Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 178

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Since my opponent was a cockatrice, I was concerned about how different body parts might move independently, so I decided to sever its head and tail in one decisive strike. Jack Brown leaped onto Peter, planted his feet on the severed horn’s base, and swung his scythe—the cockatrice’s massive head crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Being a bird after all, even with its head severed, the creature’s beak continued snapping and its eyes darted wildly in every direction. How grotesque.
“Sister! Over here! Look this way!”
I already know—just stab it already!
Since Leon desperately wanted my attention, I watched as the silver-haired, blue-eyed beauty wielded his violet aura in sweeping arcs, cleaving the cockatrice’s tail clean off. The severed head no longer seemed to belch stone smoke, and the crisis had passed. I was about to praise Leon when—
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Another strange cry erupted from somewhere. In that moment, I made a decision: I would eliminate Will Brown.

After that, Jack, Leon, and I brought down a massive crocodile. Once it was dead, we hunted down a wyvern that flew through the air spewing fire. After killing the wyvern, a stone golem appeared, and we nearly died in the hunting grounds while searching for the magical crystal core that powered it.
Escaping the hunting grounds was a nightmare, and intercepting the monsters before they left was an ordeal. If this weren’t Rocksburg Territory, I would have fled without hesitation, but since this entire area was essentially our family’s courtyard, I couldn’t afford to cause damage.
We grew exhausted from the prolonged battle, but thanks to Bienar’s Young Lord, who had evacuated the Princess and Crown Prince to safety, bringing reinforcements, we were finally freed from combat.
After spending the entire holiday channeling aura, casting magic, and wielding swords, we returned in a pitiful state. Elizabeth and Peter collapsed foaming at the mouth the moment we arrived home, and the three of us, barely clinging to our tattered clothes, only then saw each other’s condition and wept involuntarily.
We survived. We came home alive. Jack, Leon, and I were so overwhelmed with emotion at returning alive that we embraced and wept together. If Leon hadn’t wielded his aura, we would have died. If I hadn’t created iron steps to support us when we fell after capturing the wyvern, we would have been annihilated. If Jack’s great scythe hadn’t been there when the aura-wielding monster appeared, we all would have perished.
Each other’s existence became our faith, our salvation, our last hope for survival. Having wandered through the gates of death together, we developed a strange camaraderie, and we united under the justification of punishing Will.

After treating our wounds and recovering, we gathered once more in Jack’s torture chamber. Of course, Will Brown was there with us. Leon hesitated greatly about punishing Will, but his determination to live eternally for me was stronger, so he steeled his resolve.
Where should we start with this? Jack calmly suggested beginning under the fingernails, but Will, who hated pain more than anything in the world, began spilling out information without being asked.
He said he wanted to work hard in proportion to the bonus he received. So he confided his troubles to John Brown. John passed the information to Four Spans, and Four Spans cooperated with the Dark Mage under her control to assist Will.
After hearing Will’s complete confession, I understood completely. Right, that made sense. Those weren’t monsters Will could have handled alone. Among those cursed creatures was definitely a golem that bore the clear marks of a mage’s handiwork. The Dark Mage’s involvement, now that I thought about it, was entirely reasonable.
Moreover, Four Spans must have seen the hunting party participant list, so she likely saw this as an opportunity to humiliate Theodore and me in one stroke. That reckless, cunning little thing.
Once I learned the full truth, I bound Will, John, and Four Spans together and turned them over to the Royal Family for trial. Given their statuses, they didn’t receive heavy sentences, but they had to compensate an astronomical sum and perform service work within the Royal Palace for endangering the Crown Prince, a foreign princess, and the heirs of a duchy.
They would have to gather every weekend to pull weeds and replace paving stones in the Royal Palace. And Will would find his dream of owning a house slipping further away due to the debt he had to repay.
Foolish idiot. Why did you have to consult with Four Spans and complicate matters? Just do what you normally do. Why did you have to volunteer to work harder?
Four Spans had been quiet lately, but she was the type who could become infinitely sinister once she set her mind to it.
It was during the chapter when she and I became friends. Four Spans cleanly abandoned her eyesight and mastered braille reading and writing, then relied entirely on me for important reports, using me as her eyes. And to restore her position as Former Crown Princess, she ground her entire life into undermining Theodore’s image.
That was when I first realized how ugly human beings could be. How repulsive. How could people be so dark inside, not just dark but possessing a personality like a black hole that absorbed all desires? How chilling. I became a believer in the theory of human depravity after that day.
In any case, after sweating profusely while gleefully watching Will, John, and Four Spans working on the paving stones, I devoted myself wholeheartedly to my work.
I passed a proposal to dispatch frozen jellyfish location teams with frozen score-measuring machines to gather ice users from across the nation and immediately began installation. I established a radio mass-production factory in Diamante Territory, made contact with the previous construction supervisor to develop lighter alloys for rifle materials, and laid railway tracks all the way to the distant southern Masujung Mine.
In my spare time, I asked Capo how far she and the Crown Prince had progressed, sent another letter with updates to Lucilucil, who hadn’t been responding lately, and organized Glen’s operational reports on Veloche Territory to periodically appeal to the King.
If the boy has accomplished this much, he should deserve to have Hofen Territory returned. He’s being awfully reluctant about it. It must be such a profitable land that he doesn’t want to return it to my husband. I’ll have to find a way to claim it no matter what.
Once I reclaimed Hofen Territory, a barony would come as a bonus. That would make my husband Glen Hofen, Baron and son-in-law to the Rocksburg Duke. Mmm, how beautiful. Decorations and titles should be hung in succession to look proper.
Work was progressing smoothly and my life sailed before favorable winds. I walked the model prisoner’s path while sipping energy drinks made by the Largol-born chef I’d hired for Luke. As I stepped along the new course—the route passing through the Annex Building under construction—and surveyed my surroundings, I noticed something odd.
Why is it…this…
“Aren’t the construction materials shining too brightly?”
“It’s Edanelli style.”
“The building construction looks Edanelli style too, doesn’t it?”
I asked Leon and Jack, who had been frequently accompanying me since my camaraderie awakened, for their impressions of the construction site.
I said camaraderie had awakened, but how do I explain this… It’s not that we gather because we want to be together. Rather, when we scatter, I feel uneasy. The balance among the three of us is so perfect that if one person is missing, it feels like there’s a hole in our combat strength, like our formation will crumble. That’s the feeling. Without them, I’m anxious. The only ones I can trust to watch my back are Leon and Jack.
“And here I thought you were already biting your nails over the Brown Estate’s red bricks throwing off the balance. If all this gets built, won’t the Duke have a fit…?”
“I like shiny things, so it doesn’t bother me, Sister.”
“It’s not about your taste—I’m saying the Duke will have a fit!”
“This will be Sister’s and my home soon anyway, so what does it matter what the Duke thinks, Sister?”
“That’s disgusting, Young Lord. And why is this house yours? The heir is the Young Lady.”
“Sister and I are of one mind, so what’s yours is mine, isn’t it?”
“Stop spouting sophistry. It’s absolutely revolting.”
After that day, the relationship between Jack and Leon definitely seemed to improve. Before, they just glared at each other and barely spoke. Now they trade insults freely, and they’re always roughhousing without throwing real punches. Look, just now—Leon threw a punch at Jack and Jack kicked Leon’s shin. Kids grow through fighting, after all.
“Come to think of it, isn’t today the day the newly hired servants arrive?”
“Yes. They should be receiving training in the Multi-purpose Hall right now.”
Hmm, I see. These are people I’ll be relying on going forward—I should go take a look and get to know them.
After the Annex Building collapsed, a flood of people submitted their resignations. Mostly those who were injured when the Annex fell, they complained about how the house kept collapsing, assassins kept infiltrating, the Entrance Hall disappeared, the Staircase vanished—and demanded hazard pay and life insurance. So I restructured the entire staff. Then I hired new people.
If they’d been core personnel in the Main Building, there might have been room for negotiation, but the servants from the Annex… I had no attachment to them. Even those who could be called Leon’s close associates agreed to stay. It was better to just hire everyone new.
I stopped by to see the faces of those who would be helping Leon’s life going forward, and among the new maids who recognized me and greeted me, there was one girl whose face looked oddly familiar.
That ginger-colored hair, styled elegantly but unmistakably bearing Becky’s eyes, nose, and mouth—Becky’s face, and even a mole under the eye that wasn’t there before.
…Isn’t that just Becky with a mole drawn under her eye? More importantly, wasn’t she dead? She failed her mission and left, but my uncle kept her alive?
“Isn’t that Becky?”
“Becky, you say?”
“Becky! Do you remember me! It’s Leon!”
Leon, unaware from the previous cycle that Becky had poisoned my lemonade on my uncle’s orders, happily waved his hand, recalling how well Becky used to play with him when he was younger.
Well… I suppose that makes sense if you don’t know the situation. Every time a cycle started, I’d eliminate Becky, my uncle’s spy, right from the beginning. But you, being completely oblivious, can afford to be that innocent. Ugh, my foolish little brother.
“Becky? My name is Bianca. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Young Master.”
“What? Your voice sounds like Becky’s too.”
“Is it really Becky?”
“Becky! I was so hurt when you left the Mansion without saying anything!”
Listen, Becky, let’s just give this up. No matter how you roll—forward or sideways—you’re still Becky. When I pointed this out, the woman’s face twisted in frustration, and she pulled something grenade-like from her apron pocket.
“Tch! I thought you were an idiot!”
Wait, you really thought I was an idiot? So you figured I wouldn’t recognize you just by drawing a mole under your eye? More importantly, what’s with that “tch” sound! You’re the culprit! You’re the one who taught Leon that awful “tch”!

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————