The Male Lead’s Father Refuses to Break Off Our Engagement

Chapter 23

 

“Young master?”

“I was afraid of my father’s voice.”

The child’s voice leaked through the covers. It was true, the voice of Cassis, who had been angry earlier, was bloody even for Evelia to hear.

It must have been even more frightening for Ruth, who was only seven years old.

Evelia remembered Cassis’s face from earlier. In fact, he seemed more angry with himself than with Ruth.

Anger at himself for not being able to protect the sister he loved. Or maybe he seemed sad.

His loss and grief for Julia was far greater than she dared to imagine.

“It’s not like that. Why would the Duke be angry with young master? He must have been a little tired. The Duke has been busy lately. Even young master get annoyed when you’re tired after playing all day, right?”

As I stroked Ruth’s head over the covers, I felt his wriggling.

Evelia continued to pat his head and chest on the covers as she waited for the child to calm down.

After a while, Ruth poked his head out of the blanket and still looked weak. He didn’t look at her or sulk like he had earlier.

Evelia asked as she wiped Ruth’s forehead, which was sweaty from being under the covers, with her sleeve.

Do you want me to read to you?”

“Yes!”

“What book shall I read to you this time?”

“A story about a wonderful knight!”

“What kind of knightly tale would be good? The one about the knight who defeats a fearsome fire-breathing dragon, or the one about the knight who saves the princess from being captured by a witch? Which one do you like, young master?”

“A knight who defeats a terrifying dragon!”

Ruth raised his right hand high in the air as if he had become the knight himself.

“That’s what my nanny said, my father could defeat a dragon!”

That’s right. No matter what anyone says, Cassis is the best knight in the Empire. It’s just that there are no fire-breathing dragons in the Empire.

But you can’t harm a child’s innocence by saying such a thing. Evelia responded appropriately.

“That’s right. The Duke is a strong knight who can defeat dragons. Do you want to be like the Duke too?”

“Yes!”

Ruth, who had been waving his arms around, nodded vigorously.

“Then, when you grow up, young master too, will you go to defeat the dragon?”

“Um….”

Contrary to the expectation that he would answer yes excitedly, Ruth paused. It was quite cute to see his face frowning and worrying.

Yes, despite being mature for his age, Ruth was still a seven-year-old baby. He said he wanted to be a knight, but when he thought about going hunting, he was afraid of ferocious dragons.

“Are you afraid of dragons?”

“No, that’s not it…”

“Really?”

“Because I will become a knight…”

“Really?”

“I will protect Lady Evelia!”

“Huh?”

Evelia blinked, dumbfounded by Ruth’s answer. Ruth clenched his fists with a determined face.

“I won’t go to defeat the dragon, I will protect Lady Evelia!”

After declaring that, Ruth belatedly looked at her face and timidly added:

“Of-of course, if the scary dragon tries to take Lady Evelia, I will defeat it.”

Oh, how is this child so adorable? Suddenly, her emotions were so strong that she was about to burst into tears.

Seeing Evelia’s distorted face, Ruth jumped up from his bed in shock.

“Lady Evelia, are you crying? Did I do something wrong?”

“No.”

My voice came out strangely because of my throat. She wiped her eyes with the hem of her sleeve and hugged Ruth tightly.

“It’s just that I’m glad you’re going to protect me.”

Ruth, who had been wriggling restlessly in Evelia’s arms, hugged her neck and laughed.

The child’s unique high-pitched laughter sounded delightful.

“I will eat well in the future. I will eat a lot of vegetables and meat. Then I can grow taller, right?”

“Yes, you will.”

“Then you will be as big as your father, and I will protect Lady Evelia.”

“Yes, Thank you.”

Evelia lifted her head to hold back the tears that welled up again and gently patted Ruth’s tender back.

Even after that, Ruth didn’t seem to want to sleep at all. Far from sleeping, he opened his eyes so as not to miss a single storybook that Evelia was reading to him.

Since it was past bedtime, and his eyes kept closing, but his yawning and struggling to stay awake made Ivelia’s heart tickle.

The child even jumped up on the bed and swung his arms in the scene where the knight defeated the dragon.

The way he held his hands together as if he were holding an invisible sword was quite plausible for someone from a knightly family.

‘Come to think of it, they said he was already learning swordsmanship.’

Perhaps Ruth is practicing his swordsmanship very hard to become like his father, Cassis.

‘His real father is a wizard…’

The thought of the truth I had forgotten while putting Ruth to sleep made me feel sick again.

It felt like she had a stomach ache, so Evelia squeezed between her index finger and her thumb.

But that was something to think about later. What mattered now was Cassis.

‘I’m sure he’ll get over it soon enough, though, because it’s about Ruth.’

Thought so, Evelia covered the sleeping Ruth with a blanket and left the room.

Until then, she didn’t know that she was wrong.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Cassis, who usually comes to the dining room at mealtime, if not for breakfast, didn’t show up.

Ruth looked at Cassis’ empty seat and sulked.

“I guess father was angry with me.”

“No. It looks like he left early because he was busy with work. Don’t worry too much about it.”

Evelia patted the child on the back and comforted him. But in fact, she knew too.

‘Doesn’t it seem like he’s deliberately avoiding Ruth?’

However, I didn’t know why Cassis was avoiding Ruth.

It had been a complete coincidence that Ruth had found Julia’s portrait. Cassis must have known that it was not something to be angry with Ruth.

Then why is he avoiding Ruth?

‘Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have the confidence to see Ruth.’

But I wasn’t sure. Evelia knew very little about Cassis, and of course she couldn’t read his thoughts.

‘It would have been nice if the novel had a little more story about Cassis.’

In the original novel, the story of Cassis is barely mentioned.

The story of the original novel ‘Aria of Light’ takes place after Ruth inherits the Dukedom, because Cassis was not in that world at that time.

Sometimes, when Ruth recalled his childhood, it was all that was described as a strict father.

So even though Evelia came from outside the books, she knew very little about Cassis.

All she knew was that he was a heartless father to Ruth, and that Julia was his wrath.

If she knew anything more, it was that he didn’t like her.

She didn’t even know why he was like that to Ruth.

Was it because he thought Ruth had killed his beloved Julia?

‘I can’t stand either way.’

On the day she decided to marry Cassis, Evelia hoped that their relationship would improve a little and that Ruth would be happy.

But it seemed like it would only get worse, not better.

So she waited until late at night for Cassis to come home and went to see him.

It was late at night, but I couldn’t help it. It was because if I didn’t meet him now, he would leave early the next day.

Evelia took a deep breath and knocked. She wondered what would happen if she didn’t get a response, but she heard a voice telling her to come in.

When she went inside, she saw Cassis doing paperwork.

He was doing his business without giving her a glance.

It was as if he knew the visitor was her.

“What can I do for you?”

Evelia watched him from the doorway, not daring to approach.

“I came to talk about yesterday.”

Crack. The quill in his hand broke.

I looked down at his hand, which trembled in a tight squeeze, then wiped the inked fingers with a handkerchief.

It was still an elegant and aristocratic hand movement. But, unlike him, who was good at hiding his emotions, a bit of nervousness came out from his touch.

“I don’t want to hear such a story.”

“Ruth worries a lot.”

He put down the ink-stained handkerchief.

“It’s none of the lady’s concerns.”

“Don’t you remember what I said when I said I was going to marry you? I asked you to pay more attention to Ruth.”

“This is different from that.”

“No, it is not different.”

Evelia looked up at the face of Cassis, which was now so close to hers.

The corners of his eyes quivered. He wasn’t crying, but the corners of his eyes were red, and his pupils were moist.

Oddly enough, looking at those red eyes reminded me of the image of Ruth I had seen earlier.

Ruth trembled in fear that something might go wrong and be hated.

The reason was different, but Cassis was also afraid.

Perhaps he was afraid that Ruth’s origin would be revealed.

Evelia looked at him like a coward and said impulsively.

“Ruth wants to know about his birth mother.”