I Proposed to My Childhood Friend After Regressing - Chapter 55

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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 Regression, I Confessed to My Childhood Friend
Chapter 55
Beatrice shrugged casually at the all-too-obvious conclusion.
“Well, if you’re going to be around a popular person, you have to get used to it. I think I mentioned something like this before—I’m rather practiced at these sorts of things.”
Cassian, pausing briefly to recall when she’d said such a thing, let out a soft exclamation and opened his mouth.
“Now that you mention it, I suppose that’s true.”
He slowed his pace slightly, leaned toward Beatrice, and whispered softly.
“Lord Clyde is among the most sought-after people in the entire empire. It must have been difficult for you at times, being his sister and having to be around him.”
A startled gasp escaped her.
The sudden closeness made Beatrice stumble, her feet nearly giving way beneath her. Fortunately, she didn’t fall.
“Young Miss, are you all right?”
The moment he noticed her lose her balance, Cassian’s hand shot out to catch her.
In doing so, the small box and items he’d been holding tumbled to the ground with a soft clatter.
“Oh…”
Nearly having fallen, Beatrice looked up at him with wide eyes.
Cassian, too, seemed surprised—he clearly hadn’t expected her reaction to be so pronounced.
“I’m… so sorry. I was trying to speak quietly so others wouldn’t hear, and—”
“No, it wasn’t because of you! I just caught my foot and stumbled.”
Beatrice’s eyes rolled slightly with embarrassment as she pointed at the floor with a small smile.
“Should I… pick these up?”
“Yes, let’s.”
As she crouched down to gather the scattered items, she remembered to ask Cassian a question.
“So these are the things you said you’d give me?”
“Ah, yes. Since you’ve been unable to come to the Medical Center due to your research activities, she asked me to deliver them. She said they were a gift of gratitude.”
A swell of embarrassment washed over Beatrice as she placed items into the box Cassian was holding.
She felt the heat creep up her neck once more.
‘Good grief, how many times is this now?’
Even though she found it crude, the involuntary blush was unavoidable, so Beatrice let out a small, nervous cough.
“Um, ahem! Just tell her I received them gratefully and… that I’m very appreciative…”
“Of course, I will.”
Just as Beatrice reached out to accept the box from Cassian’s hands, he pulled it slightly back.
Confused, she looked up—and found Cassian closing his pale gray eyes with a smile as he made a playful request.
“In exchange for delivering your regards, might I ask for a small token of appreciation?”
“A… token?”
Beatrice parroted back his words, caught completely off guard by the jest.
A shadow fell across them just as a familiar woody bergamot scent brushed her nostrils.
“Forgive me. You two looked so delighted—I couldn’t help myself.”
“Clyde?”
A smile crossed his face—the kind so effortlessly captivating it could strike straight through someone’s defenses.
Even Beatrice, long since jaded by his appearance, found her mouth falling open at the sheer magnetism of it.
With deliberate charm, he took her items and neatly severed the conversation between the two.
“I must say, though, it seems rather petty to demand payment for such a trivial matter, doesn’t it?”
“Ah, Lord Clyde. It’s been quite a while.”
His tone toward Clyde was subtly different from the one he’d used with her.
There was a guardedness in it that made Beatrice turn her head again, though by then Clyde’s frame had already blocked her view.
“Yes, it seems I’m meeting you properly for the first time with clear eyes. I hear you’ve been taking good care of Miss Cruger.”
“It was simply my duty.”
“I see. If that’s all it amounts to, wouldn’t it be wiser to keep your distance while all eyes are upon you? For Miss Cruger’s sake, naturally.”
“Perhaps.”
“Who knows? Someone might misinterpret your relationship the same way you misinterpreted mine with Miss Cruger.”
…
“Or perhaps you’re hoping for exactly that?”
There was an edge to his words—a barb carefully concealed.
It was a tone Beatrice rarely heard from Clyde, so she raised an eyebrow and looked at him more closely.
Clyde seemed remarkably serious as he regarded his counterpart.
“Listen—”
Beatrice started to call out to Clyde in her usual manner, then caught herself and let out another nervous cough instead.
“Ahem, ahem! Oh, my goodness, my leg…”
“Miss Cruger?”
“…Ria?”
The moment she spoke, both pairs of eyes snapped toward her, and Beatrice found herself rolling her eyes.
She’d only been pretending to be in pain to change the mood—why was this happening?
‘Cassian I can understand, but why is Clyde acting like that? And what’s with “Ria”?’
Glancing at them both with genuine bewilderment, Beatrice scrambled to her feet.
She ignored both of the hands extended toward her.
With her pale green eyes darting between them, she adjusted her glasses and shook her head gently.
“Anyone watching would think you two were having a lovers’ quarrel.”
“That’s not what—”
“Never mind that! My medicine extraction time is running out, so I’d better get back to the Annex. You two do whatever it is you do. I’ll be going!”
She trailed off vaguely and turned her back on both men without hesitation.
In situations like this, a swift retreat was the best medicine—because usually, the person caught in the middle was the one who bled first.
‘Once I finish the extraction, maybe I’ll visit Sharon and pick up some dessert on the way.’
* * *
As Beatrice departed for the Annex Building and the brief standoff between the two men fizzled into nothing,
Behind the corridor that lay some distance from the garden, those who had been watching in secret all heaved simultaneous sighs.
“Oh no…”
The Marquis Household’s young gardener murmured ruefully.
“The weather’s been so nice, and I specifically picked out the loveliest, freshest flowers… Why did he have to show up right then?”
“Tell me about it.”
One of the Marquis Household servants beside him clicked his tongue in frustration.
“I’ve never seen Young Master Cassian be so openly affectionate before.”
“Did you see it? How he caught her right away when she nearly fell?”
“And he didn’t let go even after that. Honestly, I thought—”
A maid who’d been crouching down with them turned to meet their eyes, her face flushed with excitement.
“I thought he was going to propose.”
“You too? Me as well. The lord’s been humming to himself lately, and at this rate, won’t we have a new mistress of the house soon?”
“I’m all for it!”
“Same here.”
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the corridor, the Crown Prince’s Faction’s attendants and ladies-in-waiting were engaged in a grave discussion.
“This is… a serious problem.”
One of the attendants spoke up, his face pale.
“I think our suspicions might actually be correct.”
“You mean Lord Cassian truly has feelings for Miss Beatrice?”
“There’s no other way to interpret what we just saw!”
A young lady-in-waiting furrowed her brow anxiously.
“Didn’t you see that shameless act… no, that unnecessary kindness just now?”
“Well, from Lord Cassian’s perspective, it’s certainly possible. The other side thinks she’s the Duke’s daughter, Dahlia, doesn’t he? And her current identity is Ria Cruger, not Beatrice Hartwell anyway.”
“That’s true, but… what husband would stand by while another man flirts openly with his wife?”
Especially one known throughout the imperial court and all of society to be devoted to his wife!
Silence fell among the attendants.
Before long, someone spoke up in an extremely grave tone.
“Shouldn’t we stop this?”
“Pardon?”
“Or else, we should leave the Marquis Household as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, that’s brilliant. As long as we can’t reveal our identities—secret envoys sent by the Empress—that’s probably the best course of action!”
While these supposedly elite minds plotted their interference strategy…
“Ah, it’s such a shame. If only that moment had lasted a bit longer, the mood would have been perfect.”
“But won’t the Young Miss be leaving soon? You said she wasn’t going to take on the full scope of the follow-up research…”
“Then shouldn’t we try to drag things out somehow? In the meantime, we could keep the two of them together as much as possible!”
The Marquis Household’s own people had devised their own plan as well.
It was, in essence, Operation: Support Young Master Cassian’s Doomed Love.

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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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