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

Chapter 44

 

Logan smiled slightly at Evelia’s innocent question.

He didn’t say anything, but Evelia got an answer.

“Ah, yes, I suppose nothing is off limits at the Duchy of Adelhard, so I’ll take that as a yes.”

In addition, There were many other questions about the reception food, dances, guests, and more.

We tried to keep it as brief as possible out of respect for her, there were quite a lot of questions.

Even though they were just sitting and talking, Evelia seemed to be getting tired.

“And….”

Logan, who continued to ask questions without hesitation, blurted out his words as he noticed Evelia’s gaze.

“Please speak.”

“And…”

He continued to hesitate, but when Evelia urged him with a glance, he finally opened his lips.

“How will you enter the wedding ceremony? Normally, you would have to enter while holding Count Venion’s hand…”

“Ah…”

Evelia realized what Logan was worried about.

In this world, the wedding position was similar to Korea. The groom enters first and the bride enters holding her father’s hand.

However, Evelia, who had cut off her relationship with Count Venion, had no one to hold her hand at the wedding.

Nor did she have anyone else to ask to walk her down the aisle.

Logan, who was looking at the worried Evelia, carefully suggested.

“How about holding Duke’s hand and entering?”

“Umm…”

Evelia was lost in thought while fiddling with her quill.

In the current situation, as Logan said, it seemed best to enter while holding Cassis’ hand. In reality, that was the only way.

‘But…’

I didn’t like the idea of the two of us walking down the aisle awkwardly.

Besides, if I thought about it a little more, I thought there might be a better way.

Evelia, who was groaning, smiled brightly at the sudden thought.

“I have a great idea.”

 

*****

 

“What am I doing?”

Ruth blinked his big eyes as if he didn’t understand.

Evelia sat down next to Ruth and spoke step by step.

“I was wondering if you would walk down the aisle with me at the wedding.”

“Walk down the aisle, what’s that?”

“Um, so….”

Evelia tried to explain a little more easily.

“I want you to hold my hand as I walk down the aisle.”

She had a plan.

‘That way, everyone will know that I consider Ruth as the successor to the Adelhard family.’

Until now, people in the world thought that Ruth’s position would be diminished with the arrival of Duchess Adelhard.

In addition, It was also assumed that if she had a child, the position of successor would pass over.

However, Evelia and Cassis had different thoughts.

‘No matter what anyone says, the successor is Ruth.’

Their marriage was just a contract marriage, and Ruth would not be kicked out because of this marriage.

Therefore, Evelia wanted to solidify Ruth’s position by entering together with him.

It was an indirect expression, ‘I recognize Ruth as successor and cherish him.’

However, there was no response from Ruth, who she had expected him to say yes right away.

The child lowered his head and wiggled his fingers.

“Young master?”

The child said hesitantly.

“Is that okay for me to do it?”

“Yes?”

When Evelia asked back, not knowing what it meant, the child answered in a quieter voice.

“How dare I…”

Evelia was startled and cut the child off.

“How dare you? Who said that?”

“But I am an illegitimate child…”

“No matter what anyone says, you’re the Duke’s only son and the heir to the Adelhard family.”

She wondered how long he had been subjected to such persecutory stares.

Evelia barely suppressed the urge to cry and spoke each word clearly.

“So please don’t say things like that in the future.”

“Yes.”

Evelia suddenly became curious.

‘Why do you still care so much about that?’

Although she had only been with Ruth for a short time, Evelia treated the child without prejudice.

No one around him, including Ruth’s nanny, discriminated against him because he was an illegitimate son.

Or, if they did, but I heard the nanny kicked them all out.

Moreover, since Evelia came, no ladies have come forward to offer to marry Cassis.

Naturally, Ruth had grown distant from discriminatory eyes.

But why is Ruth still trapped in the ‘illegitimate child’?

Although the deep wound would not heal quickly, Evelia believed that one day Ruth would be able to throw off that shackles.

‘But why do you seem more intimidated than when we first met?’

Evelia also still suffers from the wounds she received from her family when she was young.

However, for some reason, Evelia felt like Ruth was more reluctant than when he first met Evelia.

‘Could it be that someone is saying something strange to Ruth?’

Evelia vowed to take a closer look at Ruth in the future.

 

*****

 

Ruth looked at his swordsmanship teacher, Alex Marc, with a very dejected expression.

Alex was a strict teacher from the beginning. But these days, especially after Evelia came, things have become particularly stricter.

To what extent…

“If it’s this hard, how can you be called the successor to the Adelhard family? The Duke has already learned all these basic things at your age.”

…Or something.

“The posture is terrible.”

… He said and struck down the wooden sword Ruth was holding.

When Ruth lost his balance and fell on his butt, instead of helping the child up, he clicked his tongue.

“The Duke will be getting married soon. Do you know that if the Duchess gives birth to a son, your position as successor will disappear?”

“I-I….”

“Did you think you could protect your position as successor with such a weak heart?”

Ruth couldn’t say anything.

The child was still young. He didn’t know the weight of the name Adelhard or exactly what the successor would be.

Of course, he didn’t know the meaning of Evelia and Cassis’ marriage.

To be honest, he thought it was okay to not do anything like a successor.

If Evelia gives birth to a son, isn’t it actually good because he will have a younger brother?

However, the swordsman teacher kept talking about the successor and treated him harshly.

“Hold your sword. It’s been a while since we had spar.”

There was a lot he wanted to say. However, Ruth was pressured by the sword teacher’s energy and held the wooden sword tightly.

From then on, the assault under the pretense of sparring began.

The swordsman skillfully swung the wooden sword whenever Ruth hesitated. He only hit the places where the bruises weren’t noticeable.

No, it didn’t matter even if it was obvious. The maid in charge of Ruth was his niece.

He was confident that even if she saw the bruises, she wouldn’t tell Cassis.

‘It makes no sense for a child like this to be the successor.’

The Marc family, a family of swordsmen, was a vassal family that had served Adelhard for a long time. That’s how strong his loyalty was to the Adelhard family.

However, blind faith sometimes brings negative results. Such was the loyalty of Alex Marc.

His loyalty was expressed in a somewhat perverse way.

He was obsessed with the idea that Duke Adelhard had to be flawless and perfect.

So when he taught Cassis over a decade ago, he tore that weak mind apart.

The current Cassis Adelhard, who was born in that way, was his pride.

But what about Ruth? In Alex Marc’s view, Lucius Adelhard was flawed from birth.

An illegitimate child and heir born as a commoner! It was unacceptable. It wasn’t a flaw that could be fixed.

I didn’t like the child that would be born from Evelia Venion’s womb, who was also an illegitimate child, but at least it would be better than Ruth, whose mother origin is unknown.

Ruth didn’t even know his situation and just whined.

‘Ugly thing. He didn’t even know that the position was too much for him!’

If I had been born as the heir of the Adelhard family, I wouldn’t have been like that weak thing!

Alex Marc’s hands naturally wielded a wooden sword with more strength.

As if he had forgotten to adjust it so that it wouldn’t bruise.

It was only after Ruth collapsed and cried bitterly that he finally came to his senses and took away the wooden sword.

“Do you remember what I said, Young master? What you learned in class….”

“Never tell anyone else.”

“That’s right. The swordsmanship I teach is a secret passed down only to the heirs of the Dukedom, so you must never tell it to anyone.”

In fact, it wasn’t that, it was brainwashing to hide my flaws. But young Ruth didn’t know that.

The child just nodded with tears streaming down his face.