If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 128

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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 128
The awkward nights lasted only a few days.
Before long, Leonhardt moved his residence to the Imperial Palace.
And I, who had boldly declared I wouldn’t go to the Imperial Palace and insisted he come to House Roderick instead, found myself visiting the Prince’s Palace every other day.
Leonhardt had thrown himself into the succession struggle in earnest and became incredibly busy, so I had to visit frequently since I was relatively free by comparison.
Today, when I arrived at the Prince’s Palace, I was told his audience hadn’t ended yet, so I waited for Leonhardt in the Drawing Room.
It seemed the meeting was running long as he caught up with those who had fought alongside him in the war against Tervan.
It was after I finished the tea the Maid had brought me.
Suddenly, there came a knock, and a Servant’s voice called out awkwardly from beyond the door.
“Lady Roderick. The Crown Prince has come to see the Second Prince and wishes to exchange greetings with you.”
Prince? He came to see Leonhardt?
But why does he want to greet me? What kind of relationship do we have?
It was bewildering, almost absurd.
Though I had made efforts to avoid Prince, I also knew he had completely severed ties with House Roderick and had no particular desire to meet me either.
Even though he still maintained his facade of virtue, he was openly uncomfortable with my family, so nowadays the Nobles were careful to avoid inviting the Crown Prince and my family to the same social gatherings.
I could understand if he visited the Prince’s Palace on business, but I couldn’t fathom why he would go out of his way to seek me out for pleasantries as if we were close.
But he was the Crown Prince, and I was a Lady.
That was precisely why I had to avoid Prince!
If I encountered him like this, I had to at least make a show of greeting him.
‘Damn social obligations.’
For reasons I couldn’t quite explain, I decided to accept and replied without enthusiasm.
“Let him in.”
As if waiting for those words, the door opened and Prince approached with a broad smile.
“It’s been so long, Lady. You’ve truly become quite the refined woman in my absence.”
I couldn’t fathom why he was acting so familiar, but clearly he had some ulterior motive.
Though my guard shot up, I smiled back at him.
My pretense and acting had reached heights rivaling his own.
‘You’re not the only one who can put on a false face with others.’
I spoke in a gentle voice.
“Indeed. I believe it’s been nearly… fifteen years since we last met like this.”
My vague tone, as if I’d barely grasped at a thread of memory we barely shared, carried the meaning: ‘Are you really close with me?’
It was the proper response to someone unfamiliar acting overly intimate.
The Servant who had guided Prince here seemed to sense the calm before the storm, his posture stiffening as he watched carefully.
Yet both Prince and I remained outwardly composed and gentle.
My tone and adherence to Imperial etiquette were beyond reproach.
If Prince took offense, I had at least ten ways to counterattack.
With a subtle smile suggesting ‘go ahead and try,’ I waited for his response, but Prince struck back in an unexpectedly unpleasant way.
In a manner I hadn’t anticipated.
“That’s true—you’ve been quite neglectful of me lately. And yet, there was a time when we were rather close.”
At his tone, as if suggesting some relationship existed between us, my expression crumpled for a moment.
That lunatic.
I muttered a curse under my breath, then quickly composed myself and smiled.
Even a hollow laugh counted as laughter, and it came easily enough, but I was so exasperated that words failed me.
Just then, the door burst open urgently, and Leonhardt entered.
Leonhardt rushed toward me and checked my safety with his eyes.
‘Surely, no matter how unhinged that bastard is, he wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me—Lady Roderick—in broad daylight in the heart of the Imperial Palace.’
I had no such concerns, so I smiled brightly to reassure him, but the smile was not returned.
Leonhardt’s expression had frozen into an icy mask.
It was the look of someone straining with all their might to maintain composure.
‘This is getting dangerous…’
Leonhardt was exceptionally skilled at controlling his ability, but because he possessed such formidable power, whenever his emotions ran wild like this, his control sometimes became unstable.
Most of the time it ended with the other person fainting in terror, but at its worst, his target’s heart had actually stopped, or so I’d heard.
‘Fortunately, quick intervention revived them, and that was an unavoidable accident from when he was very young, but…’
Still, Leonhardt’s ability could harm someone in the briefest of moments if he lost control, so I had to be especially vigilant when such dangerous signs appeared.
‘Part of me wants to just let him do what he wants.’
But I couldn’t let Leonhardt bear the burden of kinslaying because of Prince.
I approached Leonhardt and gently patted the back of his hand.
“Are you done? I’ve been waiting for quite a while.”
When I spoke to him in my usual manner, his gaze finally shifted from Prince to me.
“Yes.”
Leonhardt answered in a slightly subdued voice, then forced his lips upward into a smile.
“You two still seem to get along well.”
My expression hardened at Prince’s words.
But Leonhardt wrapped his arm around my waist as if to protect me.
He seemed genuinely worried—I could feel his body temperature had dropped noticeably—but fortunately, Leonhardt soon regained his composure.
Leonhardt responded to Prince’s remark in an icy tone.
“We’re lovers who haven’t seen each other in two years, after all.”
Leonhardt twisted his lips into a smile and added coldly.
“Because of the war with Tervan caused by the assassination of Grand Duke Orcain.”
Whether Prince understood the warning or not, his smile deepened.
“Ah, that war where you managed to gain the upper hand against an enemy that struck first, then agreed to a ceasefire on such pathetically disadvantageous terms?”
His words dripped with sarcasm, but his characteristic soft tone was so disarming that even the servant, now an unwilling observer, looked confused.
At first glance, it sounded like gentle reproach toward a younger brother who’d come back defeated.
‘That shameless bastard.’
And whose fault was the war in the first place?
I had found evidence that Prince had murdered Grand Duke Orkian, but I couldn’t reveal it publicly—a frustration that gnawed at me.
‘Wouldn’t it have been better to send him to the battlefield and let him die during the war? I wouldn’t have even needed to lift a finger—his own lack of skill would have finished him off.’
Even though I’d already decided Prince deserved to face justice for his crimes, such thoughts crossed my mind in this moment.
Before I realized it, I was clenching my teeth and fists, when Leonhardt gently reached out and softly stroked my clenched fist with his index finger.
A silent message: don’t hurt yourself.
I exhaled softly.
I composed myself and offered a gentle smile.
Leonhardt glanced down to confirm my expression, then replied in a tone as mild as Prince’s.
“I merely sought to understand the heart of parents who have lost a child. Besides, the agreement was largely advantageous to the Empire in practical terms.”
Leonhardt laid out the finalized terms of the accord one by one.
“The Tervan Empire will pay war reparations, and both nations have entered into a mutual non-aggression pact. Should this agreement be violated, only Tervan would suffer catastrophic losses.”
Though the accord was conciliatory in nature, it was hardly unreasonable given the war’s origins.
‘It was merely humane.’
In fact, contrary to what was known, the true murderer of Grand Duke Orcain was the Crown Prince.
Once the true culprit was revealed later, the agreement would prove not merely favorable but overwhelmingly advantageous to the Empire.
Leonhardt, as if to say you know this as well, cast a contemptuous glance at Prince before driving home his final point.
“The joint reinvestigation by both nations into the murder of Grand Duke Orkian—this single concession was all we granted in exchange for everything we obtained.”
Leonhardt emphasized his words with conviction.
“We intend to conduct a thorough reinvestigation to uncover the true perpetrator.”
This time, Prince’s expression hardened.

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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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