Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 211

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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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With time to spare before the banquet, I’d squeezed the Orthodox Sect’s connections and the Heretical Sect’s underlings for information, but found nothing concrete about Celin’s whereabouts. Instead, whispers about a mysterious Masked Woman slipped from the Heretical Sect’s lips.
When Ram Bart insisted I interrogate them thoroughly about Celin—even upside down if necessary—those squid-like creatures and sea anemones, or rather, the one who’d taught the Heretical Sect how to summon Largol’s lesser deities, turned out to be Celin herself.
Wait, wait—this sounds like the opening to some catastrophic narrative. The Heretical Sect of Joraab had existed since ancient times, but they’d been suppressed by the Orthodox Church with its formidable clergy, unable to expand their influence.
Meanwhile, across the sea, Aleine was achieving radical advancement through demonic magic, and the Cerepia Federation was zealously building their mechanical civilization. Just as they feared being relegated to history’s shadows, a masked woman appeared and revealed the long-lost method of summoning lesser deities.
Each summoning of a lesser deity required numerous lives—or the sacrifice of someone symbolically significant and of high station—but the lesser deities possessed tremendous power. Using this as their foundation, they’d expanded their influence and even managed to establish connections within the Imperial Palace.
That connection to the Imperial Palace had once been Empress Aidemoc, and now it was Lucilucil. The rest is unnecessary to mention.
This bastard—no wonder he’d written me an escape room note before that giant squid appeared! Mother knew the squid was coming, didn’t she? This incompetent fool! So there’s not just a father complex but a mother complex too? What kind of ridiculous child is this?!
“….”
Well… it’s not that being a dutiful child who listens to their parents is bad. Right. From a parent’s perspective, I do think Lucilucil is quite the filial son. But I’m not his parent, am I? How did I end up entangled with such a ridiculous child?
“Hmm….”
Still, looking at it positively, it’s not entirely bad. Without parents, he’d listen to his wife instead, wouldn’t he? With the Empress gone, only the Emperor remains.
“Sister! This person isn’t breathing—what should we do?!”
“Take him to a priest for now.”
“Yes, Sister!”
If he’s dead, there’s nothing to be done. He should have given up his stubborn silence instead of insisting he could endure even death. All his talk of loyalty and honor meant nothing—the other Heretical Sect member beside him spilled everything anyway.
This place is starting to reek. I need to change clothes and meet the Emperor soon.
“Hehehehe, hihihi, hehehehe!”
Jack Brown’s laughter is so unsettling I can’t bring myself to speak to him. I haven’t given him work in a while, and now he seems to have lost all his brakes.
I called his name softly, but he didn’t even pretend to hear me, so I left him be. He’s so delighted—let him enjoy it. If I miss this moment, who knows when another opportunity will come.
I decided to take only Leon with me and changed clothes with Camille’s assistance. Because of the shackles, she’d torn and resewn my dress several times—she’s becoming quite skilled. She’d even added floral ornaments to the seams and layered embroidered fabric underneath. The dress had become quite fashionable.
‘Camille, could you teach Leon the Largol method of weaving carpets?’
‘Pardon?’
‘My younger brother expressed great interest in it. He’s always been fascinated by sewing and embroidery.’
‘Yes, there’s no difficulty in that….’
Good then. Leon learns quickly, so once I teach him the basics, he’ll manage on his own. That boy will be spending his days holding warp and weft threads for a while.
Once I’d finished preparing, I met Leon, who’d also changed clothes with impressive speed. We exchanged compliments about how lovely we looked, then boarded a carriage heading toward where the Emperor awaited.

◇ ◆ ◇

We arrived at Empress Flavia’s Quarters. Lucilucil’s palace at least had chairs and tables, so it felt familiar, but this place was extraordinarily Byzantine.
The floor was densely carpeted, everyone sat on thick cushions, and the Empress herself was perched directly on the Emperor’s lap.
How awkward—a clash of cultures. This was precisely the kind of cultural gap that Martin and Marius cursed about whenever they stumbled in Aleine. Now that I was experiencing it firsthand, my mind went blank. Good grief… I couldn’t adapt. In this very moment, how should I conduct myself to avoid being cursed at?
“It seems Your Majesty has been in excellent health overnight, and I am delighted by it. With Your Majesty in such robust condition, I wonder if the next succession might fall to merely the Crown Prince.”
“Hahahaha! What about your future husband, you brat! You’re going to get scolded terribly by Lucius later!”
“Oh my, if I could receive such a scolding, I would have no regrets whatsoever.”
“Ahahaha! Lucius, what will you do with her! It seems you’ll spend your whole life holding her leash!”
As I fluttered my skirts, Lucilucil’s vision seemed to darken as he quickly wiped his face and tapped the seat beside him repeatedly.
Hmm, this is going smoothly. I picked remarks that those old gentlemen would enjoy, and it seems to be working. That man has always loved bedroom jokes, after all.
“Is the one beside you Rosalite’s younger sibling? You look remarkably alike.”
“It is my first time meeting you, Your Majesty. I am Asterion Rocksburg, who came along hoping to benefit from my sister’s favor. I am prepared to jingle.”
“Ha, that one certainly knows how to provoke too.”
When the beautiful Leon made a jingling gesture with an expressionless face, the Emperor laughed heartily as if it had landed perfectly.
Good, very good. The atmosphere is excellent—let me secure both the position of Guard Commander and one knighthood while I’m at it!
“Here, take this. Everyone must have a drink so the food goes down properly.”
“Oh my, receiving drinks from Your Majesty himself. It is the glory of our house.”
“The glory of our house!”
“I thought only she was strange, but it seems they’re all peculiar in a line.”
I toasted along casually with the Emperor as he expressed his eagerness to meet Duke Rocksburg, then drank with a smile. The Emperor would likely never meet my father in his lifetime, but fabricating words is simply the fate of those in lower positions, is it not?
“Your Majesty, when will you introduce me?”
“Oh, my apologies. This one here, this beautiful lady is Empress Flavia.”
Ah… so this moment has finally arrived.
I felt deeply uncomfortable, but I did my best to maintain a displeased expression and merely nodded. Leon beside me, having grasped the situation, turned his head sharply, and an odd silence fell over the banquet hall.
“You seem quite reserved. I am Lavenna Flavia, the mistress of this palace.”
“I am Rosalite Rocksburg.”
I’m sorry, unfamiliar Empress. But this too is part of the job.
The woman bit her lip briefly at my curt response, then fed the Emperor a piece of food from her chopsticks and laughed merrily while making small talk. Then, pointedly remarking on the very dry distance between Lucilucil and me, she nestled snugly into the Emperor’s embrace.
Hmm… no matter how much this is “just work,” I truly despise the sight of it.
“Shouldn’t the future Crown Princess maintain some distance? We are family, so please be more at ease.”
“Haha. I am to become the Crown Princess, after all. One must maintain propriety.”
You concubine, do as you please. I laughed meaninglessly with that implication, and Leon covered his mouth with a loud sound.
I can’t tell if he’s matching my rhythm or genuinely laughing. Judging by his shaking shoulders, it does seem like genuine laughter.
“…Your Majesty, it appears I am becoming intoxicated, so I shall retire early.”
“Lavenna?”
So it begins at last. As the Empress wiped away tears and left the banquet hall, the Emperor made a wretched expression at me, apologized profusely while wringing his hands, and then shouted loudly.
“Rosalite, you brat! Your audacity reaches the heavens!”
“My sincerest apologies, Your Majesty! That was not my intention!”
“Bah! Enough of this!”
“Kyaaah!”
Wait, isn’t the difficulty level being demanded here too high?!
The moment the man clapped loudly, I let out a scream and collapsed with a thud. He immediately sprang to his feet and prepared to follow after the Empress.
“Wait, Ravenna! I’m going to give that scoundrel a proper piece of my mind!”
Good grief… the man certainly had his hands full.
After rolling around on the floor once and dusting off my clothes, I settled onto a cushion. Lucilucil, who had been sipping alcohol the whole time, finally opened his mouth with a displeased expression.
“You and His Majesty certainly work well together.”
“One little performance and a promotion to the highest position in the Internal Affairs Bureau—it’s a bargain, really.”
“Why didn’t you just become Empress instead? You two would make a perfect pair.”
“Are you jealous?”
Oh my, oh my—this man really was sulking.
When Lucilucil clamped his mouth shut and drank in silence after I asked if he was jealous, he stared straight ahead with a pouty face. Finding his behavior amusing, I kept asking if he was sulking and poking his ribs, until he suddenly turned away and told me to stop joking around.
“Don’t worry. His Majesty may be quite… physically sensual and all that, but I don’t lay a hand on someone who’s already taken.”
“And if you weren’t taken, you’d become Empress?”
“Yes.”
Ahhh! I was joking! Don’t you understand a joke?! Let go of my ear! It hurts! Seriously!
When he reached for my ear again, I bolted up from the cushion and ran. Desperate to escape his grasp, I sprinted with all my might, and he chased after me with equal vigor.
I was usually confident in my running, but at this rate, I’d be caught. What kind of exercise did this man do to be so agile?
After circling the outer edge of the Banquet Hall twice, I was finally caught. Lucilucil seemed intent on avenging the rib poke from earlier, tickling my waist and underarms.
“Hahahaha! I’m sorry! I was wrong! Haha! Stop!”
“If you insist, I could go to His Majesty right now and ask him to give the Empress position to Rosalite instead.”
“No! I said no! Haha! I’m not becoming Empress!”
Please stop tickling me—I’m going to die!
My legs gave out and I collapsed, but this man relentlessly pursued me and pinned me to the ground. As he loomed over me with every intention of tormenting me further, my blood ran cold. Then Leon set down his cup with a loud clink and shouted.
“Sister! What about that position as captain of the guard?”
Oh right, we came here to secure a position. My mind snapped back to attention, and I tapped Lucilucil’s thigh to signal him to move. He stared at Leon for a moment, then forced a smile.
“You were so sharp just a moment ago. Why are you acting like this now?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“What do you mean you don’t know. You seem to understand everything.”
“My apologies. My Largol is insufficient.”
This brat was so brazenly proud of not knowing a foreign language. I felt oddly guilty and apologized to Lucilucil, but he gave me a look of utter horror and said he’d deal with me later.
Hmm… if he’s going to say something, why not just say it now? What difference would it make to hear it later?

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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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