Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 174

“Yes?”

“Dating. No, not that. I asked when you were going to get married.”

“Ah… Haha. Haha. Marriage… you say?”

Logan froze, as if a powerful ice spell had hit him, his eyes darting around.

With Aileen’s gaze on him, only one thought came to mind.

‘Marriage?’

To be honest, he had completely forgotten about it.

He had been so focused on the present, thinking only of what needed to be done.

Simply put, how could he think about marriage when he might die in a few years?

Of course, when he first tried to recruit Aileen, he had thought about marriage.

A knight who might become a transcendent in the future.

He thought she was talented enough to be worth it.

But the problem was that he had developed special feelings after spending so much time together.

‘Can I properly build a family? I still have so much to do in the future, don’t I?’

If he cared for her, then even more so.

‘Shouldn’t I avoid it then?’

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Logan’s face stiffened.

Logan’s heart pounded in his chest. ‘Marriage?’ The word echoed in his mind, making him feel trapped. He looked around wildly, his eyes darting from Aileen to Patrick. Panic rising, he blurted out, “Ah, I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten. Just a moment…”

He left, making a weak excuse and disappearing quickly.

“…”

“…”

They stood frozen with blank expressions for a while in the castle garden, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows.

Patrick, watching Aileen’s face change colors from red to blue every moment, carefully spoke.

“Did I… make a mistake? Princess?”

“No, it’s not your fault, Father.”

Patrick breathed a sigh of relief at Aileen’s unexpectedly calm voice.

“This is Logan’s fault.”

However, he could only gasp at the chilling voice that followed immediately.

‘Son… just pray.’

Patrick, praying for his son’s soul beyond the door, carefully slipped away, ignoring the aftermath of the bomb he had dropped.

‘What a fool…’

He had managed to escape the situation, but even he thought his excuse was absurd.

Why did he run away like this when he could have calmly spoken and persuaded her?

“Pathetic…”

Logan, who had already walked out of the castle, finally stopped and sighed, only to see Aileen approaching from afar.

Looking at her, Logan couldn’t help but want to run away again, and he ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his forehead, a small, sad smile twisting his lips.

Then, he took a deep breath and braced himself for a scolding as he approached her.

But Aileen’s reaction was unexpected.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you so flustered.”

Her words, spoken with a chuckle, somehow put him at ease, and he felt even more pathetic for feeling relieved.

“…I’m sorry. I showed you an unsightly side of myself.”

“It’s okay. I was a bit taken aback too, to be honest. Though I didn’t think of running away like you did.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want an apology. The important thing is what we’re going to do from now on.”

“Yes?”

Aileen smiled as she answered Logan’s blank question.

“Marriage.”

“Ah…”

“Even if today is an exception, the adults will keep pushing us more and more. We can’t keep saying we’re too busy to deal with it.”

“That’s… true.”

“We should at least say when we’re planning to do it so this kind of situation doesn’t happen again.”

Logan’s face turned slightly pale again at those words.

Aileen’s expression seemed to stiffen at the sight, but she carefully asked again.

“Perhaps, Logan…”

“…?”

“You don’t have someone else you want to marry, do you?”

“No, absolutely not!”

Logan shouted without realizing it at the sudden question.

“That’s a relief then. I don’t really have anyone else either.”

“Yes…?”

Their eyes met for a moment.

The two of them stared blankly at each other before bursting into laughter, neither knowing who started first.

“Actually, I was a little angry at first.”

Aileen said as the first words after laughing for a while.

She smiled at the slightly embarrassed Logan and looked up at the sky.

“It felt like I was rejected by someone I thought was…” she paused, taking a breath, “…my lover.”

Lover.

In fact, anyone could see that they had been acting like that, but it was the first time they had used such a word directly, and a warm blush crept up their cheeks as they realized what they had said.

“It wasn’t a rejection…”

“Then I suddenly thought, ‘Did I really come here because I wanted to get married?'”

Logan, who was about to make an excuse, flinched.

“The things I had dreamed of became reality, and I thought I had overcome the unexpected coldness of reality that I hadn’t anticipated when I was only dreaming… So, without realizing it, I think I had been leaning on you, Logan, because I had become complacent with the present.”

Aileen’s gaze, which had been looking at the sky, was once again fixed on his face.

“I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”

“…Of course not.”

I’m the pathetic one. Not you.

That’s what he wanted to say.

“Well, I don’t want to deny my feelings. You gave me a chance, and that’s why my reality changed. I was grateful and grateful again, and that’s why I wanted to help you… And then I started to like you.”

“Yes?!”

He was stunned by the sudden confession.

“I just assumed we were going to get married, so I never asked. Logan, don’t you like me?”

“O-Of course I like…”

Logan’s face flushed red as he blurted out his true feelings.

Aileen laughed again at the sight.

“Haha. That’s a relief. Phew, do you know how nervous I was inside just now?”

“…Ah. Th-That’s.”

“Well, whatever, that’s all that matters. We just needed to confirm each other’s feelings. Let’s talk about the marriage plans. Even if we postpone it again.”

Aileen’s winking face was etched into his mind, and Logan couldn’t help but smile at the relief that washed over him, as if something had been blocking his chest.

This moment, laughing together again, felt so precious.

“…But really, why did you run away?”

“…I hadn’t thought about marriage at all. So I was a little surprised.”

“Are you an idiot? You run away because you’re surprised? Do you know how embarrassed I was in front of my father…”

“I’m sorry. Really.”

Logan, at a loss for words, awkwardly looked up at the sky.

Aileen chuckled at the sight and suddenly asked.

“By the way, Lord Logan, you don’t really dislike the idea of marrying me, do you?”

Logan nodded without really thinking.

“Of course not. You’re too good for me. You are.”

He sounded very honest, even he was surprised by his own honesty.

Then, Aileen stepped closer to him.

“Then when shall we marry? We need to set at least a tentative date.”

Aileen looked him straight in the eye, gently taking his hand.

He felt a little confused. It was like Aileen was acting like the man, taking charge, and he was acting like the woman, being shy. But he also found it sweet.

He wanted to nod right away, but the more he thought about it…

“…I don’t think we should.”

“Eh? Why?”

“I have a lot of work to do. It will only increase in the future. Even if I were to marry, I probably wouldn’t be able to give my full attention to a family. I’d probably be the worst husband.”

He spoke as sincerely as he could.

“…Is that all?”

Aileen’s reaction was a little strange.

She looked like she didn’t believe him.

“Yes?”

“Is that really all you have to say?”

“Well, no. It’s not something to take lightly. I’m bound to get much busier for at least the next five or six years….”

He knew he had to work very hard, like he was leaving his family behind, to keep everyone safe. He couldn’t say the real reason out loud, it was too scary to speak.

Aileen changed his mind with one sentence.

“Then you’ll need a stable home to better handle that busy work, won’t you?”

“…Yes?”

…He hadn’t thought of it that way.

“Isn’t a stable home necessary to do that busy work even better?”

“But, but Aileen would be taking too much of a hit….”

“Why would I be taking a hit?”

Her gaze, fixed firmly on him, didn’t waver at all.

“You’re a good husband-to-be who knows he’ll be busy and thinks about it. And that busy work will all be for the sake of us, for our territory to do well. So, I’ll obviously be busy too. You don’t think I’d give up being a knight and sit at home doing nothing after we marry, do you?”

Her words were strong and steady.

That confident voice made Logan’s worried heart feel better.

“Ha…. I was being silly. I was worried that you might be harmed by getting involved with me.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m already a member of the McLaine family. A knight, a fiancée, already known throughout the kingdom. What would change now if we didn’t get married?”

No sooner had he been comforted than Aileen’s voice made him feel like she didn’t believe him.

Eh…?

Is that… so?

Now that he thought about it, it seemed that way….

Then, he chuckled, finding his own thoughts funny.

“Don’t worry about useless things. Let’s just say we’ll get married. Sometime next year? We can find another excuse then. We’ll say we’ll do it on a good day when we’re a little less busy and have more peace of mind.”

As he said those words, Logan looked at Aileen with new eyes.

He had been running away at the mention of marriage and making silly excuses.

‘She must have been angry…’

How disappointed she must have been.

How angry she must have been.

Yet, she was only trying to protect him.

This behavior, too, must be her way of understanding him, who kept trying to avoid it.

Logan sighed softly and took her hand.

She looked surprised. The warmth from their hands felt strangely comforting, and he felt sincere without even trying.

“I was wrong. That was a foolish thing to say. I’m sorry.”

“Are you going to keep saying the same thing? Right now….”

“That’s right. Let’s get married.”

“…Yes?”

Aileen looked at him with surprised eyes.

He felt sorry again for the redness in her eyes, and her flushed face looked even more lovely.

So, he said again with more force.

“Let’s get married. Not setting a date to make excuses, but really, seriously.”

He felt ashamed of himself for having such silly worries just a moment ago.

“Re, really?”

“Yes. I’m serious.”

Watching Aileen smile brightly at those simple words, Logan could finally be sure.

‘I… I was just scared.’

Scared that all these things he had would disappear someday.

Scared that things he couldn’t control would happen.

He was living to prevent all those things from the start, but he was afraid of failing, so he was scared.

‘I will definitely succeed. I will do it. So….’

He would hold on tight.

He would protect this moment as well.

“Thank you. And….”

So that this moment, holding a precious person in his arms and feeling each other’s heartbeats, could continue in the future.

“I love you.”

“?!”

So that he could cherish this warm touch on his lips forever.

As they walked through the fields, the setting sun painted the sky in shades of orange and purple. The air was cool and smelled of grass and wildflowers. Birds sang their evening songs as they walked hand-in-hand, their steps slow and peaceful.

How long had they walked like that?

Just as the town began to appear in the distance.

The man opened his mouth.

“Still, I think the wedding should be after the territory’s affairs are somewhat settled.”

“Yes?!”

“I won’t make you wait long. Just a little, just a little longer. There’s a lot of busy work, you see.”

The woman’s face turned sad, and a little cold sweat went down the man’s back, but luckily, the woman quickly nodded.

“Alright. Well, that much….”

“Thank you.”

“But that dangerous work, you’re not going to tell me about it until the end?”

“….I’ll tell you when the time comes. I don’t want to cause unnecessary worry.”

“You know that those words are making me really worried right now, right?”

“I promise. I promise to tell you when that time comes.”

“Alright. A promise.”

The day he formally proposed and was accepted.

The man who proposed didn’t even have a ring in his hand, but the woman’s face was as bright as could be.

From that day on, the people of McLaine Town saw Logan and Aileen together much more often than before.

“I suppose we should get them married soon.”

Just as Padric was getting used to watching his son and his lover with a happy look on his face, Leena Ulves came to visit McLaine.