Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 228

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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 228

“No wait, Debbie said you’re awfully fond of Property Deeds. Real estate? Was it that real estate was the best? That’s not it, I need the Property Deed…! Lucy! Where is it!”
“Young miss, one moment—the Property Deed I’m about to give you—”
“The Ducal Estate!”
“Stop!”
Your Grace, now? Your precious daughter is about to hand over the Property Deed and the Treasury wholesale to a stranger?? I really think you ought to come and see this??? If this keeps up, you’ll lose the house and everything else and end up on the street!
I barely managed to collect myself.
I’d had my share of dreams—spreading out gold, scattering it about, cackling “Haha! This is all mine! I’m rich!”—and I wasn’t unfamiliar with joy at seeing the wealth and riches Flux offered without reservation. I’d even experienced the Castrain Family’s money troubles more than once.
But when someone pressed an entire Property Deed and Treasury key into my hands like this, my heart began to race.
Rather than joy, I was actually starting to feel afraid. No, truly—I could see it now: open that Treasury and whatever I took, whatever I used, I’d probably hear “Of course, use it well!” just like that. I’d simply enjoyed a couple of estates in scenic locations, and even that felt like the modest pleasure of becoming a landlord.
“…Bibi, promise me that if anyone ever asks you to vouch for them, you’ll refuse absolutely and just take this back.”
Bibi remained steadfast, regardless of how I trembled while speaking. There was something almost resentful in it—like a mother-in-law who’d gone mad with fury, bursting out after seeing her precious daughter enter as a bride in a worn hand-me-down dress with no wedding gown, veil, or tiara.
“You’ve been living too simply all this time.”
“…I just seem to prefer living simply.”
“We could even build structures with gold and diamonds!”
“I prefer buildings made of ordinary sturdy wood and stone! Gold buildings just crumble!”
“We could serve you your favorite meat and desserts at every meal!”
“No, that’s a bit… but if I ate that lavishly at every meal, my stomach would go on strike! My health would suffer!”
The argument had no end.
Lucy, Bibi’s remarkably competent maid, seized the moment while Bibi and I were bickering and returned with a document at lightning speed, pressing it into Bibi’s hands.
Really? Truly? You retrieved the great Ducal Estate’s Property Deed in this brief moment? Without anyone’s permission? The household actually runs this way?
While I was suffocating on the endless question marks rising from the depths of my heart, Bibi thrust the glittering Pink Diamond Key and the Property Deed in front of me with a determined expression.
“Please accept it.”
“……”
My heart, which had beaten at a measured pace even before Magic Beasts, now thrashed about in a tumult.
“Even if you receive this, you won’t sell off precious treasures to soothe your own vanity, or hand over buildings to outsiders and leave us on the street, right?”
“Wouldn’t only a madman do that?”
“If you become the owner, we’ll be bound by our responsibility to you and won’t be able to go far.”
“……”
Only then did words fail me, and I could only open and close my lips. The reason for this act—laying out a feast and then handing over everything, root and branch, despite knowing it made no sense.
Bibi watched my expression carefully and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“…You’ve saved me and our family so many times.”
“……”
“You always said anyone would do the same. That you were just doing what was natural. You told me to prioritize my family above all else… but then who’s left for you to prioritize?”
“……”
“Even Second Empress Elaine didn’t resent you or ask for your reliance—she just helped. Without even getting angry.”
“No human can be perfect…”
“That’s why I’m going to insist. You understand other people so well, so much, so constantly. Please understand me too. No—please do understand me.”
The small hands gripping my waist and clutching the hem of my skirt trembled.
A faint fear, and anxiety alongside it. I remembered that brief moment when I’d held her close to protect her from the threat of death.
I’d thought that everything would be all right if she existed.
Though I didn’t know why I’d come to live this life in the Imperial Palace, I thought that saving her would make even my death worthwhile.
And I remembered—that emotion now shining in her eyes had never fully faded from the time she kept following behind me and trying to help me.
Before her eyes, the benefactor who’d saved her by risking their life accepted their own death and closed their eyes. That must have been a trauma for her. Yet she carried that fear with grace, continuing to live without showing it, and then she encountered my false death again…
“…I was wrong.”
I told Bibi quietly, blinking.
“I shouldn’t have done that to you. When we first met, I shouldn’t have said ‘I’m fine’ and talked about arranging things after my death. If it truly had been something natural as you say, I should have considered you until the very end.”
“Ah, no, I didn’t mean it that way…!”
“I’m truly grown now, so I can say that you mustn’t carry yourself that way.”
I gently pressed her cheek and looked at her eyes, which had grown clouded as if she might cry but ultimately didn’t.
That’s right.
Where does a truly “fine” child exist? I’m not fine myself—how could I think anyone else would be?
“I’m genuinely grateful that I saved you that day.”
“……”
“No matter what happens, I won’t regret it.”
“…Sniff, sniff. But Bibi might have been a wicked child not worth risking your life for.”
“When you’ve grown up so wonderfully, how could that be?”
“We tried so hard to dissolve the Castrain Family engagement and create distance, and now I’m getting in the way…”
“Mm, without the Castrain Family’s help I certainly couldn’t have made it this far either… You’ve been so confident all this time. Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”
I wiped her face gently with the handkerchief I was offered, watching Bibi shed thick, consecutive tears that hung like grape clusters, so different from when she’d rushed toward me crying in welcome.
“It’s because you’re such a good person.”
“Mm……”
“B-Bibi thought that if she stayed your darling, you’d be more worried about her and wouldn’t go anywhere…”
The lace ribbon in Bibi’s hair drooped like her ears, wilting along with her.
“Bibi’s actually a bad child. She gets spoiled rotten by you, tells stories about the past to trigger your guilt. She’s tried to keep you tied down with big money and riches and her brothers’ faces!”
“…Ah well, I did suspect as much, so there we are.”
—It didn’t even seem like she was trying to hide it.
(´∵)
“A Bibi who throws tantrums, cries carelessly, and pouts isn’t cute at all… I failed… You probably expected everything anyway, so the plan didn’t even work. Sniff, Bibi’s a bad child…”
“When our Bibi’s a little bit cheeky like this, that’s when she’s cutest, hmm.”
“…Really?”
“Yes, really. You’ll end up with rabbit eyes. So those ‘brothers’ cooperated well?”
I comforted Bibi and understood.
Now that I thought about it… I recalled Raymond and Lisianthus being suspiciously strange today. Since before, Bibi cried and Raymond cried—I’d wondered what kind of crying party this was—but they’d been cooperating with Bibi’s ultimate goal all along. Though the Duke’s reaction had been a bit odd too…
Thinking that way, I patted Bibi as she began to settle down, saying what a pretty child she was, such a pretty child. Bibi spoke through her stuffy nose.
“Lisianthus said to tell you that he’s not some spineless man who seduces women just because Bibi tells him to.”
“…Huh?”
“Raymond said he’d do that kind of thing on his own without Bibi even needing to ask, and not to throw extra distractions his way.”
“…W-what?”
“Rasper said if it looked like you’d tire of both Raymond and Lisianthus and wouldn’t even look their way, he’d throw his hat in the ring. He asked me to wait until he’s a bit older.”
“…When Rasper comes of age, wouldn’t there be another young lady closer to his own age who’d suit him better? More importantly, Bibi, did you really ask even Rasper to cooperate…?”
“Rasper said there’s no reason to sympathize with his older brothers, who can’t even properly seduce someone as bold and magnanimous as you and just keep fumbling around, and that being young doesn’t mean his eyes and judgment are clouded. I agreed.”
“……”
If I’d opened my mouth, I probably would’ve smacked the back of my own head saying ‘acting like a child when you should know better!’
More than that, Bibi, why are you talking to me like you’re introducing merchandise? These are the brothers you cherish…
My pupils trembled helplessly. Bibi spoke cheerfully.
“I don’t care who you choose!”
Well, your sister cares very much…
Why should the healthy men of this household suddenly be desperate to seduce me? Are you all scared I’ll disappear and fake my death again?! I can’t argue with that! Why does this feel weird to me from a Confucian standpoint?!
—…Well, the Duke himself doesn’t seem bothered by it either.( ་ ⍸ ་ )
Like a civilian suddenly dropped into a mating reality show without warning, I was dazed while Bibi continued to smile brightly when one of the people we’d just been discussing interjected.
“What are you two talking about?”
Bright smiling red eyes met my gaze.
…I couldn’t bring myself to say it was about him.

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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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