Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 117

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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 117

The incident that had just unfolded—whether poisoning or curse, no one could say—was plainly a fabrication staged by Titania and the Empress. So there had been a certain confidence that they would keep it contained, not escalate it into something that might frame Cleo, lest their own tails be caught in the trap.
But then?
A chamberlain cried out at the top of his lungs. The front doors of the banquet hall, which had been sealed since the Empress and the Second Consort collapsed, swung open. Someone strode purposefully into the chaos of the hall.
“Lady Armerin enters!”
“It has been long since we last met, Your Majesty.”
“…Aunt.”
The Emperor’s gaze settled on her with the expression of someone wondering what on earth she was doing here. The reactions of the others were much the same.
The woman who found herself the sudden focus of every eye smiled serenely.

* * *

Before the Late Emperor passed, the Emperor had grown up as an only son—treasured exceedingly. So treasured, in fact, that it became a problem.
With the Late Emperor and Late Empress both departed from the world in succession, there was scarcely anyone in the Imperial Family who could be called the Emperor’s elder. This meant that the Emperor could neglect the Empress and favor the Second Consort, and there would be no one even nominally to stop him.
And yet, the Emperor was not entirely without close relatives. The Late Emperor had had a younger sister—with a considerable age gap between them.
In her unmarried days, when she held the title of sole Imperial Princess, her name was Valentina Sol Latva Hamastion.
That younger sister, now the Emperor’s aunt, had married into the venerable Lersen House in the empire’s southwestern region with great fanfare and lived ostentatiously well—until the moment an illegitimate child of her husband’s appeared at the gates, a woman who bore him a son. Upon the arrival of that illegitimate child, she had taken to her bed.
The Late Emperor was still alive at that time. Valentina had raced to the Capital and, holding a blade to her own throat, had threatened him: “If you do not divorce me from that fool, my brother shall watch my head roll in the Imperial Palace.” Her ultimatum had been absolute.
The Late Emperor found himself besieged by troubles. Had his sister borne a child of her own, he might have persuaded her to ignore such a bastard, or even pressured the Lord of Lersen House to dispose of the matter discreetly. But the couple had no legitimate offspring.
Moreover, no matter how noble the blood, once a woman had married into a great house, she became part of that house. How could it be reasonable for her to run to the Emperor with one illegitimate child and demand separation? The Lord of Lersen House trembled with indignation.
The Late Emperor did cherish his only sister. But he could not deny that her temperament was far too volatile. Had she only conducted herself quietly, he might have managed the matter himself. Instead, she had dragged everything into the public eye.
This was a union between the Imperial line and a storied noble house. To grant a divorce would be tantamount to admitting that the Lersen House and the Imperial Family had become enemies. So the Late Emperor attempted to conclude the matter as quietly as possible.
In the end, no “official” divorce was ever finalized. Yet the affair had already drawn sufficient attention and brought considerable shame.
Even had divorce been granted, the Emperor could not elevate the mistress—the illegitimate child’s mother—to the position of lady of the house after divorcing the Imperial Princess. Nor would any other house send a daughter willing to play benevolent stepmother after witnessing such a disgrace. Thus, for the sake of both families’ honor, they remained officially married.
In truth, the marital bond had long since been severed. The Lord of Lersen House and Valentina had entered into a Separation.
Valentina was wealthy. Since her days as an Imperial Princess, the entire Armerin region—renowned as a haven for the weary—had been hers.
She had reclaimed every last coin of her dowry from the Imperial Palace, and built herself an extravagant villa in the Armerin district. Ostensibly for her recovery and convalescence. The villa, complete with hot springs, forests, lakes, and a small hunting ground, was a heaven in all but name. And there she remained, continuously.
She did not return to society. Whether her legal husband treated the illegitimate child as his formal heir, whether he elevated his former mistress to the position of lady of the house—she cared nothing for any of it. She spent her wealth like water and lived in ease. The Late Emperor did not oppose her.
Without the formal legal proceedings, everyone knew well enough what had transpired. And so, in the eyes of society, she had come to be subtly disparaged.
Raised in the bosom of the Imperial Family, too proud to abandon her dignity, she had raged like a madwoman over a single bastard and now lived out her days as a widow. A woman of such fierce temperament—how could she have borne children? Should such a disgraced member of the Imperial line even be venerated as she was…?
Among such whispers, the death of the Late Emperor and Late Empress came, and her attendance at the state funeral had been her “final” official act. After her nephew—with whom relations had never been warm—became Emperor, she lived as though entombed, silent and forgotten. It was only natural that no one remembered her.
“I am grateful that you have not forgotten this aged woman, Your Majesty.”
The one person capable of being addressed as “Aunt” by the Emperor himself. Valentina appeared to the eye as a wealthy grandmother, save that her posture was perfectly erect and her height considerable for her years. Her hair, nearly white, was adorned with lustrous pearls and coral. Her brows, distinctly dark, and the sharp line of her nose marked her as a woman of formidable character.
In short, she was exactly the sort of woman no ordinary bride would wish to encounter as her future mother-in-law. Her voice had a metallic ring to it as she clicked her tongue in disapproval.
“As if this old woman had scores of people waiting on her—why would I come to the Imperial Palace at the drop of a hat? Though the Late Emperor cherished me and said the Palace would always be my home, that I need no one’s permission to come and go, times have changed. Now it is Your Majesty who is the law.”
“That is not so, Aunt. My household should have sent for you….”
The Emperor, despite a note of reluctance in his voice, still endeavored to treat this elderly relative with proper respect.
For if he did otherwise, he would be condemned as unfilial—accused of betraying his father’s regard for her—and there was no defense against such an assault of words.
“But what brings you such a distance? I had understood you do not often leave your villa in Armerin.”
“Indeed, you are right. At my age, with a body grown frail, I have lived quietly, drawing only breath. Yet my niece—your daughter—took it upon herself to write me a letter.”
What? A letter?
His daughter?
The Emperor’s gaze shifted. So did everyone else’s. Titania, suddenly the focus of all eyes, looked down shyly and fidgeted. Cleo’s jaw tightened.
“…I thought that if my maternal grandmother from the Bradley Count House—that is, if she—might tend to my mother’s health, perhaps her condition might improve somewhat. But I learned she had passed away long ago.”
Titania confessed what she had done in a voice of pure innocence, as though her sole concern had been her mother’s recovery.
Titania and Elaine’s eyes met for an instant. Elaine’s gaze was utterly cold. Yet Titania proceeded without the slightest show of disturbance.
“I was fortunate to recover my health, but I have always been concerned for the health of Elaine, the Second Consort, who bore me and sacrificed her own in doing so. I am still young and busy caring for myself, so I cannot aid her. I thought—might there not be someone who could help her? But I felt reluctant to ask the austere Empress to attend privately to my mother’s health. And Your Majesty is occupied with matters of state. And Cleo, the Second Consort, also seemed occupied with affairs within the Palace.”
When mention was made of “the affairs within the Palace that the Second Consort manages,” Valentina’s brow twitched slightly.
Valentina had been born the Imperial Princess between the Emperor and the Empress, her brother his imperial counterpart.
Though rumors had circulated, and she lived in seclusion in her villa, had her station been anything less than it was, she could never have so openly insulted her husband or abandoned him with such freedom to live as she pleased.
To such a woman, the sight of a lowborn Second Consort—a concubine with but one son to her name—seizing control within the Imperial Palace could hardly seem acceptable. No matter how much the Emperor favored Cleo, she was still his aunt.
Cleo’s face had gone pale. That mad girl had actually pulled that old fox out of her hole! She had thought the woman would die in that villa, breathing and nothing more!
“But while examining the Imperial genealogy out of curiosity, I happened to learn that I have a great-aunt. They said she rests in a place renowned for its restorative properties. I thought it unwise to trouble her with private matters. Yet as my mother’s health is not good, I wondered if she might be able to offer aid. It was mere presumption on my part that led me to write the letter. I never imagined she would come today….”
“What admirable consideration you show. And looking at today’s situation….”
Valentina’s eyes narrowed.
“There is indeed cause for concern.”
Cleo’s face turned ashen. Like scattering ash onto a dish already prepared—it had gone too far!

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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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