If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 112

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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 112
‘Why are they opposed to me becoming engaged to Leon?’
This reason was quite important.
My strategy would differ depending on whether they objected to Leonhardt himself or to the engagement itself.
For now, I simply prattled on thoughtlessly like a silly girl overjoyed at becoming engaged to someone she foolishly adored.
“When would be a good time for the engagement ceremony? Spring or autumn?”
As I rattled off all the romantic fantasies about an engagement ceremony that I had failed to achieve before the regression, Mother and Father exchanged busy, secretive glances.
Then Mother spoke to me in a deliberately bright voice.
“My goodness, when did our youngest become so close with the Prince?”
Mother’s voice trembled slightly at the end of her sentence, and in that same instant, I understood.
‘Ah, so my family would never approve of anyone I brought home.’
Thirteen years old—still young, yet not impossibly early to experience first love.
Yet Mother was describing my relationship with Leonhardt as though we were merely friends.
She was treating me like I was being deliberately difficult.
Though she had said I could marry anyone I loved, it seemed she would much prefer I remain her youngest daughter forever.
‘Then again, my family would never object to Leon.’
Everyone in House of Roderick, including myself, genuinely loved Leonhardt.
It simply seemed they were troubled because I was the youngest and they doted on me.
I could understand it, but I could not accept it.
‘Mother and Father got married! Lionel got engaged! Lester even has a girlfriend, so why won’t they let me?’
This was far too unfair.
I pouted my lips and my eyes flashed with determination.
It seemed the time had come to resort to my final measure, which I had kept sealed away for so very long.
‘I really didn’t want to do this.’
I cast a sidelong glance toward Leonhardt, who sat rigidly tense with a frozen expression.
A faint embarrassment washed over me, but it was only momentary.
“Won’t you say anything? I want to become engaged to Leon! Please give me your permission!”
Thirteen years old.
Even setting aside my mental age, I was rather too old to throw a tantrum.
But since this was my best option at present, I cast aside my shame and began to pester them relentlessly.
“You said I could marry anyone I love, didn’t you? I love Leon!”
Yet my adult self kept restraining me, and I could not summon that fierce determination from my childhood.
“If you won’t let me become engaged to Leon…!”
Even now, my mind was busy searching for appropriately unfilial threats.
‘If I say I’ll never marry, they’d probably be delighted instead, and if I threaten to run away…’
That wouldn’t work.
After struggling for thought, before the pause became too long, I blurted out whatever came to mind.
“I won’t eat!”
The moment I said it, I was so mortified I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole.
‘I’m not even a child.’
However, I stood firm with my ears burning crimson.
‘This is just momentum.’
Fortunately, the price I paid for sacrificing my social dignity came back to me.
“Miela? My dear. Won’t you listen to what Father has to say for a moment?”
“What are you saying, you little runt who hasn’t even finished growing!”
My family, flustered by my hunger strike declaration, began trying to coax me.
That made sense—while I had a gentle disposition, once I set my mind to something, I rarely backed down.
‘If I were actually thirteen, I might have really run away from home?’
Even now, with only my body being thirteen, I could endure going hungry for two days if my family continued to oppose me.
My parents, who knew this fact better than anyone, exchanged glances once more.
Their expressions bore the exhaustion of parenthood.
And then they finally yielded to my stubbornness.
“We were just startled by the sudden engagement announcement.”
“That’s right, Mother and Father have never opposed it.”
It sounded almost like a sigh.
The nuance suggested they were letting me have my way because if they continued to refuse, I would only throw a bigger tantrum… or so it seemed.
In any case, I had achieved my desired objective.
I smiled sweetly as if I had never been stubborn at all.
“Then you’re giving your permission, yes?”
My family nodded affirmatively with somewhat weary expressions.
Now only the final step remained.
I took Leonhardt’s hand—he looked somewhat dazed, as if he had no idea what I was thinking—and stood up.
‘I need to take him with me. He’s my fiancé-to-be now, after all.’
I was the only one in the Dining Room who still had my wits about me.
The decisive blow had to be struck now.
I grinned widely, radiating happiness at having gotten what I wanted, and lobbed one final bombshell.
“So, can I tell other people that we’re getting engaged soon? I’d like to invite quite a few guests.”
“Uh, what?”
Father let out nothing but an exclamation of bewilderment.
“Then I’ll take that as your permission!”
I drove the wedge in with my words, fully aware that this was anything but permission, and walked straight out of the Dining Room.
Even Leonhardt, being led by my hand, looked flustered, but I was absolutely delighted.

* * *
That night.
Past midnight, the lights in the Family Drawing Room of House of Roderick blazed to life.
Everyone lay awake, reeling from my bombshell announcement.
Duke Roderick and his wife, Lionel, and Lester sat in a circle, exhaling only heavy, quiet sighs.
“Miela is already at an age to be betrothed.”
“I know. It feels like just yesterday she was crawling about on all fours.”
“To me, she still looks like a baby.”
As they each lamented with sighs, a careful knock sounded at the door.
The visitor was Leonhardt.
Though they all held deep affection for the taciturn yet virtuous Prince, none of them wished to see him at this moment.
Permission to enter was slow in coming.
When another knock sounded, Lionel finally granted entry in a melancholy voice.
The door opened cautiously, and Leonhardt entered the Family Drawing Room, his face tense with anxiety.
Bianca, moved by his resemblance to a child about to be scolded, forced the corners of her mouth upward in a smile.
“Your Highness couldn’t sleep either, it seems.”
The lightness in her tone was merely an affectation.
Even Bianca, the most composed among House of Roderick’s members, couldn’t maintain her smile and averted her gaze.
As the atmosphere grew noticeably heavier, Lester sighed and offered an explanation.
“Miela has grown so quickly and reached the age of betrothal—it leaves us feeling rather unsettled.”
“That’s understandable.”
Leonhardt, who had witnessed House of Roderick’s members far more distressed than this before the regression, answered calmly.
He walked deliberately to his designated seat and sat, then opened his mouth with careful deliberation.
“I can roughly imagine what emotions you’re all feeling right now.”
I hadn’t known before the regression, but now I understood.
Their opposition to our marriage wasn’t because I was inadequate for Miela.
They wouldn’t have welcomed anyone, true, but they hadn’t reacted with particular intensity to me specifically.
In fact, considering the circumstances at the time—that he had become Emperor amid chaos following the civil war—House of Roderick’s reaction was nearly welcoming.
Leonhardt continued with a faint smile.
“If Miela were to marry, I imagine you all hoped she would choose a gentle and virtuous man she loves, one who would enter as a live-in son-in-law.”
All four conditions they desired in Miela’s husband were far removed from who I was.
Even becoming a gentle and virtuous man might be achievable through effort, but becoming “the man Miela loves” and entering as a live-in son-in-law were not things he could accomplish through effort alone.
Especially the live-in son-in-law matter—if Prince became Emperor, everyone would be in danger.
Aimers, detecting self-deprecation in Leonhardt’s smile, spoke with a sigh.
“Your Highness bears no fault.”
“Thank you.”
Leonhardt offered his genuine gratitude and continued.
“I know my position is unstable. I understand most of your concerns stem from that. But I love Miela with all sincerity, and I desire her happiness. I can assure you that my feelings are more genuine than anyone else’s in this room. So won’t you bless us—Miela and me?”
These were words I couldn’t have spoken before the regression.

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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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