I Didn’t Save You To Get Proposed To - Chapter 17
I had to leave the next morning to attend the Count Recesil banquet, but I didn’t have time to say goodbye to the Marchioness before leaving.
“Master Heim made a fuss last night. The madam has been looking for him since dawn.”
I was taken aback by the unexpected situation and spoke quickly.
“Then we’re not in a position to attend the banquet. Even if it’s only a greeting…”
“No.”
Niel cut me off and laughed as if he didn’t care.
“It’s not that serious. You don’t have to go.”
It was a calm tone, as if nothing had happened.
“You’re saying that when your brother tried to commit suicide?”
“It’s almost like a quarterly event. He wouldn’t have considered dying for real anyway.”
I recall the Marchioness’s concerned expression when she told me about her kid.
Because the eldest son next to me would not be able to receive the title, the younger son will be the heir, and I wondered whether Evgeny could be kept till the next generation.
“Let’s go. Mother will be embarrassed if you go.”
Niel said so, but she found it tough. There will be moments when I don’t know what I’m doing because of these mothers and sons.
‘It’s been less than a month since I came here as an adopted daughter, but I can’t stand it.’
Because of my previous experience living with my aunt, I understood I shouldn’t go out for no reason.
If I stayed still, I’d have to take a step in the middle. So Niel and I set out for Count Recesil.
It took a long time for the carriage to arrive at Count Recesil. It was like going to a banquet for hours in the evening and then coming back for a long time.
It wasn’t for nothing that young nobles went wild to be in the capital.
Niel remained silent and serious as soon as he sat beside me in the carriage.
I squinted for the first time at his expression. He looked pitiful when he was scolded by Dalton or the Marchioness, but he was nervous when he looked serious.
It will not be the next wizard tower owner that everyone recognizes.
“As expected, it’s strange.”
After a long time, it was his first words.
“The mana flow you’re exhaling is strange. In fact, I’ve never seen anything like it before. Normally, unless you’re very careful, I’m not sure, but it feels amazing when you’re in that strange posture or breathing.”
“But I’ve never learned how to do magic. I have no idea what Mana is. The peculiar posture or breathing you’re referring to is, uh, mind-and-body meditation.”
“Meditation?”
“Ugh— It’s a training method known only to the royal family of Artise. It’s called yoga—”
When something difficult to explain occurred, it was fortunate that there was something to sell.
“So you haven’t experienced anything unusual?” Niel looked even more dumbfounded.
“Despite the fact that your body has become abnormally thin during this ridiculous period? You also appear to be a little different.”
I was taken aback. ‘Abnormal’ seemed to be the right words, as expected.
Niel examines my face and body.
I wasn’t offended because I felt like I was being examined in a hospital, but I couldn’t help but cringe.
“Normally, no matter how much you diet, your body can’t give you half of it so quickly without any side effects. Have you never thought of that as strange?”
‘I thought it was strange! I just couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone.’
I felt as if I had heard a cliche about why I had come to the hospital now.
I replied seriously, wondering if the next development would be my time limit.
“It was strange. I hadn’t done yoga in a long time, but I’ve recently resumed. Strangely, I lost a lot of weight after that.”
Niel nodded slowly, as if confirming the theory. Then, with a more serious expression, he said.
“Let me hold your hand. I really need to look into something.”
There is no one here who will not lend a helping hand. Fortunately, Dalton was not in the carriage.
I reached out casually, and he took my hand carefully.
Warm energy flowed all over the body at the time, to the point of thrill.
“………”
Niel became even more serious and continued to stare at my face.
I asked cautiously because I was bothered by the silence.
“Why?”
Niel said, his eyes firm, sweeping over his soft blue hair.
“You—You’ve used dark magic. It’s strong enough to pierce all of the blood vessels. It’s incredible because no one else can use black magic.”
“—What do you mean?”
I opened my mouth wide.
My mind began to spinning.
‘Did Elsia ever use black magic? Why would she die if she had the ability to do so?’
Niel started trimming his nails.
His eyes were trembling, and he seemed to be thinking about everything.
“It’s difficult. I’m not familiar with black magic. Because there are so few people who know about black magic, I can’t think of anyone else who would be a good expert besides the Lord of Wizard Tower. What am I supposed to do with this?”
‘Wait a minute.’
Ixion has already heard something similar from me.
I don’t know; all I know is what I knew.
‘He’ll need another dark magic material later. The price of black magic is the soul of the royal family.’
‘The Black Magic could only be used by Artise royalty, and the cost of the Black Magic is the royal family’s soul? Is there any other royal family Elsia could have killed?’
No, there was a soul she could give in exchange.
It’s herself.
I swallowed dry saliva as I remembered the moment I took possession.
Exactly the moment I could hear the wishes of the possessed body.
“….Elsia?”
Niel took a close look at my stunned expression.
Niel couldn’t bear interrogating me because he knew I was always calm.
I’ve been lost in thought for a long time, staring out the window of the carriage.
‘I have a gut feeling. I got it. This is not the end of the story. There are still seeds of unhappiness and anxiety.’
There seemed to be something more left, than just to sit around in the Marquis.
******
After feeding sleeping pills and putting him to sleep, Mela pressed her tired eyes into the office.
At this time, she even blamed the fallen Marquis.
No matter how hard she tried, it was sometimes too much for her to bear to deal with everything on her own.
Mela, who was listening to the documents, mails, and butler’s reports that had to be processed every day, jumped up and down because of the ridiculous news.
“Wait, what?”
Mela, unlike her, cried with excitement.
“Say it again. From the start, again!”
The butler calmly arranged the case in chronological order and began reporting again.
“The Crown Prince’s army was supposed to be stationed in the occupied area, and Prince Ixion had recently arrived in the capital. And he immediately sent Lady Elsia a marriage proposal, which arrived last night.”
It was a proposal that arrived before word of Ixion’s trip to the capital got this far. In addition—
“Lady Elsia wrote a short refusal.”
“Is there a refusal? Are you certain? Refusal? No way, what the hell?”
Of course, the butler couldn’t tell why.
The butler replied with a nod.
“It must have come out of nowhere. He’s not teasing her; he’s asking her to marry him after destroying her country.”
The butler had no idea why Elsia refused, or why the Marchioness was so restless.
Everyone in the Marquis was confused as to why Mela had suddenly adopted the ruined royal daughter as her adopted daughter.
“Or is it possible that it’s in the wrong place? Prince Ixion is the one who destroyed Artise. The combination is strange no matter how you look at it.”
“No… It isn’t.”
Mela mumbled, biting her nails, having forgotten her culture.
Mela, of course, is aware of Elsia and Ixion’s relationship.
‘Perhaps if I were Princess Elsia, I would never have forgotten. I honestly believe Prince Elsia came to the banquet today, risking all of this for the Prince.’
She was also certain of Elsia’s feelings for him.
‘Oh, really—like it’s a romance novel I read when I’m teenager. A heartbreaking story about falling in love with an enemy country’s king—.’
She reassured herself that all of the stories she had told Ixion could not have been the fault of a middle-aged woman who had lost her senses, and she suppressed the anxiety that was rising.
Three years ago, at the victory banquet, Elsia looked at Ixion as if she were looking at the Savior, but Mela sat down slowly, recalling the image.
“You haven’t already sent a letter of refusal, have you?”
“Yes, the horse rider needs to rest, so he said he’ll leave after lunch.”
“Then please send my letter as well.”
Mela hurriedly opened the parchment.
Elsia could not have refused because she disliked Ixion. She, on the other hand, would have assumed it was a bad match for him.
It’s the kind of combination where even a clueless butler says something out of the blue.
She had the impression that she was not greedy while living with Elsia. She is the Princess of a ruined country, and she has endured nothing but ridicule for three years.
Furthermore, she had repeatedly stated that she was tired of everything so far and that she preferred living at the Marquis without doing anything.
Every time this happened, she felt sorry for how painful the past had been.
With her self-esteem so low, she must be taken aback to learn that someone she likes is proposing. So she had to have rejected it because she thought it was out of his price range.
Mela nodded as the sentence came to an end.
“I see—It was pure love that didn’t want to be rewarded—.”
If Elsia tried to avoid it like this, there was only one way. They must meet face to face and inform her that Ixion is serious.
‘I have already promised to fully repay her heart.’
Even if Elsia thinks so, if she looks him in the eyes and hears his tone, she will not be broken.
Elsia is now beautiful and has Evgeny’s surname.
When she met him in person and found herself in a romantic situation, she assumed she would simply follow her heart.
And Ixion has yet to see Elsia’s transformation.
He’d be surprised to see Elsia with such distinct body shapes and features. Perhaps he won’t recognize her? She anticipated that they would need a natural meeting before marrying.
Mela regained her composure and began to write beautifully.
