Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 291

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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 (5)

Until now, it had been suspicion bordering on certainty, but when the news came that he could wield Other Attribute Power—even if he’d employed fire as a medium—certainty became absolute.
He didn’t seem to want to hide it, either.
“What about you? You seemed half-committed for a while there.”
I spoke carelessly and handed him the Bottle of Alcohol I’d been drinking from. Lisianthus hesitated a moment before taking it and drinking a sip himself.
Neither Lisianthus nor I showed any signs of intoxication. We were both accustomed to the bite of cheap, potent spirits. After a moment’s contemplation, Lisianthus took a long draught and spoke as though berating himself.
“I’m just not the same kind of genius as Raymond. I’m always one step behind, no matter where. My abilities fall short, and… my timing’s never right.”
“Why does every member of this family insist their own power isn’t enough? Are you all human excavators?”
“Excavators?”
“The third Grand Mage of this house used to lament his insufficient abilities quite often too.”
“Ah, that person….”
Lisianthus’s lips trembled as though he meant to speak, but it took him a long moment before he finally continued. Something like regret and sorrow flickered across his hazy eyes.
“If we’d just been a little more perceptive… that ending might not have come to pass.”
……
“Unlike Raymond, my memories came back in fragments… occasionally… strangely. By the time I grasped what was happening, he was already somewhat—no, quite thoroughly—lost to madness.”
“I see.”
“If he hadn’t been so far gone, I might have tried something myself, at least. But he was already that way… there was nothing I could do. When he’d fallen into that state, even when I threatened him—’I’ll live well with you and her’—he’d just say something like, ‘As long as you can keep Titania from her Self-Sacrifice, that’s enough.'”
“Oh… to live well with me…”
I replied with deliberate coldness, as if to question when I’d ever agreed to such a thing, and Lisianthus threw a fastball at me.
“You understand how I feel, don’t you?”
……
As I hesitated, momentarily at a loss for words, Lisianthus let out a soft laugh.
“I’m not trying to force an answer.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m sorry.”
……
At Lisianthus’s measured tone, I could only widen my eyes.
I’d thought he wouldn’t try to change this situation. It didn’t seem as though he harbored resentment toward the conclusion Raymond and I had reached.
But I’d never expected him to apologize to me.
I’d even half-pretended not to understand Lisianthus’s feelings, using the circumstances as an excuse…
Yet despite my own hesitation, Lisianthus seemed sincere.
“I’ve always acted like an immature child toward you. People being what they are, when you touch on their weaknesses, they flail about all the more wildly, right? To you, I was always that kind of existence.”
……
“It’s not that I truly hated and despised everything about you. My mockery and anger toward your actions were certainly… but I must admit, at that time, I didn’t truly love and understand your existence and all you did with my whole heart. Like a fool, not even understanding my own feelings, I let myself be swept up in circumstances and used you as an excuse.”
……
“I won’t ask for such meager forgiveness. But even so, because I still love you—I probably won’t ever stop wanting to throw myself at your feet and stay like a loyal dog following behind you, if only you’d have me.”
The wind blew.
Pale green leaves rustled against one another with a soft crackling sound. Backlit, Lisianthus’s face was difficult to make out.
Yet I could tell that his eyes—sharp as autumn leaves in color—remained fixed on me.
And so I understood.
Ah, he is not merely the Lisianthus of the past. The Lisianthus of that time could never have laid out such words before me with such composure.
The Lisianthus who had been tempered through that life and brought into this one stood before me now, speaking such words.
It wasn’t only Raymond and I who had changed. Lisianthus too had weathered all those trials and arrived at his own answer. Perhaps for that reason, my own voice emerged equally calm.
“For an apology, that was far too brazen.”
“I could have died for you countless times. Even that foolish idiot I was back then.”
“Even now?”
“Even now.”
“But words as noble as that—only someone stronger than me could say them, no?”
“I suppose… but I’d prefer you to keep living proudly and confidently, needing neither my help nor my Sacrifice, rather than remaining someone I must protect.”
……
“But… you feel indebted to those who care for you, so you’re here having this silly conversation with me now, trying to settle things between us one way or another. Painfully kind as always.”
“That’s not it.”
Rather than replying “That’s not it,” the man laughed instead. It was an endlessly mischievous smile. His eyes, which had once blazed like fire, were quiet now—like scarlet gemstones gleaming sincerely where molten lava had cooled and hardened into stone.
“I love you.”
……
“And I probably always will.”
“…Lisianthus.”
“There’s no need for what comes after. Honestly… back then, you, me, Raymond—we were all suffering so much. We felt like we’d lose our minds. Instead of salving each other’s wounds, we only dug deeper, competing over whose hurt was greater, clinging to each day with our last strength.”
Lisianthus glanced at the moon.
“But we managed it, didn’t we? Brilliantly, even—when you, so splendidly, made a fool of me and Raymond and vanished saying, ‘It’s all finished, you cursed bastards.’ You may not know it, but thinking of how I and my brother went mad afterward, it might look shabby from an objective standpoint.”
……
“But we saved the world anyway. Entirely thanks to your Self-Sacrifice. Though it did drive me and my brother insane, wondering why it had to be you.”
“You know, Lisianthus, your trailing thoughts have gone on far too long since earlier. I think it would’ve sounded better without that.”
“Mm, sorry?”
His voice and manner showed no real contrition whatsoever. I laughed softly.
“Haven’t you ever heard the advice not to attach excuses like ‘but,’ ‘however,’ or ‘unavoidably’ when apologizing?”
“Ah, ah, ah… truly sorry?”
“One hit. That’s all.”
“…Huh?”
Clearly not expecting such a proposal, Lisianthus’s eyes widened. Sitting as close as we were, he had nowhere to escape.
With a serene smile, I wrapped my left arm around his waist and drew my sword with my right.
“Take just one light blow from this, and let’s settle all our grudges between us.”
A threatening hum filled the air. The Five-Colored Divine Power surged into my blade. At the sight, Lisianthus’s face went pale.
“Wait, there’s so much—so much gathering on that sword, visible even to the naked eye. You’re not trying to kill me, are you? I’m still human?”
“Don’t worry. As long as you’re not dead, I have plenty of means to bring you back.”
“You’re too close! I mean it! At this strength, this tree is going to shatter! We’ll fall!”
“Customer, this will sting just a bit~!”
“Just a bit—ARGHHHHHH!”
Boom!
Lisianthus flew upward in a perfect arc like a tossed ball, then crashed to the ground. Thanks to the temporary Barrier I’d drawn around the Garden, the commotion didn’t spread beyond it, but the spot where Lisianthus landed looked rather catastrophic.
For Lisianthus now, with durability nearly equal to a Magic Beast, it posed no serious problem, but an ordinary person would surely have died.
I approached him slowly and crouched beside him where he lay sprawled like a rag.
“Hack, cough, hack! That was attempted murder, if you ask me! Do you understand?!”
“I do.”
“Is that even a sword or a club… your technique has quite a bite to it.”
Lisianthus’s crimson Hair Strands were filthy with dust and completely disheveled. Looking at him, I laughed softly.
It was a sight far more familiar to me than any polished appearance. I extended my hand, gently running it through his hair, and placed the lightest of kisses on his dusty forehead.
!!
The lips that had been murmuring complaints suddenly fell silent, as though someone had glued them shut. I spoke to Lisianthus, whose face had frozen as though time itself had stopped.
“Thank you.”
……
If I were merely the ordinary “me” who had grown up in Korea, I would say that circumstances left me no choice.
If I were the “Titania” who had endured every trial in a world on the brink of ruin and clashed directly with Lisianthus, I might have scoffed and mocked the very idea.
I am different now.
“My answer is something you already know well enough.”
……
“You back then were insufferable to me—tiresome and all the more grating for always being right. You were my weakness too, in a way. Because it wasn’t clouded judgment like Raymond’s was by love, I could curse and rage at you without restraint.”
……
“In the end, we survived, we saved others, and the world was granted a future. So now we can let the past remain the past, kept only as good memories.”
……
“Oh, and one more thing. I do like dogs—but where does a human get off comparing himself to something so adorable, endearing, loyal, fluffy, and warm? I reject that entirely. Go fend for yourself in the wild.”
I straightened from my crouch and brushed off my skirt.
The air was cool, the breeze refreshing. Even the moonlight filtering through the leaves was like a painting.
It was a perfect night to bid farewell to the past with a smile.
Gathering all the fossiled regrets and resignation, the resentment and inferiority, and scattering them like wind to the sky.

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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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