If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 69

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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 69

“Here, your hand.”

Perhaps trying to act dignified in his formal attire, Lester extended his hand, offering to escort me.

I chuckled at his surprisingly proper gesture and placed my hand over Lester’s.

Lester lightly squeezed my hand before releasing it, then suddenly asked in a wistful voice.

“If it’s like this now, what will it be like when you actually get married?”

Already thinking about a future that was still far off, Lester wore a deeply disappointed expression.

‘What else? You’ll grumble at Leon and then cry in secret.’

Having already experienced it in the first round, I could vividly imagine Lester’s reaction, but I just laughed to myself.

If I laughed openly, Lester would definitely sulk.

“That’s still far away.”

I soothed Lester and changed the subject.

“It rained for several days straight, but thankfully the weather is nice today.”

“Right, the sky seems even clearer than before it rained.”

Making such casual conversation, we arrived at the garden where Leonhardt was waiting for me.

As soon as Lester saw Leonhardt, his face turned reluctant and he gripped my hand tighter.

As if he was very displeased that I was going to Leonhardt.

Though the two had grown much closer recently, today seemed to be an exception.

However, Leonhardt didn’t spare Lester even a glance, looking only at me.

Then he finally managed to say one word.

“Beautiful.”

It was exactly the same thing Leonhardt had said when he saw me in my wedding dress on our wedding day.

‘Really lacking in creativity.’

Even Lester, whose literature grades hit rock bottom, had more varied compliments.

‘Still…’

It was a little better than at the wedding.

Back then, Leonhardt’s expression was so stiff that I couldn’t tell if he was giving a compliment or reading from a textbook.

‘Did I show that obviously that I didn’t want to marry him…? Though knowing the circumstances later, it was an understandable reaction.’

In contrast, now his expression was much more lively and I could feel his sincerity.

“I know. I’m beautiful.”

Even though I responded shamelessly out of embarrassment, Leonhardt just nodded in agreement.

As if I had stated something obvious.

‘At times like this, it would be less embarrassing if he just smiled.’

When I slightly pursed my lips, Leonhardt extended his hand with a very tense expression.

“Engagement ceremony starting soon.”

“Oh, right.”

It seemed the maids were looking for us.

“Your Highness, Young Lady! Hurry! It’s time for the flower children to enter!”

“Okay, let’s go!”

Unlike our wedding, Merlin and Lionel’s engagement ceremony fortunately ended well amid blessings.

In contrast, my wedding with Leonhardt was so awful I didn’t want to recall it again.

Suffering from marriage blues much more severely than others, I became increasingly sensitive as the wedding approached.

And the peak of that was on the wedding day itself.

Though I was smiling pretending to be a happy bride, I felt uneasy and heavy-hearted like someone forced to do something they knew was wrong.

Even though I was the one who accepted Leonhardt’s proposal despite my family’s subtle opposition.

I endlessly brainwashed myself that even though I felt this way now, things would get better once we held the wedding.

That I was just nervous because marriage was such an important stepping stone for people, especially nobles.

That once I actually did it, I’d be able to act cocky saying it was no big deal, just like other things.

After repeating this to myself for a while, I felt a little better.

I was able to stand on the wedding aisle with a much improved expression compared to earlier.

However, I was the only one smiling even that much.

The groom Leonhardt’s expression was deeply troubling.

Though he wasn’t someone who usually went around smiling, back then he had the face of someone with tremendous worries.

‘Anyone would think this was a funeral, not a wedding.’

I secretly pressed Leonhardt’s side with my elbow, his expression completely stiff.

Leonhardt’s reaction was slow, as if he had been deeply lost in some other thoughts during the wedding.

I turned my head and mouthed words to Leonhardt who looked my way.

‘Smile.’

This was a warning.

The guests who saw Leonhardt’s expression had started whispering with troubled faces.

I wanted this wedding to look perfect in others’ eyes.

When I sent him a sharp look, only then did Leonhardt raise the corners of his mouth in a smile.

Though better than before, it was still a stiff expression.

Whether it was burdensome to force a smile or he wanted to show his true feelings, Leonhardt’s expression kept hardening again throughout the wedding ceremony.

Before I knew it, I was paying attention only to Leonhardt’s reactions rather than the wedding itself.

‘What’s with this attitude?’

Don’t you want to marry me?

I blamed Leonhardt’s attitude while completely forgetting that I myself had been anxious right up until the wedding.

Even though both parties in the wedding were lost in other thoughts, the ceremony proceeded toward its end without incident.

Now only the sequence remained where the Chamberlain would bless us as newlyweds and we would share the ceremonial kiss.

“I declare that you two have become husband and wife under Jeinov’s blessing.”

But Leonhardt’s expression didn’t improve even until the moment of the ceremonial kiss.

The kiss shared with someone who didn’t look happy about this marriage at all was only bitter.

‘I only found out after the wedding that it was because he heard news that the Crown Prince, thought to be dead, had declared civil war.’

Though it was an understandable situation, my mood didn’t improve at all.

Because Leonhardt departed for the campaign right after explaining the situation.

‘It wasn’t really a situation where he had to go personally.’

I pretended to be composed and played host at the congratulatory banquet, then went alone to the bridal chamber, drank the wine prepared for the newlyweds, and slept by myself.

‘I think that’s when I developed a taste for wine.’

I chuckled.

Before my regression, just thinking about the wedding made me furious and depressed, but now it was amazing that I could laugh about it like this.

I watched the adults drinking wine at the engagement celebration dinner with envious eyes and drank grape juice instead while thinking.

‘Is this also the power of time?’

Two years had already passed since my regression.

Lester had become an apprentice knight, Merlin and Lionel were engaged, I had turned eight, and Leonhardt had turned six.

‘Come to think of it, this is around the time we first met at the Separate Palace.’

I looked across at Leonhardt who was eating his meal.

‘I definitely did well to visit him early.’

Enough to pat myself on the back, the difference between the first round’s Leonhardt and the current Leonhardt was tremendous.

The first round’s Leonhardt had been so slow in development it was hard to believe he was six years old.

‘This was the same for the four-year-old Leonhardt after my regression.’

Still, thanks to eating nutritious, balanced meals for two years and consistently training in swordsmanship, he had become a much healthier child than his six-year-old self in the first round.

His eye level, which had been much lower than mine, had risen to almost the same level, and his strength had increased considerably.

His ability that manifested five years early was also becoming quite stable.

Thanks to this, his frustration with his weakened self after regression had greatly improved.

‘Especially from around this time, I can put my memories of the future to good use.’

Unlike me, who only remembered the general outline but couldn’t recall exact dates or detailed content, Leonhardt’s memory was precise and meticulous.

At some point, we had agreed to each record future events and exchange them.

Back then, I had spent several nights agonizing and barely filled a palm-sized notebook.

Meanwhile, what Leonhardt brought was, with slight exaggeration, the equivalent of an academy textbook.

‘So from now on, I basically know almost everything that will happen until Leonhardt turns twenty-two.’

Grinning proudly like a squirrel that had stockpiled plenty of food, I decided to take out the hidden records of the future for the first time in a while as soon as I returned to my room.

‘The most important events around this time would probably be Windermere’s awakening and the great famine in the South.’

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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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