🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 36
“Oh my, husband, are you crying?”
As if she’d expected it, As asked the moment she came out with freshly brewed tea.
“Should I bring the tea later?”
“No, leave it here. As, you sit too. How could you not be present at an engagement meeting? And you, stop crying now.”
Jenny quickly smoothed over the confused atmosphere and apologized to the stunned Reto.
“He just treasures his daughters that much.”
Reto gave a smile of understanding.
If his own daughter had announced she was marrying someone like him just two weeks before the wedding, he would’ve opposed it immediately too.
Still, it had been a shock. So much so that he hadn’t noticed Jenny’s tone of voice soften.
“To be honest, even I came here planning to oppose, but the way you were joking with my husband just now—well, I rather liked it.”
Her sharp gaze narrowed into a smile.
“Noah is awfully stiff, you know? That’s why she needs someone by her side who can toss out a lighthearted joke.”
“Like me, exactly!”
Clare cut in.
“Mom, brother-in-law can keep up with my jokes pretty well.”
“He can answer back to your high-level jokes?”
That’s really impressive.
Jenny looked at Reto with surprise. He barely managed to keep himself from puffing his chest out at such praise.
“I value that.”
Having said her piece, Clare stuffed one of the cookies As had brought into her mouth and went back to Noah’s side.
Since the groom’s guardians weren’t present, the meeting naturally shifted into an informal tea time where everyone got to know one another.
The atmosphere wasn’t bad at all.
Even Ameta, who had initially brushed off Reto’s hand, eventually opened up enough to start conversations with him. That made Reto incredibly happy.
“He’s the man Noah chose, so we should trust her.”
“If you ever make my daughter cry, I’ll never forgive you.”
“…What about the times I already made her cry?”
Sis, remember that time you fought with brother-in-law and cried?
Clare spoke with cookie crumbs at the corners of her mouth.
What could have ended peacefully was wrapped up instead with Ameta’s harsh warning and a collar-grabbing scuffle.
After seeing their parents off in the car, Noah turned to Clare.
“You said that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Yup.”
Clare admitted it boldly.
“Sis-in-law, that’s too much. Weren’t you on my side?”
Reto whimpered.
“What nonsense!”
Clare put her hand on her round little waist.
“I’m always on my sister’s and As’s side!”
“Clare…!”
“Sweetheart!”
Her sisters hugged the youngest tightly, moved to tears.
Watching the scene, Reto felt a twinge of jealousy. Without realizing, he pouted childishly.
“Of course I like you too, brother-in-law.”
Reto broke into a broad smile at that.
“But Grandma said sometimes you need to keep them in line like this. Otherwise, they’ll climb over you instead of lying down and obeying.”
“Clare, that’s how you train a dog.”
“But Sis, when you got drunk and started rambling, you called brother-in-law a dog.”
“And that’s why they say you shouldn’t even drink cold water in front of kids…”
It had only been moments ago that she’d asked them to be careful.
To avoid As’s reproachful glance, Noah and Reto took a walk down to the park below the hill.
“…So you missed me so much you even cursed me when you were drunk?”
“How can you twist ‘cursing you’ into something flattering? Do you have a screw loose?”
“It’s just that I’ve been full of you for so long. Look, the setting sun in the west—it’s like your skin blushing red in my arms…”
“Ugh, stop!”
At last, Noah invented a special technique: kicking Reto’s butt with one foot as they walked.
But she didn’t let go of his hand, their fingers still intertwined.
Halfway between the Bello estate on the hilltop and the city below was a park.
It wasn’t large, but it had everything kids loved—swings, seesaws, slides.
As soon as they entered, they heard children’s laughter ringing through the air.
“You couldn’t hear this up there.”
Reto was surprised. Not once had he heard such bright, boisterous sounds at the estate.
“They designed it that way, apparently.”
After a brief stroll, they climbed back up toward the estate.
Instead of going straight inside, they wandered slowly through the garden.
“Shall we go in?”
“I was afraid of dirt a long time ago. I’m fine now.”
“I was just asking, to be safe.”
“But holding your hand, I’m not afraid at all.”
Their clasped fingers squeezed tighter at the same moment.
“…Can I ask something, or would it be rude?”
Reto looked at the flowers planted in the garden.
“Why don’t you live with your parents?”
The Noah’s parents he’d met seemed like good people. Considering young Clare, it would make more sense for them to live together.
“Oh, that?”
Noah said it as if it were nothing.
“Clare and I are adopted.”
Reto couldn’t hide his surprise. Seeing his face, Noah actually felt sorry.
“…Are you disappointed?”
“Of course not.”
Reto hurried to deny it.
“It just surprised me. You don’t seem like adoptees at all.”
“Why not?”
“Because you didn’t give off that vibe at all…”
He clamped his mouth shut, realizing how stupid that sounded.
And then he remembered Clare inside the estate.
“Clare knows too.”
Noah tucked her blond hair behind her ear.
“Just so you know, our parents really treat us well. We live apart because of Clare’s school and my job.”
But Reto’s surprise didn’t fade easily.
If anything, he looked like he had dozens more questions. Noah noticed and chuckled.
“Go ahead, ask.”
“Are you sure?”
“You won’t be rude. Not if it’s you.”
Her kind permission made Reto’s chest tighten.
So he gathered his courage.
“What about your birth parents?”
“They passed away.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
At that, Reto remembered the time Noah had hesitated when speaking of her childhood.
‘No wonder she hesitated…’
Last year, the kingdom’s most sensitive phrase had been “six years ago.”
This year, it had changed to “seven years ago.”
That was the year the Kingdom of Adlabor won the counteroffensive battle—but also the year with countless casualties, soldiers and civilians alike.
Reto guessed Noah’s parents had been civilian victims of that war.
If they’d been soldiers, her status as the child of fallen heroes would have been officially recorded, adopted or not—and as her superior, he would have known.
“Does Clare… remember them?”
“Of course not.”
She had been just a nursing infant then.
Noah said it matter-of-factly, even with a laugh, but to Reto she looked as if she might break down crying at any second.
She didn’t cry, though. So he just smiled back awkwardly.
“…But what about you?”
Noah suddenly asked.
“You met my parents, but I should meet the Marquis too. Fair’s fair.”
“Is that really something to weigh on fairness?”
“Why not?”
Noah untangled their hands and crossed her arms, glaring at him.
Reto pretended to stay calm, hiding his hands behind his back.
They locked eyes in a silent battle of wills.
“…Fine.”
It was Noah who gave up first.
“I know you. My coward probably chickened out and never told them anything. No surprise there.”
“You’re harsh.”
Reto, pretending to be hurt, leaned lightly against her shoulder.
She pushed him away half-heartedly.
“…Did the Marquis ever mistreat you?”
The question burst out before Noah could stop herself.
“Wait, seriously? Did he ever hit you?”
“No, never.”
Reto quickly soothed her alarm.
“He’s a man of honor. He took in someone like me and raised me this well.”
“Don’t say ‘someone like me.’”
Now Noah was worried.
She had always thought his sarcastic tone was just his natural flippancy—but maybe it came from low self-esteem instead.
Was it emotional neglect from the Okeanus household? Or scars from the childhood he had once confided about?
After a moment, she decided not to press further.
Her instinct told her this was a wound far deeper than her frustrations over him not saying “I love you.”
“…Promise me something.”
Instead, she chose to build him up.
“If you ever use that phrase again…”
“If I do?”
Reto echoed her with mock innocence.
The stern warning caught in Noah’s throat.
He just waited quietly, and that gentle silence made her cheeks burn red.
She couldn’t think of what to add.
“…You won’t get any snacks.”
“……”
“…Just laugh already.”
Embarrassed, Noah hid her face in his chest.
Soon she heard his hearty laughter and felt his strong arms wrap around her.
“Clare is terrified if you take away her snacks. She’ll throw herself on the floor.”
“Since I hate missing snacks too, I’ll be careful from now on.”
Reto promised to stop belittling himself.
“Good.”
That was enough for Noah. She snuggled closer.
A black magi-powered car sped down the paved forest road, just leaving Sharp territory.
It was an unreleased prototype from the famous Chep company, soon to hit the market.
“Noah… getting married…”
Jenny Bello, who had just met her daughter’s fiancé, still muttered in disbelief.
She couldn’t believe it, but she had no intention of opposing it.
In fact, she seemed to be enjoying the whole thing.
Meanwhile, her husband in the passenger seat was still tearful.
“…We should turn back now.”
Ameta Bello scrunched his youthful-looking face as he glanced behind them.
But the car was already halfway down the forest road connecting Sharp and Adbello territories.
At this pace, they’d reach Adbello in just an hour.
“Noah’s still so young! Marriage, really?”
“You were even younger when you married me.”
Jenny snorted, dismissing his objection.
“T-that’s different…!”
Ameta’s face turned red as he argued back.
Keeping her eyes on the road, Jenny sneaked a sideways glance at him.
“But we truly loved each other.”
“And there you go, saying something adorable again…”
