Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 39

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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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The next morning, I woke to Luke’s relentless knocking, and my head felt like it might split open. I twisted my entire body in discomfort.
As I writhed, I caught sight of my surroundings—Aster lay to my left, snoring peacefully without a care, while Leon to my right was cocooned in blankets, his eyes bloodshot and his face haggard as though he hadn’t slept a wink.
My stomach churned and my head throbbed so violently I didn’t even want to breathe, but Luke was searching for me with such urgency that when I opened the door to hear his message, I received the delightful news that the Third Prince was shirtless and exercising in the morning.
If I was going to die anyway, I might as well see that before I went.
With my insides turning and my body feeling as heavy as lead, I dragged myself to watch the Third Prince’s morning workout.
The Third Prince was doing weight training in that same dark, scandalous undershirt, glistening with sweat. When I approached with hangover soup and greeted him, he responded with a radiant smile and a booming good morning that nearly shattered my skull.
I thought my head would split in two. We’d drunk the same amount, yet how was he so perfectly fine? Was it a difference in physique? Did he have a liver made of something inhuman?
In any case, my current misery was entirely my own doing, so I managed to keep up appearances with the Third Prince until the end. After sharing a simple breakfast, I gave Marius a perfunctory farewell when he mentioned we should meet again next time, and I saw him off in the royal carriage.
I wanted nothing more than to return to my room and sleep like the dead, but the Duke summoned me to his office, saying he had something to discuss once the Third Prince and Luke departed. I arrived at my destination as if pulled by invisible strings, where I found Leon with a haggard expression and Aster with his hair sticking up in all directions, both kneeling with bleary eyes.
I could guess the reason well enough, and the pain in my head intensified. Unable to suppress my nausea, I asked Father for permission and went to the bathroom.
After barely expelling the breakfast I’d forced down, I returned before Father, and the Duke looked me up and down before uttering, “You’re quite something.”
I was in such a pathetic state that I had no words to protest. When I fell silent, the Duke asked if I’d gained anything worthwhile. I had no credible gains to fabricate, so I shook my head. Father then calmly organized his documents and pointed to the spot beside Leon.
“Kneel there as well.”
“Yes…”
I obeyed and knelt beside Leon. My head ached so terribly that I even rested my forehead against the floor.
The cool floor felt wonderful.

◇ ◆ ◇

After I’d spent a while with my head pressed to the floor, the secretaries from Father’s office brought me a potion they claimed was excellent for hangovers. Since it was in liquid form, I drank it down eagerly, but when my mouth turned bitter, I searched for candy—only to have Father snap that I wasn’t to give Rosalite any sweets.
That’s so unfair.
“Do you know the scripture of the Imperial State Religion?”
Where was this coming from? After taking the medicine, I pressed my head back to the floor and rolled my forehead against the cool surface to soothe the ache, then answered Father’s question.
“Isn’t it a required text for understanding the culture and history of the Largol Empire?”
“What are its contents?”
“Mainly moral teachings—don’t kill people, don’t steal, that sort of thing. It’s divided into six chapters: Genesis, Genealogy, Pre-History, Doctrine, Prophecy, and Salvation.”
“The scripture the Third Prince possesses has an additional chapter on the End Times. Seven chapters in total.”
“….”
I hate this.
My head was already pounding as if it might split open, and thinking about this made it worse. I thrashed about with my head in my hands while lying face-down. Yet I couldn’t help but think.
Until now, even when Father had presented this only to influential figures in the Alein Kingdom, I’d assumed the Third Prince merely wanted a good marriage to guide future diplomacy with the Largol Empire in the Empire’s favor. I never imagined religion was involved.
So what is he trying to do? Offer me and the Princess as living sacrifices?
“Is it a new religion?”
“They worship the same god. It’s heresy.”
I dislike this even more. It’s getting too complicated.
Why couldn’t they just fight among themselves within the Empire over their interpretations? Why did it have to spill over into our kingdom?
“What does the End Times chapter say?”
“I’ve sent it to the printing house, so you’ll see it soon enough, but to summarize….”
“To summarize?”
“Make everyone believe in Zoroab. If they don’t believe, they all die.”
And here I thought someone with a claim to the throne would show some restraint. This is going to spark a holy war.
The Empire’s private fleet has been probing our territorial waters, and Duke Bienar looks ready to make a move any day now—this is deeply unsettling news on top of everything else.
If only Marius were the one obsessed with this, it might still be manageable. But if the Empress—the current Emperor’s most favored consort and his mother—and the First Prince, his older brother, are also involved, and if the First Prince, who is devoted to this religion, were to become Emperor, then a war to avoid the apocalypse according to their faith would inevitably erupt in the distant future.
Even if the First Prince were of sound mind, he commands formidable military power within the Empire. The Empire finished its continental unification through conquest long ago, so the soldiers have nothing left to boast about—but if he invokes religion as justification for war, he could launch a campaign and solidify his position all at once.
The Alein Kingdom’s navy is unparalleled in strength, so I doubt they’d be foolish enough to attack us….
“An emergency royal council will convene soon. You’ll attend, Rosalite.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were of no help whatsoever this time.”
That’s so unfair.
Shouldn’t the Duke himself attend something this serious? As I voiced my complaint, Father crumpled up some unused paper and tossed it at me.
“You talk too much, you incompetent thing.”
“How was I supposed to know the Third Prince could hold his liquor so well?”
“You should have endured it through sheer willpower.”
“Then does that mean you lacked the willpower to keep the Duchess from leaving home?”
“Glen ran away because you’re far too much like me.”
Shouldn’t we stop this fight? All it does is wound us both.
When I suggested as much, Father closed his eyes slowly and nodded. Why did I have to bring up his partner leaving? It only makes my heart ache. This must be because I haven’t fully sobered up yet.

After standing in punishment for roughly an hour for our incompetence, we finally escaped Father’s grasp and rushed to tackle the backlog of work. Everyone’s physical condition was poor, so the tasks seemed endless no matter how much we accomplished. Four nights of overtime were necessary to clear the accumulated duties.
Drinking coffee like water every evening, I found myself missing Glen terribly.

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Until the emergency convening of the Royal Council, our days unfolded in relative peace.
Father had memorized the entire Apocalypse Chapter from the Zoroab Religion scripture discovered during the search of the Third Prince’s quarters and entrusted it to the printers, so I could review the contents at my leisure. The Third Prince remained unaware that Father had ransacked the entire Royal Palace’s guest quarters.
In preparation for the council meeting, the Apocalypse Chapter I had read repeatedly contained exactly what Father had summarized. To elaborate, it essentially argued that an unwavering war was necessary for all humanity to embrace the Zoroab faith to escape the apocalypse.
I couldn’t speak to other matters, but one thing was abundantly clear: whoever created this Apocalypse Chapter desperately wanted to start a war. Several figures emerged as potential conspirators—those who could profit from war, neighboring nations seeking wartime economic benefits, and financial magnates like Chatel—but I would need more investigation to confirm the details. Speculation alone wouldn’t solve anything.
So I focused on what I could accomplish. I monitored Leon’s academic progress, arranged for the sex education instructor assigned to Leon to also teach Aster, and invited a healing mage from the Royal Palace to finally cure Sage’s injuries completely.
Once Sage had no lingering physical ailments, he boasted about finding Will Brown and turning him into a mummy, but when I used the mini gold bar Luke had gifted me recently, Sage promised to remain quiet out of consideration for me.
Since welcoming Sage to the Duke’s Mansion, money flowed like water. I wished he would either produce results quickly or return to the Magic Tower, but the building he called his magical research laboratory produced nothing but explosion sounds daily.
Because it was loud and reeked, complaints came from the staff and Mrs. Brown, forcing me to devise countermeasures—which also required spending money, leaving me feeling frustrated.
Was there no money tree anywhere? I entertained the wicked thought that it would be nice if the Empire and Cerepia Federation fought each other so we could benefit from wartime economic gains. Heading toward the emergency council chamber with such shameful thoughts, I confirmed our arrival at the Royal Palace and ordered Jack to gather the prepared documents.
The Apocalypse Chapter of the Zoroab Religion, printed and published relying entirely on Father’s memory, stacked together with the Third Prince status report I had compiled, made quite a substantial pile.
But since carrying it was Jack Brown’s responsibility, I entrusted everything to him and hurried from the carriage toward the council chamber.
Along the way, I spotted a familiar silhouette.
“It has been quite some time, Duke Bienar. I was unaware you had come ashore, given the delayed news.”
As I spoke, the Duke of the Eastern Region—whose hobby was leading a privateering fleet to seize Imperial vessels—turned toward me with a swagger.
The woman, appearing to be in her mid-to-late forties, had water-colored hair flowing carelessly about her. She had apparently come straight from the sea to the palace, still wearing the naval uniform she wore aboard ship, and her body reeked of gunpowder.
“Aren’t you Edward’s little one? You’ve grown quite a bit.”
Well, it had been three years, so of course I’d grown considerably.
Though this was our first meeting in the twenty-second iteration, I knew we had met when I was fifteen, so I made that excuse and quickened my pace to catch up with the Duke, walking alongside her. The Duke, whose usual hobby was apparently destroying Imperial warships with cannons, asked about my well-being with a surprisingly kind smile.
“Since you’ve come instead, Edward must be quite busy, I see.”
“The Rocksburg Duke is always a busy man.”
“Tsk, he should go out and socialize more so he won’t suffer in his old age. Will the Edanelli side send their little one too?”
How outdated.
Startled by the Duke’s decidedly old-fashioned vocabulary, I pretended not to hear and continued the conversation. Duke Edanelli was generally not awake at this hour anyway, so his successor would likely attend instead.
And the Northern Region was also far from the palace and its people were busy, so it was highly likely a representative would come.
…What kind of Royal Council was this? It was a meeting between the King and ducal representatives.
As we talked, we soon arrived before the council chamber. I stopped Duke Bienar’s steps and tidied his appearance. I brushed the dust from his uniform hem and combed his hair with my fingers, then straightened my posture and offered a word.
“We are before the council chamber now. Remove your hands from your pockets. It looks improper.”
“…You really do resemble Edward quite a bit, little one.”
“Don’t slouch either. Spit out that gum.”
“Tedious, absolutely tedious.”
When I admonished her, the woman swallowed the gum she had been chewing and entered the council chamber with a swagger, exchanging greetings with the assembled people.
No wonder her successor can’t even get a proper meal…

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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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