Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Just Wanting to Live a Normal Life (6)
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As always, my shabby room in Wisteria Dormitory.
Layla and I sat in chairs, facing each other awkwardly.
There was only one reason Layla would come looking for me.
'Break off the engagement.'
In the original story, Layla delivered the news of the broken engagement the moment Leonard was chased off to Wisteria Dormitory.
That sparked Leonard's greater rage and sense of loss, leading him to hole up alone in the dorm and declare he wouldn't go to classes.
The result? A dropout fueled by the mindset of, "If I'm going to get expelled anyway, I'll quit first."
But things were different now.
Even if we broke off the engagement, I didn't think I'd get particularly angry.
'Calm down, you idiot.'
Leonard's lingering ego inside me was screaming, but I suppressed it and met Layla's gaze.
"What brings you here?"
"......Do we have to have some kind of issue just to meet?"
"Lately, yeah."
Whenever I—more precisely, Leonard—caused trouble, we'd meet endlessly for lectures.
Thanks to that, we didn't have much private time despite being engaged.
Layla seemed to know that too, her sharp eyes flicking toward me with a hint of resentment.
"And whose fault is that?"
"Well......"
If I said none of it was my doing, would she believe me?
I'd come to accept it now, but I still couldn't figure out why I had to clean up Leonard's messes.
Still, Layla wasn't in a position to talk.
She was on the verge of her academy life getting ruined because of her screw-up of a fiancé.
'I should apologize.'
Even if it wasn't my fault, apologizing was the decent thing to do.
Now that I'd possessed Leonard, if I didn't let it go, who would?
Besides, I preferred not breaking off the engagement if possible.
To keep my head on my shoulders intact, I needed to show I'd changed.
Bowing first might make her see me differently.
"I'm sorry. I apologize."
I dipped my head slightly in apology.
It wasn't my doing, but apologizing didn't feel humiliating or unpleasant.
'Looks provide the justification.'
They say men go weak for pretty girls—it's human nature.
With Layla, one of the rare beauties I'd never seen before in my life, sitting right there, the words came easily.
I could've apologized even if I'd done nothing wrong.
"......?"
I waited a moment with my head bowed, but no response came from across the table.
Curious, I glanced up to check on her.
"Leonard Percival Blackmere... apologizing......"
"Was it not enough?"
"Did you hit your head or something?!"
"......"
Layla started fussing and fidgeting anxiously.
What the hell kind of guy was the old Leonard?
"W-We need to call a doctor right now......!"
"Calm down, Layla."
Only after I soothed her several times did Layla slowly take deep breaths and settle her excitement.
Her gaze still brimmed with suspicion, though.
An awkward silence stretched on for a while.
Layla sipped her tea, embarrassed by her earlier outburst, while I averted my eyes, at a loss for words.
"......So, Layla. What did you come here for?"
"Ah....... Well."
Unable to stand it, I pressed for the main point, and Layla's expression hardened slightly.
The fussiness vanished, replaced by a serious look.
She hesitated as if pondering something, then cautiously spoke.
"My family...... vaguely brought up breaking off the engagement."
"The Winthrop family?"
"Yes."
Layla's Winthrop Border Earl Family were powerhouses on the frontier.
But as feudal borders blurred and politics centralized, they were gradually being sidelined.
In this transitional era, their path forward was our engagement.
'The Blackmere family are big shots in the capital's central politics.'
An old swordsmanship house that had long held a court earl seat.
With Leonard and Layla having been childhood friends in the past, the Winthrops saw a chance to break into central politics.
"Father heard the rumors about you. Your behavior lately too....... No one's demanding we break it off immediately, but the talk is starting."
The fact that the Winthrops were considering shattering it showed just how awful Leonard had been.
"I heard he spoke with the Blackmere family head."
"I see."
"......He said it wouldn't be strange if we broke it off anytime, Leonard."
Layla looked at me with slightly softened eyes.
"Does it...... not bother you?"
"......"
If she asked whether it bothered me... well.
Leonard's ego inside was already throwing a fit, telling me not to talk nonsense.
Leonard's feelings for Layla.
Confusion, affection, a touch of obsession, disappointment that she wouldn't take his side, and loss from imagining her gone.
Those negative emotions surged up, shaking me enough to briefly distort my expression.
But I quickly composed myself.
'If we break off the engagement now.'
First, I'd truly outlive my usefulness in the Blackmere family.
Second, I'd lose my only backer at the academy.
Third, who knew what effect sending Layla away would have on Leonard's turbulent emotions.
I met Layla's eyes straight on.
"It'd be a lie to say it doesn't bother me."
Layla watched me. Her amethyst eyes slowly closed.
"......I see."
"Yeah."
"So you do......"
"Layla, what about you?"
Honestly, at this point, my opinion mattered little.
What counted was the Winthrop family's intent to break it off, and probably Layla's own thoughts—she'd be the quietest about it.
"Do you want to break off the engagement with me?"
I gently probed her feelings.
If she wanted it, I couldn't stop her.
I'd just have to find my own way to survive.
That said, I wasn't desperate enough to cling to her legs like some loser.
No need to stack up dislike just to feel comfortable right now.
Of course, if she said no, that'd be ideal.
"I......"
Layla faltered, her lips twitching without continuing.
She met my eyes, then flicked them away, fidgeting with the hand that had set down her teacup.
"......Just one thing I want to ask, Leonard."
"I'm listening."
"Can we...... never go back to how we were before?"
The old Leonard and Layla?
I closed my eyes briefly, recalling Leonard's memories.
They were hazy. But in those distant ones, the two were clearly smiling brightly at each other.
Back to the present, I gauged our expressions.
Layla wore a fragile smile, like glass about to shatter, trembling as if it might break.
I wasn't smiling.
"Probably not."
Layla bowed her head deeply at my words.
Tilting my teacup toward her, I continued.
"But we can try."
"......"
"Wish I could tell you more."
Layla's shoulders shook faintly, head still down.
I sipped my tea patiently, and soon she lifted her head, looking straight at me.
Her amethyst eyes glistened with moisture.
"I'll put the breakup on hold."
"......Okay."
"My family might not trust you anymore, but I, Layla Cecil Winthrop, want to believe in you one more time."
"I'll live up to it."
Layla rose unsteadily from her seat.
I moved to support her, but she weakly waved me off.
I could only watch as she headed for the door.
She opened the front door and paused there, silent for a long moment.
"......That thing I said long ago... do you still mean it?"
She murmured cryptically.
'That thing from long ago?'
Honestly, no clue.
A chill ran down my spine.
But I wasn't oblivious enough to ask, "What do you mean?"
Keeping a straight face, I desperately sifted through Leonard's fragmented memories.
Something Leonard said to Layla long ago?
'When we grow up, we'll go to Kingswell Royal Academy together!'
'Hmph. How's a dummy like you going to get in there?'
'Then promise me! We'll meet there!'
Was it that?
Nothing else came to mind.
Damn Leonard. Not even senile yet.
"Hasn't it already come true?"
After a long silence, I replied indifferently, and Layla's shoulders jerked sharply.
She whipped around, looking at me with trembling eyes.
"......I'll come again next time."
With a voice like an ant crawling, she bolted from the room.
I quietly closed the front door and returned to the center of the room. Then I began assessing the situation carefully.
'Relationship with Layla?'
Not sure yet, but not bad.
'Breakup?'
On hold for now.
No firm answer, but at least no one-sided notice like in the original.
Conclusion.
'Fuck yeah, I survived!!!!!!'
Leonard Percival Blackmere: Life extended one more turn.
Layla fled Wisteria Dormitory again this time.
The mysterious female student who'd been sitting in the front yard was gone before she knew it.
Thump! Thump!
She had no spare attention for that anyway—Layla's heart pounded wildly, as if she'd just finished sprinting.
"Hah, haa......!"
Layla clutched her chest tightly.
Pent-up emotions sat like a stone, refusing to budge.
She hadn't been able to pour them out in front of Leonard.
Why?
'But we can try.'
'I'll live up to it.'
His words from moments ago had turned her insides upside down.
Apologizing first, then admitting it and vowing to try changing.
Completely different from the Leonard she'd known.
"It's like......"
Like the Leonard from long ago, that glimpse of the past.
The Leonard she'd adored, the one who'd stolen her heart back then, flickered in her mind.
Her head cooled sharply. Her heart still raced fiercely.
That's why that old promise had suddenly resurfaced.
'Layla. Even if you end up hating me later, I'll never let you go until the end.'
The meaningful words he'd left at their last meeting, before he turned into the wastrel he was now.
'Hasn't it already come true?'
At his answer today, Layla could say nothing and fled.
Clutching her tightening chest, Layla collapsed midway down the stairs from Wisteria Dormitory.
"Hic, Leonard......"
Whether born of innocent feelings or nostalgia blooming from old memories.
One thing hadn't changed.
Layla Cecil Winthrop still couldn't give up on Leonard.