Chapter 2

“I’ve found a marriage match for you.”

“So suddenly?”

“What do you mean, suddenly? How old are you? If you miss this year, you’ll officially be called an ‘old maid.’ As your uncle, do you think I can just sit still?”

“But the research…….”

“I heard the research stopped when my elder brother died, didn’t it? Stop wasting your time on something that doesn’t even make money, and think instead about getting married and living in a way that suits your station and position.”

But the marriage partner her uncle brought in, Earl Malbert, was more than forty years older than she was. And that was not all. He was a man preparing not for his second or third marriage, but his fourth.

“Earl Malbert may be old, but he has twice the money. If you just give him one son, you can live comfortably too, so why do you dislike it? To put it bluntly, if you have one child and get divorced, you’ll receive a huge settlement. And if your child becomes the Earl Malbert, then as his birth mother, you’ll be treated with the utmost devotion.”

What her aunt said was not entirely wrong. Considering Chloe’s circumstances, it was also the most realistic marriage. Earl Malbert had said there was no need for a dowry, and that it did not matter at all if she was completely lacking in the refinement expected of a lady or the qualities expected of a mistress of the house because she had done nothing but study. He had even said she could continue her studies.

If she truly could not bear it after marrying him, then divorcing and living alone on the settlement money would not necessarily be so bad. If she gave him just one child.

‘But that’s a bit…….’

She had never seriously thought about marriage, but that did not mean she had no expectations or fantasies at all.

Just as her parents had, she had vaguely pictured herself building a family with someone she loved, having children, and creating a modest but warm future. At the very least, even if not love, she had hoped for marriage to a man she liked, or felt she could come to love.

‘If only I had forced myself to go out with my parents that day…….’

Rather than being left alone in this harsh world, something she had never understood at all while she was with her parents, would it not have been better to die together with them instead? Repeating regrets that were useless now, Chloe stared blankly at the lake.

Only, that beautiful lake could not comfort Chloe. Because it made her want to throw herself into its quiet waters where the sunlight struck and shattered.

“So this is where I find you, Chloe Everdeen.”

At that moment, a familiar low voice pleasant to the ear came from behind her. Startled, Chloe turned around, and in her eyes she saw Aaron’s neat blond hair glinting in the sunlight.

It was precisely at a moment when she felt so depressed that she wanted to cling to even a stone lying carelessly on the roadside and ask for help. Therefore, the problem was this miraculous coincidence of meeting Aaron at just that moment. That after her parents died, the only person who had been kind to Chloe, and who had the connection of being her senior, had appeared before her.

“What’s with that face? You look like you want to jump into the lake any second.”

How did he know? Embarrassed that her inner thoughts had been seen through, Chloe quickly covered both flushed cheeks with her hands and shook her head from side to side.

“It must have been hard for you all this time. Have you been doing all right?”

“Thanks to your concern, more or less. Ah, come to think of it, I haven’t properly thanked you yet. I was really helped a great deal at the funeral.”

“It was nothing. I’m glad I was of help.”

That was how they exchanged greetings. But to Chloe, the situation itself was hard to believe. That he had spoken to her first, and that they were naturally having a conversation like this.

And that made sense, because Aaron was the head of the Hendricks Duchy, a house with close ties to the royal family, and among graduates of the Royal University, he was by far the most famous. In appearance, in bloodline, and in ability.

So for Chloe, who was merely ordinary, or rather had now fallen even below ordinary, to become someone who could exchange conversation with Aaron. Even thinking about it again, she could not quite believe it.

“Um, Senior.”

“Yes?”

“Do you remember before, when you said that if things became too hard, I should ask for help?”

“Of course. Why, did something happen?”

“Well, um, by any chance.”

Aaron, who had been looking at the lake, turned his eyes toward her, eyes as clear and bright blue as that brilliantly shining lake, and at that, Chloe opened her mouth as if bewitched.

“Do you perhaps need a mistress?”

Chloe knew as well how absurd this proposal must sound to him. In her urgency, she had blurted out the main point first, but she had not spoken recklessly without thought; in her own way, she had gone through the stages of realistic and careful consideration.

Now she would have to explain it properly. While she organized in her head what she needed to say to him, Aaron, who had already reached their destination some distance ahead, called out to her.

“Chloe, get in.”

Opening the carriage door and waiting, he watched as Chloe hurried toward him. Unlike when he had simply strode ahead earlier, Aaron now politely extended his hand and helped Chloe into the carriage.

But perhaps because he could not hide his impatience, Aaron climbed in after her and opened his mouth as soon as he sat down across from her.

“Tell me the reason.”

“What reason?”

“Why would a perfectly respectable noble young lady try to become something like a mistress instead of asking to get married?”

Chloe’s father, Earl Everdeen, his teacher, was a prominent professor at the Royal University and a scholar of great reputation. He was not old-fashioned, had an excellent character, was popular with his students, and possessed remarkable knowledge and learning. So much so that even Aaron, who had always naturally believed there was no one more outstanding than himself in the world, respected him.

And yet his only daughter, the daughter of a respectable noble family, was talking about becoming a mistress? If Earl Everdeen heard it, he would turn over in his grave. When talking about Chloe, the professor would become like a doting fool unlike his usual dignified self, so he might not merely turn over, but burst out of his coffin entirely.

“I know my own place very well. In my current circumstances, how could I ever dare say something like asking you to marry me, Senior? It would be ridiculous.”

No, since she was the daughter of a proper noble house, would marriage not at least make more sense? Of course, even if she had proposed marriage, Aaron would not only have refused to accept it, he would not have considered it for even a moment.

Someday, to continue the family line, he would marry, but Chloe would not be the one. The Everdeen Earldom had a long history, but it was not a family that could compare to the Hendricks Duchy. Above all, from the way of thinking common in noble society where political marriages were ordinary, Aaron would gain not a single benefit from aligning himself with the Everdeen Earldom.

If his mentor were still alive, that might be another matter, but now that he had died and his younger brother of dubious origins had inherited the earldom, even more so.

“Then why me?”

“Because I heard that you’re unmarried, and that you don’t have a fiancée, and no lover either. You mustn’t cause trouble for the woman who will become your wife.”

So it was fine to cause trouble for me? 

Dumbfounded, Aaron kept listening in silence for now.

No, the more he thought about it, the more absurd it was. Not because she said he was her ideal type, or because she liked him, or anything like that…… Forget it. This was not even narcissism, what was this? For a moment overcome with self-reproach, Aaron pressed firmly on the temple that had begun to throb.

Think positively. Perhaps it was rather fortunate that this was not because of something clingy and troublesome like love. There was nothing more annoying to shake off than that.

“All right, let’s say that’s true. Then what reason do I have to accept you as my mistress?”

“You’re Duke Hendricks, Senior. So I’m sure you’ve met many women who were pretty and beautiful.”

“You skipped over too much of the explanation.”

“So, if we compare it to dessert. If you eat only pretty and delicious things all the time, there comes a point when you get tired of them, right? At times like that, something mild and plain, not stimulating, can feel more appealing instead…….”

“Aha, so you’re that mild but not tiresome kind, is that it?”

How ridiculous.

Leaving aside this business of being mild or whatever, he had not even lived wildly enough to grow tired of beauties.

No, wait. Could it be that there really had been a problem with my conduct all this time? Or were the rumors about me among women that questionable?