The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 125
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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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125.
“….”
I couldn’t respond for a long while to the atmosphere he was creating.
Only now did I realize how embarrassing it was to demand a confession like that, almost forcefully.
The truth was, I was the one who was more unprepared.
“It’s okay, Rose.”
“What is….”
Casian smiled softly at my speech pattern that had returned to normal along with my rationality.
“My little lady has disappeared.”
“I’m not Ian’s.”
“I was drawing from my childhood memories, so isn’t it okay to call you that?”
“I’m here right now, aren’t I?”
At my sulky words, Casian’s face became more relaxed.
“Are you jealous?”
He said this while looking at me, his face half-hidden behind the low side table.
“Me, of my past self?”
“Yes.”
After answering like that, he sent me a look that couldn’t hide his embarrassment.
Who is this person?
I don’t know this person.
Weren’t you just as shameless when you were eleven?
Where did my brazen superior go….
When I looked bewildered, Casian grumbled as he spoke.
“Rose stripped me bare and then.”
“You’re really saying things that make people sound like perverts, and your object usage is weird too.”
“I think I said it correctly.”
When I sighed as if exasperated at his words, I heard a low chuckle.
On one hand, I felt relieved.
After ordering—now that I think about it, that’s what it was—me to talk, I had slight regrets.
Not because I was worried about the emotional weight I’d have to bear or anything like that.
But because I was afraid that Casian Artez, who occasionally became vulnerable as he sometimes claimed, might get scared.
But I was relieved that it didn’t seem to be the case.
I was even confident that he would accept whatever answer I gave.
It was somewhat ridiculous for me to analyze this when I hadn’t properly noticed Casian Artez’s feelings until now.
But I knew his intention wasn’t to force me.
From now on, the problem was solely with me.
He would continue to like me even if I said I disliked him.
If I said it was burdensome, he would try to hide it, but since Gaia’s blood flows through the Riorden family, it was something he couldn’t help, so I could understand that well enough.
And for now, I didn’t dislike Casian Artez.
Both rationally and personally.
“Since Ian spoke honestly, I’ll answer without hiding anything too.”
“Yes.”
I could see Casian trying his best to suppress his tension and anticipation.
He looked like he hoped his very existence wouldn’t burden my decision-making in the slightest.
When he usually pushes forward so well.
Is acting weak only at times like this actually a strategy?
Having that thought, even my stiffly tensed cheeks relaxed.
“I think it’s much closer to the happy side. Saying I haven’t grown attached would be nonsense.”
His eyes widened slightly.
Even so, his face didn’t hastily jump to conclusions about my answer.
My posture also softened at that thorough attitude of wanting to respect me.
After taking a deep breath, I continued my next words calmly, befitting his respect.
“But I need time.”
It was a cowardly thing to say. I knew that, but.
“You’ve been so good at just evading with me.”
“…I know.”
It was actually better that he didn’t say he was sorry.
Even if he had, I think this time I would have found it cute rather than getting angry.
Without realizing it, laughter leaked from the corners of my mouth.
Because I liked his face that had no composure whatsoever.
When I reached out my hand, he quietly leaned that pretty face against it, as if he wouldn’t miss this opportunity.
‘…I guess I was quite wrong too.’
Because I could never resist these impulses in front of Casian.
But what can I do when he looks so pretty?
I knew there was already no answer at the point where I was having such thoughts.
Nevertheless.
“I haven’t properly thought about it in that direction. I don’t want to answer hastily in this state.”
I had no choice but to say this.
It would be nice if our surroundings were as innocent as the feelings we harbored, but reality was completely different.
That’s why I would only be able to answer properly after making a decision that would require major revisions to my life plans.
Because I would have to turn the direction I’d been looking in all along to a different side.
I only had to take responsibility for myself, but wouldn’t I also be taking on a bit more of Casian Artez’s pretty and delicate life?
“So will you give me time to think properly? So I can say words I can take responsibility for?”
Casian quietly closed his eyes.
I stared as if drawn in at the sight of his pale eyelashes trembling slightly as they moved.
He was relieved yet anxious, and meanwhile began to exhale breaths that gradually mixed with composure.
Casian, who slowly opened his eyes, spoke to me in a low voice.
“I can wait as long as needed. I….”
His gaze met mine.
“I’ve always been prepared to let you go forever.”
“…You always told me not to abandon you.”
“It’s true.”
Casian rubbed his cheek against my palm as if asking for permission.
“It would be difficult, but if you really said you wanted to leave, I have no right to hold you back.”
I thought it was pitiful.
Not that I intended to decide based on sympathy.
I didn’t want to start that way.
For the feelings Casian had beautifully crafted, I wanted to return them with a heart full of beautiful things as well.
“So Rose, you can think as much as you want. But promise me just one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t sacrifice yourself. I don’t want Rose to be by my side while giving up something….”
“….”
“Of course, it would be a lie to say I don’t feel greedy.”
“Yes.”
I was able to answer quite refreshingly to his additional words.
But there was something I wanted to say.
“But Ian.”
“Yes.”
“You’re thinking of sacrificing yourself freely, but I can’t?”
Unlike me, who could create other options, you decided without even knowing your constitution and don’t expect anything in return?
At my question, Casian Artez smiled brightly with a relieved expression.
“Yeah, I hope not.”
He carefully approached me.
“Because you’re the most precious to me.”
Does this person know?
That this moment is more embarrassing than those confession words he barely managed to squeeze out while being so shy.
I felt my cheeks burning as I smiled at him.
‘Of course, I have no obligation to listen to everything he says.’
I wanted to put down all thoughts of sacrifice and such, and only think about what would make me happier.
It’s natural for choices to come with opportunity costs, and even if Casian Artez finds that regrettable, it’s enough if I bear the responsibility and accept it.
While I was lost in thought, Casian had an expression as if he was holding back something for a long time.
His gaze was so intense that I couldn’t help but be conscious of it, so when I raised my head, he asked for permission with an embarrassed face.
“Can I hold you?”
Really, after doing whatever he wanted all this time.
This man really should be grateful to his parents for at least this part.
For being so cute and pretty, fitting my taste perfectly.
Of course, he can resent everything else.
Instead of answering him, I was the first to hug him tightly.
I wondered if it was okay to close the distance like this when I had told him to wait for an answer to his confession.
But what does it matter, we haven’t had much that went in proper order anyway.
The moment I sighed as if giving up, his heart beat loudly with a thump.
When I smiled softly at the vibration I could feel, he wrapped his arms around my body with a short sigh.
I clearly realized that within this comfort lay a flutter that was both strange and familiar, and I shared that time with him just like that.
*
‘My little lady is really too much.’
Casian couldn’t hide the smile that escaped as he looked at Rozelita, who had fallen asleep in his arms before he knew it.
It was probably largely due to staying up all night reading Maribel’s diary.
She must have relaxed from feeling relieved.
He briefly conflicted over whether he should like or dislike this behavior of hers.
But still, the feeling of liking it came first.
Because Rozelita seemed to think of him as someone she could trust.
Casian carefully adjusted his hold so she wouldn’t wake up.
So she could sleep more comfortably.
In the meantime, he didn’t forget to look around the inside of the vault.
Though none of it entered his mind.
‘At this rate, Rose will grumble after she wakes up.’
No, that was just his own mistaken imagination.
Rozelita had never once pushed him to do such things alone.
It was just a foolish imagination born from his desire for her to pay even a little more attention to him.
Rozelita would probably think herself shameless for not being able to answer him right away.
Because she’s someone with a strong sense of responsibility.
But truly, Casian could wait for her indefinitely even in this pending state.
‘Will she get angry again?’
Thinking about it, he seemed to have made her angry often since long ago.
For thinking nothing of the deficiency in his heart.
It really was because he himself was fine, but instead, as if getting angry wasn’t enough, she had enabled him to confess his feelings.
As if it was something that should rightfully be given to him.
Rozelita would probably be disgusted if she heard this.
‘I actually didn’t mind at all, even when I heard that I had no choice other than Rose.’
Even if he hadn’t been that type of person, would he have had other options?
Unlike other people who only took things away from him, she only gave him many things every time she appeared before him.
‘My life, my troubles, my affection, everything.’
Casian struggled to control the strength that naturally went into his arms as he held Rozelita.
‘For telling me it’s much closer to the happy side.’
She would probably never know how moved he was, how good he felt from just those words alone even though he hadn’t heard a complete answer.
Her appearance when she must have been troubled but commanded him to speak, her attitude of trying to answer honestly and sincerely, and this familiarity of falling asleep defenseless in front of him.
She was so lovable that his heart ached.
But even that pain was so very.
Had he really developed strange tastes like she said?
He was excessively happy.
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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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