Touch My Brother and You Die - Chapter 58

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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 packaging was modest, but everyone knows that the smaller the gift, the more expensive it tends to be.
Curious to see what gesture His Highness had made toward me, I snatched the parcel from Jack and placed it on my desk.
I untied the ribbon and opened the box, and immediately a savory, sweet aroma struck my nose—
—wait, what?
“?”
What on earth is this?
Inside the box was a basket lined with parchment paper, and atop that parchment were stacked what looked like bread crusts, piled haphazardly.
Whether they were truly the leftover edges from sliced bread, they had an irregular appearance as their defining characteristic, yet they looked like proper confections—fried in oil and rolled in sugar.
Crunch.
I took a bite and confirmed: these were indeed bread crusts fried in oil and dusted with sugar.
Since they tasted reasonably good, I kept picking up and eating the bread crusts, and a thought struck me—could this possibly be a wedding gift? I asked Jack if anything else had arrived for me.
“That’s the only thing His Highness sent, Miss.”
“I see.”
Crunching loudly as I ate the bread crusts, I accepted that this was indeed my wedding gift from the Crown Prince himself, and swallowed what I’d been chewing.
“Bread crusts…”
Bread crusts as a wedding gift…
Surely this was a joke?
I rummaged through the bread crusts hoping to find a ring hidden inside, but found nothing but crumbs.
“Bread… crusts…”
What on earth had I done to him to deserve this? No matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t recall any serious offense. One thing was certain: I was furious with him.
“Bread crusts?!”
My anger exploded. I slammed my desk and shot to my feet. Even if I had somehow wronged him terribly, this was unacceptable! Who sends bread crusts as a wedding gift?!
As I raged and cursed Theodore, Jack Brown stepped beside me and defended the sender of the bread crusts with great sympathy.
“Well, it’s possible, Miss.”
“Possible?! Look at this! These are just bread crusts!”
“But Miss, you were the one who wiped your mouth on his beloved stuffed animal first.”
“…”
I did that?
When I said I didn’t remember, Jack nodded vigorously and said he’d thought it was a serious matter when I’d done it.
No, but even so, just because I wiped my mouth on a doll—
“It must be important to him. What’s the difference between what our dog ate from Aster and what Miss did?”
Come on, I’m hardly in the same category as Aster.
And why was Jack defending and getting angry on His Highness’s behalf anyway? Did petty people have some kind of kinship?
“Petty, my foot.”
“He sleeps holding it every night, so he’d keep noticing where your mouth touched it. It must be horrifying for him.”
So you think I’m horrifying?
Deeply wounded, I made a silent vow to take revenge on both Jack and Theodore someday.
I would repay this humiliation tenfold.

◇ ◆ ◇

“What a despicable wretch. Hmph, crusts of bread?”
The Crown Prince had sent me fried bread crusts as a gift, and I carried the basket with me, crunching away as I prepared for my usual afternoon stroll—until I happened upon Olivia, a maid from the Annex Building, and asked if Leon was in his room. I changed direction immediately.
Today, instead of my usual walk, I would visit Leon and spend the time slandering Theodore. Besides, talking with Leon might spark ideas for an effective revenge.
Leon had a cute appearance, yet he could be surprisingly cunning when he put his mind to it. Back when I hadn’t yet finalized the marriage contract and the betrothal deadline was approaching, I’d consulted him on how to keep Glen bound to me. Leon had suggested capturing Glen’s younger sibling from Uncle’s Mansion and holding them as a hostage.
He’d reasoned that Glen cared more for his younger sibling than his own mother, so bringing the sibling to the Duke’s Residence and controlling them would keep Glen in line.
Really… that child…
Even if the plan looked ugly and contemptible on the surface, he proposed it without hesitation. He was growing up well. All my effort in providing him with good instruction had borne fruit.
Shamelessness, cruelty, and devising methods without shame—that is what it means to be a true person of Rocksburg. I knew this intimately from observing Father. Especially when he dealt with the King, he became truly shameless.
But these are surprisingly delicious. What oil did they use? The umami is extraordinary—it can’t be simple vegetable oil.
I gave Jack a few pieces to eat as well, then popped one into my own mouth and crunched away. Standing before Leon’s room in the Annex Building, I knocked three times and called out for him to come here, then opened the door.
“…!”
Leon was frantically shoving something under his blanket. My goodness, what on earth was that?
“Leon? What did you just hide under the blanket?”
“Nothing at all.”
“If it’s nothing, why did you look so startled and try to conceal it?”
“Because it is nothing.”
…Are you playing riddles with me?
I popped another bread crust into my mouth and chewed it thoughtfully while pointing an accusing finger at the blanket.
The more you deny it, the more curious I become!
“Jack Brown! Search that blanket!”
“Yes, right away!”
“Hup!”
Since my hands were covered in oil, I sent Jack instead. Leon apparently made a decision and planted himself in front of the bed to resist.
Asterion, with his silver hair tied back in a horsetail and a beauty that had only recently shed its boyish quality, stood before me with violet eyes gleaming and a desperate expression. I felt a twinge of guilt, but while I was entertaining such thoughts, Jack pushed forward without mercy.
Yet Leon did not fall.
Instead, using the momentum of his tilting body, Leon grabbed Jack and pulled him toward himself, then used the rebound to regain his balance and swept Jack’s ankle.
It was an attack that would have sent an ordinary person crashing down, but Jack, trained in falling techniques, rolled safely across the floor and rose into a defensive stance, dropping to one knee as he cried out.
“Young Lady! Permission to wound Leon!”
My, my—so Leon was such a formidable opponent. Then I had to grant permission.
“Permission granted, but only in this place and at this time.”
“Sister?!”
But at this rate, Jack would be at a severe disadvantage.
I’d only watched for a moment, but it seemed impossible for Jack to subdue Leon without bloodshed. Jack must have sensed this too, which is why he’d asked for permission. More than anything, seeing Leon capable of pushing Jack this far filled me with pride and admiration—I wanted to watch him perform more.
Wasn’t it remarkable how a child who’d known nothing of combat had grown so much in less than four years? The way he’d just used the force of his own fall to overturn Jack was truly magnificent.
Once I gave my approval, Jack drew some sort of metal rod from his waist, shook it downward to extend it, and adjusted its length. It was a three-section staff.
“That’s unfair, Jack Brown! I’m unarmed!”
“Winning is what matters, Young Master!”
Jack, you truly don’t discriminate between means and methods. Your master is moved. Given the current situation, I can only imagine that in the future, Jack will do everything in his power to protect me by any means necessary. Just how many weapons does this man hide on his body?
I’ll overlook the fact that his three-section staff was at his waist even when we visited the Crown Prince’s residence the other day—I appreciate his usual diligence.
“Tch!”
Leon, who dodged Jack’s relentless assault, surprisingly grabbed a step stool used for reaching high places and swung it down at Jack.
Whatever material Jack’s three-section staff was made of, it whistled through the air and shattered the thick wooden step stool with a sharp crack.
Leon tore off the legs from the broken step stool, gripped them like tonfa in both hands, and rushed at Jack with a flurry of strikes. One blow connected with a wet sound, leaving a rough wooden scrape and a red mark across Jack’s cheek.
This is troublesome. Do we have any tetanus shots left at home?
“Sister! Do you really need to go this far just to see what’s inside him?!”
“Yes.”
“But Leon or Jack could be seriously injured?!”
“We have Macaon, don’t we?”
Macaon, our healing mage, seemed increasingly reluctant to be summoned here, but what could be done? Once the King gives permission, he’ll come running.
I spoke carelessly while crunching the crust of my bread, and Leon suddenly burst into laughter, giggling with an excited expression. The boy thrust the sharp end of the wood in his hand deep into Jack’s abdomen and spoke with delight.
“I love that cold side of you too, Sister!”
“Hmm…”
Your personality really does grow stranger with age. But I suppose that’s fine. Just grow up strong. Don’t do anything foolish like that.
“Idiot.”
“Ugh!”
Confident that he’d struck Jack’s abdomen, Leon had let his guard down. While his opponent’s defenses were lowered from committing fully to the attack, Jack gauged the distance, stepped back slightly, and executed a sharp spinning back kick that struck Leon’s temple.
Leon collapsed limply to the floor, writhing. He seemed to be struggling desperately to get up, but his body wouldn’t respond properly.
“Since I’ve never had experience stabbing a person, it’s difficult to tell whether that was an effective strike.”
Jack lifted his shirt and tapped the leather armor underneath where Leon had struck. It looked like thin leather, but it seemed serviceable enough for avoiding fatal wounds in emergencies. Hadn’t it just successfully blocked Leon’s attack? There was some bleeding, but that was far better than having his abdomen pierced.
“Now let’s see what else you’ve hidden!”
He’s enjoying this.
With a flourish, Jack swept back the blanket, but his expression darkened instantly, and he looked at Leon as if he were garbage.
Leon was trembling, but it didn’t seem to be from pain like before—he was shaking for a different reason.
“I always suspected you were a deviant, but don’t you have any sense of propriety, Young Master?”
What? What on earth is it?
I approached the bed and confirmed the identity of the object Jack held. It was a stuffed doll with cotton filling inside. It looked like a person, had silver hair, eyes embroidered with golden thread, and wore an incredibly beautiful dress.
That’s the outfit I used to wear frequently around age sixteen. I wore it during Rosalite’s afternoon tea time at sixteen, so I remembered it clearly.
“Why does this doll wear the exact same clothes I wore as a child?”
“Even if you do somersaults, backflips, and cartwheels, it’s a doll modeled after the Young Lady.”
“Huh? Really?”
This doll looks like me at first glance? Since I’m not as sensitive as Jack, I examined the doll carefully, and suddenly a brilliant idea flashed through my mind like lightning. I snatched the doll from Jack’s hands.
This is it!
“Leon! Where did you get this doll?!”

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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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