I Won't Go Back To My Family Who Abandon Me novel Chapter 52

"I can't help but think of her as a strange woman."

Elle said this with an uncomfortable expression. They had finally shaken off Keena's attempts to follow them to the Achilles Mansion. Leticia, who was walking beside her, only smiled awkwardly.

"So you should be careful too. I keep thinking she's trying to trick you."

"Okay, I'll be careful."

"I knew my sister was too pretty for her own good."

Somehow the whole world seemed to be after Leticia, so Elle walked with her arm around her shoulder.

"Elle is the only one who likes me."

"You're saying that again, there's someone over there who likes you too."

"Huh?"

Leticia didn't understand what she meant. She blinked and turned her in the direction Elle was pointing.

There she found Enoch standing at the entrance, and a big smile spread across Leticia's face.

"Lord Achilles!"

Perhaps it was because she'd only been getting brief glimpses of his face every morning, but today she felt even happier to see him.

Leticia couldn't hide her happiness, and ran towards Enoch.

Maybe it's because she was rushing, and not paying attention. She stepped on some uneven ground and stumbled. Leticia closed her eyes tightly as she was about to fall forward.

What she felt wasn't the hard ground, but a warm embrace. She could tell without looking who it was.

He barely managed to catch her and stop her from tumbling to the ground. Unlike Leticia, who was sighing in relief, Enoch's face was slightly stiff.

"If you run like that, you'll fall."

"It's so good that... Ah..."

Leticia shook her head with a short gasp. She belatedly realized what she was about to say.

Thanks to this, Enoch's stiff expression became more relaxed.

Embarrassed, Leticia squeezed Enoch's arm and looked up at him with a sharp look.

"Why is it so hard to see your face these days?"

Her tart words seemed strangely loving, and a smile spread across Enoch's face.

"There was some work."

"What's going on?"

Leticia asked him what it was. Instead of answering, Enoch gently stroked her hair. Leticia grabbed hold of his arm harder. Her heart was feeling ticklish even though all he was doing was patting her head.

"I won't be busy anymore, so you can relax."

Leticia didn't hear anymore of his soothing words. Instead, she buried herself in Enoch's chest.

"Um, actually..."

She'd missed him.

She wanted to say these words, but strangely, the words were stuck in her throat and she couldn't seem to get them out.

The beating of her heart seemed audible to her ears, so Leticia stopped talking and took a deep breath.

Just as she was about to try and say she missed him again.

"I missed you."

Surprised by the words, Leticia's eyes widened and she looked up at Enoch.

"How did you know I was going to say that?"

"What? I was just saying what I wanted to say."

"What? Ah..."

Leticia's face began to turn red, she couldn't believe she thought that he knew how she was feeling and said it. She was so ashamed that she wanted to turn around and run away.

As if he'd noticed, Enoch leaned back and met Leticia's gaze.

"Did you miss me?"

The sweet voice that reached her ears began to make her face unbearably warm. Eventually, Leticia tucked her face down to hide how red it was.

The more she did this, the closer Enoch got.

Even without looking, she could feel his gaze looking straight at her. Leticia touched her fingertips together nervously.

"I think you're too close now."

"Well, I can't hear you."

Leticia was unable to bear the words, and she tried to back away. Before she knew it, she saw a large hand take hold of both wrists. It was such a weak grip that she could slip out at any time with a little effort.

If she didn't like it, she could easily push him away.

˜Really, this guy is...'

Even at this moment, his touch was being considerate of her. She tried to swallow her overwhelming emotions. Leticia bit her lip and looked up at him.

As soon as their gazes intertwined, as if waiting for this, Enoch said.

"I missed you so much."

His eyes were full of longing.

Leticia tried to tell him that he wasn't the only one feeling that way, that she also wanted to see him.

"Oh, my God. My eyes are burning!"

With an expression of disgust, Elle went into the mansion first with a click of her tongue.

Only then did Leticia and Enoch realize that she was still around.

***

"Young Master, welcome back..."

The butler greeted Emil as he entered the room, but Emil pretended not to hear him and sat roughly in a chair.

His head was filled with conversations between his academic colleagues that kept coming up.

[I mean, Ian Achilles. How did he even get past the first round?]

One of his academic colleagues asked with an inquisitive look when they were talking about how to do well on the second round of exams.

[Oh, that's because a professor wrote a letter of recommendation.]

[Which professor was it?]

Emil was listening into the conversation while pretending disinterest, he secretly smirked and drank his tea. It was obvious he'd bribed one of the money-crazy professors to write him a letter. If he found out who it was, he was going to turn him into a test administrator right away.

However, Emil's prediction was a mistake.

[Professor Warner Russel wrote the letter of recommendation himself.]

[Wow, didn't he reject your request?]

[Of course, you know how much Professor Russel hates expediency and cheating.]

[But isn't this the first time Professor Russel has written a letter of recommendation?]

It was at that moment that Emil's expression cracked while he was drinking his tea leisurely.

˜Warner Russel?'

Emil clenched his teeth.

The fact that he wrote a letter of recommendation for Ian Achilles while rejecting his recommendation was a blow to his self-esteem.

In the end, Emil couldn't contain his anger and swept everything off of his desk. His quill pen, ink bottle, and various books rolled onto the floor, but his mood didn't clear up so easily.

"How dare he write a letter of recommendation to someone who's not even comparable to me? What a stupid professor!"

The more he thought about it, the more his temper flared and he couldn't bear it.

As he clenched his fist to calm down, his eyes met with the butler who was just quietly watching him.

"Come to think of it, I don't think there's been any reports about my first sister lately. Am I mistaken?"

"That's... The situation has gotten worse."

Emil paused, surprised by the butler's words.

The feeling of having fallen into the abyss began to cool down.

"Tell me the details."

"So..."

The butler was wondering how to say this, when he carefully began to explain.

Until a few days ago, the rumor around Leticia that she would make you unlucky and unhappy was spreading around quite virulently. At some point it turned around, people started to talk about how Leticia's cookies were causing good things to happen, just like the words inside her cookies.

"With all due respect, I don't think anything bad will happen around the First Miss."

The butler said these words without realizing it and quickly shut his mouth.

But Emil had already heard him.

"If it's not bad, then what?"

The butler said reluctantly, Emil's stern expression urging an answer.

"It seems like something good happens often..."

"What?"

"I've investigated and found that since the First Miss entered the Achilles household, only good things have happened to the Duke of Achilles."

The butler looked troubled as he said this.

Emil clenched his fist while staring at him, an uneasy and ominous feeling was growing in his chest.

"What exactly, for example?"

"Recently, Young Master Achilles passed the first round of exams... Ahh..."

"...."

It wasn't a good idea to use Ian as an example, the butler let out a short sigh.