Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 113
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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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Since this was a common knowledge question, an easy one had come up. For Leon, who had completed all the formal educational procedures of the Duke’s House, it was a difficulty level he could answer after hearing just the first sentence.
As expected, Asterion was the first to shout out the correct answer and held up his sign, uttering a very familiar name.
“Correct! Rosalite Rocksburg!”
– ….
Asterion’s statement cast a heavy silence over the contest hall. The sight of a silver-haired handsome man who had made it to the third round spouting nonsense was quite amusing, but not a single person in the gathered crowd laughed.
After all, the only son of this territory’s lord was confidently spouting nonsense—who would be bold enough to laugh?
Yet even I, who had every right to laugh, felt no inclination to do so immediately. Far from laughing, my lips wouldn’t even curve upward. My heart simply felt heavy, wondering why the boy had grown up like this.
Father seemed to feel the same way. When I glanced at the commentary booth, I could see his gloomy expression. Until moments ago, he had confidently declared that his younger brother was the strangest person in the world, but it seemed that assessment was no longer accurate.
Father let out a low groan and summoned a judge to give Asterion a warning card.
The reason was intentional obstruction of the contest proceedings.
After that, Jack Brown steadily accumulated points, while the unfamiliar woman showed no interest in solving problems and merely stared intently at Jack.
If this continued, Jack would win without any entertainment or emotional impact. I wished our Asterion would pull himself together from this point on.
While I was pondering whether a beauty contest, once held, should at least have some entertainment value to the proceedings, the quiet Asterion suddenly shouted out a second correct answer.
This problem—was it about the great figure who first succeeded in cultivating flounder in Aleine, thereby allowing delicious flounder to grace the tables of the entire nation? Even I didn’t know the name of the person who started flounder cultivation, so I leaned in curiously to hear how this child possibly knew that person’s name.
Did Asterion actually love flounder that much? Perhaps. I was thinking that I should let him taste wild-caught flounder if the opportunity arose, when Asterion solemnly uttered that familiar name.
“Correct. Rosalite Rocksburg.”
I never expected my name to come up twice. The first time, I could dismiss it as a joke, but the second time was different. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one thinking this way, for Father stood up without even turning on his radio and shouted toward the event staff.
“Duke’s orders! Remove him!”
Wow…. He’s not one to casually invoke his title, yet “Duke’s orders” actually came out of his mouth.
At Father’s command, the broad-shouldered event staff members rushed onto the stage, grabbed Asterion, and dragged him off. Since it was Father’s order, Leon didn’t resist in earnest, but feeling wronged nonetheless, he continued to voice his opinions loudly as he was dragged away.
“There’s nothing my older sister can’t do! Think about it, Duke! If my older sister steps forward, she can accomplish everything on her own! You know this!”
No, I don’t know.
I was leaning my upper body back, feeling emotional distance from Asterion, and Father wore the exact same posture and frown as me.
When I observe moments like this, I feel that Father is truly my father. Our actions resemble each other in ways we don’t even realize.
After Leon was escorted out, the contest concluded without entertainment or emotional resonance—Jack Brown simply won the championship. The process was questionable, and Jack’s appearance holding the championship trophy seemed far removed from that of a beauty who had waited ten years, so the crowd’s reaction was rather lackluster.
At times like this, it’s naturally my turn to step in. I tapped my radio lightly to test the microphone and spoke quietly.
– Smile and applaud.
The moment I finished speaking, everyone erupted in cheers and applause as if on cue.
“Wow, wow! Jack Brown is so handsome! The greatest beauty of Rocksburg Territory!”
“Oh my, I’d love to have him as a son-in-law! The boy looks so blessed!”
That’s right. That’s how my territory’s people should respond.
Jack Brown covered his face as if he might die on the spot, but honestly, that wasn’t my concern. Seeing him being congratulated so grandly was gratifying. Our household’s vassal had become the greatest beauty of Rocksburg Territory, selected once every ten years—what glory for our house.
Now that I’d witnessed the champion being crowned safely, our household could simply conduct a leisurely territory patrol and head back, but Jack still had work remaining.
He had to receive the prize money, give his victory speech, use his privilege as the beauty contest champion to make a request of the Duke, spend time on a parade around the Duchy, and have a grand portrait painted as a memento of the contest. For this contest, I’d specially arranged to lend our household’s multifunction device—no, rather, Lam. The image would be recorded in higher quality and more vividly than ever, capturing Jack’s handsome visage.
And since things had come this far, I should consult with Luke about selling beauty contest merchandise at the department store. After all, Jack is mine, so his portrait rights are mine too. Photo cards. Let’s sell them with photo cards included. If I run an advertisement saying “Purchase Rocksburg Department Store items above a certain amount and receive 1 random photo card,” the devoted fans who’ve waited ten years for the beauty contest won’t be able to resist buying from our department store.
Hehe, hehehehe, 108 types. Let’s make it a complete set of 108 types of photo cards. I need to clear out all the slow-moving inventory at the department store this time.
If I positioned the defective inventory right next to the photocard distribution desk, organized by price, people who’d fallen just short of a certain amount would inevitably scrape together the funds to buy more. Placing the distribution point farther from the main shopping route would amplify the effect even further.
Humans are creatures of habit, after all. Show them they’ve spent eighteen thousand won and offer a free gift with purchases over thirty thousand, and they’ll scramble to make up the difference without fail.
I was thinking I’d need to have a deep discussion with Luke about where to position the photocard distribution center when Jack suddenly sent out a distress signal.
I looked up toward the stage and saw what appeared to be a makeup team dragging Jack backstage.
“Save me, Young Lady! I hate having stuff put on my face!”
Ah, right. Jack, you probably have some compulsive tendencies about that. Makeup does make your face feel stuffy, so I suppose you’d dislike it.
But what can you do? That’s the fate of a beauty contest champion. Especially when both the organizers and the spectators don’t seem entirely satisfied with your looks—you need to get dolled up. That way the photocards will sell better too.
With that thought, I zoomed toward the stage on my Segway with a whirring sound. Now that things had come to this, I had some special instructions for the makeup team.
“Listen up, you lot! Jack has an autumn warm tone!”
The makeup team thanked me for the valuable information.
“You’re terrible, Young Lady!”
And Jack cursed me out.
I was thinking of withdrawing, but I wanted to see how Jack would look after being polished up, so I decided to wait a bit longer.
After waiting about thirty minutes, Jack Brown returned to the stage with an absolutely stunning makeover. The crowd erupted in cheers. This time, they were genuine. Without any prompting from me, they spontaneously applauded, shed tears, and praised Jack’s beauty.
There stood an idol on that stage. If I had to categorize it, this was someone who’d definitely be treated as a four-dimensional oddball if they went on variety shows solo, but within their team, they had the appearance of the most level-headed member—the team leader who looked after their troublemaking younger members, broke up their fights, suffered emotional turmoil, cried their eyes out, and ultimately achieved enlightenment.
The slightly waved, shortened hair made Jack look younger, and the drooping single eyelid had been lifted with eyeliner and smoky eyeshadow to create an air of mystery. And following my advice, the lips had been painted with a subtle coral tone for a pop of color.
Well done, makeup team members. Excellent work, makeup team members.
So moved by Jack’s transformation, hot tears flowed unbidden from my eyes and wouldn’t stop. See? What did I tell you? I said you were handsome. Makeup only works well when the original is pretty. Oh, how beautiful. My boy is so good-looking. All he needs now is a good song. With a good song, my boy could become a top idol.
As I clapped while tears streamed down my face like chicken droppings, several residents of the Territory gathered around me. They said they’d been watching and supporting Jack since the first round, and they spoke one after another—how happy they were that their older brother had won, how they’d always believed he had a handsome face if only his shaggy hair were taken care of even though his friends didn’t believe them, how grateful they were to the Young Duke for introducing Jack to the world—and they all cried along with me.
When I told them that as Jack’s owner, I would take responsibility for releasing Jack Brown photocards and merchandise, they prostrated themselves on the ground, wailed, and praised me. Yes, praise me more. And empty your wallets—not a single coin left.
I was contemplating how this could turn into a profitable fan club business when it came time for Jack Brown to give his acceptance speech. The man said he wanted to use the entire prize money to build an animal shelter and donate operational support funds, and people around him beat the ground and wept, saying how a beautiful person must have a beautiful heart too.
That’s right, our Jack is incredibly kind. How did the Brown Family produce such a genius of character? Even the host seemed moved by Jack’s good nature, and when asked how he would use the honor bestowed upon the champion, Jack paused to think.
The honor given to a beauty contest champion ultimately depended on whether the current Duke would grant permission or not.
This was the authority to freely use some land or structures within Rocksburg Territory. The previous champion had been granted the right to use a certain park located in the center of Rocksburg Territory as a private space, and they’d shut themselves away there. No one except the beauty contest champion themselves could enter that park, and for ten years, not a single ant had crossed the threshold, so no one knew what was happening inside.
And the champion from twenty years ago had changed the name of a portion of Rocksburg Territory’s address to their shop name. That place is still called Paracelsus Medical Street to this day. After that, hospitals and pharmacies moved in one after another, and it became known as a medical district as well. There were rumors that the shop owner, Paracelsus, hadn’t aged a day since twenty years ago, but I didn’t know the details myself.
“Then, at the station over there…”
Ah, Jack was finally about to state his request. Since I’d pushed him into entering this contest, I resolved to beg Father to grant whatever he asked for, but Jack pointed his finger at Aster.
“Cut off the head of that Aster statue at the station.”
Hmm… So that’s what he wanted.
Cutting off and displaying the head of the brave Aster statue standing in front of Rocksburg Station—the one depicting Aster slaying the giant squid—could be quite upsetting to the person in question, but fortunately, Aster didn’t seem to mind.
Whether the kid was bold or simply thoughtless…
– …Understood.
Once the Duke granted permission, Jack bounced up and down in place, unable to hide his joy. And as Jack was so delighted, all the Jack Brown fans around me twisted their bodies in excitement, saying how our older brother was like a baby, how our brother was cute.
Now the only remaining procedure was a parade around Rocksburg Territory. As the flower carriage for the beauty contest champion departed with Jack Brown aboard, all the Jack Brown fans—who would become my precious ATM going forward—rushed after the carriage.
I left the rest to the organizers and needed to take Glen home. I was thinking that when there was a loud pop and Father’s walkie-talkie in front of him overheated and exploded.
Only then did my thoughts reach Sage. Right, our Sage is already at the seventh circle with high voltage, and he’s been draining his mental power doing wireless charging with voltage conversion!
“Papa! Papa, are you alright!”
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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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