Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 115

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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 115

Rarely did the Imperial Palace host a banquet.
It was not the sort of affair a moderately well-connected noble could expect to receive an invitation to, like the New Year celebrations. Only a select few had been summoned. Yet when word spread that all members of the imperial family would be attending, most expressed momentary bewilderment before accepting it as reasonable.
The reason was simple: Second Empress Elaine’s health had recovered. Her return banquet, people reasoned, explained why invitations had been so carefully restricted.
Unlike the grand celebrations that typically spanned three full days, this banquet would last only one. Every noble who received an invitation attended without exception.
What they anticipated was transparent enough. How would the Imperial Palace’s power structure shift now that Elaine had returned? Had that princess truly changed—the one who had caused such upheaval at the Dedication Ceremony? Was the improved relationship with the Castrain Family genuine?
The vast hall overflowed with flowers, gleaming crystals, lace, and ornate candelabras. The noblewoman whispered behind their fans, speculating whether it was First Empress Cleo or the Empress who had orchestrated today’s arrangements.
Then one woman suddenly frowned. A passing maidservant, hurrying too quickly, had bumped lightly against her waist.
Fortunately her gown remained uncrumpled and her jewels undisturbed, but the noblewoman glared at the maid with a sharp tsk of disapproval.
“My, to think such a careless servant works in the Imperial Palace….”
“I—I beg your pardon, madam. Please forgive me.”
“Be more careful next time.”
Sara bowed repeatedly in apology, then forced her trembling body to compose itself and moved toward the rear of the banquet hall. As the weight of her assigned task settled upon her, she felt as though she might be sick at any moment.
‘What you need to do today is rather difficult, I’m afraid.’
She recalled Titania’s face as she explained, her smile serene.
‘You’ll need to slip away at just the right moment, and avoid raising Cleo’s suspicions…. Yes, it’s dangerous. But you did say you’d do anything, didn’t you?’
Within the Rose Palace, Titania had maintained the facade of a vacant-minded princess with meticulous precision. She had shown slightly more favor to Mary—noticeably enough that others could see the difference.
When Mary observed that Sara received less consideration, she wore a smile brimming with superiority. Sara felt her chest tighten each time she saw it, but she said nothing. Mary deliberately ignored Sara while shepherding the newly arrived maidservant Bonita as though she were her own attendant. Bonita was an unusually mild-mannered girl with nimble hands, and she obeyed Mary with almost unnatural compliance.
Sara had made desperate attempts to integrate with the Rose Palace staff, but Mary’s subtle leadership and exclusion proved effective. And whenever Sara caught sight of Titania watching all of this in quiet stillness, her skin crawled.
‘The choice is yours.’
Her heart hammered. She thought again of Natalie’s face—the head maidservant who left so little room for error. And then it happened.
“……His Imperial Majesty, the sovereign lord of this empire, enters!”
The banquet hall erupted into visible commotion. There was no turning back now. Sara swallowed hard.

* * *

“……Um, Titania? You’re walking in with me instead of your perfectly fine fiancé?”
Adrian’s usual gleaming smile had vanished, replaced by something closer to bewilderment. I let out a dismissive laugh.
Both Adrian and I had spent the entire day being painstakingly prepared. Adrian was already striking with his burnished golden hair, but with attendants laboring to polish every inch of him and draping him with jewels, he looked like a portrait come to life.
I was no different, standing beside him. With actual jewel fragments applied to my eyelids, my already heavy gaze grew heavier still as I blinked and spoke.
“When have I ever made an entrance with my ‘perfectly fine fiancé’ in front of the nobility?”
“That’s true, but you’ve never walked in with me either…?”
I glanced down at the orange cufflinks attached to Adrian’s sleeve, confirming they were in place. Noting the subtle, muted scarlet tone that gleamed softly, I spoke more candidly.
“Why, does it sadden you that I can’t stay close to Her Imperial Majesty?”
Adrian answered in a flat tone.
“No. If she weren’t family, escorting any other young lady would become incredibly complicated. I thought it best to avoid giving people cause to gossip in the first place.”
“His Majesty will escort Elaine. Cleo will appear on Brian’s arm. And Her Imperial Majesty will, for this evening at least, endure a touch of the nobility’s ridicule.”
Well, by the time the banquet ended, everyone would have forgotten who had arrived alone anyway….
Today’s banquet was being hosted by Cleo. Which was to say the Emperor, once enraged by the Imperial Palace Beast Attack Incident, had now completely forgiven her. Cleo was certainly hunting for several things at tonight’s event: to showcase her standing, to demonstrate her continuing ascendancy not merely in maintaining but in gaining the returned Elaine as well. And….
“Cleo will attack me, as she always does.”
She would attempt to bring me down in front of the watching nobles. It was transparent as day. When the imperial family dined privately within the palace, whatever happened could be dismissed as ‘a minor family matter,’ and the Emperor’s word made it so. But tonight, there was nowhere to hide, nothing to conceal.
“I’ve never had a taste for meekly accepting blows and weeping prettily.”
—That’s right, that’s right!
୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭
If someone strikes your cheek, you knock all their teeth out!
‘Where on earth did you hear that from? I’m fairly certain that’s not what it means….’
—Oh, it wasn’t? ( ｰ̀εｰ́ ) Then, um, if someone strikes your cheek, you toast the other one?
‘People aren’t bread. You can’t toast them….’
After exchanging such nonsense with my inner voice, I turned and caught sight of myself in the mirror—Titania the princess, exquisitely adorned. I smiled at the sight. That doll-like beautiful princess. The one who had despaired of not being beautiful enough to deserve her fiancé….
Today was different. I gazed at the jewels and fresh flowers and ribbons woven through my flowing golden hair and smiled. Beauty could be a weapon.
Few men can refuse a fragile, sickly beauty. And if that beauty is one’s own mother, then in public, a child has no voice, no say in anything.
So a little unfair advantage was necessary.
“Shall we depart, Your Highness Princess Titania?”
“Thank you for the escort, Your Highness Prince Adrian.”
My gloved hand rested over his white-gloved palm. The curtain rose on yet another performance.

* * *

The Emperor escorted Elaine personally as they entered.
Their pace was deliberately slow. Yet the nobles already assembled in the hall remained utterly silent.
Before Titania’s birth, Elaine had engaged in almost no public appearances as empress, and many people’s memories of that ‘most beautiful woman in the empire’ fell far short of reality.
But the beauty who leaned half-supported against the Emperor surpassed their expectations entirely. She resembled a lily of silver and silk placed in a cracked glass vase. The Emperor beamed and seated Elaine directly beside him.
The watching nobles exchanged whispers. Ordinarily, the Emperor and Empress would have their chairs positioned side by side as matched pairs. Yet the Empress’s chair sat noticeably apart, while beside the Emperor’s seat stood a smaller but visibly cushioned chair, placed as if to make a point.
It was an obvious slight to the Empress, yet when the Emperor paid it no mind and simply seated Elaine there, no one dared speak. It made clear to all that Cleo had arranged this seating.
The moment the Emperor and Elaine took their places, Cleo appeared with a bright smile on her face and a somewhat sullen Brian on her arm.
Cleo wore a dress the color of night sky, with an enigmatic deep blue shimmer. While she fussed over Elaine with false warmth, remarking how much better her health seemed to be, the Empress entered the hall. She came alone.
Where Elaine wore a bride-like radiant white gown and Cleo wore a dress of mysterious hue, the Empress’s gown was a rather drab grey-brown. Before anyone could begin to whisper about her solitary, dignified entrance, the final members of the imperial family appeared.
Adrian and Titania walked in hand in hand. The gathering realized then that members of the Castrain Family who had already entered had been watching this moment in silence.
Had Titania’s relationship with her fiancé truly improved?
Indeed, Titania appeared far more composed than expected. Dressed in colors and adornments that coordinated with Adrian’s, they looked quite harmonious together. Whether the assembled watched with subtle scrutiny or not, the Emperor—indifferent to how his other family members had paired off upon their entrance—simply waited until everyone was seated, then opened his mouth to speak.
What he said was unremarkable.
Elaine had finally recovered, what a blessing for the empire…. Dressed in florid language and self-aggrandizement, but stripped down to it, that was all. After the Emperor’s tedious speech ended, the nobles applauded. As word came to begin the festivities in earnest, Cleo’s vivacious voice cut through.
“My, Your Majesty. Such joyous news brings us this rare gathering. We ought to raise a toast together, don’t you think?”
“That would be fitting.”
“Princess Titania, do come here. There’s no need to be shy—she is your birth mother after all. Come and receive a glass from Elaine, won’t you?”
Elaine, seated beside the Emperor, remained as still as a doll, blinking only, but when an attendant offered her a glass, she took it and gestured toward Titania.
Titania offered a somewhat stiffened smile and approached, accepting the glass from Elaine.

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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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