72. Rose Temeri’s Engagement

“My lady!”

“Miss Rose, you can’t! The lady and the Grand Duke are having an important conversation!”

“Sob, sob. Waaaaaah! What kind of conversation! Is it more important than my business?”

“I don’t really know what they’re talking about, but it must be important!”

“Never mind, my lady! Are you here? I’m here!”

The door burst open.

Rose stood there with her hair in two braids and puffy eyes. Apple stood beside her, awkwardly trying to stop her.

What did the maids say earlier?

〈Ah, Apple! Switch with me. It’s my break time, so you go in and rest. I’ll serve the lady and the Grand Duke.〉

〈What? Why? I don’t want to! I’m a diligent maid. I can’t leave Lady Anette’s side for even a moment.〉

〈You’re still not good enough to serve the Grand Duke and the lady. We can’t risk ruining an important moment.〉

I looked ahead. Darius was pressed unusually close to me.

Look at this, girls, see how excellent a maid Apple is. She appeared at precisely the right moment when things needed to be interrupted.

The two of us sticking together isn’t good for the emotional development of growing children.

Tap. I gently pushed Darius’s firm chest and escaped from his embrace.

Bang. Darius hit the desk once for no reason.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just feeling frustrated.”

“Well, it’s made of oak, so I suppose it doesn’t matter if you hit it. It’s quite sturdy.”

“Maybe I should infuse it with aura……”

“Your skill level seems to have improved without my noticing. Congratulations.”

“I feel like I could do it right now……”

If he could infuse aura into something other than a sword, then he would truly be a Sword Master. Currently, Darius is a Sword Expert, one step beyond Sword Aura.

“Waaaaaah, my lady. I couldn’t find you in your room, so I came all the way here! Your room and this place are at opposite ends!”

Teardrops gathered in Rose’s blue eyes. Her already large eyes looked even bigger.

“There, there, Rose. What’s the matter? Why are you crying, you’re a grown lady now.”

Come to think of it, no matter how immature Rose is, she’s not the type to burst into a room crying. What could have happened?

“Lucion is like that too, the Temeri family is just……”

While I was worriedly comforting Rose, Darius made a displeased expression.

“Your Highness, please eat your pudding. There’s still a lot left. Oh, Rose, would you like some too? Would it help you calm down?”

“I’m not sharing.”

“What?”

“She’s ruining my relaxation time.”

While Darius and I were bickering, Rose Temeri, who had stopped crying, blew her nose loudly. Then she cried out resentfully.

“My lady, my parents want me to get married! And all the way to the east at that!”

“What?”

“Ah.”

Our reactions were mismatched.

Whoosh, Rose inhaled sharply with a reddened face. She looked like she had expected this.

“So my brother knew about this, right? But he didn’t tell me anything. You were all in on it!”

Rose, who had pointed an accusing finger at Darius, clung to me again.

“Waaaaaah, I have no one but you, my lady! You’re on my side, aren’t you? You won’t send me to the east, will you? My mom and dad aren’t even my real mom and dad! How could they do this?”

Darius, who had put his hand to his forehead, simply chose to leave.

Just before closing the door and leaving, Darius waved a spoon. When did he pick that up?

“Anette, no matter how much Rose cries, don’t give her any pudding. It’s all mine.”

“I don’t want your stupid pudding!”

Darius mocked Rose.

“See? She called it ‘stupid pudding.’ Not even knowing how much care you put into making it. Not understanding the preciousness of pudding made by Anette. Don’t give her even a bite.”

I hoped Darius would hurry and leave before Rose grabbed a pudding in anger and threw it.

Where has my peace gone?

Rose, who didn’t care about my headache, clung to my waist and sobbed loudly as soon as Darius left.

“Waaaaaah, my lady. I really hate this! I hate it! A fiancé, it’s absurd! I’m so young! I’m supposed to live with you forever!”

‘No matter how young you are, the picture of you living with me forever seems a bit strange.’

“My lady, my laaaady, I hate this. Please tell my parents to cancel my engagement.”

Our cute fifteen-year-old, no, she’ll be sixteen after winter passes. Anyway, the snooty Rose Temeri of Inkheart Castle had apparently just heard from her parents that her engagement had been decided.

And upon hearing this news, Rose Temeri immediately denied reality and ran to me to stage this protest.

“It’s the east! Is the east even a place where people live?”

What do you mean, is it a place where people live? That’s what eastern people usually say when they criticize the north. Is the north, with nothing but snow and mountains, a place where people live?

Though not as abundant as the southern region, compared to the north, the east is mild throughout the four seasons and a good place to live…… but saying this would be useless to Rose right now.

In fact, I could guess the intention behind Rose Temeri’s engagement.

〈Rose is too immature. I’ve been thinking about this since she ran off to the Ash Tree Forest alone without any fear. I think I’d feel more at ease if we arranged an engagement for her.〉

〈What? Already?〉

〈As it happens, there’s a decent heir from an eastern count’s family who’s the same age as Rose.〉

Yes, because her crying, throwing tantrums, and rolling on the floor whenever she felt like it made her seem unreliable, her parents had apparently decided to give Rose a fiancé.

“Getting married doesn’t necessarily make you mature.”

Not to mention it’s just an engagement. It only serves to add to the parents’ repertoire of nagging: ‘You have a fiancé and will be married soon, yet you still can’t behave properly!’

Sniff, sniff. I gently wiped Rose’s reddened nose with a handkerchief.

Puff, puff. Bubbles of mucus formed in Rose’s nostrils. Embarrassed about blowing her nose like a flute, Rose quickly rubbed it with her sleeve.

“Yes, who would want to have such a cute little girl engaged to someone? Whoever it is, they must be a very bad person.”

“I’m not a little girl, that’s not right. I’m a lady. A very fine one.”

“By the way, I heard the person you’re engaged to is the same age as you. The heir to an eastern count’s family. Since you’re similar in age, wouldn’t you get along well?”

“I hate it. I’m not interested. No matter what anyone says, I absolutely won’t get married.”

“Even if you’re engaged, you won’t get married right away. Several more years will pass.”

“But eventually I’ll have to go to the east! I hate being anywhere but by your side, my lady.”

Rose clenched her fist resolutely and shouted.

I wanted to ask, so you’d be fine if I went to the east with you? But I was afraid she might actually light up at that idea, so I stopped myself.

She’s that kind of child.

‘Hmm, Rose Temeri’s engagement. I never heard about this in the original story?’

There was a reason I paid attention to the tomboy Rose Temeri when I first came to Inkheart Castle.

For me, who didn’t know exactly when the female protagonist Evangeline and Darius would meet in the original story, Rose was a milestone to mark the timeline.

So, when I first came to this castle and met Rose……

〈Don’t dare to misunderstand that the Grand Duke personally brought you to this castle! The Pochet family is the enemy of the north, so you, as a daughter of that family, are the same!〉

〈That’s all I have to say. Don’t shamelessly show your face, just live quietly like a dead mouse!〉

It’s amazing how that sharp-tongued child has become like this now. The world is truly unpredictable.

Anyway, those harsh words were originally what the female protagonist heard from Rose.

‘Don’t misunderstand just because my brother Darius is being a little nice to you.’

‘Do you think a commoner virgin like you would suit the Grand Duke of the North?’

‘A woman abandoned even by the temple!’

These were the thorny words Rose had thrown at the mysterious woman who appeared in Inkheart Castle just before Darius and Evangeline began their romance.

Currently, Rose is fifteen, five years younger than twenty-year-old Darius.

Of course, Rose has been staking her claim on Darius since she met me, baring her claws at me. But if there’s a difference between the original story and now, it’s that Rose was older when she confronted Evangeline.

A young child might like a handsome older brother. This wasn’t just something everyone joked about, but she was actually one of the candidates seriously considered as Darius’s new bride. The Rose Temeri of the original story.

That’s why I was secretly relieved when I first confirmed that Rose Temeri was fifteen.

‘If this little lady is seriously considered as a bride candidate for Darius, she must be at least 17 or 18?’

Of course, 17 or 18 is just the minimum age required for marriage talks to begin.

To avoid cursing, she should be at least 20.

So I thought, ‘Ah, there’s probably about two to three years until Evangeline appears. During that time, I’ll develop the territory well, make a lot of money, and then divorce.’

‘At least in the original story, Rose Temeri didn’t have a fiancé of her own, which is why she lashed out at Evangeline like that.’

If the same thing had happened in the original story…… was it canceled because Rose strongly objected?

‘No. This engagement itself is happening because Rose, who became impatient because of me, has been causing trouble here and there, making the Temeri family think something needs to be done.’

Then, is this event something that was in the original story or not? My course of action would be determined by the original story, but not knowing made me confused.