Chapter 51

I can’t push this person who expresses with his whole body that I was his whole world.

But since the remnants of my previous life remain as nightmares and haunt me, I couldn’t pull him to me.

I have to leave you someday, so please don’t cross the line I’ve drawn.

“I’ll go.”

“Want me to see you off?”

“I will decline.”

Tess looked tearful again. Tess always made me feel weird when he looked like that, but I pretended nothing was wrong.

“Sit here. Don’t even leave the room.”

I touched the man’s hair as he was pouting his mouth, and he quickly loosened up.

“Ah.”

Tess tilted his head curiously as I abruptly stopped and turned around. His black hair falls down gently.

“You don’t have to kill LlLi Xuen. Well, to be honest, I was the one who felt more guilty.”

In short, using Lili Xuen’s incident as an excuse, I could decide whether to grill or fry Marquisate Xuen. Apparently, there’s no way Tess will let Lili Xuen go free, and if that’s the case, my goal is accomplished.

“Yes.”

Judging from Tess’ wide-smiling face, it seems that Marquisate Xuen will be fine.

* * *

Clash! Clash! Clash!

Once a week, it was a sparring day with Ethyl.

It’s because I hide it, but I actually have much better physical strength. But Ethyl has better technique, so sparring like this helped quite a lot. It’s a different feeling from Ber.

“What did you do to become so strong?”

Ethyl asked as he wiped his sweat after the sparring.

“Am I really strong? Why, you too. You recognized me as your rival.”

“That’s not what…… !”

Ethyl’s face turned red as an apple in an instant, and he gulped down the water.

“Young Master, a guest has arrived.”

“Who?”

“Xuen’s first lady.”

“Aurin? Euseniel, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t call her, so don’t think of anything else. Understand?”

“Yes.”

As I answered slowly while drinking the water, Ethyl looked at me suspiciously to see if I had understood his words.

“Euseniel, Lord Ethyl.”

Upon entering the building, I saw Aurin and we naturally moved to Ethyl’s study.

“I went to Hardland to see Euel, and I heard that you went there.”

As we each took our place, Aurin immediately spoke of her purpose.

“Look, I didn’t call her, right?”

“Okay, stop it.”

Ethyl shut his mouth after I frowned once. Aurin brought up the point with a nonchalant expression.

“I have decided to inherit the position of head of the family.”

“What?”

After drawing a rough picture of what had happened, I silently nodded my head. Ethyl looked surprised.

“Since you two are my friends, I wanted to tell you first.”

“The Marquis? What happened?”

“He decided to retire.”

Looking at the still dumbfounded Ethyl, I said a word.

“By the way, are you two still talking so formally?”

I alternately pointed my finger at me and Aurin, and me and Ethyl.

“You talked comfortably to me, but why are you two like this? It’s awkward. Why don’t you speak comfortably?”

“That’s-”

“-Yes, that’s a good idea.”

I looked at Aurin, who quickly affirmed it. Ethyl blinked his eyes a few times, as he couldn’t help it, shaking his head.

“Yes. So, congratulations.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he added, “…… Aurin.”

“Thank you.”

Aurin smiled broadly, which was rare. And Ethyl widened his eyes in surprise.

Because of Aurin’s arrival, I finished the sparring earlier than usual and left Bonart.

“Thank you, Euseniel.”

“What.”

“It’s all thanks to you.”

After sending the Xuen family’s carriage back, we were on our way back together in my family’s carriage. I was going to drop off Aurin and go to the mansion.

“His Majesty asked. The position of Marquis Xuen will be vacant soon, so why don’t I assume the title of head of the house?”

Aurin’s voice was calm.

“It wasn’t that Nus didn’t come to mind for a while, but I accepted. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t greedy for the position.”

So, in exchange for preventing Lili Xuen from being executed, Marquis Xuen took the responsibility and decided to give up the position of head of the family. The position of head of Marquisate Xuen became vacant. So Tess gave this position to Aurin.

“Well, in fact, His Majesty didn’t seem to have any intention of giving Nus a place as head of the family.”

“Why?”

“He asked me like this. Which one would I choose, to abolish the Xuen family or to become the head of the family?”

…… I broke out in a cold sweat thinking that the reason Nus didn’t become the Marquis was because of me. Should I bail him out?

Aurin even talked about not knowing when Nus would return to the capital, and my mouth went dry. Tess, what the hell is that bastard doing!

“No matter what Nus says, I won’t regret it.”

“You see, Aurin.”

“Yes?”

“What about Ethyl? What are you going to do?”

Aurin’s face blurred for the first time.

“You like Ethyl.”

“Right, I like him. I’ve always liked him since I was little.”

Aurin nodded graciously. The mention of Ethyl, which appeared in her letter at some point, increased as time passed. So I only noticed it then.

There was one person in the mind of nine-year-old Aurin, who asked me, ‘Are you two close?’

She already knew where Ethyl’s heart was. Unfortunately, I had no intention of accepting Ethyl.

“I still like him.”

Ethyl did not confess to me. So I had no reason to reject him. Besides, Ethyl was a good friend who kept the line, so I was just keeping that distance.

“Ethyl isn’t the only thing in the Bonart family, but the Duke cherishes him a lot. He wouldn’t want to give him to another family.”

“I know.”

Aurin answered right away as if she had already thought about it a lot.

“That was the part I struggled with the most. But I don’t know when he’ll look at me, and I can’t afford to wait and crave affection.”

It was clear that my friend already knew who Ethyl liked.

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