Chapter 14: Perre Kranz"s Tears
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"Welcome back, Rita, Perre. Our debt is gone!"
There was a bright smile on his face as Baron Karl Kranz greeted Perre and his mother, Rita, after they returned from a domain inspection.
"…What? Such a huge amount, how could it be gone like that? Have you gotten yourself entangled in some sort of trouble, Father?
"If you keep talking like that, I"ll beat you until you stop." Rita held her fist up and smiled wickedly as Perre"s face, which was a spitting image of her mother, went ashen.
"H-hold on, Mother. I"m sure he didn"t mean it." His bluish black-haired older sister stopped Rita in a hurry.
"Hmpf. Even if Nora"s here, I won"t tolerate such foolish behavior."
"Well then, were you hallucinating?"
"How mean, Perre. It"s true, you know. The venerable quagmire of debt of the Kranz family for generations has now become zero."
"…How did that happen? Don"t tell me you plan to sell my sister?"
"It"s better if it"s Perre, but if it"s me, I wouldn"t amount to much. Certainly not enough to cover the debt." Nora laughed.
Even though she was confident with his face, she doubted it would be enough to cover the debt even if they had sold Perre.
But it was such a huge amount, what in the world happened?
"Well, in a sense, you could say Nora put her body on the line and earned her keep."
"…Karl, why don"t you sit down there for a bit."
He didn"t know what she had imagined but Rita pointed to the floor with a blank expression on her face.
As he didn"t have much authority in the household, the head of the Kranz family gently slid down from the sofa to the floor.
"Mother, it"s all right. I don"t know what you"re imagining but it"s not like that."
"Oh? Is that so? Karl, you may sit back."
Karl quietly returned to the sofa. He couldn"t help but smile when he felt the b.u.mps on the sofa as he leaned back.
"…Then, what really happened? If it"s true that the debt is now zero, what happened, Nora?" Feeling helpless with regards to his father"s explanation, Perre looked into his sister"s purple eyes.
In terms of facial features, Nora resembled their father, but couldn"t really be considered a beauty.
However, because she had bluish black hair and purple eyes, to Perre, they complimented her modest appearance well.
"Well, it"s a long story. But to make it short, it was compensation money for breaking the engagement."
"…Huh?" Their astounded reactions made Nora smile wryly.
"In other words, Father agreed to an engagement proposal from the House of Marquis without your knowledge and that"s the compensation money for breaking the engagement in public?"
"That"s about right."
"And now you"re friends with the twin sons of the Marquis?"
"Yeah, well, I think the person who broke the engagement is also probably my friend."
…I don"t get it.
Although it"s odd that Nora wasn"t informed of the engagement, it"s common for parents of the n.o.bility to decide the marriage partners for their children so they usually just turn a blind eye.
But for someone who didn"t even know she was engaged, what"s with breaking the engagement in public?
And if that wasn"t embarra.s.sing enough, she even became friends with them?
It doesn"t make sense but I don"t know what else to ask.
"…Then Nora, are you fine with that?"
"Rather than saying I was fine with it, well, it had already happened. There was nothing I could do. In any case, we"re friends now."
Perre managed to squeeze out some words but received a helpless reply instead.
Certainly, if the opponent was the House of Marquis, they would be no match for them.
Nora had probably already sought them for negotiation.
If he paid such an extraordinary amount of compensation money, then he must be decent enough to be friends with.
Perre came to that conclusion.
No matter how you look at him, Perre"s good-looking. Even the girls were aware of it. However, there"s always someone who will always be better.
"Perre, this is Elias." Nora gestured to the handsome gentleman at the entrance.
He had grayish brown hair and beautiful sky-colored eyes, his facial features are sharp, and since he"s tall, he"s also got long legs. And on top of it all, since he was the son of the marquis, the air of inequality was evident between them.
"Elias Callum. It"s a pleasure to meet you."
"Perre Kranz. Seems like you"ve been taking care of my sister…"
Elias gave him a wry smile knowing the double meaning behind his words.
"It was troublesome, I know. But you… don"t look much like Nora, do you?"
"Perre resembles our mother. He"s been popular as a handsome guy in our area. He"s much different from me but I"m proud of my brother."
Perre was moved by the words "I"m proud of my brother" but he didn"t like how Nora downplayed herself like that.
"Yes, you"re quite different. Nora is much more beautiful, modest and strong-hearted."
"Wh? What are you saying, Elias?"
"What?"
Hearing his response, Nora was stumped for words.
Perre noticed her cheeks were quite flushed but it could"ve just been his imagination.
Is this the twin who proposed but was turned down right after the broken engagement?
Even though they said their friends, Elias seemed to have feelings for Nora.
"Nora, you have your part-time job today, right? I can"t come to the restaurant but Allan will drop by and send you home."
"Eh? Is that all you came here for? If it"s inconvenient for Allan, then he doesn"t have to come. I"m not a child so I can go home by myself."
"It"s precisely because you"re not a child, Nora. Just let Allan bring you home."
They seem to be talking about picking up Nora at her part-time job in the restaurant.
Allan must have been the one who broke the engagement.
I don"t know if they"re just really friends, but him being worried about Nora on her way home makes it seem like their lovers.
What kind of a relationship is this?
Is Nora being deceived?
Worried about their strange relationship, Perre decided to come with Nora.
"Perre, stay with Allan, all right?" Nora said and disappeared to the back of the restaurant. It seemed like she went to get ready and wait for her turn to perform.
Speaking of which, it"s been a while since he"s seen Nora"s performance.
"Did you come just to pick up my sister?" After ordering a drink, Perre asked the handsome gentleman who looked no less like Elias.
"Well, that"s also one reason. I do like dining here and listening to Nora"s performance."
They probably serve him more sumptuous meals in his home, so does that mean he"s been captivated by the commoner taste?
"And did you come because you were worried about Nora?"
"You could say that. The whole ordeal seemed strange and I can"t seem to put my finger around the fact that you all became friends after that."
"Me neither." Allan laughed for some reason and held the gla.s.s of sake in his hand.
"In any case, how about a toast?"
As soon as the melody of the piano reverberated in the restaurant, everyone descended into silence. The moment Nora appeared on stage dressed as the Azure Nightingale, the crowd"s gaze immediately focused on her.
Her voice was heavenly. Instead of describing it as either good or bad, it was more apt to say that her voice was heavenly and pleasant to hear. The quality, rhythm and timbre of her voice–everything was soothing to the heart.
When she was young, she used to sing to kids who were crying after getting lost or losing in a fight, and after listening to her songs, they would immediately stop crying.
When Nora"s performance was over and the crowd gave her a round of applause, Perre felt somewhat touched.
"Allan, what are you doing?"
"Nothing much. Just eating and drinking."
All of a sudden, Nora was back at their table. Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol, but he"s been out in a daze.
"Well, I guess it"s fine since you looked quite happy."
While Perre was nibbling a carrot, Nora sat down on a chair.
"It"s a shame that today"s special is Elias" favorite, isn"t it?"
"Elias had to attend a soiree. I"m sure he would"ve enjoyed the food here better."
"Oh, a soiree. Aren"t you needed there as well, Allan?"
"It"s enough for Elias alone to go. Besides, the purpose of that one isn"t for me."
"Purpose?"
"Er, never mind. Speaking of which, why don"t you go to evening parties?"
"I just don"t. It"s troublesome and I"m poor. I don"t even have proper dresses to wear."
Perre had just been listening to their conversation quietly but tears suddenly started falling down his eyes.
"I"m sorry, Nora. Because we"re poor…"
"Eh? What"s wrong? Why are you suddenly crying, Perre?"
"I-I"ll work hard. Let"s get you the perfect dress, okay?"
"…Perre was the type who cries when drunk, I had no idea." Nora stroked his head gently but his tears wouldn"t stop falling.
She spent her days working everyday and despite the lack of pretty dresses at her age, she never complained. Even though he didn"t usually say it, Perre respected that part of Nora.
He wanted to make things easier for her someday, but reality proved to be tough.
"I don"t need any dresses because I won"t be using them anyway. More importantly, we"re now debt-free and we"ve finally reclaimed our land."
Seeing the smile on Nora"s smile, Perre couldn"t help crying harder.
"Please just stay at home, Nora. I"ll make sure to feed you well."
"That makes me happy but I don"t think your future bride will agree." Nora laughed and continued stroking Perre"s head who kept crying.
Perre will have to succeed as the head of the Kranz household and Nora had to be married off to someone. But before that happens, he needs to find someone responsible he could entrust his sister to. Perre hugged his sister tight as tears continued streaming down his eyes.
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T/N: Perre is such a sweet crybaby. Lol.