I Proposed to My Childhood Friend After Regressing - Chapter 84

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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 84
We’d alighted from the carriage unexpectedly on the way home, but it wasn’t an unfamiliar street.
This was the street the two of us used to frequent as casually as breathing when we attended the Academy.
Though not just the two of us—we’d come with friends as well.
After slipping easily past the cluster of houses, we discovered a familiar shop not long after.
Above the storefront, painted in bright red and yellow, hung a wooden sign bearing a drawing of an enormous hot dog.
“Wow, it really hasn’t changed a bit!”
“It’s a famous spot among Academy students, after all.”
Even in the late hour, the shop’s windows still glowed warmly, and a handful of uniformed students stood outside laughing as they ate their late-night snacks.
Beatrice, who had been giddy with nostalgia moments before, suddenly froze.
She’d begun to worry whether the clothes she was wearing would look too out of place.
‘I mean, I’m not dressed as elaborately as if I were heading to a ball, but…’
Still, she’d made more of an effort than she usually did when strolling through the city on ordinary days.
Clyde, noticing her hesitation, took her hand and pulled her forward, speaking with casual ease.
“Why worry? You’ll stand out no matter what you’re wearing if you’re with me anyway.”
“Even so…”
“They’ll just think we came out for a night date. Which is true, isn’t it?”
“What—what are you talking about…!”
“It is true. We’re a married couple, after all.”
At his casual reply, Beatrice clenched her fist and swung it at him lightly.
It was clearly a deliberate misinterpretation—he was toying with her.
He grinned mischievously at her flushed face, then adjusted his grip on her hand and moved forward.
Once Beatrice and Clyde reached the shop, he ordered with familiar ease.
“One Chili Cheese Hot Dog and one Egg Potato Hot Dog, please.”
“Sure, coming right… Oh? Wait, who’s this? Aren’t you the legendary friend everyone still talks about from the Academy?”
“Good to see you again, sir.”
“My days are all the same! But look, your friend here hasn’t changed either! Are you two still as close as ever?”
“We’re married now, actually.”
“Married? I knew it! You kept saying no, but I knew it! And now that you’ve graduated, I suppose you’re using your real names again. Should I start using more formal speech?”
As the Shop Owner pondered this seriously, Clyde waved his hand dismissively.
“Once a student, always a student. There’s no need to worry about that. We just… came back to look around the place where we graduated, with my wife. It’s been a while.”
“Well then, have some of our hot dogs while you’re at it?”
He gestured to the students gathered together behind him and grinned widely.
“Exactly. It’s a specialty, after all. Still.”
“Ha ha ha! Flattering me after all this time—I’m in a good mood. Take these as a wedding gift!”
With a hearty laugh, the Shop Owner handed over the freshly made hot dogs and an accompanying drink.
Taking the food from him, Beatrice shook the Apple Flavored Drink gratefully.
In the meantime, a short exclamation burst out from among the students who’d been glancing over at us.
“Whoa, no way—is that actually Clyde Dalton?!”
“What? Why? That handsome guy? Who is he??”
“You don’t know? He’s the Academy senior who’s still famous for his insane looks! I heard he got married, but seeing it with my own eyes… He must have decided to stay at the academy even during break.”
Catching what they’d said, Clyde tilted his head slightly.
“Hear that, Beatrice?”
“Quiet, and hurry up!”
Beatrice deliberately seized Clyde’s arm as he raised the corners of his mouth in a smirk, and pulled him hastily toward the bench.
The two of them sat side by side on the bench, unwrapped their food, and took a bite of their hot dogs simultaneously.
“…”
“…”
A brief silence fell between Beatrice and Clyde.
As Beatrice took another bite, thinking it tasted good after so long,
Clyde, who’d been staring absently into the distance, suddenly spoke.
“This place really hasn’t changed. Right?”
“…Are you copying what I just said?”
“No, it’s just… I’m suddenly thinking it was a good call, bringing you here from the carriage. I wanted to come ever since you asked the question.”
At Beatrice’s puzzled gaze, Clyde smiled and gave his drink a slight shake.
“It’s kind of ridiculous and childish, though.”
“…Has anything you’ve ever said not been childish?”
At her answer, which suggested she had no idea what he meant, he gave her a light nudge with his elbow and spoke.
“You asked me, back then: if everything ends, is there something you want to do?”
“Oh, um, yes…”
“I want to become like my brother.”
Beatrice hadn’t expected this conversation to resurface, nor had she anticipated such an answer.
She stopped mid-chew and stared at him intently.
“To put it more precisely, I just want to be recognized purely as myself. Excluding looks, family—everything but me.”
The way Kaelon Dalton was recognized by people for his Swordsmanship alone, setting everything else aside.
“I excel in every ability, but it’s precisely because my looks excel most that no matter what I do, only that remains.”
Clyde glanced back at the students he’d overheard moments before, as if reminding himself of what he’d heard.
Though his tone was light, Beatrice understood what he meant immediately.
It was true that his appearance often overshadowed his other talents.
He possessed considerable Swordsmanship skill, shrewd strategy, and eloquent speech besides—yet people so often forgot all of it, remembering only his face.
Everything else seemed to follow as mere afterthought.
Beatrice was listening to his words with a somewhat earnest expression
when he reached out and, as if by habit, brushed away an egg crumb from her lips. With a playful grin, he added,
“Besides, I’m jealous.”
“Huh?”
“That you’re thinking of my brother.”
Only then did Beatrice realize what he was saying—and that she’d misinterpreted his words back in the carriage.
Though he was clearly teasing, her ears suddenly burned hot.
Desperately hoping the dark night would hide her flushed face, Beatrice reacted more strongly than she meant to.
“Ugh, seriously, every chance you get…! If you keep calling for Kaelon like that, he really might show up.”
It was something she’d tossed out just to pick on him in return—purely for the sake of it.
Or so it should have been…
“Elody!”
“…What?”
A familiar voice rang out from somewhere far away—a voice that ought not to be audible from here.
For a moment wondering if she was hearing things, Beatrice looked at Clyde and confirmed he’d heard it too.
His gaze had turned toward her at exactly the same moment.
“If you can hear me, answer! Elody!”
At the familiar voice calling out again, both of them turned their heads in unison.
And there, rushing toward them, was Kaelon Dalton—far more disheveled than usual.
“Brother?”
“Kaelon!”
“…Hah, haah. Clyde? Beatrice?”
Kaelon called out to them both, a rare look of panic on his face, then quickly waved them off as he spoke urgently.
“Did either of you happen to see Elody? Or a tall man with brown hair?”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
Even as he spoke to them, his gaze continued to sweep across their surroundings.
Seeing him stripped of his usual composure and calm, Clyde seized him earnestly and asked,
“What’s wrong?”
“Elody…”
Breathing heavily as though something had gone terribly wrong, he gripped Clyde’s shoulder and spoke the rest of his words in a rush.
“Elody was kidnapped. A little while ago. By a man who was grasping at her clothes, asking her to reconsider the marriage.”

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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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