Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 172

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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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“Sister, have some legs. You do like them, after all.”
After draining my second glass, Leon smoothly tore off a turkey leg and placed it on my plate. No matter what anyone says, Asterion is still the best at thinking of me.
I felt pleased inside, but I cleared my throat and pointed out that there were other distinguished guests present—surely I shouldn’t be the only one receiving legs? At that, both Serena and Sage said they preferred wings anyway, so I should eat all the legs. Well, since I’d already declined once, I pretended to be persuaded and ate.
“The remaining leg is for you, Will Brown.”
…Leon, you like that too, don’t you? What are you going to eat? Wait a moment. Isn’t giving him the last remaining piece a stronger expression of affection than the initial offer? Why is that? Why does this boy like Will Brown so much? Because he’s cool? Well, I suppose Will does have that dark, brooding charm that appeals to sensitive children, but still.
“I’ll eat well.”
You should at least decline a little! Why do you just accept it so readily? He’s my younger brother, you know? The young master of this household!
I couldn’t quite grasp how this affection meter worked, but Leon, with those skilled hands of his, carved up the turkey expertly and tossed a rib section—bone and all—to Peter.
Peter crunched and munched away at the turkey delightfully. So he and Leon get along well now. Come to think of it, I’d been so busy running around this round that I’d forgotten—Asterion could charm anyone he set his mind to. If anything, it was Janet and Jack who were unusually hostile toward Leon. Peculiar children, the lot of them.
“But we didn’t gather just to eat a late-night snack, did we?”
Why are you in such a hurry, Will? Important matters should always be handled slowly and carefully. Rush through them with an anxious heart, and you’ll botch even achievable tasks.
The elderly gathered here seemed to agree with my sentiment and lent their support. Sage said that since everyone present wasn’t running away, we could simply take our time discussing. Serena then launched into an explanation, saying we should first understand the Magic Tower’s truth game rules.
Ah, I see. I know the brutal nature of that game, but Leon and Will don’t.
“First, you play rock-paper-scissors, and whoever loses gets questioned. The others can each ask one question, and the person being questioned must tell the absolute truth. And if you want to invoke the right to remain silent….”
“You have to be prepared to take a hit.”
That’s right. This is the brutal aspect of the Magic Tower’s truth game. If you can’t answer, you must defend against a spell containing the questioner’s full power. Later, if you’re caught lying, you have to take the opponent’s full-power spell as well.
The Magic Tower’s regional branches were bearable enough, but to play a truth game at the True Magic Tower Headquarters, you had to be prepared to lose your life. Most of the people gathered at the True Magic Tower were either high-circle mages or perverts with extremely specialized knowledge of their own attributes.
A direct hit hurts enough to kill you. And since Macaon isn’t even there, if you get injured, it takes many years before you can get back on your feet.
After explaining that much, Serena suddenly raised her hand and started a game of rock-paper-scissors.
“If you don’t show, you lose! Rock-paper-scissors!”
No, is this woman being so underhanded because of the alcohol? But everyone here had quick reflexes, so no one was late to the game. Only I threw out a fist and lost.
“…Didn’t you all throw scissors?”
“No, Sister.”
“Statistically meaningless, but there’s a superstition that since people usually throw rock, if you throw paper you won’t lose, you know, Doctor.”
“What? That was a superstition?”
“Oh my, grandmother…there’s no cure for senility.”
“I quickly changed my throw because the young master threw rock first.”
You’re the worst, Will.
While Sage was receiving blows to his back from Serena as a result of his own doing, Will said he’d ask first and then fell into thought. And then he asked a completely unexpected question.
“So. Have you been intimate with Lucilucil?”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
No, no, no, you—how could you ask something like that with elders and children present?
It wasn’t just me who was flustered. Serena stopped hitting Papa and pointed at Leon instead.
“Hey! Hey now! Cover your brother’s ears! Where do you get off spouting such vulgar talk in front of a child!”
That’s right, I need to cover Leon’s ears first! I hurried to block the little one’s ears, but he made such a displeased expression that he dodged my hand.
“Why are you doing this! I already know everything!”
Even if you know everything, there are stories adults don’t want to tell in front of children. How could I say such things in front of a baby without feeling embarrassed?
“That’s right, Young Lady. The young master is already an adult who knows everything.”
“What does he know! At best he’d only know about… female reproductive surgery!”
Well… that’s not quite right, Serena. I made sure to give Leon proper sex education back then. Perhaps because he’s from an older era, he definitely has some rigid blind spots. Female reproductive surgery? What kind of era are we living in?
“Don’t underestimate me! I understand the principles, the principles!”
Did this guy get drunk off just one beer? Why is he explaining the whole male-female thing?
Leon certainly studied diligently back then, explaining the biological principles perfectly and describing how the male seed enters the female vessel through intercourse…
“….”
Wait. Why did the terminology suddenly become so childish? Sensing something was off, I stared intently at Leon, and he began to stammer right before reaching the stage of cell division. It seemed his internal logic had collided when he tried to explain the part where the male and female elements meet.
“Um… um, how do they meet? Does the seed… get scattered?”
Well… fish do reproduce that way.
I could only laugh at the sight of my brother earnestly insisting on his claim that “I’m inadequate.” But there was one thing I needed to settle once and for all.
“Will Brown.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
“Do you know where that bastard who taught him sex education back then lives?”
“He still lives in Rocksburg Territory. I’ll take care of him tomorrow.”
Good. Since you’re doing it, it’ll be thorough. While you’re at it, Jack must be bored these days, so bring him along and give him to the kid. The man looked at me as though I were heartless.
No, you should trust your brother more. Jack is a kid who knows his limits, right? If I just explain that the guy skipped out on his lecture fees, he’ll only torture him that much and stop.
“Oh, our foolish Leon.”
Even if he’s foolish, I hope he grows up spirited and strong.
As I held Leon with a complicated feeling and patted him gently, Serena looked at Leon with such pity that she handed him the boiled egg from her plate. She said the yolk had lots of nutrients and would be good for the child’s development, so Sage and Will Brown also put their portions of egg onto Leon’s plate.
Yes, eat plenty of yolks and get your nutrition. Especially to that part above the shoulders, if you know what I mean.
“Young Lady. You still haven’t answered my question. So did you or didn’t you? Should we expect an heir?”
“I didn’t, you brat. Why would I do that with Lucilucil in the first place?”
“You could. You don’t even meet with Lucilucil that often. If you did it now and brought back a child, how wonderful would that be? Considering Glen and Jin, those two still have a long wait ahead.”
“I’m all for it, all for it! I really liked that piano-playing guy, with those broad shoulders! He was absolutely devoted to you, that troublemaking child. Who wouldn’t be? Abandoning the throne to marry you? Oh my, it’s like a romance novel.”
“Well, Lucilucil and I are just friends. Friends don’t do that sort of thing together.”
“If that’s friendship, then I don’t have a single friend, you little brat.”
“Actually, Grandmother doesn’t have any friends left anyway, does she?”
Does Sage want her back torn open today? Serena was grieving over losing all her friends as she aged, and here this little one was poking at her heart, shouting at the top of her lungs… I found myself nodding in sympathy. I too have many people I can no longer call friends. The emptiness of not being able to call them friends anymore, those I once enjoyed playing with—I understood that feeling well enough.
“Sister! Then I’ll ask the next question!”
Go ahead, our foolish Leon, say whatever you want. I found Leon so pitiful that I gently stroked his head and urged him to ask quickly.
Ever since he recovered those old memories, his behavior has become even more difficult. Is it because his regression memories returned and his childhood percentage increased?
“Sister! How much do you like me!”
“As much as the sky and the earth!”
“I knew you would say that!”
Coaxing the little one has become much easier too. I hugged Leon, calling him cute and pretty, grabbed his head and even gave him kisses. After playing around like that for a while, Serena said what she was seeing plainly.
“Disgusting.”
“Don’t be like that. They’re happy with each other, so what’s the problem?”
“Does that look like normal sibling behavior to you?”
“It could be. Not everyone in the world is like your family, after all.”
Hmm, Papa is getting hit again. It seems he really does want his back broken today.
Serena had been happily striking Papa, and now it was her turn—unlike the others before her, she posed a question that cut to the very heart of today’s gathering.
“When I heard the circumstances of my return here, this was the first thing I wanted to know. How exactly do you know about events before time turned back?”
Serena reasoned that if all of this were because of Celin, that unnecessarily brilliant and infuriating woman would never have woven her magic so carelessly as to create an oversight like me. Her question was sound, but I had no choice but to answer with nothing but the truth, bound by my conscience.
“That’s precisely why I called you here, Serena—because I want to know the answer myself.”
“Are you seriously committed to playing this game?”
“You should have asked your question more clearly from the start.”
Serena let out a piercing shriek as if her frustration had reached its limit, and struck Papa’s back. Was she perhaps… simply looking for an excuse to hit Papa?

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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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