Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 261

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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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Episode 261

Seonghwang had never once involved herself in matters of importance, not in all this time. In short, she was an Outsider.
Because of this, neither side had ever imagined her becoming a useful asset, or taking any kind of action at all. She wasn’t even a variable. She had always done nothing and died, consumed by her own helplessness.
Marjid was forever conspiring with enemies, and Illian was forever broken and fighting enemies with his whole being. Seonghwang watched it all, laughed at those jockeying to line up before she died, wondering who would become the next Seonghwang, and merely exhaled fading breaths. Such a thing—a powerless child sneaking into Seonghwang’s chambers and spouting strange words without warning. She had never even imagined it.
Of course, no matter how secluded Seonghwang was, she remained Seonghwang. Not just anyone could come and go from her chambers. She looked down at the child throwing a fit before her. A mechanical voice issued from her lips.
“Having great power doesn’t make you happy.”
“I know.”
“Knowing more than others doesn’t make it useful either.”
“I know.”
“So, if I were to search you out and find traces of Wind Power in your body—would you then run yourself to ruin for your family?”
“If I gather everything together, I might feel certain about something. So I want to try gathering it first.”
“……Truly, what a reckless child you are.”
Seonghwang let out a soft laugh.
She was too exhausted to do anything more.
Whether Marjid played politics or not, whether the Imperial Family formed ties or not. It was no longer any concern of hers. Not anymore, truly not.
And yet, somehow.
Seonghwang thought briefly of the past. Among the voices of people who once revered her as a saint, when she had worked herself to pieces.
A time when she was certain she could change the world herself. The past had faded and her body had broken, but Seonghwang decided to indulge in a moment’s whimsy toward the child.
Seonghwang placed her withered, skeletal hand upon the child’s bright, lively brow. The sensation that followed was like twisting rusty metal by force.
Like pulling up dead roots, like a sprout rising from a seed. Like an insect that had endured a chrysalis state for ten years spreading its wings.
A sensation so very light.
Bibi blinked.
Wind, gently, like dandelion seeds scattering, tickles across her skin and whispers an ancient voice.
—My beloved daughter.
This is an Auditory Hallucination.
A Hallucination that Bibi cannot see with her eyes.
A light kiss descends upon the brow of a newborn who has not yet opened her eyes. Like the prayer of the dead.
—I wish you could live in a world where you could feel at peace……. Mother will try her best.
Always, always, the spirited, strong-willed woman faltered for just a moment into an uncertain voice. It is the way of those who stand before something so infinitely precious. They lose confidence, thinking that even after doing everything they can, it will not be enough.
—I love you.
What name should be given to the footsteps of one who walks a dangerous path that might lead to her own death, leaving her greatest insurance in the arms of a newborn?
That is what love is.
—May you be happy always and forever.
As much as irrational hatred overflows, so too does unconditional love exist in equal measure.
Bibi slowly opened her eyes.

* * *

“I didn’t expect you to come.”
The Emperor was alone.
Having handed everything over to Imperial Consort Cleo and Prince Brian, no one sought him out. Having surrendered even the imperial seal, he was now merely a puppet, a figurehead kept alive just in case. Yet he himself did not know this. The beautiful woman before the slack-jawed, grinning Emperor did not lift her bowed head, as if embarrassed.
From the First Emperor until now, hundreds of years had passed. Many pieces of information once given only to the Emperor’s heir had been lost, yet still, some remained.
Truly, secret passages that only the Emperor knew how to access.
“Ah, Elaine. You’ve truly grown healthy.”
“…….”
A shadow-like beauty wrapped entirely in a black veil smiled. Despite being at an age where she had grown children, she appeared as youthful as a maiden in her prime—truly an uncanny beauty.
Even through the veil, her obscured form could not hide it. Her once-pallid cheeks now held a rosy flush, and her eyes, which avoided the Emperor’s gaze, gleamed with vitality. Nearly every beauty the Emperor had ever encountered—though most of them showed some slight absence in their expressions—drew his admiration when he saw her.
“It was worth the effort, sending you so far away. Yes, I missed you, didn’t I?”
“Yes.”
“If only Cleo weren’t so jealous, I would have brought you in through the front gates formally. Alas, tsk……. Surely you understand.”
It was laughable. Elaine was, after all, an Imperial Consort who had even borne a daughter. And yet, to avoid the jealousy of Cleo—who wasn’t even the Empress—she was forced to sneak through the Imperial Palace’s hidden passages. Was this not him making clear he’d keep her as a secret mistress?
Yet the Emperor was beaming with pride. He had expended one of the few secret passages to bring Elaine here, but he didn’t think it would become a problem. The previous Emperor had supposedly never used it even once, and he’d ordered the subordinate who brought Elaine to be executed.
Elaine herself? Well…. Dead Titania had been on good terms with the Empress and Adrian, but she’s dead now. Surely she would want to live a life of riches and ease under the Emperor’s favor for the rest of her days, so why would she willingly go looking for danger?
The Emperor swallowed as he looked at Elaine.
“You look just like you did when I first saw you.”
“…….”
“You were truly beautiful. Yes, the way you smiled so shyly…….”
The Emperor’s mood soured, if only for a moment. That smile, blushing bashfully. She had never smiled at him that way in the Imperial Palace. It was only at that soirée in her girlhood that Elaine had smiled thus. Looking back now, had she been smiling at that guard knight instead?
Because Elaine had never once refused him, because she had merely bowed her head submissively, the Emperor had kept silent about the rumors of Imperial Consort Elaine—who had been forced by her family into the palace, parted from her lover. And even more so after she fell ill and was bedridden.
But today, she smiled with a freshness as if she’d returned to her girlish days. No, surely it was his worry. The Emperor himself could have anything he wished. Since it had come to this…….
“Your Majesty.”
“Mm?”
“The attendants are nowhere to be seen.”
“Ah, I dislike such formality. This place is somewhere only I can access. I called you here specially.”
The way she said “I see” was so flat that the Emperor felt slightly disappointed. Doesn’t she realize how great a privilege I’m bestowing upon her?
“…Ahem. This place is actually…. One of the hidden spaces in the Imperial Palace, shown to me by the late Emperor. I opened it to bring you here, away from Imperial Consort Cleo’s eyes. Even the Empress doesn’t know of this place’s existence.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. So…….”
“Don’t you wonder why I’m wearing a black veil?”
“…Mm? Now that you mention it, didn’t you not care for black? Has your taste changed somewhat…….”
“You haven’t offered a single word of comfort to a mother who’s lost her child.”
“Ah, well, that is…….”
Slowly, the veil fell away. Imperial Consort Elaine gathered it in her arms. The clothes she wore were entirely black, with not a shred of white visible.
“I, I’m truly sorry to hear of it. We held a lavish funeral. Perhaps you’d like to visit the grave?”
Before the Emperor’s frantic apologies, Imperial Consort Elaine smiled sweetly.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes?”
“There’s no need for that.”
“Ah, well, then shall we rest together and recover…….”
“My family bade me present this flower to Your Majesty.”
“Mm?”
A heap of black lilies.
The Emperor blinked at the sight of them.
Ah yes. Elaine’s family. A family perfectly suited to handling the tedious details. He’d had them do various things this time, and they’d distinguished themselves in bringing Elaine here. But flowers—the palace overflowed with them. So why specifically…….
Before the Emperor’s eyes, Imperial Consort Elaine snapped the flowers. She broke the stems with sharp cracks, letting the plump buds scatter across the floor. Only the fragrance remained, then faded.
Then she brushed her hands clean as if the pollen were filthy. She even trampled them beneath her neatly shod feet.
“…What is the meaning of this?”
By then, the Emperor had sensed something amiss. Imperial Consort Elaine was like a harbinger of death. Draped in black garments like a crow……. She drew her hand from beneath the tightly wound black veil and brought it to the Emperor’s cheek.
The Emperor watched the motion numbly, then startled at the cold sensation grazing his cheek and neck. It wasn’t that her body temperature was low.
Something sharp…….
Blood beads fall. Imperial Consort Elaine unflinchingly dripped the blood onto the trampled heap of black lilies. As a stench of rotting spread, the lilies burst into flame. Seeing that spectacle, green fire blazed in the woman’s eyes.
“How dare you wound the imperial person! Have you lost your mind?”
“No.”
At the base of her neck. A thin, sharp edge like a Razor Blade glinted between the woman’s fingers.
“I have ‘captured’ Your Majesty alive.”
“…What? What, in all of this, is…….”
“Your Majesty. I was a terrible mother, but you were a far more vicious father.”
Elaine wore an expression she could never have imagined showing the Emperor.
Cold, filled with contempt.

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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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