Chapter 5
Eliza silently closed her eyes.
A vanilla scent mixed with bitterness came from the man before her.
She liked that scent, which at a glance could have been mistaken for the smell of alcohol or grass.
However, now that she thought about it, that same smell that had lingered in Vanessa’s room also resembled the smell of medicine in some way.
Suddenly overcome with irritation, Eliza abruptly threw a punch.
“Ow.”
Leopold, who took the punch like a cat’s soft paw, honestly pronounced it as “Ow.”
Eliza glared at his detestable face with all her strength.
‘My head feels like it’s about to split because of you…….’
Unable to bring herself to say it aloud, she merely huffed in frustration.
“Why did you suddenly get angry?”
“Because you never listen!”
“When have I ever listened?”
Eliza slapped Leopold’s lips with a sharp smack.
Only then did Leopold pull his head back and frown.
The handsome man, who was now giving off an atmosphere that had been sharpened into something fierce, was the only son of the Marquis of Hagen.
Seeing his exceptionally handsome face, Eliza once again realized that he was a male lead candidate.
Her heart sank when she remembered how cruelly possessive he had been in the original work.
‘He wouldn’t become obsessed even with his friend, would he? But…… what if that friend is his only one?’
Eliza did not want to be dragged away by him and locked in a room, or end up with a body that could never walk again.
To prevent that, she had to part ways with this boy by whatever means necessary…….
Eliza pushed his shoulder away and stood up.
“First, back off a little.”
Apparently, she needed to be firm with him at least once.
After calming herself with a brief deep breath, she looked at Leopold expressionlessly.
“I think it’s time we reconsider our engagement, Leopold.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? Eli.”
“I’d rather you didn’t call me that either. My name is Eliza.”
Only then did Leopold’s face stiffen. An intimidating aura emanated from the man whose expression had completely vanished.
Eliza looked him straight in the eye and declared,
“I’ve come to want to marry someone else. I’m serious. So I think it would be better for me to distance myself from you.”
Just as Leopold called Eliza Eli, Eliza called him Leo.
However, he realized that she had not called him ‘Leo’ even once today.
“Let’s break off the engagement.”
“Eli!”
“And I hope you won’t come looking for me like this again.”
Eliza turned her back and ignored him.
He would not accept such a unilateral declaration, but she could at least buy herself some time.
Leopold tried to stop her, but remembered that she disliked being touched against her will and hesitated.
In the meantime, Eliza entered the bedroom. The door closed in front of Leopold.
***
‘It was only a few days ago that I told him that…….’
Eliza sighed repeatedly.
There were several reasons Leopold had earned the nickname of the knight order’s bastard.
The first was that, contrary to the ideals of chivalry, he made ladies cry at every banquet, and the second was his fierce temperament, which led him to pick fights regardless of the place.
And the third reason Eliza thought of was that he never listened, which made him especially much like a bastard.
“Hey! Are you a knight or a thug?”
“A knight and a thug are the same when it comes to fighting.”
Leopold brushed aside the hair clinging to her cheek and smiled brightly.
Behind him, a man who had been punched in the face was clutching his nose and groaning.
“Ugh…….”
The man who had been knocked down by a single punch from Leopold was Rainer Charles.
He was the man Eliza had hastily chosen to date.
She had thought he was a reasonably mannered man, but he kept trying to drag her to secluded places.
Eliza, who was by no means obedient, resisted with all her strength, and just when he abruptly pushed her, causing her to fall into the lake,
“Hello, pretty?”
A familiar voice suddenly appeared, instantly covering the scene with a scream, then knocking Rainer Charles down before smiling brightly in front of her.
Irritated to the point of boiling over, Eliza pressed her fingers firmly against her temple and asked,
“How did you know I was here?”
“Just, by coincidence?”
“You really love coincidences…….”
“Then shall I call it fate?”
Eliza let out a deep sigh. Her dress was heavy from being soaked, and her body, which had been stripped of its warmth, was quickly beginning to grow cold, making her increasingly uncomfortable.
“Stop playing with words and deal with that.”
“Yes, understood, my lady.”
The black boots stepping into the water without hesitation made a splash.
Leopold grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him. Her body stepped fully out of the water, and he took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
A scent pouring over her like whiskey at dawn cast a veil over Eliza.
Without thinking, Eliza tightened her grip on the jacket.
‘He really doesn’t listen.’
Eliza saw Leopold approach Rainer and casually prod him with the tip of his shoe.
Ignoring the voices rising between them, Eliza turned and walked away first.
Leopold, having roughly settled things, hurried after Eliza.
When she heard footsteps following behind her, Eliza turned around first in front of the carriage.
“Ah. I’ll give this back to you.”
Eliza took off the jacket and held it out to Leopold. However, he merely stared at her for a moment, then took another step closer without accepting the jacket.
“What…….”
“Fortunately, you don’t have a fever.”
The back of his hand touched Eliza’s forehead without permission. Eliza gazed for a moment at the man’s smooth face.
The moment their eyes met, Leopold habitually formed a smile. His sapphire-blue eyes narrowed into crescents.
For a moment, Eliza’s heart fluttered. Knowing that this ill-tempered boy only behaved prettily toward her made her heart soften.
‘This is no good.’
Eliza quietly took a step back.
Because they had been close for so many years, she kept letting her guard down around this boy.
That was precisely why she had to be even more cautious. She must not forget that perhaps even this kindness had been deliberate.
“I told you not to come looking for me.”
“I told you, it was a coincidence, Eli.”
“I also clearly told you not to call me that.”
“That’s strange. You were serious about that?”
There must have been dozens of men she had rejected over the years.
Cutting off a willful man was not difficult for Eliza.
Eliza wore an exasperated expression and put irritation into her voice.
“How many times do I have to say it? Now, just stop…….”
“Are you going to cut ties with me? With my father and mother too?”
A hollow laugh escaped Eliza.
Leopold would not know. He would not know that mentioning ‘Father and Mother’ to keep Eliza from leaving had instead hardened her heart.
‘You knew that I had been relying on them too.’
Her heart grew cold. Eliza twisted up the corners of her lips.
“If necessary, I suppose I should.”
“Why all of a sudden? I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to understand. We won’t be on those terms anymore.”
Her voice was completely calm. That formal smile only made Leopold’s brow stiffen further.
“You should meet someone good, too. We’re past the age of playing house now.”
“All because of some bastard like that?”
Leopold ground his teeth and glared at the carriage leaving the place in a rather pitiful manner.
Eliza threw her head back and burst into laughter.
“Are you jealous?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“See? We’re not that kind of relationship.”
It was true that the two of them regarded each other as special, but whenever there was even the slightest hint of romantic feelings, they had always been disgusted by the idea.
Eliza was somewhat relieved by the fact that she was not the heroine of this world.
At some point, this boy would lose his head over that woman and forget about her.
“The person I said I like isn’t Sir Charles. But it’s true that you’re getting in the way of me meeting him.”
“Ha, you think I’ll just let you meet someone?”
“You’ll have to.”
Eliza smiled prettily. Then she turned her gaze away and looked toward the distant sky.
“That was the promise we made in the first place, wasn’t it? We promised to break off our engagement if either of us fell in love with someone else.”
“……You were serious about that? You…….”
“Yes. There is someone I like.”
With him standing before her, Eliza lightly turned around.
“I want to meet someone who loves me, too, and live happily. So our engagement is over now, Leopold Hagen.”
Leopold did not know what expression he was making.
But he was certain it must have been an unbearable face, so he covered it with one hand.
‘Who?’
Leopold reached a hand toward the sound of her departing footsteps, then clenched it.
As he watched the woman board the carriage without looking back even once, Leopold thought,
My friend. My fiancée. The first person I ever had, my…….
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
