My Uncle and I Choose the Life That Will Not Be Ruined - Chapter 30

Sitting on the bench where Miriella left off, Leon was frozen.

Was I able to speak calmly. Didn’t I hurt Miriella, who was nervous and tried her best to convey her feelings.

It’s been a little over a year since he became a teacher. Up until now, he had received letters from schoolgirls and had been made a fuss about many times. In Leon’s eyes, it looked like a so-called “heating up on a handsome idol”.

After all, he is a target character for otome games.

It’s natural for female students to approach him because his appearance is based on the premise of being popular with women. Knowing that, he politely and quickly refused everything.

But this time it’s different.

Unable to move, Leon sat still until the sun began to set.

—————————

There were already a handful of teachers left in the staff room where the afternoon sun was shining.

Aiming for his seat with unsteady steps, Leon bumped into several desks and chairs as he walked.

A senior (senpai) teacher approached Leon, who was advancing while making rattling noises, looking concerned.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m okay.”

Leon reflexively returned it, but suddenly stopped and stared at the man in front of him.

“Vail-sensei, you’re married, aren’t you?”

“Un. I have a wife and also a child.”

Vail had a friendly smile on his face. He has a beloved wife and five-year-old daughter, which he professes to his students.

Having touched his own red hair, Leon hesitantly turned to face Vail. But he didn’t know what to say about how he was feeling.

“If you are having trouble that is causing you worry, I’ll listen.”

“Ah, yes. No, but…”

“I won’t force you to talk though.”

A chair that makes a squealing noise is drawn, and Vail sits down. He urged Leon to sit down as well.

Dusk is coming soon. From outside, the voices of students participating in club activities can be heard echoing with an uneven sound.

Leon suddenly remembered his high school days. After school with his friends, he would stay in the classroom and talk for no reason. “Who do you like among the girls in your class?” or “An acquaintance of who’s that appears to have made a girlfriend,” or something like that. 

He never had a girlfriend himself. He had a classmate he liked, but he didn’t have the courage to confess until after he graduated.

“Vail-sensei, how did you get to know each other with your wife?”

Vail looked a little surprised at Leon’s vague words.

“My wife was originally a servant working at my parents’ mansion. She was my older sister’s lady’s maid.”

“Was that so.”

Leon was surprised this time. Perhaps because he was thinking about his high school days before he was reincarnated, it took him a while to digest the word ‘servant’.

“I am the third son of an Earl family, and my parents didn’t seem to be particularly obsessed about who I would marry. Even so, when I confided in them, they showed reluctance. My wife is the fourth daughter of a Baron family. If you are married off then wherever this goes, and there was no objection with some such condition.”

Was Vail’s beloved wife already a familiar topic, because there is no hesitation in his story.

“Because she was worried about her age and my parents, my wife refused my marriage proposal three times you see.”

“Age?”

“She was five years older than me.”

Before one knows, there were only two people left in the large staff room. The voices of the students outside had also decreased considerably.

“But I liked her. There is a problem with the difference in status too and also age, but I really wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. That’s why I didn’t give up no matter how many times she refused.”

“Amazing isn’t it”

“Nee, Leon-sensei.”

Vail had an interesting color in his eyes. On his face, which seemed to say, “Even if you hide the truth, I know everything,” Leon jerked his shoulders up.

“Though I have no hobby to glorify love that burns with obstacles, I think that if you have someone you love, regardless of whether they have an obstacle or not, you shouldn’t let them go.”

“Um, still er, love is…”

“Un?”

“Love or rather, you see. She is an important person, but should I say that it is more of deep affection than love.”

“I see. Did you get confessed to by such a person?”

Raised his pitiful face in a flash, Leon.

The one who looks down at that with a grin, Vail.

“Is it the thing about how you suddenly had to become conscious of someone you hadn’t looked at with such eyes before?”

With a pitiful expression on his face, Leon nodded slightly.

“If it’s someone you care about, think about it. Well, for example…… What if that girl leaves you and ends up marrying another man.”

“If she leaves me…”

“It’s natural to be lonely, but can you celebrate it.”

He tries to imagine that the Miriella floating behind his eyelids will become someone else’s, but it doesn’t go well.

“Also, can you spend the night with her?”

“Haa?!”

“Un? It’s important matter isn’t it.”

Leon’s lips quiver with *furu*furu*, but Vail lets out a snort without even teasing him.

“Ever since I fell in love, I’ve always wanted to touch her. Well~, that’s not the only form of human love however.”

Leon feels a little relieved by the refreshing tone that doesn’t have even the slightest hint of unpleasantness.

Love, romance, and beyond. his fantasies during his high school days were unrealistic, and he’s honestly only ever thought of them as manga subjects. Leon once again stares unblinkingly at Vail’s face, and he lowers his head.

“Thank you, Vail-sensei.”

“If it was helpful then it’s more than anything.”

“But how, um, did you see through my troubles?”

Getting up from his chair, Vail was already getting ready to go home. Turning only his neck to Leon, he smiled with amusement.

“Because the one who asks me how I got to know my wife, most of them are students who are struggling with love you see. So I just thought maybe you were too.”

“Is that so……”

With a light wave of his hand, Vail left the staff room.

Leon felt that Vail had implicitly called him “as young as a student,”  and after that, Leon was attacked by a wave of embarrassment.

—————————

Turning on only the light of a small lamp, Leon draws an illustration at the writing desk.

In his busy days, drawing pictures and mangas has decreased noticeably. However, on sleepless nights, in this way as the pen moves, there were times when he would draw haphazardly.

What he draw is the figure of a girl who occupies his heart now.

When he first met as Leon, she was only seven years old.

When he told her vision of the future of becoming a villainous daughter, she cried out loudly.

He thinks today’s Miriella, who didn’t cry even though her eyes were shaking, seems to have grown up considerably compared to that time.

For a long time, he was in the habit of stroking her head. The way she tickled and shy when he stroked her soft hair was adorable.

Recalling that sensation and the temperature of her hand that he had touched today, Leon was shaken by the sudden increase in body temperature.

(Because Vail-sensei says something strange)

Leon let out a sigh and looked at the illustration he had drawn.

Come to think of it, he had drawn a picture of Miriella before. What he drew at that time was a two-shot of her and her friend.

He wonders if she will cry because she will soon break up with the first friend she made. He remembers drawing gorgeous pictures out of worry about it.

As he pondered over his nostalgic memories, a curtain of sleep finally fell over the troubled Leon.