Chapter 48

Chapter 48

‘A married man, huh…’

Even after completing the wedding rehearsal, hearing those words still didn’t make it feel real.

The thought of becoming a married man.

‘Ray, if you don’t want us hanging around you, then build yourself a proper family.’

‘Someone who’ll make us feel at ease, knowing that even without us, you won’t have to sacrifice yourself.’

When the mercenaries stayed by his side even after he left the corps, Leonard had said there was no need for them to do so, but deep down, he had been happy.

He liked being someone they pitied. No, to put it more bluntly, he liked knowing they couldn’t bring themselves to abandon him.

That was why their words had come as something of a shock.

‘You stayed by my side because you were worried I’d sacrifice myself?’

In other words…

‘If I no longer have to sacrifice myself… then you’ll leave me behind.’

Abandoned.

That single word was enough to turn Leonard, a man fully grown, into a lost little boy in an instant.

His biological father had never acknowledged him as his son, and his biological mother had sold him for three gold coins. The master who had changed Leonard’s life had lost his life’s calling trying to protect him, and the woman he had once hoped to call Mother had died suddenly.

Everyone had abandoned him and left.

The only reason he had been able to bear it was that he still had the mercenaries. For now, at least.

He had thought that because they pitied him, they would never leave him alone, no matter how much time passed…

But that assumption had been shattered.

It wasn’t that they wouldn’t leave him behind.

They simply couldn’t bring themselves to do it.

What’s more, they were ready to leave his side the moment certain conditions were met. As though that was what they ought to do for Leonard’s sake.

‘Ray, if you don’t want us hanging around you, then build yourself a proper family.’

A proper family.

Could he really build something like that? For that matter, what exactly did a proper family even mean?

If he married Irenea and had children with her, would that be what made them a proper family? A family bound by blood?

Even with the wedding taking place tomorrow, Leonard couldn’t find any certainty within himself.

All he could do was let out a heavy sigh.

– Plop.

A sound from somewhere in the distance interrupted his thoughts.

When he came to his senses, he found himself standing in the rear garden of the main building, near the glass greenhouse. It seemed his feet had carried him here out of habit, without him even realizing it.

– Plop.

Then he heard the brief sound again.

This time, he was certain of it. Something had fallen into the water.

Perhaps a small pebble?

Even though Leonard knew that the estate was guarded by the knights and a number of highly skilled assassins, he headed toward the sound. With the wedding taking place tomorrow, he wanted to make sure no untoward incident occurred.

And thanks to that, he found her.

“I thought he actually liked me!”

Elizabeth was standing by the pond, fuming as she threw pebbles into the water.

– Plop.

“He didn’t even drink the coffee I went to all that trouble to serve him! How can he be so inconsiderate of someone else’s efforts?”

– Plop.

“I’m never giving him another present again!”

Elizabeth was dressed rather lightly, wearing nothing but a robe over her nightclothes.

Leonard could sense someone watching from a distance, presumably one of the Shadows guarding the estate, but there was no escort or maid standing beside Elizabeth.

Perhaps she’d gone to bed, then slipped out on her own.

‘It would be better to pretend I didn’t see her.’

Just in case, he should keep an eye on her from a distance until she returned to her bedroom.

With that thought, Leonard was about to retreat when—

“Where are all the stones…?”

Elizabeth, who had been looking around for another pebble to throw, met Leonard’s eyes head-on.

It happened before he could suppress his presence.

“Ah…!”

Startled, Elizabeth nearly screamed, but quickly clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound.

It seemed she had recognized his face, but just to be sure, Leonard stepped out from beneath the tree’s shadow and into the bright moonlight.

“I’m sorry if I startled you, Lady Elizabeth.”

“W-What are you doing there? You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“In a situation like this, you should scream first. You never know if the other person might have ill intentions.”

“…Are you saying you have ill intentions toward me? Should I scream?”

With both hands cupped around her mouth, Elizabeth joked with Leonard, though she still glanced at him suspiciously, as if she wasn’t entirely sure.

If they had been a little closer, he might have tried startling her with a sudden ‘Boo!’ But if Elizabeth actually screamed, that would be a disaster. He couldn’t very well ruin the wedding tomorrow.

Leonard gave a brief laugh to reassure her.

“I may not have ill intentions, but I am worried. Isn’t it rather late to be taking a walk alone? What if you catch a cold?”

“It’s only early autumn, and it’s not particularly cold…”

Still, perhaps conscious of the fact that she was wearing only a robe over her nightclothes, Elizabeth turned away from Leonard and adjusted the front of her robe.

Leonard pretended not to notice, turning his head away for a moment before politely asking if he could approach.

After a brief hesitation, Elizabeth nodded. Only then did Leonard walk over and drape his jacket over her shoulders.

Leonard was considerably taller than Elizabeth, so his jacket was more than large enough to cover her entire upper body.

Having never received such consideration from a man before, Elizabeth’s cheeks flushed red as she fiddled with the jacket buttons for no particular reason.

“Can I ask you something? Are you always this nice to women?”

“Of course not. Lady Elizabeth is…”

For some reason, the words caught in his throat.

Leonard gave a brief cough, as though nothing had happened, and continued.

“Because we’re going to be family.”

“Going to be family…”

At those words, Elizabeth pushed out her lower lip.

Apparently dissatisfied with something, she tugged repeatedly at the hem of the jacket before crouching down with a thoroughly sulky expression.

“My sister said the same thing. She told me to be nice to you because we’d be family soon. But I guess your younger sister doesn’t feel the same way.”

Your younger sister.

The fact that Elizabeth had deliberately referred to Jenis that way, despite knowing her name perfectly well, made her displeasure obvious.

Leonard crouched down about a step away from Elizabeth, carefully choosing his words.

“Did something happen with Jenis?”

“And if it did? I’m someone who’s going to become family, but I’m not family yet, while she’s already family. So are you going to take her side?”

Her reply was rather sharp.

It seemed something really had happened, so Leonard let out a brief sigh.

“I don’t know what happened, but…”

“Then don’t get involved.”

Elizabeth snapped at him, then immediately seemed to regret it.

With her eyes drooping, she glanced at Leonard, gauging his reaction.

“…I’m sorry. Even if we’re going to be family, it has nothing to do with you, my future brother-in-law. I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on you.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’d rather hear what happened.”

“Why? Because your younger sister would never go around being mean to people?”

“You’re so upset that you couldn’t sleep and came out here in the middle of the night, Lady Elizabeth.”

A soft plop came from the pond. Elizabeth hadn’t thrown another stone; it was probably one of the koi living there.

“If you stay up too late and your eyes are puffy tomorrow, your sister will worry.”

Perhaps because of that remark, her voice grew quieter than before.

Unable to bear the strange fluttering in her chest, Elizabeth began tearing at the grass beside the pond.

“I can just say I cried because seeing my sister get married made me think of our parents.”

“You’re going to be an adult next year. Do you think you can still use that excuse?”

“I’m going to be an adult next year, not this year. And who says adults aren’t allowed to cry when they miss their parents? Have you never cried because you missed yours after growing up?”

“No.”

“Really? Why not? Do you live with your parents? Have you never been apart from them?”

Faced with such an innocent question, Leonard hesitated, unsure how to answer.

“Have you never heard anything about me?”

“Wow, judging by the way you say that, you must be really famous, future brother-in-law. You weren’t some kind of playboy, were you?”

Leonard let out a quiet chuckle at her suspicious gaze.

“It really seems you haven’t heard anything about me.”

Even most of the servants seemed to know his story. Had no one told her?

Then again, it would have been awkward to bring it up. It might easily have looked as though they were trying to drive a wedge between them.

“I haven’t made my debut in society yet, so I don’t have any close friends…”

“Why not? Don’t people usually socialize from a young age through their parents’ connections?”

“I lived on our estate the entire time until my parents passed away. The friends I grew close to there were the daughters of our family’s vassals. …Let’s just say their parents happened to be close to my uncle.”

Leonard could guess what had happened. When the late Marquis and Marchioness Blair died, those families must have backed the wrong person and suffered ruin as a result.

“That’s why I’ve been counting down the days until my debut in society. I thought I’d finally made a new friend before then, but…”

Her voice, which had sounded slightly excited at first, gradually grew quieter. By the time she finished, she sounded thoroughly dejected.

“She says I’m a burden.”

“Did Jenis say that?”

“Yes. Your younger sister, future brother-in-law.”

If everything Elizabeth had been angrily complaining about while throwing stones into the pond concerned Jenis, Leonard thought he could guess what the problem was.

However, there might be something else he didn’t know about, so he chose his words carefully.

“What about you does she find burdensome?”

“I suppose she finds me burdensome.”

“I mean, what exactly about you?”

At Leonard’s slightly probing question, Elizabeth pursed her lips and glared at him.

“Future brother-in-law, do you know something? Men who are too persistent aren’t popular.”

“Thanks for the advice, but I’ll be a married man tomorrow. I don’t need to be popular.”

Elizabeth retorted, sounding a little indignant.

“So you don’t intend to earn any points with your future sister-in-law?”

“If I had no intention of earning points with you, I would’ve taken one look at the person throwing stones into the pond in the middle of the night and walked straight back.”

In other words, the very fact that he was sitting there with her meant he was making an effort to show her some consideration.

Since there was no denying that, Elizabeth fell silent.