Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 43

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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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Noctram had provided elite guards, and Aster was coming along—truly, they were borrowing trouble. As I soothed the anxious Leon and the tearful Lily and Violet, I couldn’t hide my shock when an unexpected figure appeared to see me off, tears and snot streaming down his face.
“…Papa, how did you get here?”
“Don’t let your guard down, Rosalite! That place is hardly civilized! You must return safe and sound!”
No, you’re getting snot on me. Please stop hugging me.
Since it was early morning and even Father hadn’t come to see me off, I was bewildered by Papa’s appearance, but I decided to be grateful for his concern nonetheless. I reassured him that everything would be fine and patted his back gently.
“Did you pack the things I gave you?”
“Yes. I’m carrying the parasol with me as planned.”
“Good thinking. You never know what might happen. Did you pack the menstrual pain medicine? Your cramps aren’t too severe on those days, are they?”
“I packed it. I also brought an antidiarrheal in case of stomach upset from the water.”
“Well done. Those uncivilized Empire folk only make their ailments worse by seeking priests at the slightest discomfort.”
That’s genuinely frightening. Once we arrive at Bienar Port, I should buy more emergency medicines.
I opened the purse I’d entrusted to Aster and confirmed that it held plenty of our Kingdom’s gold coins and the Empire currency I’d exchanged recently. Thinking it best to arrive earlier than the ship’s departure time, I finally managed to extract myself from Papa by saying I really needed to go.
“Write to me when you arrive, Rosalite. If anything happens, I’ll come at once.”
“Ha. Worry is your fate, Papa.”
Now please, goodbye, Papa.
I pulled my hand away from Papa’s grip, which he’d refused to release until the last moment. Just as I was about to board the carriage, I noticed someone emerging from the Main Building entrance with several attendants.
Oh? I thought he wouldn’t come, but it seems he’s come to see me off.
“…Father?”
But the Rocksburg Duke was looking at Papa instead of me, who should have been the one receiving his farewell. I’d never seen Father’s eyes open so wide. He must have been quite shocked.
“…Papa?”
Father seemed particularly bothered by the word “Papa,” for he spoke it again and approached Papa with a tilted head, asking a question.
“Why is my daughter calling you Papa?”
“Why are you asking me? Because you haven’t been acting like a proper father, that’s why Rosalite calls me that.”
“…What?”
But that was something Papa insisted on….
Though I didn’t understand the full context, the atmosphere had turned hostile, so I judged it best to escape quickly. I grabbed Aster, shoved her into the carriage, climbed in myself, shut the door, and waved.
“Then I’ll be going. Stay well, Papa! Duke! Leon too! And Lily and Violet!”
“Go safely, Rosalite!”
“No, he’s Papa, so why am I still Duke….”
I’ve been calling him Duke all this time, and now he’s finding fault with everything.
I instructed the coachman to depart quickly, then kept my gaze fixed forward, refusing to look back. It seemed Papa and Father were raising their voices at each other, but that was none of my concern.

◇ ◆ ◇

After a two-night, three-day voyage by sailing ship from the port, I arrived at the Empire and couldn’t help but purse my lips upon seeing how modest the port facilities were.
The Empire’s closest port to the Kingdom wasn’t particularly large, and from here, one had to travel another day by carriage inland to reach the Capital.
If a naval battle broke out, it would be painfully obvious that our nation would suffer the damage—so what confidence did Duke Bienar have when calling for war? To reach the grand port city known as the Empire’s second capital, we’d have to travel much further south from here. Did he perhaps prepare some sort of speedboat?
While keeping it secret from the other noble houses and burning with curiosity about what he’d hidden away, that curiosity soon became irrelevant with the arrival of a certain figure.
In this tiny port village, he appeared leading his guards—but what did I care about whatever secret weapon the Duke had concealed?
Upon spotting a white-haired man wearing an eye patch standing at the edge of the wharf, I scrunched up my already-frowning face and grabbed my luggage. If he came all the way here to pick me up, it seems he has no intention of letting me contact the Fourth Prince unsupervised.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Miss Rosalite! Welcome to the Empire!”
Regardless of my foul mood, the man seemed perfectly at ease, pleased with the thought that he could escort me safely back to the Imperial Palace.
The Third Prince’s Kingdom language still carried a certain roughness that gave it a human quality, but this man executed the Kingdom language with an unsettlingly perfect fluency.
Ah, I need to manage my expression better. To shake off the feeling of having swallowed a bug, I imagined Glen stuffing cotton into his chest, and my lips naturally curved upward into a bright smile. Honestly, that sight Glen had shown me was one of the funniest things I’d ever witnessed.
“What brings you to this place, Your Highness the First Prince! I’m deeply apologetic that I must offer my greetings from such a high vantage point!”
“Hahahaha! Not at all! Miss Rosalite speaks the Empire’s language with an unsettlingly perfect fluency, just as I’d heard!”
That’s exactly what I should be saying.
Regardless of my true feelings, I laughed along with the First Prince’s laughter and prepared to disembark. Aster suddenly leaped down onto the wharf and checked the surroundings. After testing the ground’s firmness with a few taps and bowing respectfully to the First Prince, Aster stretched both arms toward me, apparently judging it safe for me to jump.
It would certainly be safer to properly dock the ship and descend via the stairs, but I also wanted to get down quickly and ask why he came all this way, so I decided to follow Aster’s suggestion.
I grabbed my luggage and parasol, held down my hat, and jumped from the ship. Aster caught me lightly and set me down smoothly.
This way is certainly faster.
“I’ll carry the bag.”
Yes, that’s right.
After entrusting my luggage to Aster and ordering Noctram’s soldiers to move the remaining baggage, I stepped ahead out of the wharf and faced the First Prince. While he lacked the volume of the Third Prince, his complexion and facial features unmistakably carried the atmosphere of being his brother.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness Lucius. As you likely already know, I am Rosalite of Rocksburg from the Alein Kingdom.”
“The lady from Alein is quite spirited. I was anxious watching you. I came all this way to protect you, you see.”
If I’m going to the trouble of speaking the Empire’s language for you, why don’t you just unify the language already?
Inwardly complaining, I forced strength into my lips and laughed even more vibrantly because of the man’s words about coming to protect me. …Wait. This seems awfully similar to something Theodore would do. Have I been picking up his habits from seeing his face so often lately?
“I seem to have heard something rather ominous. What do you mean by protecting me?”
“You may not realize it, but you’ve arrived on a rather inauspicious day.”
What? Is that all? I’d already been fully informed and had accepted that matter since the conference hall, so there was no need to worry.
If I hadn’t known I’d be in danger, why would the Northern Region have lent me elite soldiers, and why would my so-called Papa have prepared James Bond-style secret gadgets for me? Father wouldn’t have come to see me off from the break of dawn either if this were merely a simple trip to the Empire.
If it were just a simple visit to the Empire, Father would have had no reason to show his face.
“Miss.”
And bringing Aster along was honestly mostly about wanting to feed her Imperial cuisine, but there were other reasons as well.
When she sensed something amiss and placed her hand on her sword hilt, I sharpened my awareness and detected the flow of mana. Indeed, Aster is more sensitive to mana’s movements than I am. A mage is unfolding a spell somewhere.
I infused mana into the parasol in my hand, reverse-sensed the spell, detected the direction of attack, and unfurled it toward the sky. The direction was overhead. The range was a pinpoint roughly thirty centimeters around me. The form resembled multiple needle-like shards.
Even though my circle is low, I have the accumulated training to make this level of detection child’s play.
“Aster. That person tried to harm me.”
“Yes. I won’t let them live.”
The moment the words ended, ice arrows came raining down from the sky, and Aster’s figure moved in an instant.
Moving with a gust of wind, Aster apparently identified the location of the spell-caster and leaped onto the deck by running across a thick rope connected to another sailing ship.
Not long after, I heard a man’s scream and the sound of him splashing into the sea. Watching from afar as Aster wiped the blood from her sword on the distant deck, I noticed the surroundings growing dark and retrieved a pair of cellophane glasses from my luggage to put on.
“As long as I have the date correct, there’s no need for concern.”
After giving the First Prince a vague response, I watched the partial eclipse while Aster jumped down from the sailing ship, took a seat beside me, and put on cellophane glasses.
I was glad I’d made these glasses during my late-night work hours. When else would I get a chance to see a solar eclipse? I hardly ever left my office under normal circumstances.
“I thought a young lady had been pushed into this, but it seems you came fully prepared.”
『Being pushed into it is accurate.』
“My, my… how did you end up in such a dangerous place?”
『The others said my personality was the most demonic of all, so they drove me to the brink of death.』
“It’s no good for a young person to speak of death so casually. I shall do my utmost to ensure your neck remains properly attached when you return home.”
You certainly have a grim way of expressing unsolicited assistance, Your Majesty of a foreign nation.
After carefully putting away my parasol, I finished watching the partial eclipse, shook hands with Lucius, and headed toward the Imperial carriage he’d prepared.
I’d cleared the objective of arriving at the Empire across the sea on the day of the eclipse, so now I just needed to preserve my life and return safely to the Kingdom.
In the end, coming here seemed like the right decision. Who else but me would do something so reckless with their life? Even if I died, I’d just be back to sixteen-year-old Rosalite Lipit Again at 2 PM tea time.
I’d already arranged for Will Brown to trigger Stage 2 of the Beginning of the End beforehand, so once I made contact with the Fourth Prince depending on the situation, things would unfold according to the Kingdom’s wishes. When the job was done and I returned home, I’d have to give Princess Grace a proper scolding. Sitting in the carriage with Aster, I made trivial small talk with the Prince as we headed toward the Empire’s Capital.
An opportunity would definitely arise. No matter how exceptional the First Prince was, he couldn’t watch me constantly all day long.

◇ ◆ ◇

But
it
actually
happened.
“Luciuuuuus!”
Lucius, you eyepatch-wearing pirate bastard, drop dead! One day I suddenly transmigrated without warning through dimensional travel or reincarnation into another world, and I became a monster—I’m an arthropod, mind you—but whether there’s a problem or not, from an omniscient perspective I failed to guard the dungeon and died! Die! Die!
“Huff. Huff.”
Beating down the down pillow on the guest room bed that Lucius, that son of a bitch, had provided, I eventually ran out of strength, threw the pillow aside, and collapsed face-first onto the bed, thrashing about.

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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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