Chapter 09

“Hey, Arie. Don’t be intimidating. You made Julia pale because you suddenly said all those things.”

“Royal Prince…”

“Is that so? I’m sorry, I just don’t want you to quit your job as a Primera’s maid…”

“Yeah, I guess you would. Well, it’s fine. I’ll explain it to her later. Arie, you keep practising your swings.”

“Uncle, how long are you going to keep on treating me like a child…!!”

“Yeah, yeah, Your Highness Aralbert Daum.”

In contrast to the Royal Prince who was laughing as if he was making fun of Prince Aralbert Daum, I certainly felt like an outrageous bomb had been placed in front of me like he’d said.

Additionally, when I think about them refusing to acknowledge the reality of my disinheritance as nothing but a farce, would that also count as being involved?

Yes, at any rate, those words were something stepmother said while we were exchanging harsh words.

I happily left home because of that but father, the head, said that wasn’t the case.

That’s why I still had my family name 『von Vandeid』, and could work at the royal castle.

If he really disinherits me, then he would write a disinheritance letter, and inform the other nobles, 『the von Vandeid family is not involved with this person. Please consider your relationship with our house if you hire this person』.

I learnt this three months after I triumphantly left after my stepmother’s declaration and started living at the royal castle.

I was young at that time… I was stupid… I’m so embarrassed by the me back then that I can roll over just from remembering it!!!

At that time, father wanted to protect his wife, who had trouble dealing with her daughter, who wasn’t connected by blood, even if he rebuked her, but no one told me this…

Also, my Vandeid house isn’t that wealthy.

I wanted to leave home because it was costly to debut, and I wanted to live as a maid rather than live my life as a married woman…

I know. I ran away.

From being told that I have to be my brother’s model as a daughter of a Viscount family too.

From disappointing father for not meeting the beauty conditions.

The eldest daughter and son make their social debuts, but in houses which weren’t wealthy, the second sons and daughters and so forth had to debut into noble society using their elder sibling’s connections.

My stepmother was the second daughter of an Earl family whose peerage was higher than ours. She married into my family without having her debut. She wasn’t beautiful or anything. I know that she hated me because I could have a debut as the eldest daughter, and we weren’t connected by blood.

And, I also know that father complained that it would be hard to gain funds for brother’s debut after I have mine.

So, I ran away.

Is that why father is in debt? I wonder if he’s requesting for money to repay his debt.

It’s basically begging, but my monthly salary is 400,000, and he usually asks for 50,000 to 100,000.

The reason why I sometimes give him more money in addition to what I send home is that I feel bad for being born plain. But I don’t want to admit it.

Princess Primera needs me, so I rely on her…

“Hey, you look kind of depressed. Why don’t you think about it after listening to me?”

“Ah, yes… I’m sorry!”

“No, either way, it might make you depressed.”

“… Eh?”

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

What Alberto Agares said was honestly depressing.

He said that father is having an affair with an older woman while marrying my stepmother and having a son with her.

The secret love of a noble might sound very painful, but it isn’t good to have.

For single people, only their honour would be damaged, but it was different with married people.

Polygamy is allowed in this kingdom, but the legal wife has to recognise the concubine, and in cases where they don’t, it would become adultery.

I’m shocked.

So shocked!!!!!

Is he in debt because of this?!?!? I heard from brother that he didn’t buy jewellery for stepmother because they had no money, so I even bought her jewellery and sent them under his name! Were those feelings of gratitude a downright lie?!

“Well, you should be able to guess the problem after I’ve said this much. There’s a rumour that the lady he’s having an affair with is pregnant. It’s just a rumour, but the problem is that this isn’t just about your father…”

“… Even if you ask me about who she is…”

“Hey, you’ll be surprised when you hear it. It’s the Archduchess!”

“Wh-what did you say…?”

This time I was speechless.

According to Alberto Agares, who was laughing at the speechless me, the Archduchess is Ninon Chargrin von Kularaum.

The reason why she has two names despite being a woman is that she is the ‘Princess’ of the neighbouring kingdom, Chargrin, and she married into the Kularaum royal family; it was a political marriage.

She married the younger brother of the current King and older brother of Alberto Agares.

He passed away from an epidemic disease, and their marital status was unknown… however, she couldn’t be sent back to her home kingdom, and they couldn’t get her to remarry. As a result, they give her money every month, and she lives lavishly.

She didn’t have any social circles nor people she was close with, and it would be troublesome if something strange happened, so she was only invited to dance parties and tea parties hosted by the royal family.

Of course, she hadn’t given birth to a son, so the Archduke House will end in this generation.

Even if she had been young when she had married, many years have passed since then, and if I remember correctly, she’s now in her 50s.

But, I had a strong impression that she was a sexy woman with her smooth white skin and bright red lips.

She’s so sexy that it makes one think that she would make men weak.

Her aesthetics are a little different in this Kingdom, but she’s slender even though she’s sexy, and she wears sexy Chargrin-style dresses. She’s the kind of woman who lazes about with a flirtatious glance in her eyes that makes one think that she could make any man succumb to her with one look.

I wanted to shout that I couldn’t believe father, a hopeless countryside feudal lord near the frontier, has a relationship with such a woman.

“Well, my hunch says that the rumour isn’t about your father. The Archduchess… My sister-in-law has a strong taste for men. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely no matter how crazy he is about her.”

“…”

“While this may be true, we can’t overlook rumours of her being pregnant because she was married to the person 2nd to the throne. The father is the problem, and so is the widow. And, people have witnessed your father visiting, even though he’s married.”

“Isn’t that bad!?”

“Well, yeah. But well, he’s not the only one being observed. There’s no merit even if we hide a country noble who isn’t even a Marquis… It’s not much of a loss to this kingdom. Many could replace him.”

“No way…”

“But, both Arie and I are concerned about you, so we talked to you about this before it becomes like that.”

They didn’t talk about anything big like a rebellion.

Even so, I felt dizzy.

“Have your father send a farewell letter to the Archduchess and get it delivered by someone he trusts. Of course, we need someone to witness this.”

“… I’ll talk to father.”

“I thought you’d say that!”

With a smile, Alberto Agares patted my shoulders and held them.

Wah, close. Too close…!!

“I’ll be the witness. Then, why don’t we go to this fief now?!”

“What?!”

“Can you ride dragoons? Rather than going by carriage, if we take them then… ah, yes, we’ll get there in half a day. It’s a bit forceful…”

“We’re going now!? I have to get a replacement for tomorrow, and apply for leave…”

“Uncle should have explained that to Primera before you came here. Don’t worry. Tell me straight away if Uncle does something rude.”

“Hey you!”

“Do you know how many times I’ve heard about these kind of things in places I don’t know about?!”

Please give me some space!

When I thought that, I wanted to go see Princess Primera and be soothed.

I feel like my skin’s going to fall apart tomorrow if I stay up all night. I wonder how my skin will be tomorrow…?