If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 56
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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 56
The timing was perfect.
It was the moment when Father and Merlin had roughly finished their discussion about the sponsorship contract and had stepped away, saying the adults would handle the remaining matters.
Lionel, who was always composed, entered the drawing room with urgent steps.
Fortunately not caught secretly following him, I saw the drawing room door close and gestured to Leonhardt with my chin.
“Let’s go to that room.”
“Again?”
“Yes, again!”
Though Leonhardt grumbled about needing to seal up the fireplace, he obediently followed me.
I quickly approached the fireplace and listened carefully.
Leonhardt sighed as he approached and stopped a few steps away.
His expression showed deep emptiness at being involved in such childish behavior.
‘But you’re curious too, aren’t you?’
He had even stopped complaining.
And from that distance, Leonhardt, who had better hearing than me, could hear well too.
I wanted to tease Leonhardt about what would have happened if I had come alone, but something more interesting came up, so I held back.
After the sound of a door opening, Lionel’s voice could be heard from the place that had been quiet for a while.
“Merlin, is that real?”
Lionel’s voice trembled thinly, as if he was truly shocked.
‘Fool, what are you doing leaving out the beginning and end?’
However, Merlin seemed to understand what Lionel was talking about even with only the middle part of the question remaining.
She greeted him with a voice that anyone could tell was obviously fabricated, then awkwardly tried to change the subject.
“Hello, young master. Um…, the weather is really nice today.”
Lionel didn’t respond to Merlin’s words and asked again.
“I heard you’re getting engaged. Is that real?”
It was a voice clearly showing impatience.
To my ears, I could vividly feel that Lionel was surprised and shocked, but Merlin seemed to think Lionel was angry.
“It is real but… How did you know about that, young master?”
As timid people often do when flustered, she answered only the immediate question without accurately grasping the context.
Thanks to that, Lionel’s misunderstanding steadily deepened.
“Why suddenly…”
She had just said it was an engagement due to pressure from awakening as a water spirit mage, but she seemed to not even remember that.
Honestly, it looked a bit foolish, but it was rather better than when she frustratingly hid her feelings tightly.
“What happened was…!”
Not knowing what expression Lionel was making, Merlin hurriedly opened her mouth with a voice tinged with a different color of confusion than before.
However, before Merlin could explain the whole story, Lionel’s confession came first.
“Don’t do that engagement. I don’t want Merlin to get engaged to that kind of man. No, if you’re going to do it, do it with me!”
Lionel spoke with a desperate voice that was hard to believe came from a fourteen-year-old.
‘Wow, our Lionel is a racehorse.’
Just looking ahead and running.
After letting it out once, Lionel seemed to calm down a bit and spoke with a slightly more composed tone.
“You must be surprised because it’s sudden, but I’m serious. I like Merlin.”
However, he was still going straight ahead.
Merlin, flustered by the surprise confession, said something, but her voice was too quiet to hear.
“I didn’t say it impulsively. And it’s not a temporary feeling either. I can swear here or swear on Roderick’s name. Please believe me.”
Lionel was an exemplary heir who truly loved Roderick.
For him to stake Roderick’s name meant he was that sincere.
‘I wonder if Merlin will understand this.’
Perhaps because I was naturally biased, I was also looking forward to Merlin’s answer.
‘Please speak a bit louder.’
“First of all! I’m not getting engaged!”
Fortunately, this time Merlin’s voice was clearly audible too.
‘She must be saying it with a red face, clenching her fists tightly, right?’
I felt like I could picture Merlin’s appearance before my eyes.
The beginning was quite positive.
“And I think I like you too, young master!”
The main point was even better.
After Merlin’s spirited confession, a shy silence flowed.
Though it couldn’t be true, it seemed like I could hear Lionel’s heart beating as if it would burst.
‘How fresh.’
I smiled with a pleased face and then poked Leonhardt repeatedly.
‘Let’s go now.’
The back of someone who knows when to leave is beautiful.
Even though I only moved my mouth silently without making sound, Leonhardt remarkably understood at once.
We walked stealthily without making footsteps and went out to the corridor.
After getting very far from the drawing room, I caught my breath.
“Phew, I was even holding my breath.”
“Your face is red.”
Leonhardt chuckled and fanned me with his hand.
The feeling of the breeze touching my cheek was nice.
I leaned my back slightly against the wall and stayed still for a moment until my rapid breathing returned to normal, then suddenly spoke to Leonhardt.
“It worked out well. Right?”
“I suppose so.”
Leonhardt agreed with my words with a face that was indifferent beyond being calm.
‘If you’re going to show social skills, try being a bit more sincere.’
However, for Leonhardt, even this much was tremendous progress, so I decided to let it pass.
“I thought Lionel would handle romance calmly too, but I was surprised he was more aggressive than expected.”
Lionel was the type of person who hid his cold and rational personality behind a smiling face, with his family being the only exception.
“People must change when they fall in love.”
I said this like talking to myself while looking at Leonhardt.
Lionel’s change gave me a unique impression.
‘I do sincerely congratulate him, but on the other hand, I feel envious?’
Like many nobles, I had no experience with romance.
‘For nobles, marriage is easy but romance is difficult.’
The only thing resembling romance I had experienced was with Leonhardt, when I alone thought it was mutual and felt and misunderstood.
Though childish and irrational, I found Leonhardt annoying for no reason.
‘Honestly, you should admit that you made things confusing.’
Though I didn’t want to show it because of my pride, a sharp question popped out like an awl in a pocket.
“What would real romance like that feel like, where both sides are sincere?”
While only my inner thoughts were complicated, the question itself wasn’t that difficult, but Leonhardt pondered for a long time before answering.
“…Couldn’t we try it too?”
For something Leonhardt came up with, it was a plausible answer.
“That’s right. We could try it!”
I burned with longing for a gentle and kind son-in-law for the first time in a while.
Leonhardt, who had been watching my reaction after giving his answer, smiled shyly.
‘I thought he had no interest in romance at all.’
I wondered if it was good just to think about it.
I poked Leonhardt’s side repeatedly and advised him.
“But if you want to do romance properly, you can’t do it like you do now.”
“Then how should I do it?”
Leonhardt asked with a thoroughly tense expression.
The intensity of his red eyes was quite strong, making him look incredibly serious.
‘This is all advice your sister is giving you because she cares about you, so listen carefully.’
I opened my mouth while putting on a pretentious act.
“Well, everything else about you is fine, but you’re too blunt. Usually girls prefer the caring and gentle type.”
In the past, the cold and ruthless but warm only to his woman Northern Grand Duke type was popular, but that wasn’t the current trend.
Leonhardt’s face, which had brightened at the words ‘everything else is fine,’ rapidly darkened after hearing what followed.
“Caring and gentle…”
Seeing him repeat what I had said, it seemed he knew that he was far from being caring and gentle.
However, Leonhardt was much more serious about real romance than I had thought.
“I’ll make an effort, so give me a chance.”
Leonhardt, who had been hesitating, spoke carefully.
“Can that really be achieved through effort?”
Even my teasing words didn’t break his resolve.
“It will work. No, it has to work.”
Hmm…
The atmosphere was gradually becoming more serious.
‘He’s being so serious, I shouldn’t tease him anymore, right?’
He already seemed to have become somewhat less blunt.
I threw some encouraging words toward Leonhardt.
“Alright, do your best.”
“Thank you, Miela.”
Even though I had only thrown out a few words of advice, Leonhardt smiled brightly as if he had received a great gift.
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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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