Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 203

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 203

After settling that matter, Raymond no longer spoke to me except when duty required it.
Even after we returned safely to the Imperial Palace, he kept his distance entirely. It was very much like the conscientious Raymond.
Right—all because of his sense of responsibility. The moment I said it was bothersome, he vanished. I felt somewhat unsettled, and somewhat relieved.
After that, I began in earnest to distance myself from the Castrain Family. I left Debbie, who had already taken up residence at the Rose Palace, as she was, but decided to refrain from personal contact.
However, I did allow Bibi to visit when she stayed in the Capital during the social season.
Lisianthus—not that he was the kind to use a hidden passage I’d left for him—would sometimes sneak in and make a fuss about how hurt he felt, and Bibi would occasionally try to slip gift bundles into my hands.
After several years passed, my efforts to maintain distance finally bore fruit: rumors began to circulate that “the distance between Princess Titania and the Castrain Family had grown.”
Empress Cleo continued to gather her forces, using Prince Brian at the forefront. The matter of obtaining the Red Hawk Tail Feather fell through because of Adrian, but by organizing other events and somehow procuring a plausible substitute, she eventually received forgiveness from the Dowager Empress Valentina.
Beyond that, she had made preparations to cause trouble at the Rose Palace, but showed no further significant moves.
She seemed to suspect something about me, likely because she had allied with Chernobog, but when Adrian and I began alternating our Dedication Ceremony tours—me to the Southern Region each summer, Adrian to the Northern Region each winter—she merely harbored suspicion and did nothing more. The Dedication Ceremonies were already unnecessary, but announcing that to everyone would be difficult to explain, so we held them as a mere formality for appearances’ sake.
Empress Elaine left the Imperial Palace safely with the assistance of Dowager Empress Valentina, who accompanied her.
Empress Cleo seemed incredulous when Dowager Empress Valentina left the Imperial Palace so willingly, but she refrained from interfering, perhaps believing it was good for me.
Cleo and her allies made many attempts to ambush or target me, and over the passing years I repaid them or fought them or waited them out. Even when idle rumors spread that Raymond had gone mad hunting Magic Beasts or was traveling across the empire—I didn’t know about the former, but laughed off the latter with a “why would he?”—and time slipped away until I found myself on the brink of adulthood.

* * *

After finishing tea with our adorable guest and returning, I found an uninvited visitor waiting.
“Father seems to be slowly giving up on the Castrain Family.”
I sighed, watching Adrian sprawled halfway across the sofa in broad daylight at the Rose Palace, popping grapes into his mouth like an idle layabout.
If you’re going to loaf around, do it in your own palace. The urge to smack him on the back was almost overwhelming.
I jabbed Adrian in the ribs until he shifted over, then sat beside him and lifted my teacup as I spoke.
“I spread those rumors about the engagement dissolution myself. What’s the issue now?”
Adrian watched my expression carefully before responding.
“……The Castrain Family lacked certainty that you would truly abandon them—the family’s benefactress and the betrothed whom they had cherished so dearly, even if only for a time. More precisely, I suspect it’s because Father wants to seat Bibi next to Brian.”
“Ha, someday I’ll make a xylophone out of that bastard’s ribs and play ding-dong-ding on it. Where’s Bibi? Don’t you dare touch her. Do you want to become a snowman in the Northern Region while still alive?”
“Calm yourself, Titania.”
Adrian stared at me directly.
“You just had tea with Bibi, didn’t you? Why is your expression like that?”
“Our adorable Bibi seems to want to talk me out of the engagement dissolution……. There are plenty of rumors about discord between her and the Young Duke anyway.”
So she rattled off the external conditions of the Young Duke’s desirability in perfectly orthodox fashion, trying to persuade me.
Now I can say with certainty:
After I returned to the Capital, Raymond never appeared before me. Years passed without catching a glimpse of him, time enough that even if there had been deeper feelings, they would have faded.
According to rumor, he’s become even more taciturn than before, a cold wind that blows from him constantly. People say the only thing he mentions is Bibi, and even that’s rare.
Debbie also refrained from mentioning Raymond in front of me, so I only heard it secondhand through the grapevine anyway. But that was fine. I never expected the great Young Duke to cling to my side in such a pitiful manner.
“No matter how I think about it, your plan is utterly unreasonable.”
“What is?”
I swallowed my tea and shifted my gaze to Adrian.
“……Yes, suppose you do manage to extract a promise from the Castrain Family—from Duke Orto himself—and they have no choice but to dissolve the engagement. Suppose it’s also true that people now say the Castrain Ducal House ignores the Princess and shows no gratitude, unlike before. Suppose that because you’ve stopped wielding your sword and causing trouble lately, people are even saying that all those things Princess Titania did back then were just schemes. Fine, suppose all of that.”
“So……?”
“But faking your death and escaping the Imperial Palace right after the engagement dissolution? Isn’t that plan far too grandiose? Is there really a need for all of this?”
There is!
So many reasons!
But I can’t just lay them all out plainly!
I rolled my eyes to check if anyone else was in the room. Adrian clicked his tongue at the sight.
“Debbie’s not here. It’s just you and me.”
“Well……. First of all, there’s the matter of severing the thread of connection that exists between the Imperial Palace and the Castrain Family. And staying in the Imperial Palace in such a state would only make me too appetizing a morsel for Empress Cleo or Father.”
My conflict with Empress Cleo had entered a period of relative calm recently.
Ironically, it became quieter precisely when rumors of discord between me and the Castrain Family surfaced.
When I was close to the Castrain Family, and it was obvious to anyone that we would become one anyway, the family was beyond Cleo’s reach, so she would grit her teeth in hostility.
But if distance opened between me and the Castrain Family, might she not hope to fill that gap herself……? It seemed she harbored such unlikely hope.
The “reformed” Brian enjoys an excellent reputation in society, so promoting a betrothal was worth attempting, and apparently she found it more tempting to gain Bibi as a hostage in the Imperial Palace instead of sending me to the Northern Region.
Well, that’s a matter of circumstances. The real reason the plan has become urgent is…….
“Ha, apparently the King of Grove Kingdom, having recently become quite wealthy after a gold mine was discovered in a royal woodland, has lost his wife and is now seeking a new one. If Father dissolves my engagement to the Castrain Family after all this time, my value as a bride plummets. So I suspect he’s thinking of selling me off to a neighboring kingdom for substantial dowry. It’s a position as a second wife with stepchildren, but by that logic, I also have a history of broken betrothals, so the status matches.”
Adrian made a wry smile while I recounted this with barely any change of expression.
“……. Mother and I could smooth over a betrothal like that much once.”
“Once? They’ll use every means to force the marriage through. Father still seems displeased with my sword-wielding antics.”
The Northern Barrier was one of the most crucial elements in the conflict between Beloborg and Chernobog.
I had successfully repaired it, and moreover, I possessed the means to ensure it would never break again.
As for the other conflicts, I’m not necessary. Adrian and the Castrain Family can manage well enough together and win.
So remaining within the palace was a liability.
I’d spent the recent years quietly in the palace without causing any major incidents, yet the Emperor belatedly seemed to find me displeasing.
Empress Elaine still hasn’t returned from her convalescence, I’m estranged from the Castrain Family with dissolution rumors spreading,
and on top of it all, I have a track record of saving the Imperial Family with my sword back in the day.
Had I been a prince, he would have moved against me long ago, but he underestimated me as a young princess with no claim to the throne. Only later did it bother him.
A princess who wields a sword even the Emperor cannot lift, at that.
With Empress Cleo whispering in his ear, his mind is set on marrying me off to remove me from his sight.
So it’s better to become a dead person and stay out of his view.
“No. To be honest. I have nothing but ill omens about this, contrary to your expectations.”
Adrian sighed heavily.
“If you remarry the King of Grove Kingdom, isn’t the Castrain Family going to flip out and attack that country?”
“Ah, would a family busy hunting Magic Beasts really wage war so easily? Besides, I have no intention of quietly marrying that pot-bellied king, and even if I did marry him, that would be after the dissolution. What grounds would they have?”
“That’s true…….”
“Well. Still, they’ll care to some degree since I’m their benefactress. That’s why I’m trying to end it all like this. But if Father insists on marrying me off to a dead person, so be it! Bahahaha!”
It was difficult to conduct my plans in secret, even from Debbie.
I couldn’t entrust the plan to the Hecate Tavern either.
I kept quiet about it to Bibi out of guilt, and I kept it secret from Flux because his mouth is loose and he might accidentally spill it to Rasper without realizing.
Only the Empress, Adrian, and Flux had a vague sense of my plans. Their help was nearly complete.
The announcement of the dissolution would come soon.
Then I’d blow everything open, erase all lingering attachments and traces, escape freely to the Southern Coast. Flux promised to help me through it, and while I couldn’t play forever, at least I could rest and enjoy myself for a few years.
I would play with all my strength and sincerity, the kind you don’t forget even in death.
I would play like a vengeful ghost who never got to play in life. At the thought, my lips curved into an uncontrollable smile.
Seeing me like that, Adrian shook his head helplessly.
“Fine, do as you please. Go wherever.”
“Thanks, bahahaha! I’m leaving this filthy, petty, miserable Imperial Palace!”
I’m going. To my rosy future.
I smiled with the hopeful anticipation of an office worker planning to submit their resignation.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————