Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 289

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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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Side Story 1. Good morning, sunshine (3)

My spine stiffened reflexively. As if to soothe me, Raymond gave a gentle tug on the hand he was holding, guiding my steps forward—and his face was already smiling.
As though nothing had happened moments before, his expression was endlessly serene.
Two months had passed since we’d defeated Chernobog, come back from the dead, and reached a mutual conclusion: “Let’s build a new kind of relationship.”
My relationship with Raymond was… how should I describe it? Light yet distant. We moved toward each other slowly, knowing full well where it might end. Unlike that kiss I’d attempted with a racing heart that day, Raymond had conducted himself far more simply than I’d expected.
Of course, that was only “more than I’d expected.” I’d braced myself for the possibility that he might barge into my chamber and ask to be “the decoration in Titania’s room”—which never happened.
-Ugh, Contractor. Even so, that would be a little crazy, wouldn’t it? (･⌣･)
‘Think about it objectively. Before I reached my final conclusion, didn’t Raymond act crazy around me?’
-…No way! -̗̀(˶’ᵕ’˶)̖́-
‘Of c-course, it’s just that I’ve been so awkward… which means… I keep being stiff about it…’
-Rather, isn’t he so crazy that he’s satisfied just living as a community of shared fate with you, Contractor? (。･д･)ﾉﾞ
‘Is this what happens because I went and filed the Marriage Registration myself?’
I’d read plenty of romance novels that started with “Marry First, Love Later.” But my relationship with Raymond was unique. I couldn’t compare it to anyone else’s. Which meant all sorts of stray thoughts crowded in.
We’d boldly proclaimed we should take a trip somewhere far away, forget everything—what happened to other people, what happened to the world—and just go play. Yet that proclamation rang hollow. Raymond was busy with the Castrain Family, doing this and that—though, granted, he never failed to come see me once a day, no matter what—and I was content to enjoy a certain leisure while helping the Imperial Family with their affairs as much as I could.
The Marriage Registration that finished on a single sheet of paper. Our relationship, which wasn’t properly announced before others. Where and how we’d live going forward… Even though I thought, “What’s such a big problem about that? I could just mention it casually”—the moment Raymond naturally nestled into the space beside me, my words wouldn’t come.
-I think, Contractor, you’re just going to be consumed one day anyway, so you might as well enjoy the leisure you have now. (¬ω¬)
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
-I don’t understand why you’re worrying about your relationship right now… Borrowing your own phrasing, you’ve still got the spiritual backbone of a closed-off East Asian Confucian girl—so you’d never even think about infidelity or divorce or anything of the sort.
‘……’
-You won’t even age and die of natural causes. Perhaps you and he will live together and fuss and argue until the very empire falls, long enough to get sick of each other forever. There’s no reason to rush right now, is there? ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭
Maybe that’s true.
Right. Raymond and I are almost like gods now. Whatever ordinary humans come at us would be like swatting flies…
We have so much time ahead of us. So maybe Raymond is able to be so at ease? Compared to me, who’s complicated and ashamed inside, struggling to find the courage?
It hadn’t been long since I acknowledged Raymond’s feelings and decided to accept them.
So honestly, I still hadn’t adapted to this situation.
For my entire life—or longer—I’d spent all that time abandoning and resigning myself to this man.
Like a poor child who receives one precious, sweet candy as a gift, tastes just one bite, then tucks it away, cherishes it, only to watch the rest rot and throw it away—learning to regret only after.
Knowing that for someone else, that same candy was just an ordinary dessert after meals every single day, feeling jealous of it, staring at nothing but the empty candy wrapper over and over again…
When I finally received a whole bag full of candy and was told it was mine. I was so terrified of the emptiness that would come after I finished it all and emptied the bag that I couldn’t even bring myself to touch it.
Now I could reach out and candy would roll into my hand. I would never again know the sorrow of being without it. No one would ever take that candy from me. I could finally savor it completely, that jewel-like, luminous sweetness…
“Sister!”
In the time my tangled thoughts had made me careless about my surroundings, Bibi spotted me and waved with a bright smile. Lisianthus, dangling from Bibi’s grip, made a gasping sound and squared his shoulders. There was a dull cracking noise.
“Sister! It’s sister!”
“Yes, Bibi. How have you been?”
Settling at the table, I stroked the top of Bibi’s head as she threw herself into my arms. Glaring at Lisianthus, who had the expression of someone grateful to still be breathing, Bibi nestled against me and chattered away.
“Not well at all!”
“Hmm, well then…”
“Because of our damned second brother!”
“Hmm, well then…”
“Second brother Lisianthus got really badly hurt!”
“Hmm, well the—wait, what?”
My eyes flew open. Bolstered by my startled tone, Bibi pointed accusingly at Lisianthus.
“Yes! Yes! There was no danger or anything, nothing at all! He did it alone! Like a madman! With Mana Stones! Yes!”
“Hey, come on! What’s the big deal about that!”
Lisianthus reflexively raised his voice, but the moment my gaze fell on him, his shoulders shrank. He didn’t seem inclined to self-incriminate, so I turned to look at Rasper—who was simply sipping his tea with the air of someone for whom this was routine.
As my gaze fell on Orto, he spoke with evident displeasure.
“How would anyone know the temperament of the person who caused the trouble?”
“…He seems fine now.”
“That’s because Priest Illian… Well, now that His Majesty is also staying in the Capital. There are several mages at the Estate alone. As long as he’s breathing, it won’t become a serious problem.”
Lisianthus looked, oddly, as though he’d never been injured at all. As I stared at him intensely, he averted his eyes and tried to play innocent, until at last he seemed unable to resist and grumbled.
“…I just wanted to see if I could substitute for you and Raymond when needed. Chernobog is dead, and they say Magic Beasts won’t be born anymore. But we don’t know what might happen later.”
“……”
“I thought maybe those Mana Stones could satisfy the conditions… Damn it.”
Lisianthus scratched at his head vigorously. The look that passed through his eyes was quite complex.
“Among the retainers of the Castrain Ducal House, there are still some who speak foolishly about Raymond. If I’m not strong, I can’t make them shut up.”
…Such thoughtful intentions? I found myself looking at him as though I were witnessing a reformed troublemaker. Then a familiar warmth touched the hand that was cradling Bibi.
Raymond, wordlessly taking my other hand in his, spoke to Lisianthus with a composed face.
“I’ve refined my power, and we’ve all poured our strength equally into Bibi and Rasper… So yes, the conditions would be satisfied. But you’ve done something quite audacious.”
Lisianthus’s innate power was fire. He specialized in destruction and burning. Not Rasper, who was skilled in fine control—but Lisianthus, handling elements that already existed within the Mana Stones, had succeeded in overlaying his own Fire Power, controlling it, and fixing it in place. That was remarkable.
Since Raymond and I were Contractors of light and darkness respectively, and half-divine, we could do such things now with our eyes closed…
At that calm statement, Lisianthus let out a dry laugh.
“You still act like you want to live as human, so your thoughtful brother tried using some power.”
“What are you talking about? Our big brother is obviously human.”
Bibi’s voice was calm, but I instinctively sensed her slight unease. However, Orto and Rasper simply watched the situation quietly.
“……”
Raymond’s and Lisianthus’s eyes met. The grip of Raymond’s hand holding mine became very slightly tighter, then eased.
Was it my imagination? For some reason it seemed… very slightly like Raymond was uneasy.
His heartbeat was the same as always, though…
“What does it matter if he’s not human? People already saw our family as pure monsters from the start.”
“……”
“Titania did most of it, but anyway. We all pitched in and brought down the monster Chernobog and swept away our enemies. Rasper alone—give him a Mana Stone no bigger than a fingernail and he could turn a mountain into a sea. And our little Bibi, with just this small hand, can move things the size of a house back and forth.”
Of all of them, his bright crimson eyes alone swept over everyone lightly before coming to rest on me.
“Honestly, looking at it objectively, I’m probably the weakest of us all, aren’t I? ~”
Lisianthus approached the table where Bibi and I sat with Raymond, dropping onto a seat with practiced ease—like a pet slipping into the gaps between people.
Short red strands of hair scattered through the air, carrying the smell of ash and soot. A familiar smell. The face smiling toward me was too. Our eyes met.
I had seen that face very many times long ago. He was a man for whom honesty about his own emotions was a virtue, but sometimes I’d thought his candid smile was like a mask.
Eyes that looked as though he were lamenting how unfairly done by he was—as though I’d stolen his treasure and swallowed it into my belly. And yet burning with something, as if asking what on earth he wanted—he’d managed to smile, and looked at me…
‘Why do you go this far?’
‘……’
‘Do you love your brother that much?’
Ah.
In that moment… didn’t I smile?

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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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