Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 205

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

Chapter 205

It had been several years since I’d stood before Cleo and wielded the Light spell against a Magic Beast.
Even ordinary swordplay and displays of strength were commonplace enough. I’d shown them all before the Castrain Ducal House, but Cleo never truly believed I was anyone of consequence. That was partly by design—information had been controlled to ensure exactly that.
Yet Cleo was a figurehead put forward by “enemies.” One way or another, she had connections.
I’d grasped that fact through the trading houses and information networks, but I couldn’t make it public.
The Imperial Family was rotted through and the Emperor himself a fool. There was no conceivable way a normal succession to the throne would proceed. It feels strange to say it now, but what I’d call the “original story”—in any case, it was only natural that a war devastating the entire empire had erupted. I knew war would come, but knowing it didn’t mean I could prevent it.
So I had to disappear before the war began. Which meant…….
“I do have some claim to the throne, after all.”
“…What are you trying to say, Princess Titania?”
“Let’s spare the lies neither of us would believe anyway.”
I could see my reflection in Cleo’s eyes. I was smiling with a coldness that was almost startling.
“I was honestly delighted when His Majesty consented to the engagement dissolution so readily. Obviously, if I married a man of such stature as the Young Duke of Castrain, I’d have had to settle for playing the obedient wife.”
“……Surely not.”
“Legitimacy? Adrian may be weaker than me, but he’ll support my side. As long as I don’t marry anyone and we make his child my successor—well, even the great noble houses would accept that. Good heavens, to think you’d join hands with ‘those’ sort of enemies.”
Cleo was the kind of woman who would use even her own son as a tool to seize power, to place him on the Emperor’s throne.
If all my transformation stems from future ambition for power, I can’t help but understand it.
“If I eliminate both Cleo and Brian, I become an outright hero who saved the Imperial Family. There’s nothing insufficient about ascending to Emperor.”
“A woman, becoming Emperor…….”
“You stand before me, a bastard-born woman eyeing the position of Empress Dowager. What reason could there be for me, a proper princess, not to harbor such a dream?”
“……!”
Flames of fury kindled in Cleo’s eyes.
Realistically, it was impossible. No—Adrian existed. How could I possibly—Adrian had muttered back then that “someone like you has potential,” but that was a hypothetical after his own death. Why would these stodgy nobles support me over the legitimate Prince, born of Emperor and Empress both?
“You’ve grown distant from the Castrain Family and yet you dare reach for the throne? What nonsense is this!”
It was nonsense, true. Like throwing away a royal straight flush to keep playing poker.
But Cleo didn’t grasp why the distance between me and the Castrain Family had widened so suddenly, or what had passed between us, or what trials I’d endured.
So I launched enthusiastically into manipulation and fabrication.
“That rigid Castrain Family wanted no part in succession struggles, I noticed……. Yet I’m their benefactor, and they suddenly cut ties with me like this. What do you think the reason could be?”
The Empress’s pupils dilated sharply. I smiled—a smile that mirrored Cleo’s own.
“…….”
“Yes, it seems making me the future Emperor would be too difficult. But even so, my status as the family’s benefactor means they won’t make me an enemy. That alone is profitable, wouldn’t you say?”
“…You.”
“So I’d suggest you abandon any thoughts of selling me off to the Grove Kingdom.”
As though this warning were my true purpose all along.
“If I’d seemed like a helpless princess you could sell abroad without resistance, well. Testing me might be worth a try…….”
Plainly now, inserting myself into the succession struggle, threatening Brian’s very neck.
Cleo’s eyes, fixed on me in silence, flickered with unmistakable killing intent.
Objective achieved.

* * *

Under normal circumstances, Cleo would have seized upon the delicious tidbit of my engagement dissolution with the Castrain Family, bustling through the banquet hall in high spirits. Instead, the moment our conversation ended, she claimed a headache and withdrew.
Her mind must be in turmoil. Or perhaps—more likely—she was steeling herself to eliminate me in earnest.
I began scanning the surroundings, dodging the unwelcome guests who were starting to approach and probe.
Adrian had disappeared along with the Empress the moment she left, right after we’d entered together. I’d already asked him to keep silent, since lingering in the banquet hall would only subject me to waves of questions from the nobility.
I’d made a grand entrance announcing I had no regrets about the dissolution, finished my provocation with Cleo, and now—
It was time I left as well.
I’d barely taken a few steps toward the door, pointedly ignoring the gazes creeping toward me, when a familiar voice reached my ears.
“What on earth are you thinking?”
“Well, well. Debtor.”
It was quite a while since I’d seen Pan. Though today I was meeting him not as a gambler, but in his capacity as a brilliant, eccentric fashion designer.
I followed as Pan gestured, stepping onto a secluded terrace.
Ah, this brings back old memories. I think I fleeced Pan in a place just like this once…….
“What do you mean ‘debtor’? That’s no way to address a Grand Mage like myself!”
His outfit was as flamboyant as always.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—rainbow peacock feathers adorned his hat, and he wore a leopard-print cape dragging all the way to the floor. The garment was so heavy and voluminous that a sufficiently fault-finding person could sniff disapprovingly: “How disrespectful—such an ostentatious cape before His Majesty the Emperor!”
“How’s your hand?”
“……Well.”
Pan’s lips twitched. I laughed softly. The memory of the spectacle I’d made curing his hand came flooding back.
As soon as I’d convinced myself I could heal the Duke just as I’d treated Pan’s hand, I’d summoned him and bound him. Rasper had helped.
‘I can’t trust this! I won’t trust it! It’s not like laundry stains—how does a curse just disappear?! And you won’t let go?! Hey! Rasper! Aren’t you betraying your heavenly mentor?!’
‘Well, the princess is trustworthy, isn’t she?’
‘Then I’m not trustworthy?!’
‘Come on, just try it—if it doesn’t work, I’ll waive the debt!’
‘Even if they call me a debtor, I never signed away my body! I refuse!’
‘If you won’t be beaten, blood has to be drawn, and then I’ll fix you right up. Actually, if you don’t trust me, let’s just have a priest nick you once. Only once, not twice or three times—once on each hand, actually.’
‘You don’t force medicine on a crying child. What do you mean “once”—Ahhhhh! Put that sword away! I-I’d rather take the beating! Don’t stab me! Or is this really how you’re going to beat someone?! Help! Help me! Somebody help! The mad princess is beating people! Ahhhhh! Ah! Aaaahhhhh!’
Thank goodness Rasper had erected a Soundproof Barrier, or everyone would have witnessed the sight of a mad princess tying someone down and beating them with a sword.
In any case, Pan—wrinkled and limp as washing struck by a laundry bat—had fainted dead away, and only later, upon seeing his own condition, had he been shocked.
‘Insane, no—why is this actually working?!’
‘Looks like I don’t need to waive your debt after all.’
Recalling those days still brings me joy. Pan protested now with exactly the same expression he’d worn then.
“It still throbs on rainy days! For a mage whose hands are everything, isn’t that tyranny?!”
“Would you prefer I beat your whole body instead, so you’ll lie peacefully in bed whenever it rains?”
“What kind of princess is this violent?”
I giggled as I listened to Pan’s grumbling.
He complained, but only out of embarrassment. In truth, he was deeply grateful to me.
I’d originally hired him as my protective mage, but once we reached the Capital, I’d mostly sent him to Rasper for research purposes, so we didn’t interact often. I was relieved he’d noticed my deliberate distance without demanding an explanation.
“……Princess.”
“Mm?”
“What exactly are you trying to do this time?”
The curtain beside the terrace stirred in the breeze.
“So you asked me here alone just to ask me that?”
A familiar floral scent drifted in the air.
The Night Market had been fun. What I remembered was a handful of delicate petals that would crumple if I squeezed too hard. The fragrance that tickled my nose. The light-flecks scattering like crystal candy decorating the sky.
A memory that flickered only briefly dissolved like cotton candy dissolving in water.
“I’ve received tremendous kindness from you, Princess. Whatever you do, I mean to help. If you ask me to keep it secret from others, I will. Even Rasper—if it’s a matter concerning you, he won’t feel hurt by my silence.”
“Why don’t you just say you want more payment instead?”
“…….”
“Look, if this were years ago when I’d nearly died several times and would’ve lost my breath entirely without the Castrain Family’s aid—then there’d be plenty of things I’d ask you to help with. But I’ve gotten to where I can manage on my own now, haven’t I?”
I’d voided the original Contract I’d made with the Young Duke.
More precisely, I’d concluded my discussion with the Duke himself.
‘I’m sorry I have to withdraw the deal you originally requested, but I’d like you to return Gloriana’s Drape to me. Actually—I’ll take it as my share. And let the original Contract be as though it never was.’
‘…….’
‘In return for saving you and defeating the Magic Beast, and that……. A few years from now, whenever I request it, I’d like you to proceed unconditionally with the engagement dissolution.’
‘From our perspective, there’s nothing we couldn’t agree to, no matter what you ask.’
The Duke’s eyes were strange.
‘Are you truly content with just that?’
‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘…I couldn’t stop my wife from walking toward death with her own feet. Even when I nearly died this time, that’s all I could think of. That’s been the regret of my entire life.’
‘…….’
‘Princess Titania. Does the princess truly…….’
Did Raymond truly not care at all?

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