If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 8

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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 9

“Wouldn’t I be at a disadvantage being friends with you?”

When I spoke playfully, Leonhardt chuckled.

“You’re too slow to be calculating gains and losses.”

He was speaking seriously, but his pronunciation slipping made me burst into laughter again.

“Stop laughing!”

Leonhardt didn’t like it, but…

Still, thanks to that, the atmosphere lightened considerably.

I parted ways with Leonhardt, leaving only the promise that I’d come again soon.

Quite a bit of time had passed, so I needed to hurry.

I quickly returned to the Crown Prince’s Palace through the secret passage I’d used to get to the Separate Palace.

I snuck into the carriage without Hans, who was loitering around it, noticing, and hid in the space under the seat just as Lester returned.

‘Things are going well today.’

Lester seemed tired from dealing with the Crown Prince and silently urged departure.

It was good for me, who had listened to Lester grumbling the entire way to the Imperial Palace.

The rabbit bag that had been bulging on the way here had also shrunk considerably, making the space feel a bit roomier than before.

‘Should I follow along next time Lester comes to the Imperial Palace too?’

I thought as I felt the vibration of the carriage starting.

I figured I could use this method once or twice more.

Then my thoughts naturally drifted to Leonhardt.

‘Even if your mind is adult, there’s a disconnect when your body becomes young.’

This was because I was aware that I’d acted somewhat childishly earlier.

Having an adult mind while playing the role of a child made it difficult to suppress emotions that surged up momentarily.

I was a bit embarrassed that I couldn’t control my emotions, as if I’d really become a little kid.

Still…

‘He seems to think of me as a friend, at least.’

Thanks to that, I learned a little about how Leonhardt thought of me.

I hugged the rabbit bag tightly to suppress my embarrassed feelings.

“I’m tired.”

The schedule of carrying a heavy bag and traveling quite a distance was considerably taxing for a child’s body.

And right now was originally my nap time anyway.

Hans drove the carriage carefully for Lester’s sake, who was in a bad mood, and it was dark in here.

I soon fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes to some noisy sound, it was dark all around.

“What’s this? Oh, right.”

I grasped the situation from the rabbit bag in my arms.

“I fell asleep.”

I felt so refreshed, as if I’d slept very deeply, that quite some time must have passed.

“I’ve been caught, haven’t I? Obviously?”

I was feeling dejected, thinking I was doomed, when I heard voices calling for me from outside.

“Miela!”

“Young Lady! Where are you?”

The distance was quite far, but even excluding the indistinguishable voices, there seemed to be dozens of people.

If I’d been caught, it seemed I’d been caught long ago.

“Wow, what do I do about this?”

The thought that I’d caused a major incident made me feel hopeless.

I covered my head with both hands and despaired for a moment.

“What else? I’ll have to get scolded.”

Though my body was young, my mind was adult.

I scraped together all my courage.

First, I had to get out of here.

I twisted my body to get into position and pushed the door with my feet.

“Huh?”

The door that had opened so easily at the Imperial Palace wouldn’t open.

It seemed Hans or Lester had locked the door after seeing the latch had come undone.

“Neither Lester nor Hans are usually such meticulous people.”

I pushed the door harder than before, holding onto a faint hope.

But as expected, it wouldn’t open.

“I thought I was just doomed, but I’m completely ruined.”

Feeling frustrated, I let out a deep sigh.

Then I kicked the door with all my might and shouted.

“I’m here!”

Thud, thud, thud.

My voice couldn’t get out of the carriage at all.

Even though I kicked the wood with all my strength using my hard shoe soles, the sound wasn’t very loud.

Part of it was due to the narrow space where I couldn’t fully extend my legs, but my strength was weak to begin with.

I tried kicking the door and shouting a few more times, but the voices searching for me only grew more distant.

Thinking this wouldn’t work, I stopped kicking while panting.

“They’ll search inside the carriage soon, right?”

No, at minimum, if someone comes nearby, they’ll hear my voice.

I decided to conserve my strength for later.

But as time passed, the voices searching for me grew fainter.

“Haven’t they already looked inside the carriage?”

If they hadn’t discovered the space under the seat and concluded that I wasn’t in this carriage…

And if they expanded their search range outside the Duke’s Residence entirely?

I could picture what kind of situation would unfold.

Suddenly breathing became difficult and I felt dizzy.

“Why did I have to fall asleep at that moment?”

I blamed myself while banging my head.

But regret could wait until after I got out of here.

Once again, I gritted my teeth and kicked the door with all my strength.

Thump!

It made a louder sound than before, but there was no meaningful difference.

However, it took several times more energy than before.

This was too much.

How could I call people over?

As I pondered, one method came to mind.

‘When is a child’s voice at its highest decibel?’

When crying and when playing. In that case…

“Let’s cry.”

I recalled in order all the sad things that had happened from birth until now.

My peaceful and happy childhood passed by quickly.

Like when Lester insisted on holding me but dropped me and I got hurt.

‘My eyebrow got cut on the table corner and left a scar.’

Or when I got scolded for stamping approval seals on documents that should have been put on hold, trying to help Father.

Though I recalled this and that, to me with an adult mind, they were all just memories worth treasuring.

The only memory sad enough to bring tears was when my nanny died in my place after I was deceived and kidnapped by the Crown Prince.

“Hic.”

Thinking of that time, my eyes instantly became moist.

However, just before bursting into tears, my sadness over losing my nanny turned into anger toward the Crown Prince.

“I let that bastard off too easy.”

The heat of anger dried my tears.

My six-year-old brain was devising various methods of revenge that didn’t match my physical age.

This too had failed.

Now the only memories left were those after marrying Leonhardt.

“That bastard Leonhardt went off to war right after the wedding ceremony ended.”

It was because the Crown Prince’s remaining followers declared civil war, targeting the moment when the empire’s tense atmosphere had relaxed due to the royal marriage.

And he only returned after three whole months.

I understood Leonhardt, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t hurt.

‘Not a single letter for three whole months.’

Besides that, I remembered countless other incidents where I was upset because of Leonhardt’s obliviousness.

My eyes stung, which annoyed me.

I glared and made a resolution.

“Since I’ve returned anyway, in this life I’m definitely going to bring in a wife-obsessed, henpecked type of man as my live-in son-in-law.”

After clenching my fists and revising my views on marriage, I gave up on forcing tears while thinking sad thoughts.

“You don’t have to be sad to cry.”

It wasn’t a method I particularly wanted to use, but.

I gritted my teeth to steel my resolve.

Then I cruelly pinched my thigh.

When I twisted with all my might, it hurt enough to bring tears to my eyes.

I felt miserable thinking I had to do such things just because I had fallen asleep.

Forgetting my mental age and starting to cry loudly, I felt suffocated even though air was coming in through the gaps in the door.

Thinking that this carriage was only used when we siblings went out, so I might not be discovered for a long time, tears naturally streamed down my face.

“Waaahhh, Mother!”

My voice, opened by misery, was impressively loud even to my own ears.

“Huuuuhhh.”

I was crying so hard my throat hurt, when I felt the surroundings becoming chaotic.

“Over there! I can hear a child crying from that direction!”

“Where over there?”

“By the carriage!”

“You all go inform the Master and Lady immediately!”

The voices quickly drew closer.

Perhaps they had been nearby and joined in, because after a while I could hear Mother and Father’s voices too.

“Miela!”

“My baby!”

Crash bang.

I heard hurried footsteps on top of the small four-seater carriage.

And not long after, the latch was pulled and the door opened.

Meeting worried blue eyes, I felt relieved without realizing it.

“Father-.”

When I reached out my hands dirty with tears and sweat, Father reached out to meet them.

“Miela, dear God. Thank you.”

Father carefully lifted me out and hugged me tightly before passing me to Mother.

“Mother-.”

I hugged Mother and acted spoiled.

“Miela.”

But Mother’s voice reaching my ear was unusual.

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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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