Marielle Clarac’s Engagement

Part 1
Three years pa.s.sed since I had my social debut at 15 years old, at least, finally, a marriage proposal arrived.

The objective of all the young Ladies and Gentleman when they reach adulthood, is mostly related to the search of a marriage partner. And during these three years, I had totally no relations with this kind of story, and because of that, I was seen as an unusual person.

So it became a story about my father making full use of his connections in order to acquire an engagement for me.

"Otherwise, if I didn"t do so, you would"ve remained all alone for the rest of your life" he said.
I thought so too.

Our n.o.ble family isn"t too bad, but we don’t possess any special influence either. Our pedigree is of a middle cla.s.s n.o.ble household.
My father and my older brother works as officials at the Royal Castle. And the both of them seem to have soaring carriers.

Such a father found a partner for a waste like me.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Marielle. I"m called Simon Flaubert."

In the introduction day, I was greatly amazed that as according to etiquette, he offered me the proper greeting.

The Vice Commander of the Imperial Knight Order aka Simon Flaubert. Someone that doesn"t recognize his name or appearance, there would be no such person in the Royal court, you know. Of course with a beautiful face and physique, And as the heir of the venerable Flaubert family, that still continue to lead the founder of the country, and as an excellent knight, he draw the attention in every aspect.

If I am not mistaken, this year he should be twenty-seven years old, I think?

The people of my generation and the adults, don"t possess amazing composure such as him.
Despite everything, in a way or another, I returned his greeting, though I didn"t recover yet from my surprise.
Father……you truly brought Simon-sama, neh. It must be a joke, I thought.
But, I wouldn"t have thought that such an amazing person would"ve revealed to be my engagement partner. I really wonder what kind of method, father come out with, to lure him in.
Without a doubt, it’s father"s one lifetime crushing victory.

The engagement with him, made all the surrounding Ladies jealous, and thus envious of me.

For this reason, they"re sarcastic remark began to pile up.
Naturally, I am okay. Although my household pedigree is nothing special. Personally, I think I am pretty plain, and like a wallflower I don’t really stand out. It’s quite the unbalanced engagement.
Being honestly blessed would be quite strange.
Why did he chose such a she, as his partner?
And in addition why with such an inferior person, they began to question with suspicion, pitying and mocking him.

I comprend.

This is what I"m thinking too. I don’t know what kind of negotiations my father did, but Simon-sama agreed to such engagement.
There were many suitable young Ladies that existed, I believe. What was the deciding factor is what concern me.
I wonder if I will ever get the opportunity to hear of it. Of course I am not suited to be his fiancé, that’s why I shrunk back, good grief.
With this great fortune, I should feel happy from the bottom of my heart.

Because, it’s Simon-sama! That Simon Flaubert-sama!
The head of the powerful Imperial Knight Order, the smiling blade that mislead the prey, before slaughtering it! The sharp thorn that led down countless poisonous flower, because it’s that Simon-sama of the rumors!

……ara, my intention was to praise him, you know? Beautiful,I would sayheis the owner of an intellect that surpa.s.s others?
Simon-sama"s bearing is very gentle, that of a refined gentleman. He is always courteous, and his smile won"t disappear no matter what. The people that judged him by his kind and gentle looks are all idiot-sans, there are story enumeration of when he was treated as an eyesore.

Mr. Tsuyoshi came to aid, the vice captain of kindness. Intelligent and proficient at scheming. Move aside the way, move aside! Good……! This, this malicious smell that is floating in the air and villain like manner that is out of this world ! It strickes me right in the middle of my moe point!
Thank you father! To be able to observe my favorite delicacy like this, Marielle is happy!

" I"m truly sorry, I made you wait"

I was called out by an acquaintance voice here and there, Simon-sama who had been held for a long time, finally finished and come back to me. I was being left alone by my fiancé during the evening party, and just a while ago I was exposed to the young misses ill speaking about me.
It wasn"t uncommon to return home without my existence being noticed so far, but now wherever I go I"m always at the center of attention. Till now to not speak of young misses splendid oji-sama are making connections. They certainly want to sell off their own daughter.

"No, don"t mind it. It"s because Simon-sama has many acquaintance, you can"t afford to be as leisurely carefree as I am. Would you like to go greet a few more?"

The drink you picked on the way to come here, I will thankfully receive it. Because I already drunk three cups while waiting, my stomach will go *taputapu* soon. If you came a while earlier it would"ve been good.

"Yes, I already finished greeting the necessary n.o.bles. Being talked to by people that use the engagement as an excuse something or other, as one would expect it"s tiring."

"Fufu, popular people have it hard."

"You too right? You seem to have talked to many various people."

He glanced at me with a gentle smile with a tinge of mischief, Simon-sama sat down next to me. Ara, you realized.You must have looked over there once in a while.

You have no blind spot ne! As expected, from the vice-captain!

Surely everyone of the knights order,are daily checked by Simon-sama casual sharp gaze.Certainly this is something I cannot miss. How nice.

"In my case, almost everyone is related with Simon-sama. Everyone seem to be very interesting."

To me that was laughing going ufufu, Simon-sama also gently smiled back. Nearby you could see engaged people chatting and getting along with each other, I guess they are different from us. As a matter of fact at the woman side they were not in harmony with a plain girl with gla.s.ses like me, many of them holden dissatisfaction.

It"s not even like I can"t take off my gla.s.ses ne. It"s just, that I can"t distinguish who is who when I look at a certain distance, so it"s a bit of an inconvenience. My content took more than my appearance. If I can"t observe people, there’s no point in going to an evening party.

"It"s the same here. Although I expected it to some extent, but engagement is something that attract people’s attention isn"t it."

"It"s because of Simon-sama you know. No matter what partner you choose, I think even now there would be people carrying interest in you."

"I am inquired about this even in private conversations, honestly I am embarra.s.sed."
Breathing out awkwardly, Simon-sama fixed his gla.s.ses.

Yes, in reality Simon-sama is a gla.s.ses guy. But he"s different from me, his charm is not even a little bit affected, contrary he look more and more cool. The moment his eyes narrow behind the gla.s.ses, although his smiling at you but somehow you feel an unspeakable coldness, and reflexively you want to go haahaa. Gla.s.ses to make a complete transformation! His already perfect! There is no one who embodies my ideals so much like him! Would you please carry a props whip too! Ah, but if I were to see him with such appearance I"m bound to have a nosebleed!

"…….Marielle?"

My intentions was to just gently smile, did the cry of my inner heart leaked out I wonder. Simon-sama slightly bent over and looked at me. Ara no way, did you felt a bad feeling? Please don"t ask me a silent question with such a powerful smile.Isn"t he getting more and more ha~aha~a.

" This is also, a happy thing"

I concealed my tension and agitation and we stared at each other, suddenly we heard a voice from the side. To the young and beautiful voice, we restored our bearing and we turned our heads. We saw that a figure was stalking towards us, without a moment"s delay Simon-sama stood up. I too stood up in a hurry.

" You look like a pair of lovers that know each other for long time. Certainly for Simon to be like this, I"m really surprised."

To those that laughed with mocking manner, I gave a very deep bow. Simon-sama smiled wryly.

" Your Highness, please don"t make fun of us. I"ve already been told this to death today."

"It"s the duty of a happy person. Unmarried people that are resigned won"t accept it out of jealousy"

"Oh well. If that"s the case it"s all right for Your Highness to quickly decide on a companion. You shouldn"t refuse complaining about this or that, His Majesty will be troubled."

" In my case I cannot simply choose a companion based on my liking. I"m envious of your freedom."

The person that Simon-sama is talking so intimately to, is Prince Sevran-sama. He is twenty-seven years old like Simon-sama.The two of them are of the same age, and seems to have a close relationship. Of course it is probably because to some extent Simon-sama is a reliable person, and not only this, I certainly feel that some kind of friendship existed between them.
That"s it, this is one of the big reasons of my jealousy. Being the next king"s trusted and close person, there’s no doubt that in the future he"ll became the prime minister. He"ll have the country most successful career ever. Well he is what everyone is aiming for right.

Really, father how did you secure such a person. I guess you didn"t got a hold on something and threatened him. If you had such a behavior toward Simon-sama, our household is going to be smashed you know.

By no means I believe this, but just in case I"ll check it later. No matter how moe he is, I have no experience in this situations.
As soon as we entered the venue, we were greeted by His Highness Sevran, there"s no need for me to talk in this situation. I didn"t intrude, and just silently listened to their conversation. To not get in their way I have to become air as if I am not here. I fully retreated of several steps and took distance.

By nature, I don’t want to be close to His Highness"s body. I don"t wish to be misunderstood if I were to conduct myself with over-familiarity. That is precisely, because Simon-sama is here.
Besides, I don"t feel like doing such a foolish thing like cutting myself between their conversation.

The black haired and dark eyed, masculine and intrepid Prince Sevran, and the blond haired and light blue eyed, gentle but somewhat sharp Simon-sama. When those two beautiful youth holding contrasting charm lines up, it"s like gazing at a painting. Right in that story book there was such an ill.u.s.tration. They were the main character of a story. I like things between man and women, but I don"t read much of those of that system, and I don"t have a particularly weak awareness too. Because they are great friend like that, I intend to show my comprehension. I have borrowed many book and read about it, so I am proud to say that what I know is quite detailed.

At first glance His Highness would be the seme and Simon-sama the uke, but in truth in a combination such as this one in the Royal road Simon-sama is the seme. Surely the oresama Prince will like the gentle subordinate that at the clue time will push and push in place of his superior …….the so-called "junior dominating senior" coupling. This is the master and servants Royal road.

Surely there is a friend in this a.s.sembly hall that is enduring a nosebleed. At a pretty close place probably.
For the sake of that girl, I don"t want to behave unrefined and by joining their conversation separating the two of them.

They can"t come out, but I think that there are many young ladies with this kind of hobby.
Like this, everyone, let us admire this lovely spectacle together!

"Marielle?"

Oh what it is. Simon-sama"s powerful smile is facing me again. I wonder what did he sense.
Wonderful, as expected from the Vice-captain, he"s sharp.

"Your fiancé is really quiet. So quiet that I seem to forget about her existence"
At the words of Prince Sevran, I simply returned it with a smile. Yes, that"s right. That is my special skill. I don"t draw the attention from anyone, and the fact that I have no presence at all I"ve been using it to the maximum for zealously observe human beings, and to carefully listen to people"s conversations. The results obtained by that are quite great. I act for my personal hobby and for the sake of actual profit, at times I spill the informations to my father. And If they are useful at work, as a result my livelihood profit from it.

However, recently it has become more difficult. Since my engagement with Simon-sama, because of this situation I gathered the attention of people"s eyes, so it didn"t work like before. I wonder if I should change my objective from now on. Rather it may be better aiming to earn information using this situation.

"My apologies….oh, is she Simon-dono"s fiancé"

A voice called over, and an unknown oji-sama approached while smiling. Now, who is him? For those past three years I"ve been going out to endeavour my human observation, so I have a grasp of almost every internal aristocrat. I really have no remembrance of him, I wonder if he is a person of a foreign country.

He is about forty years old, with an elegant appearance. Considerably handsome and tall. And with neat and smooth reddish brown hair with few white hair mixed in, and a refined aura suitable for his age could be sensed from him.

"Oh my • Rail-dono, are you curious?"

Simon-sama welcomed him with a smile. This is a greeting category, that won"t make the other party feel bad.

"No, I"m really sorry. I apologize if my terrible curiosity have offended you. because here and there I heard of those rumors, I was curious of what kind of person she was. Can I have the honor of being introduced ?"

"Yareyare, now. Marielle, this is Hughbelt van Rail-dono. He is the new amba.s.sador of Fissel"

Ah, the new amba.s.sador of the neighbouring country is it. This means that he was just nominated.
I bowed to Sir Hughbelt.

"Nice to meet you, I am called Marielle • Clarac. I am honored to make your acquaintance."
"I too, am glad to have met you. Iya, quite an innocent, lovely fiancé right. Simon-dono also seem to have completely melted down as a result."

"Well, it"s like this"

I laughed ufufu to deceive him. I don"t think so. Wasn"t this an engagement negotiated with father where he didn"t even know the face of the other party? My existence for Simon-sama is just that of the daughter of the Clarac family. If I was an outstanding beauty or if I was a person blessed with a special talent, romance could"ve been born there right, but I am a plain gla.s.ses person okay. I don"t expect a development like that you know.

Good. Simon-sama perfectly doesn"t have problem with the engagement, as of me I can handle it. I don"t desire anything more than that, and I am not particularly interested either.

Today who I am interested in, is rather Sir Hughbelt, yes you.

"Ho, you think so too. Truly, I am surprised that this Simon became lovestruck towards a woman"

"Normally he isn"t like this?"

"Ah. Even with this kind of appearance, inside he is a bitter man. When many women send him amorous glances, he just smile and treat them with considerably indifference"

"Well well. Then it was destiny that made you meet Miss Marielle"

"That"s right, she is certainly the fated companion that that G.o.d decided for him. From my point of view, the two of you really suit each other"

"The two of you, about this, can you please stop. This talk expanded too much"

They began to get excited as they exchanged joke and socialized. From there the topic gradually flowed in the political field, private information about proceeding development were exchanged. And I, as per habit retreated of several steps in a place where I could quietly observe them.

I am air. I am an ornament.

On the surface I am quietly refraining from interrupting their conversation between men, and acting like a virtuous fiance.

Erase your presence, blend in the place, and casually listen to every conversation. In order to not waste this precious opportunity, I wrote down at full power the information I got to know in my brain.

Aah! In reality I wanted to listen while holding a note! I must not forget about the talk I just heard, I wonder if I can properly remember everything though. Name of well known people are coming out, and unexpected connections were established. This~, is delicious. As expected of the country’s upper n.o.bility, the topics that come out are not incomplete. Because we are in this kind of place those conversation are no secret but, even so for me these information are the finest treasures.

When the talk came to an end Sir Hughbelt left, I excused myself from Simon-sama and went to the restroom.

Naoriel’s little corner °•○♡◇

Second and third part will be posted tomorrow~