Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 281

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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 281

“Miss, are you alright?!”
“……Huh?”
I blinked. The shattered smartphone tumbled across the pavement. Beside me, a small child lay crying, and in the distance, parents came running to call for him. A passing woman nearby looked at me with reproach.
“Oh my, no matter how much you wanted to save the child. Are you, are you okay?”
Honk-honk, blare—car horns blared nearby. I watched the child I’d wrapped my arms around, myself sprawled beside him from the force of someone’s push, and then the car that had nearly struck us but instead sped away without stopping, all with a dazed expression on my face.
Someone had definitely pushed me. A very strong, powerful hand. Callused at every knuckle.
And yet, there was no one behind me. I stared blankly at the empty space at my back.
Curses about the reckless driving poured out from nearby. The child’s parents arrived belatedly, making a scene.
“Oh no, Gyeonghwan! I told you it was dangerous, didn’t I? You’re going to be the death of me, really!”
“Really, miss. Thank you so much. Are you hurt anywhere? My goodness, look at your knees. Let’s go to the hospital. Okay? I’ll take you anywhere you need to go.”
“Oh, no, that’s really not necessary.”
My mind was foggy.
My knees were a mess. Blood seeped through the torn stockings, runs spreading across them. My palms were similar. But they weren’t serious wounds. After all, I’d nearly just died.
“Really, thank you so much. I don’t think we should send you off like this. Gyeonghwan! You need to thank this lady!”
“Th-th-thank you very much.”
“Oh, um…….”
“Miss, are you sure you’re alright? Here, your phone—what should we do? We’ll compensate you for sure, so if you could just leave us your contact information, or maybe…….”
“Really, it’s fine. I, I have somewhere I need to be right now.”
Miss! Just your name or contact number! I heard their desperate calls behind me as I stumbled forward and ran. I climbed the familiar alleyway, took the elevator, pressed the button with trembling fingers, and stepped inside…….
“You said you had an appointment, so why—did you forget something? You didn’t lose your wallet on the way out, did you?”
“…Oh, Mom.”
“What is that look on your face! What happened to you? Oh dear, go change your clothes right now. We need to disinfect those wounds first.”
“Where’s Dad?”
“Your father? He went hiking today in high spirits, as usual.”
I changed my clothes and slowly disinfected the wounds. The news played on the TV. More unusual weather patterns……. Drought in the Southern Region, monsoon season in the central regions……. A rare flower that only blooms once every hundred years was suddenly blooming everywhere…….
“My goodness, really. You’re going to give me a heart attack doing things like that. And why is your phone in such a state? At least you weren’t hurt too badly—that’s a relief.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Why do you look so spacey since you got home?”
I blinked.
The smell of soybean paste stew. The sound of chopping tofu. The sound of opening a red pepper container. The hiss of steam from the rice cooker……. Family photos hung on the wall. Mom, Dad, me, and my younger sibling.
“…So what’s our family’s thorn in the side up to?”
“Today’s the day he’s volunteering at the shelter for abandoned dogs.”
“Oh, so he’s finally bringing home Ddol 2.0?”
“Who knows. He keeps saying his income is still unstable so he should rely on family, and that bringing home a dog that looks like our late Ddol would be irresponsible, and he just keeps digging away in the yard. Your father, meanwhile, is spending every day sending surveys to his mountain-climbing club friends asking what would be a good name for our family’s future pet—Ddol, Acorn, or Leaf—and just drinking makgeolli. At this rate, while we make several jars of kimchi, your brother will be out there planting rice.”
Listening to Mom’s muttering, I slowly opened the door to my room.
Before opening the door, I couldn’t even have imagined it, but the moment I did, everything felt so familiar. I wondered when I’d forgotten all this. Books were lined neatly on the shelf beside my desk. I slowly pulled out one book I knew well. Shimmering silver lettering on the thick cover.
.
With trembling hands, I turned to the very last page.

……And so the Empire found peace once more.
From time to time, the young lady would hold tea parties with the Emperor’s permission.
Even after she grew too old to be called a young lady, still,
A palace with no master, yet lovely.
A garden overflowing with roses.
Sweet and crisp desserts.
And people gazing at the horizon between sky and earth as if to glimpse eternity itself.
Days to come will continue to dawn and dusk, dusk to dawn,
But perhaps the morning they all wished for is an eternal thing of the past.
[____]
And yet,
They all came to accept this ending.

“……Mom.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“When my sibling isn’t around—you love me more than anyone else in the world, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“And you’d tell my sibling you love them the most too, right?”
“What kind of silly question is that? Your father gets pouty if I don’t say he’s the one I love most in the whole world—he’s got a short fuse like that. Anyway, our whole family is just alike.”
“…So I’m an excellent daughter to you and Dad.”
“You are.”
“So no matter what choice I make, you and Dad will believe in me, right?”
“Did you co-sign something? Co-signing, loan sharks, gambling, pyramid schemes, cults—none of those.”
“So it’s okay if your daughter becomes independent.”
The sound of the cutting board stopped. After a moment, I heard the stew bubbling over. Slowly, the gas flame went out.
“…The truth is, I had a reason when I stamped my name on the marriage certificate.”
“Oh my.”
“A little, forcibly?”
“……So you forced him? Which means……. That handsome young man like a sparrow, he didn’t do anything to you? You did?”
“Our family doesn’t have enough money to be victims of anything like that.”
“Well, still…….”
“So there’s one foolish man who will spend his whole life as a bachelor if I don’t go back. And honestly, even if I divorced him and let him live freely, it would probably end up the same way.”
I could live like this.
Just like this.
Everything I’ve been through is a midsummer night’s dream.
Now is reality.
So I could close this book, pretend I don’t know, find a new job like this. Maybe even date someone. Enjoy each day surrounded by friends and family.
Maybe get married, maybe have a child. Maybe……. Forget everything.
But deep in my heart, I would always remember something.
There was something I left behind.
So many things I never finished.
People who cared for each other, however awkwardly, even if not as perfectly as here.
“Mom used to tell me not to pick up people or animals carelessly. Once you touch them, you’re responsible for them.”
“…….”
“The order of things is a bit mixed up, I know. But Mom’s daughter isn’t irresponsible enough to start something and then run away pretending she doesn’t know. So, Mom.”
I slowly walked over and embraced her warm back. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pressed my forehead against her neck. Beyond the small kitchen window, the world gleamed. Sky as vibrant as ground cherries. People moving close together. The things I love.
“I’m going.”
“……. You won’t regret this?”
“No.”
“You really have to go?”
“Yes.”
At least have a meal, and see your brother and father before you go.”
“It’s okay. I’ll remember everything anyway.”
“Eat well wherever you are. Sleep well. Okay? And don’t worry about us.”
“Okay. I love you.”
Perhaps—really, perhaps—I’ll be able to see them again.
So it’s alright.
I have no regrets.
It was a wonderful Contract.
A wonderful wish.
I was able to grow up abundantly loved among such wonderful family.
That itself is a miracle.
So in all of my lives, there is no regret, no hesitation.
I set the broken smartphone, which no longer lets light in, beside the book, and in the blank space at the end of the book, I write my name.
Titania.
The moment I did, the book slowly turned to ash in the air. A faint light emanated from the broken smartphone.
-༶ඬ༝ඬ༶
“You’re not going to call me Contractor anymore?”
-C-Contractor. Really, is it truly alright if you leave like this?(｡•́︿•̀｡)
“My parents truly love me, but they’re not so narrow-minded as to stop their grown daughter from becoming independent.”
Night sky bloomed into my small room.
When I had no memory of the Contract, I had wanted to return to my parents’ side.
When I remembered everything, I had wondered why Titania was not given parents like mine.
When my name was stripped away and I thought I should dedicate myself entirely to the world, my heart burned with rage. I wanted to run away, but I couldn’t, so I simply kept thinking that way.
“If you believe from afar that they’re living happily, if you simply trust each other that they will be, then parting isn’t such a terrible thing.”
Now it’s different.
My steps felt light.
I smiled.
And the light came again.

* * *

[Rod’s Covenant has ended.]
[All fate assigned to Contractor Titania has concluded.]

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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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