Chapter 2 : Apparently, I Was Engaged
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"Nora, you"re back early. How was the evening party?"
Sitting leisurely on a vintage sofa, her father welcomed Nora home. In this case, the term vintage didn"t mean antique. It simply meant old and tattered.
It didn"t look so bad with her mother"s handmade sofa cover, but the moment she sat on it, she felt some mysterious b.u.mps. That explained why his father was leaning back quite awkwardly.
"I was made fun of by some n.o.blemen. It was troublesome so I just went home. Weren"t you expecting it though? Such an awful hobby you have."
"Why, that sounds terrible." While comforting her, her father started brewing her a cup of tea.
There weren"t any servants in the poor Baron"s house, so her father did it himself. More like, he had to do it himself. However, her gentle father was fond of doing house ch.o.r.es, so even if they had servants, he would most likely still brew the tea himself.
Upon receiving the light-colored tea due to the minute amount of tea leaves, Nora heaved a sigh.
After that time, the two young n.o.blemen, who seemed to be twin brothers started arguing with each other, so Nora hurriedly ran away. Doing such a thing between themselves, she wondered if it was some prank. No matter how poor her family was, they should be able to draw the line between what"s right and wrong. They should"ve limited their pranks to themselves.
And then, a young gentleman named Elias whose eyes were as blue as the sky took Nora"s hand and desperately insisted that he was serious. She couldn"t foresee how the debacle would end and just wanted to hurry back home.
"I don"t know you, so it"s impossible for us to get engaged. If you really want to, I suggest you better find a friend to get engaged to." Saying so, Nora jerked her hand away and quickly left the crowd.
"In the first place, how could he initiate such a prank of breaking an engagement with someone he"s never met? And in front of such a large crowd, too. Utterly preposterous."
"Breaking an engagement?"
"Yes. He claimed to be engaged but he was clearly two-timing and even made it look like he was throwing me aside. Did he think he had the right to do so simply because he"s from the House of Marquis?!"
To wash away her unpleasant mood, she drank her tea in one go. The tea her father brewed was of moderate temperature so she could sip it straight and fast, a behavior you wouldn"t expect from a n.o.ble daughter.
"Marquis? Which Marquis?"
"Well…" She couldn"t answer her father because she didn"t pay attention at the time.
"I don"t think I heard his name. It was a man with grayish brown hair and with him was a cute blonde lady. That la.s.s must be part of the prank. She had a disturbingly sinister smile."
"Grayish brown hair… What else do you remember about the Marquis?"
"There wasn"t anything special about him. His face wasn"t bad, but he had a scowl the entire time. And oh, his twin brother was also there."
"Twin brother?"
"He had the same face and hair, but his eyes were of a different color. He also asked my hand for engagement… I really can"t put my head around how these upper n.o.bilities play."
Taking the teapot from her father, Nora refilled her cup. Recalling what happened made her want to drink away her distress. Because no tea leaves were added, the tea looked almost as transparent as water.
"Nora, that may not have been a prank…"
"What was it?" She could see that her father"s complexion was turning pale. Even though she got involved with the Marquis, she didn"t think it was something worthy of concern for her father because it was nothing but a prank.
"He"s probably your fiance."
"What? But I"m not engaged to anyone."
"You may not be aware Nora, but you actually are."
"What? Please don"t decide that on your own. In the first place, is there any n.o.ble who would want to marry a poor baron"s daughter? Well, perhaps a merchant commoner?"
No matter how poor, she wanted a n.o.bility at least. She has heard that for the purpose of making connections with the n.o.bility, wealthy merchants have sought to make n.o.ble daughters into their brides.
"It"s the son of the Marquis Callum."
"From the House of Marquis Callum, you say… Belonging to the upper cla.s.s n.o.bility, isn"t he a person of prestigious status and wealth? Have you been dreaming?"
Driven by his desire to marry his daughter into a good family, did he see an illusion?
"The proposal for engagement came directly from the House of Marquis. Your fiance is Allan Callum."
"What are you talking about? If I was engaged, why wasn"t I informed?"
"That was also a request from the Marquis. I received a notice stating that outside parties aren"t to be notified until the right time."
"What"s with that… What"s the point of being engaged then? And why was it me?!"
She wasn"t good at socializing within the circle of n.o.bility. Someone who is a good company to the elderly or someone excellent at taking care of lost children would"ve been a more suitable choice.
She liked working part-time as a singer in a restaurant, which was regarded as not something a n.o.ble daughter should do.
Unfortunately, she didn"t have any qualities favorable to the Marquis.
"I don"t know either. But I couldn"t go against the Marquis Callum. If you marry into the House of Marquis, I thought it wouldn"t be a disadvantage for you."
"Then, it wasn"t a prank? He really meant to break the engagement?"
How strange was it that she got her engagement broken before she even learned about being engaged.
"You said that it was a gentleman with grayish brown hair who has a twin, so he"s highly likely the son of the Marquis Callum. There"s no mistaking that." Letting out a huge sigh, her father dropped his head.
"With so many people around, he broke the engagement. Since it has come to that, it"s good that you consented."
More than losing his connection with the Marquis, her father"s more worried about her. That made Nora"s heart swell with warmth.
"It"s fine. That young master also told me that he had already submitted the doc.u.ments for the cancellation of the engagement so we wouldn"t need to meet again."
"But it has ruined your reputation."
"I"m just a poor Baron"s daughter anyway, so it"s natural that no one in the n.o.bility would want to marry me. Please don"t worry about it."
The Kranz Family will be succeeded by her brother and Nora herself didn"t mind marrying a wealthy merchant.
That was Nora"s conclusion and that should have been the end.
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