Chapter 7: CH 6

Translated by Yonnee

There was definitely something suspicious here, but the viscount just swept his chin exaggeratedly and raised one eyebrow. Then, he whispered furtively.

“From this father’s perspective, you just said any name you could think of because you don’t want to get engaged, right?”

His youngest child avoided eye contact with him, yet she soon admitted without any resistance.

“Actually, that’s right. I don’t want to get engaged to Lehman. But if I said that, I’m sure I’d still get engaged to that Lehman Karr.”

“That’s true.”

Her father furrowed his brows for a moment then soon asked back.

“You don’t like the second son of House Karr?”

“Yes, I don’t like him.”

Hearing the determined answer that was given without even a second’s pause, Viscount Ruzest asked no more questions.

“Alright. If that’s how it is, I understand.”

A strong breeze blew past the two. This ruined Reina’s hair, but her father gently swept aside the haphazard locks of hair that covered her round forehead.

“But you’ll have to think of a better reason not to get engaged to Lehman Karr. Either that, or you’d really need to win Ethan Liam’s heart. You know it’s customary for the children of the nine major families to be betrothed before their coming-of-age. Paul and Ethan are the only exceptions.”

Truthfully, the viscount was just being considerate here. Descendants of the nine major families usually finalized their engagements at an even younger age compared to how old Reina was right now.

“I know… That’s why, Papa, can’t you help me?”

“Hohoho, you brought this onto yourself, my puppy. You’ll have to take care of it yourself, right? Why are you trying to slyly pass this problem off to me, hm?”

“……”

She wanted to shout, ‘But…!’ However, he was right. Reina had quite literally kicked her fiancé before this when he was a fine enough young man, then here she was trying to kick off the new candidate, too. Even if she had two mouths on her right now, she wouldn’t be able to talk herself out of this.

“Haa… Still though, if the elder council tries to force me, you’ll help me even juuust a little, right?”

“Of course.”

* * *

“Mary, come and sit here for a sec.”

Tapping the seat next to her, Reina urged the maid who was arranging her hair to sit right beside her.

“…Pardon?”

“My hair’s fine, just sit here for a sec, ‘kay?”

The noble young lady who had never once talked to the maid had started talking to her more lately. It was so weird, she was suddenly acting like she was her friend, and now she was urging the maid to sit so close next to her. Mary felt so agonized that she was so overcome with the urge to run away.

“…Is something the matter, Milady?”

Glancing at Reina, Mary eventually sat down at the very edge, her bottom barely even on the seat. But then Reina suddenly came closer to Mary.

“Mary, you’ve come of age already, right? You’ve dated a lot, too, haven’t you? Right?”

After talking to her father, she’s been thinking up several different ways to avoid the ‘death ending’.

The first thing that came to her mind was this thought: ‘Let’s just pack it up and run away.’ But in less than ten seconds, this idea was scrapped.

House Chantra wasn’t just a ‘diamond spoon’—it’s an entire ‘diamond mine’ that would allow her to play and eat to her heart’s content!

‘How could I possibly leave all this and run away?’

So, she came up with a different method.

“How about I just get engaged to Lehman anyway, but I’ll tell both him and Jeremy that I’m on their side and that I want their love to flourish?”

But nah. She soon chucked that to the bin, too.

Would Jeremy just go ahead and obediently say, ‘Oh, seriously? Then lemme just take Lehman and make him my man then.’

As if.

If Jeremy could do something like that in the first place, then there wouldn’t be a novel he’d star in as the male lead.

“Besides, Lehman’s the sort of person who’d use his fiancée just to get his lover jealous, so he’s probably not normal either. If I get involved with them for any reason at all, I’m as good as dead.”

Apart from those ideas, all kinds of other thoughts came up, but among them, there’s really only one path left she could tread under the condition of keeping her position now at House Chantra.

“…Haa. So my only choice really is to get engaged to Ethan.”

Of course, if there was another fiancée-less young man from a respectable enough family, she absolutely wouldn’t have picked Ethan. However… Who else out there had the family that could match House Chantra’s level?

‘I can’t exactly pray for someone else to break off their engagement just to get with me.’

Well, actually, to be honest, she did kinda want to pray for it. It’s not like anyone would die if their engagement got broken off. Wait no, Reina really would die though…

In any case, that’s how she finally came to the conclusion that she should just go ahead and get engaged to Ethan.

Yet, as soon as she had set her mind to this decision, she stumbled upon another hurdle.

“But I heard that Ethan said he’d get engaged only to the person he’s chosen for himself, that’s why he still isn’t betrothed.”

Oh dear. For some guy nicknamed ‘Cerulean Freak’ to be a hopeless romantic who yearns for free love, how unexpected!

‘Ha… And there’s another problem—me. Because I was so focused on my studies before, I’ve never made any friends, let alone dated any men.’

So, how could Han Jae Hee even seduce Ethan?

“Ah, is this because of the young master of House Liam?”

As Mary asked, she nodded her head slowly, as if she understood the intention behind Reina’s question right away.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

With an earnest gleam in her eyes, Reina immediately grasped one of the maid’s hands.

“But because I’m so young, I know nothing, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“That’s why!”

Flinch—!

“Oh my gosh!”

“I really, really want Ethan and I to share a passionate love between us, Mary.”

A little bewildered, Mary scratched her cheek awkwardly. She didn’t seem to have expected Reina to ask something like this.

“Uh… Then, what can I do for you?”

Aha! That’s what Reina had been waiting to hear!

“It’s nothing much, but… Can you invite some people you know to my room? The ones who have lots of experience with love.”

Mary’s light brown eyes blinked once and widened. She couldn’t keep up with the noble lady’s thought process for even one bit. She murmured in reply.

“People who have… But why…”

“Those people who know how to manage fishes… Ah, no no, what I mean is I want to learn from them how to seduce someone.”

“Ah… I understand. It’s not a difficult task to ask of me, Milady.”

“Thank you, Mary. You’re the best!”

But as she shouted the words ‘the best’, Reina had no idea.

She had absolutely no idea that the citizens of the Chantra domain, who lived by the rough seas, were straight-laced people through and through, even throughout generations. …She couldn’t even imagine this possibility.