When The Moon Tilts West

Chapter 11 – Part 2

Leon gazed at Olivia and thought that not all women were like his cheerful mother. She was slimmer than her peers. With a little voice, Olivia was always withdrawn.

Her face was always dark. He did not like the darkness. It would be okay if she smiled a little. He sometimes wondered how to make her smile.

However, one day, seeing her smile in front of his father and Kevin, Leon felt a sense of disappointment.

Despite being able to smile like that, Olivia always had a stiff expression in front of him. She then hunched her shoulders as she avoided his gaze. Leon thought she was terrified by him and avoided her himself. Because of that, he didn’t even talk to her because he was considerate of her.

Leon didn’t put an effort into his relationship with her because he was busy.

To be precise, he didn’t know what to do, so it was close to just avoiding her, though he thought it was because he was busy.

So, time passed.

One day, while he was walking in the garden, he heard her singing. It was the loudest of Olivia’s voices that Leon heard. It could never be said that she was good at singing songs without technique, although it wasn’t bad to listen to.

Then, the wind blew and the petals of the flower tree flew away. Being struck by it, he suddenly realized that her voice was beautiful.

Occasionally, he roamed around the room in time for her singing class.

Hearing the occasional laughter coming out of the window, Leon thought it was just like a bird chirping.

As if she had somehow adapted to the mansion, Olivia walked around the mansion with a more relaxed expression. Now, she would laugh and talked to the Duke as well, and of course, with Kevin.

Nevertheless, Olivia’s relationship with Leon remained the same.

It was not that he hadn’t talked to Olivia. However, the conversation was always out of necessity, and the time was very short. Even though he wanted to say more, she didn’t talk much and he couldn’t keep the conversation going for very long because she didn’t talk much either.

Even then, there were hardly any “necessary conversations,” so he sometimes felt frustrated and unsure of his identity.

“Lord Deork, don’t you have a fiancée?”

One day, at a certain count’s social gathering, a noble boy who was quite close with him raised a question.

“I don’t think father has made a hasty decision on my marriage yet.”

At Leon’s answer, the boy put on a strange expression.

“Really…? It’s a little strange that the Deorc family don’t have a fiancée.”

Another boy who had been listening to the boy joined in, “I know, right. Usually, if there is no mistress, it’s customary to arrange the wedding quickly and make the mistress. You don’t even have a fiancée…”

“Besides, aren’t you seventeen already?”

Although replying that he had no fiancée, strangely, someone flashed in Leon’s mind. She was a woman with gorgeous red hair and grassy eyes…

At that time, noble boys started talking about the word ‘fiancée.’ Anywhere, conversations about the opposite sex were something that made people boil.

“It turns out, my fiancée embroidered my handkerchief like this.”

“She’s a skilled lady.”

“Besides, you don’t know how cute she is. She always smiles when she sees me, and I want to get married soon.”

“I wish my fiancée looked like his. My fiancée is hopeless. She gets mad every day to get rid of all the embroidery, but I’m… I’m afraid of what will happen when I get married.”

“My fiancée—”

Listening to the boys, Leon realized that something was seriously wrong. Their relationship with the fiancée varied, but the basic premise was the same.

At least, they made eye contact and talked.

How about Olivia and him…? She sometimes screamed ‘Kyaa!’ when he spoke to her as if he was a monster. Whether it was a younger sister or a fiancée, their relationship has already gone awry from the start, so what should he do?

He sighed inwardly.

One day, Leon, who was practicing his sword on the training ground, felt a strange gaze.

The gaze did not feel hostile, so he thought one of the servants was taking a look and left it alone. But, when he found out that it was Olivia who was reflected in the blade.

He was so startled that he nearly dropped the sword. It even made his heart pound.

Leon thought this was a coincidence. Nonetheless, when it came time for him to practice swordsmanship or shooting with Kevin, she would snoop around the training ground. He was glad to see her again when he saw her.

Nevertheless, Leon soon realized she had come to see Kevin, not him. It was because Kevin had a welcoming expression on his face when she said hello.

For some reason, Leon was very dissatisfied with it.

So, in the end, he couldn’t contain his anger and pushed Kevin, who he was fighting with a sword, hard. He then unknowingly stared at Olivia, and she ran away with her face turned white.

When they see a person who usually uses a sword, don’t they praise them for being cool? Leon remembered the noble ladies who looked at him and said he was cool.

As he pondered what the hell was wrong with Olivia, he realized that knocking down Kevin was a mistake in itself. How could she, who was close to Kevin, like him if he was like this…? Besides, the figure of him wielding a sword so recklessly was obviously terrifying to the small and cowardly girl.

Feeling somewhat depressed, he sighed.

After that day, Olivia did not come.

Leon stood at the window and glanced down at Olivia.

At noon in the warm sunlight, she was walking in the garden in a pure white dress.

Wouldn’t she be frustrated with the garden alone? He knew she wasn’t an outgoing person by nature, but being in the mansion every day would be boring. He could tell her to let her go out if she wanted to, though she had never come and made such a request.

In the first place, they would be happy to escort Olivia if she wanted to go out. His father, Kevin, and himself.

A long time ago, he had heard his father talking to the maid worriedly. Everything given to Olivia was what she deserved, but she didn’t take it for granted, as though it was not even her own and she thinks she had been ‘blessed.’

How did she live so far, that she still can’t put her heart in this place?

He thought as he looked at Olivia through the window. Still, she looked precarious.

Another time, his father tried to tell him about Olivia’s past. Why was the little girl terrified of him, why was she so dark. Of course, he didn’t listen because he didn’t think he could hear her past carelessly.

The only thing Leon knew about Olivia was that her family had been destroyed, and that alone gave him a rough idea of ​​how hard she was going through.

He could tell just by looking at the nobles of the families that have fallen under the current Emperor’s blade.

When the family collapsed, the nobles were in a worse state than the commoners. The commoners, as well as the nobles, worked hard to trample them down. Needless to say, it was the only family left with women after the death of the head.

“….”

At that moment, Olivia gazed up at the window as if she had sensed a gaze.

Leon clenched his face and pressed his chin, pretending to look in front of her. He then glanced down at her, calculating that he wouldn’t be seen from below with the direction of her eyes. Meanwhile, Olivia stopped her steps and looked at Leon.

‘Why is she looking at me?’

Just as Leon felt puzzled, the breeze blew, and her hair fluttered. The bright blue sky and the red hair that contrasted with the green that filled the garden shone dazzlingly in the sunlight. It felt as if time was passing slowly.

He could see a gleaming smile on her face.

Her plump lips drew arcs under her slightly wrinkled nose, revealing the pearlescent teeth. Her slightly folded eyes gleamed with warmth…

Standing under the sunlight, Olivia stared at Leon and smiled.

That fact alone made his head numb.

“Why…”

Why are you smiling…? He murmured, not knowing that his ears were stained red.

Did she mistake him for Kevin? No, there was a difference in physique between Kevin and himself. Perhaps, was she happy to see him? Or, since this place is on the third floor, he smiled at the bird on the roof…

When he came to his senses, Olivia had turned her back and walked away. Leon took a choking breath, realizing that he had been holding his breath.

“…Fiancée.”

Leon mumbled the words that came to mind.

“She’s my fiancée.”

He shut his eyes.

Of the two options offered by his father, he was finally able to choose one. At that moment, he felt a proud sense of satisfaction as if he had given the correct answer.

That day, Leon had a fiancée.

Leon didn’t usually eat with the family because everyone in the house was busy.

Nowadays, he was dividing his father’s work and he had to go down to the estate from time to time. Still, he was lucky enough to have dinner with Olivia, as it was today.

That day there was no father, no Kevin… only Leon and her.

Olivia had an embarrassed look as he stared at her face. Not long ago she looked at him and smiled as if it had been a fantasy.

As she met his eyes, she then lowered her head, avoiding his gaze.

Olivia, who he saw up close, had grown more and more. Her big eyes remained the same, though she was tall and her neck was long. Her face also seemed to have changed somehow. Her hair, which he thought was frizzy, was also shiny.

But, something seems to have changed drastically with her. He didn’t know what it was. It wouldn’t just be because of her face and height. Why does he think she is not a child anymore? Is it because he thought she was his fiancée? Leon was confused.

There was no conversation between the meals. It was because he didn’t know what to say, and Olivia wasn’t the first to speak up. Leon suddenly had an ominous thought.

Even if they got engaged, will it always be like this…?

Just thinking about it made him cringe.

No, no. That was too hasty. The first thing he should have thought about was whether that woman would accept her engagement to him. For example, what happens to him if she puts another man in her heart? For example, like Kevin…

“Ho, hot!”

Leon’s thoughts were shattered by the sudden sound.

As he glanced at Olivia, he could see the soup dripping from her spoon. She was looking at a part where she frowned, and her head bowed slightly as though she had spilled the soup over her bare skin.

Seeing that, he got up hastily and walked over to her.

“Lord?”

He swiftly picked up the napkin and wiped the spot she was looking at.

Olivia’s body flinched at the touch. As he was cleaning the soup, he flinched too. It was only then that he realized where he was wiping. The soup was below her collarbone, precisely on her chest. Although the napkin touched it, Leon touched her breast.

“I’m, I’m sorry, sir.”

In the end, Olivia got up, and she hurriedly ran inside.

Leon stood blankly, holding the napkin. The soft touch of her chest that had been felt through the fabric still lingered on his fingers.

He then understood why the soup had fallen there because her breasts protrude unlike him. In addition, he realized why she was no longer seen as a child. It was because she grew up as a woman.

Just realizing it, he could not sleep for some reason.