Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1

“Soooo.”
Her peach-like cheeks looked ready to burst. Her tiny lips mumbled as she struggled to find the right words.
Her brown hair was braided into pigtails, adorned with a hair accessory made of petals where each leaf was decorated with jewels. She wore a lovely dress featuring frills and ribbons that boldly flaunted their presence.
And finally, her lovely blue eyes looked as if large sapphires had been embedded right into them, shining with a determined light as she looked this way, as if she had made up her mind about something.
She was Bibi Lutein El Castrain, the protagonist of .
The only precious daughter of the Castrain Ducal Family, who were said to possess neither blood nor tears. A lovely young lady whom they wouldn’t exchange even if offered a mana stone mine.
The youngest daughter for whom her three new older brothers and the cold-blooded, villainous Duke would absolutely do anything. A girl renowned for being bold, full of charm, and clever far beyond her years.
In truth, she wasn’t the Duke’s biological daughter, but she still carried the blood of the ducal family—a bold young lady concealing various secrets, putting aside the secret of her birth.
“Um, so, you see.”
That very girl was blushing in front of me, agonizing over what to say. Having absolutely no clue, I scanned the table before my eyes.
Croquembouche, tarts, éclairs, macarons… All kinds of desserts and black tea proudly flaunted their dazzling appearance.
Seeing how she fidgeted in front of the desserts she loved so much—fiddling with her fingers, pressing her lips tightly together, and looking over here—her attitude made me quite anxious. I cautiously opened my mouth.
“Um, Bibi. By any chance…”
“P-Please don’t break off the engagement with my big brother!”
“…What?”
Slip. My finger holding the teacup slipped, causing a bit of tea to spill. It was a bright spring day, and since she had insisted, we had just set up the tea table in a scenic garden.
“O-Of course, our eldest brother is very, very blunt. He cuts people off. He never contacts anyone wherever he goes. And it seems like whenever he opens his mouth, he has no interest in anything other than talking about me!”
“…….”
I froze as if someone had cast freezing magic over me. To me, a girl who looked as cute and lovely as a living doll began to rattle off words that sounded completely memorized.
“But still, I don’t want anyone else but Sister Tia to be my sister-in-law!”
“…….”
Feeling somewhat dazed, I just stared at the tiny girl who was shouting at me with her blue eyes blazing.
…Asking me not to break off the engagement now? We already stamped all the documents, and only the official announcement is left? When this is absolutely essential for both the Castrain Ducal Family and my own future?
Just in case, I shifted my gaze to the escort knight and the maid who never left the girl’s side wherever she went.
Those two were notorious for sticking to Bibi like glue. In particular, the escort knight hailed from the fallen kingdom’s royalty whom the girl had personally rescued from the slave market, and the maid had a history of having her younger sibling’s life saved by the girl.
Was the escort knight a male lead candidate, and was the maid a former assassin?
Anyway, if they were two people with such strong loyalty, they would surely point out the error in what Bibi just said without hesitation, even in front of me, a member of the imperial family.
With that hope, I looked at them…
‘…Why aren’t you stopping her? Why are you just nodding?’
Though he looked indifferent at first glance, the jet-black-haired boy who never missed a single move of Bibi’s, and the gentle-looking maid beside him. Those two betrayed my expectations.
Far from stopping her, they were in their usual state of ‘everything our lady says is right.’ They were a lost cause.
“Um, Bibi…”
“O-Our big brother is handsome.”
“Ah, well, that’s true.”
Without even time to think, my mouth reacted to the truth. The moment she heard my words, Bibi’s eyes sparkled.
“And the ducal family has a lot of money!”
“Uh-huh, that’s true…”
I affirmed with a reluctant voice.
In , the imperial family is just a hollow shell.
The ones responsible for the northern barrier that protects the empire and the magic beast front line is the ducal family.
The ones holding tremendous history and actual power that puts the imperial family to shame is also the ducal family.
The ones monopolizing the distribution of mana stones, the cores of magic beasts, and holding immense wealth is also the ducal family.
The imperial family was merely a background meant to highlight the position of the ducal family, who was ‘the practical number one authority of the empire whom even the imperial family could not treat lightly.’
It was also a position that brought its own share of hardships to the ducal family through a few villains consumed by inferiority complexes, who went wild relying solely on their status as royalty.
And one of those few villains was me.
The current imperial family had a total of three children.
The eldest son born to the first imperial concubine from the Marquis Lande family. The second son born to the current Empress. And me, the daughter born to the second imperial concubine from a humble Count family.
As a means to somehow forge a connection with and also check the Castrain Ducal Family, the Emperor engaged me to the young duke of the Castrain Ducal Family as soon as I was born.
Naturally, the Castrain Ducal Family was gritting their teeth, waiting for any opportunity to break this one-sided marriage contract.
The sole princess of the current imperial family—it sounded like a wonderful title if you just looked at it like that… But practically, it was a superficial honor.
My mother, the second daughter of the Count Bradley family. Elaine Austin von Bradley had been famous in social circles for her beauty since her maiden days. Famous enough to catch the attention of the Emperor, who was notorious for being a libertine.
Therefore, the Count Bradley family forcibly threatened my mother, who had a lover, and offered her to the Emperor. For the sake of her lover’s safety, my mother entered the imperial family, obediently listened to the Emperor, and became pregnant with me.
However, the family had already secretly disposed of my mother’s lover beforehand.
Upon finding out the truth later, my mother fell into shock and gave birth to me prematurely. Thanks to that, I was so sickly during my childhood that people said it wouldn’t be strange whenever I died.
Though I became somewhat healthy after passing the age of ten, my mother had absolutely no interest in me. The Emperor also turned his attention away from my secluded mother and poured all his interest only into the first imperial concubine.
In the midst of that, which means, before I realized my past life while on the verge of death, I…
Swallowing back the sigh that was about to escape naturally, I shook my head side to side.
‘……I was pitiful, miserable, immature, and selfish.’
It was a past that made a sigh escape naturally even thinking about it now.
A young princess who grew up neglected, receiving no attention from her parents. If there was any advantage, it was her appearance, featuring radiant and beautiful platinum blonde hair that resembled her biological mother, and bright green eyes that left a deep impression.
As long as she quietly kept her mouth shut, she was the very image of a fantasy princess who grew up gracefully in the imperial palace.
A child starved for affection, who received neither love nor proper education from her parents, fell in love at first sight with her fiancé, who was handsome, capable, and came from a great family that even the imperial palace could not ignore.
A princess with nothing but high pride, who couldn’t even grasp reality properly because she grew up in the imperial palace, started causing all kinds of trouble from then on.
Following him around blindly, threatening him not to even speak to young ladies from other noble families besides herself, and playing petty tricks.
And when she still couldn’t attract his attention, her pride was wounded, so she insulted the Castrain Ducal Family with every word she spoke.
Since a marriage contract between the imperial palace and the Castrain family couldn’t be broken by a mere child’s tantrums like that.
Let’s see, in the original work…
As Bibi began to stand out in many ways, the Emperor cast his eyes on her as well.
On top of that, the first imperial concubine, whose eyes were bloodshot with the desire to raise the first prince to the imperial throne, pulled various tricks to set Bibi up as her son’s partner.
One of them was an attempt to break the engagement between Princess Titania and the young duke of Castrain.
She was already a princess who didn’t have any proper backing to speak of. Furthermore, at that point, her biological mother, the second imperial concubine, also wasted away and died.
If only her relationship with her fiancé, Raymond, had been good, it might have been different. But due to the misdeeds she had committed in the meantime, their relationship was also at its worst.
To the princess who was burning with anxiety, it was enough to leak a rumor that the imperial palace would annul her marriage contract and push for a marriage contract between Bibi and the prince.
‘…So she really stupidly tried to poison Bibi.’
Without any tricks or anything, she simple-mindedly invited her to a tea time, put poison in the tea, and handed it over.
Naturally, she failed.
The Emperor threw the princess to the enraged ducal family, telling them to kill her or do whatever they pleased.
-I did it because I love you!
And there, Titania grabbed Raymond’s ankles and pleaded uglily.
-I-I-I love you. I really love you… B-B-But you look at me, you look at me like I’m truly a piece of filth!
She clung to him, discarding her pride as a princess and everything else, but naturally…
-I am only glad that you seem to have finally realized why I have looked at you like a piece of filth all this time.
Only terribly cold contempt returned.
-I am only glad that you seem to have finally realized it now.
Looking at those cold, freezing eyes, Titania truly falls into despair.
Knowing such a hair-raising future…
I stared at the female protagonist, who was persuading me while counting on her cute and adorable fingers, with troubled eyes.
“And our big brother is the second strongest in the world after Dad!”
My cute and lovely female protagonist, first of all, this is the imperial palace…
Please don’t say so proudly that the Duke of Castrain is the best in the world in the place where the Emperor, who is full of inferiority complexes, lives…
Though I also agree with the fact that the Duke of Castrain is practically stronger than the Emperor.
“So no matter what happens, he can save Sister Tia!”
It would be a relief if he doesn’t take the lead in abandoning me…
A bitter smile escaped naturally.
Still, it seems the current me is doing reasonably well. To the point of hearing such words from the original female protagonist, no less.
“Bibi.”
“Yes, Sister Tia!”
“First of all, thank you so much for looking at me favorably.”
“Hehe.”
“But I can’t.”
“W-W-Why…?”
In an instant, her large blue eyes welled up with tears as if she were about to cry. Ugh, I almost clutched my chest without realizing it. However, forcing myself to look nonchalant on the outside, I met Bibi’s eyes and spoke gently.
“Bibi, the Castrain Ducal Family is precious to you, right?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“…There is nothing good to come from the current imperial family and the Castrain Ducal Family being entangled.”
“B-But…”
“Kind Bibi.”
It wasn’t a fabricated smile; a genuine smile came out. I quietly reached out my hand and stroked Bibi’s brown hair.
“You were worried about what would happen to my treatment after the engagement is broken, weren’t you?”
“…….”
Bibi fell silent.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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