Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 286

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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 286

“It’s not that simple. All this time, whether consciously or unconsciously, I’ve killed so many people. And I still haven’t reflected on it. But I can’t just save you because I have debts to settle. I simply can’t.”
The black circle still remained, dark and unfading.
It was here that Chernobog gathered his power, took form, and slipped into Raymond’s body.
Raymond was handed the sword. Without a word, he grasped it, pouring his strength into it. Soon the circle’s color deepened, and a hole opened from within. Wind rushed through with a sound. Understanding its meaning, Lilium’s face went deathly pale.
“So I’m giving you an equal chance. Try to survive in the Underground World.”
“There—that place is now…”
“Right. Chernobog is dead, so it’s empty.”
“You’re saying I’ll starve to death?”
“You could survive if you tried. All Magic Beasts have vanished from the Surface, but traces of the Underground beasts remain. Roast the corpses of Magic Beasts, plant some of those seeds you bragged about so much, try your hand at farming.”
“That—that’s madness. That’s basically telling me to die…!”
“My situation was the same back then.”
Eating what couldn’t be eaten, crawling on wounded limbs. Even if Lilium hadn’t deliberately looked away, it would have been dubious whether success was possible.
That’s why it had been easy to make the choice without hesitation.
“You wanted to turn the entire Surface into the Underground World. So consider it this way: you’ve been given the chance to survive wherever you wish. Be grateful.”
“No, no, wait. Chernobog… Chernobog is still… still there. Even now, so vivid…!”
Lilium shrieked like a madman, staring at Raymond.
“Such a vivid presence…!”
“…”
“Dissipation? A god defeated by a mere human’s soul? Impossible. How could a mortal possibly triumph over a deity…!”
Raymond looked at Lilium with eyes as cold as ice. Then, slowly, he approached what appeared to be Marquis Habilios and removed the cloth binding the man’s mouth.
“How… how truly remarkable. How on earth did you…”
“I devoured your god.”
Raymond spoke curtly, as though it were nothing. The man’s eyes widened.
“Surely not… surely not… this power. Surely…! You, you, if you merely willed it, you could actually…!”
“Titania.”
“Yes?”
“Shall we begin banishing the Criminals to the Underground World?”
“Yes.”
“Stop, stop, stop! Please, answer my question! Ah, ah, ah, our god was actually, that is to say…!”
Raymond pulled the sword from the ground.
“What was here…!”
Crack.
The hole rippled and swelled as if searching for prey, then slowly swallowed Marquis Habilios, Lilium, and Primrose—who lay as though dead. Then it closed again. Likely, the Underground World and the Surface would never be connected again.
Raymond confirmed the sight, lightly tapped the ground with his toe, and after verifying nothing was amiss, he naturally extended the sword toward me. Watching him do so, I spoke.
“Aren’t you tempted?”
“…What?”
“Now you could truly do anything. With that sword.”
Raymond’s eyes blinked.
He’d been beautiful before, but ever since being reborn, it was something else. Raymond had grown nearly inhuman in appearance. When Chernobog’s power had weighed down his entire body and he’d deliberately been violent, a beastlike, dangerous aura had emanated from him. Now, though—it was like gazing upon a carefully sculpted bronze statue.
My reflection shone in Raymond’s golden eyes as I regarded him steadily.
The man gave a short laugh. Then he took my hand and placed the sword in my grip.
“The sword was grumbling that it wanted a new name.”
“…It did?”
“Yes. You’ve called it a Demonic Sword, an angry sword, and other harsh names. It wants, if possible, to have a splendid new name.”
“It’s never said such a thing to me.”
I glanced down at the sword, but it maintained its silence.
“Tales like this are usually easier to confess to someone with a bit of distance, rather than family.”
Even after placing the sword in my hands, Raymond didn’t withdraw his. Instead, he stepped closer to me and pressed his forehead against mine. Black hair cascaded over my face.
Eyes that seemed both demonic and sacred, shimmering with golden light, gazed into mine with a rapturous glow.
“You said we should settle our previous relationship and start anew.”
“…”
“With that as the first step, naming the sword seems quite fitting.”
“…The nuance feels odd.”
“I much prefer this sword being yours rather than entirely mine.”
Raymond smiled gently.
“You haven’t said it, but you treasure this sword. In a sense, as much as real family.”
“…It did its best for me, after all.”
“When you unhesitatingly surrendered half its ownership to me, supposedly to save me, I’m happier than anyone could be.”
“Jemina hates you. Whenever I ask where she’s gone, she flies off to find you and bites at you.”
“That seems like affection to me. Adorable.”
“No, listen. Ever since you and I awakened, she can adjust her size and even speak human words, but she deliberately makes herself house-sized and tries to swallow you whole! How is that cute! Are you blind?”
“Pets separated from their original masters are sensitive to hierarchy. It’s fine.”
“Separ—separated…”
“You gave me your heart.”
Raymond released the sword and my hand, then slowly placed both his hands over his heart and mine side by side. Thump-thump, thump… The sound of heartbeats.
“Whenever, wherever. I can sense that presence. And hearing the same heartbeat…”
“…”
“Whether in death or life, at the same moment.”
What more could I ask for?
The man’s eyes shone with rapture. Gone was any trace of the Criminal digging at the earth. Now, as if satisfied that the situation was fully understood, he smiled with deep contentment. I watched him in silence, then spoke slowly.
“…I won’t let you die, will I?”
“Yes.”
“Even if there were a way to fix my heart, you wouldn’t pursue it?”
“It’s the leash you placed in my hands. I have no intention of returning it. And…”
The man’s hand slowly caressed my cheek. His fingers traced down past my nose, checking my breath.
“If my life depends on your breath, then you too will make a desperate effort. No matter what happens, you won’t let yourself die. However countless the years that pass, however bored, hateful, or irritated I become with me—you are not the sort to abandon your own life. And you could never sacrifice your own life to preserve something, not when my existence depends on you.”
“…”
“Thinking such thoughts, I can live for eternity.”
The god left the continent.
…But that didn’t mean the divine power itself had vanished.
Beloborg had scattered her power too generously and was already nearly gone. Chernobog, expelled with only his strength remaining, had withered. In other words, to put it plainly: Raymond and I, having absorbed those powers and inherited their traces, were humans who had become something like gods.
With this man who wouldn’t even allow death.
We would live on this continent.
Perhaps forever.
Seeing me in silence, the man asked as if frightened.
“Do you dislike it?”
“…Would you let me go if I did?”
“…”
I watched the man’s eyes waver aimlessly and released a deep sigh.
“Enough, enough. Don’t lie if you won’t mean it. Just…”
I recalled the final page of a book left unfurling.
From now on, the sun will rise and night will fall and dawn will come, endless eons hence,
but perhaps that morning which all of them had longed for will be forever past.
Yet
all of them have accepted this ending.
That it was fine without me.
That they would somehow manage.
To people who said such things, I returned on my own feet.
And so the truth is that it was I who took Raymond’s hand in that final moment.
The fool of a man who spoke such words even while expecting his own death.
‘I wish for you to live happily and well.’
‘Whether you go to the sea or the mountains, whether you do whatever you wish or go wherever you desire. Now you won’t have to sacrifice yourself for the world, or throw yourself away for others anymore.’
It was absurd. Through all those long loops of life, I never once wished for this man to truly despair.
I’d hoped he could live happily without me.
That’s what I’d thought.
Now I know better than anyone that for this man to be happy, I must be there.
So I found my courage.
“Let’s see beautiful things together.”
“…”
“The sun setting and rising beyond the sea. Flowers blooming in the salt desert. Clouds like mist clinging to every mountain peak.”
“…”
“Now, let’s forget for a moment how other people live, how the world turns. And so…”
I hesitated over my words.
Ah, truly. I’m not used to saying such things. My cheeks will probably flush. But if there’s a time to speak, it’s now.
“I’m saying let’s be happy together.”
My outstretched hand met his, and our breaths mingled even faster than our hands.
I thought it was like biting into the sun itself.
His tongue melted with heat, playful in my mouth, before a flick drew back and finally a drumming pulse against my heart and fading.
Like a period placed at the end of a long, winding story.

The End

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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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