“I slept well……”
The next morning.
I came home crawling, and after a quick cleanse, I crawled into bed and slept like mud.
The many events seemed to have exhausted me so much that I did not even dream.
As my head and mood cleared, everything last night seemed like a dream or an illusion.
“Maybe it really was a dream.”
While quenching my thirst with a cup of morning tea, I squint at the morning sun through the curtains.
The sound of leaves rustling in the breeze and the twittering of birds are pleasant to my ears.
I smiled lazily at the prospect of another peaceful day ahead.
Little did I know that my little happiness would be destroyed just one minute later.
The sound of noisy footsteps echoes through the corridor.
This is unusual in our family, which is basically quiet.
No matter how loose Count Reed’s family is as a noble family, the family orders and others are supposed to have a set of manners.
At the same time as the cup is placed back on the saucer, the door opens without knocking.
With a bang and a wild sound, he jumped into the room, and to his surprise, it was my mother.
“Mother?”
I had no idea that the person running down the hallway as fast as she could was her own mother.
I blinked at her and she came close to me with a tsk tsk.
“Chelsea!”
“What?”
The momentum pressured me and I backed up on the bed.
But both shoulders were grabbed and I couldn’t move.
It is only fear that Mother, usually a neat and tidy lady, glares at me with bloodshot eyes.
“It’s an emergency.”
“…… contingency?”
She repeats it with a dumb pronunciation, but Mother doesn’t point it out and keeps talking.
“I received a letter.”
“??!“
A state of emergency, a letter.
Sensing a sense of disquiet, she braces herself.
Considering Mother’s panicked state, the answer was naturally narrowed down.
(No way. A summons?)
The word “war” looms heavily.
Our country has had many wise rulers over the generations and has had virtually no contact with war.
Except for a few skirmishes, there has been no conflict for nearly a hundred years, and most of the people are accustomed to peace.
However, it is not entirely free of concerns with neighboring countries.
In particular, relations with its neighbor to the southwest are not on good terms due to a mine located near the border.
(I never thought we would be at war ……. Our territory is full of timid, laid-back people like us, and we’re a force to be reckoned with ……?)
“Oh, why did this happen ……”
With a tragic expression on her face, the mother mutters helplessly.
I laid my hand on Mother’s thin hand, which was hanging down, and held it as if to strengthen it.
“Mother, I’m surprised and it’s hard for me too. But it’s times like this that I have to hang in there.”
“I can’t hang on…….”
“Dear Mother……”
“You can’t be related to the Duke’s son!”
“…… what?”
Poppan’s mouth half-opens and she freezes for a few seconds.
What do you mean by “relatives with the Duke’s son”?
Not that there’s going to be a war?
You said it was a state of emergency.
The many questions that come to my mind are not answered by Mother.
And with the Beardsleys, who are the first dukes, it’s too much of a difference.
It’s impossible.
How am I supposed to interact with someone with whom I have nothing in common except being human?
Not only what they wear, but even the air they breathe is different.
I couldn’t go in and say, “The air is probably the same. I couldn’t say that the air is probably the same.”
“Mother …… what is a letter announcing a state of emergency?”
“Letter from the Duke and Duchess of Beardsley to ask for your hand in marriage.”
“Emergency ……!!!!”
Hush, take your mother’s hand and huddle with her.
The overly-toned face of the Duke of Beardsley’s wife comes to mind, and I let out a shriek of pain.
Was last night’s nightmarish event still real? Dizzy.
I would like to just pull up the covers and go back to sleep, but procrastinating won’t change things.
First of all, it is important to check the current situation.
I asked the maid to help me get ready and hurried to my father, who apparently had a stroke as soon as he read the letter.
I said me happened to interact with the Beardsley family’s son at last night’s soiree.
Upon hearing my explanation, Father became somber. On the bed in the parent’s bedroom, Father sits up and clenches his fists tightly.
“In other words, this is not a mistake ……!”
Mother rubbed Father’s back as he grunted and held his head.
Father is mumbling something about praying for the wrong person.
Although it may depend on the situation, it is normal to be pleased when someone from a higher family rank asks you to marry him or her.
Moreover, the other party is the Beardsley family, the first duke with a position and influence second only to that of the royal family, and with a fortune of a different order of magnitude.
The lucky girl must be overjoyed at this unexpected stroke of good fortune.
But it does not apply to my family. A letter stamped with the duke’s seal is treated like a cursed book.
Father and mother didn’t want to hold it directly, or they were picking the edges through a handkerchief.
“I was in a situation where I had no choice but to tell the Duke of Beardsley’s secret. So, perhaps, he wanted to keep quiet about it.”
“Why did you bring back such a dangerous object? Get down on your knees and return it!”
To ask for something nonsense.
The response was exactly as I had envisioned, and all I got was a thirsty laugh.
“I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone and would take it to my grave, but I guess he didn’t believe me.”
“I see. There’s no one in the Reed family would dare to blow the Dukes’ secret…..”
Mother and I nodded our heads in agreement to Father’s powerless words.
“By the way, that’s the secret……”
They vigorously cover their own ears before continuing that even their parents cannot tell them the content.
In a way, I like my parents, who are not blinkered. Although I think they are a little, or even a lot pathetic.
A slow shake of the head with lukewarm eyes told them I wasn’t going to tell them.
My parents removed their hands from their ears in horror.
“But, dear, if you know the reason, can’t you do something about it?”
“Yes, I agree. If their son really wants Chelsea, then there’s no way we cannot go against the duke’s family. But if they don’t want Chelsea, they may be able to make it go away under certain conditions.”
“I don’t see how someone like His Excellency the Duke of Beardsley’s son would want me.”
My parents nodded at my words.
For the record, my parents love me. I think they also really mean it when they say that I am the most beautiful daughter in the world to them.
I just know that I don’t see it that way in the eyes of others.
I understand that it is parental greed and that by the standards of the world, my daughter is very ordinary.
I like my habit-free silver hair and violet eyes, which are inherited from my mother, but my face is not so attractive.
It’s kind of plain. It is the kind of face that five or six out of ten people would rate as “(dare I say it?) neat and tidy” in a socially acceptable manner.
“Once that’s decided, I’ll get right on it and send a letter to …….”
“Master.”
When Father, whose complexion had improved somewhat, got off the bed, the head butler arrived just in time.
The head butler paled a little, glanced at me, and then looked at his father.
“His Royal Highness, the Duke of Beardsley, is here to see you.”
Needless to say, Father crumbled to the spot.
* * *
“Chelsea!”
The Duke of Beardsley son smiled radiantly when she saw me coming down the hall.
The bouquet of roses held in both hands suits his so well it’s almost annoying.
“H-His Royal Highness the Duke of Beardsley’s son……”
“I told you to call me Solomon. Oh, you look beautiful today. I picked it to see if it would suit you, but even the royal roses are a bit misty in front of you.”
(It’s probably my scowling face that’s hazy)
I received the rose with a dry laugh and stopped moving with a jerk.
“……now with the royal rose?”
“Oh. I told my cousin and he gave it to me.”
(That’s the Crown Prince!!)
They look light, as if they were picked from a neighbor’s garden, but that’s flower from the King’s Castle.
And it is not the kind of flower that blooms in the garden where we entered for the evening party.
This is a flower that blooms in a place where only royalty are allowed to enter, and it bears the name of the queen several generations ago.
Also known as the royal rose.
(Petals that resemble the hem of a layered dress …… I’ve certainly never seen anything like this …… I mean, I didn’t want to see it for the rest of my life!)
To avoid crushing it, hold it slightly away from your body and stay still. You can’t move.
I looked at my parents as if to ask for help, but they quickly looked away.
(What, if I drop ……, will I be executed? Maybe they’re trying to indirectly muzzle you?)
Unaware of my trembling, the Duke of Beardsley’s son headed towards my parents who stood there frozen like frogs caught in the glare of a snake.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Count Reed. Please forgive me for the rudeness of my intrusion in this morning.”
“No, no at all!”
“I am sorry for the trouble I have caused you Countess Reed. I was so eager to meet Miss Chelsea that I couldn’t stay and came here to see her.”
“N-no. Please don’t mind it.”
When the Duke of Beardsley’s son apologized for their sudden visit, My parent could only shake their heads with a blue face.
I watch over them, wondering if they will be all right.
“May I have a few moments alone with Miss Chelsea?”
“Come in, come in!”
Father and Mother’s voices overlap perfectly.
Their were so sloppy just a few minutes ago, but only at a time like this are my parents in high energy.
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