I Seducing the Black-Hearted Duke Wasn't Me - Chapter 54

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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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Chapter 54
It was a conversation I remembered clearly.
So it was back then.
Before Leon gave his graduation address, when we were waiting together in turn as class representatives.
“No matter how I think about it, me becoming class representative feels a bit off, you know?”
He had refused the role assigned to him all the way through.
“The Second Prince being top of the graduating class at the Academy? It just seems pitiful somehow. Everyone was saying things like that.”
“Pitiful?”
“It’s all pointless anyway. If anything, everyone was curious. They didn’t understand why I was trying so desperately hard.”
…….
“No matter what, I can never rise above the limits set for me. If anything, I’m just treated with suspicion.”
He laughed at himself, saying that the more he worked hard, the more he had to pretend to be foolish.
“No one even bothers to wonder why I’m trying so hard. And yet they make their own assumptions and grow wary of me. It’s almost funny.”
“……Why are you trying so hard, then? Is there some goal you want to achieve?”
I asked because it seemed like he wanted me to ask.
Then he, seated beside me, looked at me and smiled meaningfully.
“It’s not about thirst for power or the desire to surpass my brother. It’s something a bit different from that. And honestly, you’ll probably find it ridiculous.”
“It doesn’t matter. Any goal is valid.”
Tell me then—though I wasn’t genuinely interested, I asked out of a formality, out of some sense that I ought to.
What was the look in his eyes when our gazes met then?
“To look good to someone.”
“I’m sorry?”
“The person I like barely pays me any attention, but it seems they like intelligent people. So that’s it.”
His face, laughing as he said only that, looked remarkably innocent—a rare sight.
He had been working hard all this time, enduring the suspicion and contempt of others, all for the sake of winning the affection of someone he loved.
“Of course, I’m not sure if it will be effective…….”
“I see. I’m not sure it will be effective either, but……still.”
I kept my gaze fixed on the speech in my hands and did my best to think, offering a formal response as expected.
“If I were them, I think I’d be moved by it.”
…….
Searching for the answer he most wanted to hear.
Was he satisfied?
“Really?”
He looked at me with meaningful eyes, then smiled brightly.
“Then that’s enough.”
That’s all that’s needed. Nothing more to wish for. As if all effort had been fully rewarded.
His face as he said this looked much lighter.
Almost free of regret.
‘Wait. If that’s the case…….’
Someone he had known since before Leon’s Academy graduation.
Someone who had shown no interest in Leon Obsidian.
An intelligent person.
And a peculiar sort who showed interest only in intelligent people.
Considering that there was a crucial circumstance preventing marriage…….
“I still remember what you said on the day of the Academy graduation ceremony. You declared in front of all those kids worried about your future that you had no intention of getting married.”
My memories were so fuzzy that when Sylvia said that, I just let it pass.
But what if that graduation ceremony wasn’t mine, but a different year’s?
And what if someone had heard it, and had made a certain choice because of it…….
“Erna. Why are you thinking so deeply? We’ve arrived at the estate. Let’s get down now.”
Leon extended his hand to me, sitting dazed, and spoke.
I grasped his hand firmly without a word.
The vague doubts and maybes and déjà vu all converged, finally taking on a definite form.
“Leon.”
“Hmm?”
“That person you liked—it’s me, isn’t it?”
…….
It might have been self-conscious of me to ask, but I couldn’t help it. As I said, I didn’t have time to puzzle over it alone.
“Did you remember something?”
“Yes.”
“Remember what exactly?”
“On graduation day, Leon went up to the podium to give the opening remarks and completely forgot every word, so he just stammered his way through it and came back down.”
“Damn it. Why did I have to remember something so pointless? This is exactly why I called it my dark history.”
Leon insisted she forget such useless details, piling on demands that made no sense.
His flustered expression was somehow amusing, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
But wait.
‘So my answer was right?’
I needed to hear Leon’s answer to be sure.
I fixed him with a steady gaze, asking when he’d answer the question I’d posed moments before.
He studied me in silence for a long moment.
“If that’s the case,”
“……”
“If it’s always been you from the start,”
“……”
“You wouldn’t push me away if I kissed you right now, would you?”
Thud.
The half-open carriage door swung shut by his hand.
Leon raised one arm, bracing his hand against the wall above my shoulder.
There was his smile—a touch impudent, visible from where I stood.
Ah, this is rather embarrassing.
“Why are you asking such a thing?”
“What?”
“I mean, that’s not—I’m not saying anything odd. We’re betrothed, after all. Between a betrothed couple, why ask such things in detail? That’s what I meant…”
“True enough.”
Leon nodded readily.
“You’re right. Between betrothed lovers, there’s no need for such formality. Besides, this wouldn’t be the first time. Isn’t that so?”
He spoke with a low laugh, drawing slowly closer.
As his breath reached me, tension suddenly flooded through me.
With our eyes locked, he lowered his head gradually.
Uncertain what to do, I finally let my eyes close softly.
At that very moment,
“Your Highness, and General—is something the matter? I mean, you’ve been back for ages, so why are you still in the carriage? Eek!”
Suddenly the carriage door flew open, and Vincent, Leon’s aide, thrust his head in with a grumble.
The moment he took in the scene before him, he let out a strange cry and quickly clapped both hands over half his face.
Like someone who’d witnessed something terrible.
“I—I’m terribly sorry! I’ve committed an unforgivable transgression!”
With that, the door slammed shut once more with a bang.
A moment of silence.
“Sigh.”
Leon exhaled deeply, stopped himself from leaning toward me, and turned to bang his head repeatedly against the carriage wall.
“I never liked that man from the start……”
Well. One capable aide might well be out of a job by day’s end.
* * *
Brandel—a quiet rural village situated far from Jedo.
Primarily known for wheat production, it was imperial land where farming folk had made their homes and livelihoods.
Because of this, everyone had the advantage of never going hungry, though there was one distinct drawback.
Namely, it lay so remote that there was almost nothing to do for entertainment.
Yet these people now had something commanding their utmost attention.
“Wait, so the betrothal is confirmed? Or are they planning to do it?”
“Seems like it’s already done. Look, they say there’s going to be a grand Betrothal Ceremony at the imperial palace at the end of this very month.”
“Tch tch. I knew it. I knew it from the moment that scandal broke in the papers.”
It concerned the betrothal of Bernstein, the Orden duchy’s peerless beauty, and Zaherette, a wealthy marquis who led the trading company Loar.
A man who had belonged to the divine, who was now abandoning his position as High Priest to pursue this betrothal no less.
Though the village received news a week behind Jedo, the residents waited eagerly each time a messenger arrived, anticipating the latest reports.
According to the hot-off-the-press week-old newspaper that had just arrived, Bernstein and Zaherette had already held their Betrothal Ceremony!
The residents gathered in the village’s only tavern buzzed excitedly, chattering away about the news.
None of them noticed when someone pushed open the shabby shop door and stepped inside.
“Pardon me for intruding.”
“Oh? A customer? Wait, I don’t know this face. Did you come from another region?”
The villagers immediately turned their attention to the unexpected stranger.
‘Who is that? Do I know her? Have I ever seen that woman before?’
‘No, I’ve never seen her before. Was there ever anyone like that in our village?’
As if aware of their stares, the visitor pulled the hood of her tattered robe down low over her head.
“I’m… terribly sorry, but could I trouble you for just a glass of water? I haven’t been able to eat anything for several days now……”
“Oh my dear girl, you look like you’ve had quite an ordeal. Come here and sit for a moment. Let me bring you something to eat.”
The shop owner, seeing the visitor’s haggard appearance — as though she’d wandered lost in the mountains for days on end — brought out a large loaf of bread and a bowl of steaming thin soup.
“Go on, eat up. Don’t worry about payment. But tell me, where did you come from? I don’t recognize your face from around these parts.”
“Ah, well……”
The mysterious woman hesitated, then answered carefully.
“The truth is… I’m not entirely sure myself.”
“What? You don’t know?”
The startled owner pressed her further, and the woman spoke with evident caution.
“When I opened my eyes, I was lying collapsed beneath a tree.”

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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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