The Male Lead’s Father Refuses to Break Off Our Engagement

Chapter 5

“L-lady?”

Annie, who was standing next to her, rummaged through her pockets in panic before handing her a handkerchief.

Evelia buried her face in the handkerchief and gestured to Annie. Annie quietly left her room.

Alone, Evelia tried to stop her tears, thinking of Ruth’s face she had seen yesterday.

The way he managed to hold back his tears when she refused tea time.

‘Let’s refuse again. I can’t give it a chance. It’ll only make it harder on Ruth.’

Evelia, barely stopping her tears, called Annie to bring her a pen and stationery. She pondered for a long time, but there was only one answer she could write.

 

[Dear young master Adelhard.

How have you been?

Thank you for inviting me to tea time again, following last time. But I don’t think I can go to tea time because the time is not right.

From Evelia Venion.]

 

The whole thing was a lie. Ruth hadn’t told me the date or time of the tea time, so “the time isn’t right” was an excuse for refusal no matter who looked at it.

A euphemism for saying that I will not attend tea time no matter what.

I hope that Ruth will understand the inner meaning of this letter and give up.

“Annie, please send this letter to Duke Adelhard.”

Annie glanced carefully at Evelia’s eyes, which were red from crying. She seemed to have a lot to ask, but she bowed her head obediently.

“Yes, lady.”

After Annie left, Evelia tried to think of something else to get rid of Ruth. Then, suddenly, the events of yesterday came to mind.

Derek Venion, who let go of her hand on the stairs.

The last time I saw him before closing my eyes, he was smiling. He deliberately pushed her off the stairs.

Evelia inevitably sharpened her teeth.

‘What should I do with that bastard, Derek?’

It wasn’t for a day or two that Derek bullied Evelia, but this one went too far.

Pushing someone down the stairs! It was a situation where something big could happen.

What if I hit my head so badly that I had a concussion? No, maybe Derek wanted that.

‘Then I should do the same.’

A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, an accident for an accident. Evelia intended to repay him the same.

‘I think it would be nice to break at least one limb.’

She clenched her fists and organized in her head what to do next.

First, she must avenge Derek in the same way, and then completely end her engagement to Cassis. And then…

‘I have to leave this mansion as soon as possible.’

Breaking up with Cassis didn’t mean everything was over. Countess Venion, who has no affection for Evelia, will again try to sell her out in marriage to another man.

Of course, before and after marriage, the people of Venion will be all over her.

So, my goal was to leave this place before then. To a place out of sight of Count Venion.

‘To do that, I’ll need money first.’

There was no money to manage in hand because I didn’t receive a separate deposit, but I didn’t have to worry.

Because Count Venion was concerned about the attention of the people around him, he gave Evelia high-quality jewelry or a dress as a gift, and if I sold them, I would be able to raise money.

And, like a possessor, Evelia knew how to multiply that money several times, perhaps even dozens of times.

‘I’ll have to go find the information guild.’

Evelia got up and started getting ready to go out.

She wore the most modest clothes she had, and put on a long, gray hood over it. Her striking pink hair was braided and hidden under a hood.

After grabbing some accessories, she left the room. Now was the time to change her destiny in earnest.

 

* * *

 

A letter came from the Venion family. The sender was ‘Evelia Venion’.

“Nanny, nanny! Look at this!”

Ruth walked round and round the room with the little pink stationery in his hand.

“Lady Evelia gave me an answer!”

Unlike Ruth, who was excited, Nanny reached for the letter with a nervous face.

“Master, I will read it to you.”

The nanny was worried.

‘I wonder what it says.’

Ruth thought Evelia had turned down the tea time because of his rudeness, but Nanny thought otherwise.

When Ruth suggested tea time, the emotion on Evelia’s face was not ‘annoyance‘ but ‘embarrassment‘.

In other words, it was not that she refused the tea time because it was against etiquette, but that she refused for another reason.

The nanny had seen many young ladies who didn’t like Ruth. At first, she thought that lady Evelia was like one of those young ladies.

But I couldn’t figure out why she rejected Ruth’s proposal.

Then, last night, the nanny overheard the maids whispering.

―The deal is about to be broken off soon.

—What? What are you talking about?

―I heard that Lady Venion asked to break off the engagement.

―What do you mean by that?

―L-Lady Margaret!

―Who is frivolously talking about the master? Even in this hallway. What would you do if the young master heard it?

Usually, nannies didn’t have the right to personal affairs. But Ruth’s nanny, Margaret, was different.

Before being Ruth’s nanny, she was Cassis’s nanny and took care of him from an early age.

Because of that, Cassis had a special regard for Margaret, and he almost followed her words.

In short, if Margaret said she would fire the maids over today’s work, he might fire them.

The white-faced maids knelt in front of Margaret and begged.

―Mrs. Margaret! I will be careful in the future!

―All right, you can go.

Even as she spoke, Margaret remembered the faces of the maids.

Employers are not allowed to talk about their owner’s stories carelessly. She couldn’t keep people in the mansion gossiping.

‘Anyway, a break up.’

Only then did she understand why Evelia rejected Ruth’s offer. Perhaps she didn’t want Ruth to be affectionate with her.

‘I don’t know if I should call it affectionate…’

So, since last night, Margaret hadn’t told Ruth the story of Evelia.

I also regretted sending the letter. I’m sure she’d refuse, but she didn’t want to hurt her feelings one more time

Ruth, who had no way to know such a feeling, avoided Margaret’s hand and held the letter in his arms.

“Ugh, no. I can read it by myself, I’m seven years old!”

Then, before Margaret could stop it, he opened the letter and began to read it.

“But the time is not right… I won’t be able to go to tea time…”

Ruth, who was stuttering through the letter, suddenly shut his mouth. Margaret bit her lip, watching the corner of his mouth start to go down little by little.

Ruth, who couldn’t take his eyes off the letter for a long time, raised his head with his lips quivering.

“Nanny, is lady Evelia really breaking up with my father?”

“Young master, where did you hear about that…”

“Is it because of me? Because I am an illegitimate child?”

Margaret’s face turned white in an instant.

“Who dares to say such a thing! Who would tell our master…”

“Everybody does. My father hates me because I am an illegitimate child, and Lady Evelia is breaking off the engagement because of that.”

“No! Why does the Duke hate you? Master cares for you a lot.”

“But…”

My father never smiles at me. He doesn’t talk to me, he doesn’t eat with me.

Ruth held back the words that were stuck in his heart. Feeling sorry for that, Margaret hugged the child tightly.

As a nanny, she cherishes and loves him a lot, but a nanny is different from the parents. Margaret and Ruth knew that very well.

Ruth thought for a moment as he hugged Margaret by the neck.

‘I will convince Lady Evelia.’

I’ll go to her and tell her that I’m a good boy, that he’s not a picky eater, that he greets people well, that he listens well.

Would Lady Evelia change her mind if she found out that he was a good child?

After thinking, the child resolutely declared.

“Nanny, I want to send a present to Lady Evelia!”

“Yes?”

“If I send a gift to Lady Evelia, wouldn’t she like me even more?”

Margaret couldn’t stop the child who was full of anticipation. Besides, she didn’t think it would be bad for Ruth to take him on a trip around town to cheer him up.

“Yes, let’s do that.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when Ruth slipped out of Margaret’s arms and sprinted out of the room.

Margaret grabbed his coat and hurried after him.