Chapter 10: If You Insist
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"Nora"
A familiar voice and a dull thud echoed.
Unstable from the man"s sudden release, big arms supported Nora.
"Nora, you okay?"
When she looked up, she saw Elias looking extremely anxious and worried
Nora could barely speak so she nodded and Elias" face washed over with relief.
"You"re that n.o.bleman who"s been hanging around Nora lately!" The man who seemed to have been beaten by Elias stood up slowly from where he was slumped down.
"That should be my line. You"re the one who"s been following Nora on her way home from her part-time job. I finally know it"s you. I"ll report you to your boss…"
"W-What"
"Viscount Temonen values propriety, doesn"t he? If he finds out that you"ve been stalking and forcing yourself on a lady, I wonder what his reaction will be?"
His words were gentle but his face carried no hint of kindness.
The name Viscount Temonen seemed to affect the man as his face went ashen. He slowly retreated back, turned around and ran away like that.
"Nora, are you alright? Were you hurt?"
Nora shook her head and decided to ask what she wanted to know.
"Well, um, about that viscount earlier…"
Was it true?
If that was why the man ran away, how did Elias know about that?
"Oh him? He was a merchant who has dealings with Viscount Temonen. If the viscount gets wind of this, his business with him will probably dwindle."
And so he ran away?
"But, why-"
"He"s been following you right? It was fine if he was just watching you but he went too far this time."
Just when I thought his eyes sharpened with anger, he suddenly looked down with unease.
"…Nora, I"m sorry about earlier. I didn"t mean to contradict you." Elias bowed apologetically.
Feels like he"s not the same guy intimidating that man earlier.
Nora a.s.sumed that Elias always brimmed with self-confidence. Privileged to be part of the House of Marquis, he was a young master living in a different world. With such arrogant disposition, Nora had thought that he picked Nora as the object of his bet.
However, reality was in fact different.
Elias was just like any other ordinary person who becomes discouraged and sulks like a child.
He was simply desperate not to lose Nora.
He looked for her and wanted to get engaged to her. And even though he failed, he did his best and never gave up.
There"s a lot I want to say now that I finally understand it wasn"t a prank.
"Allan already explained what happened to me. Why didn"t you tell me?"
Nora didn"t want to bring back the topic because it was too troublesome to discuss.
Elias looked down awkwardly.
"…There"s an order for everything. I think you should have sought my opinion first before trying to get engaged to me."
"I"m sorry."
Directly talking to my father would"ve certainly smoothed out the process within the circle of n.o.bility.
But to Nora, it was nothing but a sudden engagement to someone whose name she didn"t even know.
At the very least, they should have been introduced to each other personally.
"In the first place, it was insane to propose an engagement to someone right after her engagement got broken in public. I thought it was some prank or bet."
"I"m sorry."
"Why did you do that?"
If he wanted to propose an engagement, wouldn"t it be better to do it after the public excitement has died down over the cancelled engagement?
Getting her engagement cancelled in public by a stranger and receiving an engagement proposal from someone with the same face, no one in her right mind would take it seriously.
"Once Allan breaks his engagement with you, more marriage proposals will come your way, Nora. I was worried someone would take you away if I waited…" Elias muttered.
"When I saw you singing, I knew you were the same Nora I met when I was young. At first, I just wanted to thank you… But the more I listened to you singing, the lonelier I felt once it was over."
Elias" hands were trembling.
"I had planned to meet and talk to you after checking with Baron Kranz that you were willing to get engaged. I knew you didn"t remember me and would surely be wary to meet me all of a sudden. But before I could do that, I was informed of the mistake in the doc.u.ment…"
That I got engaged to Allan instead.
"But my father talked directly to the marquis and was given Allan"s name?"
"It was a servant of the House of Marquis who first went to offer the engagement proposal. I think I told him to say, "The son of Marquis Callum wants to offer an engagement proposal," but somehow forgot to say my name. Later on, Allan"s name was in an official doc.u.ment so he had a.s.sumed it was him who wanted to get married."
Suddenly receiving an engagement proposal from the House of Marquis, my father was probably surprised and uneasy.
Even if he forgot to confirm the name of the son of the marquis, there was nothing he could do.
"Because you were officially engaged to Allan, you either would have to marry him or cancel the engagement. But Allan refused to cancel the engagement. The baron thought it was Allan who offered the engagement proposal and you weren"t informed about it."
Elias just wanted to get engaged but it became complicated.
"Even if I had given my name, it would only complicate things further. It was a hapless situation and I was afraid that you and the baron would hate me. So I asked the baron to keep it confidential. Even though it wasn"t your fault, it"s not good for a woman to get her engagement cancelled. Although you can"t do anything about the papers, if your engagement was cancelled before it was publicly known, you wouldn"t have been subjected to public ridicule. So my plan was to first have the engagement cancelled, then go to the baron to apologize, after which I will meet you and propose an engagement. But in the middle of the cancellation process, Allan suddenly broke the engagement at the evening party. So I got impatient…"
So that was a complete surprise even for Elias. Now that it came to this, I can"t say if he"s unlucky or awful.
"You may not be aware but the "Azure Nightingale" is well known within the circle of n.o.bility. He couldn"t leave his daughter alone to those only interested in her singing so the baron refused every marriage proposal sent your way."
"No way."
I didn"t know that.
Because they never discussed it, Nora thought she was unattractive and was disregarded as a poor n.o.bility.
"That"s why, once the engagement was cancelled, I had to talk to the baron immediately. After all, he probably wouldn"t have a favorable opinion of me after his daughter got publicly humiliated, considering Allan and I looked alike."
My father had said, "Since it came to this, it"s good that you consented." He meant it after all.
"So, I hurriedly went to visit you. I knew you wouldn"t take me seriously but I didn"t want to give up."
Nora was reflected in Elias" eyes.
"Because I like you, Nora."
After a moment of silence, Nora stared into Elias" sky-colored eyes.
She never noticed it before but his eyes were of such clear and beautiful color.
"…Do you know the meaning of blue roses in the language of flowers?"
Elias shook his shoulders in surprise.
"Love at first sight. I just learned about it recently."
Elias said nothing and continued to listen to Nora.
"Have you been coming to the restaurant since before? My pianist friend remembered you."
"You have always, since the beginning, only had eyes for me."
"…Nora"
"I didn"t notice it at all."
"Sorry."
"Rather, I felt really uncomfortable."
"Sorry."
Elias looked like a defeated puppy.
A handsome gentleman from the House of Marquis looking so dejected.
"It couldn"t be helped, right?" Nora heaved a sigh.
"I"m only good at singing. I"m socially inept and not beautiful. My parents are poor and have no wealth."
"I"ve liked you since you cheered me up when I was young and until now, nothing has changed."
Nora gently held Elias" hand.
Long ago, she remembered cheering him up. The young n.o.bleman was a crybaby and didn"t let go of Nora"s hand.
"I don"t know you, so it"s impossible for us to get engaged. If you really want to, I suggest you better find a friend to get engaged to."
It was the same words she told him before.
Elias" lips curled up in a smile as he looked at Nora who was also smiling.
"In that case, you just need to get to know me. –Nice you to meet you, Nora."
T/N: Quite late but happy new year everyone! ?