I Wasn't Trying to Seduce with the Male Lead - Episode 120

Cloude’s brow furrowed mercilessly at what was supposed to be a sweet nothing.

“I didn’t think you were capable of saying something like that.”

“What’s that? You break into my bedroom, and you’re not going to accept me?”

Cloude made an awkward expression, cleared his throat, and then said quickly, “I’m willing to commit a crime for you.”

“I, on the other hand, didn’t expect you to say something like that.”

Minaz smiled and pulled Cloude back to her. Even as he climbed on top of her, he looked like he was wondering if it was okay to do so.

“If you’re so hot for me, try to seduce me more. Make my heart waver even more.”

Her mind was already made up, but she wanted to enjoy the situation a little longer. This was a rare opportunity to see him so impatient.

“Yesterday, I asked the Count of Calabria for the secret to winning a woman’s heart…”

“Oh? Not Duke Phaedra?”

“He lost her, didn’t he?”

That was strangely convincing. But did Lian need a secret technique? It probably wouldn’t be very effective, but she was curious about the answer.

Minaz tilted her head and asked, “So what did he say?”

“He said he just clung to her persistently.”

That only worked because it was Rian. It wouldn’t work for any other man. She was about to say that when Cloude spoke first.

“Let’s get married. I’ll be really obedient and treat you well.”

That rigid man said something like that? Her heart pounded so hard she felt like it stopped for a moment. As she tried to catch her breath and compose her reddened face, Cloude returned to his dry tone and said, “He said he told Eleanor that.”

If Lian said it, she had no choice but to give in.

“I thought your face was everything, but you’re a born heartbreaker.”

“Huh?”

“No, more than that…”

Minaz ran her fingers over the cravat dangling on Cloude’s face. “Let’s do our thing and leave later.”

Cloude, whose heart was already swayed, hesitated.

“The main character of today is someone else, so not today…” Minaz whispered as she deftly untied his cravat. “Let’s make our announcement in a couple of days.”

That was all it took for Cloude to surrender. His lips fell hotly on hers. Minaz closed her eyes in satisfaction, giving herself over to his now familiar kisses.

“Eleanor, D-D-Duchess… Ah, er, that is.”

Eleanor turned her head at the stuttered address.

“Duchess, er, Floyd.”

Graham, standing in the doorway, looked at her, fumbling even for the words she had finally found.

“I told you it’s okay to call me Eleanor.”

“That feels awkward, too.”

Having been together for a long time as her assistant, the sudden change in title seemed to feel strange.

“All of this is so strange and awkward for me, too.”

When the two of them left the estate, they never imagined a situation like this. Of course, they had the ambition to take over the capital, but they never thought they would succeed this far.

Eleanor looked down at La Floyd with a sense of nostalgia. The most beautiful castle in the world had now become a part of her.

“We got here thanks to you, Graham. Thank you so much.”

“I-I’m the one who wants to thank you.”

Graham held Eleanor’s hand tightly and sniffled. “After that man did that awful thing to me, I truly thought I’d rather die. I thought no matter how long I lived, no good days would ever come. But, but…”

Graham, a victim of Baron Mariche, was clearly in despair. Her eyes were lifeless, and she was always sad, but Eleanor had dragged her out of the room and given her tasks to do, even if she had to force her. And she didn’t miss Graham’s sure and quick work.

“The reason I’m living like this is all thanks to you, Your Grace. Thank you so much.”

Recognized for her abilities by the Duchess of Floyd, Graham went on to work within the Floyd ducal family. She had achieved a success no less than Eleanor’s.

“I’ll be counting on you in the future.”

As the two were deeply engrossed in their handshake and nostalgia, there was a knock on the door.

<center>Epilogue 2-2</center>

“Someone’s here.”

Graham stepped back, wanting to enjoy the moment with her old friend a little longer.

“It’s a very busy day today. I can’t monopolize your time.” She wiped her eyes and looked back one more time before leaving. “Congratulations, really. I hope you’ll be happy from now on.”

Graham’s words carried the affection of a comrade who had spent a long time with her. Feeling that she would cry if they talked any longer, Eleanor lowered her eyes slightly and nodded. “Yeah. I will be.”

Graham opened the door to leave but then hesitated. She bowed to the person outside the door, blushed, and then left the room.

Seeing her reaction, Eleanor didn’t have to ask to know who the visitor was.

“You know it’s rude for an unmarried man to be here, right?”

As always, a relaxed reply came to Eleanor’s question. “I don’t have the luxury of minding my manners right now.”

Sky Phaedra stood in the doorway, smiling. Although he usually dressed in his country’s attire with some of the empire’s formality, today he seemed to be proclaiming his Phaedra origins with his entire being. Under a loose, semi-transparent black ceremonial robe, his toned shoulders, arms, and chest were exposed.

It was an uninhibited outfit that would be hard to tolerate in the empire if it weren’t Sky. But it was completed by a unique golden crown on his glossy black hair and his brilliantly shining sea-colored eyes, creating a perfect harmony.

“I heard the news. Congratulations.” Eleanor was the first to offer her congratulations to the approaching Sky.

“My father just got tired of it.”

Grand Duke Robert Phaedra had retired from his title, inheriting the ducal title that Sky had held. In other words, the son and father had swapped titles. Although he had become the head of the great nation of the Phaedra Duchy, Sky simply shrugged nonchalantly.

“I can’t bring myself to say congratulations.”

Eleanor smiled awkwardly at Sky’s words.

“But I can’t not say this.” Sky stretched out a long finger and lifted Eleanor’s chin. “You’re truly beautiful. More than I had braced myself for.”

His face was too serious for her to take it as a joke. His hand brushed against Eleanor’s face, elegantly swept up her braided hair, and then stopped at the pure white veil that hung behind it. A bitter voice then flowed from his lips.

“I thought I would have a little more time.”

“Nothing would have changed even if we had more time.” Eleanor said calmly, gently pushing his hand away.

“I thought you two would take your time getting married. Why the rush?”

As Sky said, today was her and Rian’s wedding. It was considerably faster than she had expected.

“Why did you think that?”

“I expected you to focus on your lessons. After all, you’re in a hot romance that’s dividing the capital.”

Eleanor was in the middle of her successor lessons at the Duchess of Floyd’s townhouse. And every evening, Rian, despite having his own large Calabria mansion, dutifully returned there. The Duchess was happy that her son came to visit every day and loved the sweet atmosphere between the two even more, even though she was supposed to be strict.

“Well, there’s nothing strange about rushing. Anyway…”

Eleanor, who was vaguely glossing over the subject, flinched at something suddenly held out in front of her face. It was a glass of red wine.

“A toast would be okay, wouldn’t it?”

Sky’s face as he offered the glass was astonishingly handsome, but Eleanor’s brow furrowed.

“If you’ve already figured it out, don’t tease me.”

Sky’s lips seemed to curl up, but then a sigh escaped. “He must have been a true womanizer.”

Eleanor tilted her head and asked, “Where did you hear that the Count was a womanizer?”

“It seems everyone knows.” Sky answered and then returned to the main point, as if telling her not to change the subject. “To already have a child. Was that the plan all along?”

“Not really.” Eleanor shook her head and muttered in a low voice. “I shouldn’t have gotten so drunk on the wine…”

“Wine?”

“…It’s a long story.”

Eleanor blushed and subtly glossed over it. She had a feeling everything would be revealed eventually, but there was no need to bring it up on a day like this.

“I’ll tell you later.”

After cutting off the conversation, Eleanor filled her glass with water and toasted Sky.

“Did you never waver for me?”

“No.”

Her answer was firm, but he must not have missed her slight hesitation. Eleanor quickly added, “We can’t exchange words like this anymore.”

“The Duke of Calabria isn’t that much of a stick-in-the-mud, is he?”

“I decided this myself.”

The sea-colored eyes that looked at her were calm, yet they held a subtly aching light. It pricked her heart, but Eleanor didn’t let herself drown in it.

“I’ve met someone who knows and accepts all of me. So I want to cherish that person very much, too.”

Sky was still for a moment, then he smiled lightly. He lifted the glass that had clinked against Eleanor’s.

“No matter what happens, I hope you’ll be happy.”

With those words, he emptied the glass.

Was that his way of making peace with it? As she watched him, feeling a sense of nostalgia, Sky opened his mouth again.

“I’ll wait a little longer.”

“Pardon?”

“I won’t get married until I find you.”

Sky immediately stopped Eleanor from saying anything and continued. “I won’t burden you. I won’t stay celibate, and I won’t come looking for you and pester you. That way, your heart won’t be uncomfortable whenever you think of me.”

If he wasn’t going to pester her or stay celibate, was he really waiting? While Eleanor was lost in confusion, wondering what to say in response, Sky continued. “I’ll just believe that as long as I’m alive and you’re alive, it’s not over. Because I’ll be with you in the end.”

She was about to say that it was all over, but she stopped herself. Sky’s face had already set with a firm resolve. Continuing to talk would just be a futile argument when he wasn’t going to listen anyway.

“If you get tired of him, come find me. As I promised, I’ll be waiting for you, without a first wife.”

“…Is that what you should say to a bride on her wedding day?”

“As I said before, since you’ve already been married once, doing it again isn’t a problem…”

Sky’s words were cut off. The door had suddenly swung open.

“Is it okay to open a bride’s room without knocking like that?”

“It is if there’s a suspicious person in the bride’s room.”

It seemed Lian had already been told that Sky was here. He entered the room with a displeased expression. Regardless of his current mood, his appearance drew gasps. Below his slightly longer-than-before platinum blonde hair was a refined face. Lian, in his wedding attire, was a sight of beauty that one could look at again and again without tiring. Even Sky seemed to admire his appearance.

“She’s completely my woman now, so I can’t allow you to approach her.”

“If you bind a woman like that, she’ll get tired and run away.”

“I’m binding you, not Eleanor. I don’t need to be wary of anyone else.”

“Oho. Are you being wary of me?”

A strange tension flowed between them, but Sky seemed to be enjoying being wary of Rian.

“Alright. I’ll make a graceful exit today.”

After a playful surrender, Sky took Eleanor’s hand.

“Beautiful lady. May only good fortune be in your future.”

After speaking elegantly with a Phaidra accent, Sky pressed a long kiss on the back of Eleanor’s hand. Rian looked very displeased, but he didn’t interrupt the final farewell.

After the kiss, Sky left the room.

As they were left alone, Lian’s icy expression changed like melting snow.

“It’s troublesome to make me be on guard like this even on our wedding day.”

Eleanor smiled at his playful reproach. “He just came to share a toast.”

Lian’s beautiful violet eyes were drawn to the glass Sky had left behind. Seeing him slightly raise an eyebrow, Eleanor spoke first.

“I didn’t drink it. He already found out I’m pregnant.”

At the mention of her pregnancy, Lian’s soft face brightened even more. He walked up behind Eleanor and wrapped her in his large embrace.

“To think my child is in here. It’s truly unbelievable.”

The feeling was mutual. When she first found out she was pregnant, she was so surprised. But that shock soon turned into a joy that she wouldn’t trade for anything.

“Now all we have to do is decide if they’ll be a Calabria or a Floyd.”

“How about we choose a family name that suits the child’s name?”

Lian chuckled at Eleanor’s suggestion. “Then what’s a good name for the child?”

“Hmm. I don’t know.”

She had, of course, thought about it a lot, but she wanted to hear Rian’s thoughts, too. Was he asking this because he had already thought of something?

Lian nodded. “How about I name the daughter, and you name the son?”

“Okay. You have to say the name and the reason.”

Lian readily agreed and then spoke smoothly as if he had prepared in advance. “If it’s a daughter, Elena.”

“Why?”

“Because I want her to be like you.”

It was a name that reeked of extreme love for his wife. Eleanor narrowed her eyes and asked coyly, “Then why not Eleanor?”

“Because if she’s exactly the same, I might get jealous of my son-in-law. I want to be a cool dad, not a narrow-minded one.”

He said that, but she could already picture him being a doting father to his daughter.

“Now it’s your turn.”

In fact, Eleanor had thought of a different name from Rian, so she was momentarily speechless. But her quick wit soon came up with a name.

“Hmm. I’ll go with Henry.”

“Henry?”

It was a name he had never heard mentioned before and one that didn’t exist in their surroundings, so Lian looked puzzled. “Is there a reason you chose it?”

“Hmm. Just because. It sounds like a name for someone who’s good at studying and is diligent.”

She didn’t know why, but she just had a feeling it would be like that. Lian repeated “Henry, Henry” to himself a few times and then smiled.

“That’s a very good name. Henry.”

And then he brought his hand to Eleanor’s stomach. At first, she thought he was touching the baby, but his hand stroking her belly felt subtly erotic. Eleanor, who knew how easily he got aroused, quickly put a stop to it.

“This is not the time to be doing this.”

“Yes. Just for a moment.”

Eleanor narrowed her eyes at Lian, who seemed reluctant to pull his hand away.

“By the way, what on earth have you been doing to get a reputation as a womanizer everywhere?”

“I haven’t done anything.” Lian answered curtly, then added as if he were guilty. “But I will do a lot to you.”

Well, she thought to herself, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Just then, Lian’s whisper rang in her ear. “Don’t be mad. I’ll be really good.”

I already know you’re good enough to be hated, she thought, and smiled.

Just then, the sound of a bell rang from outside.

“Shall we go?”

She nodded and took the hand he offered. And so, Eleanor began to walk with Lian towards the door. Into the bright light.

(The End)

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