Today’s beast who doesn’t remember yesterday -R15 - Chapter 19

When I turned my head to look, I saw a stranger approaching me.

“You turned pale earlier.”

It was a very friendly voice.

No, she was actually a friendly person.

“Are you sick?”

“Ah.”

She approached casually with a worried face for her, a woman I knew well.

“I guess I am too late. I’ll listen to Halbert nagging me.”

Calling Halbert’s name friendly, I tilted my head at the fact that there was no one around me.

“Where did Your Excellency go? Even if I was late, Your Excellency said it would be fine……”

The subtly distorted expression seemed to be a little angry.

Maybe it was a little absurd that she didn’t get to see the person she should have met, or maybe she just felt improper to see no one around me.

“Oh, my. I made a mistake meeting you for the first time.”

As she approached me, she took a cautious step back, holding the hem of her dress with her one hand, bending her knees slightly, and bowed her head to me lightly.

“I’m Renaldi’s Leto. Your excellency, Duke Philemon, is a chewy bastard who has been around me since I was a child.”

With a cheerful smile, she showed an impeccable example.

Leto was the head of Marquis Renaldi.

She said he had a bad relationship with Edlade, but I also knew that they didn’t.

No one in the Empire knew that Edlade, Leto, and Halbert were childhood friends who grew up together.

Those who did not believe in the friendship between a man and a woman expected Leto to marry Edlade or Halbert.

There was a lot of speculation that the target would be Halbert, considering Marquis Renaldi who had to inherit the family, but Leto was also close friends with Edlade, so there were all kinds of rumors about them.

“Leto.”

A man dressed in a neat white red jacket gently approached Leto after he had finished his greeting.

It was a polite call, but Leto wrinkled her expression at those words.

“I told you to leave it out.”

“….Yes.”

He answered lightly with a dull expression on his face, and he seemed very familiar with this conversation.

“When are you going to change that habit?”

“I am not used to it.”

“Don’t be polite.”

“I’m not used to it.”

“Sigh.”

She shook her head lightly and tried to say another word, but she looked confused again as if she recalled that I was in front of her.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so out of it.”

The man who had only looked at Leto with a hard expressionless expression shifted his eyes and looked at me.

The indifferent gaze did not contain any emotion, so I thought I should smile a little.

These two people were very much the same as in my memory.

I had never met them like this in my previous life.

‘Oh, I ran away.’

Leto poked the side of the man who was looking at me to the point that it was a little rude.

“She is the Duchess of Philemon.”

The man’s eyes widened a little at Leto’s words, and then returned to the expressionless look he had before. He placed one hand on his left chest and bowed very politely.

It was a knight’s greeting.

“Greetings to the Duchess of the Philomen family. Aldebaran… Renaldi.”

He hesitated a little because the last name Renaldi was awkward.

Leto grinned seeing Aldebaran like that.

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Leto got married to a man named Aldebaran, an escort knight who was guarding Edlade.

Aldebaran, a former fallen aristocrat, was a nobleman, but he wasn’t entitled to the title, and Leto was the successor to the marquis’ position.

People said that Aldebaran seduced her to take away the marquis title.

However, after their marriage, Aldebaran became a son-in-law, and he remained a knight of the House of Philemon. Leto was entitled to the title of marquis.

Although I did not know the story behind the questionable fact, these two were always together at official events, friendly like friends, sweet like honey.

There was no one, who did not know that the two were in true love.

That was the romance of ‘The Marquis Who Loved a Knight’ that happened a year before I got married to Edlade.

The two main characters are Leto and Aldebaran.

I looked at the two of them and smiled faintly.

“It is an honor to meet you two. I’m Lily Philemon.”

It was a completely different flow in my previous life. I didn’t run away, so of course, I expected a lot of changes. But I didn’t expect to see them here.

Still, it was strange to meet them so early.

“I’ve heard a lot of stories, and you don’t know how much you wanted to see.”

“It was a pity that I couldn’t see you at the wedding.”

The two were unable to attend the wedding because they hurriedly left for the estate due to the illness of Leto’s father, who suddenly became in critical condition.

‘This was a story I heard very late.’

I was about to ask how her father was doing, I had to hesitate when I saw Leto’s face that quickly darkened.

“I’m sorry, My Lady. Renaldi’s great Master went to the arms of God last month.”

“Ah…….”

I didn’t know that

I was taken aback by Aldebaran’s words, explaining the reason very carefully.

Leto, whom I met very late, never told me that.

She simply lamented that she was very sorry that she could not attend the wedding.

“It’s alright, you were busy with your father.”

“I don’t know what to say… God will shine on you.”

May the road to God’s arms be not dark. A similar phrase was used for those who let the dead go.

She wiped away the darkened complexion at my words and said.

“How could My Lady say such kind words…”

“Yes……?”

“He didn’t say a word to me during the funeral.”

“Ah…..”

This must have been the reason I haven’t been able to see Edlade for the past month.

Occasionally, I only saw him from a distance, but I didn’t see him directly because he was attending the funeral of Master Renaldi.

‘Then in the last life…?’

After the wedding, I was very busy, but there were times when I couldn’t even see the shadows for a while.

It was probably for this reason.

“By the way, where did they go?”

Leto shook her head curiously.

Then, she said with a frown at the mother-daughter behavior a while ago.

“What the hell are those women! It’s obviously Marchioness Rayburn and her young girl, right? I think that’s exactly how they talk!”

“Ummm.”

“This is a wilderness full of nymphs and hyenas. A fragile herbivore like My Lady needs a guardian.”

“What?”

“Leto”.

When Aldebaran glanced at her as if to take care of her, she opened her eyes and then smiled cheerfully and patted him on the back.

It made me laugh as much as any other man.

“Whoa, Edlade went over there. Maybe he doesn’t like boring places like this?”

Then the two looked at me with eyes a little more surprised than before.

I wondered if I said something wrong because of the way they looked at me.

I have thought many times that I need to change, but people can’t change so easily.

That’s what made it impossible to move easily in front of Semele and Scotty.

“Waa, what did you just say?”

“What?”

“Who? Who went over there?”

“Eh… Edlade?”

“Oh my God.”

Leto said as if she heard the shocking words, and pounded the table where I was sitting.

She didn’t hit it too hard, but the glass of champagne shook.

I carefully lifted the glass so it wouldn’t fall.

“Aldebaran, is this real?”

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t that surprising?”

“……..Yeah.”

“Come here.”

Aldebaran got up from his seat, accustomed to her.

“Uh, what’s going on?”

I asked, bewildered by Leto’s sudden words and Aldebaran’s quick action.

Leto said with a broad smile.

“I am looking for Your Excellency who ran away from his wife, so you don’t have to panic. By the way, it’s amazing!! You are calling him by name….”

“Oh… That’s…”.

I recalled in the previous life, the childhood friend Leto always referred to Edlade as ‘Your Excellency,’ or ‘The Duke’.

Occasionally, she called him by his childhood friend-like words like ‘Dude’, but she never called him by his first name.

Edlade also permitted me now, but I couldn’t be proud of it because he was losing my memories.

After smiling awkwardly and avoiding my gaze, Leto didn’t mind me and told Aldebaran.

“Go, find Your Excellency.”

As if Leto’s words were orders, Aldebaran skillfully left the place.

Without forgetting to wish me, Aldebaran walked to the place where Edlade had disappeared.

“I heard from Halbert that You’re attending your first social event today, so make sure you have a companion.”

“Halbert is attentive.”

“Sometimes he is like a mother, don’t you think?”

“Huhu.”

Leto was so cheerful that it was hard to believe that she was the head of a family.

The time spent with her in her previous life was short. It was because she had a short happy time with Edlade.

After ruining the spring flower ball, I was morbidly confined to the mansion.

I didn’t attend social events, nor did I have a party that the Duchess should have had.

The consequences of such a closed act were obvious. I didn’t know a young girl or a wife to make friends with.

“By the way, Your Excellency did a great job this time. I didn’t expect him to take you to the ball.”

“Did we make it big?”

“Oh! You said today was your first social event, right? Oh my… That’s right, you didn’t hear anything outside the mansion, so you didn’t know.”

She sighed as she recalled the mansion she had visited so often until succeeding her marquis.

“In this meeting, there was an agenda on how to deal with the estate of a baron who died without an heir. The baron has the hereditary title given by the Emperor, so if there is a succession, he can pass it on to him……  Unfortunately, he died living alone without a wife.”

“I see… Didn’t he have any relatives?”

“He was an orphan. It’s a pity that Baron’s title was barely obtained by a commoner or orphans.”

“Then everyone must be coveting the baron’s estate.”

“That’s right. The baron was recognized by His Majesty the Emperor and received the title, but he did not manage the estate properly. Still, he didn’t have much to do with it. In the first place, it is a land that has lost its owner.”

“It’s right to return to imperial possession.”

“That’s right.”

“But then Archduke Buffen came out!”

Leto had a very serious face as if she remembered a meeting room at the time. In my passionate manner, I put my palm on my fist and nodded my head.

It was a skill that made the listener concentrate.

“I wondered why Archduke Buffken suddenly showed interest in the land of the Baron, which no one was interested in. But, well, it was common for nobles to absorb the territory and call it fortune, so everyone seemed to understand. But someone voted against it.”

“No way…”

“Yes, that is correct. Your Excellency the Duke said he wanted to own the land.”

“Oh my.”

I quickly covered my mouth with my hand.