I Became the Youngest Sister-in-law of the Ruined Reverse Harem’s Male Leads - Chapter 25

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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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#.25

“Lilliana, violence is bad, okay? Are you alright?”

“It’s bad…”

“Did you do wrong? Or did you do right?”

“…I did right.”

Even though Edith scolded me, I couldn’t admit I was wrong.

“They were bad. They said mean things about Edgar.”

“That doesn’t mean you can use violence.”

“But…”

I couldn’t agree with Edith’s nagging, so my lips jutted out.

* * *

The moment one of the maids who said bad things was about to hit me, the door from the next room burst open and Edgar came rushing out.

“How dare you cause a commotion in whose palace!”

He was definitely supposed to be my age, but Edgar yelling at the two maids looked not just older than me, but several years older.

“Y-Your Grace, the Viscount.”

“Working in the Imperial Palace and trying to hit an honored guest from Trowance? Those who don’t even know who they should be serving need to be disciplined with a beating. State your names.”

The adults who had been mean to me just moments ago were trembling at the small child’s words.

“Your Grace, the Viscount. We were just—”

“Do you think this is something that can be excused right now?”

“N-No. We’re sorry for causing a commotion.”

“We overstepped our bounds and committed a grave mistake. We’re sorry, Your Grace, the Viscount. We won’t do it again, so please forgive us.”

They knelt down and bowed their heads while watching Edgar’s expression.

Edgar accepted the two maids’ apologies as if it were natural.

As someone born in Trowance, it was a scene difficult for me to understand, so I was a bit dumbfounded.

“I saw you trying to hit His Majesty’s guest. You know what punishment will be handed down, don’t you?”

It was the moment the maids were reluctantly about to answer Edgar.

“Lilliana!”

It was Edith’s voice. From the opposite side, Edith came running with a surprised face.

Then the maids’ faces hardened in a different direction from when they were being scolded by Edgar.

Edith lifted me up from the floor and examined my body.

“I thought you might be playing with the Viscount, so I came to check… Does it hurt a lot?”

Except for my palms getting a little scraped when I fell on my bottom, I was fine, but Edith seemed to think otherwise.

Soon after, sparks flew from Edith’s eyes as she turned her gaze to the maid. Then one of the maids shouted.

“Th-The child rushed at us first and started a fight, so I was so startled that I unconsciously pushed her a little!”

“A fight? You’re saying Lilliana started a fight?”

“They insulted you and Edgar! Those people were bad!”

“Even if a child rushed at you, isn’t pushing her so she falls backward shameful behavior for an adult?”

“How were we supposed to know the kid was hiding there? Eavesdropping and having bad hand habits – educate your child properly!”

“You ladies should speak nicely! Edith, those ladies called me a barbarian!”

When I fought back without backing down, I suddenly felt the air around Edith turn cold.

From her stiffly hardened expression, chilly gaze, and the hand gripping mine tightly, I could feel how angry Edith was right now.

“Viscount of Runtvolleney. If it’s alright, could you take Lilliana and step aside?”

Edith asked Edgar in a smooth tone as if nothing had happened.

Edgar nodded as if entranced and quietly tugged at my sleeve.

“Lilliana. Go to your room. I’ll see you later.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if Edgar was guiding me to my room or if I was dragging Edgar along, but either way we walked down the corridor to the palace where I was staying.

After walking for a while, Edgar forgot we were in the middle of a war and quietly asked me.

“Is Lady Edith good at fighting?”

“Yeah. My Edith is really strong! She wins everything. She can even defeat sea monsters by herself.”

Actually, there are no sea monsters, but I bragged a little out of pride.

“Is she good with a sword too?”

“Of course. Edith is invincible.”

“Hmph. Even so, she can’t be better than Leopold.”

“No way. Edith can beat Leo too.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous. Leo is the strongest in the world.”

“No she’s not! Edgar is stupid!”

“You’re the stupid one. You can’t even handle words properly so you resort to punching.”

Edgar glanced at my face as we walked.

I imagined Edith and Leopold having a sword duel and answered carelessly.

“Those people were bad. They spoke rudely about Edgar, so they deserved to be hit.”

“…”

Since Edgar didn’t say anything, I frowned and turned my head away sharply.

I saw Edgar’s cheeks turn slightly, just slightly red.

Was he embarrassed that I caught the maids insulting him?

While I was pondering this, we had already arrived at my room.

I remembered a few days ago when Edgar had put a pumpkin on my bed and giggled.

I briefly considered whether I should be angry. I hadn’t received a proper apology yet.

But I thought I should be mature and let it go.

“Want to come in and play with me? I’ll introduce you to my siblings.”

“Siblings? You have siblings too?”

“Yeah. They’re really cute!”

I invited Edgar into my room and formally introduced him to Cookie and Jelly, who were neatly placed on my bed.

“This is Cookie, and this is Jelly. Jelly became my sibling recently.”

“These aren’t siblings, they’re dolls.”

“They’re dolls but they’re also my siblings.”

“You still play house with dolls? Are you a little kid?”

When Edgar snorted, lightning struck my head. A little kid? Me?

I’m only six years old, but I’m not a little kid, am I?

My mental age is higher than my peers, so I graduated from being a child long ago!

“You…”

I glared at Edgar.

I was seriously thinking about how I could beat Edgar.

Suddenly he reached out and fixed my hair.

It had probably gotten messy when I headbutted the maids.

Unlike my sisters, his touch was clumsy – I couldn’t tell if he was fixing my hair or just messing it up, but I didn’t push his hand away and let him be.

“Even if you are a little kid, I can’t give up my brother. Leo is mine.”

Leopold belongs to Liliana, what is he talking about.

But if I corrected that fact, it seemed like Edgar and I would fight again.

So I quietly kept my mouth shut and climbed onto the bed to lie down flat.

“Edgar is really stupid.”

“What? Why am I stupid?”

“Because you don’t know anything, so you’re stupid.”

“You’re the stupid one. Getting angry and just rushing in recklessly… But you did well. Tomorrow Marius will step in and punish them all. My brother only cares about politics so the palace order has been a complete mess, but this worked out well.”

“Huh?”

“My brother only pays attention to running the country, so the order within the Imperial Palace is a mess. Unless it’s a political issue, Marius doesn’t care what anyone does.”

I have no idea what he’s talking about.

Edgar muttered something I couldn’t understand, then lay down next to me.

“Why are you lying down? This is my bed.”

“The Imperial Palace is my home too, isn’t it?”

“Go back to your room.”

“No. I’m going to play here. You said we should play together.”

“Then want to play hospital with Cookie, Jelly, and the four of us? Or should we play kitchen in the flower bed?”

“How childish. I don’t do stuff like that.”

This time thunder crashed and boomed in my head. Childish… he called it childish!

No matter how much I try to get along with him, he always says annoying things.

I glared at Edgar, contemplating how best to teach him a lesson.

But before I could crush Edgar, the door burst open and Edith returned.

* * *

As soon as Edith came to my room, she started scolding me and still hasn’t finished.

“Lilliana, violence is never okay in any situation. You must never do it. Understand?”

“Mm-hmm. I won’t hit people carelessly anymore.”

When I reluctantly nodded, Edith finally hugged me.

As Edith’s embrace enveloped me, my chest felt warm.

It felt even cozier than when I made a small cave with blankets and crawled inside.

Even if bad adults called me a savage or whatever, I felt reassured that Edith could protect me from all dangers.

I hugged Edith tightly.

* * *

“The commotion that happened during the day was all due to my oversight. I’m truly sorry and ashamed toward Miss Edith.”

“Apologize to Lilliana.”

“Right. I’ll apologize to Lilliana separately too.”

As soon as they had tea time after dinner, Marius immediately apologized to her without delay.

According to what he heard, Edith had been furious with the palace maids and called for the person in charge to deliver appropriate punishment.

“I’ll apologize too. Even though we’re not officially married yet and I don’t have the right to punish them, I did anyway.”

“You’re my fiancée. You have every right to do so.”

Marius waved his hand dismissively and observed Edith, who seemed lost in thought.

The rudeness committed by the court maid today was an incident that clearly showed the Empire’s prejudice and discrimination toward Trowance.

If Trowance criticized the Empire as ignorant warmongers, then the Empire cursed Trowance as savages.

This came from seeing their free-spirited atmosphere compared to the Empire and their consumption of unfamiliar ingredients like crustaceans such as shrimp and lobster.

Since they usually looked down on and ignored Trowance, they probably acted that way even knowing Edith would soon become Empress.

Marius felt the reality that there was a long road ahead and pressed his temples firmly.

“Even though our languages are similar, our cultures are quite different, so there will be many difficult times ahead.”

Since she came from a country without class distinctions, some might curse Edith as lowborn.

Even after becoming Empress, they would surely try not to acknowledge her.

Even if Marius supported Edith, the nobles would try to ignore her somehow.

“After dealing with all my brothers and consolidating imperial power, I couldn’t pay attention to palace affairs. Today’s incident is all my oversight. I’ll watch more carefully from now on, but I don’t think I can promise there won’t be such incidents in the future. I’m very sorry to Miss Edith about this.”

“I know. I came here knowing all of this. But we definitely need to establish order. The same goes for the Grand Duke’s matter.”

“I didn’t know there were people who would speak so badly about Edgar. But are you okay, Miss Edith? You must have been very angry today.”

“I delivered appropriate punishment and it would have served as an example to others, so I’m fine.”

Marius nodded at Edith’s calm answer without any emotional fluctuation. He gazed at her lake-like tranquil eyes and smiled wryly.

He had heard that after disciplining the maids today, she had taken deep breaths for a long time in front of Lilliana’s room to suppress her emotions.

Looking at her eyes and behavior alone, she was a woman whose inner thoughts were unreadable, but when it came to Lilliana, her attitude changed as easily as flipping one’s palm.

‘That is charming, though.’

As his contractor and as a partner who would be together as husband and wife for the next ten years, such traits were actually good.

Marius sipped his tea, thinking he should clean house soon, even if it meant bringing a bloodbath to the Imperial Palace.

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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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