Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 268
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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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#In horror games, the protagonist is always someone weak with poor mobility
Glen Hofen Rocksburg. My doctor’s proud first husband.
I hereby announce an emergency at the Rocksburg Estate. The ‘Darkness of Heart Eliminator’ that I, the Grand Mage, have been researching and developing has gone haywire. The only ones who can resolve this crisis are you and Jack Brown, since you two have barely a shred of darkness in your hearts and the device didn’t activate for you. But since Jack Brown will be useless anyway, prepare yourself to handle this alone!
“…What?”
The moment I woke up, I found a note on the nightstand as I tried to check today’s schedule. The handwriting was unmistakably Sage’s, but was this another prank? Yet it wasn’t the kind of day for that. It wasn’t April Fools’ or Halloween….
Dismissing it as nothing serious, I reached for the notebook beside the note, and after a knock, Philip entered. I let out a piercing scream.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
“W-what is it, Glen! What’s wrong? Please calm down!”
Philip, my personal attendant, was over 180 centimeters tall, but his body remained unchanged while only his face had transformed into Rosalite’s. It was deeply unsettling. Sage had caused quite the catastrophe. I hurriedly tried to open the notebook, but a silver glimmer caught my eye, so I looked in the mirror instead.
“Kyaaaaaahhhhh!”
“Why on earth is this happening!”
My face had also become Rosalite’s! If I fainted and woke up, wouldn’t everything return to normal? But I steeled myself.
I had to keep my wits about me. If I alone could resolve this bizarre phenomenon, I couldn’t afford to give up and lose consciousness here.
I took a deep breath and opened the notebook, which felt strangely familiar. Remarkably, the pages were filled with my own handwriting.
1. This phenomenon is a manifestation of the ‘darkness of heart’ belonging to the person who used the ‘Darkness of Heart Eliminator’.
2. The scope of this phenomenon extends to the Main Building and Annex Building of the Rocksburg Duke’s Estate. Even if you exit through the front gate or back gate, you somehow end up back in my room.
3. Jack Brown is in his wardrobe at the Brown Estate.
“….”
This looks like something I wrote. Here, doesn’t it say ‘I found myself back in my room before I knew it’? I don’t remember writing it, but it was unmistakably penned by Glen Hofen Rocksburg—myself. Moreover, upon examining the notebook, I discovered it was a collection of puns I’d jotted down from time to time, thinking I should share them with Rosalite later. Though she’d reacted so poorly that I’d sealed it away in a drawer.
“Lucilucil said it was funny though….”
The Previous Duke and Duchess had also been delighted. Jack Brown and Janet had made faces of utter disgust the moment they heard it….
“Philip.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know what a strawberry becomes when it loses its job?”
“…I’m afraid I don’t know?”
“Strawberry syrup.”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“Glen? Should I perhaps take sick leave today after all?”
“No. I’m fine.”
Philip doesn’t seem to care for it much either. Why is that? Why do reactions vary so wildly? I pondered briefly before moving to the next entry.
4. The manifested ‘darkness of the heart’ disappears when one persuades and comforts the parties involved in each phenomenon.
‘Darkness of the heart’ is a familiar expression to those living in Rocksburg Territory. The fact that Peter Brown had grown so sensitive to this that he’d tried to swallow Asterion whole was something every resident of Rocksburg Territory knew.
“Ah.”
Though I wasn’t certain how to persuade and comfort them, the party responsible for this phenomenon had grasped it immediately. If everyone in the world had taken on Rosalite’s face, the culprit could be no one but Asterion.
“Philip. Where is Asterion right now?”
“He’s taken a day off and shut himself in his room. Perhaps he’s weaving a carpet while gazing at the Duke’s photograph.”
After the Amber Family was incorporated as retainers of Rocksburg, a paid leave system was introduced for employee welfare. When I first heard that Lucilucil would become my husband, there had been considerable dissatisfaction, but looking back now, I could only be grateful.
Without him, there would have been no trustworthy, highly trained talent capable of managing the Public Security Bureau and private soldiers, and I would never have learned of the competent Amber Family’s existence. Under the cooperation and protection of the Public Security Bureau, Diana, chairman of the Alein Labor Union Federation, had incited the Bank Union to establish a five-day work week, and since money flow ceased for two days, work was pointless during that time. Thus, every business and Rocksburg itself had no choice but to implement the five-day week.
In the old days, working without a single day off was natural, but now that I’d grown accustomed to five days, I don’t think I could manage working like that anymore. I’m already over thirty, and physically….
“Asterion! Asterion, are you there!”
I brought Philip along and knocked loudly on Asterion’s door. Speaking of age, this man is also in his thirties—does he truly have no thoughts of marriage? I wish the main Rocksburg house would grant him the Muldimen Territory and force his independence, or arrange a marriage with a talented woman to increase our workforce. Surely he doesn’t intend to cling to Rosalite until he dies of old age, as he said when he was young? The very thought is horrifying.
“Asterion! I know you’re in there! I’m coming in!”
Had I been the man I was when I first married into this household, I would have given up by now, but time had passed and my voice had grown stronger. It means I’ve reached the point where I can ignore and push through even when Leon insists stubbornly. Of course, the greatest share of my power comes from the fact that Eri, the next heir, is my daughter.
“I’m breaking it down!”
I struck the doorknob with my cane to break it, then asked Philip to kick the door open. The sight that unfolded after the massive door collapsed was nothing short of horrifying.
“Ah, the whole world is filled with Sister!”
Asterion, a beautiful man over thirty who had never married, was surrounded by Rosalites of every conceivable variety. Rosalite in a maid’s uniform, Rosalite as a chef, Rosalite holding garden shears…, and that Rosalite in a gardener’s uniform smiling happily there was definitely one hundred percent Yuri Andreevich.
“Come to your senses! What on earth have you been thinking to cause everyone in this mansion to take on Rosalite’s face!”
In truth, the answer was predictable. Still, I had to ask. I needed to confirm whether Leon was responsible for this disaster and take appropriate measures accordingly.
“I wish for only Sister and myself to remain in this world! From the very beginning! Until the day it perishes!”
“How revolting!”
Without thinking, I mimicked Jack Brown’s habitual expression and took a deep breath. It’s fine. Leon does this all the time—it’s nothing new. And remarkably, the notebook even contained a solution.
5. If everyone in the Mansion has become Rosalite’s face, go find Leon and explain to him the importance of rarity.
It was strange. I had no memory of writing it, yet it was unmistakably my handwriting. Had Sage invented some bizarre contraption without my knowledge? It made no sense, but true to my Rocksburg nature, I simply thought, “Well, it could happen!” and pushed forward with my task.
“You must think carefully, Asterion! Even if everyone wears Rosalite’s face, that doesn’t mean their essence is Rosalite’s, does it?”
“If their personalities become like hers too, then what’s the difference?”
“Rosalite is precious precisely because there is only one of her!”
“Gasp!”
I love Rosalite too, but I don’t wish for a world where every human becomes her. Honestly, that would be no different from frantically mashing the self-destruct button on civilization itself. Everyone would tear each other apart over interests and perish.
“Didn’t you say you liked how Elpium, Marie, and Lily are 0.5 Rosalites? If there’s only one complete Rosalite, those 0.5 Rosalites would vanish.”
“Hmph! For a mere chaff, you speak surprisingly sound sense!”
Go ahead and curse all you like. To suppress the darkness in your heart, whether I’m chaff or straw matters little. As I calmly persuaded him, Leon shifted from the expression of a harem sultan back to his usual disturbingly pristine face of a stalker.
“Hehehehe, kehehehe… Indeed, Sister is precious precisely because she is one and only.”
Philip and everyone else returned to their normal appearances. The persuasion seemed successful, but… why does breathing feel more uncomfortable than before? Sage, doesn’t his psychological darkness seem to have deepened?
“Well then, I’ll take my leave.”
Fearing that my meddling might unleash an even greater darkness, I beat a hasty retreat. Then I opened the notebook to search for clues that might help resolve another darkness.
6. Even if you notice something unusual, do not point it out hastily.
7. Mobility is precious.
It was bizarre enough that the darkness of the heart had manifested as reality—wasn’t it contradictory to say not to point out anything unusual? I didn’t understand, but I moved to acquire mobility first. Leon had merely locked the door, but I had no idea what the others might do.
Philip and I went to Jack Brown’s room and knocked on the wardrobe. The rather large wardrobe trembled violently from the adult man inside it.
“Jack Brown, it’s Glen.”
“Aaaahhh! Aaaahhh! Aaaaahhh!”
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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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