Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 19

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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 19

“What did I eat to bring this on? They say doing something you never do is a sign of death, but have I actually died? No, that doesn’t seem right either? For some strange reason, she looks beautiful?”
Lisianthus struck his own cheek. The slap rang out sharp and clear.
“No, damn it, even if there were no women around, that’s still completely wrong. I think I’m the one who’s lost my mind. Brother, would you hit me just once?”
“It seems like you’re the one who ate something wrong, Lisianthus.”
“But you saw that crazy woman first! You heard all about the deal and Gloriana’s curtains and whatnot, and you went pale and summoned the Duke right away, so why won’t you sympathize with me! I’m telling you, this isn’t something we can just brush past!”
“If you keep interrupting me like this, I won’t be able to finish my business today, and then I won’t be able to accompany Bibi to the Imperial Palace tomorrow, which will throw off the entire schedule. Keep it reasonable…”
“What? You really mean to take Bibi to the Imperial Palace tomorrow?”
“It’s a decision Father made. There’s nothing we can’t do. Besides, she only asks for something when she has good reason.”
“True enough. Our Bibi is sharp as a tack!”
Lisianthus’s mood lifted instantly, and he broke into a grin.
Bibi, who had formally become their family’s daughter, was truly a treasure of the Castrain household.
She had given them the opportunity to root out the presumptuous vermin who dared to traffic in the household’s blood relatives and buy and sell their people.
She approached the Castrain Duke—whom everyone feared—without hesitation, smiled at him, sent him handwritten letters, and offered him Flower Tea she had picked with her delicate fingers to help him rest easily, and that tea proved remarkably effective in soothing the chronic pain of the Duke’s old wounds that had been gradually worsening. And she did not fail to expose the Head Maid, who had been squeezing money and valuables from the servants for their minor infractions, exploiting the strict discipline of the stern Castrain household.
She had even exposed the Head Maid’s conduct without fail.
She had even voluntarily drawn Rasper out from the library, where he had spent every day alone, buried in books.
Most precious of all was that Bibi cherished everyone with genuine sincerity.
She never dismissed even the smallest kindness and returned it with honesty, wishing everyone happiness.
Because that sincerity was felt, the members of the Ducal House—who had been dismissed as heartless villains by outsiders—melted like wax in the presence of this young lady.
The Ducal House valued efficiency ruthlessly.
The three brothers of the Ducal House had no affection, no warmth. Even though they were not yet of age, all their words and actions were already more mature than most adults.
The Duke himself was not a warm father. Even servants who had worked in the household for long years could not speak to him carelessly because of the pressure he exuded.
It had been a long time since the Duchess gave birth to Rasper and passed away, but the Duke had never sought to fill that void with anyone.
The Butler and the Head Maid had tried in various ways to fill that void, but gaps inevitably remained.
The very fact that the Head Maid had engaged in such absurd misconduct and taken money now was ultimately because there was no one above to oversee and manage the household’s inner workings, was it not?
In the Ducal House, a cold wind blew through everything. Perhaps because there was much work to bear, or because all members were diligent workaholics in their own ways.
There was no childlike child. The servants were intimidated from the start and dared not act familiarly toward their superiors.
Yet suddenly, as though a cute little princess rabbit had bounced straight out of a fairy tale, this young girl rolled into the Ducal House as the youngest daughter.
The servants were ecstatic.
So cute! Everything she does is cute, the way she speaks is cute, everything about her is just lovable!
Living in this desolate Ducal House all this time, and now she throws dessert parties! She brings tailors and merchants laden with lace and silk fabric. The Terrace becomes a flower path!
Spring has finally come to this desolate Ducal House!
“…Would Rasper have been that cute if she were a girl?”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“Bibi is cute because she’s Bibi. Right. So, will you see that crazy woman’s face tomorrow?”
“Refrain from using derogatory terms and address the person by their name, Lisianthus. And no matter how much it is the Imperial Palace, the Young Duke of Castrain visiting briefly cannot have every name on the escort list examined by the First Royal Guard.”
“So you’re saying you’ll go and come back without letting Bibi’s identity be revealed. Then of course you won’t see her face.”
Why are you so concerned about Princess Titania?
Raymond stopped the question just before it tumbled from his lips unbidden.
He had already received a report on what Lisianthus and the Princess had done together.
On what the Princess had requested as well.
Princess Titania had already shed her previous image…
She had changed so much that a judgment must be withheld as to whether she was a potential ally or enemy of the Castrain Ducal House.
It was understandable that Lisianthus, who had faced her directly, was curious. In truth, Raymond was as well.
‘I need one loyal knight and one maid.’
…That face would not fade from memory.
‘Those who can kill or save people.’
That face, smiling brightly yet as though it would shatter like broken porcelain and vanish at any moment.
Those eyes that shone with a piercing loneliness, as if she stood alone in this world.
It was strange. Like a blade lodged in a wound that could not be withdrawn, festering in place, an indescribable emotion welled up like pus whenever his thoughts drifted in that direction.
He must not trust her completely.
He must not abandon the thought that even this was a stratagem.
Therefore, Titania remained poison to Raymond.
That was what he believed.

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Entering the Empress Palace for the first time, everything felt strange. As I kept my mouth shut, the other person spoke carefully.
“I’m not particularly knowledgeable about tea. I just asked them to bring something suitable.”
Sure enough, a Milk Tea heavily mixed with milk and sugar arrived, considerate of a child’s palate.
I observed the person who had brought me to his own palace from the corner of my eye.
He must have known that the Empress Cleo’s people were stationed all over my palace, so he had brought me here to speak away from the Empress’s eyes.
The side profile pushing the large cup brimming with Milk Tea toward me was like a sculpture.
Long sweeping lashes, eyes like fresh shoots of pale green touched with melancholy, and perfectly carved features.
Really, looking at just his face, he was a strikingly handsome prince.
In a way, even he was born grasping a golden cord, yet his fate is twisted.
Adrian Del Lace Hamastion.
Born exactly one year after Brian Del Ladil Hamastion, son of the Empress.
For a stable succession of the heir, it would have been better not to visit the concubines until the Empress bore a firstborn son.
But the Emperor got along terribly with the current Empress. The reason was simple.
The Emperor was the only son of the Previous Emperor, spoiled and indulged from childhood, and he could rarely tolerate anyone superior to himself.
Most people appeased the Emperor’s moods, so it was not much of a problem (indeed, if everyone merely acted like they would die for him, the Emperor deigned to feign generosity), but
the problem was that those who had no particular need to ‘grovel’ to the Emperor happened to be precisely those who triggered his inferiority complex most acutely.
Like the Castrain Duke, or the Empress.
The Empress was the firstborn daughter of the Integreia Marquis Household, a noble house ranking alongside Imperial history itself, steadfast since the empire’s founding.
The Integreia Marquis Household, famous for its stern family tradition, had educated its firstborn daughter splendidly, so faultlessly that the Imperial Family could find no flaw.
Once she was appointed Empress with full confidence, she felt no need to appease the Emperor’s petty behavior.
The Emperor was annoyed by such an Empress. Yet she was the Empress, after all.
No matter how much of an Emperor he was, he could not simply oppress her under the pretext that she would not grovel before him.
So, when the illegitimate Empress Cleo smoothed the Emperor’s ego in her gentle way, he began to openly favor her instead, determined to crush the Empress’s spirit entirely.
So much so that he even saw his firstborn son through her.
Had he been weak in his sense of legitimacy or experienced conflict among blood relatives before, he might not have committed such irresponsible acts.
Ironically, the Emperor was the only son of the Previous Emperor, who had been the sole heir.
An heir? My chosen son is enough for me. What does the mother’s status matter so much?
That was the Emperor’s true heart. A truly arrogant and irresponsible thought.
Moreover, he subtly disparaged the Empress and her son, and openly favored Prince Brian and Empress Cleo.
Though not yet of full age, it was obvious that in a few years this would become the spark of conflict over the throne.

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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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