Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 231

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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 231

‘I never asked you to understand me.’
‘…And when did you beg my brother to spare your life in front of me?’
‘Why? Did you want me to beg in front of you instead?’
The gaze I cast down at Titania, grinning so broadly, was sinister.
She wants to kill me.
I could tell that much. There was no reason to expect anything beautiful—she could barely manage her own path forward.
My life has been brutally harsh. Though ‘Titania’ failed to succeed in poisoning me, in the end I fell into a coma because of enemies. From that point on, everyone in the Castrain Ducal Family began to collapse.
The front line of the family, which I had barely managed to hold together through sheer force of will, crumbled. The number of humans who could stand against Magic Beasts dwindled to mere handful. By the time the Emperor became no better than the mayor of some city from his empire’s past days of prosperity.
Who would have thought of hope in such times? Who could dream of a future?
I don’t know.
Truth be told, even ‘Titania’ herself had no certainty then. Rather, because reality was so desperate, I harbored no lingering attachments. Whatever happened, it would be better than this.
‘You said it yourself in the first place.’
Did the other person laugh when I said this?
‘You’re a seed rotten to the core. Even if you died and were reborn, no matter what happens, you can never receive Lord Raymond’s love.’
Or did their expression twist?
‘It would have been better for my brother if you had never existed from the start.’
………
‘Isn’t that what you said?’
The ground was bright red and the air was black. Over the earth where only the dead and the dying lay thick, the scraping sound of withered grass seemed to echo like screams.
Surely I had only returned to them the very words they had spoken before, yet the twisted face with its frozen expression looked somehow… well, it almost seemed like they were regretting it. In this situation? What could they possibly regret?
Even the most virtuous sage struggles to remain merciful when they themselves are suffering, in pain, and have lost everything. It seemed ‘Titania’ simply thought then that Lisianthus and I were truly star-crossed. I felt no anger.
Frankly, Raymond might have ended as merely a business betrothal if Titania hadn’t become so obsessed with him. But Lisianthus was like a puzzle piece that never fit from the start—the relationship kept creaking and grinding between us.
The crude remarks and curses I couldn’t bring myself to hurl at Raymond came pouring out naturally when directed at Lisianthus, as though it were only right.
When the face that had always smiled readily and joked so lightly became devoid of even a hint of laughter, well… they say even thieves won’t steal seeds, and I suppose that’s what I thought then.
It was almost the attitude of someone indifferent to whether a wild stray dog would bite me or not.
…Anyway, ‘Titania’ simply let it go at the time, thinking: the world has become this way, so of course he has become like that too.
But if I’m being honest about it.
‘If I had never existed from the start.’ That made me laugh.
It will end.
There’s no need for you to vent your hatred on me now. Set this damned world right, and you fine folk can go save the world and deepen family bonds and live happily ever after.
I will simply dream a happy dream for a moment and vanish like a bubble.
Though it’s difficult not to have existed ‘from the start,’ fairy tales are such things where the ending matters most, so do bear with that much.
I think I wanted to say something like that. But ‘Titania’ simply swallowed all those words inside.
If I had possessed any desire to undo something.
Now that the world had become this way, I harbored no wish to appear favorably to anyone… nor any thought of wanting to be happy.
In any case, that very ‘beginning’ was none other than a foolish, arrogant, and stupid young princess who thought only her love was supreme. No one could deny that.
I simply knew it was unreasonable. I myself lived only understanding myself, struggling as though an irrational love was still love within the Imperial Palace.
Regardless, people who have lived their entire lives protecting others received no reward whatsoever, and this world crumbles and shatters so—
Even to ‘Titania,’ who understood none of such logic, it seemed strange.
So if I was to sacrifice myself, I would endure without remaining in anyone’s memory, simply living on and on until someday even my own existence was forgotten.
Then I alone would suffice.
No matter if I was ‘Titania,’ I didn’t wish to leave behind such pitiful words as ‘forget me and live happily, like some tragic princess from a fairy tale.’ Though that was the reality.
‘Endure just a little longer.’
So that is all I said then.
Because it was true.
Then came a gaze so sinister it seemed ready to throttle me at any moment… or was it? Looking back now, it seemed strangely hollow somehow, and as though he were hesitating, teeth clenched—though I cannot be certain.
Eyes like that, just as they are now.
A memory that I had recalled many times, forgotten again, and pieced together sometimes blazed clear and sometimes blurred.
Every time I blinked, Lisianthus in reality and in memory fixed me with eyes that gleamed crimson like a hunter regarding prey. Red and black and darkness wove between past and present and future like a tidal wave, then vanished.
Did Lisianthus then simply want to be angry?
“So even if my stomach were starving and driving me mad. Even if I were dying. Even if my body were craving it so desperately I couldn’t do anything without it.”
Something is different.
So the current Lisianthus hardly resembled a second son of the Castrain Ducal Family who merely kills a few Magic Beasts, mourns the loss of comrades in what seem like tragedies, respects his brother, cherishes his siblings, honors his father, and engages in all manner of rebellion.
Of course, the matters that members of the Castrain Family ordinarily face and the responsibilities they must shoulder are heavier than for most, yet despite that, he did not possess the kind of dense, dark concentration in those eyes that someone who had walked through a living hell, treading upon all manner of tragedies underfoot, would have.
Those eyes with such peculiar intensity…
I opened my eyes wide.
Is it a misunderstanding? Surely not? That can’t be right.
It must be a misunderstanding. Raymond has changed too, but still… As I was about to say something, Lisianthus whispered again.
“Even if I wanted to bite down hard all at once, all in one go—”
Firm fingertips interlocked with mine. Lips pressed gently and repeatedly across the back of my hand and my palm, warm and firm.
“—I know exactly when to hold back.”
Behind the corners of his slightly smiling mouth, white canines showed. Their tips were oddly sharp. Cold sweat beaded down my spine. That was when it happened.
“A dog that cannot master its own bite—how would it ever recognize its master, Lisianthus?”
Thump, thump. Raymond approached with light footsteps. His voice was oddly calm, unsuited to the moment. Lisianthus’s body visibly stiffened.

* * *

“How dare you conduct yourself with such disrespect toward me!”
Adrian kept his face fixed while rolling only his eyes in a sidelong glance. There were truly many people. Nobles who rarely appeared in the throne room normally crowded the space. Though the Emperor’s face was flushed with rage, one could discern upon close inspection that the color did not actually stem from anger alone.
“It is a misunderstanding, Your Majesty.”
“Do you think I am your father?”
This was the second time this week. The second time enduring such humiliation.
The Emperor had deliberately summoned a crowd of nobles to this place and scolded Adrian over trivial matters. Adrian was beginning to run short on repertoire for responses to the Emperor.
“Look at Brian. Does he not set the example for all? Should you not follow at least half as well as that admirable brother?”
………
“Your Majesty, please calm your anger.”
And Cleo, the consort, fanning the flames of anger in an unsuitable situation.
“Not even showing the slightest sign of remorse!”
“That is not so, Your Majesty.”
“To think I have raised such an unfilial son!”
Crack! The aging Emperor summoned all his strength and struck his own son’s cheek. Adrian thought it better than throwing objects. Even as Adrian, one cannot condition one’s skull for such blows.
“…It seems I am greatly lacking, Your Majesty, and have failed to meet the expectations you placed upon me. If it please you, instruct me on how I should have behaved.”
“How many women have you laid hands on, and how much money have you squandered?”
Women? Money? Laughter bubbled up unbidden. Several nobles who knew Adrian’s usual conduct could not hide their sour expressions.
“There are widespread complaints that you abuse the authority of a prince to oppress others!”
“…Ah, yes, so I have heard.”
“A member of the noble Imperial bloodline should properly guard his conduct—how did the Empress raise you to be this way!”
“Perhaps it is because I am your son, Father.”
“What, what, what?”
“I.”
Adrian smiled and tilted his chin upward in a nod. Toward where Cleo, the consort, stood.
“Resembling Your Majesty, who admires none but the beautiful consort Cleo, I seem to have laid hands on beautiful women without realizing it myself. How curious. I, without even a princess consort, where would I have met such noble ladies? I wondered why so many handmaidens were assigned to my remote quarters. Well then, Consort Cleo, if you wished to create scandal, you might have shown more sincerity.”
“N-no, Prince Adrian! How could I—no, Your Majesty. Since the Empress has withdrawn for the time being, I thought it my duty to oversee affairs of the Palace carefully. Upon hearing that many of the young ones wished to leave or were disappearing, I made inquiries out of concern…”
“I need no explanation, consort. I understand it all.”
The consort, squeezing out tears that didn’t exist and adopting a pitiful expression. The Emperor, embracing the consort’s shoulders. And Adrian, standing before the Emperor, watching all this unfold with a cold expression…
Well, it was all merely ceremony.
Adrian also knew that even if victims came forward weeping, ‘His Highness the Prince did this to me,’ or even if he protested, ‘Did I not do otherwise?’—nothing would change.
“You have grown accustomed to comfort within the Palace and forgotten your place!”
………
“Get out!”
………
“And do not return until I have forgiven you.”
Adrian lifted only the corners of his lips in a smile. It was so brief that anyone who saw it might doubt their own eyes.

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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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