Chapter 50

Chapter 50

“What? You should’ve said so sooner.”

Irenea took the shawl draped around her shoulders and set it on the table, then slipped off her robe.

All she had on underneath was a single negligee that fell to her calves.

Made of silk, it wasn’t quite sheer enough to reveal what lay beneath, but it didn’t look thick enough to keep her warm, either.

In other words, she hadn’t exactly been exaggerating when she’d wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

“Ugh, it’s cold. I’m going to catch a cold at this rate.”

“……”

“Why are you just standing there staring? You’ve finally got your chance to take off your clothes for your fiancée—! Eek!”

A shrill scream escaped Irenea when Leonard suddenly swept her into his arms.

It happened so quickly that she didn’t even realize she’d wrapped her arms around his neck until he had already stepped out of the bedroom.

Of course, she didn’t dislike it. Quite the opposite, in fact.

But she was so bewildered by what was happening that even breathing suddenly felt like something she had to be careful about.

“W-Where are you taking me?”

“To the bedroom. Unfortunately, my fiancée isn’t dressed in a way that would let her ward off a cold with nothing more than a jacket.”

With all the servants having returned to their quarters, the corridor was dark and silent.

The only sounds Irenea could hear were Leonard’s footsteps and the beating of her own heart.

“Just how exactly are you planning to warm me up by taking me to the bedroom?”

“In a way only your fiancé can?”

“Pardon?”

A way only her fiancé could?

Irenea’s eyes wavered like rippling water. She swallowed nervously.

‘Tomorrow is… our wedding, after all.’

There was nothing wrong with spending their wedding night a day early.

The thought had barely crossed her mind when Leonard lowered her onto the bed.

But what settled over her body was a warm, cozy blanket. It was more than enough to chase the chill from her skin.

“……You said it was something only my fiancé could do.”

The disappointment that shattered her expectations was reflected in the sharp glare she shot Leonard.

As though her glare didn’t faze him in the slightest, Leonard replied in an utterly matter-of-fact tone.

“Is there anyone other than your fiancé who could carry you into the bedroom, lay you on the bed, and tuck you in? Who would that be?”

“……”

She was even more frustrated because she couldn’t argue with him.

Watching her lower lip jut out in a pout, Leonard finally burst into laughter. As if telling her to put it away, he gently pressed his index finger against her lower lip.

“You really are sisters. Miss Elizabeth sticks her lips out just like that.”

Sitting beside the bed and looking down at Irenea, Leonard wore a gentle, tender expression, as warm as the light in his eyes.

There wasn’t a trace of darkness in it.

Perhaps she had returned to the past for the sole purpose of seeing this expression on his face.

Thinking so, Irenea smiled innocently.

“Didn’t we agree you’d call her Elly now?”

“You heard that?”

“Only the conversation you had before saying goodbye. I couldn’t hear what the two of you were chatting about so sweetly by the pond. What on earth were you whispering about so secretively?”

“Our plan to elope tomorrow?”

“You really are something.”

Leonard burst out laughing at her glare.

His hearty laughter was pleasant to hear, and his eyes, curved like crescent moons, were a lovely sight.

Unable to help herself, Irenea ended up laughing along with him.

“Maybe it’s because we’ve been living together for about a month, but I guess you’ve started feeling more comfortable around me.”

“What brought that on all of a sudden?”

“Didn’t you notice? You’ve been making more jokes than before.”

“……I have?”

Leonard’s brows drew together slightly, as though he were turning her words over in his mind.

Irenea, who had rolled onto her side so she could get a better look at him, gently brushed her index finger over the crease between his brows.

“Charlotte seems to like having you as her big brother-in-law, judging by how she keeps saying you’re handsome, and I think Elly has finally warmed up to you, too.”

“……”

“Now all that’s left is for you to get used to everything. With that in mind, I have a suggestion.”

“What is it?”

With a sweet smile, Irenea answered as though it were nothing important.

“When it’s just the two of us, let’s stop being so formal with each other.”

At her unexpected request, one of Leonard’s eyebrows arched.

As though trying to coax him, Irenea toyed with his thick eyebrow and spoke in a whisper.

“I’d like it if you didn’t feel the need to be so polite with me.”

“Don’t say things like that so casually to a former mercenary. You might regret it if I actually start treating you roughly.”

“I wouldn’t mind that. Actually, I have a thing for rough men.”

“Rough men, is it…?”

Leonard abruptly caught the hand Irenea had been using to tease him.

“Who was the man who taught you to like that?”

“Hm?”

The fingers caught in his hand twitched as though he’d struck a nerve.

Perhaps she hadn’t meant anything by it, but her fingers seemed to be trying to slip out of his grasp, so Leonard tightened his hold.

“Whether you like rough men or gentle ones, you must have had someone in your past to learn that preference from. Isn’t that right?”

“Well… Do you really have to meet someone in person to know? You can simply imagine the kind of man you’d like and decide that’s your type.”

“So, you’re saying there was no man in your past?”

At that moment, Irenea instinctively averted her gaze.

Realizing her mistake, she quickly looked back at him, but Leonard hadn’t missed that brief moment.

Seeing his eyes narrow, Irenea hurriedly spoke.

“There is one thing I can say for certain. You’re the only man in my life, Ray.”

“You don’t have to go out of your way to convince me of that.”

“But…”

“Lin, there’s only one thing I want to ask you. Tomorrow, I’ll become your husband.”

Leonard’s thumb gently brushed the gemstone set in the ring on Irenea’s left ring finger.

The gem was the same color as his eyes.

“Even so, if someone were to appear out of nowhere and tell me that place belongs to him, and that I should step aside, would I be expected to simply give way?”

Ah, so that was it.

Perhaps this was why the house still didn’t feel like his own, and why he couldn’t quite grasp that he was getting married tomorrow.

He wasn’t certain this was where he was meant to put down roots.

“……If I told you to, would you really do it?”

“Of course I would.”

“Why? Why is that so obvious to you?”

“Because…”

Because this marriage had been decided entirely by your own wishes. If you no longer wanted it, then it was only right to call it off.

It was as though Irenea had heard the words Leonard had swallowed rather than spoken aloud.

She smiled.

Though there was not the slightest trace of a smile in her expression.

“I know this question might be too soon to ask you, but I’m going to ask anyway. Don’t you want me for yourself?”

“……”

Leonard couldn’t bring himself to answer right away.

But Irenea seemed content with the fact that he hadn’t said no.

She sat up and nestled into his arms.

With her face buried against his chest, she drew in a deep breath.

She wanted to feel the warmth radiating from his firm body, the steady beat of his heart.

She wanted his familiar scent to seep deep into her lungs.

“I want you to want me for yourself. If anyone ever tried to take me away, I want you to claim me, even if it means killing them or locking me away somewhere.”

“……Your sister said women don’t like obsessive men.”

Leonard’s expression was complicated, as though he had no idea what to say.

“You really do seem to have a thing for rough men.”

“I do. And there’s one more thing. Someone who’ll live at least a day longer than me, even if that’s all I can ask for.”

Like a spoiled child seeking affection, Irenea rubbed her cheek against Leonard’s chest.

Her ear came to rest over his left breast, as naturally as though it had always belonged there.

“I want someone who’ll stay by my side until the very last moment, until I close my eyes for the final time.”

I hope that person will be you.

After whispering those words, Irenea lifted her head and pressed a kiss to the tip of Leonard’s chin.

Then she smiled.

It was a smile so achingly tender that it made something deep in his chest sting.

“I’m yours.”

“……”

“Just as you’re mine.”

Did Irenea realize it?

That her words, You’re mine, had taken root in Leonard’s heart far more deeply than I’m yours ever could.

She wanted to claim him, a man who had been abandoned by his birth parents, sold, and forced to leave or be left behind wherever he went.

She wanted to keep him by her side until death.

For a man who had spent his entire life drifting like a floating weed, never having a place to call his own, the thought of acquiring a chain he could never break free from was…

Not nearly as unpleasant as he had expected.

So much so that his heart, which had never known such a feeling in all his life, was beginning to flutter.

“Lin. Do you understand what it means when you say you’re mine and I’m yours?”

“Of course. It means that even if you abandon me, as long as I don’t abandon you, you won’t be able to leave my side.”

She was exactly right.

In other words, even if Irenea’s feelings changed one day and she abandoned him, as long as Leonard didn’t abandon her, she would still belong to him.

‘Mine.’

Just as Irenea had once done to him, Leonard pulled her into his arms, holding her close enough to fill his embrace.

Now that he had held her like this himself, he thought he finally understood why Irenea was always hugging him that way.

Her warmth spread through him, filling his entire body with heat.

The thunderous beat of his heart reminded him that he was alive.

It felt as though the emptiness inside his chest was being filled to the brim, right up to his throat.

“After all that sweet talk to get me wrapped around your finger… don’t go changing your tastes later.”

“Weren’t you the one who told me not to say things like that so casually?”

“I did say that earlier.”

“Then what about now?”

If you ever tried to leave me, I think I’d really want to lock you away somewhere.

Keeping the thought that had surfaced without warning locked away in his mind, Leonard merely shrugged.

He gently laid Irenea back down on the bed, then took her hand and kissed the gemstone on her ring.

It was the only remaining trace of his mother.

For the first time, Leonard found himself appreciating the unusual color of his eyes, which he had never given much thought to before.

After all, thanks to them, he wouldn’t have to spend his time wondering whether every man he crossed paths with might be the ring’s rightful owner.