If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 153

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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 153
“Miela!”
Even while still wearing the transparency veil, Leonhardt instantly sensed my approach.
“How did you know?”
I slipped behind Leonhardt’s back, removed the veil, and asked.
“I can recognize you just by the sound of your breathing.”
His cheeks were smudged with soot from directing the cleanup of the embers, yet his crimson eyes gleamed with unprecedented clarity as he examined me.
Leonhardt gently wrapped his arms around my shoulders, his keen gaze sweeping over me to check for any injuries.
“Are you hurt anywhere? Why did it take so long….”
It was clear he had been deeply worried, having reluctantly sent me out without a better alternative.
“Of course I’m not hurt! It didn’t even take twenty minutes!”
I smiled brightly to reassure him and produced the Spirit Mirror I had carefully kept in my possession.
My face appeared faintly on the mirror’s silvery surface, its activation now suspended.
I wiped the soot from my cheeks as I continued speaking.
“This is incredible, Leon. I’ve captured absolutely irrefutable evidence!”
“…So you found it.”
Leonhardt’s voice dropped low.
After confirming that no one nearby was paying attention, I activated the mirror briefly to display a clear phantom image of Viscount Perington’s face.
[“The Underworld must be completely obliterated. Without a trace.”]
Leonhardt’s complexion turned cold as he viewed the recording.
It showed Viscount Perington—the patriarch of House Perington, the next Crown Princess’s family, and Prince’s most powerful ally—personally ordering the arson.
With the Terban Empire now implicated as well, this transcended a simple arson case; it was a bomb that would shake Arcadia to its foundations.
“I should have an emergency council convened immediately. I’ll expose all his crimes and ensure he faces punishment.”
Leonhardt spoke with a chilling expression.
But I quietly shook my head.
‘Not yet.’
A scene from the first timeline suddenly flashed through my mind.
On my wedding day, Prince—whom I thought was dead—had declared civil war.
The reason he could attempt civil war as a last resort was that despite his failed assassination attempt on the Emperor, the noble factions supporting him and his vast financial networks remained quite intact.
“Leon, an emergency state council is good, but first let’s use this to dismantle his forces.”
“Dismantle his forces?”
“Yes. Even if we present the evidence before Prince’s eyes, he’ll claim it was Perington’s excessive loyalty and cut ties. Those who fear Prince’s influence or diplomatic friction with Tervan will reinforce that narrative.”
Leonhardt nodded, apparently finding my reasoning sound.
“So let’s set the stage. We’ll make Prince destroy his own most reliable shield—Perington—with his own hands.”
I met Leonhardt’s gaze directly and added coldly.
“After we’ve severed his limbs, we strike the final blow to his neck. That way, he won’t even have the strength to rebel like he did in the first timeline.”

* * *
Before returning to the Imperial Palace, we made our way to a hastily prepared temporary shelter in the nearby area.
The devastation wrought by the inferno upon the Underworld was far more horrific than what we had witnessed from afar.
The Underworld had originated as a slum from the Empire’s earliest days, but criminal organizations—assassination guilds, slave traders, illegal gambling dens—had converged there, transforming it into a den of vice.
The vast majority of those still dwelling in the Underworld were merely innocent poor, caught in circumstances beyond their control.
Though the Spirit Contractors and mages had extinguished the flames completely, we could not so easily snuff out the despair of those who had lost their livelihoods in a single night and been driven to the brink of ruin.
Inside the sprawling tent, where acrid smoke still lingered, everything was rendered in ashen gray.
The groans of the wounded, the frightened cries of children, and the hollow gazes of elderly men staring blankly into the void intertwined in a dizzying cacophony.
Yet the moment Leonhardt and I, covered in dust and soot, stepped into the tent, the suffocating despair that had settled over the shelter transformed in an instant.
“The Prince has arrived!”
“The Young Lady of House Roderick has come as well!”
Beginning with someone’s trembling cry, people began to surge forward like clouds gathering.
Commoners who would normally prostrate themselves in fear at the sight of Imperial Family or high nobility behaved differently this day.
Word had spread that Prince Leonhardt himself had rushed to the scene to command the response, and that House Roderick had dispatched Spirit Contractors to extinguish the flames.
“Had the two of you not stepped forward, we would all have become ash by tonight. How can we ever repay such a debt of life?”
“Our children are suffering from burns and dying. Please, I beg you, save the children.”
“Who in the world set this fire!”
Gratitude, pleas, and fury erupted simultaneously.
As the atmosphere grew increasingly turbulent, Leonhardt gestured for the Imperial Palace knights to stand down.
“We merely did what was necessary—there is no debt of gratitude owed.”
Speaking in a quiet voice, Leonhardt began to address each of the displaced persons’ concerns one by one.
“Physicians and carriages laden with supplies will arrive shortly. We have identified those responsible for the fire, and they will face justice for their crimes.”
As the Imperial Palace knights’ hands moved toward their sword hilts, the frightened displaced persons regained their composure at Leonhardt’s measured words.
Leonhardt’s steady and composed demeanor transformed the despair and agitation that had weighed so heavily upon the shelter into profound relief.
Now it was time for us to return to the Imperial Palace.

* * *
Upon returning to the Imperial Palace, an emergency state council convened in the Grand Conference Hall with the Emperor and the Crown Princess of Tervan in attendance.
As Leonhardt, who had reported on the fire suppression efforts, proceeded to announce measures regarding relief for the displaced and reconstruction of the Underworld, Prince—who had been listening in silence—cut him off with an affected sigh.
“It is fortunate, younger brother, but what of the staggering budget required to rebuild the entire Underworld? Surely the Imperial Treasury cannot bear such an expense alone? It seems you lack proper training in succession matters and merely chase idealistic fantasies.”
It was a transparent attempt to belittle and provoke Leonhardt.
Yet Leonhardt remained unmoved by such shallow provocation, responding with an icy smile.
“There is no need to worry about the budget, First Prince. The reconstruction costs will be covered entirely by confiscating the assets of the ‘true culprit’ who orchestrated this arson.”
“What? The true culprit?”
The moment Prince’s pupils dilated, Leonhardt deliberately withdrew the ‘Spirit’s Mirror’ from his robes and infused it with mana.
Light scattered across the center of the Grand Conference Hall, and a vivid phantom materialized before them.
[“The Underworld must be obliterated entirely. Without a trace.”]
Despite the cunning disguise that obscured his face, his distinctive manner of speech and bone structure could not be concealed.
Everyone in the Grand Conference Hall recognized the man in the recording as Viscount Perington.
Leonhardt addressed those assembled.
“This artifact is a collaborative creation of talented individuals across various fields under my guardianship in House Roderick. It is a device that allows those without spirit affinity to comprehend communications between spirits and Spirit Contractors.”
“This is fabrication! How dare you attempt to slander me with some dubious artifact of unknown origin!”
Viscount Perington, his face drained of color, thrashed about with his voice hoarse.
“Whether it is fabrication or not will become clear once you hear it.”
At Leonhardt’s gesture, the chief mages of the Mage Tower who had been waiting at the side of the Grand Conference Hall stepped forward.
They had been dispatched to assist with fire suppression and were now attending the state council as witnesses.
“We stake the honor of the Mage Tower upon this: it is our professional assessment that this artifact has undergone no tampering whatsoever.”
At the testimony of the neutral Mage Tower mages, the Grand Conference Hall filled with shock. Faced with irrefutable physical evidence, Viscount Perington’s legs gave way beneath him, and he collapsed to the floor.
All eyes naturally turned toward Prince, the mastermind behind the Viscount.

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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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