Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 122

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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 122

“Well, he is the First Prince, but…….”
“As His Majesty himself said, the Crown Prince hasn’t been confirmed yet. Bloodline can’t be ignored…….”
Bloodline, bloodline, bloodline—that word again! Cleo’s shoulders trembled violently.
“Where do you think His Highness Brian is staying?”
“Who knows? With the Lande Marquis House?”
“But His Majesty was furious even with the Lande Marquis House.”
“He’d certainly be called tactless if he stayed there. Still, surely a prince of such nobility has somewhere to stay?”
“That said, if Elaine recovers her health and bears another child—what we saw just now suggests things could become quite unstable.”
“It’s rather gracious of Cleo to have held a banquet for Elaine’s recovery.”
For how spectacularly the prince had been dragged away before the Emperor, the gossip was surprisingly restrained.
Or rather, because they all knew Cleo’s temperament far too well, they were being cautiously measured—and what little they did say came only from nobles who’d always supported Adrian, taking pleasure in a rival’s misfortune, while Brian’s supporters stayed silent.
In truth, the ban on entering the Imperial Palace while “Aunt Valentina is staying there” was light enough. The shame lay in being cast out as an imperial prince, not in the punishment itself. Though the Emperor had said Valentina could stay as long as she wished, it seemed he had no intention of actually keeping her indefinitely.
But Cleo was furious. She felt everyone was seizing this moment to mock her, and it was unbearable.
‘After all the effort I’ve put in……!’
A grinding sound came from her teeth. Cleo could not shake the image of Brian being dragged away so miserably before her eyes—her son, raised more precious than anyone else in the world! To hear his bloodline mocked before nobles.
Rage boiled up from the depths of her bones.
She understood that the Emperor’s eyes had turned from Brian after the shambles of the Magic Beast attack. So she’d planned to orchestrate things at an opportune moment and reverse his image. She’d already spent a fortune acquiring a Special Drug.
A drug that mercenaries—transient soldiers drifting from battlefield to battlefield—took before facing Magic Beasts. The drug itself was said to carry many side effects and be dangerous, but she’d obtained an improved version through a trustworthy intermediary.
She’d tested it on dozens of prisoners locked away for years, so it was reliable. She’d intended to use the drug and weapons to hunt some Beast or animal majestically before the Emperor at an opportune time…….
“How Lady Armerin would admire such ‘graciousness’—she despises bastards. How fortunate the dead Lande Marquis House had no illegitimate daughters. If only she’d lived, she could have become Empress herself; what a pity she died so pointlessly. To lose her position to a half-sister she’d never dared oppose before, to hear the great Lande Marquis House mocked for tainted blood—if only she were still alive…….”
“Time truly passes without mercy, doesn’t it?”
Cleo froze in place like ice.
How contemptible they were.
Imperial blood, noble blood—what made them so precious?
Yes, even right after Brian had done something so stupid and been dragged away, Cleo found she couldn’t bring herself to curse him.
They said the most noble thing was the Imperial Family, imperial blood itself. Brian was the Emperor’s firstborn. These contemptible creatures weren’t fit to be mentioned in the same breath as his bloodline.
This hierarchy of birth—this bloodline—what gave it such power?
How did it reduce her to something even lower than the shadow of a dead woman who’d lost all will to live?
But she had no mind to burst with rage here. Cleo was determined only to remember precisely the rank of whoever dared mock her. She would make them crawl like vermin before her, begging.
No one spoke harshly on Cleo’s behalf, no one came close to gauge her mood—not like those who normally bent to her will like a tongue in a mouth, now slinking away with careful eyes!
Disgusted, Cleo decided to leave this place at once. She was worried about Brian, and she needed to think through how to handle what had already happened. As she slipped away from the banquet with no hesitation, someone spoke to her.
“Are you all right?”
It was a gentle voice. Cleo saw a noble girl smiling at her with a kind expression, and she searched her memory.
Did she know this girl? No. Rippling hair, gentle eyes, a bright smile. Even her unremarkable dress was typical. Just an ordinary noble lady.
Which made it strange. In this situation, did this ordinary girl have the nerve to address Cleo, whose mood was foul? Cleo forced her lips into a tight smile.
“Not really all right, but—tell me, kind and bold young lady, which house do you belong to?”
“If you’re worried about His Highness Brian, he’s fine.”
What kind of answer was that? Since when did this girl know anything about Brian’s state? Cleo’s brow furrowed.
“Rather, it’s not so bad that he can stay outside the palace, away from prying eyes.”
The girl laughed. Cleo stopped in her tracks. Silence surrounded them on all sides.
It was unbelievable. The banquet was effectively over, and though Cleo had left it, people still moved through here. They were in the corridor near the banquet hall. Yet all around them was silence?
The girl took Cleo’s arm without hesitation. A lukewarm body heat met her skin—as thin and cold as a reptile pretending to a mammal’s body, warming itself in the sun to fool its kin.
“You wanted something from His Highness the Prince, didn’t you?”
“…….”
Cleo’s lips trembled faintly. For a moment they twisted, then she composed a smile as if drawn carefully. She tilted her head toward the girl holding her arm, creating the appearance of two close sisters, or a mother and daughter.
“Are you saying you can give me what I want?”
Their gazes met.
“Of course.”
The sound of leaves brushing against each other in the wind reached them. Whisper, whisper, whisper…….
A sound like scissors cutting something away. The noise of wingless insects crashing to the ground and thrashing about.
“But in return, Her Highness the Empress will need to give me what I want…….”
Whether from the oppressive heat or something else, cool sweat accumulated at the nape of her neck and dripped steadily. Listening to the words that came like a whisper, Cleo hesitated for only a moment.
It was a hesitation that meant nothing. Long ago, holding the corpse of a magnificent woman who never flinched even as she died, Cleo had made a vow.
Whatever it took to get what I want, I will not hesitate at any method or means.
This world had never allowed Cleo to live with dignity.
From the beginning, it branded her as worthless and base, demanding she bow her head and accept its threats.
Cleo cherished Brian, loved him, worried for him—but to be honest, she loved him because he was the Emperor’s son, because he had the potential to become the Emperor himself.
If he were merely the son of some unremarkable man, he’d have no value whatsoever. Since she could bear no more children now, Brian had to succeed. Because Cleo could do anything for Brian’s sake, the time had come for Brian to endure anything for hers. The girl whispered as if confirming something.
“You won’t regret this?”
They say demons never lie in their bargains.
They merely have an uncanny sense of timing.
Tell a childless couple who’ve lost their newborn that you’ll bring their child back in exchange for their enemy’s life—how many could refuse?
Offer a merchant who’s lost everything in a natural disaster a gamble where you could multiply his fortune hundreds or thousands of times over, wagering his future—
Could anyone truly refuse in cold blood?
So most who take the demon’s hand are ones who deceive themselves.
The delusion that they can fully enjoy the demon’s ‘price.’
The delusion that they and the demon are equal partners in the contract.
“Yes.”
So Cleo answered without hesitation.
“If I’d had doubts, I’d never have come this far.”
The delusion that their contract is worth something great to the demon too…….
The girl smiled. It was a shy, beautiful smile, like a flower bud before it blooms.
“I can promise you one thing.”
Her voice was like singing.
“Her Highness Cleo will be able to have a ‘perfect’ son.”

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“Didn’t you want to leave the palace?”
Elaine regarded the girl before her with a peculiar feeling.
The interior of Licoris Palace, which Cleo had once despised as a place where the dead lived, had changed noticeably long ago. The palace that had been thick with dust and moisture now smelled of sunlight.
“Because you wanted so badly to leave the palace that you were even considering killing Elaine if the opportunity arose, I thought this much would be acceptable.”
The girl who smiled so naturally at her.

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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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