Chapter 45
Chapter 45
6. Brisa's Fiancé
I pressed my forehead in irritation.
'I'm seriously exhausted.'
Even after getting out of the carriage, Alpheus didn't go straight into the residence. Instead, he fell into a panic and rambled on for a long while.
"So, you know. I really didn't expect it to go as far as your engagement being broken off... ha, I didn't see that coming. If I'd known it would turn out like this, I wouldn't have followed that lawyer to the Sears Marquis Residence in the first place. I came because they said a child had been left alone, to be your guardian. Honestly, this is too much of a shock."
"Your progress is impressive. Shock therapy was the answer."
I found the one meaningful thing in his words and praised him for it.
"You spoke for that long without saying 'um' even once."
"Brisa, if you want, I'll somehow restore the engagement... ah, wait. But if he's the kind of guy who sends a notice ending the engagement the moment the conditions change, isn't it actually better that it ended? How could I send you to a guy like that?"
"Then it's settled. But when does this tedious one-man show end?"
"What kind of guy was he to dislike the engagement from the start? Ha, he must be some obnoxious idiot. I can tell he's rotten. Isn't he already engaged to someone else?"
He was so distracted that Alpheus didn't seem to particularly care that the residence servants were glancing at us.
"You seem to have suddenly developed a lot of interest in my engagement."
I sighed, then hurried to reassure him.
"Don't worry about it too much. I'll do the next engagement however you arrange it."
"......What?"
Alpheus turned serious.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You're the head of House Sears now. You can decide my marriage."
I explained calmly.
"It's true that I'm not easy to deal with, but I still know my place. Since we haven't known each other long, I'll tell you this: I've never once made myself someone else's problem."
In truth, my personality was cold and sullen. But I'd never been badly cursed at by others. Because I knew well the appropriate line given to me.
I had no close friends at the Academy, but I wasn't hated either. Even if I got the nickname 'Ice Princess,' I never heard 'nasty brat.'
"I promise, really."
I looked at Alpheus seriously and said.
"Whoever you set me up with, I won't resist much, so you don't need to worry in advance."
"......Brisa?"
"I won't be a nuisance. I won't resist much. Well, of course......"
Even so, worried that he might marry me off just anywhere too early, I quickly added.
"......Still, this time I'd like to get engaged after I become an adult."
After that, I glanced at his reaction and asked carefully.
"I'll do better, so at least that much... could you at least grant me that much?"
"Brisa Sears!"
He opened his eyes wide as if dumbfounded.
"Your marriage is for you to decide! The person you love, chosen by you!"
For a moment, I felt a pang of guilt.
Alpheus had always acted like a gentle bear in front of me.
Honestly, I'd thought he was a bit of an idiot many times. In fact, from observing him for a month, he consistently had no tact, no sense, and no cunning.
But a war hero was still a war hero. In an instant, the air around him turned sharp.
"Of course, even if you choose wrong, I'll always give you somewhere to come home to. That's why I'm the head of House Sears."
He looked me straight in the eye and spoke clearly.
"I didn't become marquess to control your life."
I was originally someone who didn't shrink back in any situation. But at that moment, I genuinely flinched.
"So never say anything like that again."
I nodded without realizing it. I could understand why Wendy and Philip had been overwhelmed by him.
Countless rebuttals beginning with 'but' stayed only in my chest.
"It's not just marriage. Try doing whatever you want to do."
Alpheus continued, breathing roughly.
"Brisa, life is always unfair, but in the end it becomes fair by ending in the same emptiness for everyone. That's how sad life is."
I was reminded anew that he had been rolling around on battlefields all this time.
There was an unfathomable depth to someone who must have crossed the boundary between life and death countless times.
Such dark things flickered in his eyes.
"So at least you have to cherish your own life."
I......
"At least you have to listen to your own heart."
I really, absolutely couldn't stand it.
"I get it. And have this kind of embarrassing conversation at home."
I mean, the situation of reciting such clichéd lines straight out of a youth novel in someone else's front yard.
First, I grabbed Alpheus's arm and pulled.
"Let's go inside first. Can't you see all the residence servants are staring at us right now?"
"Hm? Isn't that natural?"
Alpheus tilted his head.
"People always stare at me."
Hm? What's that supposed to mean?
"They say I'm handsome."
......Ah, well, that, that's true.
"And in the end, everyone likes me."
Well...... in conclusion, that's probably true too.
"So I never worried about high society or anything like that from the start. Nobles are people too, aren't they? I might get ignored a few times at first, but if I'm sincere to the end, everyone will follow me in the end."
The protagonist who hadn't fallen into darkness was extremely positive.
"Anyway, wherever I go, I've always drawn attention. So it's nothing special."
"Right, let's go inside first. But don't take high society lightly."
The road ahead seemed full of obstacles.
Not everyone kept basic manners toward everyone like the westerners did.
'No, it's not that their manners are good.'
The reason westerners didn't ignore Alpheus wasn't because they were righteous. They genuinely just didn't particularly care.
Stepping back and leisurely observing however the world turned.
That was a privilege only the powerful could afford, and it was the attitude the western nobles had maintained until now.
That was why I hadn't worried much when our destination was Baron Forman's residence.
But Dibostan was a different story. There was a high possibility they wouldn't treat Alpheus as a proper marquess.
'Of all places, the first noble house visit had to be Dibostan.'
The difficulty was far higher than I'd thought. So I needed to teach Alpheus, even in a crash course, the situations he might face now.
"For the time being, you can think of it as divided into two groups."
I held up two fingers and said.
"People who ignore you, or people who are indifferent to you."
"What about people who like me?"
"There aren't any yet. At best, isn't it just the Second Imperial Prince? You're war comrades, after all."
But as far as I knew, that Second Imperial Prince was a rather complicated person.
His abilities were outstanding, but he happened to be the child of a commoner imperial consort.
The Crown Prince had sent him to one battlefield after another hoping to kill him, but each time he came back with even more achievements. Unlike in the original novel, that remained true now that he'd survived.
'They said the Crown Prince drove him out to the battlefield again this time too.'
Claiming it was an emergency, they didn't even hold a victory banquet for ending the Northern Civil War.
Alpheus had tried to go to the capital to collect money from the Second Imperial Prince, but the Second Imperial Prince was sent south as soon as he arrived at the imperial palace.
"Well, it's not combat or anything like that. He just went to resolve a problem. He'll be back soon. Then I'll go try asking for the compensation again."
Alpheus hadn't given up on begging.
"But before that, I'll make the territory nice and cozy with my little sister!"
It was farming for survival, but Alpheus was thinking of it as 'decorating the territory.' It was an extremely positive mindset.
I sighed inwardly and entered the reception room following the servant's guidance.
The reception room was empty. It was because Leopold and Baron Forman hadn't arrived yet.
Even in the reception room, Alpheus still couldn't escape the earlier topic.
"But what's your ex-fiancé's name? How old is he?"
At that moment, he asked while picking up a finger food from the table.