Chapter 3

Rene personally pulled Adel’s arm and lifted her up into the carriage.

Then she stood outside the door and looked Adel straight in the eye.

“You are simply Adelaide Millium. You must love yourself before others can love you. Do not let anyone look down on you.”

“….”

“Answer me.”

“Y-yes.”

“House Devryan values honor, so they will not break their promise.”

The moment she heard the name Devryan, Adel’s heart loosened with relief. Now she would be able to see Ethan again.

Rene swept her hand once through Adel’s hair. Rene was certainly a good person, but she was not an affectionate sister. Yet when such a sister stroked her head, Adel felt her ears grow hot.

The feeling of being loved always left her helpless like this.

“You are someone that family absolutely needs. You know that, don’t you?”

Adel had saved the family’s sole heir. So she was indispensable to that family. When Adel nodded vigorously, Rene continued.

“You are truly on your own now. You must endure no matter what. Even when it is hard, bear it. You are good at that sort of thing.”

“Yes, do not worry. Sister, please do not get hurt either….”

When Adel’s eyes welled with tears again, Rene let out a heavy sigh.

“Stop crying.”

“I’m sorry. But the tears keep coming.”

“Adel, remember this. If you endure and endure and endure again, and it is still hard, then at that time… do not hesitate to come to your sister.”

“Really, is that… all right?”

“Yes. So do not be afraid, and go. Understood?”

‘And be sure to become someone who is loved.’

Rene swallowed the last words inwardly. Then she closed the carriage door with her own hands.

Far off, Hailey could be seen standing with tears in her eyes, but waving a hand through the carriage window was all Adel could do.

The carriage carrying Adel smoothly left the capital’s plaza. Now her new life was beginning.

The interior of the carriage was long enough for Adel, small for a twelve-year-old, to lie down and sleep. Just as her sister had said, after two long days and nights, she was able to enter the Herbron estate owned by Count Devryan.

Adel stretched out fully and rose from her seat.

While she dangled her feet that did not reach the floor and tried to calm her anxious heart, the carriage quietly entered the garden of House Devryan.

Thump-thump, the fierce pounding of her heart announcing a new beginning rang loudly in Adel’s head.

The horses made a pleasant sound and slowed, and soon the door of the carriage she rode in opened.

But outside the opened door, there was no golden-haired young man to be seen.

Her sister had surely sent word ahead to announce that she was coming. Yet the young Adel did not know what it meant that Ethan was nowhere in sight.

* * *

It was the day she heard that her sister had come to the Herbron estate that Adel met Ethan again.

“Sister is here?”

“Yes. She is meeting with the Count in the drawing room right now.”

After Adel came to this estate, a personal maid named Susan was assigned to her. Susan was only three years older than Adel, but she was a girl with very capable hands.

‘Why on earth has Sister come? Has she come to take me away?’

With half a heart wanting to see her sister and half afraid, she slowly made her way down to the drawing room. Joy was greater, but her legs kept trembling, so she had to lean on Susan several times to keep from stumbling.

When she reached the drawing room, she saw two knights of the house and the head butler standing there.

“I will announce you.”

When Adel nodded, the head butler gently pushed the door open.

“Marry them. Right now.”

But at that moment, Rene’s sharp voice made everyone standing before the door freeze at once. The head butler, Ben, hurried to close the door, but Adel raised her small hand and gripped his wrist tightly.

“That is not acceptable. Was this not originally an engagement, as you said?”

Count Devryan was speaking to Rene with courtesy. Adel could only guess it was because her sister would soon become crown princess.

“No. The original promise was to marry Adelaide Millium and Ethan Devryan.”

“But is Adel not still far too young?”

“Too young? Since when has Hessenia cared about a woman’s age?”

In the Hessenia Empire, a man could marry only once he came of age, but a woman could marry at any time with her family’s permission.

“For what reason are you trying to hurry this marriage so?”

At the Count’s question, Rene fell silent. When her sister closed her mouth, Adel for some reason could not even blink.

“In two years… what has changed?”

After a moment, her sister’s cold voice, laden with doubt, came through. But no one answered.

“Something has changed. Both the Count and the Young Count’s attitude….”

“Th-that is not… the case. I am merely saying that a little time is needed.”

Even as the Count stammered in confusion, her sister went on as if talking to herself.

“I am certain that two years ago the Count also welcomed this matter gladly… and the Young Count as well….”

Again, no answer came straight from the two. After a moment, Rene spoke again in a firm voice.

“It is a marriage that will happen anyway, so I cannot understand the reason for this.”

“That is exactly what I am saying. It is a marriage that will happen anyway, so there is no need to….”

“No. I have no intention of hearing more. If you have changed your mind, I will take my sister and leave this estate right now.”

“That—!”

When Rene said she would take Adel away, the sound of the Count leaping from his seat could be heard. The clatter of a teacup knocking against something followed, as if he had struck the table in his haste to rise.

“That cannot be.”

“Of course it cannot. I promised this family a dukedom on the condition that Young Master Ethan marry my sister. Do you understand? A dukedom, no less.”

“It is not as though our family is absolutely doing this because of that….”

“Yes! That is right. Even if it were not for that, if it were not for my sister, Young Master Ethan would not even be sitting here. That was only two years ago. And yet I do not understand why you make me feel as though I am begging for this marriage.”

“L-Lady Millium, that is….”

“Father, Lady Millium is right.”

At that moment, Ethan’s voice cut through their conversation. The moment she heard his voice, Adel’s heart sank with a sharp ache. He was not saying anything negative, yet strangely her heart churned and it was hard to keep standing there. Was it because his voice was colder than midwinter frost?

“Ethan!”

“It is a marriage that will happen anyway. Whether we become engaged four years from now or marry now, nothing changes. It is the same either way, since it is not founded on love.”

No. It was because his voice was like a sigh of resignation.

“As Lady Millium says, I owe Adel my life. Even if I live my whole life with a debt of gratitude, it would not be enough.”

But Rene caught something strange in his words.

“Love…? What is a union between nobles but a political match? And now you speak of love, Young Master?”

“Are you saying that Adel and I are the sort of pair for whom a political match is possible? Adel is only twelve.”

At Ethan’s words, Rene snorted. An eight-year age gap was a very light thing among nobles.

“So you are saying you do not wish to marry our Adel, Young Master Ethan.”

“…I will do it.”

“Even though there is none of that love you hold so precious.”

From the beginning, the marriage between the two had already been promised on the day Adel saved his life. It was strange to speak of love now.

“Do not worry about that. There will be no such thing as love in my life from now on.”

‘From now on…?’

If she followed her feelings, she wanted to take Adel and leave this house at once, but she could not. The bulging belly and sinister eyes of Marquis Gerard Sonnier seemed to hover before her eyes.

Rene paused for a moment, but her hesitation did not last long. If these people would keep their promise, there was no safer place in the Empire for Adel than here.

Rene needed a document proving that Adel and Ethan were married right now. But holding a wedding ceremony would take a great deal of time.

“The wedding ceremony is not important. Let the ceremony be held when Adel comes of age.”

The Count vaguely knew why Lady Millium was rushing the marriage. If things came to this, even he had nowhere further to retreat.

“I will draw up the marriage certificate within this month and send it to the temple.”

“No. We cannot delay even a little. I want this settled while I am here.”

After that, the Count said something more, but Adel could no longer stand before the door. She did not know exactly what the problem was, yet her heart ached so much that she had to clench her fist and rub her chest.

Her heart pounded thump-thump-thump, and for some reason she felt so wretched that tears kept threatening to fall.

Rejection was familiar. That no one wanted her was as natural as washing her face upon waking in the morning. It was not rare for someone to dislike Adel even though she had done nothing wrong.

When Adel turned her small body, the knights straightened again, and the head butler Ben, wearing an unfamiliar expression, nodded toward Susan.

“It would be better to come back later, my lady.”

“All right.”

Whispering in a small voice lest anyone hear, Adel hurried back to her room.

After sending Susan on an errand for tea and returning alone to her room, Adel took a deep breath.

“It’s all right. It’s all right. I heard nothing. I heard nothing at all today.”

What on earth was a debt of gratitude? Ethan had said he would marry her out of a debt of gratitude. Nothing had changed, yet strangely she cried more than she had at home.

Adel bit down hard on her clenched fist to keep the choking sounds from escaping.

I must not cry. If I cry… it will seem as though I am truly unhappy.

Adel wiped her tears and forced her lips upward. Pretending to smile was one of the things Adel did best.