“Aren’t you going to get married?”
Ray’s steps stopped at the unexpected question. In Ravidon, the woman who refused to marry received a glare similar to that of a person who, with a little bit of exaggeration, had not come to her senses. No matter how desperate she was to increase her notoriety, these rumors were troubling. If the kind of rumor that harms her family spreads, she was likely to be kicked out of her household empty-handed before she could get out on her own.
“…I’m going to get married.”
Ray answered, looking at Ramiel with eyes as if there had been an earthquake. Anyone could tell it was a lie.
“Why are you suddenly asking that…?”
The tone of the rude witch Ray Alexis’s tone became noticeably more cautious as she spewed out her curses.
“Just now, ‘They will never ask me to marry them, right?’. To my ears, the young lady sounded like she was saying she would not get married.”
At Ramiel’s answer, the earthquake in her pupils became even stronger. Ray, who was so shocked and gaping at her mouth like a crucian carp, stuttered and asked.
“Well, um, I mean, that’s… Ramiel, how long have you been here?”
“Probably from, ‘I was really unlucky this morning’?”
This meant that it started right after she finished eating on the terrace. Ray’s face turned red. It wasn’t something that was usually embarrassing.
“I’m sorry my dear Lady Magsner, but now I don’t even have a…”
“S-Stop! Please stop it!”
Ray quickly cut Ramiel off as the next line was about to spill out of the angel’s mouth. How on earth would someone come out without any sign and catch her off guard like this?
“Can I ask why you won’t get married?”
“You already asked, so what… Huh.”
Ray covered her mouth. She spent the whole day saying whatever she wanted to say, without going through any filters, in her head, and then her true feelings came out.
“Wow, there were a lot of rude examples.”
Embarrassed, Ray lowered her head without realizing it, said a non-existent greeting to Ramiel, and hurriedly left the terrace without even looking back. She felt like Ramiel was calling her from behind, but she ignored him and just ran ahead of her.
Something didn’t feel right for her.
* * *
Ramiel Chai James Artil Ruivan. As the only heir to Marquis Ruivan and the future duke, he was having anxious days these days.
‘I can’t get a title unless I’m married.’
Lytham’s law was rubbish. He wanted to change the law, but the only people who could propose amendments were the imperial family and nobility, so he had to become a nobleman to do that. Ramiel’s eyebrows were deeply wrinkled. Not long ago, a woman who came to the mansion and offered to marry him by contract so that he could receive his title went on a rampage, unlike the first time, demanding Ramiel’s heart. Even though she was a woman who had been thoroughly vetted before signing the contract, the madness hidden inside her could not be discovered. To be precise, she was a woman who made a contract by mentioning his title, so even though he thought that she was not a normal person, the problem was that he ignored the glimpse of madness in her eyes. She was slightly obsessed with Ramiel. On the day he was notified of the violation of the contract, she brandished her dagger, saying that if she couldn’t have him, she couldn’t let anyone take him away from her. She was detained in the basement of the Ruivan mansion.
She said that she would remain in Ramiel’s heart forever, and when she tried to kill him, she cut her own wrists with her sword, turning them into her cold corpse. She said that she would remain in his heart through her death, but unfortunately, Ramiel could not even remember the name of the woman who died due to her madness. He only remembered that ‘she was in turmoil in the process of succession to the title.’ Things like marriage, children, and family were the most useless and uninteresting areas for Ramiel.
From the moment he was born, everyone around him except his mother was his enemy. From the moment he realized why his mother was living in hiding in the mansion and why his brothers hated him to death, he abandoned his expectations of the affection and attachment that ‘family’ gave him. As a result, he could not help but be skeptical about marriage, which would only add unnecessary burdens. To him, marriage was cumbersome, uncomfortable, and worse than not getting married at all. When his entire family was killed in the subjugation war and everything in his family was swallowed up, he felt that the biggest problem in his life had been solved. He didn’t expect that the obstacles he had decided to remove one day would disappear so soon. He didn’t even know that another task would be left behind: a title.
He fought a difficult subjugation war and lost his entire family as a result, so it was a good excuse for him to be mentally unable to think about marriage for the time being. It has been one year since he was temporarily granted the dukedom. At this point, they could have given him a formal title, but the emperor pushed Ramiel to break the law and get engaged.
“Seeing as you bring up the law, you seem quite sane for a person who works today and tomorrow.”
Kreha said, prodding his ear with his finger. Butler Wilpoff was disgusted with such frivolous words and actions, but he was not present in the room to sanction Kreha.
“What did you investigate?”
Kreha held out the document Wilpoff had left behind. Ramiel took out only the information about Leanello from the documents and put the rest to the side. If he were to be asked to find out just one thing about Leanello, the quick-witted butler might be able to figure out what the master was trying to do, so as a trick, he was entrusted with investigating families that had women of marriageable age, including not only nobles but also most non-noble families. The document contained quite a bit of detailed information, aside from asking to investigate several families.
“…He is the oil king.”
It was the nickname of Ray Alexis’ father, Oscar Leanello. He didn’t ask to be called that, but people were calling him that, but given that he was given the title of king, it would have been easy for him to be accused of treason if he was caught.
‘He’s a business owner who’s so blind that he doesn’t even notice this.’
They say he was now making money with the rising oil, but if they lose their senses like this, they would soon be robbed by clever con artists. Looking at recent trends, it seems like they have come to their senses by hiring new people, but it is currently unclear how long that will last. His wife, Eina, who only spends her suddenly increased wealth on extravagant things, his eldest daughter, Ray Alexis, who was notorious as a witch, and his youngest daughter, Fianna, who was now twelve years old. Aside from their enormous wealth, the Leanello family was an extremely ordinary wealthy family.
* * *
Just before getting off her carriage, Ramiel lightly rubbed her face with one hand. She was going to be smiling like a doll for the next few hours, so she needed some preparation because if she didn’t relax it now, her facial muscles would be quite stiff later. She almost got a headache when she remembered the hardships he suffered during the banquet last summer. Even if she totaled up all the times she had smiled in her life, it probably wouldn’t have been more than half a day, but she had to smile all day long. When the memory of her having spent a lot of her mental energy laughing as naturally as possible came to mind, even the smile she had been trying to force disappeared.
She hadn’t even arrived at the main banquet hall yet, and she was already tired.
“Ramiel Ruivan has arrived!”
As soon as she heard the sound announcing his position, she could already feel her insides shaking. Ramiel sighed heavily on the inside, but on the outside she smiled brighter than anyone else and went inside.
“Welcome. I was waiting, duke.”
Ironically, the first person to welcome Ramiel as he entered the banquet hall was the Marquis de Merhon, who was the most unappreciative of Ruivan. Led by him, people who shared the same views as him came and said hello.
“Long time no see. Marquis of Merhon.”
“Are you going to continue participating in banquets in the future?”
“With the Duke coming, the atmosphere becomes brighter. Hehehe.”
“You’re coming alone again this time.”
─Why are you attending the banquet twice in a row?
─Can a bastard that only hunts monsters keep coming here?
─If you come, act like a flower and then leave.
─What kind of work are you doing when you have no title?
─Isn’t it because of the smell of blood that the ladies can’t even approach? Otherwise, there’s no way ‘that Louisan’ wouldn’t even get engaged yet.
─After all, he was a bastard, so it was clear that the Marquis of the previous generation did not take good care of him.
─That’s right. Otherwise, how could I still be alone?
─Is this how you can say you are the official successor to the family?
Behind the warm and sweet greetings, everyone has sharp intentions. Their greeting most likely contained this meaning.
Ramiel Louisan appeared like a comet at the last banquet and attracted everyone’s attention. Although he was praised by everyone on the outside, it could not be said that their hearts were the same. Because it was an aristocratic society that emphasized that he was different from other imperial citizens and that he was of noble blood, there were also people who felt that his origins were a flaw. Because of the achievements he made in the subjugation war, he just couldn’t bear to show it openly. In social circles, women were not the only ones waging a silent war. Even though men seemed to be falling behind, they would band together with similar-minded people and create rumors. Ramiel pretended not to notice, even though he knew that all the greetings they gave him with a friendly smile were tantamount to an attack on him.
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
The nobles’ conversations are not revealed on the surface and are twisted, so you have to be careful with your answers. If you don’t know the sincerity hidden in the other person’s words, you become an idiot who doesn’t even know the true meaning, and if you understood well, you had to accept it with words of a similar level. However, even if the other person attacked you, you must pretend not to notice him.
“As I said, my heart breaks a lot because I can’t come to the grand banquet with my family.”
Ramiel’s smile disappeared for a moment and he looked sad. Asking if he came ‘alone’ was a sarcastic comment about his status, situation, and all the circumstances surrounding him, but he took this as a purely friendly greeting and showed a picture of his dead family. The atmosphere changed in an instant. Everyone at the banquet hall was paying attention. If you gave the impression that you were attacking someone who lost their family during the years of arduous subjugation, it would be the Merhon group that would be buried as human waste. Ramiel’s obedient and elegant reply made the people who had looked down on him become lost and confused.
“…That’s right. I know you went through a lot of hard work.”
Among Merhon’s group, friendly people who wanted to become acquainted with Ramiel Ruivan intervened.
“There were a lot of people who were worried that you wouldn’t attend this banquet, but I’m glad you came.”
“You are so generous.”
Those who wanted to interact with Ramiel, those who regarded him as a hero and wanted to hear the story of the subjugation battle, quickly filled the space left by the Merhon group. It was the beginning of the banquet.
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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