Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 44

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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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Damn it, damn it, damn it. Stalker bastard. With a temperament as rotten as yours, no wonder you’ve divorced twice by thirty.
A week had passed since I entered the Imperial Palace, yet I hadn’t caught even a glimpse of the Fourth Prince. The realization that my departure date for the Kingdom was drawing near struck me anew, and I buried my head into the pillow.
If this continued, I would genuinely end up discussing living arrangements with the First Prince, haggling back and forth, then conducting negotiations with the Emperor and the Empire’s influential nobles to secure a fishing agreement favorable to the Kingdom’s fishermen in the waters along the border region, ensuring that imperial pirates received no imperial protection and that Duke Bienar could seize them at will, and that even if the Kingdom mistakenly attacked civilian vessels, we need only pay nominal compensation—and then return to the Kingdom with nothing but these diplomatic victories.
“….”
Well, diplomatically speaking, it was certainly a tremendous achievement!
But how could I possibly fail to catch even a single strand of the Fourth Prince’s hair, no matter how vast the Imperial Palace was or how deliberately the First Prince had arranged our paths never to cross?!
The night before last, I’d seriously considered feigning madness and sneaking out of the First Prince’s quarters in the dead of night to knock on the Fourth Prince’s entrance hall, and I’d dragged Aster to jump from my window—we hadn’t even taken three steps before guards appeared. After a brief scuffle with them, the First Prince showed up within minutes, claiming boredom, and insisted on accompanying me on a moonlit stroll while showing me every corner of his residence.
Die, Lucius. Just die.
I should have suspected from the beginning why he’d come to the harbor to collect me. That man was confident that once he had me in his grasp, he would never let go. My immediate beeline toward the Fourth Prince upon arrival must have been the greatest obstacle he’d anticipated.
I wrapped my body in the blanket, creating the caterpillar form I’d often made in the past, and rolled across the bed while contemplating how to engineer an encounter with the Fourth Prince.
“Ugh, ugh ugh ugh.”
I wanted to cry. Yes, just like that sound I’d just heard.
“….”
Wait—I hadn’t cried. Where was that sound coming from?
I startled and tried to sit up, but the blanket cocoon rendered me completely immobile.
Of all the rotten luck! Whoever invented the phrase “hoist by one’s own petard” must have experienced something exactly like this!
Wondering where the sound originated, I craned my neck and peered through the darkness, spotting something pale approaching my bed.
Since I’d extinguished all the lights in the room, I couldn’t make out its proper form. Could it possibly be a ghost? Well, given that all the buildings here were ancient, a ghost wouldn’t be entirely surprising, but I’d prefer it didn’t appear since I was frightened.
“Ugh, hic…. Don’t want to… don’t want to kill people anymore… so scary….”
If you don’t want to kill, then don’t kill. I’m more frightened than you are, so stop it. You’re not actually planning to kill me, are you?
For a ghost, it smelled remarkably pleasant—a fluffy-haired creature resembling a dandelion seed climbed onto my bed and curled up. Looking at it like that, it truly resembled a cotton ball.
Since the bed sagged beneath a woman’s weight, it seemed this wasn’t actually a ghost.
To confirm, I wriggled my body and poked the cotton ball with my toes.
“Listen here.”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Kieeeek!”
Startled, weren’t you!
An unexpectedly piercing shriek erupted from the cotton ball, causing me to shudder, whereupon the intruder tumbled from the bed in shock, and moments later, I felt an explosive surge of mana.
“Wait, have you lost your mind?!”
Don’t cast magic, you deranged cotton ball!
The figure appeared to be a water mage, rapidly condensing liquid droplets. But this wasn’t ordinary water magic—there was no casting time, and the liquid produced was murky and viscous, reeking abominably.
…Could this person possibly be a dark mage?
Of all the infuriating luck—I couldn’t get close to the Fourth Prince, yet here I was encountering such a rare specimen. Dark magic remained largely mysterious, and I felt a scholarly curiosity to investigate it thoroughly, but first I had a more pressing matter to attend to.
“Help me!”
Someone, anyone, come quickly and calm down this unhinged cotton ball!
As I cried out, Aster came rushing from the adjacent room first, confirmed I was in danger, then charged at the cotton ball and struck its head without mercy.
The blow to the back of the head disrupted the cotton ball’s concentration, canceling the magic, but Aster didn’t stop. Unsatisfied with merely striking the head, Aster drove a right hook into the cotton ball’s solar plexus, swept its legs, mounted it, and rained punches relentlessly upon its face.
The cotton bundle struck in the solar plexus convulsed and seemed to retch up gastric fluid. Though darkness obscured the details, I could feel moisture clinging to Aster’s knuckles—the bundle of a woman had clearly taken a severe beating.
“Wait, hold on! Aster! Stop! She’s going to die at this rate!”
“Was I not supposed to eliminate her?”
“When did I ever tell you to kill her!”
Why did the Brown Family children seem to have their fundamental combat doctrine permanently fixed on “annihilate the enemy”?
I was intensely curious what sort of education William had inflicted upon these children to produce such uniformly lethal results, but there was no time to satisfy my curiosity now. I extracted myself from the bedding that had been restraining me and rose to my feet.
As I switched on the bedside lamp and approached the cotton bundle, Lucius—that bastard—arrived at my chamber. Three minutes on standby, truly. Did that man have some sort of emergency bell rigged to sound whenever his quarters grew noisy?
“What is the matter?”
“My apologies for the late hour. A strange woman entered my chamber and startled me so—”
“A woman?”
At the First Prince’s command, we illuminated the entire room, revealing a woman caked in blood writhing on the floor. Observing her face—already swelling with bruises, painful even to look upon—I felt an irrepressible urge to strike Aster across the back.
So I did precisely that.
“I wasn’t even injured, and you’ve left someone looking like this? Think! Use your head! Live with some sense! Apologize at once!”
“My apologies, miss.”
“Not to me—to the person you beat!”
When I pointed to the cotton bundle, Aster protested that he saw no reason to apologize to her, but after another strike to his back, he pouted and approached the woman to offer his regrets.
He did not appear sorry in the slightest, but at least he made the pretense of an apology—small mercy that it was.
Her injuries could be addressed later by summoning the Empire’s celebrated high priest for treatment, along with a modest compensation. But I had been roused from sleep by this woman’s intrusion and had faced mortal peril, so I had much to say to the First Prince.
“So who exactly is this woman?”
“Well, that is…”
Ah, look at that. Flustered for once, is he?
Unable to contain my excitement at witnessing this rare display of humanity from the First Prince upon Largol soil, I smiled broadly and pressed him further.
Lucius Aidemoc Largol, eldest son of the Largol Emperor, seemed to have steeled himself, drawing a deep breath before uttering words that made no sense whatsoever.
“She is my night attendant—my lover, rather. She must have found the wrong chamber.”
“Hahahaha. You expect me to believe that the First Prince’s exclusive night attendant is a dark mage of approximately third circle by standard elemental mage ranking, and that she crawled into your bed weeping because she did not wish to kill anyone?”
“You must believe it. It is the fault of my irresistible charm, after all.”
“Had Marius said such a thing, I might have believed it.”
“…What could I possibly lack compared to Marius?”
“That you do not know this suggests you cannot see what is directly before you at all, does it not?”
With such vast differences in breadth, depth, and height, how could one fail to notice? As I tilted my head in bewilderment, Lucius displayed displeasure for the first time.
Whether today was auspicious or inauspicious, it was certainly proving eventful. I was witnessing every facet of his nature.
“This one and that one—Marius at every turn.”
Oh my. Oh dear. What have I done? He switched to the Imperial tongue!
Is he angry? Are you angry? What is your mood now?
Unable to contain my excitement at Lucius’s disapproving tongue-click, I clasped my hands together before my chest, carefully selected and honed my words, then drove them home to the First Prince.
“No matter how close brothers may be, the differences present from birth cannot be bridged. Marius is not merely handsome—his temperament is gentle, and he possesses a charm that draws people to him. You should be proud to have such an excellent younger brother.”
“You seize upon any opening to needle me.”
“What else have I learned and eaten? And I was not deliberately needling you—I spoke only from the heart.”
Well, deliberately, but what of it? Should I be struck? Killed? Under international law, executing an envoy would be catastrophic. Do you wish to be beaten by not only our Kingdom but the Cerepia Federation as well? Hahahaha!
As I thrust my chin forward in a gesture inviting him to strike if he dared, Lucius frowned and slowly pushed down on the crown of my head with one hand.
“So Theodore of Alein is courting Rosalite of Rocksburg—now I understand why he’s developed such a distaste for her. She’s insufferably pedantic.”
“Has that rumor spread all the way to the Empire?”
“My excellent younger brother keeps me informed through regular correspondence.”
“Good heavens, the Royal Palace security is utterly useless.”
When I return, I’ll submit a proposal to Father to have the entire Guest Quarter security detail replaced.
Delighted by this precious revelation that Lucius harbored a complex toward Marius, I summoned the Imperial Palace maidservants to fetch a priest and examined the unconscious woman’s condition.
Since this was my first time observing a dark mage directly, I had countless questions.
“You seem quite interested in Lam Barte. Even if I revive her, you won’t learn anything beyond the fact that she’s my lover, will you?”
So the plump woman’s name was Lam. I kneaded her soft hand between my fingers, confirming that she possessed the same body temperature as any human, perspired normally, and exhibited standard reflex responses before releasing her.
Becoming a dark mage doesn’t fundamentally alter one’s physiology, then.
“I believe I’ve grasped the essentials, so I have no further questions. Rest assured.”
“Hm. You’ve ‘grasped the essentials’?”
“Her gender is plainly female, and she’s a dark mage rather than a conventional mage. Her specialty is likely poison, is it not? When she attempted to attack, her form posed no physical threat whatsoever, yet there was a foul stench. If she possessed confidence that mere contact would inflict damage, poison is the most probable explanation. Furthermore, this is the Guest Quarter, and given that Lam found her way to the wrong room, her quarters must be nearby. The treatment afforded her suggests she is either particularly valued or frequently employed. For someone in regular use with poison as their specialty, my admittedly limited intellect can conceive of nothing but an assassin. Her appearance is also quite striking, making it easy to approach targets by presenting her as a gift. Truly, I lament the inadequacy of my faculties. Beyond this, I cannot fathom anything further, no matter how I deliberate.”
“How irritating.”
“I hear that frequently from our Kingdom’s Crown Prince.”
“Have you no inclination to seek asylum in the Empire?”
“How could a child like myself possibly survive in a foreign land where no one speaks sense?”
“You truly are insufferable.”
If only my station were equal to Lucius’s—then I wouldn’t be forced into silence, and I’d return his barbs with equal measure.
Frustrated by Lucius’s inability to reflect upon himself, I tapped my chest and offered that if he remained anxious, I could remain nearby to supervise. He waved his hand dismissively as though the matter were settled.
“I’ve learned much about you these past few days. You already understand what will happen if word of this leaks out, I presume.”
“Of course. I have no intention whatsoever of meddling in another nation’s affairs. I’m far too occupied with managing my own affairs.”
Though he bade us speak freely, he left a maidservant behind nonetheless.
After seeing Lucius off to his rest, I waited for the priest while keeping watch over the unconscious woman. She did not awaken until considerable time had passed even after the priest completed his treatment and departed.

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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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