If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 156

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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 156
The night at the Duke’s Residence ran deep, yet the heat permeating the room showed no sign of dissipating.
We lay side by side on the bed, sharing each other’s warmth.
Leonhardt’s strong arms cradled the back of my neck, and I nestled deeply into his embrace.
His large hand gently caressed my hair.
“But shouldn’t you return to the Palace, Your Highness the Crown Prince?”
At my teasing question, Leonhardt chuckled softly and pressed his lips to my forehead, coaxing me.
“Will you come with me?”
The way he held me close, as if he couldn’t possibly go alone, struck me as endearingly childish.
“I’m exhausted. Just stay here and sleep.”
When I answered with deliberate petulance, Leonhardt let out a light laugh.
Through our bare chests pressed together, I felt his heartbeat.
Growing drowsy, I let out a small yawn and asked Leonhardt about tomorrow’s schedule.
“Do you have to leave early in the morning?”
Leonhardt pondered for a moment before answering.
“Probably… I’m scheduled to meet with His Majesty tomorrow morning. But I should be able to have breakfast with you before I go.”
I knew Leonhardt was always busy, yet I felt a small pang of disappointment.
I pouted my lips as I asked.
“Why did His Majesty suddenly summon you?”
Leonhardt, noticing that my perceptiveness had grown keen enough to detect that my question stemmed not from pure curiosity but from disappointment, answered with a gentle smile.
“Should I not go?”
In truth, the reason the Emperor had summoned Leonhardt was obvious.
‘It must be about the Crown Prince investiture ceremony.’
It wasn’t a schedule that could be postponed simply because I wanted to spend more time together.
I merely smiled and shook my head.
“No, you should go. It’s important. Last time, we couldn’t even hold a proper Crown Prince investiture ceremony…”
As my words trailed off, a chill suddenly ran down my spine.
I had remembered the reason why Leonhardt had become Emperor, skipping the Crown Prince position entirely.
My drowsy mind snapped awake.
“Come to think of it, this is about that time…”
In the first playthrough, when Prince faced the crisis of being pushed back in the succession struggle, just before Leonhardt was formally made Crown Prince, Prince had overturned the board.
The most extreme measure he chose to overturn that board was to poison the Emperor.
My expression suddenly hardened, and Leonhardt’s hand, which had been caressing my hair, stopped.
And Leonhardt immediately grasped the meaning of what I had said.
“We should keep that in mind as well.”
Leonhardt’s brow furrowed tightly.
“Should I issue a confinement order again to prevent Prince from approaching His Majesty the Emperor?”
After a moment of deliberation, Leonhardt shook his head.
“No, Miela. This time, Prince won’t be the one personally administering the poison.”
“No, Miela. This time, Prince won’t be the one directly bringing the poison to feed you.”
Leonhardt’s voice was surprisingly calm and resolute.
“Prince is now stripped of all power and under surveillance. If he were to offer tea to His Majesty and the Emperor were to pass away, anyone would recognize him as the culprit. Prince isn’t foolish enough to make such an obvious move.”
“But that doesn’t mean Prince would willingly surrender the throne, does it?”
“He’ll employ a more covert method. One that allows him to sever His Majesty’s life without being present at the scene.”
Leonhardt’s eyes grew cold and distant in the darkness.
“The most likely approach would be to deploy a chess piece—someone so easily manipulated that approaching His Majesty would raise no suspicion whatsoever.”

* * *
At that same moment, in the First Prince’s Palace, Elodie was consumed by extreme anxiety.
Viscount Perington, who had always been a dependable and affectionate father, had collapsed overnight.
The Emperor had declared he would not hold others in House of Perington accountable, but it was merely words.
In reality, even Elodie was being treated as a criminal.
Desperate for relief, she had ventured outside only to witness everyone’s contemptuous and dismissive gazes, prompting her swift return.
“How dare they…. I am to be the future Empress! When His Highness becomes Emperor, I will never forgive them!”
Even grinding out such words did nothing to change the fact that she was utterly isolated.
It was then.
Creak—
The firmly closed door opened, and Prince entered.
Elodie greeted Prince with fervent enthusiasm, her only remaining ally.
“Your Highness…!”
Prince had completely erased the madness he had revealed in the basement.
His face bore its usual infinite tenderness and pensive melancholy.
He embraced the anxious Elodie and exhaled a deep sigh.
“Elodie, the matter concerning Viscount Perington was beyond my control.”
His tone suggested they had committed no crime whatsoever, yet had fallen victim to Leonhardt’s cunning trap and been falsely accused.
At his affectionate words, thick tears streamed down Elodie’s cheeks.
“Your Highness bears no fault whatsoever.”
Prince gently wiped away her tears, his expression feigning anguish.
“I wish to dispel His Majesty’s misunderstanding and seek forgiveness on behalf of Viscount Perington, but I have been placed under house arrest under the guise of self-reflection. I cannot even see His Majesty.”
Prince pressed his brow and released a heavy sigh.
“If Leonhardt is appointed Crown Prince at this rate, even our safety will be jeopardized….”
At her husband’s sorrowful voice, Elodie’s head snapped up.
Prince whispered to Elodie with calculated subtlety.
“Whether they execute us on false charges or spare us, they’ll confine us to some remote Rural Territory.”
Elodie had spent her entire life in the Capital as a Viscount’s daughter and Crown Princess-to-be.
Execution was something she had never even contemplated, and the thought of being confined to a Rural Territory without proper dress shops or jewelers was horrifying.
“…No, this cannot be.”
Hearing her involuntary denial, Prince’s lips curved into a satisfied smile.
“I don’t wish for that outcome either. So here’s the thing…. There’s something I need you to do.”
Elodie, already demoralized by her family’s sudden collapse, was now completely vulnerable.
Now, the only person she could rely on was her husband, Prince.
A desperate need to prove her usefulness took precedence over everything else.
“What do you mean?”
Prince’s smile deepened as he watched Elodie move perfectly according to his will.
“What if you were to meet the Emperor?”
Elodie immediately nodded her head, accepting the proposal.
“Yes, I’ll go! I’ll meet with the Emperor, appeal to His Highness’s grievances, and mediate between the two of you!”
Prince gazed at Elodie with satisfaction, then feigned reluctance and expressed his hesitation.
“No, I was hasty and made an unreasonable request. I’m grateful for your heart, but because of the matter with Viscount Perington, the Emperor won’t view you favorably. He might not even agree to see you at all….”
“Ah….”
Elodie, who had been sighing in disappointment, soon raised her voice as if a good idea had occurred to her.
“What if you asked the Empress to go with me?”
“…The Empress?”
When an unexpected person was mentioned, Prince’s expression hardened for a moment.
“The Empress has always been particularly fond of me. She even favors The Crown Prince over Prince. If I speak well, she’ll help me.”
“That’s a plausible idea. The Emperor would also be far less guarded than if you went alone….”
With Prince’s approval, color returned to Elodie’s face.
“I’ll do well!”
Prince smiled at Elodie and withdrew a small, ornate tea box from his sleeve.
He then placed it in Elodie’s two hands and whispered tenderly.
“You can’t go empty-handed, so take this. It’s a very precious tea leaf brought in secretly from a foreign country.”
The tea leaves inside the box were saturated with poison that Prince had personally prepared in the secret chamber.
A colorless, odorless deadly toxin that could stop the heart with just a single drop.
“Is this the highest-grade tea leaf from the Eastern Continent that I’ve only heard about?”
Elodie gazed down at the box with curious eyes.
Prince nodded with a gentle smile in his eyes.
“Don’t tell Their Majesties that I prepared this. They’ll be more impressed if you say you prepared it yourself.”
“Yes! I will.”
Prince’s lips curled upward in a grotesque smile.

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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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