Chapter 9

The next day, after a good night's sleep, I woke up and started thinking about how to get the Marquess Margret to break off our engagement while getting ready in the morning.

“A way to tarnish my reputation… peacefully… as peacefully as possible… Is it impossible?”

No, it should still be fine.

It was just a little dance. Given the relationship between Father and the Marquess, I can say I was just being polite and invited him. They might think something happened, but…

The best way would be to pretend nothing happened on the surface and have the Marquess decline the proposal privately.

In that case, I should probably do something outrageous when he comes to visit.

“What could I do to make him dislike me? Break a vase? The compensation would be scary… If he’s wearing a wig, taking it off would make him furious and he might never want to deal with me again.”

“Miss, do you want to break off the engagement?”

I had been muttering to myself, and the servant girl, Iroha, who had been helping me get dressed and was now styling my hair, asked me.

I must have still been half-asleep. I had let my thoughts slip out carelessly.

“…I want to keep it a secret from Father.”

“Of course, Miss. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear anything. It’s nothing new, after all.”

Iroha, who is in her forties, has been working for us since before I can remember, so we have a close relationship.

“I was worried about you, Miss, when I heard you were going to marry an old man much older than you. I thought it was terrible that your father would do such a thing, even if the engagement didn’t work out or other prospects didn’t go well.”

Iroha said with a serious expression.

“But usually, your father wouldn’t go that far…”

“I know.”

Father, who can be easily deceived by my two older sisters’ lies, would normally wait until the end of the party season if he told me to find a husband, as I had expected. It’s unlike him to force the engagement like this.

“Did someone put the idea in his head…?”

“Perhaps he owes money to the Marquess?”

Iroha’s words made me blink.

“It’s not impossible, but a debt that would make him sell his daughter? He should have received the breach of contract fee from Felix.”

That’s why I thought our current finances weren’t that bad.

“I don’t know much about the management of the estate, Miss. But I think your father wouldn’t do something like this unless there was a pressing reason. Here, I’m done.”

Iroha had braided my side hair and decorated it with a small silver flower. It matched the deep purple dress I was wearing, even though it was just a house dress.

“Thank you, Iroha. …I guess I’ll have to check the estate’s finances or the amount of Father’s savings.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, Miss.”

Iroha smiled wryly. I tend to speak my thoughts in front of her.

With Iroha, I headed to breakfast and decided to ask Father some questions first.

“By the way, Father, did the Felix family pay the agreed breach of contract fee?”

“…It’s unusual for you to be concerned about money. A lady shouldn’t openly ask about the family’s finances…”

“It hasn’t been paid yet, has it? Did they say they can’t pay immediately?”

Trying to change the subject, I continued bluntly.

“No… They said they’ll pay it all at the end of this month.”

“That’s good to hear if it’s settled neatly.”

I backed off for a moment, took a bite of cheese, and drank some water. I spread a thin layer of jam on a roll and enjoyed its fluffy texture, finishing one.

“……”

Father, glancing at me from time to time, was eating his salad.

It seems Iroha’s prediction was spot on.

There must be a problem with the cash flow because the expected breach of contract fee hasn’t come in. If it didn’t involve me, Father wouldn’t be looking at me like this.

However, he won’t tell me anything more.

So, I decided to check the financial records as planned.

“Miss, if your father is struggling with finances at this moment, there’s probably an expense that’s not written in the books and he’s hiding it.”

After Father left, I examined the books with the butler, Gustav.

Father seems to have forgotten, but I learned how to read financial records from Gustav. When it became clear that my older sisters wouldn’t inherit the estate, I asked Father to let Gustav teach me the basics of reading financial records because I was worried about leaving everything to a husband from outside.

I didn’t intend to stop at the basics, and Gustav, who was feeling a bit uneasy about Felix, who was about to become my fiancé, thought it would be good if I could take over the management of the estate in case of an emergency.

With our interests aligned, I received proper training from Gustav to the point where I could manage the books properly.

That’s why, when I told Gustav that Father was trying to marry me off to the Marquess Margret due to debt, we decided to examine the books together.

But we found nothing.

Looking at the records, which showed almost the same amount of money as in previous years, and the asset value, which was slightly less than last year, I came to the same conclusion as Gustav.

“There’s nothing we can do if Father is falsifying the books…”

There must have been an expense he didn’t want even Gustav to know about.

“Did he lose a lot of money gambling?”

“That’s the most suspicious part.”

Gustav agreed with my guess.

At parties, men sometimes gather separately to play games, while women enjoy tea, sweets, and conversation.

I know they sometimes gamble, but since I haven’t seen it firsthand, I don’t know how much Father participates or how much he loses.

In the past, Father had falsified the books to cover a loss, which is why Gustav also suspects a debt.

“If he lost to the Marquess Margret and is trying to clear the debt by getting me engaged…”

The Marquess wouldn’t easily break off the engagement.

So… I’d have to do something really outrageous.