I’m a Mother-in-Law, but I Dislike Conflict with My Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 156

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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 156

In the end, Belua decided to follow me.

She’s probably devising all sorts of plans in her mind.

Like how she could somehow escape if she’s alone wherever I take her, or looking for a chance to restore Shirou’s memory.

But I had already anticipated such attempts.

As I led the two assassins to the annex building, I simultaneously sent a signal to Kenneth who would be waiting outside the garden.

‘He’s probably waiting at the escape route.’

Duke Venice had said so.

Assassins always prepare escape routes.

That means if we track that escape route in reverse, we can find their hideout.

The assassins outside would be waiting for Belua’s return, so I separated Belua from them to create an opening.

I planned to leave finding the hideout to Kenneth and the Imperial Knights.

“Here, this is it. Don’t worry. No one’s here.”

I opened the door to the Count’s annex building.

Belua kept looking around her surroundings.

She seemed to be preparing for a possible surprise attack, but soon let out a sigh of relief when she sensed no presence.

“Now, let’s have another conversation. So you’re saying you’re Belua?”

“…Of course. You’re Wilhelmina Layton, aren’t you? Why the hell are you pretending to be me? And why is my elder brother calling you Belua?”

I made eye contact with Shirou.

When I put on an innocent expression as if I didn’t understand, Shirou sighed and approached Belua.

“So from your perspective, she’s not Belua?”

“Of course! That woman was our target.”

“Target, you say…”

Shirou frowned, and I covered my mouth with a deliberately surprised expression.

“You were trying to assassinate me?”

“What? No!”

Of course not. Your purpose was to persuade me.

But having said that, there was no taking it back.

“I see… I guess you can’t trust all family members.”

Shirou sighed. There was already a strategy I had shared with him.

If Black Hand’s companions came looking for us, they might target me, so I had asked him to protect me.

Shirou hadn’t understood the intention at first, but he was convinced after hearing about my kidnapping by the ducal house.

I had planted the suspicion that Black Hand might treat me as a traitor.

And that suspicion turned into certainty due to Belua’s attitude.

“Yes, I understand everything. As expected… Belua is the only one I can trust.”

Shirou sent me a gaze filled with affection.

I felt chills as if I had received advances from a serial killer, but I forced a smile and responded.

“That I’m Belua…”

Belua made a devastated expression upon seeing the exchange of glances between us two.

Shirou stood beside her and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“It’s okay, I understand why you call yourself Belua.”

“No, that’s not it, I’m Elder Brother’s….”

“You were deceived by them too.”

Shirou’s hand slowly moved up to Belua’s neck.

It was a secretive touch, like a snake wrapping around its prey.

“…!”

And then he struck Belua’s neck hard.

Belua, who had been in a daze, couldn’t even resist his Surprise Attack.

Watching Belua collapse helplessly, Shirou muttered.

“We must seize freedom with our own hands. We can’t accept help from that Man.”

He carried Belua and smiled at me.

“You said I could use the Second Floor of Annex, right? I’ll take care of this child.”

“…Yeah, then I’ll go back Outside. Hide here until the Tea Party ends for now.”

“Yes, don’t worry.”

I had been thinking of secretly calling Nata to subdue Belua, but I didn’t expect Shirou to take action himself.

‘This is a bit… unsettling.’

Though I had altered his memories, I didn’t expect him to be this infatuated with me.

While what he did was to become an existence like Belua, within Shirou I seemed to have become something more than a lover.

The gaze he sent me was something beyond trust and affection.

It felt creepy, as if I had become some cult leader.

After Shirou took Belua away, I left the Annex Building.

As I was about to head to the Tea Party, Nata and the Emperor, who had been waiting near the Mansion, appeared.

“If His Majesty disappears from the Tea Party, it will cause chaos.”

“I’ve taken care of that side. It’s not something you need to worry about. That aside….”

The Emperor shook his head and glanced at the Annex Building as he spoke.

“It seems to have ended well. To capture both the middle finger and Ring Finger without a single scratch, impressive.”

“Shirou’s side helped well. Honestly, it was somewhat bewildering.”

At my words, the Emperor raised his eyebrows with an expression that said ‘don’t you know that much?’

“Of course it is. You’re a charming person. If someone like you appeared to help during Torture, any Man would fall in love, wouldn’t they?”

“…Are, are you hitting on me?”

It was a chilling statement in a different sense from Shirou’s advances.

When I grabbed both my arms, the Emperor snorted.

“If I were, I would have used more poetic expressions. Would you like to hear some?”

“No, I don’t have good memories when it comes to poetry.”

Declining, I walked toward the Mansion with the Emperor.

Now that they knew we had left, skilled Knights would guard around the Annex Building.

Shirou and Belua were mice trapped in a jar.

“Well, that Man falling for you isn’t just a matter of charm though.”

“Then what’s the reason?”

“The author must have lived rationalizing his evil deeds while despairing at a reality he couldn’t change with his own power. It’s a universal trait of villains who dream of the light despite their nature. And yet, he dreamed of novel-like miracles.”

A foolish being who ignores human dignity yet dreams of fantasies filled with love for humanity.

The Emperor raised the corners of his mouth, saying he knew well the likes of Shirou.

“To such a villain, your fantasy must have been very beautiful. Beautiful enough to be captivated just by hearing it. Moreover, small doubts and contradictions quickly lose their form in the face of longing.”

Shirou had forgotten his memories of Belua and me.

In other words, he didn’t even know why he had been imprisoned.

The harsh torture poured upon him, the despair of being unable to survive, and Belua as a fantastical being who lifted that away.

Hearing the Emperor’s words, I could newly understand Shirou’s emotions.

“…You know well. Is this from experience?”

At my question, the Emperor briefly stopped walking. Then he looked at me with eyes whose inner thoughts were unreadable.

“Well, who knows. Do you think this is my story?”

“…I’m sorry, it was a joke. Let’s pretend it never happened.”

“Wise.”

I had mistakenly thought that making a deal with the Emperor meant we were equals.

There was no need to unnecessarily confront the master of the Empire.

Pleased with my white flag surrender, the Emperor let out a soft laugh.

“Well then, we’ll need to extract information from those two going forward. Kenneth will handle stirring up the headquarters, but since they’re executives in name, they must know information that only they possess.”

“Using their positional differences should make it easy. If really necessary, I’ll step in.”

“Hmm? Weren’t you going to interrogate them directly? Don’t you have a grudge against them?”

He stroked his chin as if surprised.

I sighed and answered.

“I do have a grudge, but I’m not bold enough to watch such interrogations right before my eyes.”

I could roughly guess how the upcoming interrogations would proceed.

They would threaten Belua using Shirou’s memories and safety as leverage, and induce fratricide in Shirou by mentioning Black Hand’s rebirth.

Violence would be employed if necessary.

Watching that unfold before my eyes felt quite distasteful. It wasn’t really something I was needed for anyway.

“Really? I thought you wouldn’t bat an eye at such things.”

“What kind of woman do you think I am?”

“Someone who wouldn’t fear seeing blood if it concerned her people.”

It wasn’t an incorrect assessment, but the nuance was slightly different. I pursed my lips and answered.

“There’s a bit of a misunderstanding. I’m a peaceful person who hopes all problems can be resolved through dialogue.”

“For someone like that, you were quite active in this matter.”

“This time the targets were criminals who couldn’t be dealt with peacefully. If my family is targeted by such criminals, I have no choice but to counter with the same means.”

“Oh ho, so you dislike using such methods?”

“Yes. Really, very, very much.”

Since the Emperor seemed to want to tease me with this topic, I firmly expressed my opposition.

He blinked quietly, as if he hadn’t expected me to answer so definitively.

“I’m an extremely opportunistic and complacent person. If possible, I’d like to live peacefully my entire life without getting entangled in such fierce problems.”

“But you’re the one who conceived this plan?”

“If it weren’t for family matters, I wouldn’t have gotten involved at all.”

It was sincere truth without a single lie.

I did feel anger rising when I saw Belua and Shirou.

An organization that casually talks about setting fire to rural villages to hasten war and kidnapping children from orphanages to raise them as assassins, showing such melodrama.

While I hoped divine justice would fall upon them, I didn’t have the confidence to wield the rod of judgment myself.

“…Interesting. Despite being so passive, you came up with a plan to brainwash people.”

The smile disappeared from the Emperor’s face.

That expression he occasionally showed was burdensome to face.

It was an inorganic, dry gaze, as if appraising an object.

“What if it were the opposite?”

“The opposite?”

“If the family you love committed an irreversible sin? If they were villains who deserved condemnation from all… what would you do? Would you protect your family for the sake of ‘family love,’ or would you betray your family according to ‘justice’?”

“…That seems like a question off-topic.”

Why are family stories and justice being combined?

I frowned.

“Answer me. I want to know whether you would prioritize family or justice.”

Just like when he revealed Shirou’s feelings earlier, the Emperor was as serious as if he were talking about his own story.

Whether it was because he was a man who drove out his brothers and ascended to the throne, or because of his distrust and love-hate relationship with family affection.

I let out a small sigh and answered.

“I would choose both.”

“Oh.”

“I would stand up for my family. And I would accept the punishment together for failing to stop them.”

The Emperor closed his mouth.

He had the expression of a child who had just received the lecture he least wanted to hear.

“If my family committed a sin and received punishment, I too would reflect as a member of that family. For example, if I had really been a member of Black Hand, I would have told Shirou. Let’s turn ourselves in.”

“…The end of that could be death.”

“I don’t want to experience dying again, but what can I do?”

I shrugged my shoulders and took a step.

“As long as there’s the premise of beloved family, I can’t pretend not to see. Actually, this isn’t about family. It’s about love losing.”

“Losing?”

“When you love someone, you follow them. Whether the end is death or tragedy, there’s nothing you can do. I think foolishness is the charm of love.”

“That’s not like you.”

“…You keep saying it’s not like me, but Your Majesty doesn’t know me either.”

“At least, I know you’re a rational person.”

I stopped walking and turned around. Then I smiled slightly at the Emperor who was glaring at me.

“If I were rational, I wouldn’t have lived like this. If there had been no love, I wouldn’t be here either.”

If I hadn’t thrown myself to protect my student, I wouldn’t have had reason to be reincarnated.

I wasn’t young enough to proclaim the blindness of love, but I didn’t deny that love.

“…Did you love someone?”

“I did.”

“Even now?”

I don’t understand why he’s asking such a thing.

I recalled my student’s face anew.

That innocent expression, but that child whose eyes would light up whenever we talked about novels.

It’s natural for a teacher to love their student.

‘Teacher, have you read this novel?’

The image of that child smiling brightly is still vivid before my eyes.

Even if I could turn back time, I would make the same choice.

Even if the end was death, I wouldn’t have hesitated to protect that child.

“Yes, I still love them now.”

I looked at the Emperor who had frozen cold.

Only after seeing his wavering eyes as if he couldn’t understand, did I realize that contrary to how he appeared, he was a precarious man.

“I am…”

Just as the Emperor’s lips began to move, I heard footsteps from behind.

On the garden path leading to the mansion, there stood a pitch-black man quietly watching me.

A man with a cold mask, from whom no emotion could be felt.

…It was Duke Venice.

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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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