Sister-in-law of the Heroine of a Childcare Novel

-That’s a tough one. The moment you sign with me, your existence in this world is fixed. You will never be able to affect other Imperials who are not contractors, so you cannot affect your parents here… Let’s do this.

The white being said.

-I’ll let you be born in another world for a while. You’ll be born to great parents, educated and loved to the fullest. But it will end when you reach the age you are now in that world, albeit with some differences, and your existence there will be erased. Eventually, to fulfill the contract, you will wake up in your old body at a certain point… But then you won’t be ‘you’ anymore. Is that okay with you?

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t really care.”

-You won’t remember anything. You don’t have to remember that you’re my contractor, but there will be trauma as your soul shifts between the other world and this one. Your memory of reality will be distorted.

“It’s fine.”

-This is what I can do for you, and here is what you will do after you make your pact with me…

It was a long story. And after that, the White One asked again if she was sure she wanted to sign, and Titania agreed without hesitation. Whatever the cost, she would not regret it one bit.

Titania felt sorry for Raymon, after all these time. She hadn’t been able to forget Lysianthus’s words about betraying him. But she didn’t know what else to do. She was told that no sane person, if they really cared, would do that to Raymon. She was told over and over again that it would be better if she never had.

But what was ‘normal’ anyway?

Titania thought about Vivi, whom she envied and hated, and realized what that meant. But when she looked at Vivi, the one everyone loved, her own ugliness came back to her, and she couldn’t stand it. So she became bitter and cruel, and this is what came of it. It was self-inflicted.

I’m sorry.

I’m so sorry.

It would be nice if she could just die and atone, but they say you can’t absolve yourself with death. You couldn’t fault the world for everything. It was Titania who was in the wrong. She was the one who caused all this mess.

So it was better to start over.

She didn’t need to be loved.

She wouldn’t love unthinkingly.

And everyone would be better off than they are now.

 

* * *

 

I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.

“…“

And even stranger than the ceiling were the people standing by my side. 

Wh-what, what was going on.

As soon as they saw me open my eyes, one of the maids on bed duty, as if I had been left for dead, jumped up and shouted.

“The Princess has woken up!”

“Oh, my God, the Princess!”

“Titania!”

I froze at the enthusiastic response, feeling like they were believers seeing the Messiah descend upon this world. I could assure you, even when I was born, the reaction had not been like that. One after another, for what seemed like days and nights, I stared at the gaunt faces, madness in their eyes.

I shivered and looked around the room and the bed I was lying on. It was unfamiliar. It was enormous. The bed I was lying on looked like it could fit four or five healthy people. There were towels, water bottles, medicine bottles, bandages, and a silver tray with a bowl of colorful, unidentifiable, and still steaming soup on top…  

It was an even more luxurious version of a real-world chaebol’s VIP single-person hospital room. No matter how you look at it, the design, the objects… it was not the Rose Palace…?

Even the people’s faces…?

More than that, I saw someone sleeping on the floor with an incredibly tired face, unaffected by all the commotion… Wasn’t that the clothes of a high priest? Just as I realized I wasn’t quite going to figure out what was going on, the door opened.

“Sister!”

Bam, bam, bam, Vivi scampered in like a rabbit and froze just before she could give me a big hug… She looked at me, flinching, not daring to touch me, as if she was afraid I would break. I could see the hesitation in her adorable eyes as she looked at me, and I immediately nodded, mesmerized.

Then Vivi grinned sheepishly and pulled my hand into hers, burying her cheek in them. I felt my heart melt like a snowman by the fireplace at the fuzzy, warm sensation.

Is that the heroine’s power? Is that it? What, what, and what. Vivi, what is it, Vivi, what are you doing, you’re so cute!

“…I’m glad you woke up! If you didn’t wake up like you did, Vivi… Vivi would have died…!”

Cry, cry, cry. Tears filled her blue eyes.

“I would have been so sad, I would have died!”

It was a really cute and adorable line, but it was weird. Was it because I knew she was a regressor…?

Was it a ‘Hey, you guys, be nice to your sister.’ in a different way… Was it like a declaration…?

The people who had already been holding on for dear life near my bed when Vivi started sobbing with tears in her eyes were now openly freaking out.

“No, young lady!”

“Please be careful with yourself!”

“Her Highness the Princess is unharmed!”

“Please don’t say that!”

I see…

So the high priest who fell asleep in the midst of these mesmerized people and all these ridiculously luxurious things were all thanks to Vivi after all…

I nodded in realization, feeling humbled. I had already wandered along death path not long ago. It was literally a world of difference from the hot summer day at the Rose Palace, when I was still struggling to get treatment.

My, Vivi is one grateful magpie, and a sweet one at that.

I was overwhelmed by all the different kinds of tools made of different colors of lapis lazuli. One for humidity control, one for temperature control, one for body temperature control, one for bug control… And so on and so forth.

It was a luxury that was literally unimaginable unless you were part of House Castraine, who were the exclusive distributors of mana stones. I swear, if we sold everything in this room right here, it would cover the Rose Palace’s five-year budget.

I stretched my back as a test, and my whole body felt light. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so comfortable in this body. The high priest, sprawled out on the floor like his life force had been sucked out of him, probably had a lot to do with it.

Just then, I heard urgent footsteps.

“She woke up?!”

My eyes widened sharply as I realized who it was. Lord Raymon, who was always dressed immaculately, walked in with a noticeably disheveled look.

‘Big brother, you’re going to leave this mess and go first!’ I swear I heard a mad dog’s voice yelling from across the hall… or maybe I’m hallucinating.

The man’s golden eyes stare at me in surprise, then in relief, then with a strange mix of emotions. Something like self-pity or regret… 

Standing, barely upright, with one hand outstretched to Vivi, he walked hesitantly toward me, stopping a step away. Then he dropped to one knee.

“…?!”

No, he, he’s doing this here, why?! I was genuinely surprised. Raymon’s kneeling was priceless. I mean, he doesn’t even kneel in front of the emperor. Even in the original, there was a chapter where the Emperor, somehow, managed to get Raymon to kneel when he was officially inaugurated, he then got fucked over for it.

The Dukedom of Castraine was practically equal to the imperial power.

Given the reality of the Empire, which already relied on the Dukes to govern vast expanses of land, more than half the country, it was impossible to force them to submit.

Lysianthus, the second oldest, or Rasper, the youngest, or Vivi, the adopted one. If they individually bow down to repay their individual favors according to their own will… Perhaps.

But for Raymon, the next head of the family, kneeling down could not happen. No matter if she was his fiancée or the life-saver who saved his loved ones’ lives. It was not the kind of thing that a lady could bend over and ask to swear a knight’s oath out of admiration.

It was unthinkable for on that lap was the blood of the loyal knights and soldiers of House Castraine who had died to keep the northern front safe…

“Your Highness, First Princess Titania Sol Kate Hamastion.”

The side of his face that looked as if it had been forged from well-forged iron opened as if to say what it had to say. Eyes that seemed to have been melted by sunlight and hardened by dusk held me completely in their gaze.

“I owe you an immeasurable debt.”

It was then that I doubted my eyes.

Everyone in the room followed Raymon’s lead and slowly dropped to their knees. Even those who had been looking at Vivi with pleading eyes, ‘Cheer up, young lady!’ respectfully said nothing.

Heads were bowed in the direction of where I was sitting.

Vivi did the same.

She crouched down beside Raymon, holding the hem of her skirt, and bowed her head. Her face, which had been wearing a childlike, innocent smile, was surprisingly serious. I marveled at the sight of their hair and the hem of their clothes sprawled on the floor in front of me. It didn’t seem real.

“I, Raymon of House Castraine, on behalf of all of my people, extend our gratitude to you.”

“…”

“Grace is two hands, in every possible way, and vengeance is two feet. But the grace that has been bestowed upon you is beyond measure.”

Grace is paid tenfold, with two hands, in all possible ways and means. Revenge doesn’t stop until the victim gets the end they want. Forgiveness is not given to anyone, except to the person who caused the offense.

This was the unofficial Castraine family mantra. And…

“So from now on, Castraine will be your hands, feet, and sword.”

For a moment, I was mesmerized by the unthinkable.

‘He’, Raymon of House Castraine, slowly kissed the back of my hand and the top of my foot.

So respectfully. As if they would break if he touched them wrong. I had never imagined such a thing, not even in my wildest dreams.

“I will not allow your life to be taken from you, not even by death.”

And then, things got so… I shouldn’t have done this…

I was speechless and had to stifle my racing heart. My face must have been a sight to behold as I stared at Raymon with a stunned expression on my face. I felt like I was going to cry, in the strangest way possible.

 

* * *