Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 128

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Chapter 128

Titania’s position within the Imperial Palace was, in effect, little better than a useless ornament, and so no one had ever particularly minded that she hadn’t had a Debutante ceremony. Typically, the better the family, the earlier they held their daughter’s debut. If a girl reached adulthood without having a Debutante ceremony, she was treated as one who had come late to the market.
However, since the ultimate purpose of a High Society debut was to find a suitable marriage prospect and cultivate connections, it was equally true that Titania’s Debutante ceremony was not desperately urgent.
Yet standing before a family elder he’d bumped into after so long, the Emperor couldn’t bring himself to display the manner of a father neglecting his daughter—’Ha, I’ve grown rather fond of Titania, true enough, but is there really any reason to go to such trouble over her Debutante? Besides, Brian is away from the Palace, and summer is nearly finished, so what’s the point…’—and so he held his tongue.
“That girl Titania is truly clever! Bright, adorable, and such filial devotion toward her parents. So I asked her which young lady she got along with, and she hesitated—well, the truth is she doesn’t have even one friend her own age. Tsk, now Brian and Adrian have opportunities aplenty to meet young noblemen through hunting and such activities.”
Valentina clicked her tongue as though lamenting Titania’s plight.
“When she was young, her fragile health meant we couldn’t bring peers to the Palace, and once she grew older, we couldn’t simply send away Castrain’s betrothed elsewhere without thought. Elaine’s health is delicate, and after what she endured at that gathering, the Palace can hardly expect her to shoulder Titania’s care. As for Cleo, busy keeping her own son outside the Palace walls, would she have the mind to look after another’s daughter? And to leave her in the Empress’s hands seems excessive—after all, the girl isn’t the legitimate daughter of both the Empress and the Emperor.”
Valentina’s words contained subtle traps. No matter how Valentina might claim she’d voluntarily withdrawn from public life in the past due to unfortunate circumstances, her name and legitimacy were beyond reproach.
Whether the Empress, her standing narrowed by the Emperor’s coldness, stepped forward or Valentina herself, who had broken her seclusion, the difference was minimal. Yet there was one justification the Emperor could never deny—Valentina had invoked the superiority of bloodline, and against that, the Emperor had no grounds for rebuttal.
“I, is that so? If you hold the girl in such affection, then it would be Titania’s good fortune, but… the social season hasn’t entirely passed, yet it’s hardly the proper debut season either…”
By the time Titania returned from the Dedication Ceremony, the main social season had already slipped away. It was an awkward juncture for arranging anyone’s debut.
“Ah yes, true enough. Still, I don’t expect to remain at the Palace much longer, so I merely hoped she might make some pleasant friends in my time here, so she needn’t feel lonely. As for the debut itself, there’s hardly need to make such a grand affair of it. There’s no call for the Palace to hold a ball in such disorderly times. I’ll manage the details myself as appropriate.”
“Mm, if you say so, Aunt… But you mentioned you won’t be staying long?”
The moment the Emperor heard there was no need for the Palace to hold a ball, he concluded that she truly meant to hold merely a ‘debut,’ and his attention turned elsewhere.
Indeed, she was right. In extravagant families, preparations for a girl’s Debutante began the moment she was born. Gloves, a dress, shoes, jewelry—each piece was reserved years in advance and commissioned with great care.
Of course, items prepared by the Imperial Family wouldn’t be inferior to those of ordinary households, but there seemed little meaning in a debut arranged so haphazardly, like roasting beans over lightning-quick flames.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I suppose I’ve become one of those helpless old fools after all. Truth be told, the more I see Cleo, the more she grates on me—that wretched woman who failed to educate her children properly. When I think that as long as I remain, Brian cannot set foot in the Palace, it troubles me. I have only three grandchildren, and even if Cleo’s child displeases me, a grandmother’s heart knows no preference—or so they say.”
“Ah, is that so? No, no—that wretch caused you such grave offense with his insolence! It hasn’t even been a month since he left the Palace, so there’s no need for you to depart early on his account.”
The Emperor’s eagerness to keep her showed for a moment before he hastened to dissuade her. Valentina merely smiled like a pleasant grandmother, then sighed heavily in the next breath.
“There must be dignity in the management of Palace affairs. Tsk, they say a person shows their true colors the moment they set foot in the wrong place. The Lande house is hardly uncouth, yet I cannot bring myself to like Cleo. How much did Brian grow up hearing that his bloodline was the finest? And yet he shows such contempt for the Palace’s elders? I am an old woman awaiting my final days, but surely he wouldn’t dare show such disrespect to Your Majesty himself?”
“No, no! If that wretch were truly such a person, I would have already—!”
The Emperor began to speak, then caught himself and fell silent. There was nothing to gain in telling an elder who outranked him that the man showed no disrespect to himself.
“I understand Your Majesty’s affection for Cleo, but during my stay at the Palace, please entrust all matters concerning Princess Titania to me. Your Majesty—even if the distance between you and the Empress grows, you must not grant the Empress’s authority to the Concubine. Should the Empress make an error, one can hold her accountable for failing in her duties; but should the Concubine exercise the Empress’s authority and commit a mistake, how would you punish someone who was never fit to be Empress in the first place? Material unworthy of the throne must remain a concubine.”
It was sound reasoning, yet it was also something no one had dared speak to the Emperor until now. His face reddened, and he coughed awkwardly before answering.
“Ahem, yes. I take your meaning well, Aunt. I shall be sure to warn Cleo against any recklessness, so you need not trouble yourself.”
“I am grateful for Your Majesty’s kindness.”
Having obtained what she wished to hear, Valentina smiled silently to herself.

* * *

“C-calm down, Bibi.”
I broke into a cold sweat watching Bibi explode in real time upon hearing the news.
Valentina and I had formally joined hands.
I shared with her the broad strokes of what was happening, excepting only a few sensitive details—that I could wield Light Power, that I was a Contractor of Deity, and such.
Roughly: there was a faction burning with the will to overturn the world using Demonic Beast Power, this faction was an enemy of the Castrain Family, and it seemed they’d joined hands with Cleo.
I made that choice because I judged her trustworthy. Even if she learned my secrets, she would never side with Cleo, and besides, it seemed unlikely the Emperor would believe her even if she told him everything. And since everyone she might have truly called family was dead, if she had any sense, she couldn’t possibly cherish and love a man like the Emperor as her nephew.
That judgment proved correct.
‘The nation itself may rot, but for such base scheming—raising her own son to the throne! What shamelessness!’
‘P-please, Great-Aunt, compose yourself!’
‘If one wishes to climb to a high place, one should conduct oneself with the dignity it demands! To scheme at tripping others and clawing upward—she ought to be dragged down by the hair! If she made others weep blood, she should be prepared to cough up blood herself!’
Valentina was horrified merely that a Concubine in a position to aspire to the throne for her next heir would join hands with such a suspicious faction or conspire with them. Had Cleo stood before her, she would have been ready to tear out every strand of hair on the woman’s head.
‘When you said you had enemies, I thought a small child uttering such grand words was ridiculous—what kind of life have you lived?’
‘Quite the one, it seems…’
‘I must reconsider the Empress as well. All this time she’s kept her head down, enduring whatever the other side hurled at her. If her opponent is such a wretch, then by leaving her unchecked, you’ve let her grow strong and accumulate every scrap of power! Whether it becomes poison or medicine, you must restrain her from the start! Clean water alone cannot breed fish—and here’s a woman of Integrian stock, too refined for the dirty work of the gutters, so she sidesteps conflict entirely, and look what’s happened! Madness!’
‘G-gutter fighting…’
Whether I sat frozen in bewilderment at Valentina’s blunt speech or not, she bounded about the room in exasperation.
‘That’s why a child like you rolled about the Palace’s underbelly like a deflated ball, becoming the plaything of such a vile woman. And the adults—myself included—turned a blind eye! Good grief, what kind of guardians are we!’
After that ordeal, Valentina threw herself into strengthening my position while she remained at the Palace, whatever the cost.
One of her strategies was my Debutante.