Please Repay Me with Marriage! - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Pay me back by marrying me!
Chapter 24
Leonard’s jaw dropped. Still keeping her eyes closed, Irene asked him in a trembling voice.
“Was there really such a clause in the contract?”
“That’s what you get for not reading carefully before you sign. Don’t go signing contracts so carelessly anywhere else, all right? At this rate, you’ll end up sold off.”
“I’m feeling that lesson deeply… painfully, even.”
A breath escaped Leonard’s lips, something between a sigh and a laugh, and then, after a moment.
At last, those expensive lips touched Irene’s. It was a light butterfly kiss, nothing more than a brief brush.
Irene knew how passionate a kiss he was capable of, so it was a pity, but the man before her was a virgin in every sense. The road ahead was long, so for now she would have to be satisfied with a single step.
Even as she thought this, unsatisfied, Irene pressed her lips to Leonard’s cheek with a loud little smack.
“You’re mine now, so don’t go getting hurt anywhere, and don’t let just anyone touch you. Understood?”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Now then, a confession from your fiancée, for the record.”
Irene crinkled the corners of her eyes and smiled sweetly.
“There’s actually no such clause in the contract.”
“There isn’t?”
Seeing the look of being caught off guard, she could tell he had fully believed such a clause existed. Irene couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.
“What, you really thought there was such a clause?”
“With Groom Training written right there, there’s no reason a parting kiss shouldn’t be included, is there?”
“Ah, what a shame. If I’d known you’d sign without reading it properly, I’d have slipped one in for real.”
While they giggled, the carriage arrived at Boyle Inn on Ivy Street.
“Ah… Rin, do you have a moment?”
“Of course. I have all the time in the world for you.”
Her lilting voice sometimes sounded like a joke at first glance, but when you saw her beaming face, it didn’t sound like a joke at all.
“Then please wait a moment. Let me introduce my aide.”
As Leonard absently rubbed the back of his neck and stepped down from the carriage, Edward came bursting out of the inn, as if he had somehow known he was coming.
“Count! Count! Why are you so late…! Huh!”
He was already holding a large suitcase, so he must have checked out of his room. Edward, who had been shouting in a flustered rush, saw Irene inside the carriage and his eyes went wide.
“M-Marquis Blair?”
“Not ‘Marquis Blair,’ just Marquis Blair. Rin, this is my aide, Edward.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Edward. I’m Irene Blair. I look forward to working with you.”
“Huh, oh, n-no, the honor is entirely mine to meet you like this…!”
Edward fidgeted and stamped his feet like a dog that needed to relieve itself, and Irene smiled and offered him her left hand.
His face brightened at once. Edward moved to kiss the back of her hand, then hesitated and pressed his lips instead to the ring on her ring finger.
Kissing the back of an unmarried woman’s hand, or the ring of an engaged or married woman, was a greeting that only a woman of high rank could permit.
Aside from the Late Countess Elpias and Zenis, Edward had never once been greeted this way, and he felt wonderfully giddy. Making no attempt to hide his excitement, he asked Irene.
“Ahem, Marquis Blair. About the ring on your hand… did I greet you properly?”
“Yes, you did. I’m currently engaged to Count Elpias, after all.”
“Of course! So the article in this newspaper was true!”
As Edward eagerly unfolded the newspaper, Irene nodded to confirm that everything in it was true.
At that, the gaze Edward turned on Leonard was a mix of reverence and admiration.
“Count, you’re truly amazing… How did you manage to get Marquis Blair to…?”
Leonard felt a little put out by the reverent way Edward was looking at him.
He had been working alongside Edward for years now, and this was the first time he had ever been looked at that way.
“Didn’t you just say I should be careful, or I might get led around by the nose?”
“Huh? Oh my, if the Marquis offers to lead me around by the nose, I’ll hand it over at once!”
“There you have it. Rin, my aide says his dream is to be led around by you by the nose, so please go ahead and do it.”
“Shall I? What should I use to do it? A needle?”
“I’ll lend you my sword.”
When Leonard made a show of drawing the sword from his waist, Edward let out a yelp, clapped both hands over his nose, and scrambled backward.
“Th-they say in the capital, if you close your eyes, they’ll cut off your nose…!”
“That’s right. So keep your eyes wide open, so no one cuts it off.”
“Count!”
What a delightful aide to tease.
Irene giggled and looked at Edward with fresh eyes.
‘So this is the first time I’ve seen his face.’
It was also the first time she had heard his name. All she had ever heard from the Leonard of the past was that he’d had an aide.
‘He was a decent fellow. Even after the house fell, he insisted on staying on under me.’
But the Leonard of the past had sent Edward back to his hometown.
It wasn’t because House of Elpias had gone bankrupt and couldn’t repay its debts.
It was because he had killed a noble for Zenis’s sake and was now wanted for it.
“You’ve got everything packed, right?”
“Yes. I’ve already saddled the horses and gathered the water flasks and dried rations.”
“Good work.”
While Edward dashed off to the stables to fetch the horses, Leonard left a parting word for Irene.
“Then, Lin, I’ll be off.”
“Be careful on the road.”
She wanted to walk him all the way out to the Outer Citadel and watch him leave, but there was no time to spare, not a single minute.
Irene hurried the coachman back to the mansion, and the moment she arrived she summoned Kiri and Hawk at once.
“You called for us, my lady.”
Kiri came running and reported on the task Irene had given her, but Hawk, who had been drilling at the Training Grounds, arrived a little later.
He had rushed over straight from washing up, and silver hair dripped water onto his shoulders. Knowing he would be like this, Irene handed him a towel she had prepared in advance and said,
“Hawk, I need you to run an errand for me. Get ready right now and go to Elpias County.”
Elpias County… It wasn’t a place one could reach in a day or two.
Hawk dried his wet hair with the towel and let out a short sigh.
“Forgive me for saying so, my lady, but you keep leaving me behind, and I suspect you’ve forgotten that I am your bodyguard knight…”
Kiri nodded beside him, agreeing that he had a point.
“Surely it doesn’t have to be you, Brother?”
“No. There’s too much I need to entrust to him.”
After hearing Kiri’s report, Irene pushed the bag she had prepared in advance toward Hawk.
Hawk took the bag and looked inside, then agreed that he was the one who had to go. The contents of that bag must have been exceedingly important.
“You needn’t worry about my protection. There are the knights, and Selen is keeping watch as well, isn’t there?”
“Still…”
“His Majesty has ordered me to stay confined for a month anyway, so I won’t have any reason to go out. On top of that, I’ll be busy with wedding preparations and won’t be receiving any guests, so you don’t need to stay at my side.”
“What? What on earth is all this about?”
“I’ll explain that later.”
Whichever way you looked at it, it was shocking news, and while Hawk blinked his gray eyes, Irene began giving him his instructions.
“First, once you leave the Marquis Residence, the very first thing you…”
The more she spoke, the less sense her instructions made, but since it was an errand from the lady he had sworn his loyalty to, he nodded and said he would do exactly as she asked.

* * *
-Ding-dong
As the great door of the Mercenary Guild headquarters swung open, the bell above it rang out sharply.
The sound carried not only across the spacious lobby with its reception desk and job board, but also to the tavern on the right, separated by a low partition at waist height.
Among the patrons already flushed with drink, two middle-aged men seated across from each other at one table turned their heads at the same moment.
Thankfully, after six fruitless attempts, their long wait was finally rewarded.
“Michel! What took you so long?”
“Come sit down already. Did Ray not catch on to you?”
“What do you take me for? Have you forgotten that I’m the one who taught that kid Stealth Arts?”
Instead of pointing out that Leonard had already mastered Stealth Arts at a proficient level before she ever taught him, Hiss pulled out the chair for her.
Meanwhile, Bin fetched a mug of dark beer and set it down in front of Michel.
No sooner had Michel settled comfortably into her seat and wet her lips with the cool dark beer than Hiss pressed her with a question.
“So? How did it go?”
“Well, I’m so hungry I can’t even tell whether the person I saw was really Marquis Blair…”
“Ah, there she goes again.”
Saying she was “always” doing this was a bit of an exaggeration, though. Everyone there was equally eager to squeeze a little extra out of others whenever the opportunity arose.
“I knew you’d pull this, so I ordered ahead. Here, the three-sausage platter.”
“Ugh… After all that trouble I went through to come back, I have to eat minced meat scraps? My eyes are welling up, I’m choking up, I really am.”
“…Will a roasted pork hind leg do?”
“Order me another dark beer too.”
Bin ordered a whole roasted pork hind leg and two dark beers, then took the sausage plate, which was no longer needed, to the next table and sold it at half price.
“Considering how hard I worked, you should be eating a whole roasted pig, not just a hind leg, but I’ll make do with this. I’ll make do.”
Michel didn’t tell what she had seen until she had cleanly polished off the roasted pork hind leg down to the bone.
“Looks like they really are engaged. I saw Ray stepping down from Marquis Blair’s carriage.”
“Really? Were the Blair crest clearly displayed on it?”
Michel nodded in answer to Hiss’s question.
“Reize Messer was hanging at Ray’s waist too. And then he left through the West Gate with Edward.”
“The West Gate, then…”
Bin, who had the whole geography of the Empire memorized, stroked his chin and spoke.
“Did he head for Miles County?”
“If he had the money, he would’ve gone to repay it. The deadline’s only a few days away.”
Weighing all the circumstances, it seemed every piece of news the papers had printed was true.
That Leonard was engaged to Marquise Blair, and that she had given five hundred million larks as dowry gold, were all true, apparently.
“…Something’s off.”
Michel nodded at Hiss’s heavy murmur.
“Right, something’s off. Marquis Blair is a businesswoman. She’d never do something that costs her money.”
“Yeah, there’s got to be a trap in it somewhere. Five hundred million? That’s ridiculous.”
“Either way, it’s true that Marquis Blair bought Reize Messer for five hundred million at the Auction House.”
Bin wore a remarkably generous smile. Of course he did. His pockets were full now.
“Now all your fortunes belong to me.”
“No! Nope! This has to be a trap!”
Michel realized the roast pork hock they’d just eaten had been their last supper, and cried out in a voice full of resentment.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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