Chapter 18: Why isn’t the engagement broken?
It only takes an hour to travel through the capital, and if you run a carriage for an hour, you will arrive at your destination.
The destination was a house surrounded by a brick wall.
When I got off the carriage that stopped in front of the gate, people who seemed to be local residents wearing clothes that did not seem very wealthy were looking at me.
I enter the triangular roof house because the butler who entered the gate first is looking back with a worried expression.
(Is the size about the same as the merchant’s house I saw when?)
There is a kitchen and bathroom, a living room and a dining room on the first floor, but there are only a few rooms for servants on the second floor. The rest are small rooms on the same floor that are probably for servants.
The butler instructed the servants to carry in my luggage and handed me a paper when the arrangement of the furniture was finished.
I guess he still can’t talk to me.
The contents are written briefly with the transmitted items.
・You will live here from today.
・The master will investigate the curse.
・You must not return home until you are given permission.
・Prohibited to go to the Academy due to illness.
・Regarding meals and cleaning, maids will come on a regular basis.
・The cost of clothing and other miscellaneous items will be paid to the Count’s family, and the necessary money will be delivered regularly by the butler from the main house. First, I will entrust this month’s amount to Katie.
“I understand.”
When I answered, the butler bowed and left the house.
Watching his back, the door closed…
I realized this at this time.
“Even if it’s good that I don’t have to go to the Academy, won’t the engagement be cancelled?”
Oh, if I continue the engagement while cursed, won’t Albert hate me even more when he hears about this? Troublesome!
“Wait a minute, butler! Won’t you inform the fiance about this?!”
I chased after him, but I couldn’t [for some reason] hear the housekeeper’s voice, so I wondered what to do.
“…”
The housekeeper, who stopped his feet just before getting on the carriage, returned to me and said something to Katie, who followed me.
And Katie told me.
“If It was known that My Lady was cursed, it was not good for the Count family to maintain the engagement while searching for a way to lift the curse.”
It was the most reasonable thing to do.
If the engagement were dissolved and the cause was investigated, it would damage the family name if it were known that I was cursed.
(But with so many black rumors about the unpopular Count family, who cares about the family name?)
I couldn’t help but laugh inside.
But for now, my father prioritized the Count family name as necessary. So, rather than placing me, who could potentially undermine the name, in the main house where there are many visitors, I was hidden here.
(So there’s a chance they’ll fake my illness and keep me here forever?)
When the engagement is no longer necessary, will it be dissolved? I don’t want to wait for that.
But fortunately, I don’t have to go back to the Academy anymore. Thanks to that, I can also cut ties with Michelia.
…I feel relieved.
But this doesn’t solve all the problems.
Personally, I had hoped to be either entrusted to the temple as a cursed daughter or abandoned in the countryside, but that didn’t happen.
As things are, I may eventually be taken to a neighboring country under the pretext of medical treatment… It is also possible that the situation could become like in the dream.
(After all, the only option may be to become a commoner. Let’s pretend to be dead (ill). If I do that, the engagement will automatically be cancelled. In that sense, this environment is not particularly bad.)
There is no surveillance. Katie is the only one following me.
Stealing glances at the life of a commoner and… just working. I think I can do something if I use my skills.
I couldn’t help but smile as I saw a silver lining.
On that day, a woman who said she was hired from lunchtime came.
“Ara, how sweet, My Lady.”
Despite saying that cheerfully, the woman, who was probably twice my age, seemed to think I was the mistress of some noble.
While I was having lunch, Katie seems to have been dragged into her conversation and was being questioned endlessly.
“For now, I asked to have it changed, so please bear with me for a few days if you are asked anything.”
Katie placed a glass of water in front of me apologetically.
“Also, the content of the meal… I’m sorry it’s so humble…”
Katie seemed to be worried and said that.
But for me, the meal today was more delicious than the luxurious feast.
The brown bread was not as sweet as the usual white bread, and the soup with dried meat, not salad, but vegetables with boiled eggs, was the menu for today.
It was pretty folksy and I was a little nervous before I ate.
But I decided to become a commoner, so I tried to eat it with all my might… somehow, although I knew the taste was not so great, I felt it was very delicious.
It must be because I was able to leave that mansion.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine with this kind of meal all the time.”
When I replied, Katie had a stern expression and said “What?!”
In this way, the moving day ended, and I lay down on a simple bed without a canopy to catch my breath.
The walls are also simple white plaster walls.
The room may be about half the size of before.
Even so, I felt like I could sleep comfortably and stretch today.
I can’t help but think that it would have been impossible without the Block Skill.
“With this, I can live peacefully for a little while… Thank you, Oji-sama, for giving me the sweets. And thank you, Lars-sama, for making them.
Before falling asleep, I was thinking that I had to somehow send a letter to Lars-sama as a token of my appreciation.
It is highly likely that I will not be able to go to the Academy anymore.
If that is the case, I need to find another way to contact him… because I won’t be able to receive sweets otherwise.
