I Proposed to My Childhood Friend After Regressing - Chapter 34

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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 My Return, I Proposed to My Childhood Friend
Chapter 34
The moment Beatrice heard Claude’s answer, she crossed the room without hesitation.
She reached the desk in one swift stride and swept the papers piled high to the side with both hands before bracing herself against the desktop.
Then, rising onto her toes, she leaned her upper body toward the chair where he sat.
“What’s the real reason you keep me locked away somewhere safe, preventing me from leaving?”
“Because I’m afraid you’ll get hurt?”
“No. It’s because you can’t bear the uncertainty of my condition.”
The unknown bred fear—that was simply how it worked.
“After all, the reason the Dauner Marquessate became a ‘cursed place’ in the past was precisely because no one understood why people were vanishing.”
“So?”
“Well, what if there were a way to check whether I’m safe or in danger, whenever you wanted?”
Beatrice studied Claude’s expression with eager anticipation in her eyes.
His face, which had seemed composed as he weighed his answer, began to shift almost imperceptibly.
A faint tremor in his eyelashes and the repeated narrowing and widening of his brow betrayed a hint of disbelief.
“……Is that even possible?”
“Oh, so you’re not dismissing it as pointless?”
At Claude’s brief question, Beatrice’s smile deepened.
“I can make it possible.”
As though sharing a secret, she leaned in a fraction closer and opened the hand she’d been holding clenched.
“Behold!”
“……A ring?”
In Beatrice’s palm lay a pair of silver rings. She plucked one set with a natural stone and dangled it lightly before him.
“Remember those novelty rings that were all the rage when we were children? You know—the ones that supposedly revealed your true feelings.”
“Oh, those…….”
Claude nodded as if recalling them.
The jewelry was said to change color when you thought of someone you liked—turning pink if you truly loved them, blue if you didn’t.
“They were practically essential. It was harder to find a noble child without one than with.”
“Exactly. I was so disappointed later when Father explained the stone’s color actually changed with body temperature. Anyway!”
Beatrice rattled through her introduction briskly, tilting her head as she continued.
“These rings mimic that mechanism—they take readings from heartbeat and magical flow and convert the wearer’s condition into specific signals that transmit to the other ring.”
“So this ring tells me whether you’re safe or not?”
“Right. When I’m safe, it stays this clear blue, but if I’m in danger, it’ll turn red. That way you can sense any abnormality faster than anyone else possibly could!”
Beatrice paused to catch her breath, then gasped as though she’d nearly forgotten something crucial.
“Oh, and you can also track my location with these!”
“Location too?”
“Not exact coordinates—just a general direction. Since maintaining connection to the wearer’s condition requires continuous magical flow, tracking is really just a bonus feature that came with it!”
She shrugged as if it were nothing, holding the rings closer to show him.
A tiny star marking inside the stone indicated direction.
“How’s that? Does it make sense?”
“More or less. It’s not that complicated, really.”
“Yeah?”
Beatrice answered brightly and suddenly seized his hand. With natural ease, she slipped the ring onto his finger.
“This is…….”
“A gift!”
Her eyes glinted with satisfaction as she gazed up at him.
“Now you and I can always know where the other is, and whether we’re in danger. Right away.”
“…….”
“How’s that? Doesn’t this ease your anxiety a bit?”
“You…….”
Claude’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Words rose to his throat—something about how such a thing could attract considerable interest among the nobility—but he chose not to speak them aloud.
If the ring truly revealed Beatrice’s safety, then the fewer people who knew of it, the better.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s anticlimactic.”
Claude shook his head lightly, then rubbed the ring she’d slipped onto him and opened his mouth.
“Beatrice.”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
Beatrice’s pale green eyes widened slightly. She hadn’t expected such a clean, straightforward expression of gratitude from him.
“Um, er…….”
Caught off guard, Beatrice’s eyes darted quickly about.
Truth be told, the ring was meant as a sort of bribe—she’d meant to use it as leverage to get him to tell her about Valois.
“……Beatrice?”
“Y-yes?”
“…….”
Sensing something off in her manner, Claude tilted his head slightly and raised one eyebrow.
Under that silent pressure to confess, Beatrice clicked her tongue and proceeded to lay out the truth.
About how the suspicious figure she’d encountered was actually Valois, about her strange behavior, and…….
“So, the thing is—I’m thinking of taking up Cassian’s offer and then poking around among the monks doing charitable healing work. While I’m at it, I’ll investigate that illness Her Majesty asked me about.”
“…….”
She confessed even her plans for what lay ahead.
Having said all that, Beatrice slid her eyes sideways, gauging Claude’s expression.
But contrary to her worries, Claude appeared remarkably composed.
Seeing her eyes widen, he exhaled softly and lightly tapped the bridge of her nose with one finger.
“Stop worrying. I didn’t tell you to bare your soul to appease my concerns.”
“……That’s not called worrying—it’s called caring, you fool.”
“Is that so?”
Just as Beatrice felt a surge of emotion at the insufferable smile spreading across his face, Claude simply nodded and spoke first.
“Then do it.”
“Huh?”
“Do as you wish.”
……What did he just say?
For a moment, Beatrice thought she’d misheard.
Fortunately, before she could dig her finger in her ear and ask again, Claude elaborated.
“After hearing what you said, I’ve been thinking about a lot of things.”
“Huh?”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that a greenhouse remains a greenhouse no matter how hard you try.”
Claude repeated her own words back to her and looked at her steadily.
“I still don’t know what you went through in the past. How you ended up disappearing even though we were together in my house, why you remained in Valois’s hands looking the way you did.”
“…….”
“But could you be any different from me in that regard?”
Whatever you endured must have been a living hell as well.
A bitter smile crossed his face, and he continued slowly.
“So since you’ve said ‘it can’t be that way,’ I won’t insist on my own thoughts alone. Your claim that there’s distortion—that’s valid too.”
Claude’s gaze swept deliberately across her face.
“You’re Lia Kruger, not Beatrice Hartwell, are you?”
“That’s……right?”
“Then it should be fine. Valois was never one to take much notice of others anyway.”
He tapped the frame of the glasses lightly, adding a second thought.
“These glasses belong to Her Majesty, you said. That being the case, you should be assured of at least minimal protection regardless of what you do. And you have this ring I’m wearing now.”
Claude turned the ring on his finger absently, as if pleased with it.
“But you have to promise me something in return.”
“……What?”
“Drop that careless thinking—the notion that a few people might get hurt while solving a case, the way they did when you destroyed Orharkoon. Abandon that habit of throwing yourself into danger on purpose.”
“Hey, when did I ever…….”
“Be honest with yourself, Beatrice.”
At Claude’s words, Beatrice’s lips sealed shut.
Rolling her eyes, her mouth working soundlessly, she finally clicked her tongue and hooked her pinky finger around his.
“Fine. I promise. I’ll be careful.”
“Good.”
The identical rings on their linked fingers caught the light, gleaming.
As if that light itself were proof of their promise.

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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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