Translator and Editor: Maru and Tea
Chapter 67
If you asked me what I wanted to do, the answer was obvious.
The Selen family who had been yelling at me suddenly became mute while putting on sad eyes like a puppy in the rain.
Of course, Jane still looked as hostile as ever.
“I’m not sure. What do you think I should do?”
I wanted to torture them more with false hope.
“You don’t look like you want to give them any help.”
“How do you know?”
“I can tell just by looking at your eyes.”
His fingers gently caressed my cheek. Even though he pretended to be confident, his fingers were trembling.
At that moment, I was convinced.
This man was Luca. His eyes and appearance both resembled the Duke, but he was radiating with the kindness that only Luca had.
“Leona.”
When he called me again, I finally made up my mind.
“Kick them out.”
“As my wife wishes.”
He shook his hands as if dealing with a trivial matter, and the knights started to drag them out.
“H-Hold on! Don’t you remember who raised you, Leona?!”
You raised her worse than a dog, though.
“You can’t be like this!”
How do you expect different treatment when you sold your own daughter?
“You’ll regret it! I was so embarrassed because of you! You..!”
“I’ve been working to death and suffered so many unspeakable things because of you. So there’s nothing to fear now. It’s no use trying to scare me with any threats.”
Goodbye, my dear family.
I even waved my hands to them and laughed. They were dragged away still unable to realize their situation.
“Do you have money?”
“Money?”
The Duke tilted his head. Hearing the word ‘money’, Leona’s father grabbed and held on to the door casing, turning his head back.
“That’s right! You’re still my daughter! Give me your money!”
Meanwhile, the Duke took a small wallet out of his pocket.
“How much do you need? This is what I have right now.”
He opened his wallet that was filled with gold coins. I pulled one gold coin from it and headed to my father who extended one of his hands.
“What are you doing!”
“I want to give you money.”
“Yeah! Come on. Where’s the money bag?!”
As he let go of his grip on the door, I placed one gold coin on his hand.
“Hey! What is this!”
“You said you were very hungry. Please have an enjoyable dinner with your family before heading home.”
“Leona!”
“Then, go home safely. Knights, remove them.”
“Yes!”
I felt relieved seeing them getting dragged away without even letting go of the gold coin.
I hope this could compensate for Leona’s life even a little bit. The sound of their screams resounded in the hallway, and I waved at them for a long time.
“Are you feeling a little better?”
“Probably.”
“That’s a relief.”
I turned around to face the Duke.
“It’s all thanks to you, Luca.”
“Luca?”
“Until when are you going to fool me? They’ve moved away, and you don’t have to pretend anymore.”
His eyes trembled after I spoke. He looked at me for a long time.
“If it’s hard to talk here, should we go inside and talk?”
“Since when?”
“What?”
“Since when did you know I was Luca, Ms. Leona?”
In an instant, his tone became friendly again.
“So I was right.”
“I thought you wouldn’t know until the end.”
“Because Luca is the only one who speaks in such a sweet tone to me.”
The duke’s red eyes were like burning flames. A flame that would burn everything to the ground.
However, the red eyes that Luca had right now were more like a furnace. It gave warmth to people around him.
“I’m touched that you recognized me even though I didn’t tell you.”
“Luca.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been wanting to ask you. Your eyes…are they originally red? Or…”
I wondered why he could change his eye color so easily. Even the Duke didn’t seem to be bothered as if it happened often.
“Do you like this appearance? Leona. I will gladly live the way you want me to.”
“Luca…I like it as long as it’s Luca. It doesn’t matter if your eyes are red or golden.”
“How was my appearance today?”
“You look perfect. I was fooled at first. Honestly, I didn’t think that the Duke would come here for me, but Luca’s disguise worked so well that I thought you really were the Duke standing for me.”
He grinned, perhaps delighted by my words.
“That’s a relief. To answer your question, my eyes are originally red. The golden eyes are the fake ones.”
“…That means you look exactly like the Duke, don’t you…? Luca, this might sound absurd, but…are you secretly his twin brother who was abandoned when you were young? Then you went to the duchy for revenge…”
I was so serious. But Luca only smiled so brightly that his eyes crinkled up.
“Sometimes, Ms. Leona tends to say absurd things. If that’s the truth, I wouldn’t have let the Duke know that my eyes are red.”
“Ahh…does he know?”
“I think you sound disappointed.”
“A little. I was going to ask Luca to steal the Duke’s position!”
His hand approached my cheek calmly.
“Do you want that?”
“My heart fluttered earlier.”
“…Me too. My heart fluttered when I called you my wife.”
“But Luca and the duke are different persons. That’s too bad. Then, shall we go now?”
My heart was beating so hard hearing Luca answering my questions honestly.
I shouldn’t have loved him.
Rere was supposed to be the only one for me, but without realizing it, I already poured out my feelings to him.
So as if nothing had happened, I smiled and walked ahead of him.
“I want to see Rere quickly.”
“Leona will leave someday, right?”
The voice that called my name was calmer than ever.
“If I tell you honestly, will you tell the Duke? Well, I have no problem even if you tell him.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not like I won’t leave just because he tells me not to. I just want the Duke to give up his feelings for me.”
“…So you’re determined to leave in the end.”
The fact the Duke had feelings for me did not really bother him. He was more bothered by my plan to leave.
“If I become a Duke, will you still leave then?”
“…Luca can’t be Duke. Luca is Luca.”
“That’s right. But I’ve become a little greedy after I called you my wife.”
“Then steal it in a cool way. Who knows? He might revoke my position as a contract duchess?”
His eyes that only looked at me affectionately shook greatly.
“Don’t regret saying that.”
“Are you really going to steal the Duke’s position?”
“No way.”
He said that, but the atmosphere around him changed in an instant. Because of that, I stared at him blankly and stopped walking.
“Aren’t you going?”
“Oh, yeah, let’s go. But Luca….don’t ever do anything reckless, okay?”
“Of course.”
No one could ever steal the Duke’s position. And Luca was…just a knight.
An unknown anxiety struck me, but I tried hard to erase it.
I didn’t think he truly loved me, so he wouldn’t do something reckless for my sake.
At that time, from a distance, Rere ran toward me.
“Big~ Bu~nny~”
Running with Ugly in her arms, Rere smiled brighter than ever. As the distance neared, Rere jumped to me without slowing down.
“Why did you take so long!”
“Rere, I’m sorry. Did you wait for a long time?”
“Yeeah! I’ve been waiting for a long time! I was worried if Big Bunny was too soft on those people!”
“Really? Fortunately, I scolded them just as Rere taught me.”
“Big Bunny, did you scold your family?”
“Yeah. They’re so mean that I can’t even call them my family.”
“But did you just let them go? You should’ve at least thrown poop water on them!”
“Huh? But my family didn’t do anything other than speak badly, though?”
“Still! Gosh, why are there so many bad people in the world! Even family could be mean to other family members! Don’t let them slide next time, okay?!”
I leaned down and held Rere in my arms.
“Okay, Rere!”
“Hihi~ my pretty bunny is learning well. Ah, but you know what? It’s been a while since I’ve been alone without Big Bunny, right?”
“Yeah!”
“So I thought of something.”
“What is it?”
“Do you know why we met?”
“Why?”
“Rere prayed everyday and asked God to let me have a mom who loves me. That’s why we met!”
“But you said you don’t believe in god?”
When Rere said that, she averted her gaze elsewhere as if embarrassed.
“That’s because he made me meet Big Bunny so late…but I believe in God now!”
Rere smiled brightly. Even her white teeth were lovely.
“Anyway! I always wondered who my mom was. But I guess God really loves Rere. Because he sent me a pretty bunny!”
“Yeah!”
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