Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 270

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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 270

“Near the Empress’s Palace and the Rose Palace, I’ve had several underground warehouses excavated. They’re not far from the underground passages.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Why are you so startled? Surely you’ve heard the rumors that such places exist?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“I’ve buried all manner of things down there. They’d be perfect if the fire spreads that far. Hmph, with flames raging so wildly out there, it’s strange not a single spark has reached those warehouses yet. Those wretched mercenaries have simply taken the coin and fled.”
……
Sara swallowed the words that were rising in her throat.
The underground passages were not, in fact, formal construction. Typically, the palace basement might have a warehouse or two, but passages connecting different palaces were far from standard practice—not with all the security concerns involved.
Yet the palace was more than just the residences of the nobility.
The basements beneath the quarters where maids, servants, and attendants lodged were labyrinthine in ways that few would ever know. Warehouses could be expanded, connected by small corridors to adjoining storage areas.
There were back doors on the first floor utilizing hedges and other cover, and the servants working in the old, complicated palace had learned, almost by necessity, how to navigate in and out without drawing notice—using the ancient infrastructure to their advantage.
That Cleo, a woman whose fingers were in so many pies, had kept various goods and conducted transactions in places others couldn’t see—Sara knew this well.
As for those underground passages themselves, since the Imperial Palace had fallen into such chaos……
‘Damn it. How can I go to such a place when I’m terrified?’
Even as Sara watched for Titania’s reaction, she found herself remembering the time when she’d disdainfully ignored her former colleagues by borrowing Cleo’s authority.
Those were good days. Cleo’s favor had seemed like a golden rope descending from heaven.
When Cleo had placed Sara at Titania’s side, Sara had found it pitiful and laughable how Sara had outwardly consented while hesitantly dragging her feet—she’d wanted to mock her.
In the end, what had happened?
She’d ordered Sara to follow at Titania’s side and steal a sword if possible. But instead of stealing it, Sara had gotten caught up in some incident and died along with everyone else. The corpse couldn’t even be recovered—the explosion was massive enough to level the entire building—so it was only natural that whether it was a Magic Sword, a Divine Sword, or anything else, it would have been destroyed along with her.
Still, as if hoping against hope, Cleo had subtly questioned Sara about Sara’s fate, but Sara had only shaken her head and denied it.
That stupid girl must have been terrified ever since Cleo made an example of Miriam through execution—she wouldn’t have dared deceive her. Inwardly, Sara had cursed her.
Stupid indeed. No matter how much a superior insisted on going together, if something felt off, you should have slipped away on your own. With no sense of what was happening around you, of course you’d die a dog’s death!
Well, in any case, Sara had succeeded in becoming the chief attendant of the Rose Palace, so there was no reason to worry much about it.
But there was a problem.
‘…The children said something strange was happening in the Rose Palace basement!’
More precisely, rumors had spread that ghosts appeared down there. That same rumor had surfaced once during Titania’s lifetime and been thoroughly crushed by her own hand.
After Titania’s death, when the Rose Palace maids were tormented by Sara and Cleo, what had once been a vibrant palace had grown quite desolate.
Some girls like Debbie, who seemed a bit odd in the head, would smile cheerfully while working in those dark spaces, but Sara herself found them unsettling and tried not to linger in the Rose Palace. After all, it was Cleo as Imperial Consort whom she needed to watch and serve.
But now that things had come to this, she should not have dismissed those rumors.
Well, she’d heard talk of Cleo taking servants and maids with nowhere else to go and putting them to use somewhere or other. There was no way she couldn’t have known. She’d endured this far because she didn’t dispose of useful, serviceable people… but.
“I-I’ll go. What should I do?”
…If what she was being asked to do threatened her life, that would be different. Noticing Sara’s hesitation, Cleo shot her a glance that seemed almost amused.
“What, are you trembling because you’re afraid of lighting the fuse on a powder keg?”
“No, no, I’m not—I…”
“Hmph. You’re a woman with at least a little sense about you. If you run away before completing the task because you’re frightened, what am I to do? These are magical artifacts. You’ll have more than enough time to activate it, return here, and report back.”
“Yes, yes. Thank you for your mercy, Your Highness!”
“On your way, lock up those whimpering creatures. Yes. Set fire to that place with no hesitation. Keeping them alive would only be a nuisance anyway.”
In Cleo’s eyes, resentment glimmered and gathered—the kind that had festered for so long, accumulated upon itself endlessly, that it seemed it would not easily subside even if she killed and destroyed indiscriminately.
“Take this.”
“Oh!”
Sara caught the heavy gold bracelet tossed to her and let out a brief cry of delight. A large emerald and pearl glinted brilliantly in its settings.
“If you handle this task well, I’ll give you that golden chalice which the Emperor himself gave to me. You know how precious an object that is.”
“Yes, yes! I swear I won’t disappoint you, Your Highness!”
She had been terrified of setting fire in the basement, but now that she was certain her former colleagues locked away would burn—or not—and that she herself would be safe, Sara relaxed and bowed her head. Cleo would never be so wasteful as to give gold to someone about to die.
No matter how furiously the distant flames might rage, these were people utterly indifferent to it all—just a moment in time.

* * *

“Rat-faced vermin, keep running together like this…!”
“People of this world, look here. There’s a rat the size of a man! It’s a miracle, isn’t it?”
“Still, your mouth’s alive…!”
Clang, clang. Sprang! The swords collided.
Sweat beaded on Adrian’s forehead and rolled to the ground. With an enraged face, Adrian evaded Brian’s sword as it descended toward him, then glanced at the situation around them.
‘Have I bought enough time…?’
The grip on his sword-hand tingled numbly. He’d kept up a stream of insults and provocations, but truth be told, Adrian had no real confidence in defeating Brian.
When he was an ordinary human, he could have subdued Brian with one hand, using ten or twenty of himself. But now, a terrifyingly powerful Magic Beast coiled within his body.
With strength beyond human limits, nerves beyond human sensitivity, reflexes beyond human speed all combined, standing against him one-to-one was itself a miracle.
‘No, more like the opponent’s arrogance.’
Both sides had numbers.
But Brian had not ordered his men to attack. As a result, Brian’s subordinates hesitated and merely watched for signs. Adrian’s companions stood stupidly, simply observing Adrian’s situation.
Their superiors were destroying everything around them as they fought right before their eyes, yet they hadn’t ordered them to engage.
So naturally, with an enemy right before them, Brian’s men pretended not to see anything. If they acted rashly here, they had no idea what Brian might say later if his mood soured. Of course, Adrian understood the psychology at work.
Deep within, that very core of inferiority was stirring—the desire to crush Adrian into pulp fair and square, before everyone’s eyes, with his own strength alone. If it were group against group, his pride in having broken Adrian with his own power might be even slightly tarnished.
Instead, he wanted to mock and ridicule Adrian struggling before them all, and kill him.
Because he was overwhelmingly strong, he thought he could afford such an indulgence.
“That petty trick ends here!”
Kraaaaang!
His sword shattered. Adrian abandoned the broken blade without hesitation and threw himself backward. An old companion tossed him a crude sword without even looking. Adrian caught it, but the opening this created was large.
……!
“Beautiful!”
Adrian rolled to the side without even thinking to staunch the deep wound on his flank. In his opponent’s face was a smile that seemed, for all his noble bearing as a high Magic Beast, rather contemptible. Step, step. He walked toward Adrian one pace at a time. Adrian carefully brought his free hand to his side, pretending to apply pressure as if to stop the bleeding.
“I’ll puncture holes through your arms, legs, and torso, methodically.”
“…My, my, that’s far too crude a thing for the Heir Apparent to say.”
“And I’ll throw your head at your mother’s feet while she wails.”
“Even if I die, as long as I’m my mother’s son, I’ll be better-looking than you.”
At the suddenly thrown childish remark, Brian’s brow furrowed. The way his opponent always threw out loose, somewhat ridiculous words even when backed into a corner—now it sickened him.
“What are you babbling about.”
“And I’m better at dirty tricks than you too!”
Now, you all!
Shouting thus, Adrian hurled the pouch he’d had bound beneath his clothes.
Smoke? Poison? Whichever it was, Brian thought—does such a cheap trick really work on me?—and he tightened his grip on his sword. This time, he wouldn’t waste more time; he’d finally wipe that smug look from that face…!
“Shrieeeek!”
“Squeeeeal!”
“The horses!”
“The horses are rearing up, rearing up, ahhhhh!”
Brian watched as his subordinates, who had been preparing to charge at their enemies astride their mounts, suddenly collapsed in unison. They vanished in all directions, clinging to the panicking horses. In an instant, the area behind Brian was empty.

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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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