Episode 2. Proposal (2)

“Haha, Sir Edward. What a joke.”

“It’s no joke. I am proposing to Vera Yulstein-yang.”

“…There’s a limit to jokes. Give me back that ring quickly. If you give it to me now, I’ll pretend nothing happened.”

Like I’d believe you’d let it go with your personality. Monica was furious when I presented the engagement ring to Vera. Monica doesn’t raise her voice easily when she’s angry. She just coldly and quietly corners the other person. Quick-witted servants hurriedly left the dining hall.

“I’ll say it again, it’s not a joke.”

“What nonsense are you spouting? This has all been agreed upon. If you keep doing this, it’s a breach of contract.”

Monica said, spitting out the words. She’s objecting in a more elegant tone than I expected. She must have held back a lot since she didn’t swear. Is it because her mother is here?

“Yes. Of course, I was going to dedicate my victory to Monica-yang.”

“And?”

Monica asks back with a fierce look. Facing that expression made me feel like I was suffocating, but I tried to pretend I was okay and answered.

“…But I said I would dedicate my victory, not that I would dedicate myself and this ring to Monica-yang.”

“Ha, do you think that makes sense logically?”

Of course, logically, a knight telling a lady that he will dedicate his victory to her is practically a pick-up line. Since it was pre-arranged between the families that I would be a son-in-law, she must have thought she would marry me.

“Sir Edward, I’m sorry, but I don’t think that will work.”

“Why?”

“As Monica said earlier, the Yulstein Family and the Mountberne Family have already agreed to be connected through marriage between families. Sir Edward and my daughter Monica are the link between the two families. It’s not a commoner’s marriage, and it’s a major event that reflects the family’s decision, so you can’t just take it back or change it simply because your mind has changed.”

This level of rebuttal was within my expectations.

“It’s not a proposal that goes against the agreement between families.”

“Stop talking nonsense there.”

“Monica. Speak politely.”

Vera warns Monica as she gets agitated. Since she’s only nineteen, her emotional expressions are more intense than the calm and cool Vera I remember.

“You said that Monica-yang and I would be the link between the two families, right?”

“That’s right.”

“If I marry Madam Yulstein, doesn’t that still create the link? The fact that a member of Mountberne and a member of Yulstein are getting married doesn’t change.”

“No…”

“Ha, is that it? Are you trying to squeeze something more out of us?”

What? Squeeze what out?

As I stared at her, dumbfounded, Monica lashed out further.

“That’s why men are like this! They’re always looking for opportunities to take advantage of women! You’re the same!”

“Monica Yulstein!”

Monica originally hated men. Even in my past life, I was treated as the closest man to her because I was the only one she had any physical contact with. Those kinds of remarks don’t do any damage to me.

But that doesn’t mean I should just let it go. What I see in front of me now is not the imposing Countess Monica Yulstein, but the immature Yulstein Young Lady whose baby fat hasn’t even gone away yet. Even though I’ve lived being ignored, I don’t have to put up with it now-

“I’m sorry, Sir Edward.”

“Yes?”

“Mom!”

“Be quiet!”

Vera stepped in and apologized first, making it awkward for me to get angry.

“I think my daughter was a little agitated because she heard something shocking. It doesn’t seem like a story to conclude tonight, so would you mind resting in your room first?”

“Um, yes. I understand.”

I left the dining hall, leaving behind Monica’s dissatisfied glare. I felt like my whole body was shrinking from that cold gaze, but I quickly got out without showing it. This time, I will avoid that hellish life with Monica.

“Oh my, what is going on…”

“I knew he had something up his sleeve. I was putting up with him because he was at least decent-looking…”

Vera Yulstein was completely out of her mind. The young man she brought in from the neighboring Count Family as a prospective son-in-law suddenly proposed to her, and her daughter was suddenly acting like a child, throwing a tantrum and getting angry.

“Monica. Don’t forget your dignity.”

“Mom!”

Monica jumped up from her seat. Her face was flushed with heat.

“That’s why I said I didn’t want to get married! His eyes are shifty, and he looks suspicious at first glance. It’s ridiculous that a man like that is coming into our Count Family!”

His eyes weren’t that shifty. Vera thought that they looked more like tired eyes. Edward’s intense gaze flickered in Vera’s mind. To be honest, as a woman before being a mother, it didn’t feel bad to have a handsome young man look at her with that expression. Her heart was pounding as if she had returned to her maiden days. But she couldn’t show it in front of Monica.

“Monica. It’s my wish for you to get married. We have to continue the lineage, don’t we?”

“But!”

“If it were a normal Count Family, you would have been married off five years ago. You’re lucky that you have the right to inherit the title, but it’s unimaginable for a normal noble Young Lady to not get married until she’s almost twenty.”

At Vera’s words, Monica could only bite her lip in frustration. She herself knew that she was an old maid. How many marriage proposals had she turned down so far?

“The second son of the Mountberne Count Family is the best son-in-law we can get right now. If this marriage proposal falls through, we’ll have to find a son-in-law from a Baron Family, and I would be really sad if the Yulstein Family became a Yulstein Baron Family.”

“Okay…”

Monica also didn’t want the family’s title to be lowered because of her. If she married a Baron Family’s son, her children would only inherit the barony due to hypogamy. Yulstein Baron, a pronunciation she didn’t even want to say out loud.

“He seems like a decent young man, so try to seduce him a little. Women are happy when they get married.”

“That’s a lie. You’ve never been happy.”

“…I was happy just looking at my daughter.”

In Monica’s memory, there were hardly any times when her mother Vera laughed because of her father. A life confined within the Count Family without any external activities or attention. As if her only purpose was to have Monica, her father didn’t give her mother any attention. Until her father died, her mother’s life was like a flower slowly withering away.

‘Yeah, I guess I have to get married.’

She has a mother who has lived her whole life looking only at her. Since her mother wants it this much, what’s so difficult about getting married once? It’s not like Monica herself is getting married, she’s just bringing in a son-in-law, so there’s not much to be bothered about. She can just give him a honorary title of ‘Husband’ and cut off all his limbs.

‘Well, he’ll be something to look at.’

It was fortunate that Edward’s appearance was pleasing to Monica. For her, who felt a physiological aversion to most men, he was the first person who aroused enough rational curiosity to balance it out.

“If he proposes again, I’ll accept it.”

With that, Monica listened to Vera’s instructions and went back to her room to sleep.

‘Ah, I’m fucked.’

The next day, when I woke up from my sleep, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by the memories of last night.

Yesterday, I was overcome with joy from overcoming my trauma and winning, and I blurted it out because of Monica’s kinder attitude than I remembered. Was I drunk on something? I didn’t even drink wine. Proposing to my mother-in-law, Monica would be able to milk that story for three months and ten days.

‘No, get a grip. Don’t get scared already.’

I don’t know if I lived in the future, dreamed about the future, or returned to the past. Whatever it is, the important thing is that I have been given another chance. With the memory of the disastrous wrong answers in my life.

In that sense, proposing to Vera was a good choice in some ways. Last night, it felt like I was jumping off the beaten path without knowing what was there to avoid the thorny path, but now that I think about it again, it doesn’t seem like a bad path. I also have some romantic feelings for Vera. Even if this path is also a thorny path, it will only be as bad as the life I remember. Since I’ve twisted the starting point of my marriage, nothing is certain anymore.

However, if there’s one thing I’m sure of right now,

“Sir Edward, did you cough?”

It was that I wouldn’t live as miserably as I remembered this time.

Vera was sitting alone in the dining hall, drinking tea and waiting for me. Monica wasn’t there, so she must have finished her meal already. I don’t need to hear her ranting from the morning. I greeted Vera with a refreshed feeling.

“Good morning, Madam Yulstein.”

“Good morning. I would have brought breakfast to your room, but I called you to the dining hall because I wanted to talk. Is that okay?”

“Of course. Where is Monica-yang…?”

“She said she would eat separately. That’s good. The story I’m about to tell you is not something Monica should hear. Please eat before it gets cold.”

At Vera’s gesture, the maid brought out warm bread and soup. As expected, a hearty and warm soup in the morning.

“Heuheum.”

As I was almost done with my breakfast, Vera, who had finished her tea, cleared her throat. As I took the last spoonful of soup and looked at her, she brought up the story from last night.

“Sir Edward. I will pretend that I didn’t hear what you said last night.”

“Yes?”