I’m a Mother-in-Law, but I Dislike Conflict with My Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 149

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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 149

After parting with Wilhelmina, Rohanos headed not to the Imperial Palace, but to a luxury hotel.

It was the capital’s finest hotel where one couldn’t even enter without an invitation or membership.

The guards spotted Rohanos’s carriage approaching and opened the gate.

And as if they knew where he was going, they naturally pointed toward the hotel’s annex building and said.

“We’ll prepare tea.”

“No need. Don’t let anyone in until I come out.”

“Yes, understood.”

Getting out of the carriage, he declined the hotel staff’s guidance, saying it wasn’t necessary, and walked toward the annex building.

The small-sized mansion seemed to be hosting a distinguished guest, with numerous staff bustling about.

Rohanos pushed through them and headed to the bedroom on the top floor.

And he flung open the door without even knocking.

“Oh my, Duke?”

Inside, two people, a man and woman, were sitting across from each other with a feast spread before them.

The silver-haired woman immediately recognized the identity of the masked Rohanos.

She waved her hand in greeting as if pleased to see him, but Rohanos’s attention was focused on the man sitting across from her.

“Theorne.”

The man who had been sitting leisurely, Theorne, smiled at Rohanos.

“What brings you all the way here. You never came despite my repeated invitations… Urgh!”

Cutting off Theorne’s words, Rohanos grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

He pulled with such force that Theorne, his throat scraped, let out a short groan.

“Gasp!”

The startled silver-haired woman shot up from her seat.

She tried to approach to save Theorne, but stepped back at Rohanos’s voice filled with killing intent.

“‘This’ is real.”

“Ha, haha… I needed some rest. But what the hell are you doing right now?”

“I clearly warned you.”

“What?”

“Not to approach her.”

Even without saying her name, it was clear who he meant.

Theorne, placing his hand on Rohanos’s arm that gripped his collar, twisted his lips into a smirk.

“There’s a misunderstanding. She and I made a deal.”

“A threat disguised as a deal. You think I don’t know your methods?”

It’s not working, Theorne clicked his tongue briefly.

“You know it couldn’t be helped, right? This was the best way to catch Black Hand.”

“Using the Grand Duchess of the ducal house as bait is the best way?”

“Great causes require sacrifices.”

Crack, the sound of grinding teeth came from within the mask.

The room was filled with Rohanos’s killing intent.

It was such thick killing intent that the woman watching could barely breathe.

Theorne coughed from the suffocating pressure around his throat and continued speaking.

“Wilhelmina thought the same way. She knew this method was the most efficient. She’s more cold-hearted and rational than you think.”

“Don’t you think it’s shameful to say that with your own mouth?”

“Not at all. I’ve done far worse things while climbing to this position to be ashamed of something like this.”

“…You show no signs of remorse.”

Rohanos released his grip on Theorne’s collar and threw him back onto the sofa.

“Ugh!”

“I’m withdrawing from the Black Hand investigation until Wilhelmina returns to the Western Region. Whether you mobilize the Intelligence Department or use your precious Knight Order, handle it yourself.”

How heartless. Black Hand is a criminal from the Eastern Region, and now you want to turn a blind eye?”

“I’ll help after Wilhelmina’s safety is guaranteed. Don’t demand anything more. Don’t forget that my being here is a consideration for you, not a duke’s duty.”

Theorne snorted at the sharp voice.

“Your warning is excessive.”

“…You’re gravely mistaken, Theorne.”

Crack-!

Rohanos’s foot slammed into the sofa right next to Theorne’s head.

Theorne’s eyes widened as he looked at the foot embedded in the shattered sofa.

“The last warning was at the New Year’s gathering. I have no intention of overlooking what happened this time.”

Rohanos removed his mask and faced Theorne with his bare face.

His beast-like, sinister red eyes glowed fiercely as if they would devour Theorne.

“You’ll pay the price for this incident soon enough.”

“…Threatening the Emperor? Do you want to be arrested for treason?”

“If that’s what you want, by all means. I’ll let you have the first move. If you really want to face me, you’d better attack before I leave the capital.”

Thanks to you, I’m well accustomed to war.

Rohanos muttered the last words quietly, put his mask back on, and turned away without hesitation.

He walked toward the outside.

“Oh, and.”

“Do you have more to say?”

“It just turned midnight. Happy birthday.”

Bang-!

The door closed with a loud sound.

* * *

Theorne stared blankly at the closed door. The woman, who could finally breathe comfortably, quietly approached and asked.

“Isn’t His Majesty’s birthday still to come?”

“…Today is correct. I wasn’t born in the Imperial Palace, so the date registered in the records is different.”

“I see.”

The woman crossed her arms and muttered with a complicated expression.

“To think they’d try to fight to the death while knowing such personal details about each other. Are you two on good terms or bad terms?”

“Don’t ask, Deina. I don’t know either.”

Theorne let out a deep sigh and leaned back against the sofa.

The woman called Deina glanced at the broken sofa and said.

“But even so, wasn’t that too rude to His Majesty? This is practically a death threat.”

“Don’t speak when you know nothing, Deina. I enjoy the discussions I have with you, but I never allowed you to interfere between us two.”

“Even when I’m worried about you, you scold me.”

Theorne rubbed his eyes. He was already tired and had come here to rest secretly, but now he just felt like his worries had multiplied.

“I was able to become Emperor thanks to him, and he rose to Duke thanks to me, so status doesn’t matter between us. …Of course, he’s never ignored me this much before.”

“What did you do to make the Duke so angry? What does this ‘bait’ thing even mean….”

“I used the woman he likes as bait to catch an assassination organization.”

Deina gaped in shock.

“You’re lucky you only got threatened! How could you shamelessly ask for help with such audacity?”

“…I never allowed you such rudeness. Well, anyway, yes yes- it’s all my fault.”

Theorne raised both arms in a gesture of surrender.

“But what can I do? If I don’t do this much, Wilhelmina wouldn’t even think of confronting me.”

“…By any chance, Your Majesty. Are you the type who acts mean to someone you like?”

“Do I look like such trash to you?”

I can’t say no to that.

Deina kept her mouth shut.

Regardless, Theorne muttered while recalling the departing figure of Rohanos.

“But Rohanos, I wonder if Wilhelmina wants your secret protection.”

The sound of Rohanos’s carriage departing could be heard in the distance.

Theorne bid farewell to his friend in his heart.

* * *

The Academy I visited after a long time felt refreshing.

I had thought it was a boring and stuffy facility all this time, but now that I was visiting as a graduate, the feelings were quite different.

‘Well, everything feels like memories once you graduate.’

Watching the zombie-like students who commuted to the research laboratory even during vacation was also surprisingly entertaining.

As I was watching them with interest, Nata beside me spoke with a sighing voice.

“Grand Madam, it’s time to move.”

“Yes, alright.”

“So… please stop tormenting the professors.”

I covered my mouth with my fan and secretly let out a laugh.

“Was I caught?”

“You’ve been deliberately visiting only the professors’ research rooms.”

“I have some grudges, you see.”

There were about 2 hours left until the special lecture started.

Since it wasn’t a special lecture that required any particular preparation, I decided to tour the Academy with the Dean’s permission.

The guide was Billia, and I asked her to take me to professors I was acquainted with.

The professors I was acquainted with here were those who had bullied me during my student days.

‘Rather than bullied, it was discrimination.’

All the Academy professors were high-level scholars.

It wasn’t for nothing that it was called the Empire’s ivory tower – their scholarship was outstanding, but… there were just as many conservative ones among them.

There were quite a few professors with extreme tendencies who discriminated against lower noble or commoner students, or changed their tone of speech depending on one’s background.

Being smart doesn’t necessarily mean having good morals.

The place I visited was the research laboratory of such professors.

‘A lower noble Young Miss who was a problem child has become a Grand Duchess and appeared – it’s like a story from a novel.’

They all welcomed me, not knowing what to do with themselves.

I brought up old stories to make them uncomfortable.

“I’ve been feeling frustrated lately, but this is relieving my stress.”

From the Emperor to the Black Hand, nothing had been going my way, so I was irritated.

As I stretched refreshingly, Anna, who had been following behind, quietly called out to me.

“…Grand Madam.”

“I know, let’s visit just one more place and then go back.”

Leaving behind Anna’s expression that said I should maintain dignity, I headed to a storage room in a corner of the Academy.

It was a storage room where farming tools and fertilizer for tending the Academy Garden were piled up, but if you looked carefully, there was a staircase leading underground beside it.

“Grand Madam, by any chance, the place you’re going to is…”

“There’s also a professor’s research room down here. It’s narrow, so only Sir Nata should follow me.”

Nata and Anna seemed unable to believe that there was a professor in this place, but I walked forward without hesitation.

This was the research laboratory of the only professor I had regarded as a teacher at the Academy.

Although he was persecuted by other professors because of his background and status, he was the most scholarly person among the professors I had seen.

“There’s a professor in a place like this?”

“Yes, he’s someone who wasn’t officially assigned a research room. He does magic research, so he also prefers quiet places.”

“Grand Madam, did you major in magic?”

“That’s not it. This professor and I… how should I put it, he was like a landlord who provided a refuge. I was a boarder who lived there.”

He was an unpopular professor who didn’t give lectures, and I was a delinquent student who didn’t attend lectures.

I had regarded his research laboratory as a refuge from my boring Academy life.

It was a secret base that only I knew about at the Academy, and the only place where I could avoid the eyes of students and professors.

‘Well, around here.’

Since that person would have noticed my arrival here anyway, having reached the end of the stairs, I opened the rusty door without knocking.

And as soon as I opened it, I offered a greeting.

“It’s been a while, Professor Fortran.”

“…Yes. It’s been a while, Wilhelmina.”

In the dim underground research room, a man wearing a shabby robe walked out from the shadows.

A man with dark green hair and a tired complexion, Professor Fortran looked back and forth between me and Nata, then muttered quietly.

“New boyfriend?”

“What kind of strange thing are you saying as soon as we meet?”

“I thought you definitely liked black hair.”

Perhaps because it had been so long since I’d seen him, his eccentricity seemed to have increased even more.

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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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