Chapter 150
* * *
Following her mother’s advice, lody was obediently waiting in her room for the prospective fiancé to arrive.
She had no particular worries. She already knew the proper procedures in advance.
Mrs. Higgins said she would escort him to the reception room first, then lody would go and have a brief conversation with him.
As long as she maintained proper etiquette, she could reject the marriage proposal without either party losing face.
However, lody’s “smooth rejection plan” seed to start going awry right from the beginning.
It started with soone’s scream being heard first.
‘…?’
Such a shriek resounding in what should be a peaceful manor.
But that was not the end of it. Soon after, another scream of anguish echoed out.
From the sound alone, it seed exactly like Mrs. Higgins had struck soone repeatedly.
lody naturally recalled the previous comnt she had overheard:
“If any idiot dares covet our little lamb, I’ll hang them upside down and kick their ass!”
…Had she really kicked soone?
lody shook her head at the thought that briefly crossed her mind.
There was no way the noble lady Mrs. Higgins of the capital would treat a young man from another family in such a manner without provocation.
‘But those screams just now were undeniable.’
Growing uneasy, lody paced back and forth by the door, deep in contemplation.
In the end, she decided to go out and check for herself.
Opening the door and passing through the hallway towards the entrance, she found servants had already gathered, all whispering among themselves.
‘It seems so unpleasant incident has occurred.’
With a worried expression, lody went out to the entrance area. Upon noticing her, the servants hurriedly parted to the sides.
As the crowd split apart, an astonishing scene naturally ca into full view before lody’s eyes.
“……”
First, Mrs. Higgins’ palm was heading straight towards Ronny’s back.
SLAP, the sound of his back being struck resounded loudly.
With a pained expression, Ronny gripped the collar of the male visitor even more tightly.
Between them, Isaiah was nearly in tears, pleading with Mrs. Higgins to stop. Saying the young master must have had his reasons, and begging her not to turn his back into a tortoise shell.
Finally, lody carefully studied the face of the man Ronny had seized.
In truth, lody only knew that ‘soone from the family proposing marriage was supposed to visit today.’
Mrs. Higgins had not bothered informing her which specific family or person would be coming.
‘…!’
Upon recognizing the man’s face, lody blinked her eyes rapidly as she stared at him intently.
She knew this might sound unbelievable, but he was soone lody was acquainted with, if only barely.
‘…Well, acquainted is too strong a word since I’ve even forgotten his na.’
They had no deeper connection beyond sitting next to each other during the examinations.
“Well, you’re disqualified then. It’s regrettable, but that’s how it is.”
“Are you saying those whose nas were not called are the ones who failed?”
“Having the favor of the Baldwin Duke, who is even respected by the Emperor, must make for a comfortable life.”
Of course, he did have a history of initiating unpleasant taunts towards lody as well.
* * *
The incident at the entrance was finally resolved thanks to lody’s intercession, more or less.
The servants escorted the disheveled prospective fiancé to the reception room, while Mrs. Higgins took Ronny and Isaiah away.
Though lody wished to follow her mother, she went to the reception room first for now.
As soon as their eyes t, lody lowered her head deferentially towards him.
While she still bore so resentnt from their examination incident, she could not bring herself to speak ill towards soone who had just endured such an ordeal.
So lody intended to start by courteously asking if he was alright first.
But the man seed to have other thoughts. The mont he saw lody, he scowled at her.
“Why did you do that?”
His resentful question caught lody off guard.
She wondered what exactly he felt aggrieved about. Did he an her not actively intervening when Ronny attacked him at the entrance?
“Well, Ronny outranks , so I couldn’t have presud to step in rashly.”
“Ah, who cares about that?! You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Did what?”
“What else?!”
He abruptly stood up from his seat and glared sharply at lody.
“You knew our family had sent a letter! So why didn’t you reject the marriage proposal?!”
“…Pardon?”
lody could only respond with a bewildered question to his outrageous statent.
“In other words. Since there’s nothing good about us eting again, why did you accept the proposal?!”
“I didn’t know it was you.”
“Don’t joke. My na must have been written in the letter.”
“Mother did not show
the letter.”
And lody added with a slight smile, letting him know an important fact.
“Above all, I didn’t even know your na.”
At that, he opened his eyes wide as he stared intently at lody.
“You didn’t know…my na?”
“Did I need to know it?”
“How could you not know?”
“No one introduced us properly.”
“You didn’t introduce yourself either. But the examiner called out my na… Ah.”
The man briefly clutched his head, seeming anguished.
He must have recalled how lody had her na called to pass, while his was not called as he failed.
“Damn it.”
He let out a deep sigh before resting both hands on his hips.
After that dejected self-introduction, he turned towards the reception room door.
“In any case, I’m leaving.”
“Oh.”
lody hurriedly stood up to follow him as well.
“You’re leaving already? A bit more…”
But he shoved both hands into his pockets and looked back at lody nacingly, as if reminding her of his humiliation from earlier.
“…I suppose you must go.”
“Damn, what a total waste of ti with a brat like you.”
Grumbling irritably, he exited into the hallway. The servants waiting to fetch his carriage quickly bowed.
lody inford them in a low voice, “He’s leaving.”
The servants soon brought his hat and jacket in a rush.
His jacket had been quite disheveled from Ronny’s earlier manhandling, but the skilled ducal servants had restored it to pristine condition in no ti, like magic.
Stewart seed slightly impressed by this, staring between his hat and the servants before letting out a “Hmph” as he snatched it back.
Without any proper farewell, he climbed into the carriage.
Even when lody called out “Please travel safely” from beyond the window, he did not spare her a single glance.
* * *
Shortly after
Stewart Middleton’s carriage departed from the duchy, a servant handed lody a bouquet of flowers as she returned inside.
“What’s this?”
“These are the flowers Mr.
Stewart Middleton brought for you, miss. Though they did get a bit…damaged.”
“Ah.”
As the prospective fiancé, he must have brought them as proper decorum.
However, most of the flowers had been trampled and torn apart amid the entrance hall scuffle.
“What a total ss.”
lody muttered absentmindedly, though her comntary was not specifically about the damaged bouquet.
It perfectly described her first marriage proposal experience.
The Middleton family would surely lodge an official complaint now, not just with the Higgins Barony but likely the Baldwin Duchy as well.
‘Considering the young master caused an incident in front of so many, they’ll be obligated to address it…’
lody felt weighed down, as if she had brought harm to the ducal household through this marriage proposal fiasco.
* * *
After the mistreatnt of lody’s prospective fiancé
Stewart Middleton, Ronny did not co out of his room.
He did not permit anyone else to enter either. However, since he could not bar even Claude, he ended up briefly explaining the situation to him.
lody, who had been lingering outside Ronny’s door, grabbed Claude as he exited after finishing their conversation.
“Is Ronny alright?”
“Yes. He seems to have cald down now.”
Claude gave her a gentle, reassuring smile, as if telling her not to worry too much.
But a deep crease ford on lody’s brow regardless.
“There you go, young master. Why did Ronny…”
“I’m sorry.”
Claude lightly stroked lody’s furrowed brow with his fingertips as he shook his head.
“It doesn’t seem like sothing I should discuss arbitrarily.”
“Was it that serious an incident? The one between Ronny and Mr. Middleton, I an.”
“Serious…yes, I suppose it was.”
After nodding, he brushed aside the
strands of hair falling over lody’s ears.
“In any case, don’t worry too much.”
“But if they lodge an official complaint!”
“I doubt that will happen…but even if they do, it wouldn’t be Miss lody’s fault.”
Though his reassuring words were appreciated, lody could only shake her head.
“The truth is, Mother…had advised
to flatly reject the proposal in the first place.”
She now regretted not heeding her mother’s words.
Stewart Middleton himself had even admonished her for not rejecting it when he visited today.
“Sotis, the intuition of elders is astonishingly accurate.”
“…Yes.”
“And it seems you’ve forgotten sothing else, lody.”
Claude took a step back before giving a slight bow, just like when introducing himself.
“I’m also an elder.”
“…?”
“Perhaps not to Mrs. Higgins’ extent, but my intuition shouldn’t be too far off either.”
Leaving just the words “So don’t worry too much,” Claude brushed past lody.
Left alone in the hallway, lody carefully knocked on Ronny’s door.
“Ronny…?”
But there was no response, as if he did not wish to et anyone at the mont. With no choice, lody had to withdraw.
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