapped, narrowing his eyes and glaring at the present.

“You can trust me.”

“I should trust someone trustworthy.”

Last year, Marius had boasted about giving Edgar the first edition of a novel he wanted, but inside the gift box was only a seaweed doll with a ribbon.

Edgar, who had high expectations since Marius had been bragging for six months, couldn’t hide his disappointment.

So to calm his emotions, he practiced sword fighting with Leopold for three whole hours even though it was his birthday.

Of course, Marius did give him the first edition novel. One minute before his birthday ended.

The year before that, and even before then, Marius had been playing such pranks for several years now.

So Edgar had no choice but to be suspicious of the gift box.

“Open it, it’s really something good.”

That sounded quite suspicious.

Even if it was a lie, he decided to open it in recognition of the effort put into devising such a mischievous prank.

So when he unwrapped it.

“…What is this?”

Edgar unconsciously frowned.

This was clearly a letter to anyone who looked at it.

“Read it.”

Looking at the handwriting, it wasn’t something Marius had written for him.

The scribbled but somehow gentle handwriting was impossible not to recognize, even if time had passed and even if he tried not to recognize it.

“This kind of prank isn’t funny.”

Edgar closed the box lid and returned it to Marius as it was.

Displeasure welled up. If it was a letter from Lilliana, he didn’t want to see it or receive it.

Lilliana was like the letter in that box.

To explain, just facing her made him feel strange, so he had buried everything under the lemon tree.

“Lilliana was subtly asking about you. It seemed like she was asking me to nudge you to write back.”

“This is the gift you came to give me at 5 AM on my birthday, forcibly waking me up? You thought this letter would make me happy.”

“Edgar. What’s important is the heart. The physical distance can be solved.”

“Not for me. And she’s just a childhood friend, nothing more, nothing less. So this kind of prank isn’t funny. It’s very unpleasant and annoying.”

Edgar, who had spoken coldly beyond just being prickly, slammed the door shut and left the room.

Marius let out a deep sigh and squeezed his eyes shut.

“If he actually faced Lilliana, it would be different.”

Those around them would know better than the person himself how much Edgar had liked Lilliana.

And among those around them, Marius, who had watched Edgar grow up from the side, knew best.

He didn’t know how those lifeless eyes would sparkle so brightly when he was with Lilliana.

When the two held hands and ran around playing, Edgar was a boy who had the whole world.

‘It’s all because of me.’

Marius started another day with the self-reproach that repeated hundreds of times a year.

* * *

Edgar attended a different school from Chris and Luca, but they still maintained their friendship.

After attending all the afternoon lectures, Edgar kicked the ball on the playground with his friends, sweating profusely.

“Didn’t you say you woke up at 5 today?”

“Yeah. I also did sword training with the Knight Order.”

“You should be tired, so why are you playing so well?”

When Luca tilted his head, Chris, who had been reading a book in the shade, spoke up.

“Did something unpleasant happen?”

“There’s no such thing.”

While Luca might not know, Chris had been watching how Edgar changed from a certain point onward.

That’s why I understand well the reason for deliberately acting indifferent to hide sensitive inner feelings.

However, since he didn’t want to let on that he knew, Chris stared intently at Edgar before turning his gaze away, pretending to know nothing.

“But how are your university lectures? No matter how smart you are, they must be really difficult.”

“It’s tolerable.”

“Worth doing? Ugh! How annoying. Chris, you say something too. Tell him he’s disgusting to look at. Oh wait, never mind. You were kind of annoying too.”

Luca pouted his lips. Chris asked cautiously.

“Luca. How are your studies going? If your grades are a mess again this time, you might be sent to the boarding school attached to the monastery…”

“Chris. If I had a dream like you do, I would study hard too….”

“If you keep studying like this, your grades might hold you back when you find your dream.”

“…This is why I hate kids who already have their future planned out.”

Ugh. Luca pretended to gag playfully.

My future path…

Edgar thought his career path was predictable.

Since the responsibilities and duties are clear, it can’t be helped.

‘He’s probably working under Marius.’

I don’t know about His Majesty. No matter how much he can’t forget Lady Alice, wouldn’t he remarry before he grows old and dies?

If she bears a late child, that child will inherit the throne.

Honestly, I have no desire to become emperor.

I also don’t like the future where my boss becomes Marius’s brother.

Still, maintaining the inherited family estate and taking month-long vacations to resorts every summer would be boring but probably peaceful.

‘And it would be boring.’

It’ll be boring, for sure.

So it will be more depressing, more lonely, and more desolate than it is now.

I feel certain of that.

The reason I think it will turn out that way is…

“I don’t know.”

“Huh? What? What did you just say?”

“No.”

“By the way, did you guys know? I think Daniel likes Sophie.”

“Zophie?”

“A few days ago when Zoey walked by, he said her curly hair looked pretty. That’s when I had a gut feeling.”

A face flashed through my mind at the word “curly hair.”

The little girl who had curly hair would also scrunch her eyes into half-moons when she smiled, her chubby cheeks flushing a rosy red.

Edgar still remembers it clearly.

The moments when I would sometimes tie her hair for her.

I vividly remember everything—the feel of black hair brushing against my fingers, those small shoulders, the voice asking if I was done, and for some reason, my heart pounding and the excited feeling that came with it.

‘No. I’ve forgotten everything. I don’t remember anything.’

I don’t understand. So much time has passed….

It’s been years since my voice finished changing, enough time that I could have caught up to Leo’s height by now, so why is my heart still trapped in those days…?

Sometimes I felt not just frustrated but wronged by my inability to make any progress at all.

Just as it was natural for his parents to be absent, this feeling was not something Edgar had intended.

“I’m going to head out now. It’s my birthday, so I’m having dinner at Leo’s place. And thanks for the birthday present.”

Edgar got up, dusting off his bottom after his friends had gathered their gifts.

Why will I be lonely in the future too? Because I’m lonely now. And why I feel so desolate right now is…

‘Forget it. Don’t think about it.’

Edgar stubbornly avoided the right answer.

I still didn’t have the courage to face it. And this problem wasn’t something that could be solved just by confronting the truth.

So turning away is the best answer. That’s what I believe, so why on earth….

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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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