Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 51

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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 51

“What a darling little girl.”
The midday tavern reeked of stale tobacco smoke. Bibi paid no mind to the mocking tone and rose onto her tiptoes to check the clock hanging on the wall.
The wooden clock was so old that its origin was lost to time—its hands crusted with grime, the second, minute, and hour hands all askew.
Time had ravaged it; the spaces where the numbers 3 and 5 should have been were empty.
“Dear me, we don’t have anything suitable for such a charming little girl to drink here. Whatever shall we do?”
The voice was soft as butterfly wings. Bibi smiled with her eyes, watching the approaching woman’s hand with a cold gaze.
Her nails were white and clean, unmarred by any stain. Yet at the tip of her pinky finger, barely visible—something that a careless observer might mistake for a smudge—was a tiny black butterfly tattoo.
‘If I’d known from the start that every girl working at Hecate’s Tavern was a daughter of the Butterfly Tribe, I’d have saved myself the trouble!’
Memory suddenly clawed at the consciousness of the small girl.
The sorcerer cackling over having obtained excellent experimental material. Transparent, thick glass walls. Iron bars blocking the space between them. The test subjects dying within….
‘Little one, don’t cry.’
That woman had been among them.
‘Crying weakens you. Do you know any escape routes? Ah, if you knew, you wouldn’t be crying here like an idiot, would you? Little one, you’ve got some spirit….’
No matter what cruel experiments she endured, she never revealed her secrets. She couldn’t harm her family, her companions. Yet the sorcerer ultimately shattered the mind of the test subject in his grasp.
Through incomprehensible magic and a peculiarly sweet-smelling drug. Through repeated torture.
The woman awoke to the realization that she had divulged her tribe’s secrets and gathering places while unconscious….
‘…little one, please survive and leave this place. Tell them I’m sorry….’
In any case, that was a future that would not come to pass. That woman—who had sensed her own death and begged the youngest test subject not to die while trembling, asking her to ‘escape this place alive and tell my companions what I said’—no longer existed.
“It’s all right, Bibi understands. Every shop can’t welcome customers perfectly, can they? If something isn’t available, you just buy it!”
Bibi laughed brightly and clapped her hands together. Lucy, the maid who had been waiting in the shadows behind Bibi, appeared with a purse.
Bibi drew gold coins from the purse and flicked them into the air. The woman caught them despite her displeasure.
“Bibi isn’t too demanding, you see! For a drink, I’d like lemon water with Izel flowers steeped for exactly three seconds. For a snack, hazelnut butter financiers from Honey Honey Bakery. And if there’s money left over, buy orange and lemon bonbons from Rone’s candy shop. Oh, and the orange tart—weekday special!”
“…….”
The woman’s temple vein throbbed at a request so absurd—like being told ‘here’s a thousand won, buy three breads and bring back five hundred in change.’
Seeing Bibi’s smiling, well-groomed face and carefully styled hair, along with her expensive-looking dress, the woman forced a smile.
“My, young lady, but this isn’t a restaurant, you know~? What ever shall we do?”
“My name isn’t ‘young lady,’ either.”
“Then might I know the young lady’s name?”
“Bibi’s been saying her name is Bibi this whole time. Adults are so strange! Don’t look down on me just because I’m little—listen properly from the beginning!”
“Then, Miss Bibi.”
The woman’s voice had grown grim.
“This is no place for a child’s foolish games.”
“Bibi isn’t here to fool around with adults, either.”
Bibi smiled cheerfully and tapped the gold coin in the woman’s hand. The woman’s face hardened as she examined it.
A thin emblem carved with three serpents and a laurel wreath.
It was the symbol of Hecate’s Tavern.
A Black Card with the emblem inscribed in gold foil was a temporary pass. It granted a single commission with fees waived, and the moment that commission concluded, the holder’s right of entry expired.
However, those officially recognized as patrons of Hecate’s Tavern could enter without such a card.
One proof of that status was precisely this gold coin. Not gold foil that could be scraped off paper and burned away, but a true pattern pressed into actual gold.
The Castrain Family was a VIP patron of Hecate’s Tavern and a strategic partner. Yet even so, not every member of the family could possess such an item.
“I’ve heard much about how Duke Castrain dotes upon his beloved youngest foster daughter, giving her whatever she desires.”
The woman’s lips curved slightly upward.
“But seeing it for myself surpasses imagination. Is that right, Lady?”
“Just call me Bibi.”
“Yes, Lady Bibi. So then, what exactly do you seek with such a thing in hand?”
“All information regarding the Empress Elaine.”
“…….”
“Every move she’s made before entering the Imperial Palace and after. Oh, and you must sell it exclusively to me. You can’t sell it to anyone else.”
“Is that all you came here to ask for?”
“No way? Bibi is greedy!”
Bibi’s clear laughter rang out as she offered an innocent smile.
“I also have information to sell.”
“We don’t purchase just any information.”
“Really?”
Bibi’s smile faded from her face.
“Information that there’s a high likelihood someone seeking the blood of the Butterfly Tribe will assault Hecate’s Tavern?”
“……!”
The air froze in an instant.
Lucy moved forward to shield Bibi, but Bibi raised a hand to stop her. With eyes colder than before, the woman replied as if nothing were amiss.
“Young lady, I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re saying. Why would someone seeking the blood of the Butterfly Tribe assault Hecate’s Tavern?”
“Because I know that Hecate at Hecate’s Tavern was the last High Priestess of the Butterfly Tribe, and that Hecate’s Tavern was established as a means to safely protect her people within human society.”
The Butterfly Tribe was a heterodox race that dwelt in caves, possessing the power to commune with bats.
Though their appearance was little different from humans and they possessed no particular strength save their ability to command bats, the image of bats resembled that of Magic Beasts, and so their reputation suffered. They were oppressed as a race in league with Magic Beasts.
Thus, Hecate, the High Priestess of the Butterfly Tribe, made a decision: abandon the forests and caves, mix among humans, and seek survival.
The ability to command bats proved unexpectedly useful for gathering information.
One could learn everything the bats saw and heard in real time, and through ultrasonic communication, conduct remote discourse across great distances.
One could even use the bats themselves to secretly send and receive letters without anyone knowing.
They could exchange information faster than anyone else in the Empire, and gather intelligence secretly hidden among humans. Thanks to this, they could forge ties with the Castrain Ducal House, which collected rare bloodlines.
Though Hecate’s Tavern had indeed originated from the Butterfly Tribe, now only a few members of the leadership were Butterfly Tribe; it was unquestionably an information organization. The preeminent one in the Empire, at that.
“Young lady.”
The woman spoke, her smile gone.
“Where did you obtain that information?”
“I can’t reveal the source, but I learned of it because my enemies are targeting it!”
Bibi laughed openly.
“Information without a verifiable source is mere speculation. And you mean to sell such a thing to us? Well, yes, Hecate’s Tavern is quite famous, and there have always been plenty of fools who thought they could assault it and seize what they wanted.”
“If you don’t believe it, then don’t.”
Bibi replied coolly.
“But if information comes from ‘the Castrain Ducal House’ and contains the organization’s greatest secrets, then naturally you’d be cautious, wouldn’t you? Even if someone did target you, you wouldn’t fall into the trap so stupidly, would you?”
Bibi was no fool.
Even though she had returned to childhood and was living anew, she didn’t believe she could accomplish everything.
For reasons unknown, she had been granted a second life. If that was the case, then she would simply do her best in every moment.
‘And it seems I’m not the only one who’s changed.’
As Bibi heard accounts of what had transpired in the Imperial Palace, she reflected.
‘Did Princess Titania, like me, die and return to the past?’
The Princess Titania whom Bibi knew before her death had acted far differently than she did now.
What’s more, the woman was proposing to conduct transactions while revealing information that even the Castrain Ducal House didn’t properly know?
On top of that, she had wielded that mysterious sword—the one the Empress had branded a Demon Sword, its very origin unknown—with confidence and disposed of Magic Beasts with it. It was enough to make one suspect that someone else entirely was wearing Princess Titania’s skin.
Yet Bibi couldn’t divulge her own secrets recklessly, nor could she ask Titania the doubts gnawing at her.

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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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