At the thought that his older brother might truly be committing a marriage by abduction, he unconsciously wore a restless expression and spoke.
“Uh, perhaps you should reconsider. I don’t think Grandfather knows about this yet…”
“I’ve sent him a letter. He’ll find out soon enough.”
The word “soon” was quite misleading.
Their grandfather, the former Duke Garno, was currently off wandering the Eastern Continent. Even during his travels, he regularly sent letters urging his grandson to marry, but regardless, it would take at least a month for a letter to reach him.
“Th… then, what about Mother?”
“Count Teren. Could you introduce your fiancée to Mother right away?”
Count Teren shut his eyes tightly and reopened them.
Of course he couldn’t. Any noble lady would faint the moment she met their mother.
And for good reason. Their mother, Yuliana Kalinos…
‘Strong, bold, sharp, sensitive—she’s practically the outlaw of high society.’
“I’ll inform the Senate first.”
“But… even without going through Mother, getting the Senate’s approval wouldn’t have been easy.”
At Count Teren’s words, Duke Kalinos recalled a conversation he had with the ever-reliable Giselle.
“It’s already been approved.”
“Whaaaat?”
“The lady went to the Senate herself and negotiated.”
“Wha-what did you say?”
That frail lady?
Is that even possible?
‘This is a scam! It’s definitely a kidnapping marriage!’
“Now that the main point has been addressed, let’s end this meeting. I have a backlog of research on troll mucus.”
He had made the marriage announcement. There was no longer any reason to linger.
Only Teren remained frozen like a mummy, eyes wide open.
‘M-Mother!’
He had to find his mother immediately.
—
Meanwhile…
The garden of the Kalinos estate was rather lively.
“Lady Yuliana, have you been well?”
“Not bad.”
The noblewomen fanned themselves delicately and smiled graciously.
Today was the day of Yuliana Kalinos’s regular, small-scale salon gathering.
“Our Cordelia caused quite a stir at the academy recently.”
The Duchess of Inferna, pretending modesty, spoke while covering her mouth with her fan.
“She got injured trying to tame a phantom beast, and the whole house was thrown into chaos.”
“Oh dear, is she all right?”
“She’s fine. It was part of showing off her powers… Though apparently, the poor girl fainted from the strain.”
“Oh no… how concerning. Hopefully the rumors won’t hurt her prospects for marriage…”
Yuliana, resting her chin on her hand, spoke quietly as she listened to their chatter.
“She should focus on her abilities. A little injury or fainting isn’t the end of the world.”
The Duchess of Inferna, one of the few close enough to speak freely with Yuliana, replied with slight annoyance.
“If word spreads that Cordelia acted unladylike despite being of marriageable age, it could harm her engagement…”
“What does that matter? Isn’t awakening her abilities what’s truly important?”
Being demure was an unspoken rule for women in high society.
But no one present dared to argue with Yuliana directly.
The other ladies laughed awkwardly and lifted their teacups.
“…Shall we end here for today?”
“Let’s.”
As the salon ended, Yuliana saw the ladies off and was left alone.
‘I really need to get the Duke married soon.’
Most women trembled at the sight of her or fainted at the sound of her voice. Because of this, strange rumors were going around that “Yuliana tries to kill young noblewomen.”
‘No suitable candidate yet…’
Just then, as she clicked her tongue and crossed her legs elegantly, her youngest son, Count Teren, stormed in without a trace of decorum.
“Did you hear? The Senate approved Brother’s marriage!”
Yuliana’s eyes sharpened at the sudden news.
“Who’s getting married? Duke Kalinos?”
“Yes, apparently Senate Head Hennessy cast a vote in favor. So Brother says he’ll visit soon with the lady who’ll become his wife…”
“I’m quite curious about what happened. Do you know her name?”
“Uh, Giselle Florette, I think…”
Yuliana furrowed her brow and snapped her fingers, summoning her head maid, Caitlin.
“You called, Madam?”
Yuliana instructed Caitlin to gather all available information on Giselle Florette.
Within an hour, she had everything in her hands.
Pages flipped irritably, then the report was snapped shut.
“Weak, stupid, and even incompetent.”
The worst.
“Well, maybe she’s not that bad… you haven’t met her yet…”
“I’ll need to set a date soon.”
It sounded more like she was setting a date to kill Giselle.
“Wh-When exactly… will that be?”
“Tomorrow seems good.”
Count Teren closed his eyes tightly.
‘May she rest in peace…’
—
Chapter 4. A Perfect Plan to Earn Incentives ( I think that this is the fl’s way of thinking of her plans )
“Wow, faster than I expected!”
I grinned as I looked at the invitation the Duke of Kalinos handed me. But he simply stared at me expressionlessly and asked,
“Mother seems quite furious. Will you be all right?”
Well, of course she’s angry.
“Yes. I’m ready. So will I be meeting both the former Duke and Duchess?”
“Father… no. It’ll likely just be Mother.”
His face twisted subtly when he mentioned his father.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve never heard anything about the Duke’s father. That’s odd. Doesn’t seem like he’s dead, either.’
But I brushed it off.
That’s the spice of melodramas—tension and drama!
After all, I was about to face the mother-in-law from hell!
“Understood. Let’s go meet her first!”
“I like how decisive you are.”
“But before we enter the estate, I have one request. We need to act like the sweetest couple in the world. I mean, we need to pretend.”
He listened quietly, then replied firmly without hesitation.
“Romantic research—no problem.”
…That didn’t exactly inspire confidence.
I nodded enthusiastically.
“Then before that, I’ll need to toss out some bait to make Lady Yuliana hate me even more.”
“Bait?”
“Yes, just spreading a bit of prelude. Oh! And if I make a good mess, can I get bonus incentives?”
I already knew how many noble ladies had cried because of Yuliana.
But I wasn’t about to lose in the chaos department!
“…Maybe.”
“Then I’ll stop by home first!”
Time to lay the groundwork.
With a big grin, I gave a deep bow.
—
“Are you the one in charge of the accounts? I heard the family’s been running businesses under a false name for five years.”
Count Florette wore an uncomfortable expression.
Restaurants, jewelry shops, boutiques.
While he had been away, it seemed Mariposa had run quite a few businesses under borrowed names.
The mustached accountant gave an awkward laugh and replied.
“Y-Yes, that’s right.”
“But you don’t know the actual profits, only the spending?”
“Yes. I’ve only recorded the revenue minus expenses. It’s common practice—tracking every detail is quite tedious.”
“And this is the only bookkeeping record?”
The records didn’t list exact earnings, and they were written in Roman letters, making it hard to read decimal places clearly.
“Yes. I’ve been doing this for just over two years, and all records are kept this way.”
Count Florette sighed as he pored over the useless ledger, trying to calculate manually.
‘This alias business investigation is taking way too much time and effort.’
He couldn’t focus on anything else.
Just then, he scowled.
“C-Count! I have something to report!”
“What’s this ruckus? If it’s not important, leave.”
“L-Lady Giselle is in the wine cellar and there’s a serious
problem!”
He smiled contentedly.
“She likes wine? Let her have as much as she wants. That one also used to love wine…”
“N-No, it’s not that. She’s completely drunk, slapped a maid, and is smashing barrels—it’s a total rampage!”
…A rampage?
