Chapter 3

Without relaxing his guard, Melian answered politely.

“It’s all right. I made a mistake. Please forget the discourtesy I committed today.”

The young lady’s face hardened again. Melian searched his memory, wondering if there had been anything improper in what he had just said. But no matter how he went over it, there was nothing. If anything, what he had just said was the most sensible thing he could have said, so what was the problem?

“Why do you suddenly need money?”

The questioning continued. Since he had already given up on borrowing money from the young lady, Melian hesitated over whether he should really answer that question honestly.

Still, since he had been the one to come here so rudely and stir her curiosity, it was only right that he take responsibility for that. He answered in a miserable voice.

“My elder brother borrowed money from various places. At present, the matter has become serious, and he is being held in the local watch house. I need money to repay the debt and bail my brother out.”

It was painful to lay bare his family’s shame not to just anyone, but to Helena Millium. Even if everyone else came to know, he had wanted this one person, at least, never to find out until the end.

Now that he had realized that had been an excessive dream, Melian confessed his brother’s trouble in a half-desperate state of resignation. The young lady listened with a darkened expression, then continued with another question.

“Why did he go into debt?”

“Pardon?”

“There must have been a reason your brother borrowed money from others in the first place. Is your family facing some hardship?”

It was a blunt question. Melian’s cheeks reddened again in repeated shame. But now that he had already confessed even the fact that his family were debtors, there was nothing more to hide.

“That is not it. There was no particular hardship…. My brother… got involved in gambling.”

And now hardship had indeed come. Because of that gambling, because of the brother who had gone around making a fuss about earning money for the family, only to pile up debt and get locked away in the watch house.

The young lady stared at Melian with a grave expression. He still had his head bowed deeply, suffering from the humiliation of having his disgraceful family affairs exposed.

“It sounds like the debt must be quite large.”

“……I believe so. I still do not know the exact amount.”

“I doubt it is a small sum. Can your family truly repay it all? You will have to pay the bail as well.”

“If I look for one, I am sure there will be a way. Thank you for worrying.”

The young lady once again looked thoughtful. Gazing quietly at Melian, she spoke again.

“There is something I would like to propose to you.”

“What is it?”

“How about marrying me?”

Because she said it so calmly, Melian thought at first that he had misheard her.

Marriage. That was not the sort of thing one mentioned in such an easy tone, with such a serene expression, was it? Surely he must have heard wrong.

But Melian’s ears were fine. There was nothing he had heard incorrectly. Once he realized that, a dreadful feeling came over him.

Staring at the young lady’s tranquil face with eyes full of shock, he asked back in a roughened voice with difficulty,

“What did you say?”

“Marriage. I asked how it would be for you to marry me.”

“What do you mean…… Why so suddenly…… W-why is marriage even coming up in this situation?”

“As it happens, I am in need of a husband. And you need money to repay your family’s debts. It may not be a matter of simply paying this once and being done with it; you may need financial help again in the future. Can you truly guarantee that someone who once got involved in gambling will not fall into the same habit again later?”

Melian was left speechless. He had wondered the exact same thing himself, but hearing it spoken aloud by someone else made him feel a hundred times more miserable.

“I will make you a proposal. Since we both happen to need something, it seems we can help each other. Please marry me, Mr. Raison. In return, I will repay the debt your family owes in your place, and if you need financial help again in the future, I will gladly help then as well. If the two of us marry, your family will become my family too. And family ought to help one another.”

It was a rather sensible statement, wholly unsuited to such an absurd situation.

Yes, family ought to help one another. Melian believed that too, which was why he had been tormented as though his brother’s hardship were his own, racking his brain to help him somehow.

But he had never imagined that the method would be marriage to Helena Millium. To begin with, the very idea of choosing marriage as a means to resolve his brother’s gambling debt was too outrageous.

No matter who the other party had been, it would have been absurd. But of all people, Helena Millium.

The precious daughter of one of the only four Dukes left in the country, the child of the greatest landholder in the South, a lady born to prosperous parents and thus steadily on the path to becoming a great heiress herself….

He should refuse. Of course he should refuse. That was the proper thing to do. But perhaps because what he had heard was too astonishing, his tongue would not move at all, as though it had stuck to the roof of his mouth.

Like the tragic hero of some accursed myth who had been turned to stone, he sat there motionless, blankly staring back at the woman across from him who was gazing at him.

Even so, time passed. The silence grew as long as eternity. Sitting perfectly still as if she too had turned to stone, watching Melian’s face, the Lady of Millium added softly,

“Of course, you will need time to think. I am not urging you to decide at once.”

Hearing those gentle, measured words, he felt his mind snap sharply back into place. Melian drew in a sharp breath and straightened his back. Fixing an unwavering gaze on the young lady, he answered firmly.

“No, I will give you my answer right now. I must refuse your proposal, My Lady. I cannot marry you.”

No matter how difficult his family’s financial situation was, he had no intention of hastily deciding something as serious as marriage just to put out the immediate fire.

Melian did not think of himself as a particularly romantic person. He valued reality over ideals, and he was not so naive as to insist that marriage must be only with someone he loved.

But this was not a matter of love. Setting aside love, theirs was not even the kind of relationship that satisfied the most basic conditions ordinarily considered when preparing for marriage.

The moment they were joined in marriage, the two of them would become partners in fate. As the young lady had just said, they would become family.

In that case, even if there was no blazing love, there ought at least to be sufficient trust and affection between them, but between himself and the young lady, he could not say such a thing existed even as empty politeness.

Therefore, the only answer Melian could give her was a firm refusal. There was no other sensible response.

He could hardly believe that he had ridden a stagecoach all the way here since morning just to have such a ridiculous conversation. Feeling hollow, Melian rose to his feet. In a stiff tone, he continued,

“Thank you for listening to me. I came so suddenly without even sending word, yet you did not drive me out at once, and that alone is more kindness than I deserve. I will take my leave now. Farewell.”

After offering an impeccably respectful farewell, he bowed his head and observed proper courtesy to the very end.