Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 202

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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 202

“I’m sorry. I think I misjudged the situation.”
“…Why are you apologizing?”
“I didn’t consider that enemies might be hiding among the civilians….”
The princess wielded her sword with dazzling brilliance, channeling every conceivable Divine Power, cutting a magnificent figure.
She couldn’t allow such rumors to spread further. She had no desire to expose her combat prowess directly to civilians. Though the Capital was still some distance away, she would need to be cautious going forward regardless.
So she entrusted the evacuation of civilians to Raymond.
She’d practically forced him out—the man who was reluctant, nearly bullying him by insisting she was more versatile in such places. Because she’d firmly declined a military escort, they had precious few troops available.
So she made herself bait, drawing the Magic Beasts toward her. Whether they wanted to crush her outright or for some other reason, they’d gathered together and detonated something with a tremendous boom.
She’d reflexively thrown up a barrier of Wind Power, but the Underground Tunnel collapsed entirely.
She felt a pang of regret. There seemed to have been something down there—traces of Veloborg perhaps, or maybe altar remnants—but she hadn’t had a chance to investigate.
It would have drawn too much attention.
“Do not apologize to me.”
Something sharp cut through the air. Raymond’s eyes gleamed with terrible clarity in the darkness.
He’d been buried in the rubble and wreckage, injured somewhat, but in the end everything had worked out.
The enemies were dead, and the truly innocent civilians had been evacuated safely. There had been plenty who’d attacked Raymond as well, which meant he still possessed enough strength to survive in this maddening world, this fractured version of Raymond wasn’t the broken, shattered man who’d been ground to pieces. She felt a twinge of guilt for putting him through the experience of being attacked by civilians.
She’d offered those words with that sentiment in mind, yet somehow the man’s expression suggested he was the one who’d been wounded more deeply.
“Why would you apologize to me about this?”
“Because I made a poor judgment call and put you in danger.”
“It was I who put you in danger!”
“What? You did your best, didn’t you? I volunteered to hunt the Magic Beasts myself, and we saved everyone who needed saving, so what’s the problem?”
“……Why do you keep saying it’s fine because others were saved? Why do you smile about it?”
Because it genuinely was fine…?
Even though she’d spoken from her heart, questions kept pouring out, and she fell silent for a moment.
The man watching her reached out with trembling hands and gripped her shoulder.
It was where she’d been struck by earth and stone earlier. Now that she thought about it, there had been a strange sound—like bone cracking.
It ached somewhat, but it was bearable. She could recover from wounds of this severity on her own, after all.
Unlike Raymond. If he were injured, he’d have to maintain that condition until a Priest could be brought. If she was going to take damage, wasn’t it more efficient for her to absorb it herself?
…But speaking that aloud would earn her a scolding. Yes, she understood that much. Raymond had been far away, and she hadn’t let a single cry escape her lips.
Raymond seemed to grasp the situation from her shoulder grip alone, as his lips began to tremble.
“……I don’t understand Your Highness the princess.”
“Is that so?”
“What are you thinking? Why do you refuse to care for yourself like this? When I promised to protect Your Highness the princess……did those words truly mean nothing to you?”
“…….”
He wasn’t a man who gave way to despair so easily.
He wasn’t a man who pleaded so easily either.
She had planted guilt within him.
Guilt born of having ‘could have saved but chose to ignore’—guilt that had shaped a betrothed bride who’d grown up within the Imperial Family. Raymond had been young, and family should have come before the Imperial Family, and Father’s unspoken command had made its weight felt. In truth, standing against Father to defend a betrothed he didn’t love would have been the stranger course.
But now that Titania had proven capable of acting this way, and had become his benefactor besides, there was no chance a man of such rigid principles wouldn’t blame himself.
Thinking about it now, she should have simply behaved like an immature, wicked villain.
When she’d made the contract with Veloborg, she remembered the words she’d whispered to herself.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry.
Rather than understanding and supporting this extraordinary man who saved the world and loved his family and fought Magic Beasts, she’d clung to his ankles and degraded herself.
She’d sought to kill a beloved family member. Even after repenting, remaking the shape of the future, and burning away her emotions in pursuit of that path, there was no man in this world who should have to hear such things.
No, it was fortunate he wasn’t that kind of man. Fortunate he hadn’t become one.
‘…You understand that the source of the Magic Beasts lies in the Underground World. I’m not asking for your goal—I’m asking for your reason! Do you want to die? Do you need the heart of a specific Magic Beast? Explain yourself. Then I can try whatever might be possible! Why do you keep avoiding my sight and committing madness at every opportunity?’
Grasping Titania as she fell into the Underground World, Raymond’s desperate shout as he refused to let go seemed truly mad. Every emotion roiling and boiling within him. Like flames consuming himself. It was fortunate that Raymond hadn’t become that.
So she opened her mouth without hesitation.
“Yes.”
The light in the man’s eyes went dark.
Golden eyes gleaming like melted, molten stars.
In ancient Greek mythology, Zeus once gave Pandora a box and sent it down to her. Unable to overcome her curiosity, Pandora opened it, and all things save hope scattered across the world.
But the man’s eyes held the desolation of one confirming that hope too had melted and crumbled once Pandora’s box lay fully opened. Bleak enough that even she, who knew this had to be done, felt her chest tighten.
“It means nothing.”
“…….”
To the benefactor of his family, the benefactor of his house, the betrothed he’d turned away from, the one he wanted to protect at minimum—hearing such a response was only natural to despair.
But if he knew true despair, this would seem like nothing.
When the world crumbles, when people die without any resistance, when despair swallows everything amid the Magic Beast swarms, when family is lost, when there’s no time for funeral rites and only ceaseless fighting, fighting merely to survive…….
Because she knew hell, if such hell never came, anything would suffice. If there was something to protect, if even one family member remained, this man would never break.
Truly a heroic man, wasn’t he.
She couldn’t imagine enduring like that herself.
Until now, without his help, she might have truly died.
Because she had to face the same enemies, because there were countless shared reasons. She truly couldn’t afford to behave that way.
Thinking about it, Raymond seemed to have similarly avoided asking questions that would demand such a clear answer.
She didn’t understand why it had all exploded here, now.
Ah, or perhaps not. Had she become strong enough to lay out even Lisianthus? Had she seemed to no longer need Raymond’s help, and that’s why it erupted?
I’m sorry.
In truth, she’d wanted to say exactly that. He was someone who didn’t deserve this kind of treatment from anyone.
“I can save myself now. I don’t need your help, Raymond.”
“…….”
“Truthfully, wouldn’t you say our positions have reversed from before? Ah, back then, Raymond. You must have been so tired. Of some delicate princess raised in the palace chattering away about things she didn’t understand, pestering you all day after you’d fought Magic Beasts, when you’d barely seen her face. Complaining to a betrothed you’d only met a few times. Asking for gifts……. My career isn’t as long as yours, but it feels quite liberating, this. Even now, you’re not that strong.”
“…….”
Just moments ago she’d nearly had her shoulder and limbs shattered, had managed to heal herself, and now she was claiming she didn’t need anyone’s help—she felt a twinge of embarrassment at that.
What? Raymond wasn’t strong? Even as she spoke the words, she felt it was nonsense. But there was no help for it now.
Raymond’s pupils trembled as he listened to the barrage of words falling from her lips. His entire frame seemed to freeze, unable to produce a single sound. It felt like severing the breath of someone already laid low.
No, it’s fine. It’s fine. This man is someone who didn’t reveal a word of concern even when a deputy commander he’d served with for over a decade died beside him, unable to hear a single final word. Despite hearing every sort of harsh word, he never so much as flickered an eyelid. He’s still young, after all. We’ve gone through various things together, and it’s natural some affection developed.
All kinds of harsh words had been thrown at him, yet his eyelids hadn’t moved an inch. But still, that warmth needed to be severed here.
“So don’t concern yourself with me anymore.”
“…….”
“It’s annoying.”
So she needed to cool that affection here.
She left him there, frozen like an ice statue, unable to move, and limped away from the spot.
—Contractor, are you truly going to leave like this……? There seems to be something we should verify.
‘…I can’t help it right now. You did kill all the small fry, right? If it’s really urgent, we can come back here later.’
Even at the sword’s urging, she couldn’t help but flee. Truth be told, she wanted to avoid whatever words or reaction he might have offered.
As she left, his gaze pierced after her like an awl.
She never once looked back.

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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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