Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 33

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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 33

They were beloved brothers, certainly — capable, handsome, from an excellent house — and yet….
‘How else to describe it?’ she thought, watching them cling and pester this perpetually beleaguered person, their tails visible only in glimpses. Like two troublemaking large dogs instead of one, and she couldn’t manage even one. It felt as though she’d inherited a pair of mischievous hounds.
Still, she couldn’t very well argue for keeping her distance from Titania and observing from afar when the princess looked so terrifyingly fragile.
Besides — was it really her place to worry about the Castrain Ducal House? No, it wasn’t.
“You, of all people — why are you suddenly wary of Lisianthus? You only ever told him not to cause trouble.”
“That boy is excessively energetic.”
“You said you’d grown accustomed to cleaning up after him by now?”
“We can’t burden the patient. For all I know, he might set the Imperial Consort Palace ablaze this time.”
They had agreed on that, hadn’t they? — but Bibi recognized the tell of someone on guard despite their own lack of self-awareness, and her eyes grew clouded once more.
“Raymond.”
“Mm?”
“I always trust and love you.”
“I love you too.”
A faint smile bloomed across his expressionless face. It had taken considerable effort to earn an answer like that.
For more than two weeks, she’d gone about mechanically reciting “Father, I love you! Raymond, I love you! Lisianthus, I love you! My youngest brother, I love you!” — only after all that had she finally received such a reply.
“But I don’t like your narrow-minded jealousy….”
“It’s not jealousy.”
“And I don’t like the pettiness of your denial….”
“It’s not jealousy, Bibi. Lisianthus has been excessively agitated lately. When he meets with the princess, the odds of him failing to control his strength are far too high.”
“There’s a Fire Prevention Mana Stone in her room.”
“…We couldn’t lay them throughout every corridor in the Imperial Consort Palace.”
“But you set Power Amplification Mana Stones in the corridors to prevent incidents there, and blocked them from reaching the chambers so they wouldn’t spread to her room.”
“There’s still a risk the Imperial Consort Palace staff might discover the secret of his strength.”
Arguing with Raymond as he denied his own emotions and regurgitated the same tired justifications was endless. In the carriage slowing as it approached the ducal estate, Bibi closed her eyes for a moment.
‘Titania, forgive me, but I’ll do my best. I promise I really will.’
Don’t let me abandon these two occasionally exasperating brothers….
Bibi truly loved the Castrain Ducal House.
Yet she never forgot that sometimes they drove her absolutely to distraction.

* * *

“What in the world is this mess.”
Miriam, a laundry maid, clicked her tongue as she surveyed the ghostly wreckage of the Rose Palace.
Walls blackened and charred, gardens in ruin — it all remained as it was. One section of wall had collapsed, exposing the interior of the reception room, and they’d covered it with something like a curtain cloth, but it was clearly only a temporary fix.
They’d done only emergency repairs, planning to begin serious restoration once the princess left the palace, but the princess had suddenly met with an accident and now hovered between life and death, so there was nothing to be done. With the princess unconscious, no one would dare suggest proceeding with repairs to the Rose Palace.
The atmosphere inside the palace was unsettled.
Especially after the Rose Palace servants who rushed to the Imperial Consort Palace gates to ask about Titania’s condition were turned away harshly.
Not because any of them were wholly blameless in their own consciences.
So Miriam had all the more reason to harden her resolve: to steal something from the Rose Palace.
“Just a little, just a little touch.”
The princess wasn’t even in the Rose Palace anymore — who would notice? Miriam had clearly seen Natalie hurrying away from the palace earlier, heading somewhere. She was confident the palace was empty now.
The other maids said the Rose Palace frightened them. After the incident and the grueling interrogations that had followed, all the more so.
Strange noises echoed through the empty halls, they whispered, trembling in fear — was it a ghost?
“A ghost? Where? Cowards.”
Miriam scoffed, glanced around, and slipped into the ghostly Rose Palace. There was no sign of anyone.
The Emperor might execute the palace servants — he was furious — who knew what punishment awaited those involved in this incident. Such talk filled the halls. Yet the princess herself, though in the Imperial Consort Palace, remained unknowable in life or death.
So Miriam was certain: this was her chance to make a fortune.
However much a hollow princess in name only, she was still a princess. A few decent pieces of silverware or jewelry would fetch good coin.
If the original servants who guarded this palace were still here, perhaps — but they faced an uncertain fate. If a few pieces vanished and the princess, upon waking from her comatose state, somehow noticed? Who would be blamed? No one knew. Once it disappeared, it was gone.
Miriam wasn’t frightened even looking at the blackened, fire-scarred corridors.
Rather, she counted it fortunate that others, terrified by such ugly damage, wouldn’t come near.
She knew the building’s basic layout. Miriam decided to visit the princess’s chambers first.
Surprisingly, the door was unlocked. Then again, after Titania’s accident, the Rose Palace servants had been so consumed with terror of punishment that they’d lost their wits over such basic precautions.
Then they’d be caught when valuables actually went missing, and take the fall themselves. Fools.
Of course, Miriam was delighted. Her crime would leave no trace.
Creak.
Miriam eased her head through the opened door. A musty smell. Despite the daylight, curtains drawn at every window kept the room dark. A bedroom? At the far end stood a large canopied bed and a small table beside it. She paid no attention to the vase of flowers already wilting and rotting, and instead opened the drawer beneath it.
A small locket lay within.
It was crude, ringed with brass, and didn’t look valuable — but she wondered if perhaps a jewel lay inside, so she opened it.
A tiny portrait.
Black hair and eyes of such vivid gold that one could recognize him at a glance.
A much younger Raymond. The picture was crude — the sort of thing peddlers sold to commoners in the city.
“…This leaves a foul taste.”
Miriam’s mood soured suddenly. Thinking of Titania, who chased after Raymond so desperately, made her conscience prick inexplicably.
Had a maid been sent to purchase it? Why not just keep those precious jewels she loved instead!
Miriam grumbled and closed the locket again, returning it to the drawer.
Perhaps she should search the room more thoroughly, or try the dressing room and wardrobe. Even in the Rose Palace, valuables were typically stored in locked boxes kept by servants.
If only she could find some loose gold or silver. Miriam glanced around — and that was when she heard it.
-…intruder.
A strange sound. Hair stood on end along Miriam’s nape.
It felt as though someone stood directly behind her, whispering.
-…trespasser….
Crackle, crackle — a sound like something being forcibly cut off. Miriam spun around, trembling.
Nothing was there.
Only — how had she missed it before? — an ornate box now lay beside the bed, placed against its base. The long shape suggested something like a cane, sword, or staff stored within. Should she leave it untouched? Even as the thought crossed her mind, Miriam reached for the box.
As she lifted the lid, a single sword appeared, its scabbard and hilt wrapped tightly in red cloth. Even to Miriam’s untrained eye, it looked like a legendary sword — a blade worth a fortune.
Ordinarily, she would never have touched such a thing.
Even a thief has limits. A mere servant couldn’t possibly dispose of a legendary sword without suspicion.
Yet somehow Miriam found herself entranced, unwrapping the red cloth. And as she grasped the hilt to draw the blade from its scabbard as though possessed….
-YOU’RE A THIEF!!!!!!!! (⍜⍙⍜ )!!!!!!!!!
“KYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”
Someone screamed inside her head.

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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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