If I Were Reborn, I Wouldn’t Marry You - Chapter 83

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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 83

“Sigh.”

Leonhardt, who had been working busily, let out a deep breath.

Even his aides, who had never once engaged in personal conversation with him, were glancing at him worriedly and offering concerned words—that’s how poor Leonhardt’s condition was.

“Emil, duck your head for a moment. You have something like thread stuck in your hair.”

“Really? Where did it come from?”

The image of Miela with Emilian Noyen kept replaying in his mind over and over again, so it was inevitable.

‘She seemed close with Emilian Noyen…’

More than just simple friends, that is.

Could she really be trying to arrange a marriage partner?

Thud.

Just imagining it made his vision go dark and felt like the ground was crumbling beneath his feet.

Just placing Emilian Noyen’s name next to Miela’s name made his heart begin to ache as if it were being squeezed.

It was pain that even Leonhardt, who was quite accustomed to suffering, found difficult to endure. Leonhardt gasped from the agonizing pain.

As Leonhardt’s already poor condition reached its worst, Chief Aide Hayden cautiously suggested.

“Your Majesty, since there’s nothing particularly important in your remaining schedule, how about returning to rest?”

Aide Rudrick chimed in.

“It seems fatigue has accumulated from overworking all this time.”

Leonhardt’s relentless work was ultimately for Miela’s sake.

Miela, who had grown up in House of Roderick, was more noble than anyone.

This wasn’t limited to just her attitude or elegance.

She valued her duties above all else. Having always been at the forefront of practicing noblesse oblige as a noble, she was doing her best to bear that weight even now that she wore the crown.

So he too had to do the same.

For Miela, who was the Empress. This Empire had to be perfect.

But today, he felt no motivation whatsoever.

More precisely, he couldn’t bring himself to think he needed to do anything.

It felt like the link connecting him to the world had been severed.

Rudrick suggested to Leonhardt, who sat there with empty eyes, not even responding.

“Or perhaps spending time with Her Majesty the Empress after so long would be good.”

The aides knew well from experience that Leonhardt’s mood was entirely dependent on Miela.

While the reason Leonhardt was out of it was probably Miela, they thought his condition would improve if he went to see Miela.

Hayden gave Rudrick a praising look before continuing.

“Her Majesty the Empress has no particular schedule today either.”

Leonhardt would visit Miela even during the briefest gaps in his schedule that was planned down to the minute.

Keeping track of Miela’s schedule was one of the aides’ main duties.

It seemed perfect timing.

Persuasive words poured out like ‘It’s been three days since you’ve been too busy to visit the Empress Palace’ and ‘Since Lord Roderick is coming, it would be nice to spend time together after so long.’

Eventually, the aides succeeded in getting Leonhardt to his feet.

Watching Leonhardt head toward the Empress Palace with much slower steps than usual, the aides whispered in hushed tones.

“Why does he make such a fuss over his first love like that?”

“He’ll collapse if they have two marital spats.”

However, the aides’ expressions weren’t too serious.

It was a difference in perspective that arose because everyone except the parties involved considered Leonhardt and Miela to be a particularly harmonious couple.

When Miela had no particular schedule, she tended to spend time in the Inner Chambers of the Empress Palace.

So naturally, Leonhardt’s steps headed in that direction.

The time Leonhardt arrived in front of the Inner Chambers was very coincidental.

The maids who had suddenly been tasked with preparing tea time in the garden were busy, and it was when Miela had gone to greet Lionel.

Their paths had crossed by the narrowest of margins.

Having arrived at the Inner Chambers without encountering anyone, Leonhardt clenched and unclenched his hands for no reason.

Perhaps because of the scene he had witnessed the last time he came here, tension was rising.

Leonhardt stood in front of the door, took several deep breaths, and only then knocked.

“Miela, it’s me.”

However, no answer came from inside.

Since he couldn’t sense any presence at all, it seemed she had stepped out.

Because he had only half-listened to his aides’ words, Leonhardt didn’t even think about Lionel.

So Leonhardt casually opened the door and entered the Inner Chambers.

He planned to wait until Miela came.

But he shouldn’t have done that.

He should have assumed some sudden schedule had come up and returned instead.

Leonhardt deeply regretted that moment’s choice.

Because what caught Leonhardt’s eye when he entered the Inner Chambers that day were teacups for two people.

The tea was still warm enough that faint steam was rising from it.

Instinctively sensing something ominous, Leonhardt ignored his intuition.

“There must have been a guest.”

He tried to sound nonchalant, but his anxiety didn’t fade.

Because there was no lipstick on the guest’s teacup, he had a strong feeling that the guest wasn’t one of the ladies who were close to Miela.

Actually, he should have left even then.

Looking back, this moment was his last chance.

And Leonhardt actually tried to do just that.

Since he was a coward only when it came to Miela.

But at that very moment, Leonhardt’s eyes fell upon pink letter paper that was half-unfolded.

And it had Emilian Noyen’s signature at the very end.

It was almost an instinctive movement.

Leonhardt approached as if entranced and picked up the letter.

[To you who shines so brilliantly.

The moment I first met you, I felt destiny.

Shivers ran through my entire body and my heart pounded as if it would burst.

I will never forget this day.

Your very existence is God’s arrangement.

My world is getting a little better thanks to you.

Thank you for coming into my life that knew only one thing.

Please stay by my side forever.

With a heart that will never change forever.

Emilian Noyen]

Though concise, sincerity could be felt in each letter written with firm pressure.

It was also a pure and heartbreaking love different from his own.

It was an emotion he could never possess.

Leonhardt set down the letter with trembling hands.

Though he seemed unable to write the name of the recipient of his confession, it was obvious that the owner of this heartfelt love letter was Miela.

Anger, jealousy, envy, resentment.

All sorts of negative emotions swirled together.

Leonhardt was merely enduring the sensation of becoming a conduit for intense emotions.

Then, Miela returned.

“Leon?”

Not having expected him to be there at all, Miela was greatly surprised.

“…Did you see that?”

Then, discovering the letter laid out unfolded in front of Leonhardt, she asked accusingly.

Leonhardt merely remained silent, but that was already an answer.

Miela, who had seemed flustered and angry, seemed to belatedly think of another possibility.

“Ah, that… You might misunderstand, but what happened was!”

Miela made a troubled face and started to explain something, then stopped.

She hesitated after seeing Leonhardt, who was half out of his mind and wearing a perfectly expressionless face.

“Did you happen to see it?”

Miela, who had been hesitating, asked with an expression that something was strange.

Only then did his mind, which had fled in crisis, return.

“I didn’t see it.”

Leonhardt once again instinctively chose to avoid.

He was afraid that saying he saw it would lead to irreversible consequences too horrible to even imagine.

At his barely managed answer, Miela instead made a face as if something had gone seriously wrong.

“You know that was a love letter, right? You’re clearly reacting like you read it… but you’re saying you didn’t see it? After seeing it in my room?”

Having his lie seen through immediately, Leonhardt answered haltingly after a long silence.

“…If it’s a casual relationship, I’m fine with it.”

Each word he uttered felt like thousands of sharp blades slicing through his heart, but for Leonhardt, that was his only option.

To someone who had fallen off a cliff, even a half-rotten rope was salvation.

Leonhardt desperately clung to Miela like that.

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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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