For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 13

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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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Chapter 13
‘This isn’t just for show, is it?’
Vanessa shook her head with an indifferent expression.
“No. There isn’t. Not if that’s what you call a date.”
“……Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
Vanessa’s gaze settled on Ian.
“Not really, no.”
If the man who’d read the article and felt the need for a date was now proposing a bookstore as the destination—
perhaps he was focusing on the date itself rather than what others might see.
In that case, it didn’t much matter where they went.
‘I should refuse next time.’
Two hands need to clap to make a sound.
It was only a matter of time before talk of business and storefront displays started making the rounds.
“Vanessa.”
“Yes?”
“I…… don’t particularly care for crowds.”
“……”
“Noise bothers me. Physical contact with others.”
At his sudden confession of dislikes, Vanessa blinked both eyes wide.
“Right. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“So…… if you know of a suitable place, tell me.”
As the last words left his lips, Ian’s gaze turned toward the window.
How strange.
The man had been dry as a bone when accepting the Contractual Marriage, yet now he seemed almost embarrassed?
Was this purely her misunderstanding?
Vanessa tilted her head.
“Didn’t you want to go to the bookstore?”
“Because it’s the most quiet place.”
“Then let’s just go there.”
At her matter-of-fact tone, Ian glanced sidelong at Vanessa.
“Now that I think about it……”
“Now that you think about it?”
“It doesn’t seem like a suitable place for a date.”
“……”
As Ian’s words continued, Vanessa’s eyes grew slowly rounder.
Why did he seem so uncharacteristically flustered?
Vanessa, who had been staring blankly at Ian, let out a small cough.
“So as long as it’s quiet, empty, and you’re not too close to me, it’ll do?”
“……Yes.”
“Well, there is one place like that.
Only then did Vanessa’s lips curve upward.
She’d thought this would be a date that was essentially a waste of time.
But if it’s like this……
‘Maybe it won’t be such a waste after all?’
***
The carriage had traveled some distance before arriving at Pommeldt, the western capital.
Known as the Craftsmen’s Quarter, Pommeldt was just as bustling as La Fond Duneve, the eastern capital.
Seeing the throng of people so densely packed there was barely room to stand, Ian’s complexion turned ghastly pale.
“……Vanessa.”
“Yes?”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d be honest if you have complaints.”
None of this matches what I said, does it?
Vanessa extended her hand toward Ian, who stood muttering blankly outside the carriage.
Already looking so miserable.
Whether his nerve had been shaken by the crowd or not, Ian’s escort was slightly more natural than before, when he’d been stiff as a pedestal.
“Just a bit further in, and we’ll be there.”
“……I trust you.”
“This much of a crowd should be fine……”
Vanessa, about to speak carelessly, caught sight of Ian’s ashen face and pressed her lips shut.
This was the very capital where she’d met him in her past life.
I came here to buy a walking cane to support my leg, especially whenever Kaleil would furrow his brow at my limping.
Back then, I was sitting on the bench by that entrance.
A tremor ran through my hand, still not released.
“I see. I thought if I went deeper inside there’d be fewer people, so I came… I’m sorry.”
I keep forgetting that the Ian standing before me now isn’t the Ian from back then.
Vanessa swallowed a sigh, her eyes flicking between the crowd spreading before her and Ian, who stood rigid as a wooden puppet.
Breaking the terms before we’re even married isn’t ideal, but there’s no help for it.
“Would it be all right if I held your hand?”
“That’s…”
“At this rate, the sun will set before we get there.”
“…”
He glanced at the crowd I was pulling him through, then at our clasped hands, and his brow immediately furrowed.
“Don’t worry. After we’re married, I won’t touch a hair on your head.”
Ian murmured something about a hair, his tone hollow, but this wasn’t the moment to dwell on it.
With her grip firm on his hand, Vanessa strode forward with long steps.
‘Like dragging along a reluctant child…’
The farther ahead she went, the more insistent the pull from behind became.
At the same time, she felt the weight of stares around them.
A man towering a full head above everyone else being dragged along by a woman’s hand—it was only natural they’d draw attention.
“…Ah!”
Suddenly a gasp burst from Vanessa’s lips.
With all her attention fixed on the hand clasped with Ian’s, she couldn’t dodge the child who came bounding toward them.
As Vanessa staggered and nearly fell backward, something firm caught her back.
“Careful.”
Ian’s voice, low and measured, reached the crown of her head.
“…I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
Somehow, Ian’s hand had found its way around Vanessa’s waist.
“Your Dress is soiled.”
Only then, at Ian’s words, did Vanessa look at where she’d collided—a bright yellow juice stain had splattered across the fabric.
Vanessa brushed it off lightly, flicking the hem with her hand.
Fortunately, the Dress she’d worn today had a yellowish tone, so the stain didn’t show.
“Good heavens! Rena! I told you not to run! My sincerest apologies, madam. I beg your forgiveness…!”
A woman who appeared to be the child’s mother came rushing over and bowed her head repeatedly before Vanessa.
They’d both clearly misread the situation.
“I’m terribly sorry. I ought to make restitution, but our circumstances aren’t favorable… I do hope you might show mercy. Rena! What are you doing? Apologize at once!”
“It’s fine. I wasn’t watching properly either. Besides…”
Vanessa carefully loosened Ian’s hand from around her waist and bent her knees slightly.
“I’m s-sorry… Waaahhh!”
The child, still clutching a half-empty juice bottle, dissolved into tears, clinging to her mother’s skirt and making no move to pick up the soiled doll lying on the ground.
“My fault made your doll dirty.”
“Sniffle, hic… I’m s-sorry. I did wrong. Mama…!”
The child seemed frightened by all her mother’s talk of forgiveness and mercy.
Vanessa let out a small, helpless sigh.
Then Ian, who had been observing the scene, suddenly stepped to the side and picked up the doll from the ground.
“…Ian?”
With an expressionless face, he dusted it off and handed it to the weeping child.
“Don’t run—it’s dangerous.”
“Sniffle, sniff… Y-yes.”
“In a situation like this, don’t cry.”
“Hic…!”
As the child caught her breath and stifled her tears, Ian let out a quiet laugh through his teeth.
The anger from moments before had vanished without a trace.
“Vanessa, are you hurt anywhere?”
“…Not thanks to you catching me.”
“Good.”
Ian, still wearing a faint smile, patted the child’s head a couple of times in parting.
“Hold your mother’s hand tight when you walk.”
“Y-yes…!”
“Th-thank you. Thank you so much. Rena, come along before we’re late!”
The child’s mother gripped her daughter’s hand firmly, gave one last bow, and hurried away as if fleeing—as though she had to leave before she changed her mind.
“Take my hand.”
Vanessa looked at the hand Ian offered her.
“We’re almost there. Really, I’m fine…….”
“If you get hurt again like you did back there, I don’t think I’ll be able to help myself.”
Not all nobility held the lives of commoners cheap — but most did, as if it were only natural.
And commoners, even when nobility showed them kindness, saw it merely as whim.
For now.
Most likely, if you couldn’t pay for the Dress, there’d be no shortage of nobles ready to punish you for it.
‘Things would change if the Crown Prince were to marry the Third Princess.’
Vanessa thought of Ian as she thought of most nobility.
Which is why she’d been all the more careful to assure him she was fine — to protect the child.
……So the Ian I knew in my past life still exists somewhere in him.
Rather than answer, she carefully placed her hand in Ian’s palm, and this time — unlike before — his grip was quite firm.
She deliberately shortened her stride to match his pace, and he adjusted to keep alongside her.
Instead of looking ahead at the road as she usually did, she now saw only his broad back — and she didn’t mind it at all.
“Ian.”
“……What is it?”
“Can I walk beside you instead?”
“You know nobility’s kindness is just whim, don’t you? Like this, it would be.”
“I’m asking you to indulge the whim a little longer.”
“…….”
“It’s a date, after all.”
“Ah…….”
Despite her rather stubborn request, Ian paused — discomfited but yielding — and so Vanessa found herself walking easily at his side, their steps matched.
“I hope this whim of yours lasts even after we’re married.”
“…….”
No answer came, but when Vanessa glimpsed the flush creeping up Ian’s ear, she let out a small, quiet laugh between her teeth.

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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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