Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 124

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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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#Side Story: Maria Is Watching

I crouched in the tall grass, observing the masked woman’s movements. This was an opportunity I’d waited a year to seize. If I could capture and eliminate her now, I could finally return home to my beloved family.
I held my breath, suppressing my killing intent. The moment an opening appeared, I had to strike at her vital points.
“…!”
Where did she go?!
In the instant I tensed and clenched my teeth, the woman vanished from my sight. Immediately after, that infuriating, damned woman’s voice echoed across the entire forest.
“So close, Maria! If you hadn’t smelled so fragrant today, you could have killed me!”
“Damn it!”
The woman’s cackling laughter pierced my ears. I threw off the bear pelt I’d been wearing and fell to my knees.
I wanted to cry. But I refused to shed tears for that woman’s sake.
Had polishing myself to perfection when I reunited with Rosie been my fatal mistake? The thought that I’d lost the woman because of that single moment of carelessness made my teeth grind involuntarily.
No, I don’t blame Rosie for this. Not at all. I enjoyed our conversation. So I won’t dwell on this regret for long.
I composed myself and rose to my feet. Then I wrapped the bear pelt around me again and shouldered the travel bag filled with all manner of weapons.
The pursuit would begin anew from the start. I had to track that loathsome woman’s mana and determine which direction she’d gone.
I missed Eddie. My most beloved Eddie in this world. Eddie, for whom my life would be a small price to pay. Since I’d already caused him trouble, I had to set things right, no matter what it took.
Thirty years ago, when I first set foot in Rocksburg Territory to participate in the Beauty Contest, I never imagined the situation would become so twisted and complicated.
I had memorized the rules of the Beauty Contest, and my plan was simple: win the prize and return to my duties. I had also studied the precautions listed in the traveler’s guide to Aleine regarding visits to Rocksburg Territory.

Those who visit Rocksburg, remember these three things.
① It could happen.
② Apparently, that’s how it is.
③ In any case, it’s not my fault.

I committed these points firmly to memory as I stepped into Rocksburg Territory. And near the lodging house where I planned to stay, I encountered a man wielding a thick book, beating someone to death with it.
Perhaps I should not have taken an interest in Eddie at that moment. It could have been that way, I suppose—in any case, it was not my fault. I repeated these three things like a mantra as I entered, yet why did I end up interfering in that fight?
Well, it was certainly because Eddie was handsome. At that moment, Eddie was swinging the thick book while perspiring profusely, striking someone’s head with resounding thuds—and it was so beautiful and endearing that I could hardly bear it.
Where did such strength come from in those slender arms? I approached Eddie as though entranced and asked why he was killing someone in such a place.
Eddie replied that these people had lured him with promises of teaching him a new dance, then attempted to kidnap him, so he was administering punishment under Article 287 of the penal code.
I did not fully understand what he meant, but it was certainly clear that this beautiful person possessed an excellent mind as well. My heart raced as I followed Eddie in striking the others.
To think they would attempt to abduct someone so beautiful—such wretched people. I had intended to simply break their necks cleanly, but Eddie talked me out of it, preventing me from finishing the job. His argument was that while it was a serious crime, since it remained an attempt, capital punishment need not be carried out.
How remarkable. A person so beautiful and intelligent, yet with such a kind heart. Having never encountered anyone like this in all my years, I managed to secure Eddie’s time by insisting I would pay all my money if he would only share a drink with me.
Eddie said he had some time remaining before he needed to return to his dance lessons, so a brief moment would be acceptable, but he could not drink alcohol as he had work to attend to upon his return.
As long as I could keep Eddie with me, whether we drank tea or went for eel soup made no difference to me whatsoever. I took Eddie to a nearby café and ordered cinnamon tea.
I still remember the menu Eddie ordered at that time. He ordered a caramel frappuccino in grande size, changed the milk to soy milk, switched the syrup to light, added hazelnut syrup twice, put half the java chips in the drink and half as topping, added chocolate drizzle to the espresso whipped cream, then piled whipped cream on top like a mountain and ate the beverage with a spoon.
I was mad. A person so beautiful and intelligent, with such a kind heart, yet doing something so adorable—perhaps he was not human at all.
I wondered if he might be an angel who had come down to earth for a brief outing, or perhaps one of the demons who governed cuteness. Yet remarkably, he possessed a human name.
As he introduced himself as Edward Rocksburg, I was reconsidering my proposal of marriage, hesitating for a moment before revealing my own name.
Oh, ah—I did not have a proper name to speak of. I had been called by titles derived from the names of the facilities I had managed over the years, so I had no name to give. Yet I could hardly introduce myself as “Director.”
Theresa Constancia Adelheid Friederike Maria.
Tracing back through the names of all the detention facilities I had passed through, I made my decision and told Eddie. Maria. How beautiful—Maria.
As I revealed my name as Maria and proposed to Eddie, the man flatly rejected me, saying he had no thoughts of marriage, and drank his beverage in large gulps.
Having boldly finished that peculiar drink entirely, the man stood up coldly, saying his time was up, and left the café.
How extraordinary—a person so beautiful, intelligent, kind-hearted, and adorable, yet knowing how to cut ties decisively when necessary and possessing such masculine resolve.
It was definitely a proposal. There was nothing but a proposal. This was a matter of marriage.
Initially, I had planned to request, as a prize for the Beauty Contest, permission to establish a personal detention facility in Rocksburg Territory for one mad woman. But I changed my mind.
I asked for permission to win the Beauty Contest and then be allowed to court Edward Rocksburg with marriage as the premise.
The Duke of Rocksburg at that time said his son’s opinion was important and that he would ask the person in question. I was invited to the Rocksburg Mansion and was rejected again, this time in Eddie’s presence.
Hehe, but I was not one to back down after being rejected. I immediately changed my request for the contest prize and got hired as a menial worker at the Rocksburg Duke’s Estate. While doing odd jobs, one winter day I held the Duke’s fur boots for outdoor use in my arms, and I submitted boots warmed at the time he would normally take his walk.
The Duke of Rocksburg at that time, Eddie’s father, wore the fur boots warmed by my body heat and praised me as a true loyal subject, bestowing upon me a new position.
Heating Manager of the Rocksburg Duke’s Estate. That was my new title and my work, and I completely dismantled and rebuilt the heating system of the estate that had previously relied on coal.
In my homeland, we did not use fossil fuels for heating and cooling. We filled rechargeable mana crystals with mana and circulated them to maintain a comfortable environment year-round—why would we use coal with its environmental pollution concerns?
If Serena, the old woman, were to learn of this, she would scold me for leaking confidential information to civilians and raising the civilization level. But at that time, I saw nothing else.
I had to make a good impression on Eddie’s parents and Eddie by any means necessary, and the method of distinguishing and mining rechargeable mana crystals that I taught spread not only throughout the Duke’s Estate but across all of Aleine, and then to the Federation and the Empire, reaching the entire world.

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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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