Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 187

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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 187

The Duke regarded me in silence for a long moment.
I simply smiled at him.
“……I’m aware that the jewel vault within the Imperial Palace is hollow as an empty shell, worth nothing more than broken glass.”
A subtle, unreadable air settled around the aging Duke’s lips.
“What gives you the nerve to bluff with me?”
“If you truly disapproved of me, you wouldn’t have let me in at all, would you?”
Valentina, the former Imperial Princess, Lady Armerin—my great-grandmother. My gambit in reaching out to her had been half a wager, and this conclusion was much the same.
Even if I pooled every memory and life experience from both my past and present, I could never match their years and wisdom. I wouldn’t dare try. To think I could sway people like them was pure arrogance.
Yet I could not bow and scrape, begging for mercy at their feet.
I had work to do, and I would not sell myself so cheaply. In the end, if what was needed was acknowledgment, well.
“You have sons and daughters more precious than all the gold and jewels in the world. I’ve watched you allow them to favor me, to shield me, to hand me treasures beyond price and protect me. And in the end, you permitted me to come to this far northern land.”
In the Southern Region, Brian had succeeded in his scheming. But the Northern Region offered no such opportunity for mischief.
Even an imperial prince, if caught doing something foolish here, would—well. Could he return alive to the Imperial Palace?
Cleo never intended to send Brian to the north in the first place.
Realistically, not even the Castrain Family would be mad enough to simply execute a member of the imperial bloodline, but if the Dedication Ceremony went awry, detaining an imperial prince became entirely possible.
“You’ve stationed people at my side. You’ve heard reports from those I hold dear. It was after weighing all of this that you allowed my presence, wasn’t it? Even if I were fragile enough to be killed on a whim, you wouldn’t treat a guest you’d invited by name as nothing but a potential enemy. Surely not.”
If I truly were so suspicious that you’d rather trust me with nothing, you never would have brought me here in the first place.
This was merely a small test, nothing more.
“……Perhaps I’ll even come to sympathize with one of the complaints my father once voiced about the great Duke of Castrain himself. Isn’t it a petty business for a man of your stature?”
I made my displeasure obvious, letting my face cloud over. One of the knights at the Duke’s side flinched. The Duke turned to fix that knight with a gaze colder than ice itself.
“My apologies. These men are being retrained after so long, and their blood still runs hot.”
“A servant’s actions are said to reflect the master’s will. Do you offer apologies you don’t mean?”
“You have some wit about you.”
The Duke let out a soft laugh, barely more than a breath. The heavy atmosphere lifted noticeably.
“You didn’t come all this way without thought, it seems.”
Yet his eyes still held the gleam of a mountain tiger.
“I don’t believe in kindness without reason.”
“…….”
“Nor do I believe in conviction without cause. And your behavior—raised alone in the Imperial Palace, with no proper guide—makes even less sense.”
It’s hard for a child to grow up properly on their own. Especially in a place like the Imperial Palace, where there are no righteous adults to guide them.
Yet the Duke could not have failed to notice Bibi’s peculiar words and deeds.
He might not have deduced that Bibi was a Returner, living her second life at maximum level, but he would have sensed that something was amiss. Still, he’d held his tongue.
Perhaps because Bibi was precious to him, he couldn’t abide someone else showing inexplicable changes at her side. Or perhaps he meant to extract my secret now. I couldn’t be certain.
“That doesn’t mean you can deny the good I’ve done, does it?”
The Duke couldn’t simply reject me for being “suspicious.” He couldn’t treat everything I’d accomplished as wickedness.
“Realistically, you’re in desperate need of a direct imperial heir who can help without hindering the Dedication Ceremony. And since problems have already arisen in the Southern Region, you cannot afford them in the north as well.”
If I’m being crude about it, this is gamesmanship.
“So you ought to treat me as an honored guest.”
“After creating this crisis?”
“I trust the true master of the Castrain Family won’t be undone by a situation like this.”
The Magic Beast hadn’t been particularly dangerous, and it had been neutralized at the right moment. Because of that, the Divine Beast had been able to see its offspring before death took it.
I couldn’t imagine that Orto himself would be moved by something so trivial. So this must have been about testing me. Entirely.
The Duke’s gaze grew heavy—looking at me and yet, somehow, looking past me at something else entirely.
We’d said enough empty words. I’d been brazen enough that he wouldn’t dismiss me as a mere child with nothing to offer. Jemina was trembling faintly beneath the cloth. We needed to get inside.
I spoke with sincerity threaded through.
“I don’t expect grand treatment.”
“…….”
“A cold room in this weather would freeze us to death, so that’s impossible—but a warm enough room will suffice. Simple food and clothes to wear and cover with are all I need. I am not an enemy of the Castrain Family, and I will complete the Dedication Ceremony before I leave. I cannot promise I’ll cause no trouble, but……I can say this much: my intentions are entirely opposite to what Cleo and Brian desire.”
“No grand treatment? You, who’ve been raised in luxury your entire life in the Imperial Palace?”
“That pampered princess has nearly died countless times, hasn’t she?”
This man is the regent of the north.
The true master.
A hero who protected this harsh land that even the Emperor had abandoned—nearly. In the original story, the Internal Conflicts and all manner of catastrophes erupted only after this man’s death.
Raymond was strong enough, but he couldn’t compare to the Duke, whose strength was seasoned by years and wisdom.
“Doubt me if you like, test me if you like, belittle me as worthless if you like—but my existence, my abilities, and my actions will benefit the north rather than harm it. If you continue to deny this despite knowing it, I can only lament that even the great Duke has grown too old for such thinking.”
“You’ve turned out to be quite the article.”
The Duke offered brief admiration. A short laugh followed—equally restrained.
“You there.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Duke’s aide bowed at his side.
“The cold will only worsen soon. Take my troublesome sons to the castle with you, and bring the guests’ party as well. I won’t have outsiders arriving in the north only to spend it coughing and wheezing.”
“……Yes, sir.”
Thud, thud. The Duke stepped toward me. He stood a head taller—no, three heads taller. Before this man, who had the presence of a mountain more than a person, I saw his brow furrow slightly.
“Curious thing.”
“……Pardon?”
“Not a single drop of shared blood, yet.”
“…….”
This time I could only tilt my head, utterly confused. Lisianthus, whose face had gone pale, and Raymond, who looked ready at any moment to step in front of me, both drew close to my sides.
Seeing this, the Duke let out a full-throated laugh.
“No need for such concern now. I’ve had my spite, and I’ve seen what I needed to see.”
“……Father.”
“You needn’t report on this matter to me again, Raymond.”
The Duke spoke plainly and gestured for us to depart. His men moved with practiced efficiency. I found myself wrapped in a Fur Cloak and seated beside Raymond on what turned out to be a Sleigh. The two magic-depleted mages among us—barely holding up in this cold—were loaded onto the backs of Lisianthus and the Duke’s aide, who shook their heads in disapproval at the weight.

* * *

“Children change by the day, or so they say……but this is like watching a flower pot where both soil and seed have been replaced entirely.”
The Duke muttered these words to no one, as if speaking only to himself. Those strange green eyes—reckless, unflinching—didn’t avoid his gaze.
Since proving everything was impossible anyway, let him doubt if he wished. But I would not change my actions. My whole body seemed to declare this intention.

‘I don’t expect grand treatment.’

Yes. A seedling of conviction far too difficult to sprout naturally in the Imperial Palace.
The Duke recalled his first meeting with someone who would later turn to dust, leaving not even bone upon this earth. His wife. A woman elevated to the rank of marriage candidate for bloodline alone.
‘Suspicious, you say? Yes, quite so. But tell me—if you’d gather bloodline that might not even manifest, to approach such a suspect person on first meeting and speak not of marriage but of heirs……isn’t that the far more laughable business?’
Those reckless eyes. In his younger days, facing the far more arrogant and twisted Orto of old, she had merely scoffed at him. That quality had struck him as absurd then, too.
‘If the honored Duke finds himself treated like a stud, how must I feel? You’re getting the better end of the bargain, comparatively. Yet even if the day comes when I despise this with all my being, I must find a way to live, mustn’t I?’
‘…….’
‘You needn’t make me your sincerity. Duty is enough. As it is for me. I ask not for grand treatment. Doubt me, test me, curse me if you wish—but let me do what must be done.’

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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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