Kays Translations

Chapter 257: Now or Never

I sat in the salon drinking tea and pretending to be perfectly calm, but the feeling that I'd really messed up was overwhelming. I never imagined my parents were going to attend an evening party tonight.

"Nero, I didn't know about this."

"Master mentioned it at breakfast, but… you seemed to have your mind completely occupied by something else, Lord Julius. I apologize for not noticing."

Nero bowed apologetically.

No, Nero. That's not it. I'm not blaming you. I just wanted to escape reality for a little while.

"Now that you mention it, I think my head was completely full of Lady Fabienne at breakfast. I don't even remember what I ate. So this isn't your fault. More importantly…"

"More importantly?"

"Is there any way I can get out of the promises I made to bathe with Rosalia and sleep beside her?"

"…I believe you will have to consult Lord Alex."

"Yeah. I thought so."

The question was how firmly Brother Alex could actually stand up to Rosalia. He doted on her too, and if she started begging, he'd probably fall immediately. Better not expect too much from him.

In that case, maybe I should consult my sisters-in-law.

I moved to the salon they were using.

"Sister-in-law Daniela, Sister-in-law Meeka, may I ask you something?"

"Oh, Julius, come in. From the look of you, your visit to your future in-laws went well. Did something happen?"

My future in-laws!

Well, technically, yes, but wasn't it a little early to put it that way? In modern terms, I was still only in the upper grades of elementary school.

"No, my visit to Baron Ambert's house went perfectly well. I even managed to arrange a date with Lady Fabienne."

"Well done, Julius. Then are you here to ask where you should go on your date? If so, you'd be better off asking Alec. I'm still not very familiar with the geography of the territorial capital."

"There's that too, but this is something else…"

I told the two of them about the entire chain of events with Rosalia that morning. Surely my sisters-in-law were the only people capable of stopping Rosalia once she got going.

I'm counting on you!

"…That's not fair."

"What?"

"It truly isn't. Meeka is right. It isn't fair that only Rosalia gets permission to bathe with you."

What in the world were they talking about?

I turned around in confusion and found Nero staring with his eyes and mouth equally round. Apparently, he had no idea what had just happened either.

No, it wasn't only Nero. Every servant in the room was wearing exactly the same expression.

"If your little sister Rosalia is allowed to bathe with you," Sister-in-law Meeka said, "then surely your sisters-in-law should be allowed to bathe with you as well."

"Sister-in-law Meeka, I genuinely don't understand what you're saying."

"Meeka, that's a wonderful idea," Sister-in-law Daniela said. "We should bathe together with Rosalia too and deepen our relationship."

Seriously, what were they talking about?

Apparently, I'd consulted the wrong people. I should have gone to Brother Alex from the beginning. But realizing that now was too late. I had to stop this somehow.

"Neither Brother Alex nor Brother Cain would ever allow something like that, you know?"

I immediately played my trump card. No hesitation. Once you decide to cut something off, you have to cut it off cleanly.

Otherwise, my brothers would kill me.

"Then the two of them can bathe with us too," Sister-in-law Daniela said. "After all, we'll soon be a real family."

"Sister-in-law Daniela is right," Sister-in-law Meeka agreed at once. "The best way to deepen family bonds is some naked bonding."

As expected of an athlete. Apparently, socializing naked was her default setting.

If possible, I would've preferred for that bonding to be separated by gender.

"Exactly, Meeka. And Margrave and Marchioness Heine aren't here today, so the timing is perfect."

"Sister-in-law Daniela, you just said the timing was perfect, didn't you?! That means you know this is something we shouldn't really be doing!"

"…Could it be that you don't want us to become part of your family, Julius?"

Oh no. This was bad.

Sister-in-law Daniela's eyes grew moist as she looked up at me pleadingly.

A princess begging you like that was seriously overpowered! I'd like to see the man who could say "NO" here.

"Of course I don't mind. You're both more than welcome."

"Then I'm glad!"

Sister-in-law Daniela clapped her hands.

Huh? What exactly was she glad about?

I didn't know, but I had the awful feeling I'd just agreed to something very, very bad. That was only my imagination, right?

Before I knew it, Brother Alex was sitting across from me with his elbows on the table and his hands folded in front of his face. Sister-in-law Daniela sat beside him. On the other side was Brother Cain, whose arm was being hugged by Sister-in-law Meeka while he wore an expression that said, I don't know what face I'm supposed to make right now.

I think you should smile, Brother Cain.

I wish I could smile too.

"I heard that Julius said he'd be delighted for everyone to bathe together?"

Brother Alex smiled with his eyes narrowed to threads.

How did this happen?

How did this happen?

This was a trap. Sister-in-law Daniela's trap.

But judging by the genuinely happy expression on her face, she hadn't done it out of malice, which somehow made it even worse.

Brother Alex had probably realized the same thing. That was why he couldn't simply reject the idea either. I could practically hear the words he wanted to say.

Why didn't you stop them, Julius?

I never imagined it would turn into this either!

Please forgive me, Brother Alex!

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter