If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 2

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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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Chapter 2

Like children often do, I suddenly dashed off running.

Naturally, toward the Abandoned Palace where Leonhardt would be.

“Young Lady! Where are you going!”

I heard the startled nanny calling for me, but I ignored her.

‘Sorry, Nanny.’

The flustered nanny forgot her dignity and started running after me, but it was futile.

Thanks to going back and forth so many times in the first round, I knew every hidden shortcut to the Abandoned Palace.

I ran diligently like a rabbit going through tunnels.

Huff, huff.

The moment I finally arrived at Leonhardt’s room without being caught by the nanny and our eyes met, I realized.

‘What? Why is he happy to see me?’

Isn’t this our first meeting?

Could it be?

It had been a week since suddenly returning to childhood.

Leonhardt was swinging a tree branch he had secretly picked up from the garden as a substitute sword when he stopped at the sound of footsteps approaching his room.

‘Is the maid bringing food coming a bit early today?’

No.

The footsteps were lighter and more cheerful than a maid’s.

Like a child running.

‘Who could it be.’

Leonhardt threw the tree branch into a corner under the bed and slowly climbed up onto the bed to sit.

His legs were still short, making it difficult even to climb onto the bed.

Just as Leonhardt was about to let out a deep sigh uncharacteristic of a child, the door opened.

‘Miela?’

It was Miela, whom he was seeing for the first time in a week.

Leonhardt’s eyes widened round with joy.

‘I thought I wouldn’t meet her for at least two more years.’

His soft cheeks twitched and the corners of his mouth turned up.

Though he couldn’t act familiar lest Miela be surprised, just seeing six-year-old Miela made him happy.

For Leonhardt, who had an adult’s mind, this week had been quite exhausting, so it felt like receiving a gift.

However, the longer their eyes met, the more Miela’s expression hardened.

Like someone extremely flustered.

‘Oops.’

Leonhardt obediently lowered his eyes.

Eight-year-old Miela hadn’t been afraid of his eyes from the start, but the Miela before him was six years old.

Children were generally more fearful at six than at eight.

‘Will she just leave because she’s scared?’

Perhaps because his body had become four years old, his mind seemed younger too – if Miela feared him and screamed, he felt like he would be very sad.

Sad enough to make his eyes sting just from imagining it.

However, Leonhardt pressed down the rising tears with masculine pride.

Or tried to.

But the inconsiderate tears began welling up anyway.

It was the limitation of a young body.

‘Damn it.’

Leonhardt even cursed inwardly, something he rarely did, and blinked to let the tears fall.

Then he heard the sound of footsteps stomping vigorously across the floor.

The footsteps gradually drew closer and Mary Jane shoes came into his view.

“Hey!”

Miela lightly tugged at Leonhardt’s hair.

As if telling him to lift his head.

“Ow…”

Leonhardt belatedly reacted as his head was pulled up by Miela’s touch, her expression full of indignation.

Actually, it didn’t hurt much – he was just being dramatic.

He was feeling rather sorry for himself right now.

Startled, Miela gently stroked his silver hair that had lost its luster and become dull.

“Sorry.”

Seeing the guilt-laden green eyes, Leonhardt thought that Miela was kind even at six and smiled faintly.

Then Miela began examining every corner of Leonhardt’s face with careful eyes.

Leonhardt blushed thinking about his own disheveled appearance.

He had tried his best, but due to physical limitations, washing himself properly alone was impossible.

There was no one to take care of Leonhardt in the Abandoned Palace either.

‘If I had known Miela would come, I would have somehow washed properly.’

He worried whether he might smell bad.

However, Miela’s next words made Leonhardt’s trivial regret quickly evaporate.

“…Baby Rabbit?”

It was their private pet name that he had refused to use after growing up because he detested it.

Thinking it couldn’t be, Leonhardt’s eyes widened.

A light of certainty appeared in Miela’s eyes.

“What was the reason we fought?”

Miela asked like it was the final test.

“We didn’t fight though…”

Feeling wronged the moment he heard the question, Leonhardt muttered timidly.

Leonhardt well knew that for Miela’s authority as empress to be established, he as emperor had to respect Miela.

He regularly sent gifts to Miela and carved out time to meet with her.

Their wedding anniversary was also one of those days when Leonhardt should send gifts and carve out time to meet with Miela.

However, on that day which happened to be their wedding anniversary, a high-ranking envoy from another country collapsed with a full-body rash.

The delegation was in uproar, claiming the collapsed person seemed to have been poisoned.

It turned out to be an allergic reaction to a specific spice that didn’t exist in that country but only in the empire, but he was so busy all day that he momentarily forgot it was their wedding anniversary.

He rushed to Miela belatedly, but was driven away by the furious Miela who said she didn’t even want to see his face.

After hovering around the couple’s bedroom door for a long time, Leonhardt eventually headed back to his study to finish the aftermath he had left behind.

He worked until just before sunrise, dozed off briefly, and when he woke up, he had become like this.

As Leonhardt was about to launch into his very belated excuses, Miela’s eyes sharpened.

“Is that important right now? Just answer quickly.”

Startled, Leonhardt whispered in a tiny voice.

“Because I forgot our wedding anniversary.”

And at that moment, Leonhardt realized too.

“Miela, you too?”

“Yeah, me too.”

He had wondered, and indeed it was so.

A joint regression.

While they were momentarily broken down by the unexpected situation, the nanny’s voice was heard from outside.

“Young Lady! Where are you?”

Thinking it was an empty palace, she had entered comfortably, so the nanny’s voice searching for me was quite loud.

We’ll be caught.

I shrugged my shoulders once.

“Anyway Leon, I think I need to go now. I’ll come back again when I get a chance soon, so just hang in there a little longer.”

I couldn’t mention a specific date because there was a high probability I’d be grounded when I returned.

Though I was flustered by the unexpected situation, it was actually fortunate if Leonhardt had also regressed.

The twenty-two-year-old Leonhardt I knew had strong mental fortitude.

After quickly conveying what I needed to say to Leonhardt, I called for my nanny in an innocent child’s voice.

“Nanny-! I’m here!”

I deliberately slurred my pronunciation as I called out, and I could hear the nanny running down the old corridor.

Soon the door burst open.

“Young Lady!”

Even though I had run to the nanny on my own feet, she acted as if she had barely managed to find me after I’d gone missing.

“Do you know how startled I was?”

After scolding me with a tearful voice for just a moment, the nanny pulled me into a tight embrace.

“You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“No.”

I answered while feeling a prickling sense of guilt.

“Sorry, Nanny.”

‘But I had to meet Leon.’

I thought this kid was four years old in both mind and body.

Even though I had done this knowing the nanny would be shocked, my apology was sincere.

The nanny gently patted my back as I apologized with my spirits completely dampened.

“From now on, you mustn’t run off alone like that. Even if you’re excited about coming to the Imperial Palace, you can’t do that—do you know how frightened Nanny was?”

I listened to the nanny’s words and nodded my head obediently.

It was then that the nanny discovered Leonhardt.

“Why is there a child in a place like this…?”

It seemed her inner thoughts had slipped out due to surprise at the unexpected situation.

The nanny belatedly closed her mouth and examined Leonhardt.

“I greet Your Highness the Prince.”

Recognizing Leonhardt’s identity from his distinctive red eyes, the nanny greeted him politely and moved me behind her back.

Both Leonhardt and I flinched at her obvious wariness.

Seeing the nanny, who had been kind to me in the first round, display such caution made Leonhardt’s expression grow dejected again.

‘Why does he keep getting dejected? It’s making me worry.’

To break the standoff, I grabbed the nanny’s skirt and peeked my head out.

“Nanny!”

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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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