3.9

The letters that used to arrive daily stopped coming.  

It was natural that no letter would come the day after they parted. However, since they had spent the night together, Leon assumed letters would resume afterward.  

Had I been too complacent?  

When the commander found out belatedly about Leon’s fight with Logan, he imposed excessive workloads and training on both Leon and Logan instead of disciplinary action. As a result, Leon had no time to meet Ellen.

He felt the need to talk to her, but he didn’t consider it urgent. He thought he could talk to her and propose the next time they met, as had always been the case with Ellen.  

No matter what he did, she always smiled brightly and answered him. Even when he sent perfunctory replies, her letters were always full of energy. He assumed this time would be no different.  

But when one day passed, then two, and then four days without a letter, Leon began to sense that something was wrong. It felt like he had a thorn stuck in his throat.  

Without receiving a letter in the morning, his steps to the training ground felt heavy.  

“Hey, Leon, you’re late.”  

“Apologies.”  

Max clicked his tongue as he looked at Leon. Waiting for a letter that never came had caused Leon to be late for training.  

“What’s with your face? I thought you were the one who broke up with your lover, but did she dump you first? Is that why the young lady went back to her hometown? Don’t tell me she found out you started dating her because of a bet?”  

Max followed Leon to the changing area, whispering in a low voice so the other knights wouldn’t hear.  

“What are you talking about?”  

Leon couldn’t understand what Max was saying. Max had known about the bet but had never shown interest in Leon’s relationship or asked about it. For Max to suddenly mention a breakup felt strange.  

“I heard Lady Ellen Novary returned to the Novary household. Isn’t it because you two broke up?”  

Leon’s eyes widened at Max’s words.  

“You didn’t know? She must have found out about the bet and left, angry. You should’ve told her the truth earlier. This isn’t like you. Both you and Logan ended up paying the price. Tsk. If you meet Lady Novary again, make sure to apologize.”  

Max spoke with a look of pity.  

“….”  

Leon couldn’t respond to Max’s words. He simply pressed his forehead and let out a deep sigh.  

Could she have found out about the bet?  

Leon had completely forgotten about the fact that their relationship had started as a bet. After parting ways with Ellen, the bet hadn’t even crossed his mind.  

No way… Could it be?  

If there had been witnesses to the bet, rumors would have spread long ago. But while there were rumors about Logan making a bet, neither Ellen nor Leon’s names had ever been mentioned.  

He assumed Logan, drunk, had spilled part of the story.  

Were there more witnesses back then?  

That idiot.  

Instead of planning to tell her the truth, Leon had only thought about proposing. His complacency had blinded him to the situation.  

Is she angry with me? No, of course she is.  

Leon couldn’t focus on training. Normally, Max would have scolded him for his lack of diligence, but today, Max seemed to understand and refrained from pointing it out.  

After finishing his tasks for the day, Leon hurried back to the Guilford residence. The first thing he did upon arriving was check if there were any letters from Ellen.  

“Yes, there is one.”  

The butler handed him a letter.  

Could it be…? No, surely not.  

Despite having waited so eagerly for it, Leon felt an ominous sense of foreboding the moment he received the letter.  

He wanted to dismiss Max’s words, believing the letter would be as cheerful and lively as always, like her chatting beside him.  

[Sorry for leaving without saying a word and only leaving behind this letter. But since we’ve already parted ways, it was too hard to say this to your face, so I’m writing it down instead.  

Even though our time together was short, I truly enjoyed being with you. It was the happiest time of my life. If we had continued our relationship, I would have been even happier. But since we’ve already parted, I’m left with some regret. Still, I’ll sort out my feelings for you without lingering, so you don’t have to worry about me clinging to you.  

The truth is, my family has already arranged a marriage for me. If we had continued our relationship, I might have found the courage to break off the engagement. But since we’ve already parted, I think I’ll marry him. I’ll try to dream of a happy life with him. So, I hope you will also have a future full of happiness, Sir Guilford.  

P.S. That night may have been a mistake for you, but for me, it was a truly wonderful night. I’ll cherish the memories of you forever. Thank you for giving me so many good memories. 

Ellen Novary.]  

“….”  

Leon’s body stiffened as he read the letter. It felt like his strong frame was crumbling.  

“D*mn it.”  

After reading the letter several times, he crumpled it in frustration.  

“This doesn’t make sense!”  

He didn’t want to believe it or accept it, but the fact that Ellen had left was undeniable. She had merely returned to her hometown, yet Leon felt as if a hole had been punched through his heart.  

Her mention of marriage especially bothered him.  

Did she leave because she found out about the bet? Why did she leave so suddenly and send me a letter only afterward?  

No matter how many times he read the letter, there was no mention of the bet.  

If it wasn’t the bet, then why?  

Leon was so confused that he didn’t know what to do. 

Should I go after her immediately? Or should I figure out why she left?  

He began to reflect on everything that had happened between them.  

What had I done? What had I done wrong?  

The more he thought about it, the more he realized there were too many things. He had rarely treated Ellen well. Instead, he had done countless things wrong.  

From the very beginning, starting their relationship as a bet was a mistake. Keeping his distance and refusing to let her get close was also wrong.  

Even when she spoke to him, he would deliberately give short replies. Even on dates, he would merely pass the time, looking for opportunities to end things.  

Ellen must have noticed his behavior. Yet, she always smiled. She expressed her feelings and tried to get closer to him.  

Leon had thought that her bright smile meant she wasn’t hurt.  

“You idiot. Why did I take her smile for granted?”  

Because Ellen never complained, Leon hadn’t realized—or perhaps he had pretended not to notice. Using his own confusion as an excuse, he hadn’t tried to understand her feelings.  

Her attempts to seduce him might have been her way of soothing her own emptiness.  

Even her clumsy yet persistent actions, which had seemed strange to him, now felt like something he had caused.  

But the fool that he was, he hadn’t recognized it. He hadn’t understood Ellen’s feelings. He had simply taken everything for granted and enjoyed it.  

“I was too arrogant.”  

Leon had been deluded. He believed Ellen’s love for him would remain unchanged. Even after rejecting her multiple times, she had always approached him with clumsy yet determined affection. He had never doubted that her feelings would persist.  

Looking back, it had only been three weeks. Such a short time, yet he couldn’t understand why he had been so confident.  

He hadn’t considered the pain Ellen must have felt every time he rejected her. He had simply assumed she would always smile brightly, no matter what he did.  

As a result, while Leon was contemplating proposing, Ellen had already sorted out her feelings. She had left, leaving only a letter, as if to signify that their relationship was truly over.

“Ha ha.”  

He kept letting out hollow laughter.  

Even he thought he looked ridiculous. What had made him so confident? What had made him so conceited that he was deluding himself?  

“Are you alright?”  

The butler asked with a worried look. Leon simply nodded silently.  

He wasn’t alright, but he had to be. The woman’s existence had to be of that level to him. Their time together was short, and he had tried not to give his heart.  

But he couldn’t. For some reason, he felt miserable.  

The three weeks with Ellen wasn’t a long time. Yet somehow, she had entered Leon’s life and seemed to have added color to his monochrome existence.  

Now that it was all over, all that was left was to return to his previous life. But for some reason, he didn’t feel confident about doing so.