Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 131

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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 131

If you expect nothing, you feel no betrayal. No—Raymond had kept to his boundaries well enough. The fault lay with Titania, who was too foolish, too untrained to even perceive where those lines were drawn. She had seen them and turned away, and then, like a tower crumbling, everything collapsed. A man’s hand gripped my lower back, pulling me forward. One slip, and our lips would have brushed—the distance was that slight. My gaze flared like flame.
“Here in this beautiful ballroom, commanding every eye, dancing your first waltz as a Debutante with the legendary Young Duke Raymond. It’s rather perfect, isn’t it?”
“If you wish it, I would gladly dance with you again, whenever you like. As many times as you desire.”
His voice seemed to tremble at the edges—or perhaps that was only my imagination. I laughed aloud without thinking. Here was a man too consumed with work to draw breath, claiming he could dance whenever I wanted?
It reminded me of busy parents who couldn’t come home even on Children’s Day, making promises to their child. I’ll really do it this time, I promise, we’ll go out together. But then work called on the appointed day, and the child’s heartbreak was simply unavoidable. The parents had no choice, and neither did the child’s sorrow.
“Don’t carry guilt for it. And don’t disbelieve someone who says they’re fine—that’s discourteous in itself. I only mentioned it because the situation felt like a fairy tale. So please, Young Duke.”
He was beautiful as a painted portrait. His clothes fit perfectly. His eyes never left me, not for an instant. That subtle, almost desperate grip. Wasn’t he exactly what every woman dreams of in fairy tales? A man indifferent to all the world, yet unable to turn his gaze from me. And yet, as our dance rushed toward its end, I mustered the gentlest voice I could manage.
“You felt terribly sorry for releasing Princess Titania’s hand, didn’t you?”
“…….”
“And perhaps all those feelings—pity and guilt and sympathy—might be all there truly is?”
The music stopped. I lowered my feet slowly as well. The fluttering folds of my skirt settled gradually.
By custom, Raymond should have released me, stepped back, and made his bow. But he stood frozen, as though someone had poured paralytic venom into his very ears.
I pressed my gloved hand against his cheek slowly, pushing gently. Come to your senses. Just barely.

The man’s eyelashes flickered.
“The eldest daughter of the Orland family—I’ve heard her reputation is quite good. It would be a shame for her to marry someone as wild as Lisianthus and ruin her standing in society just as she’s made her debut. Don’t you think?”
“…….”
“And naturally, you thought the same, for your brother’s sake. Your choice was the right one. It was only the circumstances and conditions that were unfavorable. So, you see.”
A Raymond drowning in guilt and pity and sympathy might sacrifice himself for me. Because of the weight I carry, even if he met someone truly worthy, he would never look away—he would linger in my orbit.
A foolish Titania would have danced and sung her joy at this moment, but truly, if it wasn’t love, did it matter? She might not have cared. She might have clung to him regardless, drowning slowly under guilt for a lifetime, indifferent. But that isn’t a healthy bond.
“Second Empress Elaine and I have agreed—at least in word—to stop forcing ourselves into a mother-and-daughter dynamic. If we can untangle even blood relations that way, then surely we needn’t remain bound by a political engagement that neither of us truly chose in the first place?”
“…Princess Titania.”
“I’m truly grateful you comforted me before. And as you advised me, I’m trying not to blame myself thoughtlessly going forward. So please—do the same.”
A colleague. That’s the right fit.
Bibi is endearing, Lisianthus has grown on me in an irritating way, and Raymond is sometimes pitiable. Debbie I occasionally want to punch. But in any case, we’ve become the sort of group that can’t turn away from each other’s hardships and crises.
The Castrain Family bears so much on behalf of the Imperial Throne—and beyond that, there are these mysterious enemies, though First Empress Cleo and Chernobog’s Contractor certainly fall into that category—we’ve even faced the threat of death.
Usually, when a person shows a different side of themselves, you think, ‘Was he always like that?’ Raymond isn’t inherently base, but his guilt makes him oversensitive, prone to overreacting.
But to be held hostage for a lifetime by a mistake made to a young girl long ago? That’s rather too much.
“Might I ask precisely what you mean by that?”
His voice trembled faintly at the edges. We couldn’t linger here any longer. Having ended the dance so gracefully, we couldn’t stay; the crowd’s eyes were gathering thicker around us.
I gripped his stiff hand firmly and pulled. He offered no resistance, simply tilting toward me.
Thump-thump—I heard the faint rhythm of a heartbeat. His heartbeat, thudding in his chest. I wound my arms around Raymond’s waist and straightened. Then I turned to acknowledge everyone. Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap. The delayed applause thundered like a storm.
“There are many things to attend to, and it feels wrong to pretend ignorance. So let’s simply remain good colleagues and friends. Clean and simple.”
He’s a good person. It saddens me to see him bound by a dubious contract like myself, rolled this way and that by fate, entangled one-to-one. Frankly, if I were in crisis and the Castrain Family faced something worse, whichever I chose, I’d feel guilt.
In the first place, the reason he so desperately avoided young Titania was that he could never be a lover devoted solely to her.
So I’ll work hard to grow stronger, and whenever I face an enemy, I’ll take care of myself and learn to escape, so I burden fewer people and never create such a situation in the first place.
That was truly a magnificent dance!
I never knew the Princess danced so beautifully!
Whee—even somewhat frivolous whistles came from various corners. I smiled at everyone and waved in return.
“So, does this mean the relationship between the Princess and myself becomes… clean?”
Raymond’s voice dropped to something nearly inaudible. He sounded despairing, furious, resigned—all at once.
Or perhaps he looked as though he wanted to undo everything. I summoned brightness into my voice.
“I’m not saying we should sever our connection. I’m saying we maintain a healthy, wholesome relationship going forward.”
“…But Your Highness is my fiancée. Is that truly possible?”
“Your words only give me another reason to break the engagement, don’t they? People will surely argue that pure friendship is impossible between an engaged man and woman.”
“……I fear the feelings I hold for you might be nothing but guilt and…….”
“So you should have declared it back then: ‘Even if I died and came back a thousand times, I would never care for you,’ to Princess Titania. That would have been clean. Because you couldn’t say it, you let this grow into such a mess. And because you still can’t, things between us have become so… sordid. So this time, I’m saying it for you.”
I extended my hand to Raymond.
“A handshake. Not a kiss on the knuckles.”
“…….”
Raymond regarded me as though I were something strange, a smile on my lips, and then quietly placed his hand in mine and shook it. From the thick knuckles of his hand came the faint fragrance of flowers that hadn’t quite faded. Oddly enough, that floral scent carried me back to that flower-strewn moment, and I thought: I must live more earnestly.
Rolling along like bitterness—let’s finally put such feelings to rest. Let’s truly release the sorrowful, foolish, angry young Titania she was. If I can understand the young Titania, then surely I can understand anyone else. The man, wreathed in the fragrance of Purple Flower Petals—comfort or lingering attachment, who could say—spoke slowly. Less like words than like poison being expelled: his voice was raw, devastated.
“……If that is what you wish, Your Highness, I will endeavor to do so.”
“Thank you.”
A pure, heartfelt smile crossed my face, and someone approached.
“That was truly a magnificent dance.”
The smile on her face was beautiful, her dress impeccable. She was a noblewoman of suitable years—at first glance, she seemed to have come simply to offer genuine praise. But…….
“Was it?”
She was one of those who had swallowed the bait Valentina had cast.

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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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