Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 191

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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 191

The Castrain Ducal House and its territories were in a frenzy preparing for the Dedication Ceremony in the height of summer.
While officially I had little more to do than the Southern Region, unofficially my hands were quite full. In the midst of that chaos, the item I’d commissioned from Rasper was finally complete.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary piece of jewelry—a golden cord interwoven with various gems. Generous enough in length to wear as a bracelet, necklace, or sash, it showed considerable craftsmanship.
I couldn’t help but admire it when I saw the finished piece.
Rasper, catching sight of my admiring gaze, spoke with evident embarrassment.
“However, this is my first time making something like this… I’m not certain it will work as effectively as you hoped.”
At Rasper’s side, Pan offered a supplementary explanation with characteristic bluntness. It was a dynamic we’d grown quite accustomed to.
“The very conditions Your Highness requested were unreasonable to begin with, sir. A tool capable of channeling all divine power…”
Right, well, it wasn’t like some Infinity Stone or anything. Even if I wore it, I couldn’t snap my fingers and wipe out half the world like some cosmic doomsday weapon. Still, the image was rather close to that…
I rolled up my long sleeves and wound the ornament tightly around the inside of my forearm.
My original plan had been to perform the Master Ceremony before the Dedication Ceremony.
But the plan had changed somewhat. Originally, I’d been content with merely mimicking power, nothing more. But once I began wielding Earth Manipulation, and Pan and Rasper obtained divine beast byproducts and the like, they revised their strategy.
Something about how Rasper himself could use Water Manipulation, and with Earth Manipulation added to the mix, the stability would supposedly increase.
An emoticon sword was thrashing about wildly, insisting: ‘Right now, the Contractor is thinking of passing through a volcanic region where lava is roaring hot without bringing any firefighters at all, wearing nothing but hastily-constructed protective gear?! If that’s the case, that gear needs to be far better, doesn’t it?!’
So I just… agreed.
They said they didn’t know how long performing the problematic Master Ceremony would take, and we couldn’t have a situation where on the day of the Dedication Ceremony someone cried, “Your Highness won’t wake up!” and I panicked…
Both Pan and Rasper had a general sense of what I’d be doing tomorrow, but they still made a point of cautioning me to be careful, just in case.
I simply laughed it off and told them not to worry, getting the situation straightened out.
And then I greeted the next visitor.
“Will you be heading back to the Capital immediately after the Dedication Ceremony ends?”
“We haven’t even begun yet—is this place not to your liking?”
“…
Flux fell silent for a moment. There was an oddly dissatisfied air about him.
This was home, and the Castrain Family members were extraordinarily busy with Dedication Ceremony preparations. Except for Pan and Rasper, who’d become involved in my affairs, Flux was decidedly out of place.
He’d had private audiences with the Castrain Duke and concluded a formal cooperation agreement with the Family itself, so his coming down personally held its own weight.
If I was being honest, I felt a nagging sense of guilt about having asked for Flux’s help—whether to bring Pan or to source materials—without managing to repay him adequately. But hadn’t I healed his body, forgiven him for trying to kidnap me in the night, and even cleaned up the mess afterward? Shouldn’t I stop worrying about it?
—Wow, Contractor, is this what they call a bad woman? (° ͜ʖ °)
‘No, no, it’s not like he came down here solely because of me… there were business and commercial reasons with substantial weight too, right? And I did ask for his help and then neglected to follow up, so it’s not like I’m completely off the hook morally… but doesn’t it work out somehow anyway…?’
The current Count Cortez had become entirely our ally after Flux recovered. He’d become like a tree giving freely of all his connections and information, unreservedly. Yet sometimes it felt uncomfortable. Was it right to accept so much…? Well, the other side is a villain and I’m using this for good, so shouldn’t it be fine…?
“Upon hearing of Your Highness’s debutante, I was somewhat disappointed.”
“Is that so?”
“I understand that you made that choice for various political reasons. I knew Your Highness would never choose a chaperone so carelessly as to rely purely on personal whim. And you’re not a woman who acts merely for your own luxury, honor, or social prominence… Your Highness is not like that.”
“Ah, you’re too kind.”
As I broke into a smile, Flux briefly looked away. It was an unconscious gesture—like when light suddenly blazes in a dark room and your eyes reflexively turn away from the glare.
“I could have sent you clothes so rare and beautiful that no one else dared speak of them. For instance, even clothes by the genius designer Mercury, which even Cleo the Empress herself has never received a single proper piece of.”
I nearly coughed at the sudden comment.
No, no. They couldn’t have been purchased even with money, could they? Couldn’t have commissioned them either. Mercury was actually a mage, after all, and I’d scouted her with money. She was a typical genius type—she only designed when inspiration struck…
“Whether clothing or flowers or jewels, or people to attend upon you—I could have provided for every lack. But having to hear of Your Highness’s affairs only from afar was terribly difficult. I wanted to be closer to Her Highness, to…”
“We had quite the hardships in the Southern Region, didn’t we? And that day at the Night Market was truly beautiful.”
“…my gratitude to… Pardon?”
“The debutante day, dressing in more precious jewels and clothes mattered less to me than simply having enjoyed myself that way. In that sense, you’ve been more than kind to me. And it wasn’t as though I lacked the means that day.”
Perhaps because this was a class-based society where a woman’s reputation in high society essentially determined her future, those around me had taken particular note of my failed debutante.
If I hadn’t been preoccupied with matters like being a God’s Contractor, or whether the empire’s future would crumble, or who was playing the role of vanguard in all this—if I were still the original Titania…
I would likely have been so devastated by botching the debutante that way that I wouldn’t have left my room.
“And would things have truly changed if I had worn Mercury’s clothes that day and had a splendid debutante with everyone’s admiration? After all, it seemed Prince Brian had come with his intentions already set.”
Adrian had sent a letter organizing the events from the hunting competition day.
It also briefly mentioned Count Orland’s young lady Jyun, who had wastefully spent expensive Fire Garnets igniting flame.
He acknowledged receiving favor, so he couldn’t remain completely silent. But all of it was accomplished because of you, Titania, so whatever judgment you make, I will follow your will. Something along those lines.
Because of that, I revisited my memories of the original work.
Indeed, had there been any description portraying this troublesome ‘Jyun’ as such a person?
Not in my recollection.
Every time I encounter something like that, I find myself thinking.
What I did was something anyone else could have done.
“…If Your Highness believes so, then I shall let the matter rest there. I simply wished to accompany you for a time when your affairs are concluded and you head back to the Capital…”
“Don’t you need to return to the main house and finalize various business conditions and cooperation agreements with the Castrain Family?”
“I have sufficient time for that.”
“Is it necessary to seek my permission? Our enemies surely already know we’ve truly cast our lot together…”
He’d come down with us and stayed together; going to the Capital together seemed like no issue at all, so I was tilting my head in confusion when a heavy footstep sounded.
Whether a trick of perception or intentional, it was as though he was openly flaunting his presence.
“But you do have a betrothed, Your Highness.”
“Ah, Raymond. I thought you’d be busy today.”
Flux smiled stiffly. Raymond regarded him with an inscrutable expression.
“It is a matter for which our House bears responsibility when you return to the Capital, Your Highness. So regardless of what intentions lie behind Count Flux’s accompaniment, that is not a concern for you…and
no matter how busy I may be, I’m not so occupied that I can’t look after Your Highness’s wellbeing today. Count Flux seems to have been childishly preoccupied only with what comes after, rather than easing the anxieties of Your Highness, who faces a great undertaking.”
“Great undertaking or not, what Your Highness must do is… quite straightforward, is it not? Rather, I found myself marveling that the Northern Region conducts its Dedication Ceremony with such leisure, when the person who should be overseeing and managing everything is here having such a meaningless quarrel.”
Whether coincidence or not, why were these two fighting? More pressingly, the task I had to accomplish today was far from simple, and if something went wrong, Flux would undoubtedly panic with shock. I was already feeling guilty about it.
I’d been planning to hint to Flux today that ‘even if something happens tomorrow, we need to stay sharp and focus on our part’.
The timing was unfortunate.
Raymond glanced between me and Flux, frowning slightly before letting out a sigh that wasn’t quite a sigh, and spoke in a low voice.
“Throughout the border regions of the Castrain territories, there have been no Magic Beast sightings whatsoever.”
Well, that was quite a suspicious development.

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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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