I’m a Mother-in-Law, but I Dislike Conflict with My Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 97

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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 97

 

Mabel couldn’t trust Jace’s words.

 

He was someone she was meeting for the first time, and she couldn’t understand why he would move to help her.

 

When Mabel looked at him suspiciously, Jace explained the commotion that had happened earlier.

 

‘I hate it when incompetent people act up.’

 

It was a blatant insult, but the face of the person saying it was complicated.

 

A sneer mixed with guilt – Mabel was too young to recognize it as self-hatred.

 

‘He acts so confident thinking what he did won’t be discovered. I need to teach him a lesson.’

 

But the words that followed seemed sincere.

 

The look of anger and irritation was too genuine to be acting.

 

Moreover, since Mabel could relate to those emotions quite well, she decided to accept his request.

 

It wasn’t a request that would greatly interfere with Mabel’s plans anyway.

 

‘I’ll modify this blueprint a little.’

 

At most, she had only modified the blueprint slightly.

 

If everything went according to Mabel’s plan, his turn wouldn’t even come.

 

With that thought, Mabel headed toward Yufina.

 

The appreciation meeting was already preparing to wrap up.

 

To quickly settle the gathering that had become chaotic due to Jace, the Vice President had skipped most of the remaining agenda.

 

“Oh my.”

 

Yufina, who had been enjoying conversation by Cornell’s side as if she were his close friend, spotted Mabel.

 

It was natural acting, as if she had just noticed her.

 

“Sister Yufina, I have something to say.”

 

“Oh my, Mabel! You came again! What a relief, I thought you’d never come back!”

 

Though her tone was sweet, no one would take those words at face value.

 

Even the children who had been getting up to leave quietly turned back.

 

It was because of a premonition that something interesting was about to happen.

 

‘Stay calm.’

 

Mabel took slow, deep breaths repeatedly to avoid stumbling over her words.

 

“About the gift from last time…”

 

“Ah, yes. You want to say that invention was yours?”

 

“That’s… yes.”

 

But Yufina didn’t give Mabel a chance to regain her composure.

 

She covered her mouth with her fan and lowered the corners of her eyes as if feeling sorry.

 

“You must have had a hard time because of that incident. I heard about the Baron’s presentation event too. It’s all because of me, isn’t it? I caused you great pain, didn’t I?”

 

‘This is…’

 

The same sense of crisis that had struck when I discovered Yufina’s gift box at the last gathering washed over me.

 

The thought that I had walked into a trap flashed through my mind.

 

“What, don’t tell me you came here to get an apology from Miss Yufina?”

 

“How rude. To do something wrong and not even know shame…”

 

When Yufina made a tearful expression, the friends around her began blaming Mabel to comfort her.

 

This level of dismissal was expected.

 

But I never imagined Yufina would act like the victim.

 

In the atmosphere where she seemed to have become the perpetrator, Mabel stammered as she continued speaking.

 

“No, I… came to claim my rights.”

 

“Rights?”

 

“I’m going to get my invention back. The one who made the counterfeit wasn’t me… it was you, Sister Yufina.”

 

In the end, the words that came out weren’t the organized logic she had planned.

 

When Yufina’s eyes changed to pity and sympathy, Mabel felt as if she had become immature.

 

Like she had become foolish and stupid, like a whining child. Mabel’s shoulders shrank.

 

“I see, so you thought I stole your invention.”

 

“Of course. I invented this first. You heard it too, Sister.”

 

“Oh my… Mabel, no, you have the order backwards, don’t you? I invented it, and you copied it. You can’t distort the truth.”

 

For a moment anger surged up, but I could endure it.

 

I had expected Yufina to deny it.

 

Instead, Mabel placed the canvas she was holding onto the table.

 

“This is…”

 

“The blueprint I made.”

 

“…”

 

“I copied it straight from my development notes. Look, what I designed…”

 

Then, Yufina cut off Mabel’s words as she was trying to continue her explanation.

 

“Oh my, when did you take mine?”

 

“What?”

 

“This blueprint, it’s the one I showed you, isn’t it? You copied it in the meantime?”

 

“…”

 

Mabel was left speechless by Yufina’s acting that flowed as naturally as water.

 

The expression “detestable” that she had seen in books came to mind.

 

When someone is too shameless, you don’t even feel angry anymore.

 

She could feel Yufina’s true intention not to allow any of Mabel’s claims.

 

‘Sister really does hate me.’

 

The thread-like faith in Yufina that had remained finally disappeared.

 

‘There’s no way Sister could have made that device. Then…’

 

Mabel continued speaking calmly.

 

“Then, Sister, can you explain this? Do you know what this device is used for?”

 

There was no way she could know.

 

He had deliberately not included assembly instructions in the blueprint.

 

At first glance, it was impossible to guess what kind of device this was.

 

But Yufina answered as if it were obvious.

 

“‘Spring screw’… It’s a spring used in hinges, isn’t it?”

 

“…”

 

And that answer was what Jace, not Mabel, wanted.

 

Mabel was flustered by this situation flowing exactly according to Jace’s plan.

 

‘Sister studied the blueprint.’

 

Mabel had expected Yufina to ignore the blueprint or make errors while pretending to know.

 

It was a blueprint deliberately drawn to be difficult to understand.

 

When Yufina made mistakes like that, it would be her turn to prove that her knowledge was correct.

 

She had planned to bring the parts prepared in the carriage to show them.

 

But the childish plan befitting a thirteen-year-old—to explain the blueprint directly and make Yufina confess—had fallen through.

 

The reason was simple.

 

‘I underestimated sister.’

 

Underestimating Yufina’s level was the cause of her defeat.

 

Although she didn’t understand the principles, she had put in enough effort to memorize all the part names.

 

“Oh my, Mabel. Did you think I wouldn’t know something like this?”

 

Yufina sneered, asking if this was all she had prepared.

 

However, Mabel didn’t open her mouth despite being ignored.

 

It wasn’t because she had nothing to say, but because she had nothing to say to Yufina.

 

“Hey, then what’s this part? It looks unusual.”

 

Then, as if he had been waiting, Jace interjected.

 

He naturally grabbed Yufina’s shoulder and pointed to another part with his finger.

 

Yufina seemed flustered by Jace’s sudden appearance, but continued her explanation naturally as if she had memorized it from a script.

 

“It’s an anchor. It’s a part that makes the spring turn well.”

 

“What about this?”

 

“It’s a column wheel. It’s a hook that presses the button when the box opens.”

 

“Really? What’s this heart shape?”

 

“It says barrel. It’s a cylinder for winding the spring.”

 

“Aha-”

 

Jace touched the corner of his mouth as if he couldn’t contain his laughter.

 

When Jace’s shoulder touched hers, Yufina, who had blushed, coughed softly and stepped back.

 

“But Mabel and I were having a conversation, so why are you interrupting? You’ve been…”

 

“No, it’s funny. I changed the names, but you’re giving completely wrong answers.”

 

“…What?”

 

“Didn’t you know? I randomly mixed up the names of those parts.”

 

Of course she wouldn’t know. Mabel lowered her gaze toward the canvas.

 

Before the Appreciation Meeting started, Jace had borrowed a pencil from somewhere and modified Mabel’s blueprint.

 

She left the messy drawing as it was and changed the names of several parts.

 

Anchor and wheel, lever, barrel… In other words, this was a wrong blueprint.

 

If Yufina had admitted her mistake, these were minor parts that no one would have pointed out.

 

“Hey, Mabel. You explain it. What’s an anchor?”

 

“It’s an ‘anchor.’ It’s a part that prevents the clockwork from turning further. And…”

 

Mabel slowly continued her explanation.

 

No matter how distorted the drawing was, when combined with an explanation, the shape becomes recognizable.

 

Before long, the people watching began to get absorbed in Mabel’s explanation… and Yufina’s face turned pale.

 

“N-no. That can’t be…”

 

Certainly, Yufina had memorized the blueprint well.

 

She could recite what role each part played just by looking at the names, so she must have worked very hard.

 

But that alone wasn’t enough.

 

“Yufina, was it? You actually don’t know anything, do you?”

 

“N-no! This clearly means…”

 

“No? Then shall we bring the actual parts and compare? We can compare whether the anchor looks like an anchor or is round-shaped.”

 

“…”

 

There was no way she could do that.

 

From the moment she answered Mabel’s question at the beginning, she had already fallen into an irreversible trap.

 

The longer Yufina’s silence continued, the more obviously the surrounding gazes changed.

 

“Originally, studying can’t be done with just memorization. Didn’t you know?”

 

“Y-you…”

 

“You need to understand the theory to apply it. I learned before too, but cheating is not allowed.”

 

At Jace’s sarcasm, Yufina’s mask slowly crumbled.

 

She hurriedly looked around.

 

“Th-that’s…”

 

Western Sun is called a small social circle.

 

As such, no matter how popular someone is, the moment their justification disappears, they become everyone’s target.

 

That’s why thorough preparation was needed to attack someone.

 

Only by preparing for when the blade turns toward oneself can one survive in social circles.

 

Just as Mabel had underestimated Yufina, Yufina had also been overconfident.

 

‘Quickly, I need to make an excuse…’

 

But Yufina’s mouth, with her mind gone blank, wouldn’t move easily.

 

“Don’t tell me Miss Yufina lied?”

 

“Lady Yufina, you clearly said it was your sister’s mistake…”

 

“As expected of a lower noble’s child? Is it because her blood is lowly…”

 

Karma tends to return even stronger.

 

Yufina wanted to find those who were insulting her while hiding in the crowd, but failed.

 

The atmosphere had already turned to Mabel’s side.

 

“Mabel! H-hey, will you listen to what I have to say? You know too, right? It’s not that kind of problem.”

 

She looked at Mabel with eyes pleading for help.

 

If Mabel would just say it was a mistake here, she planned to smooth things over by saying her sister had spoken too harshly.

 

She sent Mabel a signal, meaning they should conclude this as loving sisters.

 

“Sister.”

 

“Yes, yes!”

 

“I didn’t make a counterfeit. I’d like you to apologize.”

 

“….”

 

Mabel’s purpose was extremely simple.

 

Whether it was Yufina’s friendships or Western Sun’s atmosphere, none of that mattered to her.

 

What Mabel wanted was just one thing: to get her invention back.

 

“Puhaha…!”

 

Jace burst into laughter at Mabel’s firm answer.

 

But Yufina couldn’t bring herself to apologize.

 

If she admitted here that she had made a counterfeit, she would have nothing left.

 

Just as Yufina was racking her brain to find some way out, the salvation she wanted arrived.

 

“No way, Noble Lady Yufina wouldn’t do such a thing!”

 

It was Cornell.

 

As if he were a prince on a white horse, he spread both arms and blocked Yufina’s front.

 

“C-Cornell?”

 

“Aren’t you all being too harsh with your words? It hasn’t even been decided that Yufina is the culprit yet. For issues like this, we need to clearly examine the facts.”

 

Though it sounded rational at first glance, Jace snorted.

 

“Did you act the same way when it was Mabel?”

 

Of course, Cornell couldn’t hear such words.

 

When Yufina’s eyes welled up with tears as if moved, Cornell, completely intoxicated, spoke even louder.

 

“How could Noble Lady Yufina have stolen her cousin’s invention? There’s no way she would stupidly memorize only the parts’ names to avoid being caught. She’s a Noble Lady from a Scholar Family with a long proud history. She can make inventions like this anytime!”

 

“….”

 

“Right, Noble Lady Yufina? You told me so yourself. You said you were an inventor superior to Baroness Metokan, who had made things even more amazing than this! I haven’t forgotten the promise I heard in that Rose Garden. You’re a genius!”

 

This was bad.

 

Jace held his breath with all his might.

 

If he stayed like this, he felt like he might vomit from laughing too hard.

 

If Wilhelmina were here, she would probably say this about that Cornell.

 

‘This guy’s also a fool.’

 

Cornell was a boy who lived in a Flower Field.

 

That was a fact that neither Yufina, Mabel, Jace, nor anyone else had noticed.

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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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