IMLM 27

Chapter : 27

“Oh my, I’m sorry for misunderstanding.”

The woman smiled faintly and apologized at Leonard’s bombshell declaration.

My gaze remained fixed on Leonard’s hand resting on my shoulder.

No, I don’t think this misunderstanding is cleared up yet.

It seemed like instead of being resolved, another misunderstanding had begun.

Even that alone was enough to leave me dumbfounded, but Leonard’s response was even more absurd.

“Not at all. I’m glad the misunderstanding is cleared up, even if only now.”

The woman who had been smiling at Leonard’s words disappeared further into the inn.

Should I stop her now and clear up the misunderstanding…?

…No. It’s not like I have to see her again anyway. The person in front of me is the real issue, not her.

“Why am I considered Leonard’s person?”

I lifted my arms to show I was angry, but Leonard didn’t seem to care at all.

He didn’t even answer my question, only saying unrelated things.

“Are you forgiving that matter now?”

“…We’ll talk about that later. Why did you do that earlier? People might misunderstand.”

“What’s the problem? I didn’t say anything wrong.”

Leonard lifted the hand that had been resting on my shoulder.

Then he pressed his fingers against the crease of my furrowed brow and spoke again.

“You are my person, aren’t you?”

He seemed very pleased with what he had said, smiling with the corners of his eyes curved upward.

It was only natural that I was left speechless at that expression.

No matter how I think about it, this person really knows how to use his face.

Four years ago, Zen had wished he would smile more. But this isn’t quite what I meant.

“All the citizens of the Cailum Empire are my people. They are my subjects.”

“If you say it like that, then everyone here would be your person too, right?”

“Exactly.”

“Duke Huntington as well?”

“Of course.”

Leonard slightly raised the corners of his mouth and answered as if it were obvious.

It would have been nice if it ended there, but Leonard didn’t forget to add one more thing.

“And you too.”

…That’s strange. It didn’t seem to carry any special meaning, but somehow I felt like I had lost.

While looking up at Leonard with that uneasy feeling, someone suddenly sniffled behind me.

“Y-Your Majesty…”

Leonard turned his head at the sound of someone calling him.

Then Gerald, who had been hidden behind Leonard, appeared.

His face was flushed, as if from some good news.

Covering his mouth with both hands, Gerald approached, tears streaming down his face.

“To hear Your Majesty officially say I am your person… I never imagined you would think so highly of me…”

Gerald Huntington, who could claim to be Leonard’s person more than anyone, actually said something like that.

What kind of treatment does Gerald usually get, anyway?

“Lady Amelio, what I just heard wasn’t a mistake, right?”

Gerald asked me, unable to believe it.

I smiled and nodded at how genuinely happy he looked. Could it really make someone this happy?

“You heard it correctly.”

“You said that both Lady Amelio and I are equally Your Majesty’s person, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Seeing he still looked doubtful, I nudged Leonard’s side lightly to get his agreement.

“Right?”

Leonard, who had been silent for a moment, let out a deep sigh.

Then he turned his head to look at me once, and then at Gerald.

After staring for a long while, Leonard muttered quietly:

“…Equally.”

I had a feeling I knew what would come next, so I lightly stepped on Leonard’s foot.

A faint groan escaped him from the sudden attack.

“Ugh…”

Soon, a look of reproachful eyes was directed at me. Leonard leaned slightly toward me and whispered:

“You can’t call something true when it isn’t.”

“Sometimes, such lies are necessary.”

“Why would such a lie even be needed?”

“Well, it’s obvious. The Duke would be upset. Don’t you care?”

At that, Leonard frowned slightly and muttered under his breath.

He clearly did not like this situation at all.

“I care more about you than Gerald.”

…What is this honesty? Was Leonard always like this?

But no matter how I think back, in the original story Leonard never said lines like this.

He was extremely guarded instead.

Some might say there’s nothing wrong with a male protagonist being guarded.

Even before reading Crucia, I thought the same after only reading reviews.

A romance novel’s male protagonist is basically expected to reject all women except the heroine.

So this is even more unusual.

Because Leonard’s guard was aimed at no one else but the heroine, Celia.

From the moment they first met, he seemed extremely wary.

Of course, it made sense to some extent since Celia was a “human” affected by the curse.

Wouldn’t it be natural to be suspicious if someone you’ve never seen suddenly comes to lift your curse?

The only problem was that in the romance novel, the period of caution was excessively long.

In that sense, Loreina being a half-elf was truly fortunate.

Who would have guessed? That a pun would help her avoid the curse.

“Loreina.”

Leonard, who had been lost in thought for a while, hesitated before speaking.

“If we say it’s the same, as you suggested…”

“Say it?”

“Then you’ll eat with me now?”

I let out a small laugh at his question while making eye contact.

Even amidst that, Leonard asked again if I would really eat with him.

I can’t survive this.

The carriage went up toward the capital without incident. The journey was far from boring.

In the past six years, I had never left the estate except for the Crucia festival, so everything I saw was completely new.

Looking at it this way, I was basically Rapunzel, right? Though slightly different since I wasn’t locked up by someone else.

Once we reach the capital, we’ll probably just stay at the palace anyway.

Because then I really would have to stick close to Leonard.

Since there was no one else to see, it didn’t matter…

Ah, right. Enoch.

“Leonard.”

“Hmm?”

“What did you do with the letter I sent? Did you send it to the Emperor… I mean, Duke Defron?”

Even saying the name aloud felt awkward. The Defron Ducal family…

I never imagined a bloodless transfer of the throne could actually happen.

Or that it was even possible.

“…Why do you ask?”

“We’re going into the capital soon. We might meet, so I should know what happened to the letter.”

Leonard looked into the distance without replying.

Why is he like that?

I waited silently for an answer, but Leonard didn’t speak.

After a long silence, it was Gerald, not Leonard, who responded.

“Haha… seems you don’t remember.”

“Ah… really?”

I thought he remembered everything related to me. Apparently not.

“Probably, it wasn’t delivered to Duke Defron. There was no time to worry about that.”

“Then the Duke wouldn’t have received a reply, right?”

“Now that I think about it, yes. I should have taken care of it in advance, my apologies.”

“No, it’s fine. You must have been busy. Anyway, I wasn’t planning to accept, so it’s okay.”

I quickly waved my hand at Gerald, who was bowing.

Even if the Duke didn’t get a reply, he wouldn’t come chasing after us.

If that were the case, the Amelio estate would have been overrun with people.

I’ll write to Gilbert as soon as we reach the palace anyway, so we can do it then.

With that in mind, we passed through the gates of the capital.

I never expected what came next.

I never imagined someone would actually come looking for me just because I didn’t send a reply.

As soon as the carriage passed the gates, it slowed down.

There’s still quite a distance to the palace…

I glanced at Leonard, but he seemed just as confused.

When the carriage stopped completely, Leonard, who had been looking out the window, got down first.

“What’s going on?”

“Well…”

Behind the hesitant coachman, a group of knights appeared.

Seeing Leonard, the knights all bowed simultaneously.

“Your Majesty, the great sun of the Empire, we pay respects.”

Leonard waved his hand dismissively, as if annoyed.

At the mention of the Emperor, the people around murmured in awe.

Oh, he does look a bit like an Emperor when they say that.

“Did you stop the carriage?”

“We apologize. We didn’t realize it was the Emperor’s carriage…”

“Then who did you think it belonged to?”

Leonard exuded a chilling aura, as usual when his emotions were hard to control.

The knights shivered under the pressure, barely managing not to faint.

Their legs shook, faces turned pale, as if they might collapse at any moment.

…Wait? These faces look familiar.

“…Could it be Enoch…”

A memory suddenly surfaced, and I muttered the name absentmindedly.

Then the knights who had been trembling before Leonard all turned their gazes to me.

Ah, right. The carriage door was open.

“…Miss Loreina?”

At my name, Leonard flinched slightly.

Then a look of confusion was directed at me. Of course, he wouldn’t recognize me.

“These are the knights who came to the Amelio estate with Enoch four years ago.”

I whispered quietly into Leonard’s ear as I got down.

Now that my name had been spoken by the knights, I couldn’t just sit in the carriage.

“Hello. It’s been a long time. Four years, right?”

“You remember us!”

The knights covered their mouths in unison, eyes brimming with tears. I thought I even heard them swallow sobs mid-way.

“How can your heart be so warm!”

…I didn’t even try to remember them. My memory is just too good to forget.

But saying that now seemed pointless. No need to explain.

“Miss, could you accompany us briefly to the Defron Ducal estate?”

“Excuse me? The Defron Ducal estate?”

Why there all of a sudden?

“The Duke wishes to see you. If we mention the letter, he will probably understand…”

…Oh no. I didn’t expect them to send knights just because I didn’t reply.

How did they even know I came to the capital?

“Please, we beg you, Miss. Sorry, but come with us…”

“I refuse.”

The knights’ eyes widened at the sudden interruption.

Naturally, it wasn’t me who answered.

It was Leonard, leaning against the carriage, looking coldly at the knights. He tilted his head slightly and raised the corner of his mouth.

“What are you staring at? I already said no.”

His face showed not an ounce of a smile.

“No.”