I’m The Real Daughter, But I Don’t Want To Go Back To The Duke’s Estate - Chapter 93

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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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After that.

Throughout dinner, Cecilia stuck right next to me, blocking me from even having a conversation with Rudrick.

Even as soon as the meal ended,

“Milena, aren’t you tired? Hurry up and wash up and sleep, okay?”

She kept controlling me with a smiling face…

In the end, I couldn’t resist Cecilia’s pressure and was pushed into the bedroom, and so now.

‘Wow, I can’t sleep.’

I finally sat up after tossing and turning.

Thinking about Cecilia’s strange behavior, all my sleepiness had completely fled.

‘I should at least get some fresh air.’

I quietly stepped outside the inn.

Stars were twinkling densely overhead.

It wasn’t a well-manicured garden like the hotel on the island, but it still had a small backyard attached.

While crossing the backyard with leisurely steps, intending to take a walk.

‘Huh?’

My eyes widened slightly for a moment.

There was already someone there.

“Teacher?”

I called out to him unconsciously.

Rudrick glanced back and looked surprised.

“Princess Milena.”

“Why aren’t you sleeping and out here instead?”

Rudrick approached me and shrugged his shoulders lightly.

“I just couldn’t sleep so I came out for a moment. But didn’t you say you were tired…”

“Ah, about that.”

I replied with an awkward smile instead of an answer.

It would be a bit much to say that Cecilia had lied, after all.

“Isn’t it difficult moving around to match our pace?”

“It’s not difficult at all.”

“Still, if you moved alone, you’d arrive in the south much earlier.”

Then Rudrick answered in a very leisurely tone.

“Being with you, Princess, is much more enjoyable than arriving in the south a little earlier.”

“…”

What does that mean?

My eyes widened slightly.

Rudrick smiled brightly and added.

“We can also continue magic lessons while traveling together. It’s better to use time efficiently if possible, right?”

Ugh.

I frowned deeply.

Really, why did I even worry? He was just serious about magic as always!

But then.

Rudrick tilted his head slightly and stared at me intently.

“I’m joking.”

“You’re joking?”

“Of course. No matter how much I care about magic training, I wouldn’t talk about magic even at times like this.”

He whispered softly.

“I want to become closer to you, Princess. I’m serious.”

“…”

I blinked my eyes blankly.

My heart was completely in turmoil, as if caught in a storm.

Meanwhile, Rudrick’s gaze remained steady.

Those blue eyes that looked only at me without wavering.

“…Why do you want to become closer to me?”

I asked back carefully.

At those words, Rudrick closed his mouth.

For a moment.

“Well, at first it was somewhat fascinating.”

“Fascinating?”

“Yes, you were the first person like me who could handle magic power.”

The same person.

I quietly mulled over those words.

Come to think of it, this had appeared in the original work too.

Rudrick, the world’s only magician.

However, the imperial family didn’t welcome Rudrick’s magical talent.

Rather, they called him a ‘monster’ and pointed fingers at him.

“People usually reject those who are different from themselves.”

Rudrick smiled as if it couldn’t be helped, acting like it was nothing.

But Cecilia had said that Rudrick, despite his calm face, looked very lonely.

That content, which I had read and dismissed without much thought at the time, was now vividly unfolding before my eyes.

Not simply as a character in a novel, but as a living person.

“But that’s not the only reason.”

“Then what?”

“Well…”

Rudrick looked at me quietly.

That gaze was very warm.

Soon he curved his eyes like crescents.

“What do you think it might be?”

“…”

Somehow my lips wouldn’t part.

I clenched my fists tightly.

My heart tickled as if I had swallowed a handful of cotton.

* * *

At that moment.

Cecilia stood at a distance, quietly watching Milena and Rudrick having their conversation.

‘This feels like I’m unintentionally eavesdropping.’

She had only come out to look for Milena after trying to borrow something from her and finding the bedroom empty.

She hadn’t expected Rudrick and Milena to be creating such a ticklish atmosphere.

Cecilia sighed deeply inwardly.

‘I can’t deny this…’

At least Rudrick seemed sincere about Milena.

Otherwise, that man who had always skillfully hidden his expressions wouldn’t be smiling so brightly while revealing his inner thoughts like that.

His past actions showed it too.

The miracle he had shown at the spring picnic, or how he tried to stay by Milena’s side no matter what at the Empress’s gathering this time.

Moreover.

‘…I didn’t expect him to delay his own schedule to travel with us.’

According to the original schedule, he could have departed several days earlier.

But Rudrick had somehow matched his timing with Milena’s group.

Even when Cecilia, who wanted to separate Rudrick, had interfered with various petty obstructions, he didn’t mind at all and waited.

‘Does he like Milena that much?’

Cecilia, who had been thinking deeply, steeled her weakening heart again.

‘No, but still, His Highness did cause some trouble. I should be concerned.’

However, a faint doubt was sprouting in one corner of her heart.

So, perhaps the Second Prince was…

‘He might really be thinking seriously about Milena.’

* * *

After the long carriage journey.

We finally arrived at Swallin, the major city in the south.

I looked out the window with sparkling eyes.

“Wow, the weather is still so nice here?”

When I had departed from the capital, it was early autumn with occasional cool breezes.

But here it was still midsummer.

Swallin was a city with colorful hues overall.

Round roofs painted in various colors stood out vividly against the white-painted walls.

Beyond them, the azure sea filled with sunlight sparkled like jewels.

“Right, it’s even a bit hot.”

Cecilia nodded and looked out the window following me.

A small exclamation burst from between her rosy lips.

“Wow, so that’s the ocean.”

The blue horizon filled her turquoise eyes completely.

Cecilia, who couldn’t take her eyes off the sea at all, seemed somehow cute to me.

Suppressing the laughter that was about to burst out, I asked Cecilia a question.

“Is this your first time seeing the ocean, sister?”

“Yes. I vaguely thought it might be like an enormously wide lake.”

Cecilia’s cheeks turned rosy.

“…It’s incredibly beautiful.”

Hehe.

I smiled quietly to myself.

Seeing Cecilia excited like a child made me feel excited too for no reason.

But then.

Mathilde announced in a bright voice.

“Young ladies, it looks like we’ll arrive at the villa soon.”

“Oh, really?”

I squeezed into the window that Cecilia had been looking out of.

In the distance, on high ground overlooking the entire city, I could see a pure white building with a round roof painted bright blue.

Lusert’s Southern Villa.

In other words, the building where Mother was vacationing.

Which meant.

‘I’ll be able to see Mother in just a little while.’

My heart pounded wildly with anticipation.

And right in front of the villa.

The moment I witnessed Mother waiting there.

‘Mother!’

My nose tingled without me realizing it.

The carriage stopped smoothly in front of the villa.

Immediately, I tumbled out of the carriage and rushed toward Mother.

“Motherrrr!”

“My goodness, Milena!”

Mother, startled, hurriedly approached me.

“You, if you do that you’ll fall…!”

I embraced Mother tightly just like that.

Mother chuckled and hugged me back.

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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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