I’m a Mother-in-Law, but I Dislike Conflict with My Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 138

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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 138

“….”

A long silence drifted through the room.

I had nothing to say since it was as expected, Nata was disgusted by human malice, and Rohan, whose thoughts were unreadable, all stared at Oberon with tightly closed mouths.

He calmly poured the remaining tea from his teacup into his mouth and said.

“What happened after that… wouldn’t be much different from Imperial history. The descendants born between Titania and humans came to lead the Layton Family, and Titania, whose lifespan was shortened as a side effect of becoming human, died alone.”

Oberon spoke as indifferently as if telling the story of a distant acquaintance.

Though he spoke plainly, I could guess what kind of death Titania must have faced.

The fairy who had descended to earth out of love for humans was ultimately betrayed by humans and had her wings torn off.

Given that she’s described as dying alone despite having given birth to a child, she probably didn’t spend even her final moments with family.

‘Though you couldn’t really call them family anyway.’

As a fellow human, I felt guilty about the situation, but I couldn’t stop the conversation here.

I moistened my dry lips with saliva and slowly opened my mouth.

“And the curse began from that time too. The heads of Layton have suffered from a curse that makes them lose their humanity while gaining special powers like Titania, generation after generation.”

“What are you trying to say, Wilhelmina?”

“The one who cast that curse—was it you, Oberon?”

“….”

Oberon had already left a curse on earth before.

Though he brushed it off as a joke about his dark history, the book he asked Rohan not to excavate probably contained curses beyond our imagination.

If Oberon had left a similar curse on the Layton Family… wouldn’t it also be possible to break it?

“There are two things you’re mistaken about.”

“What are they?”

“First, the curse and divine power aren’t separate things. The stronger the divine power, the stronger the curse becomes, which means the one who granted the divine power is the same one who cast the curse. In other words, it wasn’t me—it was Titania.”

‘…So in the end, Titania resented even her own child.’

It was a heartbreaking conclusion. It was impossible to fathom the feelings of a mother who cursed her own child.

At least I could feel her mercy in the fact that she didn’t harm the people of the Western Region until the very end.

And second, Oberon continued.

“You think I hold a grudge against Layton because of Titania… but at the time, I wasn’t in a state where I could move. As Wilhelmina put it, I had been ‘divorced.'”

“Divorced, you mean…”

“Titania broke her vow with me in order to go out into the human world. And after abandoning her position as king, she cast magic to prevent me from following her. To put it in human terms… she issued a restraining order against me.”

Oberon sighed and explained the situation at the time.

Instead of returning all her privileges, Titania placed restrictions to prevent Oberon from causing harm to the people of the Western Region.

Oberon, who had tried to stop Titania’s transgression as a fellow fairy, was helplessly defeated and sealed in the Fairy Kingdom until Titania’s death.

“Looking back, I really did become a divorced man like Wilhelmina said. I even said things like ‘If you’re going to live like this, let’s break up!'”

Oberon clicked his tongue, saying he never thought an impulsive divorce would lead to no communication until death.

Then, Rohan, who had been maintaining his silence, asked him.

“I understand why you couldn’t move. But what about your true feelings? Don’t you hate humans?”

“Such a very human question. …Of course, I hated them.”

Oberon threw some tea and refreshments from the table into his mouth as he continued speaking.

“But Titania was a traitor who abandoned the king and turned her back on her people. Even if I wanted revenge, I couldn’t defend her given my position.”

Oberon lamented with narrowed eyes.

“And if we’re being precise, what I hated back then wasn’t just Layton, but all of humanity. They committed the outrageous evil act of reducing a fairy to a human. That wasn’t just disrespecting fairies, it was an act that defied the natural order.”

“So that’s why you were called the Evil God for 500 years.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve finished venting my anger now.”

Rohan frowned as he spoke of Oberon’s past that I didn’t know about.

Judging by his reaction, it seemed Oberon had committed atrocious acts that were too extreme to dismiss as mere venting.

But I had no intention of dwelling on that. When you traced the cause, the Empire was the one at fault first.

‘I’m probably just another human doing terrible things to fairies.’

To save Mikhail, I had to repeat once more the very evil act that Oberon despised.

“Now then, are we done explaining things to each other? Wilhelmina, you thought I could break the curse, right? Unfortunately, that’s impossible. Regrettably…”

As Oberon tried to end the conversation, I cut off his words and brought up the backup plan I had been considering.

“No, there’s a method that only you, as the Fairy King, can accomplish.”

Oberon said it was impossible to end the curse, but that was wrong thinking.

There was a way to solve this curse indirectly.

A method that the Late Duke had conceived but abandoned as impossible.

“I want to make Mikhail into a fairy.”

That was… to be reborn, just as Titania had been.

I became certain after seeing Nata escape from Mikhail’s curse.

The Layton Family’s curse doesn’t work on fairies. In other words, what Titania hated was only humans.

Then if Mikhail became a fairy instead of a human, all these premises would be overturned.

“There are records of the Fairy King turning animals into fairies. As king, you have the authority to appoint subjects. So then, turning a human into a fairy would also…”

“Wilhelmina.”

Before I could even finish my explanation, a ferocious aura burst forth from Oberon.

Cold sweat ran down my spine from the powerful magic power and killing intent that couldn’t even be compared to Nata’s magic power.

Nata and Rohan simultaneously stepped in front of me, but that wasn’t enough to block this overwhelming presence.

“Are you telling me now to take the human who drove my wife to death as my subject?”

I could feel anger in every single word. Fear dominated my body as if I were facing a natural disaster.

My hands and feet grew cold and stiff, and my eyes tried to avoid him against my will.

But I couldn’t back down.

For him, this might be a matter of racial pride, but this was an unavoidable duty as a mother.

“Mikhail isn’t your enemy. And this isn’t a request. It’s a deal.”

“Do you possess treasure more valuable than a king’s responsibility?”

“That’s not for me to judge, but for you to decide. If you help me, I will give you…”

I recited the best compensation I could offer him.

“I’ll give you revenge.”

Not only Oberon, but even Nata and Rohan widened their eyes in disbelief.

I didn’t know if it would be a gift that would satisfy a fairy, but this was the only human-like solution I could think of.

The source of all this trouble, the worst hero who caused Titania’s death.

The First Emperor presented a method to desecrate the legitimacy of the sun.

It was a rebellion that could only be committed because of her status as Grand Duchess.

‘Conveniently, I know someone who’s quite experienced with that legitimacy.’

That crazy Emperor would gleefully try to exploit this information.

I spoke to Oberon, who was at a loss for words.

“The dead don’t come back. But I can at least help comfort your heart.”

“Revenge… is comfort?”

“That’s how humans are. Aren’t fairies the same?”

Undoubtedly, there exists no race that doesn’t enjoy revenge.

I quietly waited for an answer.

It was the moment when a shadow first fell upon the sun that had illuminated the Empire for hundreds of years.

* * *

Oberon and the other two men were kicked out of the bedroom.

‘The deal’s done. I’m going to sleep now. We’ll talk next time.’

Muttering with a tired face that she didn’t want to work overtime anymore, she threw herself onto the bed without giving any hint.

And she nonchalantly waved her hands back and forth, driving the three men out.

Oberon, who closed the bedroom door with an incredulous expression, pouted his lips.

“She calls us over and then dismisses us however she pleases.”

Then Rohan, who was beside him, spoke quietly.

“Why did you accept the deal?”

“What, are you planning to keep talking even though Wilhelmina isn’t here?”

“Answer me. Why did you step forward to help her without any compensation?”

Nata seemed curious about this too, glaring at Oberon with a stern expression.

His eyes demanded that if there were any ulterior motives, he should confess them right now.

‘How loyal.’

Oberon sighed under their burdensome gazes.

Oberon had accepted the request to turn Mikhail into a fairy after long deliberation.

And he had flatly refused the condition of revenge offered as compensation.

Wilhelmina seemed flustered, but perhaps revenge wasn’t appealing to her either, as she accepted the deal without further discussion.

“I told you, I have no intention of seeking revenge against humans at this point. It looks interesting, but holding a grudge over something from 500 years ago…”

“That’s a lie.”

Nata cut off his words.

“If you truly had no desire for revenge against humans, you wouldn’t have been called an Evil God.”

“…I said I was done venting my anger.”

“Just because your feelings have cooled doesn’t mean the angry past disappears.”

As expected of Wilhelmina’s subordinate, he was good at picking apart words.

Oberon clicked his tongue loudly for them to hear.

“Why did you suddenly change your mind?”

It was an emotion I didn’t want to express in words, but it seemed I couldn’t drive away these leech-like knights without saying it.

Oberon raised both arms as a sign of my defeat and said.

“Rohan, I told you at the lake before. That if I had met Wilhelmina 500 years ago, I would have made her king.”

If he had met Wilhelmina 500 years ago, right after parting with Titania, he would have made Wilhelmina the new Fairy King to succeed Titania.

Oberon would never have become an Evil God.

‘Come to think of it, Wilhelmina remembered my confession too.’

After hearing ‘You would have become king if it were 500 years ago,’ did she deduce that Oberon possessed the Ability to Transform Humans into Fairies?

To interpret a confession I made jokingly like this – I was amazed by Wilhelmina’s bizarre way of thinking.

“Do you know why I made such a confession?”

“That’s… because she was similar to Titania?”

“No, they’re completely different. Even if their fate and way of life are similar, their personalities are totally opposite.”

Oberon grumbled that Titania was much kinder.

“I wanted to make her king because she was attractive.”

“…”

“In human terms, it was love at first sight.”

Oberon smiled with his eyes as he looked at the two speechless knights.

“You can’t read her heart, so you wouldn’t know. How much jumbled justice and warmth she possesses.”

‘No, maybe Rohan understands.’

He stole a glance at Rohan’s coldly hardened heart.

He felt not wariness as an enemy, but a man’s pride.

If it had been Oberon transformed into Kim Hana’s disciple, he would have teased, ‘Having more sub male leads would be more interesting, right?’

“I granted her request because I fell for her. Revenge against the Children of the Sun would be satisfying, but I couldn’t destroy Wilhelmina’s foundation for that.”

“Wait, so you… gave up revenge because you like Grand Madam?”

As expected, when expressed in words, there was no reason more childish than this.

To Nata, who was shocked that it could be for such a trivial reason, Oberon straightened his shoulders proudly and answered.

“As long as the Empire remains, I can take revenge anytime, but Wilhelmina is human so she’ll die soon, right? I need to meet her a lot before then.”

“…”

The two men couldn’t bring themselves to continue speaking.

Oberon, who was enjoying the satisfaction of having surprised them both, recalled the faces of Mikhail’s family.

‘Besides, it’s not a losing deal for me either.’

Perhaps due to complex reasoning, Wilhelmina had missed one problem.

Mikhail had a child. And curses are passed down through generations.

Also… changelings were one of the fairies’ representative pranks.

‘That child has the qualities of a fairy.’

Hiding his sinister intentions, Oberon let out a laugh.

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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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