Don't Concern Yourself With That Book
Chapter Side Story 3-5

Side Story 3-5

Translator: yun

Upon hearing what she had to say, Fleon choked on the tea he had been drinking. But that didn’t seem to be enough as he bent over to let out another rough cough.

“… Are you being serious?”

Fleon asked Rebecca but she was looking at Ashley.

“Yes.”

There was nothing to resolve herself for. Rebecca answered him nonchalantly. Behind a calm expression, she was already brainstorming what she would need for an engagement to happen. 

“If you need something you need to draw attention to, it would be better if the prince marries me.”

“Hold on.”

“Ah, should we have an engagement first?”

“Ducal princess!”

Before he realised it himself, Fleon jumped up. He pointed his finger at her. 

“Why s-should I marry the ducal princess?”

“Do you not like me?”

“What?”

“… That’s strange. I’m pretty sure I am not lacking in any area.”

Ashley quickly observed the two of them. Before slowly starting to speak.

“Since when have you two…”

“Damn it, you’ve got it wrong!”

“The fact that my brother’s face is reddenning…”

“It’s because I’m flustered. Dummy. Ha, ducal princess. What the hell are you suggesting? If this is a joke, you’d better knock it off. This is a warning.”

Rebecca could only blink at his reaction as it was more explosive than she had expected. 

“Do I not suit your tastes?”

Rebecca asked him earnestly. She had even been willing to correct any shortcomings she might have. 

“That’s not the issue here!”

“Oh, what’s wrong with Rebecca?”

Fleon glared at Ashley.

“Whose side are you on?”

“Of course.”

Ashley held her chin as she tilted her head.

“I’m on Rebecca’s side.”

Quickly, to avoid Fleon’s attacks, she moved to stand by Rebecca’s side.

“Rebecca. Are you being serious with this?”

Rebecca tilted her head. 

“… I cannot possibly suggest something I am not serious about to my mistress, can I?”

But for some reason, Ashley flashed an awkward smile.

“I appreciate your feelings. But I don’t need you to sacrifice for me. I know you might not understand what I mean right now. If you do this, the Duke of Aventa will find itself entirely in Fleon’s grasp. Don’t you need to establish a more stable position for yourself?”

Her smile looked more bitter than anything else. Looking at her expression, Rebecca thought her mistress might be angry.

“I do not understand. Isn’t it enough if the 6th Prince and I are alright with this? Why would anything else matter?”

“Why wouldn’t there be? Rebecca should be loving the person that she loves and find a passionate relationship for herself… I wanted you to live a happy life like that.”

“Mistress, are you basing my happiness on whether I can find love?”

Love. It was something foreign for her to utter. Despite being raised by a happy, loving couple, Rebecca had never dreamed of love. 

Was it because of her mother? 

“That’s not necessarily what I meant but I really do want Rebecca to be happy.”

Ashley smiled lonelily. Every once in a while, Ashley would flash that same smile whenever she spoke of love or happiness and it was from those moments she knew. 

That was why she was not surprised when Ashley told her that she had merely been acting as a fool. 

“Now that my mistress and I have bared our hearts and souls to one another. I will now like to serve you with all my heart.”

Unexpectedly, she uttered those words proudly as she straightened her back. She believed she would be pleased to say it out loud. 

‘Who knew conveying your true feelings would be so blissful?’

Laying her heart bare was making Rebecca excited. She really wanted to serve her. 

“That’s why I’m asking you to marry someone you truly love.”

“… My mistress is speaking of unrealistic dreams.”

“So what. No matter how I go about it, I still think it would be a waste for you to end up with my brother. Because you’re my lady-in-waiting.”

What would it have been like if I had met Ashley a little earlier? 

“Then, will you take responsibility, mistress?”

If she had… would she have made a different choice in the presence of God?

***

Preparations for Fleon and Ahasia’s engagement were complete. Funnily enough, it was Rebecca who spearheaded the preparations. 

That was because she was the only aide Ashley had who knew how to arrange marriages. That was natural since most of the templars who made up the 4th Administrations–that had sworn to serve Ashley–were abstinent. 

“My prince, please just marry me instead.”

“…..”

Fleon looked annoyed. Every once in a while, when Fleon came to help with the preparations, Rebecca would continue suggesting the same thing which Fleon was fed up with. 

“I already told you I’m not doing that. I won’t!”

“Then I shall ask you again tomorrow.”

“I won’t agree to it tomorrow either!”

Fleon flew into a rage. Rebecca, who had instructed the maids to take his measurements, merely looked back at him and smiled. 

“A strong rejection might be synonymous to strong inclination…”

“No, it is not.”

“That’s what my father told me.”

“The Duke of Aventa must be mistaken. Very much so.”

Unable to blame the righteous duke, Fleon swept his hair up. Rebecca noticed that he often swept his hair up these days. Since he was a well-groomed man, this was proof that he had been stressed. 

Instead of provoking him any further, Rebecca backed off. And Fleon had followed after her.

“Let’s go together.”

“Where are you heading?”

“The 6th Administration. There is something I have to see.”

Fleon gave a brief answer and stared at Rebecca. The maids who had been taking his measurements had long been dismissed. Rebecca had been alone in the room.

“You are the ducal princess, why don’t you have a lady-in-waiting of your own?”

“I am a lady-in-waiting, so, how could I possibly have a lady-in-waiting of my own?”

Rebecca looked at Fleon. Just as he thought of her, he was alone too.  

“Why are you heading there yourself, my prince? Where have your aides gone?”

“I don’t like seeing people slacking off so I sent them to the 6th Administration ahead of time.”

“You must be very busy.”

Rebecca had developed the ability to understand the meaning behind Fleon’s words. But this was an ability anyone who had spent enough time around him could gain themselves. Fleon’s eyes raised sharply. 

Nevertheless, they headed to the garden with silence left on their tongue. Wherever either of them were headed, they had to pass through the garden. 

“Flowers have bloomed.”

“Indeed.”

Glimpsing at the flowers, Fleon frowned before saying.

“Though I don’t like flowers.”

“Then why do you grow flowers in your garden?”

“Because that chick likes it.”

“You must care a lot for my mistress.”

Rebecca said as she stared at the swaying hydrangeas. 

“… N-No I don’t.”

Fleon grumbled before turning his head away. 

“… Can’t I?”

He sounded curt but he must be sincere. Rebecca stared at him. 

It was at that moment. A drop of water fell from the sky and soaked her shoulders. The stem that bent over because of the weight of another water drop quickly rose again. 

Swaaaah–

“This way, ducal princess!”

The two hurriedly escaped to find shelter under the palace’s roof. Perhaps it was because of the rain but there was no one in the garden. They each left without an aide or a maid so they had no way of asking for help. 

“This is troubling. Is there no other way but to wait till it stops?”

“… I think so.”

Rebecca stretched her hand out for it to be pelted by raindrops. It was a strange feeling. To be soaked by the rain. It would be unbecoming of her as she had been raised to become the perfect lady all her life. 

It was at that moment she felt something warm cover her shoulders. It was Fleon’s coat. 

“Thank you. But…”

“It’s not polite? This is not a situation etiquette would have prepared you for so let’s not care about it for now.”

Fleon replied without looking at Rebecca. She looked up to stare at the rainy sky again. It certainly was not a situation that required her to maintain etiquette. 

It had been a long time since she started staring at the rain.

“Vulcanus doesn’t like the rain. Wolves cry in downpours.”

He spoke those unexpected words quietly as though he had been mumbling in his sleep. Nonetheless, Rebecca replied nonchalantly.

“It must be because rain extinguishes the fire in a blacksmith’s.”

“Yes. That’s why the wolves still dislike the rain. There are some who hate the rain so much, they don’t wash up. At the temple, I mean.”

“I see.”

“It was a place of freedom.”

Fleon might be staring ahead of him but what he was actually watching was a reel of his memories. 

“My prince, have you ever been to the Blessed Place of Vulcanus?”

“I had dropped by for a visit.”

Fleon’s eyes were filled with longing. 

“Then, why did you return?”

The heir to the temple was allowed to remain in their temple until they reached adulthood. Even if he was a prince. He could have stayed there if he wanted to. 

“I had no choice but to return. It is a place where my mother can never return to… and a land my brother can never step foot in.”

His expression darkened as he brought up his twin brother, Ferdinand. Staring at his bitter smile, Rebecca was also reminded of Ferdinand. 

“You might already know this but god had never once looked for me.”

Fleon, too, had no idea why he was talking about this now. Other than the sounds of rain, the sight of this still landscape must have caused a stir in his heart. 

Staring at him, Rebecca slowly parted her lips. The secret she had kept her entire life left her lips.

“I see. Mine had once come to me. I refused him though.”

“… What?”

Seeing Fleon’s eyes widening in surprise, she nodded.

“Perhaps he would never come find me again.”

“Why… did you refuse?”

“I don’t know.”

Rebecca gave a vague reply which she rarely did.

Why? 

Why did she refuse? Right. It was because that was the best choice she could have made at that time. Her wailing mother. Her forceful mother. If she had not chosen her mother as she stood at that crossroads, she might have indisputably ended up as a villainess. 

At the time, Rebecca had been more immature than she was now. 

“I thought I had been making my own choice back then but I don’t know anymore. I might not have made one at all.”

In the face of a choice that would change her life, had she been honest? 

“I will ask you once more.”

Perhaps god knew that she was the one being disingenuous that day.

“You can do many things as my heir. And yet you will not raise your sword.”

She had been afraid of choosing. 

Rebecca was relieved. All the things she refused to acknowledge since that day. It all changed when she met the girl who could accept anything.

“I had been living a life without being given any choices.”

All of her mother’s teachings had been coercion. She had been brainwashed. She had become the perfect lady to satisfy her mother. 

She had only realised she had been ignoring god’s callings until she met the girl who was so different from god. 

The boy who god never looked for and the girl who god chose but ultimately refused her calling–which she regretted for a long time–faced each other. 

“What about you, my prince? Have you given up, filled with remorse, as you curse at the god who never chose you?”

“… Maybe.”

“No. With all due respect, my prince, I can tell from the way you protect the princess that you do not feel that way.”

It was at that moment did Fleon notice rain dripping from the back of her hand.  The rain that fell like thin needles from her hand had soaked her shoulders as well as her hair. 

Did the rain also fall into his chest on top of his clothes? Her red hair that fell past her chest looked like fireworks. And that flame was making this wolf’s heart flutter. 

… Stop. Stop it.

A wolf’s heart which was born from flames would always be taken by a stronger one. 

“My father also said that those who protect others always shine.”

As soon as he saw the girl’s refreshing smile, Fleon knew it was already too late.

“I believe that everyone in the Terena Palace shines the same way.”

Yeah, it was too late. An uncomfortable feeling consumed him.

“W-what nonsense!”

He had lived with rage his entire life. Everyone was oppressing him so that was the only way he knew how to express his feelings. Even now, it was the same. 

“W-who actually shines? Isn’t there something wrong with your eyes?”

“My prince? My apologies… But I don’t really know what you are angry about.”

“… Damn it.”

There were only a few people who could remain that indifferent as he threw a tantrum. And the fact that she was one of them only made his heart flutter more. No. Impossible. Fleon swept his hand down his face. 

“You’ve never changed since you were a child, ducal princess.”

As he continued spouting nonsense, Fleon covered his face and massaged it for a long time.

“Huh? You remember me as a child? I thought you had forgotten.”

“… I only pretended to.”

“I see.”

It was possible that Fleon might never forget this afternoon rain or the way his heart felt at that moment. For an eternity. 

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