“Oh.”
“Are you okay?”
This was a young lady who did not hang out with people and just drank quietly in the corner. Even the servants who memorized his name, who had been wandering around throughout the banquet, did not know who she was. She was Haylen, the daughter of a family of brokers who supplied oil and sent it to each company. As it was a grand banquet to which people from all walks of life were invited, it was proof that people from all over were invited.
“Yes, thank you.”
Ramiel, who saw Haylen stumbling due to her drunkenness, quietly approached her and helped her.
“Young lady, where is your family?”
Haylen was startled by Ramiel’s words. Her whole family was delighted when she was invited to the grand banquet. The gaze of those around her towards her family was always cold. They were sick of hearing people who didn’t have money curse and be jealous of other people’s wealth, but they felt like they had been rewarded at once. If they did well, they may find Haylen’s partner at the banquet, and if so, they themselves would rise to the rank of nobility.
“Sooner or later we will become people you won’t even be able to look at. If you act arrogantly like you are now, you may not be safe.”
Haylen’s family finally came to say this. So they were excited by their dreams and thoroughly prepared to never be discouraged by the nobles. They finally entered the banquet hall and the imperial palace, laughing a lot at the neighborhood people who had never seen the imperial palace before, let alone being invited to the grand banquet… They were immediately stunned by the sight that unfolded before their eyes. When it comes to elegance and luxury, this one didn’t lose out. Because they literally prepared for several months. However, no matter how perfectly prepared and decorated the outside was, there was a wall that could not be overcome. They were prepared to respond to the saying that a nobleman’s greeting was full of malice, but they did not receive that greeting from anyone. When their eyes met, they smiled lightly and made eye contact, but that was all. They tried to stay with the group by going around saying hello and introducing themselves, but the level of conversation was different so it was difficult to hang out for long.
In this untouchable atmosphere, the Haylan family realized how much of a frog they had been, having lived a proud life believing only in money. The couple, whose pride was shattered, ran away to the break room. In the meantime, they could not give up their desire to marry their daughter to a nobleman, and they never let Haylen follow any man. And the situation continued like this after that. Haylen ended up drinking alone in a corner.
“Yes? Ah, I’m going to the break room for a moment… ”
Everyone seemed to be trying to say a word near Duke Ruivan. He was the center of the banquet after his appearance, and unfortunately, she knew that she would never be able to speak to him again in her life. Her pride was hurt once more here. A man like that was probably trying to mentally overcome the idea that his personality was half-baked, but Ramiel came and spoke to Haylen. He even mentioned her family. No one here knew who they were or who they were with, but this amazing man found out.
‘Not only does she look great, but his personality is like an angel.’
Haylen’s shattered pride recovered in an instant.
“I think you drank a little too much, it would be better for you to get some rest with your family.”
“Uh? Hey, wait a minute.”
Ramiel tried to return to the center of the banquet hall.
‘It goes back like this? Aren’t you in love with me? Otherwise, why did you come to see me in the corner?’
She was Heylan, who was known nearby as being quite pretty. She thought that she had caught the Duke’s eye because she had come all dressed up.
“What’s going on?”
Ramiel stopped his steps and looked behind him.
‘Oh my god. I can’t believe such a handsome person exists in the world.’
Knowing that a blindingly beautiful man showed interest in her, coupled with the alcohol, gave her courage.
“Well, that’s because I’m a little dizzy…”
“I will call a knight to escort you to the lounge.”
“Yes? Please do it yourself…”
Before Haylen finished speaking, Ramiel left the place with a smile.
“Is she trying to ask him to take you directly to Duchy Ruivan?”
“No way. To go out of her mind like that.”
“Even if Lady Magsner had done that, there would have been an uproar. How could someone like that…”
“I would have just overlooked it because it was Ramiel. If it had been someone else. Ugh.”
“There must have been an uproar.”
Haylen felt like she had sobered up at the sound of whispering around her. Requesting an escort was something that should be done first by those with higher status. Especially between unmarried men and women. Although she thoroughly decorated her appearance, it was a big mistake on her part to not even think about preparing for the etiquette of the capital.
“She is rude to the point of being a witch.”
“Ah, that witch. Looking over there, I see they’re fighting again.”
“I think Ramiel is going to stop them. How can he care about all this and that?”
“I know, right? These are things that should be ignored if possible.”
Haylen hurriedly disappeared into the lounge, escorted by a knight summoned by Ramiel. She was so embarrassed that she could not raise her head.
* * *
“Haa.”
Ramiel took off his gloves and threw them away. He wanted to clean it up earlier. These gloves made him feel tired just by looking at them, as it reminded him of shaking hands and contact with so many people. Ramiel had managed to hide himself on the terrace to avoid people’s eyes. Eyes followed him wherever he went, so it was difficult for him to find a time like this where he could rest alone in a place with no one around. It was a really hard-earned break.
He went here and there throughout the grand banquet, dealing with all sorts of people in the banquet hall. He even remembered and found people that no one touched and reflected them on his face. Although he was tired, his image became more solid, and more than half of the things that brought up his bloodlines were appeased.
‘This is enough.’
The angelic smile on his face disappeared, revealing a hard, emotionless face. He couldn’t rest for long. There would definitely be people looking for it after a while, so it would probably take about 15 minutes at most. Still, he was glad that he found a place to catch his breath. Because he was just on the verge of going crazy.
But he heard a voice in a space where he thought no one would be.
“If I made such a fuss, they’ll never ask me to get marry, right?”
It was the voice of a woman who had been fiercely fighting with others just moments before. His annoyance rose in an instant, and one of the sentences she spat rang in his ears.
“They’ll never be able to tell me to get married, right? I pissed off that gentle Caitlyn, so that’s a huge success. Sorry, everyone. Well, I didn’t really mean it. But I have to live my life first.”
Perhaps because she thought she was alone, she was struggling to express her true feelings.
“Now not even the dog will want to take me.”
He couldn’t help but laugh because it seemed like he found a good move in an unexpected place.
* * *
Ray couldn’t hide her expression of confusion as she looked at Ramiel sitting across from her. Throughout the banquet, she was stuck in a corner trying to avoid that angel. She never would have guessed that he would come to her house like this after the banquet.
‘No, who would have imagined that Ramiel Ruivan would come to Leanello’s house?’
It was an absolutely unbelievable visit. Why on earth was this guy here?
‘Did I do something wrong during the banquet?’
Even if it’s Ramiel, something that’s rough was still rough. This situation was quite uncomfortable for Ray.
‘Is it because I just ignored him calling me that time? No. Why would an angel known for his good manners and personality come to her house because of such a trivial matter?’
The only good thing about Ramiel’s arrival was that her mother, who heard that everyone was criticizing their family, stopped nagging her at the banquet, saying that she had brought shame to the family.
After the attempted suicide incident, her parents were worried that something might go wrong with their daughter and could not say a single word of displeasure. However, when they found out that she had been properly branded a witch at the grand banquet, her mother was breathing out the fire she had been holding back for the first time in a long time.
“Hey…”
Ray opened her mouth in a low voice.
The living room where Ramiel was in was eerily quiet. There was no sound other than the presence of household servants snooping around to get a glimpse of the man who was well-known in the capital. The atmosphere between the two was quite different from the quiet noise around them.
“…You said you wanted to meet me.”
Ramiel nodded and glanced around. Ray, who recognized this, send everyone around them off and then he opened his mouth.
“I would like to propose a contract to you, Lady.”
“You should talk about business with my father.”
Ramiel laughed at Ray’s words.
“It has nothing to do with Leanello’s family business.”
SheI couldn’t imagine what else there was to do if it wasn’t business-related. If he really came all this way because he didn’t like how she ignored his call at the last banquet, wouldn’t he be too narrow-minded?
“Then Ramiel, what brought you here?”
“I wish to marry the young lady.”
Ray looked like she wasn’t sure if she heard correctly or if her ears were wrong.
“…I beg your pardon?”
“I proposed marriage.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
“Who… with whom?”
“Ray Alexis, you.”
There was silence between the two. A nobleman who wanted to get married had to send a portrait of himself to his partner and ask her if she wanted to marry him. If you send a portrait with a description of yourself and your family, and the other person responds, then the family takes the initiative to contact you to find out what kind of person your marriage partner was. Only after that was confirmed, the parties began to meet. What was the situation now? He came in person and proposed to the person directly like this. There were very few cases where the existing procedures were completely ignored and several steps were skipped, except in cases where the status was not required to be done in order or the parties already knew each other well. However, ignoring the steps, the man sitting in front of her was Ruivan, who was not from an ordinary family. An orthodox noble family with great momentum.
‘Of course, there’s no way that man fell in love with me at first sight and came directly to propose.’
In chaos, Ray found a situation where there was at least a possibility and asked.
“Have you been drinking, Lord Ramiel?”
Ramiel laughed softly at the other person’s answer after a long time. He did not have the smile of an angel. It was an obvious ridicule. It probably meant something like, ‘The only thing you can think about is alcohol?’
“Marriage is an external disguise, and more accurately, it will be a ‘contract.’”
“Contract marriage…?”
Ramiel nodded his head.
‘This man came directly to my house to ask me to marry him?’
Even though she had seen it with her own eyes and heard it with her ears, it was hard to believe. It was surprising to hear this word in Lytham, not even in Korea, and it also felt unrealistic that a noun named Ramiel was saying this first. It would be more realistic to say that he fell in love with her at first sight and came to propose.
“…I don’t know why Lord Ramiel is making this suggestion.”
It was Ray Alexis’ answer that seemed to come after a long period of thought.
Ramiel was rather surprised. He hoped that she would react differently from other people when she saw him, but it seemed that Ray Alexis did not know anything about the person named ‘Ramiel’ other than his appearance and name. Because there was no one in Ravidon who did not know that he needed marriage.
“Because I need a ‘marriage’.”
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on May, 6.
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