Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 108

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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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The days had been peaceful, yet my heart raced from the moment I woke.
Soon enough, Asterion’s twenty-first birthday would arrive—born in late autumn as he was—and with it came the Rocksburg Beauty Pageant, held once every decade, followed by the most dreadful thirty days of year-end accounting that the world had to offer.
Surely that was why my heart pounded so. Outside, heavy clouds hung low and dreary, and rain lashed against the windows. The wind howled with an eerie, ghostly wail, and the windows rattled incessantly—enough to unsettle anyone’s nerves.
I did my best to suppress my anxiety, twisting the Office key in my fingers as I made my way to work. Our house was truly vast and magnificent. The sound of rattling windows echoed from every direction, surrounding me in stereo. Ha, ha, ha.
Screeeech, BANG!
Good heavens!
A tremendous crash erupted from the Entrance Hall, and I rushed toward it without hesitation. The wind must have been fierce enough to damage the hinges on our front door. I hurried to inspect it, thinking I’d need to call someone for repairs—but then a shadowy figure slipped through the Entrance Hall.
A foul stench emanated from her. She wore what appeared to be an animal hide draped over her shoulders, and upon sensing my presence, she quickly lifted her head toward me. The woman with those piercing eyes delivered her business in a manner I’d heard countless times before—brief and to the point.
“I’ll wait out the rain here.”
Ah… yes… I’m not sure who you are, but… very well?
I decided it was best not to provoke this person, so I nodded and began backing away slowly. I needed to fetch Jack, or Aster, or Leon, or William—anyone. This was not someone I could handle alone.
THUD!
Good grief, what now?!
I tried to flee quickly, but the woman hurled something to the floor, drawing my gaze. What landed with a heavy thud in the center of our Entrance Hall was a bag that resembled a golf bag. Yet strangely, instead of golf clubs, it was crammed full of swords, spears, and axes.
What on earth is that…? A peddler? A wandering weapons merchant?
“Now that I think about it.”
Yes, yes? What else? Why?
Why is she acting so familiar with me? Do I know her? I’ve never seen her before today.
“Where’s the sword I left for maintenance?”
…Wait. A sword left for maintenance? There’s only one possibility…
The moment that realization struck me, my legs gave out and I collapsed to the floor. With a desperate hope in my heart, I called out, “Mother?”
“What?”
She answered matter-of-factly. But I… I wasn’t mentally prepared for this.
“Sister! Are you alright?!”
Wait. If you come here now, something terrible might happen.
I turned to look behind me and saw Asterion rushing from the direction of the Office. With a terrible premonition, I shook my head to signal him to stay away, but Leon seemed startled by my collapsed form and came running anyway, positioning himself in front of me.
“Who dares enter here! Do you know where you are?!”
“Hey.”
Regardless of Asterion’s outrage, the woman remained calm. Her powerful voice made Leon falter slightly, and he stammered out a confused “Yes?” before the woman’s expression darkened with displeasure.
“You. What’s your name?”
“…”
“Your name. What is it?”
“A-Asterion… is it?”
My spine went cold in an instant. I could tell the woman was furious. The very air seemed to tremble with her oppressive presence.
“That thing is still alive?”
Before she finished speaking, the woman was no longer at the bottom of the staircase. In a blur of motion, she rushed up and kicked Leon into the wall with brutal force. Blood dripped from his mouth as he let out a cry of pain.
No. This can’t happen. Asterion will die at this rate.
“Wait, Mother! Hold on! Leon will die!”
Summoning my courage, I grabbed the woman’s ankle, but Mother looked down at me and seized my arm, dragging me away.
“Why are you so weak? What’s with these skeletal arms?”
No… I’m actually at a normal weight?
“Don’t you eat and exercise?!”
Ugh, why are you suddenly being so practical about this!
As I shrieked in horror, Jack and Aster, fully armed, entered the Entrance Hall. Jack immediately hurled a dagger at me, intending to separate me from Mother, but this monster of a woman didn’t even think to dodge—she simply swung her arm once and caught every single blade Jack threw.
“William’s sons, I see. How you’ve grown.”
No! One of them is a daughter!
“Perfect timing. Let me teach you how to handle close combat.”
What in the world is happening!
Mother scooped me up and, grasping my wrists, moved me this way and that. Widen the stance between your feet, lower your hips, quicken your movements, read and predict your opponent’s joint movements—I understood nothing and was completely disoriented.
All I knew was that I was being dragged along as Mother moved, evading Jack and Aster’s attacks. And when I dodged Aster’s thrust and pressed the flat of the blade, though I barely applied any force, Aster tumbled to the ground.
Mother, who had been maneuvering while holding me aloft on her feet, saw her opening, flicked Jack’s hand away, swept his leg, and seized his halberd.
Though it wasn’t hers, Mother wielded the halberd with the practiced ease of someone who’d used it for ten years—she seemed quite pleased with it, testing it against the staircase railing before gripping it properly.
“This is rather nice. Shall I take it?”
Please, as a matter of decency, don’t steal the child’s weapon!
I shrieked, but Mother paid no attention and swung the halberd. Then, insisting on teaching me how to use it, she had me grasp the handle and placed the blade against Leon’s neck, moving my arm for me.
“Do you understand, Rosalite? With the blade facing outward like this, even a slight application of force will use centrifugal momentum, you see.”
No, please, save me! I’m going to kill Leon with my own hands!
Screaming inwardly, I saw Father rushing over from afar with William. Father’s arrival was welcome, but even he seemed powerless against this situation…
“What is this commotion!”
Huh? Why is he being so stern? Father hadn’t seen Mother in nearly twenty years, yet he spoke in an angry voice without hesitation. What was even more absurd was that Mother seemed intimidated by his rebuke.
“…E-Eddie! I, that is…!”
Wait, Eddie? Mother shortened Edward Rocksburg’s name to Eddie and dropped the halberd to the ground, set me down, and took a step back from me.
“You never reflected on what happened then! And now you’re grabbing at the children!”
“No, Eddie. I just found it strange that he was alive…”
“I already told you I would take him in!”
What is this? How is the situation unfolding?
Mother, who had been so commanding moments ago, contorted her face at Father’s reproach and began to sniffle. Liquid dripped down like water.
Moreover, for some reason, William was standing right behind Father, making a teasing expression at Mother. He raised his middle finger, made a pig nose, stuck out his tongue, and seemed to be having the time of his life…
Somehow, the Brown brothers acting out before each other looked just like him. William, you truly are their father after all.
“Eddie, you’re too much. I was just doing this for you, Eddie…!”
Mother burst into tears and, abandoning her golf bag, ran outside into the wind and rain. Father examined Leon and then called for the Doctor, asking me to chase after Mother. He reasoned that since I’d known her longer than anyone else, it would be better if I went…
But I’m meeting her for the first time today.
Unable to say so, I agreed and followed Mother. Following what seemed to be a foul stench emanating from animal hide, I found Mother sitting beneath the Back Garden trees, weeping bitterly.
How pathetic. Her black hair, which looked as flat and shadowless as a matte black, hung limply in the rain, and her already red eyes were so swollen from crying that she looked like a vengeful ghost.
A moment ago she appeared like some celestial demon seizing the children, and now here she was, crouched down with her nose running.
I approached Mother, stripped away the animal hide, pulled out a handkerchief, and wiped her face. I held her nose firmly and made a sound for her to blow, and the woman blew hard before her face crumpled again.
“Is Eddie… Is Eddie very angry…?”
“Yes.”
“Sob, sniff, whimper, wail.”
Oh dear, don’t bury your face in that tissue. It’s filthy.
I crouched beside Mother and waited for her sobs to subside. Next to me sat a woman who looked like a ghost, crying her heart out, while the weather turned gloomy and rain pattered down relentlessly. Today’s fortune was utterly ruined.
After I’d stood there silently with my arms crossed for quite some time, Mother finally composed herself and linked her arm through mine.
“Hiccup, I’ll leave soon, sniff, Edward, don’t be angry with me.”
“You said you came to avoid the rain. Let’s wash up before you go.”
I didn’t know the circumstances, but the stench was overwhelming. Whatever that bear fur was, it reeked terribly. When I mentioned preparing hot water for her to bathe before leaving, Mother silently nodded and sniffled.
I’ve lived here quite a long time, yet I still don’t understand this household’s affairs.

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Linking arms with Mother, I returned to the Entrance Hall to find all traces of the disturbance already gone. The golf bag that had been lying in the center was nowhere to be seen, the staircase railing had been hastily patched with wooden boards, and the injured had apparently been taken to the Doctor.
I ordered the hall servant to prepare the bathhouse and entrusted Mother to their care. The clothes I was wearing would have to be discarded and replaced—the smell was absolutely unbearable.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to get back to work.”
“Ah… this place… still seems quite busy.”
Of course it is.
I nodded and tried to leave, but someone grabbed my sleeve, and I couldn’t move a single step. Despite exerting all my strength, I couldn’t advance even half a pace forward.
“Aren’t you going to wash?”
“I think just changing clothes should be sufficient. Besides, I need to hurry and handle urgent matters—!”
“Come on, you’re coming too.”
Let go of me, woman!
Without asking my opinion, she scooped me up effortlessly and ordered the servant to fill the largest bathhouse with water. Was my powerlessness ever this pathetic? So this is what Glen experienced every time with me. I’d truly wronged him repeatedly.
But that’s then and this is now. I struggled to escape from Mother’s grasp, but she simply hummed a tune as she carried me to the bathhouse, set me down, and stripped my clothes off.
Stripped is perhaps too gentle a word—I suspect they were torn. In an instant, I stood in nothing but my undergarments as the cold air bit through to my very skin.
“Kyaaaah!”
“My, you really don’t have any muscle at all.”
How was I supposed to develop muscles in the first place!

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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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