YWDBH 06

Chapter 6 — The Reason for the Proposal

Duke Castiel stood there blankly, watching Leonis leave the room. Only after a moment did he finally understand what Leonis meant. He had kept waiting, wondering what exactly he was going to give, and now he felt like a fool.

“Th-That insolent…!”

Afraid Leonis might hear him, Gont bit his lip and only stomped his feet instead of finishing the insult.

“Wait a moment. I need to speak with you.”

Elodie hurried after Leonis and stopped him.

He came to a halt and turned back to look at her. His face was so cold and stiff that it did not seem like the face of a man who had just proposed to her.

As expected… there’s no way he meant it seriously.

Elodie swallowed a bitter smile.

It was true that, for a brief moment, her heart had raced when he appeared at the perfect time like a knight coming to save her.

He had a cruel tongue, but his appearance alone was striking enough to shake her heart.

Still, she could not be fooled by a handsome face.

“Let’s call this even.”

That silent message had been clear in Leonis’s narrowed eyes.

He had probably only come to pay her back for what she had done earlier.

And while he was at it, he likely wanted to send a warning to her father as well. So there was no way he had truly come to propose.

“You don’t really intend to marry me, do you? If it’s only because you feel responsible, then you don’t have to. What happened just now… it wasn’t because I had any special feelings for you, Sir Rihart. It was just impulsive…”

Elodie kept speaking, trying her best to lighten the burden on his heart. But suddenly, she felt the air around them turn cold, and slowly lifted her head.

“No special feelings. Just impulsive?”

At his dangerously low voice, Elodie’s eyes shifted nervously.

Did I choose the wrong words? I was only trying to say it was nothing serious, so he doesn’t need to take responsibility…

She hurriedly added,

“Ah, I… behaved very rudely. There was actually a reason for it. I’m sorry.”

“I see. So you had some reason to impulsively steal a gentleman’s lips without any feelings involved. Something that could have been someone’s first kiss.”

“What? Was it your first…?”

Elodie, who had been shrinking back at his sarcastic tone, stared at him in shock. Since he had spoken about “that night” with another woman, she thought he must have plenty of experience.

“That can’t be… I said ‘someone,’ not me. I only meant that it was that careless of an act.”

Leonis turned his head sharply and answered coldly. His neck looked stiff with tension.

“Ah… I really was very careless. I’ll just tell you honestly.”

Elodie, fidgeting with her fingers, finally made up her mind. Since things had already come to this, it seemed better to tell him the truth.

She looked around, then led him into an empty drawing room. The hallway was quiet, but it was still safer to be careful.

“The truth is… I wanted to delay my marriage. As you know, once my twenty-fifth birthday passed, I was supposed to choose a suitor and get married. I didn’t have much time. So in my panic, I did something like that. I’m sorry.”

Inside the room, Elodie confessed.

Now that she said it out loud, it sounded shameless. She had used him for her own need. Expecting him to get angry again, she looked apologetic.

But unexpectedly, he only asked with a serious face,

“What do you mean, you didn’t have much time?”

For some reason, Elodie felt that she could be a little more honest with him.

“My mother is ill. I wanted to stay by her side a little longer.”

“Ah… then couldn’t you have explained the situation to your father or the other suitors?”

“Well… you know how it is.”

As Elodie trailed off awkwardly, Leonis nodded as if he understood.

Everyone in the empire had been waiting for today. There were even gambling houses where people placed enormous bets on who would win the hand of the “Rose of the Empire.”

And more than anyone else, the one waiting for this day was Duke Gont Castiel—who, as Leonis had just overheard, wanted to “sell” his daughter for the highest price possible.

There was no way such a man would listen to Elodie’s situation.

So I’m the one who ruined all of those expectations.

Leonis rubbed his chin for a moment, deep in thought, then spoke.

“Then how about this? If you accept my proposal and marry me, I will wait as long as possible so you can stay by your mother’s side.”

“What?”

Elodie asked again, thinking she had heard wrong.

She never expected him to bring up marriage once more—let alone say he would wait for her.

“At the moment, it does not seem like such a bad option for you.”

And he was right.

Her father had already declared that he would sell her off as the mistress of some rich old noble. He looked ready to do it as soon as tomorrow.

But just now, her father had been forced by Leonis’s threat to allow his proposal.

So for Elodie, this opportunity was like her only lifeline.

And if he was even willing to wait so she could stay with her mother, there was no reason for her to refuse.

“It is a generous offer, but… why would you go that far?”

Elodie asked with an uncertain expression.

“Even if it were another man, in that situation he would have proposed out of responsibility. That is the duty of a gentleman. I, too, am a gentleman with honor and responsibility.”

In the Iris Empire, if an unmarried man and woman were found alone together in a closed room, it was already seen as improper. In such a case, the gentleman was expected to take responsibility.

But Elodie had never expected that from Leonis.

After all, what happened had been entirely her own doing.

And more than that—this was Leonis Rihart.

Everyone in the empire knew the story of how he once insulted a lady to her face by saying she was not an attractive bride, and never apologized for it.

So no one would expect gentlemanly responsibility from him now.

They would simply say, Leonis is being Leonis, and move on.

“A gentleman…?”

Elodie blinked doubtfully.

Leonis let out a dry laugh.

“So I did not seem much like a gentleman to you.”

“……”

Instead of answering, Elodie avoided his eyes.

She had always acted as the “perfect bride,” saying pleasant things she did not mean to other suitors because her father ordered it.

But for some reason, she could not do that in front of Leonis.

“Well, this is troublesome.”

Leonis bit his lip and roughly pushed back his hair.

That look of his was far from gentlemanly, and Elodie’s heart began to pound.

Was I too honest? I should have just said something pleasant like I do with others… Why did I act like this? Is he angry?

She carefully looked at him—and met his dangerous, reddish eyes.

“Then let’s stop pretending to be a gentleman if it does not suit me. Would you prefer it if I said it like this, Lady Castiel?”

Leonis slowly looked her over from head to toe in a bold, open way.

It was the kind of thing no gentleman would ever do.

Then he narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly. His expression looked like that of a wicked man deciding which sharp words would hurt her the most.

This man is dangerous. He’s not a kind gentleman at all.

Elodie’s heart beat uneasily.

And just as she feared, Leonis spoke without hesitation.

“The feeling of ruining the tower Gont spent his whole life building… is not bad. So I was thinking of keeping you by my side and destroying it even more thoroughly.”