Home/I ended up having a surprise marriage with the male lead/ch 35

Chapter 35

"Have fun."

Emilia waved lightly at Ivan.

Ivan trotted over to the children playing ball.

She could see him gripping his clothes and saying something.

Will they let him join?

Emilia watched the children with a slightly anxious heart.

Just then, one of the children looked Ivan up and down, then sought agreement from the others and nodded with a bright smile.

Thanks to that, Ivan was able to join the group without incident.

"Thank goodness."

Emilia let out a sigh of relief.

It felt like watching a baby take its first steps.

Just then, a rather indifferent remark came from beside her.

"It seems they noticed his clothes are nice."

"..."

Indeed, Ivan's clothes were obviously of fine quality and special.

Some of the children seemed conscious of that fact, too.

But was there really any need to spoil the mood like that?

"That's why you can't concentrate—because you're not focusing on your work. Just do your work."

Emilia scolded Kayden with a sidelong glance.

---

How much time had passed?

"Emilia—!"

Ivan, flushed from running around, came running back toward them.

The children he'd been playing ball with came along too.

As expected of young children, they seemed to have become fast friends in that short time.

"Hi there?"

Emilia met the children's eyes with a warm smile.

"Hello!"

One child answered as vigorously as if kicking a ball.

"Oh, hello~"

"...Hello."

Some children peeked at her shyly, faces flushed.

Watching them fondly, Emilia rummaged through her bag.

Then she pulled out her secret weapon for befriending children and asked.

"Kids, would you like to share this with Ivan?"

It was food prepared by the residence's chef of extraordinary skill.

As she opened the lunchbox lid to show them, reactions burst out.

"Wow!"

"I want some too, I want some too!"

Visibly salivating, the children eagerly approached.

"Amazing!"

"Delicious!"

Thanks to that, the children opened up and introduced themselves as if presenting to a kindergarten teacher.

Their backgrounds were quite varied—from children of powerful noble families to commoners.

"Haha! That day, Andrew dropped the ball in the mud and made a huge fuss trying to pick it up without getting his clothes dirty."

"Hey!"

"Right, right. When Philip came to pick it up for him, he kept backing away."

Of course, they hadn't been close from the start—they'd apparently become friends by running into each other often here.

Is it because of the nature of the space?

She entertained that thought for a moment.

In any case, it was nice to see them getting along so well.

Leaving the children to their chatter, Emilia tidied up the now-empty lunchbox.

Just then, two children who had been whispering to each other turned their gaze to her.

"Miss!"

"Hmm?"

"Is that man your husband?"

The children's eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Huh?"

Their fingers were pointing at Kayden.

What a scandalous thing to say!

Startled, Emilia quickly waved her hands.

"Of course not!"

"See? She said no. I knew it wasn't."

The child who'd received Emilia's answer puffed up with pride as if they'd guessed right.

Just then, a low voice came from above.

"Why wouldn't she be?"

"...Pardon?"

The child blinked, bewildered.

It was the noble man who hadn't shown any interest in their chatter and had only been looking at documents.

But now he was looking at the child, asking.

Huh?

For some reason, his gaze reminded the child of a teacher's reproachful look when giving a wrong answer.

Meanwhile—

"Emilia!"

Ivan jumped up from his seat and whispered something to Emilia.

"Shall I?"

She soon reached her arm toward Kayden.

At the same time, her arm brushed against his body, and her long hair fell across his thigh.

"What are you—"

Kayden, who had been engaged in a staring contest with the child, frowned.

And the child who had been receiving his sharp gaze just moments before witnessed it.

The nobleman's flustered gaze, unsure where to look.

In the meantime, the pretty sister had taken the paper bag that was lying to the nobleman's left.

"This?"

"Yes!"

Ivan nodded in confirmation.

Then the pretty sister whispered something in the nobleman's ear.

The nobleman nodded silently, but for some reason, he was clenching his fist.

However, the child couldn't observe them any longer.

"Huh?"

A toy was suddenly thrust before his eyes.

"Here!"

"Huh? Oh, okay."

The child took the toy, a bit bewildered.

Ivan beamed as he pulled toys from the bag one by one and handed them to everyone.

"Whoa! This is really expensive!"

At the exclamation from beside him, the child also looked down at the toy.

"...!"

His eyes went wide.

It was a mystery novel he enjoyed reading as a hobby.

"Can I really take this?"

The child asked in an urgent voice, and Ivan answered.

"Yes!"

"Ivan wanted to give you presents because he had fun playing with you today."

Emilia conveyed Ivan's feelings to the children.

"Wow, really?"

"Thank you!"

"Hehe, yes, yes!"

While the children chattered excitedly, Emilia quietly asked Ivan.

"But you don't have one for yourself, are you okay with that?"

"Yes! I'm okay!"

Ivan held up the only thing remaining in his hand—a fountain pen.

"I have this!"

It was the first thing Ivan had chosen at the toy store.

At that, Emilia smiled and ruffled Ivan's hair.

Just then—

"I'm jealous."

One of the children murmured enviously.

His tutor always nagged him to study and was strict.

He wished he had such a kind and pretty tutor too.

Then, as if a good idea struck him, the child spoke in a playful tone.

"Miss! If you ever get fired, come work at my house! My mom can pay you a lot!"

"Oh, my house too! Ours is better!"

Suddenly competing, the children vied for her attention, and Ivan's expression hardened.

"Ah, no!"

Ivan cried out urgently.

"Em, Emilia is my teacher!"

Though it had been said half-jokingly, Ivan's intense reaction made the children laugh awkwardly and try to smooth things over.

"Ah, of course it was a joke."

"Right. Me too!"

But Ivan didn't seem to cheer up, pouting and fidgeting with his fingers.

The awkward atmosphere made the children glance at Ivan.

They felt bad for having upset him with their teasing after he'd even given them expensive toys.

"Hey, let's go play some more."

"Yeah. Ivan, come back soon."

The children invited Ivan, but he replied in a small voice, lips still pouting.

"I'll come later..."

"O-okay."

"We'll wait for you, so come quickly!"

And just like that, the children dispersed like the tide receding.

Watching them go, Ivan clung to Emilia and murmured.

"Emilia is my teacher."

Finding the sulky child adorable, Emilia smiled and whispered to Ivan.

"That's right. I'm Ivan's. Your friends don't know what they're talking about."

"Mmm."

"And besides, I like Ivan the most, you know."

"...Really?"

Somewhat cheered up, Ivan fidgeted with his hands.

"Of course. I missed you so much and thought of you so often that I came here to be your tutor, didn't I?"

At that, Ivan's lips slowly curved into a grin.

"So don't mind what your friends said, and go play some more."

"Yes, yes!"

Ivan gave her a quick hug, then ran back to the children with a light step.

Emilia watched him and finally burst out laughing.

Just then, a similarly dissatisfied voice came from beside her—

"Why are you Ivan's?"

Back   Next