I Proposed to My Childhood Friend After Regressing - Chapter 61

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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 Returning, I Confessed to My Childhood Friend
Chapter 61
“Actually, I am Beatrice Cr——. What?”
“I have an interest in you, Young Lady.”
He repeated the same words with calm composure and consideration, his eyes steadily holding Beatrice’s gaze.
As if to grant her time to digest the confession she’d just heard.
Beatrice, meanwhile, could only stand there with her mouth agape, blinking like a fool.
A single sentence, neither long nor complicated, simply would not sink in.
‘Interest? In me? Who… Cassian?’
She turned the fractured words over in her mind again and again, her lips moving soundlessly as she did.
“Why…?”
“Ah, are you asking why I’ve come to care for you now, Young Lady?”
Beatrice could offer no reply, only staring at Cassian.
He didn’t seem to expect an answer either, for he continued with a gentle smile.
“It’s somewhat embarrassing to admit, but at first I paid attention to you because I heard you were close to the Young Lady Harwell. However, the more I paid attention, the more I found myself unable to look away from you as a person.”
When you asked for a sparring match and laughed so freely. When you led me in front of the Healing Center. When you concentrated on your duties with such earnest focus.
Cassian confessed that his heart had raced in each of those small moments.
And as a result, he’d grown increasingly eager to be by your side, to know you more deeply.
“I wish I’d had a fine bouquet at least……”
“……”
“I never expected to meet you in a place like this.”
With an awkward smile, he let his eyes drift downward.
Though Beatrice recognized that Cassian was thoughtfully elaborating to give her time, she could not easily open her mouth.
Not because she still didn’t understand, but because she had no idea how or where to begin speaking about this.
‘…Should I reveal who I am first? Or should I answer his confession?’
Either way, having heard his feelings, the choice was not an easy one.
After a brief hesitation, Beatrice released a short breath.
‘All right. Let’s do this.’
No matter how you wrapped it, a rejection always wounded the other person. But if that was the case, at least she had to be quick and clear about it.
Beatrice bit her lower lip firmly and looked up at him with a slightly tense expression.
“First of all, Cassian, I… thank you. For making me feel like I’m someone who brings happiness to others simply by existing.”
“……”
“It feels like I’ve received a reward for doing nothing.”
She scratched her cheek awkwardly with a forced laugh, then continued carefully.
“But that position doesn’t feel like… it’s meant for me.”
“I appreciate your honesty. However, I didn’t offer my feelings with any expectation that you’d accept them, Young Lady. I simply wanted time to linger by your side.”
“I know. You’re a kind person, Cassian. That’s why I’m refusing now.”
Beatrice silently observed him as he waited for her next words.
“I asked to meet because I had something important to tell you today.”
“Yes.”
I wanted to clear up a misunderstanding about myself.”
“A misunderstanding…?”
Watching bewilderment frost Cassian’s eyes, Beatrice gripped her skirts tightly.
“I am not Beatrice Kruger.”
“That is……”
“Nor am I Daliah Dalton.”
“……”
“I am the Harwell Young Lady you’ve mentioned several times, Cassian.”
At Beatrice’s words, Cassian’s eyes widened slightly.
Like someone unsure of how to begin, he touched his lips with one hand.
Beatrice looked at him apologetically and offered a quiet apology.
“I’m sorry. For not telling you sooner. I wasn’t trying to deceive you on purpose. You see, I… came here as a secret envoy, so even Clyde didn’t know at first.”
“So when we first met……”
“Yes, well, Clyde caught on, and he was pressing me about it when you arrived.”
An indecipherable expression crossed Cassian’s face.
He looked flustered, perhaps troubled, and somehow melancholy all at once.
But he quieted himself, as if determined not to show such turbulent emotions.
Beatrice, watching him, gently adjusted her glasses.
In such a situation, wouldn’t it be proper to face him in her true form?
“Actually, these glasses I’m wearing are a concealment tool that hinders recognition, so……”
That was when she had resolved to remove them.
“Please don’t.”
With a short, firm voice, Cassian swiftly closed the distance between them.
Like someone afraid of missing even a moment, he quickly caught her hand just as she was about to take off her glasses.
“Ah……”
“……”
Cassian gently pushed her slightly slipped glasses back up on her face, then whispered softly.
“There are eyes watching from outside.”
“What?”
“My family is quite interested in my romantic life. It seems they couldn’t resist despite my repeated discouragement.”
“Ah……”
As understanding dawned, Beatrice lifted her head and quickly glanced around.
Cassian bowed his head apologetically once more.
“Now that I think of it, I owe you an apology for this as well. On behalf of my people, I ask your forgiveness.”
“Hmm……”
“And I apologize for the belated apology. I should have taken action sooner, but I confess I was selfishly pleased that I happened to meet you.”
Even if it was a manufactured chance.
With his eyes closed, Cassian drew in a deep breath, then released it, slowly opening his eyes once more.
“Now it makes sense. So much is clear now—Lord Dalton’s behavior, your attitude, even your Royal Highness’s aides being as concerned about us as my own family.”
“I’m… sorry again.”
“That is not something you need apologize for.”
Cassian shook his head firmly, as if he meant it sincerely.
“It was simply how circumstances were.”
But then, as if something had occurred to him, he parted his lips with a somewhat rueful smile.
“If anything is to be blamed, it’s only my own fault for coming to care for the same person twice.”
“…Twice?”
It was something too significant to let pass. When Beatrice muttered this aloud, he nodded and spoke.
“You may not remember, but I was your Secret Friend. Do you perhaps recall when there was an exchange at the academy…?”
“An exchange…?”
Beatrice wracked her brain, searching her memory, and a small gasp escaped her lips.
“Ah! You mean that exchange we had with Elheim Academy?”
“You remember. Yes. That was when I first saw you. At the time, I wasn’t yet accustomed to the etiquette of Capital High Society, so I was mildly embarrassed at the welcome ball.”
“Oh……”
“And you, without hesitation, drove away the students who were shaming me and rescued me from my predicament.”
Just as you did in front of the Healing Center.
“I couldn’t take my eyes off you as you led me away, saying I should ignore such petty people, and so I asked if we might exchange letters.”
“……”
“You considered it for a moment, but then, hearing someone call to you from the Balcony, you said you’d receive letters sent to the academy instead—that your home was too chaotic.”
Of course. As the memory grew sharper, Beatrice’s eyes widened.
“And so we became Secret Friends, neither knowing the other’s name. Though I, thanks to that voice calling to you from the Balcony, came to know who you were.”
“Secret Friend……. Oh!”
Suddenly, dark blue stationery from so long ago flickered in her mind. The star sketches that were always drawn upon it.
As recognition bloomed on Beatrice’s face, Cassian smiled gently and finished his thought.
“I wish I’d known sooner. It wasn’t until the letters stopped that I realized, belatedly. That it had been my first love. And then……”
“Beatrice! Beatrice Kruger!”
“……that the one calling to you from the Balcony was Lord Dalton.”
Just as now.

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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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