I Became the Youngest Sister-in-law of the Ruined Reverse Harem’s Male Leads - Chapter 204

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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

“Edgar. This isn’t a birthday present, but I felt I should give this to you now.”

Leopold handed over a thick bundle of letters.

The sender written on the letter envelopes was Lilliana.

Lilliana Berchio.

The girl who had tormented Edgar for half his life just by existing.

After Lilliana left for Trobancha, Edgar had changed all his mail to be sent to the Waldrafen Estate.

So he had never directly seen the letters Lilliana sent, but facing them now felt strange.

“Did you conspire with Marius?”

Edgar couldn’t take his eyes off the letters.

The handwriting was identical to what he’d seen at dawn. Actually, the handwriting wasn’t the issue.

What mattered was that this was a bundle of letters, representing a very long time and much devotion accumulated.

‘Just how many did she send?’

Just looking at them, there seemed to be dozens.

Since he’d been ignoring the letters, he thought she would send three or four and give up, never imagining so many would arrive.

‘This is exactly why I tried not to receive letters.’

It was just like Marius to give such a gift.

If he read through all this accumulated time at once, surely, surely…

‘Damn it.’

Edgar swallowed his curse and turned his anger toward his guardian.

“You two are doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Did Marius say something to you?”

“Marius came to see me from dawn and handed me a letter Lilliana sent to him. He probably wanted to let me know how much she’s looking for me.”

“That made you uncomfortable.”

“Not uncomfortable, inconvenient. And angry. I don’t want to hear anything about her.”

“Lilliana hasn’t done anything wrong to you. Ignoring her feelings like this isn’t right.”

“…”

Edgar stood with his mouth tightly shut, glaring at Leopold resentfully.

‘He’s scared.’

He was a child who thought maturely due to his intelligence but was clumsy at expressing emotions.

Leopold didn’t know exactly what about Lilliana had made Edgar like this.

He only knew it was on the same track as his love for his wife.

Though it was questionable whether that was an emotion a young child should harbor.

“If sister-in-law feels so sorry toward Trobancha that she doesn’t know what to do, I’ll apologize directly myself. But don’t you act like this too.”

Those precariously sunken eyes – was it the typical danger of adolescence, or proof of old wounds that hadn’t healed at all?

Leopold realized Edgar needed more time and nodded.

“I’m sorry. I’ll apologize.”

“No. I understand your position too. It must be awkward in front of sister-in-law. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. You don’t need to either. How is school? Aren’t you lonely with classmates older than you?”

“…It’s okay. I’m gradually becoming friends with them.”

“They don’t ignore you?”

“Who would dare ignore me?”

Though he showed the arrogance typical of high nobility, Leopold didn’t frown at that.

He too was high nobility, and this was the Empire, a class-based society.

Edgar’s attitude was as natural as breathing.

“I hoped you would take a year or two off before enrollment. I didn’t think you needed to go to university so early.”

“What would I do even with time off? Waiting for friends to finish school and playing would only last a day or two. I would have ended up going to the library to read books anyway.”

“Don’t you think about having other hobbies?”

“I don’t know. Everything’s fun. No, everything’s equally boring. I just do it because it’s tolerable.”

He had many talents but liked nothing. He wanted nothing either.

So Edgar thought he was a really boring person.

He couldn’t intensely desire something like Chris who loved magic, nor could he show age-appropriate foolishness like Luca, making him seem disgusting.

‘So am I just a meaninglessly mature and disgusting young child to my classmates?’

He didn’t know. Whatever they thought, they couldn’t act like those foolish nobles who used to look down on young Edgar.

“Studying isn’t hard. But I’m afraid of what comes after graduation. I’m scared my life will be too boring.”

So utterly boring that he’d be soaked in lethargy, each day heavy.

So he’d live a life of just enduring each day.

Like now.

“Edgar…”

Edgar dropped his head listlessly.

Then the letters in Leopold’s hands came into view more clearly.

His gaze kept going there. His heart stirred and his mouth went dry.

He wanted to tear open the envelopes right now and check them one by one from the oldest.

How she’d been living, what daily life she was leading while missing him, whether Lilliana was struggling like him without him there.

But he was afraid. So very afraid.

Because as he gradually moved to more recent dates, he might realize that Lilliana could really live well without him.

That she might no longer miss him or struggle anymore.

‘Why do I still miss Lilliana?’

The moment he tore open those letters and read the sentences would surely be very happy.

He knew better than anyone that it would be joyful and overwhelming enough to bring tears.

That’s exactly why he couldn’t check them. The moment he opened even one envelope, he was certain he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

‘I don’t know what to do.’

Edgar knew very well why he was lonely.

It was because Lilliana wasn’t there. Without that girl, his life had become filled with depression, dejection, and helplessness.

Lilliana was a sparkling light, the wind that drove away clouds, and the chirping of birds that kept the world from being boring.

And she was the girl who made him aware of his own heartbeat every moment.

“It’s already boring now, but if it gets even more boring than this, how will I live?”

Edgar, half out of his mind, muttered his inner thoughts without realizing it, then belatedly came to his senses and stepped back in shock.

With a confused face, not knowing what to say, he fumbled with his lips and spoke as if about to cry.

“I should go back before it gets too late. Please tell sister-in-law that I’m grateful she celebrated my birthday.”

Edgar fled from the Waldrafen Estate as if escaping.

It was late evening, and a dark night filled with clouds and not a trace of moonlight was approaching.

The moment he thought he was looking up at the pitch-black night sky from inside the carriage returning to the Imperial Palace, Edgar woke up from his sleep.

“Ah.”

He reflexively let out an exclamation.

The deep loneliness he had felt in his youth still felt vivid.

‘That birthday was the worst.’

His mood couldn’t have been more terrible.

No matter what pranks Marius pulled, he could never surpass that day.

Edgar hugged the sleeping Lilliana beside him more tightly to shake off the melancholy that clung to him in his drowsy state.

Then Lilliana made a grumbling sound in her sleep, apparently uncomfortable.

“Can’t breathe…”

“Sorry. Keep sleeping.”

“Mmm.”

It was fortunate it was a dream. Just thinking that he was still living at age 15 was so terrible it would make his body tremble.

‘It was adolescence.’

Thinking about it, he back then was the very embodiment of an adolescent boy.

A clumsy and timid boy who didn’t know what to do with his long-standing first love fever.

If he could meet his past self, he would want to tell him that the letters stopped after the 14th birthday letter, but that he would reunite with Lilliana again years later.

It would be perfect if he could pat his back and tell him it was okay to be brave.

“Lilliana…”

Perhaps because his heart was complicated from the dream, looking at Lilliana in his arms made his nose tingle.

Her black hair touched his arm that embraced her neck.

Her curly hair tickled his heart just the same as when she was a little child whose hands hadn’t yet matured.

He had married the girl he liked throughout his childhood after dating her for a long time.

They even had a child, and now they had built a family together, sleeping and waking up together like this.

“Did you call me?”

Lilliana asked sleepily without properly opening her eyes.

Edgar, unable to bear the affection that swelled up as if it would burst, showered Lilliana’s face with kisses.

Forehead, bridge of her nose, cheeks, lips. Even after kissing everywhere, his heart wasn’t satisfied, so he hugged her small body and breathed in rhythm with Lilliana’s breathing.

“Edgar. I feel suffocated.”

“Just a moment. I want to stay like this for a little while.”

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“A little…”

“It must have been scary. Yawn. Our Oliver will destroy them all. Just say the word.”

When Lilliana raised her fist, Edgar giggled.

Her fist was tiny even now, so how small must it have been in childhood?

He understood why Marius teased her every day, calling it a bean fist or water fist.

Lilliana wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered.

“Happy birthday, Edgar.”

“…Shouldn’t you say that while blowing out candles on a cake?”

“I wanted to be the first to congratulate you.”

Thud thud thud thud thud.

The sound of hurried footsteps running down the corridor could be heard.

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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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