DSDD 07

Chapter 7

‘Well, this is troublesome.’

Trying my best to appear calm and unaffected, I lifted my teacup and swallowed hard.

‘Of all people, why did she have to beat up that man?’

There was a reason I found the Valentine siblings so unpleasant.

‘Let’s start with the eldest daughter, Sylvia.’

Our relationship had gone sour back at the academy.

More precisely, it had happened when I refused to join her faction.

As the daughter of a count, Sylvia always wanted to be at the center of high society. To someone like her, I, the daughter of a marquess, had been nothing more than an eyesore.

So I suppose she had thought she could deal with me by bringing me into her own circle……

Unfortunately for her, I had no interest in socializing even back then.

‘When I refused, the bullying started……. Though, calling it bullying would be a bit much. It was mostly just ostracizing me.’

For someone like me, who preferred isolation and studying alone, that actually made it easier to concentrate on my studies.

So I ignored it.

Which only made her continue the bullying even more.

Her attitude suddenly changed after I inherited the Marquess title.

“I think it’s about time you started looking for a marriage partner, Marquess. All your classmates already have fiancés or lovers.”

“Perhaps. I’m not particularly interested.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. That’s why I’m personally going to help you, Marquess.”

And then she had suddenly presented me with her younger brother—the potato sitting over there.

Jerold Valentine.

He was four years younger than me and was infamous in high society for his terrible reputation.

And she had the nerve to push her own younger brother onto me as a potential husband.

‘Her intentions were painfully obvious.’

She was clearly after the Marquess title I held and the wealth of House Zacherete.

The Valentine family, Sylvia’s maiden family, was not particularly wealthy.

If her younger brother, who would not inherit the title, married me and took over the Marquess title, they would gain access to financial support from House Zacherete and secure a powerful ally in the form of a marquess’s household.

‘That’s why I rejected him.’

But these siblings didn’t understand the meaning of giving up.

I had even heard that not only Sylvia but Jerold himself had been going around behind my back talking as though he were genuinely my lover.

On top of that, he kept sending me ridiculous love letters and persistently bothering me whenever we happened to cross paths, so I had finally started thinking that enough was enough.

‘She really beat him to a pulp.’

Honestly, a small part of me thought he deserved it.

“I’m absolutely furious! Even if he isn’t exceptionally handsome, he has a face that doesn’t lose out anywhere, and look at what you’ve done to it!”

Sylvia shouted in such agitation that she looked as though she might faint at any moment.

Beside her, I looked at the Young Master, who was still huffing angrily.

Perhaps it was because I had recently had the privilege of meeting a truly angelic man?

‘That’s handsome……?’

Even if I applied a generous amount of lip service, there was no way I could call that face handsome.

Of course, I knew I wasn’t exactly qualified to judge someone’s appearance, but still.

He was about a handspan shorter than me, while he seemed almost three times as wide. His body was built in such a way that I could practically imagine him rolling away if a strong wind blew.

And his face was so full of spite.

‘And that’s not all. He’s notorious for his terrible relationships with women, and everyone knows he spends his time drinking and gambling behind closed doors. Does she really not know?’

There were plenty of reasons I couldn’t accept this marriage proposal, but there was one reason that mattered most.

He was Sylvia Valentine’s younger brother.

“Haa. Erna, I’m just going to speak casually with you.”

After breathing heavily in anger, Sylvia took a deep breath and continued in what she presumably thought was a gentle voice.

“I know Jerold isn’t exactly your ideal type. But that doesn’t mean you should treat someone like this. And as I’ve told you before, marriage isn’t something you can decide on by yourself. So I hope you won’t be so stubborn.”

I took a moment to steady my breathing before raising my head and calmly responding.

“First of all, I apologize to Young Master Valentine. It seems there was some misunderstanding regarding the situation, but after seeing you again today, I admit that my response was excessive.”

Then I turned my gaze toward Sylvia.

“And I’ll speak casually with you as well, Sylvia. My marriage is something I will decide for myself. So I would appreciate it if you stopped interfering in this matter.”

“What do you mean, you’ll decide for yourself? What do you think you can even do? Even after taking that position, all you do is run a single business.”

Sylvia’s tone gradually became more irritated.

“Since you brought it up, I still remember what you said on the day of our academy graduation. In front of all the people who were worried about your future, you declared that you had no intention of ever getting married, remember?”

Sylvia let out a small sigh, placed one hand against her chest, and shook her head.

“The academy is a major marriage market, too. Do you know how much everyone talked about you afterward? Of course, I understood why you made that decision. Your father, the former Marquess, suddenly died in battle, leaving you without an adult who could arrange your marriage. It wasn’t your fault.”

“…….”

“But Erna, things are different now from when you had just inherited the Marquess title and weren’t prepared for anything. Your family has stabilized, and your business is doing reasonably well, isn’t it? It’s about time you found someone to spend the rest of your life with. Marriage is an important duty for nobles, after all, because it ensures the continuation of the family line. As a top student at the academy, you should know that better than anyone.”

Sylvia suddenly grabbed my hand as though she were genuinely worried about me.

“You’re my precious friend. I’m truly worried that you’ll grow old all alone in some corner of your room……”

“Thank you for worrying about me. But this really is my business. I’ll say it again: I’ll make my own choice.”

I quickly pulled my hand free.

I was sorry, but I was reaching my limit.

‘Do you really think I don’t know you?’

Even after all these years, Sylvia hadn’t changed much from the way she had been at the academy.

She was the type of person who always used others to push her own agenda, then pretended to be sad or concerned and acted her way out whenever circumstances turned against her.

There was no way I would fall for that again after having watched her so closely—and experienced it firsthand.

‘Besides, I’m a Marquess. My situation is different from that of ordinary young noblewomen.’

In my case, I had the right to choose whether or not I married.

“You’ll miss your chance to marry if you keep going like this. Then you might end up having to marry an older man who already has children. Would you really like that? If that’s the case, you might as well marry Jerol—”

“Yes. Even so, I’m not marrying your brother. So please stop visiting me for matters like this, and stop scheming behind my back.”

“What? What do you mean by scheming?”

“I have ears too. I know that you and your brother have been subtly spreading rumors behind my back.”

Sylvia flinched as though I had struck a nerve.

She looked exactly like she was thinking, ‘How did this dull girl figure that out?’

‘Sorry, but I have two eyes and two ears as well. Perhaps even more than you do.’

There was a reason I had ignored the strange rumors circulating behind my back.

‘Because it was annoying.’

I might not have had extraordinary beauty, but with my prestigious family background and wealth, there were plenty of men who courted me.

It wasn’t that I had never received romantic confessions. Marriage proposals had been pouring in even before I graduated from the academy.

Of course, I rejected them all.

But rejecting marriage proposals was quite a troublesome process in itself.

In that situation, the Valentine siblings’ schemes, aimed at House Zacherete, had actually been somewhat useful.

It was just that they had gradually gone too far.

I straightened my posture and spoke firmly.

“Even if, as you say, I remain unmarried until I become a hunched old grandmother, I will never marry Young Master Valentine.”

“Ugh…….”

At my unequivocal rejection, Sylvia bit her red lips.

She looked as though she hadn’t expected me to reject her brother so coldly.

‘What? Did you think that if all the other marriage proposals dried up, I’d have no choice but to marry him?’

She was trembling with rage so intensely that anyone would have thought she herself had been rejected.

The confident look in her eyes from earlier had already turned cold.

“I was only trying to help you. You’re the one who rejected my goodwill. Just wait and see. You’ll definitely regret what happened today.”

“Yes. I’ll somehow take responsibility for that, Countess Oscar.”

“I’m not saying this lightly. You’d better remember this, Your Excellency. I’ll make you painfully understand exactly what you’ve meddled with.”

I wasn’t the one who meddled with anything.

I had been sitting quietly, and you people suddenly came charging in demanding that I marry your brother.

‘All I did was reject him.’

However, Sylvia looked as though she had absolutely no intention of listening to my side of the story.

She had already prepared to leave.

I was hoping she would disappear quickly when—

“Come to think of it, Your Excellency. You aren’t wearing your ring today, are you? The ring you always wore.”

Huh?