Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 246

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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 246

“Damn it, what nonsense have you been spouting all this time——!”
Lisianthus started to protest but was silenced as Raymond’s foot swept him airborne. Coughing roughly, he scrambled to his feet, only to be brushed aside again with ease by Raymond.
From the start, unlike Raymond who harbored no hesitation whatsoever, Lisianthus remained dazed, still unable to grasp what was happening.
He continued only to dodge attacks, tumbling to the ground once more. His arm was trampled, and by the younger brother he’d regarded with affectionate eyes—though not loving ones—Raymond spoke flatly.
“Don’t pity me.”
“…What?”
“There’s no need to understand either.”
Fear flickered across Lisianthus’s eyes.
“No need to hesitate when you swing a blade.”
“This whole time—honestly, why do you keep saying things I can’t even comprehend!”
Lisianthus wasn’t a fool. It was closer to denying the reality before his eyes even as he grasped it. Once, Raymond had believed his innocence was something he must protect. Not anymore.
“From now on, I am your enemy.”
“……”
“That’s all you need to know.”
Leaving Lisianthus behind, dazed and motionless, Raymond walked away without hesitation. The sound of his footsteps—clip-clop, clip-clop, resolute and unwavering—filled the space as Lisianthus’s voice trembled.
“…Why are you doing this, brother?”
The footsteps stopped.
“……”
“I don’t—I don’t understand. Why you’re like this, I really don’t understand it at all……. Is it because you couldn’t capture Titania? Is that it? Is that why you’re acting like this……”
“……”
“What about Father? What about Rasper? What about me? What about Bibi? You’re leaving this residence, leaving our entire family behind, and now—where are you even going?”
Lisianthus’s voice resembled that of a lost child.
“It seems Rasper is considerably more clever than you, at least.”
“…What?”
A massive raven-like Magic Beast shrieked from above. Lisianthus’s eyes widened.
Impossible. No matter that the barrier protecting the residence had shattered from that blow just moments ago, no matter that the area was in ruins—how could a Magic Beast dare to appear here of all places?
No. His brother would kill it. He had to. After a lifetime of slaughtering Magic Beasts and slaughtering them again, it was unthinkable that one would ever—but contrary to Lisianthus’s desperate denial of reality, the beast descended without interference, landing precisely in one spot: directly before Raymond. Its feathers gleamed as it bowed its head in submission.
Raymond spoke, with Lisianthus still somehow standing before him.
“Do what you believe you must.”
“……”
“As will I.”
Crack!
Raymond shattered the Bright Blue Sphere that had somehow maintained its form. Shards grazed his skin, drawing blood, but it healed instantly. Then he mounted the Magic Beast and soared skyward.
Shriek, shrieeeeek—the Magic Beast wailed with an otherworldly cry. Its flight was swift. In moments, the landscape of the Duke of Castrain’s Residence receded from view, and Raymond didn’t so much as glance back. He took a moment to gather his thoughts.
He’d already sensed the destination. Rasper was a genius, and it seemed he’d been worried about Raymond from long ago, but……
Raymond could sense the faint starlike light that had clung to the Bright Blue Sphere. It was Titania’s trace.
Well, Illian would certainly try to kill Raymond, so it was rather predictable that the coolheaded and quick-witted Rasper would take Illian’s hand—otherwise it would have been troublesome. It was as expected.
Time moved peculiarly fast. It always did when Titania was within reach. When Raymond came to his senses, he found himself approaching a half-ruined building, and before him stood Titania with a pale, exhausted face, flanked by others. He’d seen her just moments ago, yet something seemed different now.
No—not different. Just new. He felt as though he’d seen her many times, yet why did she grow more new with each glance? Strange. Raymond steadied his dimming vision and smiled. Like a watercolor painting spoiled by someone’s spilled water, with only one figure left untouched, Titania shone.
“Titania.”
Titania said nothing. Rasper glared at him, teeth gritted. Illian’s face was grave. And Pan’s eyes held the contempt one reserves for an enemy—the gazes one turns on a monster.
“Don’t go!”
Raymond glanced briefly toward Rasper. Perhaps knowing that words would never reach him, he addressed only Titania—how clever. Unlike Lisianthus, who would hesitate at a crucial moment because of sentiment, Rasper understood the futility.
“…Just stay quiet for a moment, Rasper.”
“Master!”
“An unexpected reunion, Young Duke Raymond.”
“I hadn’t expected you to call me Young Duke even now.”
Raymond replied flatly to Illian, who was assessing his condition, then turned his gaze back to Titania. His voice was calmer than anticipated, yet an emotion he couldn’t quite grasp rippled through his blue eyes like deep currents.
Well, there was no need to puzzle over it. The answer was obvious.
This woman would hate him for the rest of her life. Perhaps despise him. But what did it matter? Let the others play the role of the virtuous ones.
He’d already begged and pleaded enough before. He knew well that such things couldn’t hold her down even by a single step. At least not the Raymond Oberon El Castrain she so carelessly defined—the one responsible and proper, courteous and dutiful. So Raymond spoke without hesitation, smiling.
“If you don’t follow, I will kill everyone here.”
Horror flashed across Titania’s face. That look of incomprehension, as if staring at a monster. He’d anticipated it, so it was bearable. Well, what answer would come? That you couldn’t do such a thing, that these people are precious to you—
The logic was sound. These were people who would never yield to such crude threats. So Raymond decided to demolish another corner of the building. Thunder and the sound of collapse mixed into cacophony. All sensation blurred together, nauseating.
“Wh—what—”
“Yes. I’ve come to abduct you.”
“……”
“Before you disappear on your own again this time.”
“……Raymond.”
“Whatever you’ve heard, it’s likely true. I’ve no intention of denying it. However…I do think it would be better for everyone if you simply complied with my words.”
Raymond paused. Titania had clenched her teeth as she spoke.
“…Why are you doing this?”
Because you’d lived longer?
“Suddenly, now of all times, you say you’ll kill—you’ll take me away, and then what……”
Because you hadn’t disappeared?
“…Really, what’s your purpose?”
Perhaps it was just her mood, but Titania looked as though she might weep. Yet—why did being abducted by such a person cause her pain? And yet she didn’t seem as though she would refuse Raymond’s proposal. That was fortunate. With loved ones held hostage, Titania wouldn’t try to escape anyway.
It was always easier to disappoint Titania’s expectations than to fulfill them. Probably always would be.
That foolish woman, bearing childhood sins like a yoke, atoning across a lifetime. That woman who carried no more debt, no more responsibility, yet tried to make herself into compost for a future she’d never see. That woman who, even when flowers bloomed in the soil where she’d withered, even when people praised their beauty and lauded their fragrance, would smile knowing her name wouldn’t remain—and accepting it as inevitable……
Look at that face. Look at that expression.
Didn’t she truly look as though she would listen to any circumstance, try to understand?
Raymond’s mouth suddenly went dry.
This woman had always made him weak. She made him want to spill every hidden truth, to bow like a slave and beg for mercy.
For so long, he’d deceived himself—feigning hatred, pretending it was intolerable, deluding himself that she had no effect on his life. All that armor cracked and shattered, piercing to the core. Her death had overturned everything in him. The feelings he’d denied until death came like a flood, and he was swept away.
Even before he’d recovered all his memories, Raymond couldn’t truly hate Titania. Couldn’t truly despise her. He only harbored an endless cynical sentiment, stood apart, and buried his feelings again and again.
Because it couldn’t be love.
Like burying an answer sheet to an unsolvable problem in the sand, never looking back, running away. Imagining the day waves would wash away the sand, and that answer would be displayed on the roadside, torturing himself with dread and denial, until one moment he suddenly understood.
Every moment he remembered was full of Titania. Despite how he’d tried to forget, deny, and run away.
Therefore, Raymond would be a loser forever.
“I’m simply tired of all this now……”
That much was sincere.
“So I’m ending it all, this time for good.”
A sense of déjà vu. Had he said this to someone else? What face had they made?
Raymond couldn’t imagine what expression he wore. As if fleeing from something, he caught Titania before she could even answer, snaring her in his arms.
She cried out, a small, sharp sound, and was pulled toward him like a young bird. The blade she’d clung to like her very life came with her, and the Divine Beast that had somehow adhered to her did as well. Holding the gasping woman in an embrace like restraint, that thin warmth was unbearably satisfying. He could do this forever without regret. At how foolish he was, Raymond gritted his teeth.
After all, nothing could be undone now.

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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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