While You’re In Love - Chapter 2

Another way? Is there really any other way?

 Aslan is incomparably smarter than me.

 If there was any other way to help Rosalyn, he would have come up with it before me.

 Still, he dared to bring her here. There must be a reason in his heart that I do not know of.

‘I don’t know why, but….’

 No, actually I can roughly guess.

 That he may have been instinctively drawn to her from the moment he first met Rosalyn.

 But I didn’t want to admit it.

 The fact that they fell in love with each other at first sight, I just couldn’t accept it. 

 “wife.”

I blinked silently, and he added in a friendly voice.

“It won’t be long. We’ll find a new place for her to stay before the end of the year.”

Aslan’s gaze on me did not waver, as if his words that he would only let her stay here for one year would never change.

 But he will soon change his mind.

 He’s going to want to keep Rosalyn here for the rest of his life.

 She’ll be by his side, she’ll be his wife, and she’ll want to be with him her whole life.

 The relationship between the two people, which started as a guardian and a ward, will blossom into a very beautiful romance.

 Because that is the plot of this world, that is, the original.

 I carefully thought about the original that I remembered. 

 Now, if I  kick her out of here, will her future as I know of  change?

 ‘no.’

Even if I try to deviate from the original, I have already experienced the arrogant flow of fate that results in following the original.

 This can be seen in the fact that I married Aslan and became Duchess of Tordell.

 Destiny that has already been decided cannot be changed even if someone like me tries to change it.

Maybe my sudden actions took my fate into place more quickly.

 ‘……I don’t like that. I want to be by his side at least for a little bit.’

 I cleared my cluttered mind.

 I raised my eyes and looked at Aslan.  He was still looking at me.

 Thanks to that, I was able to answer calmly.

 “Do as you please.”

 The truth is, I didn’t want to let him do what he wanted.  I wanted to keep him as far away from her as possible.

The reason for not doing so was largely due to the  reasons explained earlier, but above all, I knew Aslan’s sincerity fully.

He looks gentle, but he is actually stubborn.  So he didn’t really change what he had decided once.  No matter what problems arose, he endured them all and stuck with his decision.

 I didn’t want to go against his will.  I didn’t want to make him feel bad for nothing and make myself feel even worse for the things I lack.

Besides, I was in a situation where I couldn’t ask for anything from him in the first place.  After all, aren’t we only a married couple who are living in a 3 year contract relationship?

 I didn’t have the time to be honest with him about my anxieties, nor the right to overturn his decision.

 I can’t do anything, and the only thing I can do is show a helpless smile while hiding  the pain inside.

 “Thank you for your understanding.”

 “…Yeah.”

His returning smile was sweet, so I was able to swallow up the anxiety that filled my neck.

*

It has been a week since  Rosalyn , came to the mansion.

 And a lot has changed in the past week.

 The drawing room, which had always been calmly decorated, was lavishly decorated with flowers delivered from all over the   place.

The flowers were presented to her by men who  fell in love with her at first sight and wanted to court her 

It wasn’t just the men that were possessed by Rosalyn. 

The ladies who came to the mansion early in the morning to build friendship with her also took over the drawing room.

“Oh, Rosalyn! Is this all for a single Lady?”

“Yes, that’s right. I think it’s because it’s my first time in the capital city and I’m not used to this place.”

Rosalyn’s shy answer made the ladies fuss even bolder.

“How can you be so humble? But being too self-deprecating can reduce Lady’s value, so be careful.”

Ho-ho, the high and clear voice of the lady who was laughing and advising pierced my ears.

Other ladies near her also furtively frowned, perhaps only on my ears.

Only Rosalyn nodded as if listening to the lady with a gentle face.

Then a lady excited by Rosalyn’s kind response fluttered her fan and continued.

“Of course, you don’t have to mind even if your  value is reduced a little. Everyone knows that Miss Rosalyn is more beautiful than any other woman since the  last dance. Isn’t it?”

“Yes, Miss Rosalyn. We all know that all the gentlemen who sent these flowers fell in love with you at a glance.”

Those who had been silently listening also added.

It must not have been long since they started going in and out of this place, but it seemed comfortable as if it were a familiar place. Rosalyn, the other ladies she invited.

In the doorway I watched them talk.

They were all familiar faces. the social frontiers in their respective domains.

The thing they were most impressed with was  the achievement of Rosalyn within only 3 days of her debut in the social world.

I can’t believe she got what I didn’t get after three years of hard work and she got it so easily and quickly. I couldn’t even laugh.

Then, someone found me watching them.

“……Oh, Duchess of Tordell!”

The excited air subsided in an instant.

“…….”

“…….”

The color disappeared from the faces of the people who were so excited that they were flushed, and the chattering mouths were tightly closed.

I was the one who broke the heavy silence in front of the ladies who exchanged only their eyes.

“Everyone seems to be having fun.”

I greeted the ladies with eye contact.

“I just stopped by because I heard you talking, so don’t mind and go on with what you were doing.”

However, even if I shook my hand and expressed it as okay, the same atmosphere as before did not return.

Would it be so uncomfortable for me to be here?

I’m used to it by now, but it wasn’t very pleasant to be ostracized openly.

While swallowing bitterness and touching her fingertips, Rosalyn broke the awkward atmosphere.

“I’m sorry. Were we too loud?”

“No.”

As I smiled and said, Rosalyn, who was looking at me, sighed softly and swept her chest.

She soon explained the situation by lowering her eyebrows.

“I should have told Aslan’s wife first and asked her permission even if he said it was okay. It’s all because I’m ignorant and lacking. I’m sorry I made a mistake, ma’am.”

Listening to Rosalyn, I paused and hardened myself.

Rosalyn’s talk was meaningless, just floating around my ears like a bee’s loud buzzing.

My whole nerves were somewhere else than her continuous words.

……What did Rosaline just call Aslan?

“But Aslan told me to make myself at home. He said I could invite as many people as I want.….”

It seemed that my heart, which had subsided coldly, was revealed on the surface. Rosalyn’s chattering voice grew smaller and smaller.

I stood absent-mindedly in front of Rosalyn, who was apologizing, and I continued to ponder about what she had said earlier.

To be exact, the name she called Aslan.

“……Did Aslan allow you to say his name?”

Rosalyn’s eyes widened, perhaps unexpectedly about what I pointed out.

The ladies seated behind Rosalyn looked at me as if they were looking at someone who did not know the gravity of the incident.

 Of course I knew it well.  what is more important.

 Now, the first thing I need to sort out is not the title, but the fact that Rosalyn invited people without permission from me, the hostess.

 Normally, I wouldn’t have reacted this way.

I would have put the dignity and face that the hostess of the Tordell family must have first, and tried to correct the wrong.

However, to me now, trivial naming problems were more important than others.

Especially now that the female protagonist with sparkling green eyes appears.

“Can you tell me?”

As I urged, Rosalyn stammered as she looked at me in bewilderment.

“Yeah. Well, we’ve known each other since we were kids, so while I’m staying here, he  told me to  think about him like my own brother and call each other’s names comfortably.”

It was a perfect word.

He tried to help the people who looked pitiful.  I knew it well because I was the beneficiary of that good character.

 I could guess the intention of what was just said.

 He must have said that on purpose to be considerate of Rosalyn, who would be lonely among strangers.  He wants to provide a corner for her to rely on.

 But, even though I understood it all in my head, I bit my lip in impatientness.

 It was okay for him to bring a woman other than me to the mansion, and to help her because he felt pity for her situation.

 It wasn’t because it was the original, or because it was destined to happen.

 Because it’s Aslan.  Because Aslan Tordell is kind and thoughtful.

It’s Aslan. It’s Aslan Tordell who’s kind and considerate.

Even if it wasn’t Rosaline, he wouldn’t ignore people like her.

So things have been fine so far.

But allowing names was different