I Proposed to My Childhood Friend After Regressing - Chapter 85

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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 Proposed to My Childhood Friend
Chapter 85
The abduction of a mysterious man and Princess Elodie.
Beatrice hastily wrapped up the hot dog she’d been eating, left it on the bench, and sprang to her feet.
“That person who asked you to reconsider the marriage—could he be someone you met when you went out to prepare for the wedding not long ago?”
“Beatrice, how could you possibly…. No, wait. Do you know something? Some clue…?”
“Um….”
While Beatrice hesitated, Kaelyun closed the distance in a long stride.
His intensity, so unlike his usual manner, made her falter for an instant.
Clyde, reading her discomfort from beside her, naturally stepped in front of her.
“Brother.”
“…….”
At Clyde’s brief word, Kaelyun stopped short. Coming to his senses, he pressed a hand to his head and exhaled slowly.
“It happened in an instant. Elodie wanted to be alone, so we went to the Fountain, where we often visit. Then suddenly we heard a strange noise from across the way. The moment I turned to see what was happening…….”
“That’s when someone vanished with the Princess.”
“Yes. There’s only one path leading away from the Fountain, so I’ve been tracking backward down the same route we came.”
The two exchanged a silent glance.
According to the clues they’d pieced together earlier with Valois—or Turner, as he was called—the abduction itself was likely a deliberate act.
If they staged something this extreme beforehand, then when he was revealed as the “real culprit” at the wedding, people would accept it readily enough.
‘To multiply the eyes watching, he must have gone down this path to meet up with his escort, and then they’ll be found.’
And after the rescue, he’d urge everyone not to make a fuss before such an auspicious occasion.
She could see it all without witnessing or living through it.
The problem was…….
‘How am I supposed to handle this?’
It was only moments ago that she’d wrestled with the relationship between Kaelyun and Elodie.
For a moment of decision to arrive so suddenly like this. Beatrice felt like tearing her hair out.
“I can’t waste time here. I’ll rejoin the escort that came with us first, then continue searching for traces of Elodie.”
“I…….”
“I’m asking you both. Beatrice, Clyde. I want you to help find Elodie.”
Having spoken, Kaelyun passed the two of them quickly, as though he couldn’t afford to lose another moment.
Beatrice grabbed him without thinking, sensing she couldn’t let this slip away, and cried out.
“I—I know!”
“You know? Know what?”
“So, um….”
“……I think I know where the Princess is.”
Clyde answered for Beatrice, released a light sigh, and looked at Kaelyun—more precisely, at the bewildered expression that had crossed his face.
Before Kaelyun could part his lips, Clyde spoke first.
“Before that, let me ask you one thing, brother.”
“…….”
“What if the reality you’re about to face turns out different from what you’ve imagined? What if everything you knew was a lie?”
“What are you even talking about?”
Confusion, worry, and unease blended sharp in his response. He shook Clyde off and moved forward again.
“This is no time for ridiculous jokes. If something happens to Elodie……!”
“The Princess won’t be harmed. At least, not in the way you’re imagining.”
“……What?”
Rather than explain what he’d just said, Clyde quickly deduced where the Princess was likely to be.
“You said they vanished at the Fountain, right? There’s only one path leading from the Fountain. With perhaps six guards at most, the search area wouldn’t be very large.”
“Ah, that’s true! If six people could search through an area and find them, then…. Couldn’t it be somewhere in the Academy’s grounds?”
“Right. The Residential and Commercial Grounds where students stay have strict security, so to hide, it’d have to be the Ecological Grounds. And since they’d need to leave a trail to be tracked, they might have dropped an Accessory or something.”
The two exchanged looks at Kaelyun as their suppositions aligned.
“We’re going to find Princess Elodie now. But remember what I said just now, brother.”
That everything you’ve known might be a lie.
Clyde held Kaelyun’s gaze steadily—his brow deeply furrowed—and emphasized once more before turning to Beatrice.
“Let’s split up here. I’m going straight to the Ecological Grounds with brother. You…… Brother, who came as your escort today?”
“……Chezar and Ivan.”
“Oh, I know them! Never mind. I understand what you mean. You two stay well hidden.”
Without a word needed, Beatrice understood Clyde’s intent and pushed the two men forward with a nod.
When she pushed Kaelyun, she gave his back an encouraging little pat.
* * *
The Academy that Beatrice and Clyde attended boasted vast grounds, being the empire’s most renowned educational institution.
Of course, it hadn’t always been this vast.
The Academy’s outstanding scholarly achievements gradually drew talented individuals, and with them came steady expansion.
Through cycles of construction and relocation, buildings once used but now abandoned had naturally appeared throughout the grounds.
Such places often became the setting for Academy ghost stories, and havens for young lovers’ trysts.
‘And students trying to slip out to the Commercial District past Curfew had used them as secret passages.’
Clyde, who had served in the Student Council under Crown Prince Crowell back then, had plenty of experience patrolling such students.
Because of that, even now after all this time, he could vaguely recall these paths.
There were only two ways to sneak from the Commercial District into the Academy grounds—specifically the Ecological Grounds.
‘One is the direction Beatrice and the escort will come from, and the other is here.’
Either way, it was a place scarcely known to students.
The Ecological Grounds itself had been developed by professors in biology and natural studies to create various experimental populations for their research, and student access was heavily restricted due to danger.
Besides, there was no reason for students to seek out the harsh Ecological Grounds when they had the broad, pleasant Park Grounds available.
“If I follow this narrow path, there should be a low fence on the left somewhere….”
“…….”
“Ah, there it is.”
Having found the passage he sought, Clyde called to him calmly before climbing the fence.
“Brother.”
“…….”
“In the Ecological Grounds close to the Commercial District, there’s only one unmanaged building: the Abandoned Shed. If Beatrice and I are right, the Princess should be safe there.”
“…….”
“……Do you remember what Beatrice said just before? About staying well hidden?”
Though he didn’t speak, Kaelyun’s gaze, now deep and sunken, turned toward Clyde.
Clyde met his brother’s eyes and delivered the words calmly, with cruel precision.
“We’re not going to rescue the Princess.”
Only to observe from behind the building what unfolds.
Kaelyun, who had said nothing the entire way here, spoke for the first time.
His voice, barely contained, broke slightly as it sounded low through the quiet forest path.
“……Clyde, why are you doing this far? What do you know? What are you thinking?”
Clyde did not answer immediately. Instead, he lowered his gaze for a moment, then looked at him again.
At first, what Beatrice and he had said would have made no sense. Then there was confusion.
‘He still hasn’t grasped the full picture.’
But Kaelyun Dalton, his brother and the pride of the Duke’s house, was not so dull that he couldn’t grasp some thread in a situation like this.
“This isn’t how I meant to tell you.”
It was something he would have had to say eventually, and whenever it came, it would have been shocking.
Pretending not to notice Kaelyun’s fists clenched with strain, Clyde turned his gaze toward the distant Abandoned Shed.
It was there.

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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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