Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 75

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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 75

‘I have to salvage this situation somehow.’
Cornered by Titania’s pitiful act and the irritating Flux, who for some reason had taken her side, and forced to show a rather shameful display by Raymond’s threats—yet none of that mattered now.
He couldn’t let it end like this.
He caught Gregory’s eye. Gregory, who had been standing vacant and lifeless, seemed to snap to attention the moment Kronen’s gaze fell upon him.
‘In any case, the princess has left the premises. I need to restore calm and send everyone home.’
The Young Duke Raymond had abruptly appeared and whisked the princess away on his own whim, leaving the Temple in a state of complete disarray. Word had it that even the chamber housing the Sacred Object had sustained damage, making the success of the Dedication Ceremony uncertain at best.
Minutes earlier they’d been quarreling over who was to blame, but now he had to find a way forward.
“…My friends, while much has transpired today, I must ask that you depart now. I stake my name upon resolving this unfortunate affair.”
“Hah.”
It was at that precise moment. Lisianthus, who had been watching Raymond disappear with Titania in his arms—his expression twisted as though he’d just crammed an entire lemon into his mouth and bitten down—suddenly threw back his shoulders with the air of someone who’d forgotten all about it and let out a loud, drawling laugh.
“Sir Gregory, you seemed quite eager to send me far, far away, what with all this pressing work you have?”
“……”
Disheveled crimson hair. Eyes of the same color gleaming with an ominous light. And the sword gripped tightly in his hand.
Lisianthus looked positively ready for a fight.
Truth be told, he’d been seething since earlier—more precisely, from the moment he’d realized that while he was being forced away from the Temple on some errand, Titania had been left there with barely an adequate guard.
Or more accurately still, from the moment he’d caught sight of the flames blazing within the building.
He’d felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
Not that it had been long ago.
Just recently, hadn’t Lisianthus and Titania held hands and merrily set off Fireworks at the Rose Palace?
Then, surprising and bewildering as it was—even somewhat amusing—he hadn’t felt this sense of injustice.
Watching Titania cavort so lightly had occasionally stirred a subtle, indescribable feeling.
But his honest impression had been more along the lines of: ‘I didn’t know she had this side to her.’
Since then, as he’d come to know Titania more deeply, he’d found himself caught in a web of conflicted emotions.
Something that resembled guilt endlessly, yet he couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge it. Titania acted as though she’d forgotten how she’d tried to devour him the moment she laid eyes on him—as if she’d truly become a different person, even acting refreshingly toward Raymond, his brother.
‘She doesn’t spare her own body.’
She showed no hesitation in taking the initiative.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with those actions themselves. Titania’s endeavors had proven quite successful.
Yet somehow, watching the flames rise so brilliantly from the Temple—visible from even a distance—Lisianthus felt a sense of foreboding.
Surely he had come to her side to protect Titania.
After nearly dying once and showing no fear, watching her display such unusual boldness even among packs of Magic Beasts—
He’d thought that even someone like himself, with no regard for propriety or appearances, needed to stay close and keep watch, or else he’d never feel at ease.
Of course, when Lisianthus had arrived at the burning Temple and finally laid eyes on Titania, she was already deep in the middle of an act.
Debi and Barbara were crying out, “Compose yourself, Your Highness!” and restraining her, and she showed no signs of grave injury, so it couldn’t have been a serious matter.
And yet…
‘Why?’
Why hadn’t she fled?
It was certainly possible she’d set the fire herself, as she had at the Rose Palace.
No—nine times out of ten, that was exactly what had happened. The odds of anyone being mad enough to set a fire inside the Temple, where the Dedication Ceremony would soon take place, were virtually nonexistent.
Moreover, Lisianthus knew well how capable and lethal Debi was as a guard and an assassin.
With someone like Debi right beside her, who could steal a sword? But seeing the flames in the Temple, the townspeople came rushing with Water Buckets in their alarm. She must have deliberately displayed various acts before them, intending thereby to achieve her desired ends.
‘But it’s dangerous, isn’t it?’
If he’d been at her side, he would have stopped her. No—he would have opposed the arson from the very start. This was different from the Rose Palace.
After all, that had been the Imperial Palace, her own property.
Everyone would have rushed to save her.
But this place was different.
What if someone truly took advantage of the chaos to harm her?
What if, by some chance, the flames grew too fierce and she suffered genuine injury?
Of course, Lisianthus understood one of the chief reasons.
“A most splendid display. Truly admirable?”
“Is there something you wish to say to me?”
“Well, given the state of things, I was merely wondering whether you still claim to be the chief protector of Princess Titania?”
At Lisianthus’s open mockery, Gregory’s eyes flashed dangerously. The soldiers who had departed with Lisianthus earlier and only now returned after witnessing the fire stood at a loss, watching the friction between the two men.
“And how was anyone to know a fire would break out in a Temple?”
“Spare me the obvious. You have no intention of relinquishing the title of chief protector to me, do you?”
“Now you presume to rival me? Ha! For all the Castrain Family’s power, I serve His Majesty the Emperor himself—”
“Do you know what happens to incompetent commanders on the battlefield? Those who can’t assess a situation, can’t take responsibility, can’t act?”
Lisianthus tilted his head to one side and smiled—an expression childishly innocent, wickedly impish, and demonically base all at once.
“Their subordinates die.”
“……”
“If you lack the ability, you’d do better to stay put. Otherwise, your little schemes just send your subordinates straight to hell.”
“Are you threatening me?”
Titania was desperate enough.
‘During the Rose Palace renovation, sneak in some Castrain people and open up a secret passage.’
‘……’
‘I’ll repay you later. For now—well, as you say, she’s just a frivolous princess who might die if someone decided to burn her alive out of boredom.’
As long as she could achieve a better result even at the cost of risking her own life, she didn’t mind.
He remembered those green eyes laughing so artlessly in that moment.
But the instant others rushed in, those green eyes transformed like an infuriated ruffian, the defiance vanishing without a trace.
When had his brother Raymond come to understand such changes in her?
Perhaps from the very beginning?
When Raymond appeared at the scene, Lisianthus had been genuinely surprised. Others might have expected it, but his own feelings were different.
He knew Debi regularly sent reports to the Castrain Family’s main estate through special channels.
It was a reasonable precaution in case of emergency.
And yet, he’d never anticipated that Raymond would actually appear here.
The brother he knew was the very embodiment of duty.
The situation in the North was scarcely at ease—even Lisianthus, who mostly took orders, understood that much.
Raymond was practically serving as the Duke in his stead. For him to come all this way was like using a sword meant for cattle to butcher a chicken.
Naturally, Titania, who had been cheerfully feigning sorrow and deceiving the Priests, froze in panic.
Raymond urged the hesitant Titania forward with silence and hastily fled the scene together.
To see it, you’d think he was abducting her. It was uncharacteristic. The way he refused to let Titania go, forceful even by his standards, struck Lisianthus as decidedly strange.
Was Raymond normally the type to push forward like that? No, he wasn’t.
He looked desperate—as if he needed to tear Titania away from this place that very instant.
His face remained expressionless as ever and his tone remained flat, yet his hurried movements betrayed a barely concealed urgency. He gave the bewildered Titania no chance to respond and offered no explanation to Titania’s equally confused attendants.
As if he were afraid of something.
Afraid of what?
Lisianthus grasped it instinctively. Perhaps he even imagined something similar—like that time when Bibi had been saved and she’d lost consciousness with only the faintest of smiles lingering on her lips.
Sometimes Titania appeared perilously close to staking herself as the wager and then murmuring, ‘I’ve achieved what I wanted, so this is fine,’ before drifting to sleep.
“Threaten? Well, I’m merely suggesting that a superior should conduct themselves as a superior ought, if they want to be served. If that sounds like a threat to you, Sir Gregory, then you’ve truly never known a real threat in your life.”
The things that compelled ‘that’ Titania to take on unnecessary risk.
“Priest Kronen. Sir Gregory.”
Lisianthus grinned like a hunter who’d spotted prey. Both Gregory, with whom his eyes had met, and Kronen, who was only just finished calming the townspeople, stiffened simultaneously.
“From now on, I do hope we can work together splendidly. Yes?”
Unbeknownst to Lisianthus, his demeanor bore a striking resemblance to Raymond’s when he’d come to retrieve Titania, pressing those present with his presence. Particularly in the way killing intent seeped through the cracks of his eyes.
Of course, while Kronen and Gregory had been scheming something, they’d received a thorough thrashing before they could properly execute their plans—which made the situation all the more unjust from their perspective.

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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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