Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 292

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Side Story 1. Good morning, sunshine (6)

Behind me, retreating into the distance, came a short laugh—lighter, almost relieved.
“So what you’re saying is I’m worse than a dog?”
“Yes.”
“Aha-ha-ha, aha-ha-ha.”
The laughter faded by degrees, then vanished entirely. And I quickened my pace.
From walking faster, I broke into a run.
Chasing after a heartbeat that receded, always just out of reach. When the distance wouldn’t close even as I ran, I screwed up my face and shouted into the empty air.
“Raymond!”
……
Like a wooden pestle, Raymond stood rooted to the spot—and I let out a thin sigh.
“Why are you running away?”
Raymond’s clothes were thin. Just a shirt and trousers. The kind of hurried getup you wear when you’ve scrambled out of bed without properly dressing, just as I had from Bibi’s chambers.
Around the time I’d left Bibi’s room and encountered Lisianthus, he’d drawn close—but then unable to approach any further, he’d taken to pacing nervously nearby. It was so—
—so what?
‘So like a dog, isn’t it? Without the swearing, I mean. No, literally just like a dog.’
—Your tastes are strange, Contractor.
ヽ(。_°)ノ
‘But it really is, isn’t it?!’
In any case. I’d seen him hurl Lisianthus aside and plant a kiss on his own forehead.
I’d thought that if he saw me, he’d come closer out of sheer surprise. But instead of coming close, he bolted—startled—and I was the one left more shocked.
Why was he running?
I’d expected him to act like an aggrieved husband confronting an unfaithful wife. So threatening, insisting that half my heart was his, that death itself couldn’t take it, that he couldn’t let me go—but he wasn’t acting that way at all.
I stared at my right hand, which had seized Raymond’s left arm. His arm was stiff, rigid, while his body tensed as if ready to flee at any moment.
His head had twisted sharply away, refusing to look at me at all.
It was strange—this desperate effort to shut me out.
“So why are you running away?”
……
“Look at me. Look here.”
As if doing something deeply distasteful under duress, his head turned toward me with excruciating slowness. Eyes cast downward with all the force of conviction. Cheeks rigid. The corners of his mouth trembling.
To any outsider, it would have seemed as if I’d just announced a breakup—so miserable was his expression.
I reached up with my empty left hand and stroked his cheek slowly, as one might soothe a child.
A faint twitch—his cheek contracted beneath my palm.
“Look at me.”
……
Only after I’d pressed once more did those trembling golden eyes finally lift to meet mine.
Eyes terrified as those of a great predator that had tucked in its tail and retreated to its den—though if it chose, it could reduce the Garden where I’d thrown Lisianthus to powder in an instant.
“How much did you hear?”
“…Nearly everything.”
“Then why are you so frightened?”
……
“You said before that if I killed you, you’d be content to let me live happily with Lisianthus.”
“…That was, well, because you kept trying to sacrifice yourself. Back then, I was a tiresome criminal in your eyes, and……”
“And now?”
Raymond’s eyes blinked several times. His frozen lips parted as if in confession.
“…Lisianthus has always been beloved by everyone.”
……
“No matter how selfishly he behaved, there was a charm to him that made it impossible for anyone to truly hate him. From childhood, I was taught by my father that obedience was the right path. I couldn’t even discern my own preferences, my own dislikes, what I truly wanted—”
Raymond drew a breath.
“I lived like a doll suited to the position of Head of Household. But he—he always looked alive. Even when my subordinates all died and I became numb, he would rage at the sacrifice of every single one. And I saw him do that.”
……
“I am a monster. Even more so now that I’ve reclaimed my memories. The version of me from before that had at least the pretense of duty—I’m not that either. I’ve resolved to lose everything: the world, my family, people’s lives—all in the pretext of saving you. In that reasoning lies resolve to sacrifice all. So……”
……
“……Perhaps he would suit you better than I would.”
Raymond’s words came in gasps, barely forced out. Neither he nor I would normally grow breathless, even if we fell thousands of meters from a cliff.
So this was pure fear—the sensation of strangling his own throat, pressing in like panic.
There was a time when he’d threatened that no one else would be permitted to touch even the tip of my finger.
“…You won’t abandon me, will you? I am yours. But no one can ask you to take only me as your responsibility. So……”
“When were you casually competing with Jemina over pet ranking, really. This is ridiculous.”
“…What?”
“Why are you so tall? Bow your head.”
Understanding nothing, he slowly lowered his head toward me, and I bumped mine against his lightly.
It couldn’t have hurt much, but worried that he might be in pain, he flinched—and I soothed his shrinking cheek gently, then leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his exposed forehead.
Raymond stared at me in surprise.
It was embarrassing. Besides, since Raymond had generally been the one to initiate physical contact, it was rare for me to touch him first.
It made sense that he’d be startled.
But I spoke in deliberately steady tones.
“What’s there to be jealous about?”
……
“Or not jealousy, exactly—though I do wonder if it’s characteristic of this household, this urge to dig holes in the earth.”
……
“Were you scared I’d keep Lisianthus and live contentedly with you both?”
“There’s no one to object……”
“I’m not committing infidelity.”
……
“I’m not being unfaithful. I just came from settling things with Lisianthus because I didn’t want to leave us in this awkward, uncertain state.”
These brothers were certainly tangled up in their own peculiar way.
Lisianthus had admired Raymond.
Raymond had envied Lisianthus’s freedom.
Because their natures were opposites, they’d never dreamed that each envied the other.
Still, the Lisianthus I saw now seemed somewhat lighter, as if unburdened. From the way Raymond was honing his skills to ensure no great upheaval would occur even if he left his house and lived alone with me, it was clear he’d come to terms with his own heart.
His confession—he truly hadn’t expected me to accept it.
Raymond, meanwhile, had seemed full of confidence until now, and I wondered if it was because Lisianthus was involved that he was acting this way.
Even with all his reasons about embracing Chernobog and dying together—in the end, he’d contracted with the God of Darkness and I’d been pushing him away until the very last moment when our hearts finally aligned. Perhaps that’s why he carried such self-doubt. Why he acted this way.
Raymond looked at me distantly, as if he couldn’t believe me.
I pulled his head down further and kissed both his cheeks with soft sounds—not just his forehead. The frozen expression melted, and color bloomed across his face. He seemed embarrassed.
“…You’re kind-hearted, Titania. So of course you’d say things like that. But……”
“If you’re a monster, then I’m a monster too.”
……
“Honestly—it’s because of me that you, who walked such an upright and righteous path, became a monster in the first place.”
……
“If I think of it that way—that weak, foolish, selfish little Titania, who died so long ago, might laugh herself to madness at the thought of it now.”
I still remember what that little Titania prayed for as she fell beneath the balcony—cold and afraid and selfish.
That little Titania wanted to be loved.
I thought it would never come to pass, not ever, not in any future.
Just one person.
Please.
Love me.
Love me.
It didn’t have to be Mother. It didn’t have to be a betrothed.
Anyone—just care for me.
The only hand that held her, even falsely, was the Imperial Consort Cleo’s—and because of that, a child’s life became twisted.
……But no matter how twisted, how broken—in that final moment, she made the right choice. And she resolved to bear countless sacrifices for it.
Simply by choosing without giving up everything, I could finally forgive that Titania who had once despised herself more than anyone.
But while knowing all of this, regretting the past, kneeling, coughing up bitter blood and nightmares—no one could have imagined that someone would reach out their hand begging not to disappear. Least of all, the one I’d thought was only a twisted fate, a flower in a vase I could never possess.
If the young Raymond became a monster for the young Titania, then the young Titania would not be afraid or run—she would be overjoyed, clinging to that Raymond and never, ever letting go.
—This is a monster. Throw him away. He is the world’s enemy—no matter what people said, cursing and attacking,
She would simply hold that young monster close and walk with him to the edge of the world, gripping his hand until her last breath.
He’s mine. My monster. My love.
I won’t let go even in death.
In this world, this alone is mine.
No one can take it from me.
“I told you we’d see beautiful things together.”
……
“The sun setting and the moon rising beyond the sea. A salt desert. Peaks so high they touch the sky.”
……
“I said let’s be happy together. Why do you think? Because I like you too, b-because I love you.”
So if this man digs down to the depths of the earth, I’ll pour water in to make him rise.
And when he floats up to the surface, I’ll show him a meadow in bloom. Spring has come. He shouldn’t be buried underground alone anymore. He shouldn’t stay trapped in that cold, dark place by himself.
With all my strength, I pressed my lips against his one final time.
For a heartbeat, the man remained frozen, unmoving—and then the next instant he let out a low groan and rushed toward me. Breath entwining with breath, melting away like an ice pillar dissolving beneath the midday sun.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————