Chapter 28
TL-Mechatronic
My heart was pounding and trembling as if magic resonated. Just like the day when I met him while dying.
I finally met Kizef again.
With a freed body.
Kizef didn’t know anything, but Luciel wanted to ask him for forgiveness.
I hope we don’t face ruin this time.
I wish you happiness.
Kizef, who had saved her from being killed by the Crown Prince and even forgave Luciel at the last moment of her life, was right in front of her.
His eyes that were looking at her at that moment were still vivid in her mind.
I hope you will be free in your next life.’
As Kizef said, Luciel was set free.
I wish I could help you in this life.’
Before that, I’ll have to get Bellstein’s protection first, but…
Luciel stared at the boy again with delightful and earnest eyes, as if she had met an old friend. He was taller than his peers, and his indifferent expression was mixed with some discomfort. Luciel quickly realized that the uncomfortable feeling was because of her.
When his blood-red eyes rolled and gazed at her, his brow narrowed even more.
“Am I not to his liking?’
She even bought a new dress with the Duke, but her looks seemed to fall short. Even so, Kizef’s beauty was not something of this world.
Is it because of demon blood?
He was a beautiful boy capable of even enchanting those who viewed him as the devil. Clear facial features as if they were made by a demon, dark blonde hair like honey, porcelain skin whiter than a woman, and strawberry lips. There was only admiration.
Kizef dryly looked at the Duke and said.
“What brings you all the way here?”
He was blunt and cold-hearted as if he was dealing with strangers. Like a hedgehog with prickles all over his body, Luciel felt sorry for him, as it seemed he distanced himself from even his father.
As if it had always been like this, the Duke had a rather slow pitch while replying.
“I’m here to ask your intention to marry Luciel.”
“I have already given you my answer by letter.”
From Kizef’s cold reply, Luciel could already feel it. He doesn’t want to get married.
Judging from the look on his face, her first meeting with Kizef seemed to be worse than she had thought. Luciel thought quietly, it was to be expected that he would not want to marry her, but she wasn’t going to get hurt. I will be able to persuade him.
“Rather than finish everything by letter, I decided that it would be better to meet once and make a decision after. Even if it’s a contract marriage, you have to meet the fiancée-to-be at least once.”
At the Duke’s words, Kizef let out a light sight. It was an era in which marriage was fully carried out in writing, as long as the family’s advantages were clearly discerned. As such, the marriage system was a transaction in which both families weighed each other’s gains and losses.
But if it’s Count Orbia…He had no idea what would benefit the Duchy of Bellstein. Wasn’t it the Duke who was more concerned with the family’s gains and losses than anyone else? Kisef thought it was not like his father.
The Duke beckoned Luciel to come closer.
“Luciel, come here. This is the fiancée I pointed out, Kizef. It must be the first time to see him in person.”
“Yes.”
Luciel looked up at Kizef with a nostalgic expression on her face. He was within reach of her hand, but the awkwardness did not diminish.
Kizef glanced at the little girl in front of him. A little silver-haired girl who seemed to be Leoni’s age. A small and fragile-looking child, akin to a snow rabbit.
‘It feels like I should be raising children rather than getting married?’
Under her transparent silver hair, the clear crimson eyes were mysterious as if they had been removed once and embedded in the jewelry.
But the child, her gaze looking at himself was strange, Is it a sad yet welcoming look? It felt as if she recognized him. He doesn’t know why she sees
himself with those eyes, but the child’s shining jewellike eyes seemed to contain a story.
‘The Count Orbia…!
This academy was also a small aristocratic society. All sorts of rumors had been heard, but she was a child of such an ordinary County, to the extent that nothing was gossiped about the family.
He thought the child was a little pitiful to try a marriage contract at such a young age.
“I’m Kizef von Bellstein.”
“…I’m Luciel, Young master Bellstein.”
Luciel greeted him as she gently grabbed the hem of her dress. Then said with moist eyes.
“I think this marriage is sudden. I understand the heart of the Young Master.”
The doll was talking. Kizef thought so for a moment, unable to take his eyes off her. It would be better for this child to be protected in the family until she grows up enough and then meet a real reliable man rather than himself.
I thought it would be better to refuse in advance to hurt even a little less.
Kizef deliberately lowered his cold voice even more and conveyed his intentions accurately.
“Thank you for your understanding. I’m sorry, but I have no intention of marrying the Young Lady.”
“Oh…”
Luciel was trying to talk about the terms of the contract, but she was briefly speechless by his resolute rejection. Even so, she couldn’t give up after coming all the way here. Luciel’s crimson eyes fluttered, making Kizef think she might cry. But instead of crying, the child clenched her small fists and pounded the table lightly.
“Young Master Bellstein!”
The child’s eyes shone more vividly.
“It is too much to refuse without even hearing the terms yet.”
Luciel bit her small lower lip. Soon, her lips protruded like a duckling. This time, the child’s face really turned into tears.
“……Even hearing the terms of the marriage will not change my mind.”
Luciel’s small shoulders dropped helplessly as she watched Kizef speak in a cut-throat tone. The Duke, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, said.
“I’m sorry, Luciel. No matter how much my son says ino, I cannot force him to marry if he does not like it.”
“…Yes, you are right.”
Even the Duke was so conclusive that she felt regretful and disappointed.
‘I can no longer receive the protection of the Bellstein family. I have to find my own way.’
There must be another way to live. Luciel rolled her head around thinking about other options.
The Duke looked at Luciel and Kizef, rubbing the corner of his chin while seemingly agonizing for a long time. No matter how much he thought about it, it was a pity to lose Luciel like this.
‘1 expected Kizef not to back down, but… even after he saw Luciel who came all the way here, this is a bit…no,
it may be better. It’s not bad to be brother and sister Then I will have a daughter.’
The Duke who made such a conclusion by himself smiled brightly. Just in time, the principal came to the drawing room.
“Sir, can I share something I haven’t talked about before?”
“Okay. You guys wait here.”
After the Duke spoke to the two, he disappeared with the principal.
Luciel was contemplating how to put up with this awkwardness while Kizef glanced back at nothing with a dry expression on his face. She was so lost, Luciel was thinking going back home might actually be better at this point.
As expected, I don’t want it to end like this. Let’s say it one last time.
Luciel stepped forward to meet her gaze with Kizet’s, but it was to no avail because he was two heads taller than her. So she climbed onto the sofa in the parlor.
Only then did his red eyes roll and reach Luciel, who was wriggling.
“Young Lady? What are you doing….”
“Should we talk casually when we’re together?”
Luciel smiled brightly and said so.
Theard that Kizef was thirteen, so he was four years apart. When Luciel turns ten they will be three years apart.
Kizef’s face turned slightly bewildered. He had a dukelike face when he made such an expression. Luciel
smiled a little, as if she was looking back at the Duke’s childhood.
“…as you like.”
Obviously, Kizef was looking down at her with less cold eyes compared to before.
“Good.”
Luciel took a deep breath and opened her eyes wide. Her tense hands were clasping her white dress tightly, She didn’t know that she would have to beg the boy to marry her in their first meeting, but her pride didn’t matter now.
“Hey, I’m not that pretty and you may not like it”.
Luciel, who ignited her battle spirit, became even more embarrassed by her slightly louder voice. Her condition was doubled by Kizef’s stare, who was looking straight at her, making Luciel’s cheeks red and flushed.
But she couldn’t help it.
Because that’s how much she doesn’t want to leave Bellstein.
Grandpa Gillard, who always loved her, the Duke who took care of Luciel while pretending not to, Leoni, who became a close friend, Rose and Bessie who were like real sisters, kind Ellington and Eva, and the chef who cooked sweet food, were all precious to Luciel. Because it has become her happy daily routine
She didn’t want to lose it.
Above all, the destruction of Bellstein could not happen. It was a future that only Luciel herself could change.
“… Listen one more time, then decide.”
At Luciel’s words, his eyes had a curious light, but Kizef pretended not to be interested and said proudly with his arms crossed.
“I know you don’t like me as a marriage partner, but we have a reason to be together.”
“…I don’t hate it.”
“What?”
You don’t hate it?
I thought he didn’t want to marry a young child. At first glance, he looked more like a mature youngling compared to the child-like Luciel.
Her crimson eyes fluttered in confusion for a moment, Kizef, whose eyes deepened even more, had quite a serious gaze.
“I saw you for the first time today, so there’s no way! could hate you.”
“It’s not that I hate you, I just don’t want to marry
you.”
In that brief moment, Luciel was relieved for a second, She is glad to not be hated by him.
“Then what do you think about staying married until adulthood? Then I will definitely divorce you.”
Kizef’s head tilted.
“…Until you become an adult?”
“…Yes. It is a contract marriage with the premise of divorce. This is the condition I was talking about.”