I Became the Youngest Sister-in-law of the Ruined Reverse Harem’s Male Leads - Chapter 34

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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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#.34

Marius returned to his office after watching Edith’s sparring match and squeezed his eyes shut.

His head was complicated, and as he slumped powerlessly in his chair, Leopold came to find him.

Marius asked with a puzzled expression.

“Didn’t you have a date planned with your prospective little sister-in-law?”

“I postponed it to evening. I felt like I needed to see you.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m speaking not as a vassal who has sworn loyalty to you, but as a friend and Edgar’s older brother. Stop being wary of Edgar already. It looks very unsightly.”

Marius’s eyebrows twitched.

Just because someone acts frivolously doesn’t mean they are a frivolous person. Beneath his cold and hard gaze was a heavy, settled ruthlessness.

Though his words just now had touched the Emperor’s nerves, Leopold emphasized without fear.

“You are Edgar’s protector and older brother. And Edgar is still a child. You should abandon the thought that Edgar will be like your dead brothers or uncle.”

“….”

“Think of the late Princess Elizabeth. We promised her we would be good older brothers.”

“Stop it. I don’t want to hear it.”

“Are you afraid of that little child?”

Marius’s atmosphere became sharp.

He managed to control his frayed nerves, but his sharp gaze didn’t subside.

The angry aura that only comes from those who grew up feeding on blood might be frightening, but Leopold too was someone who had seen countless amounts of blood.

While Marius protected the imperial throne, Leopold became his sword and fought against traitors.

The deep scar on his face was also from that time.

“Afraid? It’s not fear, it’s exhaustion.”

Marius had an aspect that Leopold could never imitate.

It was ruthlessness. The coldness he had inevitably learned even without wanting to, because he had slaughtered his own blood relatives.

He replied so coldly that even Leopold felt his liver turn cold.

“It would be better if you handle being an older brother alone.”

“Marius!”

“I don’t want to be betrayed by trust. If the child I raised with love points a sword at me… I don’t have the confidence to endure it twice.”

He would be heartbroken in proportion to the affection he gave. He didn’t want to be hurt ‘again.’

“Let it end with just me.”

A voice repeated hundreds and thousands of times echoed.

Though he should be used to it by now, Marius twisted his lips bitterly as his heart felt like it was collapsing again.

The arm that had been injured back then began to ache. Though that wound couldn’t possibly remain now.

He could kill his brothers, but Edgar… Marius shook his head.

“He will surely point a blade at me someday.”

While some would give up even their own future for their younger sibling, Marius lacked that confidence.

So he honestly confessed to Leopold, meaning for him to love Edgar enough for both their shares.

But if he had known Edgar was listening to their conversation from behind the door, he would never have spoken that way.

* * *

“Sob. Sniff.”

Edgar shed chicken-dropping-like tears under his blanket.

He had gone to find Marius to say he wanted to learn swordsmanship from Edith, but ended up overhearing by chance.

“It would be better if you handle being an older brother alone.”

If there had been a servant outside, he wouldn’t have ended up hearing the conversation, but Leopold had dismissed the people, so there was no one guarding the door.

“Brother must dislike me. Sob!”

Edgar only had Leopold and Marius as family, just the two of them.

But Leopold was too busy, and Marius found him bothersome.

“He disliked me. It wasn’t that I was bothersome, he must have hated me.”

I would never betray Brother Marius…

Edgar cried as if he would die from the overwhelming sorrow.

Even crying like this, Edgar had no family to comfort him. No imperial courtier would pay attention to a child who had fallen out of the Emperor’s favor.

Only one person – Lilliana, who came to play with Edgar, was the exception.

“Edgar. Come play with me…”

When there was no answer despite her knocking, Lilliana opened the door wide.

They had gotten to the point of entering each other’s rooms like their own, so she planned to wait while playing with toys even if the owner wasn’t inside.

But her subordinate Edgar was crying alone.

“Why, why are you crying!”

Startled, Lilliana rushed over to Edgar.

Edgar, caught crying, pulled the blanket over his head, but it was useless.

“Did someone hit you? What’s wrong… what happened?”

“Go away. I want to be alone. Sob.”

“Don’t cry, Edgar.”

Lilliana patted Edgar gently over the blanket.

As her small hand clumsily offered comfort, his crying grew louder.

“Waaaah.”

“Are you hurt somewhere? Does your stomach hurt? Do you have a fever?”

When her sisters comforted her like this, she would calm down, but Edgar cried even more sorrowfully.

Was he injured? They say it hurts terribly when you break a leg.

Lilliana was worried about Edgar and wriggled her body under the blanket.

It was dark under the blanket so she couldn’t see well, but she still searched for Edgar and felt around his face with her hands.

“Edgar, does it hurt a lot?”

“Waaaah.”

“Don’t cry. I’m sorry. Okay? Should I blow on where it hurts? Should I call a doctor?”

What should I do. Really, what should I do.

This was the first time she’d seen Edgar cry like this. Even when his knee got scraped while playing, he would get up bravely and say such a wound was nothing.

He would even calmly say he wouldn’t misbehave in the future when scolded.

Seeing such an Edgar cry as if the sky was falling, Lilliana fidgeted anxiously before suddenly hugging his small body tight.

“Everything will be okay. I’ll tell Uncle Francois to make it not hurt.”

So don’t cry.

As Edgar cried, tears began leaking from Lilliana’s eyes too. Lilliana sniffled while holding Edgar.

Even so, she didn’t let go of the sobbing Edgar.

Because Lilliana’s precious subordinate friend seemed to need comfort right now.

* * *

“Are you okay now?”

Edgar nodded his head instead of answering.

He had cried so much that his voice was hoarse and it was hard to open his eyes.

I had ended up crying along at some point too, so my nose was stuffed.

‘Something must have happened.’

He was excited watching the sword sparring at the Knight Order earlier, but to be crying like this just an hour later – it would be stranger if there was no reason.

Edgar spoke in a hoarse voice.

“…Don’t tell anyone about me crying today.”

“Why?”

“Just don’t tell anyone if I say not to.”

“Okay.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Good.”

After getting a promise from me, Edgar wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

I brought tissues and carefully wiped away even the tear stains remaining on his cheeks.

Edgar stared intently at me as I did this.

His green eyes gazed at me so persistently that I found myself asking without thinking.

“Why were you crying? Did you stub your toe on the door?”

“…I found out that Marius doesn’t like me.”

“Marius?”

“Yeah. He hates me.”

I reached out and pulled Edgar, who was sitting in front of me, into my arms.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged his small body tightly, which smelled faintly of salty tears.

“Edgar. Your heart must have hurt.”

“…”

“My brother is like that too.”

“You have a brother?”

“Yeah. Andrea found me annoying, so one day he suddenly went down to the countryside. So even when I send him letters, he doesn’t reply properly, and he won’t even meet me.”

Andrea suddenly went down to the countryside one day.

Suddenly, without giving me any time to prepare for being separated from him.

That was when I first felt the emotion called loss in my life.

My sisters didn’t explain why he went to the countryside. It seemed more like they couldn’t explain.

They couldn’t very well say he was sick of taking care of his sister’s messes when he was old enough to start his own family.

‘I guess I was annoying because I got sick so often.’

I had been seriously ill right before he left, so he must have been exhausted.

“Aren’t you sad that you don’t have a mother and father?”

“I love my sisters, but I still wish I had a mom and dad. What about you, Edgar?”

“Me too. I wish I at least had a mother.”

Edgar buried his face in my neck.

Perhaps finding comfort in knowing we were in the same situation, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged my back.

My shoulder was getting damp from his tears.

“Aren’t you angry at your brother?”

“When they had Father’s Day at kindergarten, all my friends came with their dads, but my brother came instead of mine. I was so happy then. That’s why I still love my brother.”

“You’re silly.”

“I only have my sisters and brother, so I can’t help it.”

Since I don’t have parents, my sisters and brother are everything to me.

From the moment my memories began, it was my brother and sisters who were by my side.

So my brother and sisters were the guardians who replaced my parents in my six-year-old life.

Even though he left for the countryside because I was annoying, the time I spent with my brother still remains as precious moments in my life.

Especially the day we observed snails together under an umbrella in the garden on a rainy day – that’s one of the best days of my life.

When my brother held me in his arms and read me fairy tales, I loved the warmth I felt from his back.

So regardless of what my brother feels now, I can’t help but love Andrea.

Because to young me, those moments were brilliant days when I was loved.

“Edgar. If Marius doesn’t like you, then I’ll like you that much more instead.”

Since Edgar and I were hugging each other, I couldn’t see what expression he was making.

But I knew how much his heart must be hurting right now. Being in a similar situation, I couldn’t help but understand better than anyone.

That’s why Edgar’s tears felt as sad to me as if they were my own.

“I wish you wouldn’t hurt. Don’t cry, Edgar.”

Edgar’s small body trembled finely. His hot breath like a sigh tickled my cheek.

His arms, slightly longer than mine, hugged me with stronger force than before.

I gently patted Edgar’s back.

I hoped Edgar would only cry today and from tomorrow on, he’d play and joke around with me like nothing happened.

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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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