Chapter 5

“What are we to do now? The debt this boy must repay must be considerable. And on top of that, if he has been taken to the watch house, the bail to get him out will not be small. We must also repay the creditors who came today, and if we think of the interest on top of that……”

“Please do not worry too much, Father. There will be a way somehow. I will think about it.”

“Well, I do not know whether this is something that can be solved just by you thinking alone. In truth, repaying the debt is not the problem. Money can somehow be found. What worries me is everything that comes after. Whether that fool Reuben will even be able to find a proper job again……”

Viscount Raison, who had been speaking with a troubled expression, suddenly bent over and began coughing. While his father coughed painfully, Melian could only pat his shoulder helplessly.

“Father, are you all right? Shall I bring your medicine? Or at least a painkiller―”

“Cough! Haa, I am all right. Do not worry about me. I am more worried about your brother. And you too, Melian. Of all times, you had to be born in such difficult days, and because you were given the wrong family……”

“No, Father. What are you saying? I think being born as your child is the greatest fortune in the world.”

Melian continued patting his father’s shoulder, steadfastly playing the role of a dutiful son. A shadow of sadness came into the Viscount’s eyes. Having stopped coughing, he murmured with a dark expression.

“For now, I will write letters to our relatives. I should find out whether there is anyone who can lend us money. And if possible, I should ask whether there is anyone who might later be able to find work for you or Reuben. If things continue like this, I fear it will become difficult to live on only the income from the estate.”

“You mean to borrow money? Even after my brother ended up like this because of debt, you are saying you will ask others for help again?”

“The problem is not the debt, but the fact that he got involved in gambling. It is different from my borrowing money from relatives. I promise that I will borrow only an amount I can definitely manage.”

“I oppose it, Father. If possible, it would be better not to ask our relatives for help. First, if we gather together as much as we can from our own household―”

“There is not much cash we can use right away. We could move up the time for collecting tenant rents, but that would cause friction with the tenants. Given that people have already been leaving one by one for the past few years and the scale of our farmland has shrunk greatly, I do not think that would be a wise method.”

“……Then how about selling a little more land? Or the livestock. If we add in the price from selling the pigs, it should amount to quite a bit.”

“We may sell the pigs, but not the land. At this rate, we may even lose the title. You do know that if the size of the estate falls below a certain point, one must surrender the noble title, do you not? We are already in a very precarious situation.”

Then just sell that wretched title too. In times like these, especially for people like us, what use is a title anyway? Biting his lip, Melian held back the words he truly wanted to shout.

Unlike the son, who had grown up with the family’s fortunes already in decline and therefore had no memory of the days when the house had flourished, the Viscount still held dear memories of that glorious past. He could not let go of even those memories.

Those memories, warped into lingering attachment, had at last become shackles that bound and strangled the Viscount, and the price was now being paid by his sons alongside him.

Melian fell silent. He truly disliked the suggestion of borrowing money from relatives, but the idea he had offered as an alternative had not received a favorable answer either, so he had nothing more to say.

In the midst of that, Melian thought of another person. Only a few hours ago, in a cozy room overlooking white summer flowers, there had been a woman sitting across from him, speaking to him with impossibly calm composure as she made an absurd proposal.

“How about marrying me?”

“As it happens, I am in need of a husband. And you need money to repay your family’s debts.”

“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.”

But was it truly such an impossible proposal after all?

When he had first heard those words, he had naturally thought so, but now, standing alone in the wrecked sitting room ruined by debt collectors, discussing a bleak future with his ailing father, his thoughts had changed a little.

‘Marriage……’

Marriage, marriage. If only he married Helena Millium, then all the worries about money weighing heavily on the shoulders of him and his family would disappear.

It was far too unrealistic an idea. No matter how he calculated it, it did not make sense. Because, aside from Lady Millium herself, these terms were far too advantageous only to him.

‘No matter how anyone looks at it, she is the only one losing out.’

Helena Millium had said she needed a husband.

He did not know why a woman only twenty-two this year already needed to marry, but if she looked around a little, there would surely be many men far superior to him as husband material.

What could possibly be lacking for that noble and wealthy lady, that she would think of marrying no more than the second son of a ruined noble house like him? There was too little logical sense in it, which made it all the harder to take seriously.

But if he looked only at his own situation, it was not such an impossible proposal. Aside from the fact that it would mean marrying as though he were being sold off to pay his family’s debts, it actually offered more gain than loss.

And was that not how noble marriages usually worked in the first place? Free love and marriages for love were the sort of romance found in novels, while in reality most people carefully weighed one another’s circumstances, found a match, and settled their future.

Of course, at present, Melian’s family was so impoverished that it was embarrassing even to call them nobles. But because of that, he felt even more strongly that he had no real choice.

‘Only I have to sacrifice myself.’

And really, if one thought about it, it was not even a sacrifice. The one losing out was someone else. She was far too good a person to be tied to someone like him, and he could not understand why she had offered marriage to him at all.

The moment he thought of Helena, Melian felt his chest tighten. He did not want to marry her. He wanted to bury what he had heard today in the past forever and live without ever thinking of it again.

But…… if, for whatever reason, she truly wanted to marry him. And if through that marriage he could protect his father and help his brother.

If only that were possible, what did his own feelings matter? He was willing to force himself to forget his desperate wish not to become entangled with Helena Millium and humbly bend his will.

Melian gave up his stubbornness. It was time to write a letter to his former schoolmate.