Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 223

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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 223

When I came to my senses, the Castrain Residence loomed before me.
“…….”
This is strange. Why does this keep happening?
My last clear memory was Raymond laughing and holding me close. We must have tidied the Summer Villa, gathered Jemina and the sword, traveled through something—yet now I’m already at the gates. How?
It felt like I’d been caught in a Beauty Scheme.
Right beside me, Raymond was gazing at my bewildered face with a tender smile.
‘Tender.’ I still can’t get used to that. Tender? How is that word even appropriate for this man?
-Absolutely not! Never! Seriously! Not a chance! I’d sooner match with a cheap toothpick!ヽ（゜ロ゜；）ノ
I mentally calmed the suddenly animated sword and swallowed hard.
Perhaps because Raymond knew all too well how uncomfortable I felt, the Castrain grounds were mercifully quiet.
Had there been a Red Carpet rolled out above the main gate and servants lining up beside the doors waiting for me, I would’ve bolted the moment I saw it.
“Who on earth is this.”
A languid voice drifted from behind. I spun around, my body trembling.
“…Gasp.”
Scarlet hair. Wine-colored eyes. A stunning woman with a voice that could entrance countless men held a long pipe between her lips, studying me.
“I’m, um, Nabira.”
“My name isn’t nana-nana-Nabira.”
“Ah-ha-ha, you joke too, how refreshing~!”
“Fleeing from the eyes of Hecate’s Tavern—imagine that.”
Her head tilted slightly. Her smile looked kind at first glance, but… I understood instinctively. She was truly angry.
Nabira, who was essentially the head of an information organization, rarely appeared in public unless absolutely necessary. The fact that she was here now was quite…
“Truly a remarkable Princess. Or no—not even a Princess anymore, are you? Hmm? Young Lady of Baron Brighton?”
Veins stood out on the woman’s neck as she spoke the name of the false identity I’d created.
“……Mm.”
“Really now, I’d thought you’d died in such a manner.”
“…….”
I swallowed my impulse to make excuses and simply smiled, gazing into those deep crimson eyes that had grown quiet.
She’d boasted that her information network was the best in the industry, and I’d indeed received considerable help from her.
I’d deceived Hecate’s Tavern under the pretense of not being able to inform the Castrain Family, and I’d guessed her pride was wounded. But reading the true emotion beneath her reproachful, seductive gaze, I decided to abandon such ordinary explanations.
She’d been worried about me.
…Yes, even if we’d kept our distance for some years, we’d done many things together before. We had maintained contact.
There was no reason she would have been pleased to hear news of my death like that.
I bowed my head deeply, honestly.
“I’m sorry for worrying you…….”
Nabira’s lips twitched as she looked at me.
“……Hmph. Well, I suppose a noble Princess would naturally find a woman like me who deals in Information Trading in the Underground World untrustworthy, yes? To be treated like some two-bit dealer hawking information twice over—how humiliating.”
“I’m truly, deeply sorry. Genuinely.”
“One piece of advice: even if you must force it somewhat, crossing the border would be far more certain. I don’t believe you’ll have a ‘next’ opportunity.”
Those seductive eyes gleamed with something I couldn’t fathom as she glanced over both me and Raymond once.
“Well, I’ll leave it at that. There are many people who’ve been preparing to receive a guest, and they’re anticipating this greatly. I can’t very well drain your spirit entirely before they get their turn.”
“…….”
“However.”
Slender but rough-textured fingers dragged across my cheek, pulling it gently.
Nabira had cooperated with Bibi and me, and would have laughed at me elegantly if I fumbled, but she’d never before laid hands on me so casually.
After all, she considered herself a mere imperial citizen of non-human origin, while the other was a noble Princess—that was the distance she kept.
Yet as she unreservedly pulled my cheek, I blinked. Ah, a perfume scent. Nabira gave a faint smile.
“……You really have no fear, Miss. Value yourself a little more, will you? Not that anyone from the Underground World like me should be saying this.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Really, you answer so well.”
With an exasperated sigh, she released me and walked away with steady strides. I rubbed my slightly stinging cheek.
“…Wow, if I were a man, I’d be smitten.”
“……Is that so?”
Raymond asked from beside me.
“Incredibly, incredibly beautiful. And she showed she was worried about me. Is that what they call an adult’s composure? It just occurred to me. The way she pinched my cheek without hurting it, then let go and passed by with such ease—wow. Her Beauty Scheme would have a really high success rate.”
“……Is that so?”
“Doesn’t Lord Raymond think anything? She really is an extraordinary beauty.”
“Hmm.”
Raymond glanced at me, then fiddled with the ends of my hair, where much of the brown luster had faded.
“I see such remarkable beauties so often these days that I find myself unmoved.”
“Ah, I see……?”
“Shall we head inside.”
I followed Raymond’s lead through the back entrance rather than the main gate, into the building.
The moment we passed through the door, I was met with the scent of flowers.
Not artificial fragrance, but the fresh, verdant aroma born from dozens, perhaps hundreds of fresh blooms gathered close together—so vivid that even Jemina, perched on my shoulder, tilted her head instinctively.
And something pure white…….
“Sis!”
came rushing toward me.
I reflexively caught the white blur that crashed into me. Only then did I understand what was happening.
“S-s-siiiis!”
“B-Bibi, are you crying?!”
“Sob, s-sob, w-wahhh! Sissss!”
Bibi had grown slightly taller since I’d last seen her. She was dressed like a porcelain doll in white lace and white roses—theme-coordinated dress, headdress, ribbons, shoes, and stockings—but that pale, ceramic-like face was a mess of tears and mucus.
“I really, really thought you were dead, sob, that you’d actually died…….”
“……Oh, I’m sorry. I was so wrong.”
My arms grew damp as I held her. I stroked Bibi’s brown hair gently.
Strange. Why do I feel a sense of déjà vu? It seems like I’ve done this before—apologized like this, trembling with guilt…….
Recently Bibi had been acting quite mature, so I never expected her to cling to me like a little child, tears and snot and all. Though, come to think of it, I didn’t expect Raymond to cry either.
Again, I pushed down the heavy guilt settling in my chest and held Bibi tighter.
“B-Bibi, is it because you didn’t want me to dissolve the Engagement? Is it because you don’t like your brother? Is it because our father is unreasonable? Is it because I’m a burden?”
“N-no, no no no. It’s fine, Bibi. Just talk to me comfortably…….”
-……Have all the people in this family swallowed entire foxes whole….（￣□￣；）
That’s what you get—Bibi is just kind-hearted.
Especially now that I’ve integrated my memories properly, Bibi was truly an extraordinarily mature child.
She was generous even to me, bound to her by unfortunate circumstances, and she did her absolute best to save her family. Yet despite everything she endured…….
Rather, she was so unlike a child that it troubled my heart. She was even more mature because she knew her family treasured her and would grant her anything she wished.
She barely expressed her own frustrations.
Her childish crying in front of others was often a calculated performance, but Bibi’s affection for me was real.
Oh, I embraced the sobbing Bibi like she was a lost child herself, tears streaming down her face.
“S-sob, w-wail, I really thought you were dead. I was so scared…….”
“……O-oh, um. Let me see. Stop crying now. Your pretty eyes will swell.”
I took a handkerchief from Bibi’s lady’s maid, who’d been glued to her side, and carefully wiped away the tears around her eyes.
“……I’m sorry. I was truly wrong to you and everyone.”
“……You’re all right, aren’t you?”
“Yes. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with me.”
“You won’t disappear like that again, will you?”
As I hesitated on my answer, my eyes met Raymond’s once more. His face was serene.
…Well, Raymond isn’t the kind of man to speak with a forked tongue. He said I could stay and leave as much as I wanted, so I wouldn’t disappear like ‘that’ again.
“Yes.”
“……Sis is so mean.”
Fresh tears fell from those blue eyes I thought I’d finally calmed. Not the torrent from before, but steady droplets—and I laughed helplessly.
“I didn’t even take one of the dolls you gave me as a gift. Yes…….”
“…….”
“Titania sis seemed not to want to be tangled up with us, so I was deliberately keeping my distance, and then to hear she died alongside such garrbage-subhuman-waste-that-even-giving-it-to-maggots-would-pollute-the-earth—it makes no sense.”
“My Bibi sure has learned to talk fast while I wasn’t looking.”
I comforted the hiccupping Bibi and marveled purely at the speed. I barely understood half of it.

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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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