Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 87

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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 87

Perhaps it was the instinctive realization that as long as she complied with whatever Lilium wanted, her life would be spared.
“You don’t need to look at me like that. I rather like creatures who know their place. I’m simply offering to help with your errand. Strictly speaking, it’s a favor, yes?”
In other words: step out of line, and she’d break her. Lilium carefully arranged the Mysterious Fruit into the pouch Primrose held out. Then she dangled it before Cronen’s eyes, still bound from head to toe.
“Feed this to the Princess Titania.”
“Eh, u-um, yes?”
“Preferably on the day of the Dedication Ceremony.”
…….
“It shouldn’t be difficult. The fruit we’ve cultivated in our Greenhouse is the sweetest and most delicious in the world.”
Fruit?
Merely ‘fruit’?
Primrose slowly unknotted the ropes binding Cronen. Rubbing at limbs that had gone numb and tingling from prolonged binding, Cronen slowly accepted the pouch extended toward her.
The red, translucent flesh gleamed within the pouch like seeds of pomegranate—easy to mistake for tropical fruit if one knew nothing better. But Cronen hadn’t forgotten the shell that had crumbled to dust before her eyes. That blackened husk, like charred ash compacted solid…….
“A taste you’ll never forget in your whole life.”
The beautiful girl, rendered as if by brush and paint, spoke with absolute certainty.
A laugh rang out, sharp and clear as clinking glass.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, it was another unfamiliar ceiling.
I really need to stop getting used to this thought. How many times have I woken to it now? This isn’t fine. This isn’t fine at all. I’ve nearly died—how many times is this?
The first time, I fell from the second-floor balcony and woke from a coma to the crushing knowledge that my life was ruined. When I saved Bibi. And now, that makes three? Summer hasn’t even ended, and it’s been nothing but calamities. I’m not a wheel—I’ll wear out my lifespan spinning like this.
I blinked slowly, taking inventory of my body’s condition. My fingertips responded to my will, as did my legs.
But my whole body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton. And my abdomen felt particularly tight—when I felt around my waist and belly with my hands, I found bandages wrapped snugly in place.
I’d hurt so badly I hadn’t even noticed where the Magic Beast had struck. Hadn’t I nearly died for real this time? A chill ran through me.
Still, my condition was overall manageable. It was providential that Illian was staying here. I owe him my life—multiple times over now. I’ll have to thank him properly later.
The room was quiet. Darkness on all sides, with only a dim lamp on the bedside casting feeble light. Night? Dawn? What hour was it? At least it wasn’t daytime.
When I’d first awakened after saving Bibi, I hadn’t wanted everyone fawning with “The Princess has awakened!” But with everything quiet now, I found myself holding my breath instinctively.
The ceiling was unfamiliar, but as my eyes adjusted to the dim light, the furniture and decorations looked known. This must be a room in the Castrain Family Villa where I’d been staying.
I was about to lower the blanket covering my chest when I spotted a man dozing in the chair beside the bed.
That back of the head was far too familiar.
Wait—it shouldn’t be so familiar, should it? Yet there was no mistaking it even in the darkness: that lustrous black hair. Not many people emit a sense of handsomeness merely from the curve of their skull, but his upper body was draped across the bed toward me, as if he’d collapsed or was trying to grasp me, and it was quite…….
“……Sleeping like that, he’ll have quite the sore back.”
A hoarse voice leaked from my throat. After managing a few muffled coughs, I gave up on the internal monologue and stared at the exposed profile of the figure beside me.
Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I’d seen Raymond asleep.
I, on the other hand, have been near death, saved, lost consciousness—practically shown every possible state before the Castrain Household. But Raymond? Even if he knelt before me of his own volition, he’d do it with such grace that it wouldn’t look like submission at all. He’s an elegant, authoritative man who’s never shown so much as a crack. I couldn’t have imagined it.
Which is why it felt somehow unreal to see him like this—slack with vulnerability, exposing his profile to me while he slept. The area beneath his eyes was shadowed, his cheeks slightly sunken. Even haggard, the sharp line of his jaw held a kind of emaciated beauty, but…….
…….
Without thinking, I reached toward the black hair falling across his forehead, then stopped.
Right, just recently. He’d been really angry with me. Over the plan I’d worked so hard on, like wasn’t it great that I’d let it go down in flames……. I’d been drowning in inferiority complex…….
I’d bounded around insisting I could do it, then went and failed spectacularly enough to nearly die. If Raymond hadn’t come to save me, I probably would have died.
I’d talked big, then couldn’t lift my face from shame.
I should die, Titania, I should just—
Seized by self-recrimination, I grabbed my own hair.
My reckless plan had put Lisianthus, Debi, and even Flux in danger. No matter that we still hadn’t fully assessed the enemy and so had intended this reconnaissance to probe how they might strike, it’s true. Still, I should have prepared better.
Drowning in anxiety, I found myself gnawing at my lip without meaning to. The edge tore, and blood began to seep. That’s when the man’s shoulder flinched.
I stopped breathing without thinking. The shoulder I’d thought tensed relaxed again—whether he’d reacted to the scent of blood in his sleep or had tightened momentarily, I couldn’t say. A sigh of relief escaped me, one I barely noticed making.
Wait? Why am I relieved? That he didn’t wake up?
“……He really is handsome.”
A stupid-sounding remark spilled out unbidden. Oh no, what if he wakes up? I searched his face nervously, but he seemed to be sleeping so deeply that there was no sign of stirring. Reassured, I returned to studying his features.
To be honest, it felt a little strange. Being able to gaze at his face like this, so quietly.
If he’d been born on twenty-first-century Earth, he’d be a world star, massively successful. Instead, he’s stuck here as the eldest with heavy responsibilities, suffering for it. The moment those eyes opened, the charisma radiating from those sharp gold irises prevented me from thinking such foolish things.
But seeing him asleep, haggard and unguarded, I felt a pang of sympathy. And nearly all of it is probably my fault, him lying here like this, asleep in this state…….
If I don’t feel guilt, I’m not human.
So, strangely enough. Watching him sleep like this, unlike usual, it struck me that he really is my age after all. That he’s not quite a full adult yet. And that realization made something feel odd.
The closed eyelids with their long lashes, the lips pressed tightly shut. They’d always seemed stubborn and overflowing with responsibility. Tonight, he just looked unusually tired and somehow younger.
This time I couldn’t resist the impulse. I reached out and gently brushed the hair falling across his forehead, tucking it behind his ear.
This is the first time I’ve seen him look vulnerable. Maybe that’s why I feel so strange.
And because it seems to be my fault, somehow.
…….
Because I understood too deeply what the younger ‘Titania’ in my heart must be feeling.
How appealing he must have seemed. The thought of him building the safest sanctuary in the world for her, becoming her family, pouring love over her—how satisfying it must have felt.
I shook my head firmly.
No. This won’t do. This is a forbidden fruit. Get yourself together, Titania! This man is indeed remarkable and splendid merchandise, but he is the very embodiment of responsibility!
Without a single rational grain of affection, merely because he saved our family’s life—our family’s savior—he’d keep giving and giving, begging us to please just take care of ourselves, to use him however we need!
The way he shows up in crisis with that desperate face to rescue us, making one’s heart flutter! Anyone he’d saved instead of me would have received the same treatment! I’m not special!
Remember! I have previous-life knowledge, so my mental age is higher. I’m the adult! Don’t touch shamelessly. Don’t be confused.
The world cares less about me than I think. I’m less popular than I believe! Let’s prevent self-importance and reclaim healthy self-awareness!
When he looks tempered like steel struck countless times, I just want him to stop shaking me anymore. I thought I wouldn’t let myself be caught by the lingering attachment that must remain in young ‘Titania’s’ heart.
But watching him struggle and grow weary from saving me, I find myself thinking stupid things like, ‘So that’s why people can’t resist picking up abandoned baby animals on the street—but wait, the Young Duke Castrain isn’t comparable to some baby animal at all….’ Such nonsense.
‘Someone so wonderful can’t be with me’—my inferiority complex seems to have faded because he seems like an ordinary person too, struggling and tired, unable to do everything. Maybe that’s why I can see him more objectively now—because I’ve decided he’s someone I can never have anyway.
Well, no matter how ordinary… it’s still difficult to make a one-to-one comparison between the incomparable Young Duke Castrain and a penniless princess like me.
…….
But even looking without bias, he seems to be struggling.

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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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