Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 68

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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 68

“Ha-ha. The priests won’t be able to get into this room today. Something about a purification ceremony where we have to go in naked—nonsense, really. Look at this wig! Doesn’t it look exactly like my real hair, doesn’t it?”
“Your Highness! Where exactly are you trying to go? It’s dangerous!”
Barbara, always so composed, was practically vibrating with agitation as she pulled at my sleeve.
I laughed awkwardly.
Barbara had no idea that I’d been kidnapped at dawn and had only just returned. Debi had put her to bed and slipped out after me.
Of course, Barbara had found me groaning and stretching when she woke me, thought it odd, and kindly helped work out the stiffness. But given that we’d pushed hard on the carriage all day yesterday, she’d assumed it was just muscle soreness.
Barbara serves the Empress. The Empress, myself, and Adrian have come to stand on the same side, even as we’ve turned against the Empress Consort.
But I wasn’t sure how much of my business I could actually reveal to her.
More precisely, I couldn’t quite bring myself to lay bare our entire relationship with House Castrain.
So I forced myself to grin like a carefree tomboy and spoke as innocently as I could.
“No, no, it’s fine. There’s nothing to worry about!”
“Of course there is, Your Highness! I’m a specialist, I am! I can protect you!”
Debi beamed, making no effort to hide her pride in her own specialness. Watching her, Barbara’s face flushed deep crimson.
“You were just speaking with Lord Cortez about something, and now suddenly this? Is there something you can’t tell me?”
“I want you to be safe, Barbara.”
“I came to serve Your Highness. I can’t simply let you venture somewhere potentially dangerous without any information.”
“If I’d lived safely all this time, what would have happened? Simply because I was brought into the palace, wouldn’t the Empress have lost even the real power she once held? Would I have been branded a cursed child?”
Barbara’s lips sealed shut. She must have thought of the incident from just days ago—when I’d taken the Empress’s hand and torn through the Imperial Palace. Watching her expression, I laughed listlessly.
“Thank you for worrying about me.”
How far could I trust her?
How much could I tell her?
I didn’t know. It was all far too difficult.
It was just that sometimes I felt it was unfair when people with more precious things to protect were hurt because of me.
With Debi, at least, it was easier knowing she’d come to me through a contract transaction….
“If we don’t hurry, I’ll be late! I’ll be back soon!”
While Barbara sat in stunned silence, I bolted toward the passage we’d prepared earlier, moving as fast as I could. I heard Barbara cry out in alarm.
“Your Highness!”
“I’ll be back too! I’ll try to bring back something delicious! If that’s not possible, I’ll sneak something from the kitchens later!”
“Debi!”
Perhaps I was imagining it, but Barbara’s voice when she called Debi’s name seemed filled with far more resentment. I awkwardly adjusted the wig on my head.
Fluxus had told me about some suspected irregularities at the Temple and information about the Empress Consort. It was quite intriguing, but being cooped up inside the Temple meant there was little I could actually verify.
That’s when I remembered.
The Access Card to Hecate’s Tavern. I’d received it not long ago as payment from House Castrain in exchange for telling them the location of the Banner of Gloriana.
Of course, the main branch of Hecate’s Tavern was in the capital.
But it wasn’t without branch locations. There was one at the far northern edge of the Castrain Territory, and another at the southern end—here in the city of Artula. Two in total.
My mother in my past life used to tell me this all the time: hold on too tightly, and everything turns to dust.
The smell of grass wafted through the air. With each step, I could hear the soft crunch of treading on grass.
I glanced sidelong at the Temple grounds. There were far fewer people about than I’d expected.
The number of formal priests stationed at the Temple where I was staying was surprisingly small.
Just a handful of young boys who served as acolytes or trainees, doing all the grunt work.
And various outsiders who came and went, delivering supplies and the like.
Fluxus said he’d greased a lot of palms among those outsiders and trainees. That’s how I was able to slip away in broad daylight, finding empty paths.
“There it is.”
I passed through a small rear door—one left open during prayer times so as not to disturb the priests while they were gathered in devotion, a route used mainly by workers—and stepped outside.
This was where it got critical.
The Temple sat in such an open space that moving about unnoticed was difficult. I spotted a carriage painted white to match the white sand waiting for us and climbed aboard.
Debi exchanged some silent nod of greeting with the coachman and settled beside me.
The carriage rolled forward at a decent clip.
“You said Gregory and Cronen were having a secret conversation?”
“Yes. They sent all the knights away under the pretense of maintaining city security.”
“Ugh, and Lisianthus somehow actually went along with them. I thought he’d throw a fit.”
I shuddered all over. If Lisianthus had been here, there wouldn’t be a chance of staying discreet….
“If he comes back and sees that Your Highness met with Lord Cortez and then ran off into the city like this, I bet he’d breathe fire.”
“Fire from his mouth instead of his hands?”
“…That was a joke. What were you even imagining?”
“Isn’t it possible with Lisianthus? Like, if he held an oil flask in his mouth and lit it with his hands, he could breathe fire like….”
Now that I said it aloud, it sounded like something from a Pokémon. No wait, this world has Divine Beasts and Magic Beasts, so maybe there’s actually something like that.
“Your Highness, is setting fires your hobby……?”
Debi didn’t bother hiding her skeptical expression. Come to think of it, Debi must have figured out the truth about that incident—when Lisianthus and I held hands and set the Rose Palace ablaze, stunning everyone.
“Speaking of which, I wonder how the Rose Palace renovation is going. I’d better drill some air holes in several places so it’s convenient for me later.”
“It should be progressing well, the Young Duke is….”
“The Young Duke is?”
I frowned at the sudden slip of her tongue. Debi cleared her throat with a couple of self-conscious coughs.
“Oh, I meant Lady Bibi! The Young Duke—Lady Bibi said she’d naturally accommodate any request from Your Highness.”
“Ah, our Bibi.”
My face softened, warmth spreading through it.
That’s when it happened.
The carriage lurched to a stop. As we stepped out, the streets were teeming with people. Debi and I carefully scanned for our destination.
A pawn shop in the basement of a three-story building tucked into a corner of the street.
The moment we stepped inside, the thick smell of damp dust hit us.
Unlike the cramped outdoor taverns and teahouses visible everywhere else, packed shoulder-to-shoulder with patrons, this place was eerily empty—unsettlingly so.
You wouldn’t have been surprised to see rats scurrying across the floor.
I descended the stone steps and rapped on a heavy wooden door. A small window carved into it creaked open, and someone peered through, eyes only, and spoke.
“Who goes there?”
Debi glanced nervously at me. Instead of letting her answer, I spoke.
“Three silver coins beneath the dark eaves.”
“…….”
Without a word in response, the door cracked open. A middle-aged woman of entirely unremarkable appearance frowned at me.
“What’s this, kid? You don’t have anything to pawn, and you’re here anyway? This isn’t some curiosity shop for little young ladies and their servant girls to visit for fun….”
Instead of sighing, I pulled out the card I’d kept in my pocket and waved it at her.
The woman’s mouth snapped shut immediately, and she led us inside. We entered a small room with walls on all sides and a black cloth covering the entrance, and the door closed behind us.
A woman swathed in a veil sat smoking a long pipe.
“Princess Titania. You certainly have no fear.”
Instead of answering, I smiled brightly. With Debi’s help, I was dressed as an ordinary servant girl.
My hair was rolled and pinned beneath a hair net, and I wore a plain brown wig. I’d applied heavy cosmetics to my skin and drawn freckles on my cheeks.
I couldn’t hide my green eyes, but there was nothing in my appearance alone that would let someone guess “Princess Titania.”
However, there were only a handful of customers who knew where the Hecate’s Tavern branch was located, and among those, only certain age groups would possess this particular card.
And if one knew the movements of Princess Titania—who’d come south all this way with such fanfare for the Dedication Ceremony—it was honestly harder not to know my identity.
I let out a scoff in front of the woman and spoke.
“Hecate’s Tavern, why did you make your customer come in person to lodge a complaint?”
“…What?”
The woman furrowed one brow as if she hadn’t caught what I’d said.
“I heard someone was supposed to come within a week. Ever since I got this card—a week, let alone how long has it actually been now?”
I clicked my tongue dismissively, my eyes sweeping across the room. At my waist, hidden beneath cloth wrapping, my Emoticon Sword hummed quietly with restless energy.

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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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