I Became the Youngest Sister-in-law of the Ruined Reverse Harem’s Male Leads - Chapter 208
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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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#. 03
“Eliminate all the troublesome ability users. They’re only going to harm the Empire if we let them live. It’s better to nip them in the bud before they become an organized resistance force.”
The Marius that Edgar knew had a cold side, but he wasn’t someone who took human lives lightly.
Thanks to Leopold, he realized he had taken a love potion and even drank the antidote, but he couldn’t return to his original self.
Perhaps it was because he had already come too far.
He had started a war, turned the isolated island nation into ruins, and even his friend Leopold had committed suicide.
All that remained for him was the choice to run toward the end.
“You know that 30% of Trobancha’s population are ability users, right?”
Fear rippled through his chest.
In Marius’s eyes looking at Edgar was anguish over an irreversible past and a desperate desire to turn away from everything in the world because he didn’t know what to do with himself.
If only Leo hyung were here at times like this, he could have stopped him. Edgar clenched his fists tightly.
“Edgar. This isn’t something for you to get involved in.”
“What are you even doing this for? Rebecca Marchione is going to be executed soon too… You can stop now.”
“Get out.”
“Hyung!”
“I said get out, Edgar. This is my last warning.”
Edgar, who had been driven out of the conference room, leaned against the wall and repeatedly rubbed his face with dry hands.
What lay at the end of Marius’s path was clear to Edgar’s eyes, but it seemed invisible to the person himself.
After suffering inwardly for a while, he went to see the girl. And he heard it.
“Hic.”
Her crying was as fragile and broken as her small frame.
Edgar couldn’t bring himself to put his hand on the door handle, so he sat leaning against the door outside, waiting for the crying to stop.
If it weren’t for that crazy Trobanchan witch, hyung wouldn’t have gone mad and started a war.
A sense of helplessness pressed heavily on Edgar’s shoulders in this terrible, irreversible situation.
Then he accidentally made a sound. After carefully knocking and opening the door, he saw Lilliana wiping her face.
“I wasn’t crying. It’s just dust that got in my eyes.”
Though it was clearly visible that her excuse in a tearful voice was just that—an excuse.
“I know.”
Edgar pretended not to notice. Then he immediately changed the subject.
“It’s a flower. It was blooming beautifully on my way here.”
He didn’t know why the girl came to mind when he saw the flower blooming on his way to the tower.
The moment he saw the white flower, his first thought was that he wanted to show her this beautiful sight.
Edgar handed the flower to the girl, not understanding himself.
After receiving the flower, she stared at the white petals for a long time, then very faintly—so slightly that you wouldn’t notice unless you looked carefully—lifted the corners of her mouth.
“Ah.”
An exclamation escaped him involuntarily.
The girl’s softened atmosphere disappeared with his voice, but Edgar had already seen that face.
It was from that day. That Edgar became conscious of the girl.
* * *
The war continued and the magician’s madness didn’t improve at all, but Edgar encountered change without realizing it.
He was just bringing food as usual, but too many things caught his attention.
From the taste of the food to his own appearance, the expression the girl wore when he visited, her reaction to greeting him, and so on.
Edgar didn’t even realize that he himself was strange.
He just became conscious of the girl so naturally, as if it was something that had to happen.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
When the girl stared at him intently, his chest tickled with nervousness.
He didn’t know what answer he had hoped for, but he felt an expectation he shouldn’t dare to harbor.
“Is there something on my face?”
“No. Nothing.”
The girl shook her head and spoke in a voice so small it seemed about to fade away.
Though it was a bit disappointing, Edgar didn’t mind. Just the fact that she had given him her attention made him feel like he could fly away with excitement.
* * *
When eating food sprinkled with unfamiliar spices, the girl came to mind.
When he spotted a girl his age with black hair, he thought of the girl’s curly hair and blue eyes.
Every time he visited the library, he realized that his criteria for choosing books had become the girl’s preferences.
As the path to the tower became familiar, his steps also quickened.
In proportion to his quickening steps, his longing also deepened.
“New books came into the library, so I borrowed one. I enjoyed reading it, but I’m not sure how you’ll find it.”
Edgar said as he placed the book on the nightstand.
The girl stared at him intently today as well. Unable to bear the embarrassment, he asked her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Your cardigan. It’s really strange.”
“What?”
He lowered his head to check his outfit. The cardigan was a currently fashionable design in deep purple with silver embroidery.
“This…?”
Did Trobancha have very different standards of beauty?
As soon as he had that thought, the girl explained.
“The clothes look pretty by themselves, but they don’t suit you.”
“Is that… so?”
Edgar, unusually flustered, blushed.
Edgar wasn’t particularly interested in fashion, so he didn’t really know what suited him and what didn’t.
The girl said she was tired and crawled under the covers, waving her hand as she added:
“Simple clothes suit you best.”
Simple…
After confirming the girl had fallen asleep and leaving, Edgar returned to the Imperial Palace and immediately shoved the newly bought cardigan deep into his closet.
He planned never to wear it again. No, he was going to burn it tomorrow and get rid of it completely.
Though he had only embarrassed himself by trying to dress up awkwardly, not all of Edgar’s days were disasters.
One day, on his way to the tower, it seemed like his eyes met the girl’s through the window.
Swish.
The girl turned her head away. She also shut the window with a snap. She had been watching and waiting, knowing full well it was time for Edgar to come.
‘Was she… waiting for me?’
Edgar was swept up in a strange feeling at the thought that the girl had been waiting for him.
A pleasant whirlpool seemed to rise from deep in his chest, coloring him with yellow light.
A little ticklish, soft like feathers… Edgar’s chest felt ticklish from this unfamiliar emotion.
And very occasionally.
“Sometimes I’m certain my dreams will come true. Strange, isn’t it? Even though they can’t. Oh, Caliban. Set me free from this life.”
He could secretly watch the girl reading the books Edgar had brought her.
Reciting the heroine’s lines, she looked like a character from a novel.
One day she became a boy in love, another day a tragic woman.
Secretly listening to the girl’s voice outside the door, stealing glimpses of her sparkling eyes through the crack in the open door, Edgar became dreamy as if he were dreaming.
Though he had already read the books, experiencing them again through the girl’s stage gave him completely different impressions.
Every moment sparkled. Tragedy, comedy, fate, sadness… everything became romance flowing through the Milky Way, soap bubbles tickling his heart.
But when time passed and he returned to reality, terrible helplessness overwhelmed him. This entire situation was too awful. On such days, Edgar would spend nights awake for days on end.
Staring at the window where the sun rose, Edgar thought it would have been good if they had met under different circumstances.
Then she wouldn’t have spoken harsh words to him or hidden her solitary performances while reading books, and Edgar could have sat at the girl’s feet, focusing on her chattering stories.
He wanted to know what the girl was thinking, what her true personality was like, what she liked and what she disliked.
Unable to sleep, the girl’s blue eyes floated in his drowsy mind.
Long, thick eyelashes and neat eyebrows, a small cute nose, plump lips.
He suddenly became curious about her face when she smiled.
But a Trobancha person captured as a prisoner of war from an enemy nation would never smile for the Emperor’s cousin.
His hand drawing the curtains felt empty. Edgar pushed his head under the pillow, trying not to imagine the girl’s smiling face.
Though that was impossible.
After spending time crying and laughing alone like this, the moment Edgar confirmed the waves of magic and supernatural power emanating from within the tower, he realized the ending was approaching.
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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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