I Refuse To Reject His Proposal - Chapter 3
-ˏˋ♡꒷︶꒦꒷︶︶︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷♡ˎˊ˗
(3rd Person POV)
Eileen clenched her fists, resisting the desire to raise her disgruntled gaze at Archduke Rihast. Only after her nails dig into her flesh, calming her nerves that she was able to turn her stiff head to him.
‘It’s pheromones.’
If it were recessive alphas, the pheromones would only make someone feel reluctant. However, it wasn’t the case for this dominant royalty alpha. That is also why the butler was holding his neck in pain. It was a dominant alpha’s pheromones that could make someone fall down so easily. Her dominant omega brother must have felt his strong pheromones and reacted to it as well, causing that thud from earlier.
Eileen forced her clenched lips up, hoping that her smile would hide the inner complicated feelings she had as she pretended to relax.
“What do you mean there’s a rat? No matter how old the house is, the servants take good care of it.”
“Then the sound we just heard does not belong to a rat? Should we go and check it out?”
“That’s up to my family’s butler. It’s the job of the person who leads Claudia’s household. Thank you for your concern.”
The gaze of Archduke Rihast returned to Eileen. Her words and gaze drew the clear line of not paying attention to what was happening in other people’s houses.
‘Will I be able to keep this up?’
It was getting more and more burdensome, but Archduke Rihast showed no signs of backing down. A tight confrontation continued in a space where pheromones couldn’t be seen. It was Archduke Rihast who broke the silence first.
“A zealous alpha that seems to be powerless, a beta that would fall backwards with just a flick of a finger, and other betas babbling around us.”
The Archduke’s ruthless voices echoed in her ears and her heart tightened.
Archduke Rihast, who was referring to the butler (the powerless alpha), herself (the faint beta), and the knights outside (the babbling betas) with a stoic expression.
“How relaxed can you be?”
Eileen used a small amount of energy to keep her smile intact.
Every word from Archduke Rihast scratched her heart mercilessly. He was openly showing disrespect towards the Claudia household because of the beta and omega’s treatment.
His articles were lacking and it seemed random, but he was definitely referring to the Claudia household. Eileen had to force herself to be quiet while he was insulting the loyal people who treated her and her brother courteously.
“Is being an alpha or beta important here?”
“Should I have phrased it differently, then?”
“Yes.”
“Therefore…”
Eileen swallowed her dry saliva and suppressed the tension coming from the archduke’s dangerously low voice.
“I want to check it out myself.”
It was no different from ‘Do you still dare to refuse when you seem lacking and come up with those ridiculous reasons?’
“Did you have the right to refuse?”
“The person who says that is actually…”
Eileen was going to ask if he had the right to interfere with their family matters when he was completely unrelated to them.
Her eyes widened because the Archduke closed their distance. It was surprising and threatening at the same time because it seemed as if his rigid body was pressing her. However, he only passed by Eileen and climbed the stairs without hesitation, making her face lose its color.
Lloyd Rihast went up to look for Ethan himself. Perhaps releasing his pheromones was to determine whether the person he was looking for was inside or not. The words they spewed were so natural like flowing water.
‘If I don’t stop him, he’ll definitely find Ethan!’
Eileen, who was filled with urgency, chased after the Archduke with her heart tightening every passing second. Finalizing her thoughts, she desperately reached out towards him.
“The answer to your proposal.”
Archduke Rihast’s steps had paused. As he turned slowly, Eileen swallowed another dry breath.
The gap between their heights was already big, but she had to raise her head higher even when she climbed a couple of steps above. The abnormally different eye level felt like the huge power gap between her and the archduke. It seems like she called and looked up to someone she shouldn’t have.
The pressure was burdening her.
“I’ll accept it.”
Eileen couldn’t organize all the rising thoughts and said the conclusion recklessly.
“I’ll marry you.”
At the archduke’s overwhelming gaze, Eileen barely endured her body wanting to curl up. She remembered she declined it earlier because she didn’t want the two of them to get involved any other way, but couldn’t think of any alternative.
Eileen was saddened by the fact that she was not given a little more time. However, the Archduke’s next words made her heart pound in nervousness.
Archduke Rihast, who was looking at Eileen’s face, turned with an indifferent face.
“I don’t have time for formality. We have to go and prepare right away.”
In response to his clerical answer, Eileen nodded heavily.
“Please give me a little more time.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? I said I didn’t have time.”
Archduke Rihast pulled Eileen’s forearm. She had to go out as if she was being dragged out, not enough that she was already forcing herself to go out with him.
A carriage was blocking the entrance of the mansion where the Archduke came from. The opened doors of the carriage seemed like a monster’s opened mouth. Eileen, who stood in front of it unknowingly, put a number of strength on her feet.
‘I would never come back if I rode this.’
However, Prince Rihast, who was bothered by Eileen’s hesitation, lightly tapped her back.
“Come on.”
Under the subtle pressure from Archduke Rihast, Eileen reluctantly stepped into the carriage. It was a carriage with a special plate so that pheromones would not leak out. Due to the high price, not all noble carriages were equipped with it.
Then, there was one conclusion she could make by this.
‘Mean person.’
He meant to come and take anyone right away. There was no room for negotiation.
She stared at the wall of the carriage, then opened the window as the carriage slowly began to move.
The mansion was moving away. Eileen thought of her brother in the attic. Ethan would come to know everything and will find her actions absurd. A sister who puts him in the attic and follows Prince Rihast as his wife.
‘But this is the best I can do.’
Eileen closed her eyes that gleamed in a pitiful light.
Everything would be out of her control the moment Ethan steps inside the carriage. She refused to let that tragedy happen again.
She grabbed her necklace. Whenever she was anxious or sad, Eileen held that necklace. Whether it has any ability or not, her mind is at ease just by holding it.
Eileen, who was closing her eyes for a while and feeling the border of the pendant necklace, recalled something she was previously unaware of.
“This necklace…”
Eileen picked up her necklace. The pendant, which combines Ethan’s name and her name like a pattern, has a simple yet antique-like atmosphere.
Eileen looked at it gently and opened it in half. There was a family picture inside. She, who was endlessly focusing on a family photo taken by four people, including her parents and her brother, put her forehead on the pendant.
All the terrible things she went through were real.
Everything, even the fact that Ethan committed suicide after marrying the Archduke, their family’s ruin, and her experience of unhappy marriage was real. She wanted all of it to be a dream. However, Eileen fell off a cliff and died, and time came back.
It was this necklace that proved all that had happened. Why was she only aware of it now? The pendant necklace she was wearing was a gift she gave to commemorate Ethan’s wedding.
It’s something that can never happen right now.… It was an object from the future.
-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-
“Are you really going?”
Ethan looked back at Eileen’s question. He apologized to Archduke Rihast as he walked towards her. As usual, Ethan said while patting her affectionately.
“Grandfather said this. The marriage of our family and Archduke Rihast is a fortune that will never happen again. I thought you were going to be the chosen one, but I didn’t expect myself to be the mate.”
“Oppa, can you not go?”’
“Eileen. Don’t cry.”
Ethan looked at his younger sister as if she were cute. The brother, who was always sweet, lowered his hand that was petting Eileen’s head and touched her cheek.
“I expected this day to come from the moment I became an Omega. This is a fate that we cannot escape, so let’s accept it. I’ll come often even when I get married. Also, do you want to come over sometimes?”
“But you have to marry someone you love.”
Ethan was neither sad nor discouraged even though he was marrying for political reasons.
He took it calmly as if it were his destiny.
“Of course, it’s best to marry someone you love. But there’s something that needs to be considered first. Family, traits, things like that.”
Ethan added as he thought that his explanation was insufficient.
“This is a secret, but I really like the smell of pheromones from that man’s body right now. So, I don’t hate this marriage either.”
Ethan’s expression when he said that was not good, but Eileen accepted it straight away because it was something she didn’t know about.
“You’ll know if you manifest your second gender too.”
“Do you like it?”
“Hmm? What?”
Ethan, who didn’t hear it, bowed his head toward Eileen.
“Do you like being Omega?”’
Eileen asked while looking at her brother’s pretty face which appeared in her childhood.
When asked by Eileen, Ethan tilted his head and seriously pondered. Ethan, who had never just passed his younger sister’s questions since he was young, did not answer easily this time. After agonizing for quite a long time, he spoke.
[ Cale Notes: CLIFFHANGER?!!! NO I CANNOT LET THIS BE! I will proceed to the next chapter, give me a while, I’ll do it immediately because it’s still early. Also, I apologize if I’m not updating frequently, I have school to do and stuff, plus, this actually needs lots of effort to tl especially since I only use machine tl and I can’t read Korean characters. I’ll do my best by instead giving you a mass release, however, I apologize if the tl is not good, thank you for understanding. ]
(Kyesha Note: Guys Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 were Revised due to some changes. And Cale my lovess thank you for ur Hardwork!)
TO BE CONTINUED…
