MLIIWTFL Chapter 147

 

 

 

“Letty, can you do me a favor?”

 

“What is it? I just want to go to sleep right now.”

 

Letticia had just returned alone in a carriage after forcing Ezkhiel into his bedroom to finish his report by tomorrow. As soon as she arrived, she frowned at the sight of Lenard, who seemed to be waiting for her.

 

However, whether he noticed his sister’s exhaustion or not, Lenard was determined to make his request.

 

“Can you invite Lady Averil to our mansion?”

 

“…Brother, I think I just had an auditory hallucination. Could you say that again?”

 

Even as Letticia pressed him to take back his words, Lenard remained steadfast.

 

“I asked if you could invite Lady Averil to the mansion.”

 

“Hey, you damn brother! I even gave you a chance to take it back, and you wasted it!”

 

Letticia immediately rolled up her sleeves and lunged at Lenard, aiming for his collar. However, since there was some distance between them, he managed to block her with his arm before she could grab him.

 

“You’re the only one I can ask for this favor. I promise I’ll repay you properly later.”

 

“Why her, of all people?! Obviously, her brothers will follow her here!”

 

“I’ll check their schedules and invite her when they’re both busy with work. If, by any chance, they do show up, I’ll make sure it doesn’t cause you any trouble. Just help me with the invitation.”

 

“Why? You’ve never invited a client to our house before! You’d rather go on a business trip than do something like this.”

 

Lenard had always been strict about separating business from his personal life. No matter how many clients tried to make advances toward him, he never met them outside professional settings.

 

So why was he suddenly asking to invite Ariette to their home?

 

‘If you dare say you’ve fallen for Ariette, I swear—’

 

As his younger sister shot him a sharp glare, Lenard sighed and began explaining.

 

“I didn’t want to go this far either, but I had no choice. Lady Averil sent a letter to the main store requesting it.”

 

“She sent a letter to the main store?”

 

“Yeah. And she even used the imperial postal service.”

 

Letticia was left speechless, her mouth slightly open. The postal service was something commoners typically used, not nobles. If a noble needed to send a message, they would simply send a servant.

 

‘The duchy has plenty of servants who could deliver a letter for her, so why would she go out of her way to use the postal service? Even that maid, Marsha or whatever her name is, seemed willing to give up her life for Ariette. Does she not even trust her?’

 

Letticia should have realized something was off when Ariette insisted on going to the jewelry store alone, without her maids or guards.

 

She had never envied Ariette before, but after hearing this, she felt even less envious.

 

“So, what exactly did she request? Did she ask me to invite her?”

 

“Not exactly. Her family told her to invite people over instead of going out to shop, which put her in a tough spot. She asked if you or Lenny had any reason to visit the palace so you could talk then, but I thought it’d be easier to just invite her to the mansion.”

 

“…Sigh. Well, that does make sense.”

 

Letticia was a promotional model, and Lenoa was a designer. While they could showcase products, actual sales were the business team’s responsibility, not theirs. They didn’t even have the authority to handle it.

 

‘Besides, I still need to check whether Ariette met with Matthias or not.’

 

There was a very slim chance that Matthias had suddenly gone crazy and pulled a stunt like this—or, worse, that a transmigrator had taken over his body.

 

It would be a hassle if the three troublesome members of the Duke’s family showed up with her, but since Lenard had promised to handle them, Letticia didn’t mind seeing Ariette alone.

 

‘Ariette herself… well, she’s nice.’

 

She reminded Letticia of Seraphina. Though naïve, she was willing to listen when things were explained to her and genuinely tried to improve herself.

 

Letticia generally liked people who had the will to grow.

 

“I can send the invitation, but what’s the excuse? Should I just invite her for tea?”

 

“That would be best. Should we host her on the fifth floor of Faymont or at the mansion?”

 

“The mansion. The other place is out of the question.”

 

The fifth floor of Faymont was a space Letticia reserved for her close friends. Ever since it became known that she was an investor in Faymont, receiving an invitation there had turned into a status symbol.

 

She couldn’t just extend that privilege to Ariette, who hadn’t even debuted in high society yet.

 

“I can say that now that I’ve debuted in society, I have the right to formally invite someone, so I’m inviting her to the mansion to show her the garden. Since it’s just Ariette, we won’t need to worry about formal etiquette, and that should signal to them that they don’t have to decline the invitation.”

 

Letticia wanted to believe that the Averil Duchy would act wisely and not repeat the mistakes of the past from their academy days. If not, she could always dump the aftermath on Lenard.

 

“I’ll leave that part to you. I don’t really know much about social etiquette.”

 

“Got it. After inviting Lady Averil, should I have you attend as my chaperone?”

 

“That would be for the best. I’ll inform Ken about it.”

 

As they wrapped up their plan, Letticia suddenly had a mischievous thought and asked, half-jokingly,

 

“But for you to be the one suggesting an invitation to our home… Have you gone work-crazy, or do you actually like her?”

 

“You want to keep talking nonsense?”

 

Lenard gave her a deadpan glare, but Letticia just shrugged.

 

“I’m debating whether I should praise you for being so dedicated to the family that you’re sacrificing your vacation, or congratulate you for finally taking an interest in a woman.”

 

“Just go with the first one. I didn’t want to give up my vacation either.”

 

Lenard sighed, running a hand through his hair. Letticia frowned, noticing how exhausted he seemed.

 

“Why? Is dealing with Lady Averil that difficult?”

 

“No, it’s just that work has been piling up. I told you—inventory mismanagement, keeping the design team in check, and a whole list of other tasks. I finally had a day off and was hoping to just lock myself in my room and read, but now I guess I’ll have to push that to next week.”

 

“It’s not like the book is urgent, is it? You always read those technical books anyway.”

 

“All that knowledge adds up and becomes useful, dear sister. You should try reading something other than romance novels once in a while.”

 

“No thanks. It’s boring and too much work.”

 

Letticia waved her hand dismissively, refusing the suggestion. Seeing no point in insisting, Lenard dropped the topic.

 

She was about to head to her room, but since they were already talking about Ariette, she decided to ask something that had been on her mind.

 

“By the way, brother, are you sure Lady Averil is buying the jewelry for her family? What if she’s actually buying it for some man and just pretending it’s for them?”

 

“She doesn’t seem like the type to be that crafty.”

 

Lenard shook his head with his arms crossed. His response was blunt, but it was an accurate assessment of both the Ariette described in the original story and the one they had seen so far.

 

“Besides, right now, she seems completely focused on doing something for her family. I doubt she has the time to think about romance.”

 

“Well, if that’s the case…”

 

Letticia felt slightly relieved at that answer. She still wasn’t sure if Ariette had met Matthias, but at least for now, it didn’t seem like she would cause any trouble that would add to Ezkhiel’s workload.

 

Lenard gave her a questioning look as she let out a small sigh of relief.

 

“If she’s placing an order, I’d assume it’s for her debut jewelry. Why did you suddenly think it might be for a lover?”

 

“…I mean, if you grew up in a family like that, wouldn’t you want to escape, even if it meant getting married? I know I would.”

 

“You? You’d probably just leave everything behind and run away.”

 

“Exactly! You don’t like it either, do you?”

 

Letticia had said it as a way to dodge the question, but she also meant it. If Ariette had Letticia’s personality, she probably would have turned the duchy upside down a long time ago.

 

“But do you really think she’ll have an easy time getting married? Her father and brothers are even worse than the rumors say. What were they thinking, raising her without even teaching her the basics about the outside world?”

 

“They probably plan to keep her under their care forever. No marriage, just keeping her with them.”

 

“…If that’s true, that’s actually really sad for her.”

 

For a brief moment, Lenard’s expression showed sympathy. He hadn’t expected the duchy’s obsession to be that extreme.

 

However, his pity didn’t last long. As another thought crossed his mind, his face darkened again.

 

“Wait… would they even allow her to debut? If they don’t care about her achieving anything and just want to keep her at home, they might refuse to let her debut at all.”

 

“I don’t know. Maybe if she insists, they’ll let her debut but won’t allow her to marry.”

 

“So they’ll put her on display but won’t actually let her be available? What a waste—of money and time.”

 

“Who knows? Maybe they have so much money they don’t care. But at least if they keep buying trendy jewelry, they’ll be good customers.”

 

At Letticia’s remark, Lenard nodded. Still, the idea that Ariette’s debut—a huge business opportunity—might not happen seemed like a loss to him.

 

“I was hoping we’d be the ones providing all her debut, engagement, and wedding jewelry…”