I Won’t Pick Up The T*ash I Threw Away Again - Chapter 205

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#205

Each day felt dreamy and wonderful, like walking on clouds. It was all thanks to Kalian.

Just being with him made me smile and warmed my heart. I was even happier than when I had left Tebesa County for the Williot Duchy.

While I was immersed in such happiness, the day for the Stella Kingdom’s envoy to depart was suddenly just one day away.

That meant Fillen would be leaving soon too.

‘Finally, he’s going.’

Now I can finally cut off this tiresome ill-fated connection.

It felt like years of pent-up frustration were finally being released.

Last winter, I had been frantically busy with New Year’s preparations and various other tasks, but now most things were settled and I had time to catch my breath. I no longer had to work weekends.

Yet the reason I came to the Imperial Palace on weekends was to go on dates with Kalian.

Today’s date location was the lake in the Eastern Forest. The weather had become quite warm, so we came out for a leisurely boat ride.

“It’s fine that you two are going boating. That’s all well and good.”

Baron Delrond, sitting in the corner of the ferry, said with a deeply furrowed brow.

“Why did you call me along? You two could have just had an intimate date by yourselves.”

“Then other people would think it strange.”

Kalian answered as if asking why he would question something so obvious.

“Ber, you need to be here so other people will think the Emperor just came out to play with his aide.”

“…How ridiculous.”

Baron Delrond pouted and muttered quietly. Kalian, sitting far away, didn’t seem to hear those words, but I heard them clearly.

Though Baron Delrond and Kalian were close, it was still somewhat rude language to use toward the Emperor.

When I looked at him in surprise, Baron Delrond grinned mischievously and brought his index finger to his lips.

“What are you doing?”

Kalian’s hand suddenly interjected.

“Are you cheating on me right in front of your lover? How bold of you.”

Baron Delrond replied as if it were absurd.

“Cheating? We were just having a brief private conversation.”

A private conversation! That makes it look even stranger!

“A private conversation?”

Sure enough, Kalian’s eyebrow tilted at an angle.

“No, it’s not like that, Your Majesty.”

Worried that Kalian might get the wrong idea, I hurriedly made excuses.

Kalian, who had been staring at me intently, burst into laughter.

“Puhaha.”

Baron Delrond did the same.

Why is everyone suddenly laughing?

I looked back and forth between Kalian and Baron Delrond in bewilderment.

Baron Delrond wiped the tears from his eyes and waved his hand dismissively.

“I’ve always felt this way, but Count Aster is really innocent.”

“Huh?”

“That’s Leilah’s charm. That’s why I fell for her too.”

Ah, they’re teasing me.

Realizing this belatedly, I glared at Kalian.

Kalian smiled and took my hand. Because of the boat’s railing, no one outside could see us holding hands.

“Are you angry?”

“…A little. Please stop teasing me.”

“Alright. I won’t do it anymore.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I won’t do anything you dislike.”

“Ugh, it’s gone beyond goosebumps flying around to full chickens running about.”

Baron Delrond pouted and grabbed the oars.

“Stop being so sickeningly sweet and let’s head back now.”

“I’d like to stay a bit longer.”

“Well, I don’t want to.”

Baron Delrond stubbornly steered the boat toward the lakeside.

Kalian sighed deeply and let go of my hand.

“Good grief, secret dating is difficult when your aide won’t cooperate.”

“It can’t be helped. We can’t make Baron Delrond suffer because of our selfishness.”

“…When you put it like that, it makes me feel guilty, Count Aster.”

Baron Delrond muttered complainingly from behind.

Kalian chuckled softly.

“If you feel guilty, then stay with us.”

“I don’t want to do that though.”

“Then let’s just go to the Royal Garden together.”

The Royal Garden was a perfect place for secret dates since no one except royalty could enter.

“You should have just gone to the Royal Garden from the start.”

“I’ve been there too much and gotten tired of it. Right, Leilah?”

“Yes, well…”

But I liked it there.

When I couldn’t bring myself to answer that way and just mumbled vaguely, Kalian raised one eyebrow.

“You’re lying again.”

Ah, I got caught.

Well, since he knows my habits when I lie, there’s no point in lying anyway.

“You seem to like the Royal Garden?”

“Yes. There are many flowers I like there.”

“Flowers you like? What kind?”

“A flower called Cheryna.”

“…!”

Kalian’s eyes widened. Baron Delrond also looked surprised.

“What’s wrong?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

Kalian smiled as if he had never been surprised and said,

“Then shall we go see the Cheryna flowers you like so much.”

* * *

“Is there no more luggage you need to pack, Your Excellency?”

At the butler’s question, Fillen shook his head.

He didn’t shake his head because he truly had no more luggage to pack. He did so because it didn’t matter either way.

Luggage wasn’t important to him right now. What mattered was finding a way to take Leilah to Casiwood.

‘What should I do?’

How could he make Leilah follow him?

Since that day, he had thought about it until his head ached, but no clear solution came to mind.

He should have gotten some leverage on her.

If he had, Leilah wouldn’t have been so arrogant.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it…”

Thinking of Leilah made him angry and irritated. Fillen cursed quietly and pounded the sofa’s armrest.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but no matter how much he thought about it, there was only one answer.

‘Let’s meet first.’

No answer would come from just sitting here and worrying about it.

Let me meet Leilah and plead with her desperately once more.

I’ll even threaten her that I’ll die if she doesn’t come with me.

“Prepare the carriage.”

Despite having confirmed with his own eyes that Leilah’s heart had completely left him.

Unable to accept that fact, Fillen decided to go meet Leilah.

I should buy something Leilah likes on the way.

…But what does Leilah like?

I knew she disliked chocolate cake.

No, maybe she doesn’t dislike it. She was jealous when I gave chocolate cake to Sisly before.

‘What should I give as a gift?’

Jewelry? Yes, let’s give her jewelry.

All women love jewelry, so Leilah will like it too.

On his way to Leilah’s mansion, Fillen stopped by a jewelry store and bought a necklace with a large ruby.

“The Countess has gone to work.”

He went to her mansion with a joyful heart, imagining Leilah’s delighted reaction to seeing the necklace, but unfortunately she was absent.

Fillen, whose spirits instantly deflated, let out a sigh.

But today is the weekend and she went to work?

“Did she really go to work?”

Fillen asked incredulously, unable to believe it. The maid, intimidated by his intensity, nodded with a slightly frightened expression.

“She really went to work. She’s so busy that she often works overtime, all-nighters, and even weekends.”

Ha, overtime and all-nighters. And weekend work on top of that?

‘He said he liked Leilah, but that was nonsense.’

There’s no way he would give someone he likes that much work.

Moreover, this mansion where Leilah lives.

The security was lax and it was too small. It wasn’t a house fit for a countess.

‘If I were the emperor, I wouldn’t have done this.’

I would have cherished her preciously, letting her live in a good house and eat only good things.

I should tell Leilah that fact too.

Fillen chuckled and got into the carriage.

“To the Imperial Palace.”

As soon as Fillen arrived at the Imperial Palace, he headed to the inner palace where Leilah was.

But Leilah wasn’t here either.

“His Majesty has gone on an outing with his aides.”

“An outing?”

Not work, but simply an outing?

In other words, he was using his imperial position to make his aides do whatever he pleased.

‘Why on earth does Leilah want to work under such a man?’

Fillen simply couldn’t understand Leilah.

“Where did His Majesty go?”

“I’m sorry, but we cannot disclose His Majesty’s location for security reasons.”

“Who do you think maintains that security?”

Fillen asked with a deep frown.

Only then seeming to realize that Fillen was the Marshal’s Office Minister and the Empire’s Commander-in-Chief, the attendant stammered out Kalian’s location.

“His Majesty is in the Western Forest.”

The Western Forest. He went quite far.

Fillen was about to go look for him immediately but remembered that Kalian and Leilah were together and decided to wait.

Kalian would surely interfere with his conversation with Leilah.

So Fillen wandered around the inner palace, waiting for Leilah to return.

“Leilah, wait a moment.”

How long had he been waiting? Kalian’s voice could be heard.

Moreover, at the three syllables of Leilah’s name, Fillen looked in that direction as if entranced.

Then he saw Leilah and Kalian standing affectionately together.

Ber was also next to Leilah, but Fillen’s eyes only saw the two of them.

“There’s something in your hair.”

“Oh, really?”

At Kalian’s words, Leilah felt around her hair.

“Not that side, the other side.”

“This side?”

“I’ll just do it for you.”

Kalian smiled softly and removed a flower petal that had stuck to Leilah’s hair.

“It must have blown over and stuck in the wind.”

“That’s right.”

Ber and Leilah were standing with their backs to Fillen, so they didn’t notice him, but Kalian spotted Fillen.

Kalian’s eyes curved pleasantly as they met Fillen’s.

“Leilah, there’s something else.”

“Again? Where this time?”

“I’ll do it for you this time too.”

Kalian kept his gaze fixed on Fillen while lightly kissing Leilah’s forehead.

Leilah jumped in surprise and looked at Kalian.

Ber made a retching sound.

“Wh-why so suddenly…”

“There was a bug on you.”

“If there was a bug, why did you kiss me?”

Ber grumbled with disgust, but Kalian didn’t care.

Instead, he affectionately wrapped his arm around Leilah’s shoulders.

Leilah didn’t reject such behavior from Kalian. Rather, she shyly blushed and nestled into Kalian’s embrace.

To anyone watching, they looked like affectionate lovers who loved each other.

‘But she said it wasn’t like that.’

She said she wasn’t in that kind of relationship with the emperor, but was it all lies?

Fillen clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his skin until it bled.

A terrible sense of betrayal swept through his body.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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