I’m a Mother-in-Law, but I Dislike Conflict with My Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 127
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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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I’m a Mother-in-Law, But I Don’t Want Family Conflicts Episode 127
Even though he had revealed the truth about his abilities, he had never told Kenneth about his past with Wilhelmina.
“Where did you hear that?”
When Rohan spoke, an uncontrollable killing intent focused on Kenneth.
The aura of the war hero who had driven out the foreign tribes was too much for even Kenneth to handle.
Cold sweat began to flow down Kenneth’s forehead as he forced himself to speak.
“I investigated. I was curious about why His Imperial Majesty was so obsessed with the Grand Duchess.”
“It’s not like it’s the first or second time he’s been obsessed with a woman.”
“But aren’t you here as well?”
“That’s not an answer.”
Kenneth took a deep breath with a whoosh.
“I am His Imperial Majesty’s sword. If someone could be a threat to His Majesty, I remain vigilant even if they’re a former companion.”
“….”
“Do you know what I thought when I heard news that you were hiding here?”
When Rohan maintained his silence, Kenneth twisted the corner of his mouth.
“I suspected whether the Venice family might be trying to join hands with the Layton family.”
“You should know the deep resentment between the two families.”
“That’s an old-fashioned prejudice. How many years ago was that history of the two kingdoms warring before the Empire was established? And now, both families have undergone generational changes.”
When he heard it, it was a reasonable suspicion.
Emperor Theorne, who wasn’t legitimate, still lacked power.
Many young nobles followed him, but he hadn’t grasped as much authority as the Previous Emperor.
In such circumstances, with the Eastern Duke, Rohanoss Phil Venice, living between the Western and Eastern regions, Kenneth couldn’t help but maintain his suspicions.
“His Majesty himself said there was no need to worry about such things. That you came here not because of mere power… but because of one woman.”
And then came the New Year’s congratulatory speech incident.
Following Rohan, who was said to be obsessed with one woman, the Emperor also began to take interest in the Western Region.
At this point, it was obvious who the two men were focusing their attention on.
“His Majesty had been paying attention to the Grand Duchess even before coming to the Western Region. He must have heard about it from you. That’s why I came to investigate. If you were trying to use the Grand Duchess… it would be an incomparably greater threat than the Marquis Valtanas incident.”
When the name Marquis Valtanas, a noble who had once threatened the Emperor’s position, was mentioned, Rohan’s momentum diminished considerably.
“You didn’t trust the Emperor’s words.”
“Cough! He tells me not to worry, but how can I not? My job is to protect His Majesty.”
As the killing intent subsided, Kenneth, who could finally breathe easily, coughed and continued speaking.
“I had to know whether your stay was really due to romantic feelings or if you had other ulterior motives. So I pressured the Imperial Intelligence Department to investigate the Grand Duchess’s past. The results were unexpected.”
“Did your suspicions about me deepen?”
“No, my suspicions disappeared. Instead, I came to dislike His Majesty and Lord Rohan a bit.”
Rohan laughed at Kenneth’s mouth, which still didn’t know the value of his own life.
Now the air inside the carriage had regained its tranquility.
“How much did you find out?”
“I don’t know exactly. Just that the Grand Duchess’s family circumstances were somewhat complicated and that Lord Rohan’s magic was used to resolve it.”
“That’s quite thorough of you to investigate.”
“Since the memories of close witnesses at the Academy disappeared entirely.”
The memories of everyone who knew about Wilhelmina and Rohan’s relationship – Academy acquaintances, professors, and so on – had all vanished.
This was exactly why Wilhelmina could always assert with certainty that she had ‘no male acquaintances from the Academy.’
“Knowing the nature of the ability made it easy to identify. Otherwise, I would have been grasping at straws. Ah, don’t worry about information leaking. This is just my own interpretation.”
Rohan nodded silently.
When it came to handling information, Kenneth was superior to Rohan.
“So what’s your conclusion? Why did you test me?”
“Nothing special. I just thought I should let Lord Rohan know that I’m aware of all this. It’s a case where two men deceived one woman, and I didn’t feel right pretending not to know.”
In this aspect, he was truly a conscientious man.
“Anyway, after seeing you erase Edwin’s memory again just now, I understand why Lord Rohan came to the Western Region so late. You were waiting until the Grand Duchess’s memory stabilized.”
Kenneth judged that if Rohan had truly harbored romantic feelings for Wilhelmina, he would have prevented her from becoming the Late Duke’s bride and being confined to the Annex Building.
“…Well. That wasn’t the only reason. At the time, the Emperor and I couldn’t move easily due to political enemies. Besides, stopping the wedding…”
Rohan, who had been continuing his words, suddenly closed his mouth.
“Stopping it?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Kenneth cast a questioning glance, but Rohan shook his head as if he had no intention of saying more.
“…Well, whatever the reason, that power is nothing but evil when wielded without justice. It’s a power that shouldn’t be used on ordinary people. That’s why I’m on the Grand Duchess’s side.”
“Do you plan to tell her the truth?”
“No, I don’t intend to interfere that far. However, if the Grand Duchess tries to recover her memories, and if she seeks me out… I’ll gladly help.”
He wouldn’t extend his hand first, but he would gladly accept a request for help.
Kenneth’s unwavering eyes gazed at Rohan.
“That is my chivalry.”
“…”
Kenneth, the commoner knight known to be most trusted by the Emperor.
Rohan, newly understanding where that trust originated, let out a laugh.
“…Alright, I’ll count on you when the time comes.”
“I would do so even without you asking.”
The tense atmosphere vanished somewhere, and the two men turned their gazes away as usual.
With their business concluded, they felt no need for further conversation.
While looking out windows in opposite directions, Kenneth suddenly muttered.
“Well… knowing that Grand Duchess, she’d probably solve everything herself before asking for my help.”
Rohan didn’t deny it. Instead, this time cold sweat trickled down his cheek.
* * *
As an epilogue to Chloe becoming a Count, my Reading Club was suddenly enjoying popularity.
This was because rumors spread that Chloe’s victory in the divorce trial was thanks to the Reading Club.
“Grand Duchess! I received this many letters today! They’re all addressed to you!”
Ilina came carrying an armful of letters, oblivious to my feelings.
Most of them were flattering letters asking to be invited to the Reading Club.
I had been giving polite refusals because I disliked troublesome matters, but now it seemed they had decided to target the members instead of me.
‘It was unwanted popularity.’
I looked at the letter Ilina had brought with tired eyes.
Recently in high society, I was known as ‘the Grand Duchess who kicked out her husband in his place.’
When Edwin, who had a good reputation, fell into the gutter in an instant, my stock also rose as the one who brought him down.
I wanted to pass the credit to Chloe, Baroness Rollan, and Baroness Metokan instead of myself.
‘Count Bildson, that bastard’s mouth is too loose.’
The problem was that Count Bildson was spreading rumors as if all of this was my scheme.
Because he had stood by Edwin’s side, Count Bildson’s reputation in high society had hit rock bottom.
To recover that reputation, he was groveling while pretending to repent by praising us, the winners.
Part of that scheme was to elevate me, the host of the reading club, as if I were some great mastermind.
‘I’m even hearing people say I’m like a mother-in-law.’
And I’m someone who’s never even given birth to a child.
“It’s not entirely wrong, is it?”
“Shh.”
When Ilina muttered, Chloe, who was beside her, let out a laugh and raised her index finger to her lips.
I glared at them sideways, then recalled the Baroness’s advice.
She had often said from before that we needed to increase the members of the reading club.
Though Mabel and Baroness Metokan had joined, it was still far from enough.
Considering my honor, she added that the gathering should have at least 20 members.
Even Helene alone had about three large gatherings of that size.
‘Twenty people, I didn’t even take that many when I was at the academy.’
At most, 10 people was my limit.
I let out a short sigh and organized the letters.
Meanwhile, I could see Mabel and Mirinai chatting by the bookshelf nearby.
Those two angel-like people were laughing heartily while reading a book called ‘Physical Format Specification Process of Architectural Design’ that even I couldn’t understand.
‘…Come to think of it, didn’t they say you could participate in gatherings even without being a debutante?’
While it was rare to invite only children to gatherings where political purposes were important, it wasn’t behavior that went against convention anyway.
Then how about inviting children like Mabel and turning it into something like a fairy tale reading club?
It might be difficult for me alone, but it seemed possible with the Baroness, who was an etiquette teacher.
‘Since it’s not an academy anyway, there’s no need to educate them.’
Even if it was physically demanding, creating a gathering without political purposes seemed more convenient in many ways.
While I was thinking such thoughts, Mabel, who had noticed my gaze, got up from her seat and scurried over to me.
“Grand Duchess.”
“What is it?”
“Are we… not having any events?”
“Events?”
When I blinked, wondering what she meant, Ilina, who was eating the sweets I had offered saying I was done, clapped her hands.
“Ah! Come to think of it, our reading club has never held an event.”
“Do we need to have events? We had a spring outing.”
“That’s also an event, but it usually means banquets, competitions, exhibitions and such.”
‘Like the exhibition they held at Western Sun.’
It seemed like it wasn’t just about going out to have fun, but you had to do promotion and spend money for it to be treated as a proper event.
I was thinking of declining since it seemed bothersome, but I suddenly remembered that the Reading Club was Mabel’s only outing among her daily activities.
‘Baroness Metokan probably wouldn’t welcome something like this.’
I glanced at Baroness Metokan, who was writing her thesis while chewing three pieces of candy due to her alcohol prohibition.
Since I was the one who strongly recommended the alcohol prohibition, I felt awkward about approaching her.
“Well, doing it once wouldn’t be bad. Mabel, do you have something in mind?”
“I do.”
As expected, she was a well-prepared child.
Mabel took out a piece of paper from her bag and handed it to me.
But the design of that paper was extremely irritating to look at.
A neat rectangular table, a title that would have suited a formal font if it were in Korean, strangely colored gradient boxes, and polite language asking about participation intentions…
[Reading Club Summer Camp Program Guide.]
[Program Information: … Required Items: …]
‘What is this thing that’s making traumatic memories surface.’
It looked just like an advertisement from an academy preparing summer vacation special classes.
Just looking at it gave me goosebumps down my spine.
Regardless, Mabel spoke in a rarely energetic voice.
“Camp… let’s do it. Us.”
“Uh…”
This is strange, I’m definitely a Noble Lady, so why is an academy teacher-like event coming at me.
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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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