Please Repay Me with Marriage! - Chapter 7

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

Please make it up to me by marrying me!
Chapter 7
“…I’m Leonard Elpias. I should be the one thanking you for the invitation.”
“Think nothing of it. I owe you more gratitude than I could ever express for indulging my whim, but time is short, so might I ask you to escort me?”
Worried he might refuse now that it had come to this, she thrust her hand out without thinking. Thankfully, Leonard took it right away.
“If you’ll have someone like me, I’d be happy to.”
Those who look down on him for being a former mercenary would never guess what kind of man Leonard Elpias really is. Honorable to the core.
‘And I’m a truly wicked woman for taking advantage of that.’
What man in his right mind would agree to a tiresome favor like escorting someone, just for showing her the way once?
And her request wasn’t going to end with an escort, either.
“Lady Blair, Marquis of Blair, and Count Elpias, now entering!”
At last, they stepped into the banquet hall.
Standing at the center landing on the second floor, Irene drew every gaze in the hall from the guests gathered below. Making a show of it, she tucked her arm even more firmly through Leonard’s.
She felt his body stiffen at the intimate contact. No, it had been stiff from the start.
“…Marquis Blair?”
Only now did he notice. Honestly, he really was oblivious.
Keeping a gentle smile on her lips, Irene steadied herself from the belly and opened her mouth.
“Thank you all for accepting my invitation. Before we properly begin the feast, there’s someone I’d like to introduce to you.”
‘Please smile nicely. That’s the only favor I’m asking.’
Of course, even without her saying so, her gentle and courteous man would never let his lady be made a laughingstock before so many people.
Irene bit back the urge to laugh outright and called out loud enough for everyone to hear.
“This is the man I’ve promised to marry!”
Even though she’d asked him in advance to smile, she could feel shocked stares prickling against her cheeks.
‘Well, it can’t be helped, can it?’
If a woman he’d never met suddenly announced an engagement to him, it would be stranger not to be surprised.
Still, she couldn’t allow an awkward mood to show in front of this many people.
Especially before her uncle could find any flaw to pick at, Irene wrapped both hands around Leonard’s neck and kissed him.
To be precise, she pretended to kiss him, her lips just barely grazing the corner of his mouth.
“Oh my!”
“Goodness!”
As if they never expected to witness such a passionate display of affection in front of everyone, several noblewomen gasped and clapped their hands over their mouths.
But once someone began whistling and clapping, everyone broke into cheerful laughter and started pouring out their blessings.
“Congratulations on your engagement, Marquis!”
“Be happy!”
Irene slowly unwound the arms she’d wrapped around Leonard’s neck and lowered her heels, which she’d been standing on tiptoe to keep high.
Leonard raised a hand to his cheek, looking utterly dumbfounded, as if he couldn’t quite grasp what had just happened to him.
Thank goodness he had his back to the crowd. Seeing his face, so completely stunned, Irene felt a little sorry for him.
‘My first proper kiss should be taken with mutual consent, after all.’
Before anyone had even thought to bring her cake, she was already rinsing her palate with wine, and Irene waved warmly at the guests who were blessing her.
“Thank you, everyone! I’ll live happily!”
In front of her, Leonard murmured in a drained voice.
“What exactly is going on… I think you owe me an explanation, Marquis…”
Still standing with his back to the crowd, he had lost even the energy to be angry or surprised, and kept fiddling with the corner of his mouth.
Well, a man who had kept his purity until he met her would have his thoughts grind to a halt over even such a light kiss.
Irene let her eyes droop, full of genuine apology.
“Sorry for causing such a scene all of a sudden. But I’m really, really in a hurry. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up marrying a man who wants me dead.”
At the word “dead,” Leonard’s eyes changed in an instant.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’ll explain everything later. I’m truly sorry, but could you play along just a little longer? Please?”
Irene knew it. Leonard was weak against that look of someone on the verge of tears.
“This doesn’t seem like something that ends with just playing along…”
Though he muttered that, in the end, Leonard nodded.
‘Just as I thought, my knight.’
He could never walk past someone in trouble. That was why she had liked him, and why she still does.
Happily, Irene rested her hand on Leonard’s arm and descended the long staircase with him.
Wondering how to lead this naive man by the nose, who didn’t even realize he’d been deceived.

* * *
‘What on earth am I doing here?’
Her hand kept drifting up toward the corner of her mouth, which still seemed to hold a trace of warmth.
Someone who hadn’t trained in martial arts should have been easy to read. I couldn’t explain, even to myself, why I hadn’t been able to avoid her kiss.
“Good heavens, I never imagined the fiancé of Marquis Blair would turn out to be Count Elpias.”
“Me neither. Until two years ago, you were quite the famous man, weren’t you?”
She seemed to realize what undertone the word “famous” carried only after it had already left her mouth.
Leonard pretended not to notice the woman darting a glance at him, the flush of a slip rising in her face, and sipped his wine.
At that, the lady who had misspoken let out a quiet sigh of relief. Then the others who had been waiting for an opening pounced on it.
“Everyone wondered what had become of you when you suddenly left for your territory without a word. I never expected to see you again at a gathering like this.”
“Yes, neither did I.”
That, at least, was not a single grain of falsehood. It was the truth.
He had come up to the capital, but he had no intention of setting foot in the Social Circle. He’d only become a laughingstock, that much was certain.
In truth, about a quarter of the people here would have curled one corner of their lips upward at the sight of him had they met him anywhere else.
Yet no one here sneered at his origins. Leonard knew well enough why they held their tongues.
“By the way, when did you arrive in the capital? Did you come on purpose to announce your engagement to Marquis Blair?”
“Where did you two first meet?”
“When is the engagement ceremony? You’re not planning a quiet wedding too, are you?”
“Oh my, all of you, please slow down. I’d love to answer, but there’s no room to breathe between your questions.”
Irene laughed lightly and rested her head against Leonard’s shoulder. She tightened her grip on his arm, as if warning him not to be startled.
Thanks to that, he managed to avoid the disgrace of flinching, but the smile that was sure to look stiff on his face was beyond his power to fix. There was nothing he could do about it.
“Sir Leonard and I happened to cross paths when I was visiting the Skellum Kingdom. I had lost my way and fallen into danger, and he rescued me.”
“Oh, what a wonderfully romantic meeting!”
“But even though you’re engaged, you still call him ‘Sir’? You don’t use a pet name?”
At someone’s mischievous voice, Leonard touched the corner of his mouth with his hand.
Had he been found out already? As he struggled to hide his embarrassment, Irene answered as though she had anticipated the question.
“He’s the knight who protected me. I plan to keep calling him that until we’re married. That’s all right, isn’t it, Sir Leonard?”
“Yes… well, I suppose.”
Before the others could read too much into his awkward reply, Irene burst into a clear, bright laugh.
“Once we’re married, you’ll hear ‘darling’ whether you like it or not, so don’t sulk so much.”
“I’m not sulking.”
“Oh? You look like you’re sulking to me.”
Irene looked up at him, her eyes curving with a smile, and Leonard felt an unnecessary itch at the back of his neck. He turned his head the other way.
‘She’s acting so well.’
Lying with one’s mouth is easy, but keeping one’s eyes in on the act is quite difficult. Yet Irene gazed at him as if she had truly fallen in love.
‘They say every merchant who makes a lot of money has the makings of a swindler…’
Could this woman be one of them?
Leonard, his mind unsettled, turned such thoughts over, unaware of something.
That the reaction he had shown might, in the eyes of others, truly look like sulking.
“Oh my… what a fresh and lovely couple. It reminds me of my own youth.”
“These are the best days, aren’t they? My husband and I had times like this too.”
Led about by Irene’s hand, Leonard exchanged greetings with countless people, and though their conversations were laced with teasing questions, they mostly drifted along in such a warm, pleasant way.
After all, Irene had chosen her guests carefully for this gathering. So there was not a single person here who would openly show resentment toward her or her fiancé.
Even the Emperor’s Chief Lady-in-Waiting, who had come bearing the title of Imperial Regent, offered nothing but blessings as clear and flawless as jewels. So who would dare throw cold water on the pair, even if they looked a little awkward?
Unless you counted Viscount Kalio.
“So this is the one you chose over all the men I introduced you to?”
Viscount Kalio arrived long after the banquet had begun, looked Leonard up and down at once, and frowned.
That blatant look of contempt was one Leonard had borne relentlessly whenever he had moved in the capital’s Social Circle.
Because of that, instead of feeling fresh humiliation, Leonard turned his gaze to the man standing behind Viscount Kalio.
‘And who’s this?’
He swore on heaven that he had never seen this man before. Yet the moment their eyes met, the man sent him a sneer that was as much a provocation as a mockery. Was it ridiculous, or merely contemptible?
He seemed to have trained his body to some degree, but at a glance he was clearly a novice with no real combat experience. A youngster who had just crawled out of a well, drunk on the conceit that he was the best, unable to gauge the gap between himself and others.
Leonard had encountered countless such fellows, both in the Social Circle and in the mercenary world.
What he had learned from that was this: whether educated or not, those who pick fights for no reason must be cowed right from the start, or they’ll keep dogging your steps and pestering you.
‘If there weren’t so many eyes watching, I’d have asked him if he couldn’t open his eyes properly and knocked him down with a single blow.’
Shouldn’t I be asking him if he’d like to step out into the garden for a moment?
Leonard glanced down at the arm Irene hadn’t loosened for a single moment, as if to make sure he wouldn’t run, then raised his head and fixed his gaze on the young upstart.
I can’t lay a hand on him here… so for now, shall I just try to frighten him a little?

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