I don't think Leon saying "She is mine" or "She is my wife" is beating around the bush though...
It is beating around the bush because Esther doesn't get it. She thinks that he's only saying that for appearances and not because he actually means it. Leon knows that Esther is as dense as it gets and yet he continues to drop hints that she's just going to misinterpret. The only way to get through to her is to actually tell her that he likes her. Any other approach has been proved to not work on her so no point in wasting his time on those.
Well yes, he increased her density (or let's say romantic immunity) by posing as someone who's ready to behead her at any given moment. Sure, we readers moved on (and he sure as hell did), but Esther...err.. seems quite stuck at the "pretense" part (and considering this is shoujo, she'll find 1001 reasons to verify this notion, cement it, plaster it, write it in stone and built a high rise a top of it. Chances are, she'll endure some absolutely superfluous "suffering", heroine herself through it and STAY as dense as before. I can't wait for it.)
Yeah, Leon played himself
Leon should just confess to Esther. Idk why he's beating around the bush so much. We can all tell that Esther is as dense of a person as it gets. If he wants their relationship to move forward he should stop waiting on Esther to make the first move.