Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 136

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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 136

“…But I’m the Crown Princess, and my fiancé is Raymond. For me to stand before my betrothed and openly ask whether you’re really trying to torment my friend—who was his Debutante partner in the past—would be terribly reckless. If word of this conversation reached others, they’d seize on it as perfect fuel for gossip, and my reputation would suffer……. Hmm. If Raymond were only slightly kinder to Jun in front of me and coldly distant to me, the rumors about me in high society would become quite convincing, wouldn’t they?”
I spoke with wide, round eyes as if I found the idea amusing.
“…Please spare me such awkward jests, Your Highness.”
Raymond spoke with the expression of someone barely restraining a sigh. Merybell looked ready to faint.
“I don’t blame Jun for what happened in the past. Do you?”
“……How could I possibly harbor resentment toward Your Highness the Crown Princess?”
“But since your mood is sour and you don’t know what you might do to Merybell, you rushed over here. Don’t worry. I know better than anyone how poor my reputation was in the past. But now that I’ve made my debut, I can judge people by what I see rather than by rumor. ”
So, that settles it for now! Whether it’s Merybell or Marybell, I’m not taking revenge and I haven’t developed any ill will, so rest easy—I need to slip away from this target-rich environment!
With Jun, Raymond, me, and Jun’s friend all tangled up in one place, I began to feel the weight of other people’s stares.
“So let’s call it here. I’m going to get some fresh air.”
Merybell and Jun made no move to stop me. I spotted people making their way toward me from a distance, so I quickened my pace toward the Terrace that Raymond had mentioned earlier. Before he could follow, I shut the door firmly behind me and looked out at the balcony…….
“Who goes there?”
It was Mercury, lounging with a pipe pressed between his lips, his tone rather unruly.
He seemed unbothered by the cold, his jacket cast aside to reveal a loose white silk shirt, his upper body exposed to the open air. His white hair, unkempt from the breeze, scattered freely in the wind. I smiled brightly at the sight of his unfamiliar amethyst eyes.
“This is quite the first introduction, isn’t it, Mercury?”
“…Ah, yes, Your Highness the Crown Princess. Since you’re making your debut today, you seem inexperienced in the etiquette of high society. When the terrace door is closed and the lights are on, it means someone is using it. And should word spread that an unmarried man and woman are alone together—well, it would be called a scandal that could ruin your future entirely. So, if you would be so kind, Your Highness, to stop blocking my busy path ahead. If you could laugh good-naturedly as if you’d wandered in by mistake and close the door properly behind you as you leave, I’d appreciate it.”
Wow, every word dripped with annoyance and disdain. The fact that he could project such an attitude even toward royalty was certainly… impressive.
“Haha. Even if Mercury and I did something untoward today, an annulment would be difficult, wouldn’t it? Because ‘for now,’ it’s not the right time to publicly declare that relations between the Imperial Family and the Castrain Family have been severed?”
“…Are you joking about that?”
The man set down the pipe from his lips with a reluctant expression. It was an ornately patterned pipe of considerable age, the kind that Valentina, the former Crown Princess, had once used.
“I’m quite serious. And I didn’t come looking for you without understanding the risk involved.”
“Ah…. I see……. Is it possible you came to thank me because I took your side in that dress dispute with the Countess Gordian earlier? Or are you here to commission a new dress? Since you’re debuting today, you may not know, but I rarely accept personal visits. I don’t accept gifts. I don’t accept commissions…….”
“Ah yes, your reputation truly precedes you. I’ve certainly heard the rumors about your magical craftsmanship with clothes. But what I came to discuss today is——”
I smiled and lifted my skirt hem.
“W-Your Highness?! Regardless of your tastes, I’m an adult and you’re a minor, and I refuse to take responsibility for royalty……!”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. Just look at this.”
“……Huh?”
The man, who had gasped and covered his eyes, cautiously lowered his hands from his face. He stared at me blankly.
Whoosh!
Light flashed, wind rushed. The Emoticon Sword I drew gleamed with a mysterious, shimmering radiance.
—Tada! I’m a sword that’s cool and beautiful and classy and adorable and cheeky and basically perfect! Praise me, human!(ง ᵕᴗᵕ)ว
“…What is that?”
“Well, it’s a magical sword that seeks out comrades……. No, wait, actually——”
“Is that the legendary magic sword? You’re showing it off to me? My goodness. I suppose someone like Your Highness might do such a thing. ‘I possess something this rare and magnificent, so craft clothes worthy of it,’ is that it……?”
Ignoring the man as he went on in that bitter tone, I continued.
“I am a Contractor of Beloborg, the God of Light, and I wield the Power of Light. I can also purify those corrupted by Chernobog’s Corruption. I have a calling to gather Awakened Ones bearing all manner of divine power and make them my comrades. Wow, when I say it all out loud like this, it really does sound like something out of a novel!”
As I spoke without hesitation, the man suddenly looked flustered. As if in disbelief, he alternated his gaze between me and the sword, letting out a brief, stunned exhale.
“What, that, all of a sudden…….”
“It’s not sudden. Magic and divine power use different methods, I’m told, but mages don’t depend on imperial bloodlines—they develop independently and have continuously preserved their own history. Especially a Mage Tower Master? So you can’t possibly not understand what I’m saying.”
“Excuse me?”
“Mages are terribly self-centered, never stay in one place long, and rarely follow human society’s rules. But they’re absolutely devoted to the masters who taught them magic and the disciples who will succeed them. And the rules of the Mage Tower are absolute. Even so, there’s one who’s particularly peculiar—someone who said ‘I love art! I love clothes! I’m abandoning the Mage Tower to find myself rather than pursue magic!’—a former Mage Tower Master, nicknamed the Crazy Chihuahua. His real name is Pan Morkosius Arnile.”
“…….”
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
The man froze. I smiled at him warmly.
“Help me out, would you? In the name of imperial peace—or rather, world peace?”

* * *

After receiving a Barrier Fragment implant at the Dedication Ceremony, I practiced wielding the Power of Wind skillfully and studied the Power of Light diligently. The more adept I became at controlling these powers, the fainter the presence of the Barrier Fragment became. The consciousness—that of Podaga—who had given me the fragment had faded away, but occasionally fragmented dreamlike scenes would flicker past.
Very brief, disconnected moments that, without context, seemed like meaningless dreams.
—Ah, damn it. This place is destroyed too…….
Temporally, around the time when someone presumed to be Brian had poured Chernobog’s Corruption into it and the Barrier could no longer be properly maintained. A voice emerged from beneath a deeply cowled robe, speaking in muffled, sullen tones, slipping past the Priests’ eyes to the Dedication Ceremony. White hair, salt-and-pepper, protruding from beneath the robe. An unruly manner of speech.
—Is there anything left at all? Where am I supposed to find material to blackmail that senile Kosheay bastard with? Damned. Is this another dead end……. No, why should I even care about this in the first place? I’m a mage, not a servant of God!
A man who seemed deeply unsatisfied with life.
—Ugh, ptooey. It’s so filthy and contemptible I can’t stand it. Let it all burn or crumble for all I care!
A man who seemed overwhelmingly, profoundly dissatisfied with life.
Even in a world where hair of every color flourished, white hair was rare.
When I gathered information from high society, heard alarms from the sword saying “Gather comrades!”, collected information about the wider world, and cross-referenced it all, the conclusion came together quite plausibly.
I was able to obtain quality information through the Hecate’s Tavern and Flux, which helped. I also made use of such original source material as I could recall.
In conclusion, among those eccentric mages famous for refusing to mingle with humanity the more powerful they became—one particularly skilled former Mage Tower Master. Pan had assumed a false noble identity and passed himself off as a genius designer, infiltrating the imperial high society. This was no recent development. It had been at least five years.
Through mysterious materials and textures of unknown purpose, bold descriptive techniques, he had garnered universal admiration, and a once rather unremarkable lower noble house had risen to prominence.
Wearing clothes he created guaranteed one’s status as an object of high society’s envy, but true to his reputation for genius, he was fiercely demanding and temperamental. Placing an order was like plucking stars from the sky.
So no one, despite his strikingly eccentric appearance and behavior, suspected him of being the runaway former Mage Tower Master and great mage who had caused a scandal in the Tower. Even if white hair was uncommon, people assumed he was just stylishly experimental working in fashion—surely not that person. Besides, ordinary people knew little about mages anyway.
The man crumpled his face in distress and cried out.
“……Damn it, how did you find out?”
“You’re in debt.”
“What?”
“In the underworld, they did a background check on you. Even geniuses can be a problem if they can’t handle payment and leave people shortchanged, so they poked around to see if there was anything to collect from your family or elsewhere…….”
“You investigated me through the underworld?!”
“Haha, well, even if they didn’t get much solid intel, when you cross-reference it with other information from different angles, it becomes clear that this gentleman has done some rather peculiar and eccentric things elsewhere before coming here…….”
In any system, debtors have no privacy. It seemed to be the same here.

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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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