Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 173

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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 173

Since he was hiding his royal status and sneaking out to work as a mercenary, he’d naturally come to prefer jobs that were dangerous but finished quickly over those that were safe but dragged on forever.
There was that time when he’d protested to some thug in a back alley who’d tried to shortchange him, and the fool had spouted off about having a very grand nobleman backing him—”What do you think you’re doing, you nobody?” That was when it had happened.
Though honestly, he’d just found it absurd at the time.
If that idiot had a noble backer, then he had a royal bloodline in hiding—what kind of lunacy was that?
It was around then, caught up in some street brawl or other, that he’d been wounded by the blade a few times unfairly enough.
No, wait. No, no, no.
Those things hadn’t really made him sad.
Take the time, for instance, when he was seven and presented a copy of the Imperial Chronicles he’d painstakingly written out by hand as a birthday gift for the Emperor.
He’d written it as a flattering gift, suggesting that since the Emperor stood above all people, he was no different from a hero to the populace.
Yet His Majesty had taken offense to it, as though it were a gift the Empress and her own son had sent to criticize him.
Meanwhile, he’d lovingly traced the Emperor’s name carved clumsily with a knife onto a wooden dagger handle that Brian had supposedly carved himself with his own clumsy hands, delighted each time.
He’d copied an entire book neatly, practiced over and over to write the Emperor’s name elegantly on the first page.
Yet when Brian whined about having carved the dagger himself and got a splinter in his fingertip, the Emperor had been so moved, personally soothing Brian’s hand.
As for Adrian’s swollen hands, he hadn’t spared them a second glance.
He’d clicked his tongue in displeasure as if affronted, saying it was an unendearing thing to do.
‘You and your mother really are cursed with bad luck.’
Raised in the most exalted of positions, yet what could possibly trouble him so deeply that he’d regard his own son with such displeasure?
‘It’s because I am such a displeasing figure to His Majesty the Emperor that the Crown Prince Adrian suffers. It’s all my fault.’
When he’d shut himself away in his room, hurt from having his birthday gift rejected, his grandfather had come looking for him, tears rolling down his wrinkled face, yet he hadn’t once lowered his voice even to his own grandson.
And when he saw Titania, her tiny frame working so hard just to carve out some kind of life for herself, he couldn’t possibly lament over something so trivial.
Well, it was easy enough.
In fact, today his luck had been rather good.
No matter that Adrian was Adrian, he hadn’t carelessly charged into the forest without a final contingency, but still he’d preferred that the situation resolve itself at a reasonable point.
So Adrian, having been pulled from the water and saved by his benefactor who’d even recovered his belongings, cried out in a voice swelling with emotion.
“Oh, Brother! You came to rescue me!”
“…….”
Brian’s expression twisted at words he’d never imagined hearing.
The men behind Brian exchanged glances heavy with meaning.
‘Were we… here to rescue Crown Prince Adrian?’
‘Surely not?’
‘Since when?’
‘Just now?’
The hunt was a very public affair.
In particular, the men who had stayed at Brian’s side until now were half hangers-on only looking to scrape together scraps, and half emissaries sent by others who might back the future Emperor early—just in case.
Beyond that, there were a few low-quality men stationed by Cleo to deal with and conceal any trouble that might arise.
No matter how much ‘Brian’ and Lilium could communicate with and command certain Magic Beasts, openly using them before so many eyes would be catastrophic.
Though he had planted seeds and brainwashed some humans, he couldn’t recklessly expand that number, so aside from a few operatives, the rest were ordinary people.
So Brian had no choice but to stay silent—he couldn’t possibly say openly that this was all nonsense and he’d come to kill him.
For the first time since ‘Brian’ had awakened in this human body, he was experiencing genuine fury and a burning sensation at the back of his neck.
Once Brian confirmed that something had gone wrong, he’d intended simply to avoid the eyes of others, kill Adrian, and return. He’d ridden off quickly, leaving his men behind.
That plan might have succeeded.
If only Adrian hadn’t screamed with a voice so piercing—like he’d swallowed a train whistle—loud enough to shake the whole forest.
‘Help me, somebody! There’s a prince here, save me, there’s a crazed man-eating bear! Oh no, I came to hunt and ended up being hunted! Everybody, please help kill the bear!’
Piercing and shrill, he cried out as shamelessly as if he’d abandoned all dignity of his station.
Brian had cleared the entire area beforehand to position his assassins, yet someone with keen hearing—’What was that sound?’—noticed and looked in their direction.
By a miracle of probability, a young knight managed to escape the forest and call for rescue, and soon the rescue team arrived near Adrian’s location.
There were many eyes watching.
Using a Magically Transformed beast—Brian was momentarily so furious he actually considered bringing the bear—he could attack Adrian even in front of everyone, but with so many witnesses present and Adrian crying and wailing for help… Brian had to play the protector. That was the victor’s mercy, after all.
Facing the madman before him who claimed ‘I survived thanks to you, Brother’ when he himself was the would-be murderer standing right there, Brian found himself at a loss for words.
“You truly are remarkable, Brother! I’d lost all my weapons! My legs were frozen! My one man went to call for help and I heard nothing back! I thought I was going to die right there!”
“……Why were you hanging from a tree branch?”
“That bear was absolutely terrifying! The people who came after hearing my screams were killed so brutally! I trembled up there, waiting for the beast to leave!”
The bodies scattered beneath the tree were not innocent victims killed by the bear, but assassins Brian had personally sent. He couldn’t show it, though.
“Come down. You’re safe now.”
“Ah, I truly owe my life to you coming, Brother!”
“……So where is this bear now?”
“It heard you and the rescue party approaching from far off and disappeared that way!”
Both Brian and Adrian knew there was no bear. Yet neither could say there was no such creature. If there was no bear, why were Adrian and the knight who’d been with him in such a state seeking help?
What about the people lying dead below?
Even if Adrian had gone mad and killed them himself, it made no sense to commit murder and then scream for rescue.
At a hunting competition where everyone was meant to demonstrate their Hunting Skill, for the Emperor’s legitimate heir to call out for help to his brother was itself an admission of defeat.
So Brian could no longer press Adrian further.
Brian glanced at the eyes of the people gathered around and spoke.
“……You must have… really… endured a lot.”
“Yes!”
Adrian descended from the tree with practiced ease.
He looked less like a person than a squirrel.
“Your Highness!”
“Thank goodness you’re unharmed.”
“Crown Prince Brian managed to rescue Crown Prince Adrian—what fortune!”
People who’d arrived belatedly began exchanging remarks. Brian, out of courtesy, asked one.
“Still, it doesn’t seem like you’re badly injured. Would you want to continue the hunt?”
All eyes turned to Adrian. The state he’d been in, calling pitifully for rescue from high in the tree, was a mess, yet it didn’t appear he was grievously hurt.
His hair looked like a bird’s nest, and the carefully groomed clothes he’d worn were now rags. But there was no blood. So, if he really wanted to, it wasn’t impossible for him to rejoin the others and resume hunting.
Before all those watching eyes, Adrian rubbed his forearm theatrically.
“Ow, ow. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. That damned bear shook the tree so hard trying to knock me down, and I barely managed to hold on—my muscles are killing me.”
“…….”
“Thanks to my noble brother, I’ve managed to keep my life through sheer fortune. But who can say such luck will continue, so I think I’ll simply stay in camp and cheer for my brother instead.”
Moved by Adrian’s pathetic state, the people who’d come to rescue him added various sympathetic remarks.
“You’ve had quite an ordeal, Crown Prince Adrian. But are there normally bears in this forest?”
“Hard to say. Large animals like that tend to roam around following their prey.”
“Hmm… we should warn the others then. If there are more victims besides Crown Prince Adrian, that would be troublesome.”
So Brian could only say “Yes, well” as he parted ways with Adrian, who was departing with the others, saying “I’ve caused trouble, so no need to see me off—please show us something magnificent instead.”
“Unlike me, Brother, you can easily dispatch any beast that appears—a bear or a lion, anything! I’ll be rooting for you!”
Next time, he’d use a real bear and a real lion, if that’s what it took to silence that mouth of his. So ‘Brian’ swore to himself.

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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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