I Became The Male Lead's Female Friend

Chapter 78

Rudrick has recently experienced insomnia again, but it’s not to the point as if he has not slept.

Initially, he had a short sleep time since he was young.

In his youth, he didn’t have time to sleep to meet his father’s expectations, and at some point after adolescence, he just couldn’t sleep.

In particular, his insomnia was most severe on the battlefield.

Usually, there were many days when he slept two to three hours or stayed up all night for a few days.

At one time, one of his subordinates said, ‘That’s how he’s going to kill himself’, and they recommended all types of medicines for sleep.

At every moment, a dark shadow under his eyes had never been erased.

That’s why people said his impression looked grimmer.

‘It was really none of my business. It didn’t matter what I looked like.’ Rudrick thought.

Just thinking how scared he was when he first met Dahlia, he was concerned that it was because of this dark expression.

But that was soon resolved, too.

He fell into a surprisingly deep sleep after arriving in the capital.

‘Was it because I missed the atmosphere of the Capital City, which was peaceful enough to be called boring, unlike the battlefield?’

When he first came to the capital, he was able to sleep for over two or three hours, and after meeting Dahlia, he was able to get a good night’s sleep.

Rudrick felt his head clear up after quite some time and thought that it was worth sleep, since he had always treated sleep as a waste of time.

As it was, he continued to stay in the capital, and as Dahlia said, if he stayed with her, his old sickness may finally be cured.

I don’t know if I’ll ever have insomnia again because of her.

“Sigh…”

As Rudrick sighed deeply, his subordinates gathered in the office, frozen as if they had seen a ghost.

In particular, the knight who was making a performance report in front of him stopped reporting and was crying.

He seemed to misunderstand that his superior made such a fuss for something he did wrong.

Rudrick pressed his trembling temple in silence and opened his mouth in a tone full of irritation.

“Continue.”

“Yes, Sir! Currently, the 6th Division is in charge of the Northwest Territories, and the cycle of the appearance of demons in nearby areas…”

Rudrick barely let the report continue, but in fact, he didn’t even listen to what the knight was saying.

Because he had only one thought in his head, ‘What’s wrong with me these days?’

When Dahlia first laughed in secret, spitting out that bizarre line, Rudrick first felt as if he were going to faint.

He couldn’t come to his senses, even though his men were surprised to see him dozing off during the meeting.

He blinked again to wake himself, doubting if all he was experiencing was a dream or reality.

And when he realized that the scene he saw was just a dream, much rather a delusion, when someone pointed out his blushing face.

He eventually couldn’t stand it and had no choice but to kick his seat. He finally tried to pour cold water over his body to calm himself, but his face, once red, wasn’t able to return to its original state easily.

After that, Rudrick became afraid to sleep.

Of course, the strange dream ceased to exist, but it was inevitable that Dahlia would appear frequently in his dreams, so at some point, he refused to sleep.

If he had such a dream one more time, it seemed that he won’t be able to see Dahlia’s face for the rest of his life.

And since there was a big difference between not being able to fall asleep from the beginning and holding back sleep on purpose, Rudrick went back to the time when he was very sensitive to insomnia again.

Thanks to this, his subordinates had no choice but to live in a trembling atmosphere every day.

But among them, there was always at least one person who could not read the atmosphere.

For example, when the knight saw him before and pointed out openly saying, ‘Your face is red…’

Ethan Miller, 4th Division Commander of the Knights of Bouser asked Rudrick, “Ah, Sir, are you troubled because of the rumor?”

‘Hey, hey! What rumor are you talking about?’

Naturally, the other division commanders were outraged.

Rudrick was already showing his discomfort because he was tired, but if he got annoyed, the knight might even cheer on him as a group.

However, Ethan, who’s slow-witted compared to his skills, still said with a puzzled expression, “No, it’s not like that. I heard something…”

And Rudrick was watching them in silence.

Normally, I would have let both of them out, saying I was sleeping with eyes open, and they were noisy, but somehow Ethan’s words bothered me inside.

Then, as if noticing Rudrick’s cold stare, they quickly shut their mouths.

Rudrick, who was still looking at him, asked carefully, “What rumors?”

Then Ethan looked around him, thinking it was a mistake to mention the rumors, and the other division commanders shook their heads quietly.

It was meant to confess the truth and be punished.

Before he knew it, he stood in front of Rudrick and began to talk in a tearful manner.

“Well, the… the thing.”

“…?”

And soon afterward, incredible words cut through Rudrick’s ears.

“There are rumors that your Majesty and Princess Averine are in a very passionate…”

✿

“Are you engaged?”

Hestia, drinking tea at my office, not knowing why she was called, stared at me with her round eyes.

And Jeron, who was next to her, asked lightly as if he knew it, “Are the servants rushing you?”

As expected, he’s quick to catch on. Dahlia sighed deeply, showing signs of exhaustion.

“That’s especially true these days.”

To the point where it feels a bit harsh. At some point, the retainers began to stir a ruckus.

‘For Averine’s future, I have to get ready for engagement, and find the right person. Then choose a spouse, even if I don’t want to get married right away. What the hell is wrong with that?’ Dahlia thought.

Maybe it’s because my father was back and took on the work of the estate again, so I have less work to do. Well…

‘That’s possible.’

No, that seems to be the reason. Obviously, I’m more relaxed nowadays, and because I was taking over the family instead of my father, they couldn’t even bring out the word ‘engagement’.

But when my father returned and the family stabilized, the things I had been putting off for a while came crashing down on me.

“Whew, I’m in trouble.”

If I had to pick one of the most troubling things, it was definitely finding a fiancée.

Of course, it’s not that they don’t understand.

In order to become the Duke of Averine, the key was to obtain the consent of all those who had accumulated impressive performance.

But that was just our family custom.

Aside from being a member of Averine, I am also a citizen of the Empire, so in order to succeed to the title, I had to follow the laws of the Empire.

Fortunately, there was no provision in Imperial law prohibiting women from taking titles.

But there were conditions attached to it.

‘Have a successor, or get engaged.’

With my common sense living in the 21st century, I couldn’t understand why such a condition should be attached.

But people thought that an empire with such conditions was free enough.

The nobles in particular did so, but there was no reason for that.

Usually the children of nobles, and most of the children of high nobles, had a fiancé around the age of ten.

In short, all I was saying was that my case was not normal. As usual, I should have had at least one fiancée around that time.

For the nobles, an engagement was not just a promise to the future, but also a union between families.

Nevertheless, the reason why I have not been engaged so far was, of course, my parents, who have the value of ‘marriage should be with the person you love,’ but there was a more fundamental reason.

“Actually, they tried to get me engaged too. Charles said he’d be fine, and we’ve grown attached to him. So I made a promise…”

One day, my mother said that as if she was genuinely sorry.

When I heard that, I dropped my fork and looked back at my mother in disbelief.

“What? Now, wait a minute. No way…”

“That’s right.”

My mother gave a blunt answer. She said, ‘An engagement with Rudrick.’

I couldn’t forget. When I heard that, I felt like someone was hitting my head.

Of course, I was thinking that might happen, but…

In the original story, the two talked about their engagement, and even after I was reincarnated, I was pretty close with Rudrick.

‘Because love isn’t always the only thing a couple needs. There are quite a few couples who live like friends.’

But actually hearing that was even more shocking.

Of course, Rudrick was the cutest, prettiest, lovable, and cutest kid in the world, but when he became my husband, I- it couldn’t be more than that.