It Seems Like The Infamous Trash Can is Right Here! - Chapter 27
My heart pounding like this was undoubtedly due to how startled and flustered I was.
It wasn’t because I was captivated by his looks, or that I felt any sort of excitement.
Granted, I had never once been in a relationship, neither in my past life nor in this one, but I could at least be certain that I wasn’t the kind of person who would fall head over heels just because someone was absurdly handsome.
…Probably.
“Would you be able to spare some time for me in the next few days?”
As he led me back toward the main building, he spoke, glancing at the sun now resting on the horizon.
“W-hy, why do you ask…?”
After all the bombs he had dropped earlier, I instinctively bristled, wary of what might come next.
“To go through the secularization process, of course. If we’re to be married.”
“I’m not doing it!”
It was only after I saw his face that I realized—he was joking.
“The guild you use to communicate with your family. Their headquarters is in the capital, isn’t it? Would you be interested in visiting? You could send a letter while you’re there.”
His unexpected suggestion left me blinking up at him.
“You mean… together?”
“Yes. I wouldn’t be so bold as to let you leave on your own.”
“…It’s not like I’d run off without a word. How could I possibly escape from someone who even knows my family’s whereabouts?”
“It’s not just about that.”
As we reached the entrance of the main building, he looked down at me and said,
“You are someone I absolutely cannot afford to lose in this lifetime. That’s why.”
…I realized once again.
It wasn’t just Lionel Luanax’s face that was dangerous.
‘Why is he talking to me like that…?’
Ab-so-lutely! An important person that he could not afford to lose.
Good grief.
The self-esteem I had kept carefully suppressed for the past three years in the monastery was now stretching out, waking up as if it owned the sky.
Had this been said to me by any of the male leads from the original novel—or even any other man—I would have immediately suspected some ulterior motive, some trickery.
But coming from Lionel, who had no concept of flirting, it felt disturbingly genuine.
Even during dinner in the banquet hall, I found myself stealing glances at him multiple times.
‘I don’t know what his true intentions are, but… it’s not necessarily a bad thing for me.’
In fact, marriage to Lionel Luanax might be far better than living in hiding as a priest.
I knew nothing about how the original Serenia Solen first met Crown Prince Axion or how she ended up as his mistress.
Not because I had only reread the R-rated parts over and over—no, really—but because Serenia Solen wasn’t even mentioned until well past the 100th chapter of A Night of Entwined Serpents.
The same went for Crown Prince Axion.
He only appeared after the 100th chapter, right around the time when the three male leads began to crumble under the weight of their own misdeeds.
At the time, readers wondered—was he finally the Benz man? [1]
After all, he treated Vivian with the utmost politeness.
Then came the infamous Serenia Solen Suicide [2] Incident.
That moment was when the author made it clear—Axion was definitely not one of the male leads.
As a reader in my past life, having reread the story so many times that I had it practically memorized, I knew that none of us had any idea who Serenia Solen was when Axion first appeared.
Every time he showed up, readers flooded the comments, chanting, “Benz man, welcome!” So, there was no doubt. She hadn’t been mentioned at all before then.
That’s why I had chosen to hide in a monastery in a foreign land—because I had no idea how she and Axion became involved.
I had hoped that once all the events described in the novel had passed, I would finally be able to live out the rest of my life in peace.
But ever since Lionel Luanax, the Duke of the Empire, crossed the border, invaded foreign territory, and stormed into the monastery, I began to doubt whether my choice could truly keep me safe.
Even if I rejected Lionel’s proposal and managed to return to the monastery unscathed, what guarantee did I have that Axion wouldn’t show up there as well?
T/N:
[1] ↩
[2] ↩
