Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 216

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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 216

When the incident erupted, the atmosphere at the Castrain Ducal House was at its worst.
From the moment Raymond grasped the situation, he simply fell apart, incapable of doing anything at all.
It was Bibi herself who persuaded Raymond—who, having embraced what was presumed to be Titania’s final remains, refused to let go of it—to relinquish his hold and see to the aftermath.
Bibi had remained at the Imperial Palace throughout the night ball, and witnessed the exact moment when the troubling ‘news’ reached the palace.
Adrian’s face paled as he hurried to the Empress’s side, and the Empress lost consciousness. If all that were lies, they’d certainly be capable actors—but it didn’t seem so.
“…Brother.”
Still, there were several strange points.
First: no trace of the sword had been found.
It was possible the one who created this situation had taken it, or that Titania hadn’t brought it to this place. But this was a sword that blazed with light, cleaving through Magic Beasts as though they were nothing.
It was the kind of sword Titania carried with her every day, even if she had to hide it beneath her skirts. To leave such a weapon at a place that might prove dangerous? Unless one were a would-be suicide—it made no sense.
Second: Titania was not that weak.
True, if the location itself were blown to pieces wholesale… even Titania would have her limits. But only a few years ago, Titania had slain a Magic Beast powerful enough to collapse the entire Northern Region and extracted the Mana Stone to heal the Duke.
She was capable of treating most physical injuries herself. Bibi had even seen her freely manipulate Wind Power—or perhaps the power of air itself—conjuring protective barriers.
Yes, her enemies might have poisoned her. They might have ambushed her. There were any number of possibilities, but…
She was strong enough that she no longer needed Raymond’s aid to repel attackers. Yet the corpses and enemy traces found at the scene were nothing near that powerful.
And the final third point was…
“I think that body probably isn’t her.”
“…”
Watching the turbid gold of Raymond’s eyes, Bibi’s own gaze shone with clarity as never before.
“My sister—she’s truly weak-hearted about strange things. If she’d really found herself in such a helpless situation, powerless to do anything, then there would have been innocent victims caught up in the chaos through no fault of their own.”
Despite the explosion being so massive, the number of innocent casualties was nearly nonexistent.
It helped that Countess Sheringham had cleared people away from the area—whether to prevent assassination or scandal didn’t matter.
Most of those who had been there at that hour were worthless nobles who wouldn’t have hesitated to ruin a few innocent lives for amusement.
If Titania had truly perished there because she’d anticipated some disaster but couldn’t prepare for everything, or because she simply lacked the power—
then the incident would never have ended with merely a building destroyed.
No matter how remote the estate’s location, there were still civilians in the vicinity. If the scale had grown too large, truly innocent people would have been caught in the blast. She wouldn’t have allowed that. She must have prepared in advance with all her strength precisely to prevent such a thing.
If she’d truly meant to vanish, pretending to be dead, without arousing even a shadow of suspicion, she would have simply blown the entire district to pieces—enough that even Titania could not possibly have survived such a scale.
“…I understand why she pushed you away and took the hand of that garbage. It was because he was worth dying for.”
From Titania’s perspective, there was no choice. She’d provoked Imperial Consort Cleo, but they couldn’t simply release Beast-class enemies in the Northern Region at random. They had to strike at the Capital, at a party with many attendees, and there were limits to what could be done.
And if she’d held back her power, pretending to be weak, people would have died right before her eyes. If she could have possibly avoided using what she could use, she would never have come to this pass.
Ironically, it was precisely because of this that Bibi arrived so quickly at the truth Titania had tried to hide.
Because she was that sort of person.
Rather than sacrifice others for her own sake, she simply tended to take the loss upon herself.
“I also understand why you didn’t worry about your future after the engagement dissolution. This was what you were preparing for all along.”
But suddenly, Bibi’s breath caught short.
What if everything was merely assumption?
What if Titania truly was dead?
What if, though she’d certainly meant to eliminate that garbage along with the attack itself, something had gone terribly wrong, and it had ended this way?
That would explain why Raymond was so broken, why he trembled so.
More precisely, Raymond was standing rigid as a statue. From the look in his eyes alone, it seemed he would tear the very corpses of his enemies limb from limb, over and over, before departing to slay Imperial Consort Cleo and the Crown Prince Brian—inferred from the beasts’ behavior.
“…You must have some idea of what happened.”
The voice held not a shred of emotion. Bibi felt a sudden chill run through her.
In the mere two hours since news had reached Bibi and she’d rushed here, Raymond seemed to have become something entirely different. Until now, it had seemed he carried some dark shadow born of lingering attachment to Titania or self-loathing, but now—
“…Yeah. Sister Titania—she must have something she has to do, even if it means feigning death. Or something she has to keep secret from us.”
Bibi recalled her last conversation with Titania.
Titania gently comforting Bibi, who had desperately tried to highlight Raymond’s good points.
Marriage? What nonsense. “Titania” could never stand before people again with that name, and she spoke as though she’d discard that identity like a worn rag, as if the title of princess meant nothing. How could she speak so calmly of another’s marriage prospects?
What was she planning?
What was she hiding?
Or was it danger?
Bibi knew that even the Duke, upon hearing news of Titania, had twisted his stone-like face into a grimace and expelled a dark sigh.
Normally, yes—one would give up here.
One would assume it was inevitable and offer memorial rites. Or, if there were reason to believe she’d left with purpose, one would accept it as unavoidable and fall silent.
But Bibi found she simply could not do so.
Titania pushed herself too hard.
She simply kept pushing herself harder and harder.
Wearing herself down like some consumable tool, even as she laughed to tell others they should never do the same.
Because she refused to let anyone know…
So this way—creating such a grand, public incident and vanishing—
was perhaps even to Bibi’s mind suggesting that Titania was preparing for something far beyond this in scale…
“Bibi.”
“…Yes?”
“We need to prepare for a hunt.”
Rumble-boom.
A damp storm rolled in.
Heavy rains might wash away the tracks of fleeing prey and erase their scent, but a skilled hunter who has locked onto their target never loses sight of their quarry, regardless of the weather.

* * *

“Like an aching tooth suddenly pulled—refreshingly clean.”
Imperial Consort Cleo was in genuinely high spirits.
Since there was no state funeral, once the modest rites concluded, there was no more need for restraint.
The Emperor, of course, had been furious.
He’d expected to sell his daughter for value, and she’d died of her own volition. His rage had fallen upon the Empress instead.
How had she educated Titania that she’d commit such a heinous act? As a result, the Empress would spend some time in confinement at the Empress’s Palace, and Adrian was in much the same predicament.
So there was no one to stop Imperial Consort Cleo from doing whatever she pleased in the Rose Palace, now that Titania was gone.
“Mary!”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“From today on, you shall be the head maid of the Rose Palace.”
Mary couldn’t hide her delighted smile. Seeing the emotionless face of Natalie beside her, it seemed Cleo had every intention of taking Natalie to her own quarters.
“Hmph. I never anticipated she’d die in such a manner. There are surely connections of that wretch hidden in this place, and rats from outside the palace as well. You must conduct yourself carefully.”
Mary laughed as she watched the faces of those standing near her turn ashen.
That girl Sara had followed Titania and died herself.
Well, she’d passed on information right to the end—but to have such bad luck. And look at herself, rising ever higher.
Now it was her world. More than that—it was Imperial Consort Cleo’s world.
That Debbie, who had nothing worthwhile about her yet carried herself with such stiff pride, had to be disposed of at this opportunity. The thought of making all those colleagues who’d ignored her or shown their disdain prostrate themselves before her was truly delightful.
Of course, Mary never noticed that the ‘Debbie’ in question, who had wailed so dramatically at the funeral, had been conspicuously silent in her place at the very end.
“Oh, Your Highness, I’ve served you for years now. I’ll work without error! Though I could never match the capability of Head Maid Natalie.”
“Well, Natalie will have to attend to me directly now.”
Imperial Consort Cleo smiled coldly and cast an appraising eye across the interior of the Rose Palace.
“Search every corner of the Rose Palace, tearing it apart if you must. Find even the smallest scrap of evidence. Do well, and I’ll reward you handsomely.”
“Yes!”
Mary spoke with a shrug of her shoulders.
“You heard it? The princess has passed away in unfortunate circumstances, so there’s no point in being loyal to a corpse. So before you end up in trouble, confess whatever facts might be useful to Her Highness!”
What Imperial Consort Cleo truly meant was this: the princess was already dead, so she’d fabricate evidence if necessary to attack the Empress and Prince Adrian. And Mary, of course, was fully prepared to become Cleo’s vanguard, sacrificing her former colleagues as offerings to the altar of her own advancement.
Dreams are always most beautiful when one still knows nothing.

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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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