“You and Kenneth are discussing your social club schedule and future plans. Once we finalize our plans, we’ll share them with you, so in the meantime, it’s probably a good idea for you two to discuss what you want to do going forward.”
The meeting was divided between the Jewelers’ Faction and the Social Faction, with each proceeding separately.
Letticia, sighing, slumped back on the sofa and grumbled,
“They’re telling me to find a romantic partner quickly—why don’t they just go ahead and tell me to get married this season?”
“Letty, finding a romantic partner is something you have to do anyway.”
“I know, but I didn’t think it would be so urgent. There are still two weeks left until the courting season begins.”
The social season is divided into the ‘Exploration Season’ at the beginning and the ‘Courting Season’ at the end.
Typically, the courting season is a bit longer, so during the spring season, which runs from early March to mid-May, the courting season begins in early April.
Even though it’s the courting season, it’s still the man’s role to pursue the woman, so all Letticia can do is ensure that the man she likes comes to court her. But that’s better than doing nothing.
Kenneth, holding a notebook with a determined expression, flipped through the pages and then asked Letticia seriously,
“We should start by narrowing down the options. What are the conditions you want in your marriage partner?”
“Conditions?”
Letticia was taken aback by the sudden question. Conditions? Other than appearance and a general idea of personality, she hadn’t really given it much thought.
‘I did talk about ideal appearances with Her Highness Judith and His Highness Eustace yesterday, but should I mention that?’
She had vaguely imagined her potential partner based on the male protagonist characteristics in romance novels but hadn’t settled on a specific ideal type.
“Conditions… conditions…”
Letticia started listing everything that came to mind, recalling the vague ideas she had before.
“I absolutely hate black hair and red eyes. I don’t like silver hair or golden eyes either. Even people with sky-blue eyes.”
“What?”
Kenneth’s eyes widened. He immediately realized who she was talking about, given the very specific descriptions.
“I’m also uncomfortable with faces that are too handsome. Especially those who look cold. I can’t stand people who smile insincerely either. I’m not into muscular types. I prefer someone with finer features and a gentle appearance.”
“…I get the idea of what you want, but don’t you think your dislikes are too specific to certain people?”
“Oh.”
Letticia paused at Kenneth’s pointed comment. She realized she had been too obvious about her dislike for certain original characters.
“And you’ve only talked about appearance so far. Aren’t there other conditions? If you focus too much on looks, you might regret it later.”
She had spoken too bluntly and realized she might come off as a girl obsessed with appearances. Kenneth’s words, filled with concern, made Letticia reflect and think more deeply before speaking.
“Hmm… Well, in terms of personality, I want someone who’s kind and gentle, someone who’s polite not only to me but to others as well. I absolutely hate people who cause trouble for others, no matter how much they claim to like me. Oh, and it would be nice if we could have good conversations. I don’t want to talk only about social matters; I’d like to discuss other things too.”
As she said that, someone came to mind.
Ezkhiel Bright.
So far, he was the only man outside her family with whom Letticia had felt comfortable conversing.
Whenever she was asked about her ideal type or someone she liked, his face strangely kept coming to mind.
‘But he did say he would be busy until after the Countess Freke’s ball.’
After helping him with shopping, she hadn’t seen or even heard from Ezkhiel.
He had mentioned being busy, so she had planned to wait until then while meeting other people, but now that she was being urged to find a romantic partner quickly, he was the only one who came to mind.
‘Should I ask Kenneth to include him as a candidate?’
While Letticia was thinking, Kenneth wrote down the conditions in his notebook with a slightly troubled expression.
“Personality, huh… I’ve already excluded men with bad reputations, but some people manage to keep their reputations clean, so it’s tricky to confirm everything. If you decide you want to meet someone, I’ll gather more information on their reputation from the people around them.”
“Yeah. Thanks, Ken.”
“It’s my job. So, are there any other conditions?”
“Other conditions? What else could there be?”
“What do you mean ‘what else’? Like wealth or title. Wouldn’t it be nice if he were at least a count, or had an annual income of at least ten thousand gold?”
Letticia sighed deeply at those words. It was an issue she had completely forgotten about.
Seeing her reaction, Kenneth was appalled.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about this at all? This is about your marriage!”
“It’s not that I haven’t thought about it! I was seriously talking about appearances and personalities earlier!”
“But you should have at least considered some basic conditions! Are you asking me to investigate every man in the social circle?”
Kenneth suddenly stood up, threw his notebook onto the table, and shouted. It seemed the stress he had accumulated while working as Letticia’s secretary was finally exploding, as his eyes widened to the point of bulging.
The three people who were focused on their meeting also turned to look, startled by the loud voice.
“What’s wrong, Ken? Why are you suddenly shouting?”
“Ken, did she tease you again?”
“Letticia, what did you do this time?”
Unlike Kenneth’s twin sister Marianne, who was just surprised, Lenoa and Lenard both sided with Kenneth. Even though Letticia would usually grumble about how they cared more for their cousin than their sibling, this time she was flustered enough to apologize.
“Okay, I’m sorry, Ken. I’ll start thinking about it seriously now.”
“You really need to think about this seriously. If the scope is too broad, I won’t be able to help. I’m not some royal intelligence agency that can gather information on everyone in the social circle.”
“I get it. I’ll do my best to narrow it down. I’m really sorry.”
Even more than her older brother Lenard, Kenneth was usually the one who tolerated Letticia’s whims, so it was clear that Letticia had done something particularly frustrating this time.
Reflecting on her actions, Letticia worked hard to console Kenneth and explain her reasoning.
“I just didn’t think about it because I have a lot of money. Even if my partner is poor, the interest from my dowry alone is enough to live at a noble level, bringing in 1,500 gold a year.”
In this world, the property a woman brings into a marriage is called a ‘dowry.’ The income from this dowry becomes the couple’s joint property, but the principal usually remains the woman’s, and it’s typically passed on to her daughter after her mother’s death.
Camilla brought a dowry of 40,000 gold when she married, and like many wives, it was decided that after her death, the money would be split between Leticia and Lenoa.
Moreover, their father, Patrick, had added an extra 10,000 gold for each daughter, making it 30,000 gold. The interest alone from Letticia’s share was more than enough to cover the annual living expenses of a lower noble.
“And with the income from Faymont, we can even maintain the main estate and the villa without any issues. So honestly, as long as he doesn’t have any debts, I don’t really care about his wealth. That’s why I wasn’t concerned.”
“…I see. When you add all that up, it’s 5,000 to 6,000 gold a year, so it’s understandable why you didn’t think about it.”
Having heard her explanation, Kenneth finally calmed down and sat back down. It seemed he understood her reasoning.
Although she only gave a surface-level explanation, it was enough to appease him.
‘Honestly, I just didn’t consider that I should even be concerned about those things.’
Having decided to live as though she were the female protagonist of a romance novel, Letticia assumed that her partner would naturally be of the same caliber as a male protagonist in a novel. Thus, she didn’t even think about considering wealth or status, which are basic attributes of a male protagonist in a romance novel.
‘In romance novels, a male protagonist’s appearance is a given, status is a must, and wealth is obvious.’
However, since she couldn’t say that out loud, Letticia kept her mouth shut. It wouldn’t have been taken seriously, and, more importantly, it wouldn’t have helped reduce Kenneth’s workload in the slightest.
‘So, the conditions for the man… Let’s exclude provincial nobles. I want to live in the capital.’
After giving it some thought, Letticia laid out her criteria to Kenneth.
“Someone from a noble family in the capital, with a rank of baron or higher. I’d prefer someone who’s a second son rather than the eldest—I don’t want to deal with in-laws.”
“A noble from the capital… Well, at least narrowing it down that much is helpful.”
Kenneth sighed in relief and made a note in his notebook.
There were many provincial nobles who sought to find spouses in the capital’s social circles to establish connections with the capital. By excluding them, Kenneth had significantly reduced the number of people he needed to investigate.
“As I mentioned earlier, as long as he doesn’t have debts, that’s enough. Oh, but exclude anyone who likes gambling or has failed in business. People who gamble end up ruining themselves, and someone who failed in business might try to take my money and lose it again.”
“Yeah. It’s never a bad idea to be cautious about people like that.”
“And for his job… Exclude knights. I’m not into knights.”
“I already planned to exclude them when you said you didn’t like muscular men.”
As Kenneth continued writing, Letticia finally voiced the name she had been thinking of.
“And, please add Sir Ezkhiel Bright to the candidate list.”
