I Proposed to My Childhood Friend After Regressing - Chapter 3

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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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After Regression, I Proposed to My Childhood Friend
Chapter 3
There were good reasons why things had spiraled into this particular situation.
‘I mean, even with our agreement to persuade people as quickly as possible, did we really want to act so recklessly?’
It wasn’t as though we were two toddlers throwing a tablecloth over our heads and playing wedding with wildflowers picked from the Garden!
Besides, time wasn’t nearly as pressing as to require such a desperate measure.
In other words, neither of us had originally intended to do something this drastic on the very day of the Proposal.
So it was…….
“Beatrice Hartwell!”
“Oh, oh my? Mother? Father? What are you two doing here? And hello, auntie, uncle—I heard you’d gone out. You came back early, didn’t you?”
“No one else, just Beatrice visiting—we had to hurry over. Let me see… you look even prettier than last week, don’t you?”
And it was precisely at that moment when both sets of parents had gathered in one place…….
“Beatrice! How have you been? I was so delighted to run into you two earlier while out with him, but seeing you after so long really brings me joy.”
“Your Highness……?”
“Now, don’t be so formal. I asked you to call me sister in private moments, didn’t I?”
If only we hadn’t run into ‘that person’ so suddenly at a time like this!
Beatrice’s eyes wavered slightly as she looked up at the one extending a warm hand toward her.
Silver hair—the symbol of the Imperial House—and stunningly luminous golden eyes. An elegant, refined presence and bearing.
‘Elodie Alberose Edvein’
The First Princess of the Empire was the fiancée of Kaelon, Clyde’s older brother, and simultaneously the ‘that person’ the two of them had spoken of.
‘The one who destroyed our house and Clyde’s house, and who killed me in the end.’
The final memory surfaced in her mind as though a locked door had been thrown open. Or more precisely, the last conversation she’d heard.
‘This child, having lost family, relations, wealth, and even… remains a risk factor.’
‘Princess Elodie.’
‘No need to persuade me. Now that we’ve come this far, what reason is there to hesitate? A sprout that might become a weed should be… cut away. Give her a funeral. No need to report it separately.’
The fact that she remembered every nuance suggested it was certainly a vivid memory.
‘……I wonder if she actually did hold a funeral.’
Beatrice dispelled the tension that had wrapped around her with this idle thought, then habitually pushed the corners of her mouth upward and opened her mouth to speak.
“Right, that’s right. The thing is, since I only have brothers, calling someone ‘sister’ feels a bit awkward, so let me skip it.”
She felt Clyde nudge her ribs discreetly from beside her. She’d tried to hide it, but apparently it showed.
But before Beatrice could compose her expression, the Princess Elodie reached out and gently tapped the bridge of her nose with a finger, smiling with affection.
“How cute. Beatrice really is just the same!”
“Haha.”
“I can’t help it. I think I need to stick close to your side for a while. Once we get used to spending time together, you’ll grow more comfortable with me too, won’t you?”
“Um. I didn’t mean it that way, Your Highness…….”
“Oh, right, right! I know that. It’s just that I want to become closer with you.”
The Princess paused briefly, then glanced shyly at the figure beside her before speaking again.
“Once I marry Kaelon, I’ll become part of the Ducal Household anyway. Beatrice is practically like family to us already.”
“Um…….”
“So I want to grow as close to Beatrice as family, if I can.”
Hmm.
‘I hope she wakes up from that dream at least in this lifetime.’
Beatrice had no desire to become close with the Princess. She had no intention of letting her marry Kaelon, Clyde’s older brother.
Of course, the others around them, ignorant of what the Princess had done in the future, were looking at the two of them with satisfied expressions.
Confirming the warmth of the surrounding atmosphere, she recalled the sensation of Clyde’s elbow nudge and forced her voice to sound as affectionate as possible.
“Wow. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“You think so too? That’s a relief!”
A tall man with a sturdy build approached the delighted Princess’s side. It was Kaelon, the eldest son of the Ducal Household.
“Seeing you smile like that, it seems you’re finally at ease. I even practiced what I wanted to tell you multiple times.”
“Kaelon! Don’t embarrass me like that! What will Beatrice think of me?”
Beatrice’s eyes narrowed slightly as she watched the Princess, her face flushed crimson, rebuke Kaelon.
‘But really, she’s uncomfortably familiar. When did we ever become that close?’
Even before the Regression, it wasn’t to this degree, was it? She’d been polite enough, but she hadn’t been this openly affectionate…….
‘No, wait. Was there……?’
Beatrice paused, then slowly retraced her memories. Come to think of it, there had been times when the Princess had looked after her like a younger sister.
‘Hmm……. When was that? I just brushed it off at the time, wondering why she was suddenly acting that way, so I don’t remember it well.’
In any case, it seemed she’d continued that way right up until her wedding with Kaelon.
Beatrice glanced toward the Princess and rubbed her arm gently with her hand. The way she seemed to harbor genuine goodwill toward both the Ducal Household and the Hartwell Earldom felt deeply strange.
‘Hmm. If I keep watching, I won’t be able to manage my expression. Better to think of something else.’
For instance, why the Princess was being so familiar.
‘The answer’s obvious.’
At first, the Princess had wanted to build a good relationship with both houses… or rather, something beyond that—a ‘family-like bond.’ Something must have happened later for her to change course.
‘Wait. If that’s the Princess’s current position…….’
Having thought that far, Beatrice turned her head toward Clyde and blurted out:
“Hey. What do you think?”
It was a statement without a clear subject, but Clyde seemed to grasp her meaning immediately. His eyes narrowed in thought, and then he gave a small nod.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”
“Right? Think ‘that person’ would push for it?”
“Yeah.”
At Clyde’s affirmation, Beatrice’s eyes lit up. They hadn’t done any proper preparation, but no matter how she thought about it, now was the best timing.
The perfect moment to force their marriage on both families!
‘Right now, the Princess who wants to become close with both houses would see it as a windfall—a gourd that rolled straight into her lap. And it’s such a rare occasion, with both sets of parents and even the fiancé all present…….’
She’d think it a chance to catch two rabbits with one stone. Not knowing that this choice would later become the shackle that would bind her when she tried to destroy both houses!
‘Hah, I was pretty clever just now, wasn’t I? Is this what genius feels like?’
Well, I did use the cheat code of Regression.
Thinking that it should be fine if she valued it at the price of her life, Beatrice surveyed the surrounding atmosphere. She was waiting for the right moment to bring it up.
That was when it happened.
The Duchess, who had been looking at the four of them with satisfaction, glanced at Clyde and threw out a jest.
“The Hartwell Earldom and we have grown quite close like family, after all. If only we could welcome Beatrice as true family at this chance… it’s a pity that she was born with such a stubborn face.”
“Oh my, Evelyn. If Beatrice were to become Clyde’s companion, we’d be overjoyed. But Beatrice is so…….”
The two of them made eye contact the moment they heard the Duchess and the Count speak.
‘Now!’
Beatrice and Clyde attached themselves to each other like sugar stuck to the floor, then opened their mouths in unison like merchants promoting a new product.
“Mother, let me make that wish come true for you right now.”
“Mom, stop worrying about unnecessary things. She’s already come around.”
Beatrice naturally accepted her family’s bewildered stares and raised the hand she held clasped with Clyde’s.
“We’re getting married!”
“……What, what did you say?”
“What, I mean, Clyde said he’d die without me, right? That if it wasn’t me, the house would fall apart, society would collapse, the world would crumble—he cried and proposed, so I said yes. Right?”
“……Yeah, that’s right, haha.”
The two of them, having glossed over the truth with agitation and fabrication, drove home their final point.
“So anyway, make us get married. Um… as soon as possible.”
“Considering the minimum preparation time, how about a month from now?”
Even as an awkward silence filled the air around them, Beatrice and Clyde stubbornly stuck to their nonsense.
It was a sudden change of plans, but wasn’t persuading people with logic and reason difficult in any case? And sometimes…….
‘Sometimes shamelessness works better than reason.’
The one with the louder voice always won.

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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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