Chapter 2

"Actually, I wanted to go? If I became a countess, I could participate in more social activities too. But... you know, even if I look at the marriage proposal... no matter how I think about it, it just doesn’t match me. I think you would be a better fit."

Regarding this sister of mine, Casablanca, I can't help but feel bad inside.

Half of it is inferiority, and the other half is... anger towards her condescending attitude, which is purely directed at me.

My well-featured sister, with her straight blonde hair that she styles and ties up every day, is good at makeup and has a sense of dress. She is sociable and frequently attends evening parties and tea parties. She looks exactly like our mother, who married into our family from a large merchant household due to her beauty, to our father, who is a viscount.

Now, it is our mother who rules over our father.

And our father, Viscount Norton, works hard to manage the estate and serve the royal court to support the household and the estate due to the extravagance of our mother and sister. He doesn’t burden the people of the estate and pays the servants well. He is hardworking and capable, and decisively a good person.

As for me, the second daughter, I am a complete match for our father. I have wavy, light brown hair, and my features are gentle, neither beautiful nor unattractive, just average. My body is of medium build and height, with no particularly good or bad figure.

Unfortunately, my sister seems to have taken all the sociability from our mother’s womb. I prefer to stay at home, read books, write fan letters to authors, do embroidery, and generally enjoy activities that can be done indoors. I don’t spend as much money as our mother or sister, but I vaguely thought that one day my sister would marry into a higher noble family, and I would take a husband into this house.

However, a marriage proposal came from a count’s family, where the head of the royal guard has designated my sister. They want her to become engaged to their son, who is the next count and has been knighted.

The marriage proposal that arrived showed a clearly overweight child before he joined the royal guard. He wears fine clothing, but his eyes are small and the color is indistinguishable, buried in his flesh. His hair seems to be smooth, but marriage proposals are often exaggerated.

If this is what the proposal shows, it’s hard to know what he actually looks like in person. To put it bluntly, there’s a possibility that I could end up with a very ugly and overweight husband.

So, let’s go back to the beginning. My sister, at dinner, waited until the end of the meal and then, in front of our parents, opened the marriage proposal and said to me, "You would be a better fit, wouldn’t you?"

And at such times, my sister knows that our father and mother will be on her side.

"Right? Don’t you think, Mother and Father, that Mimosa, with her feminine hobbies, would be more suitable to support the knight?"

Poor father. By starting the conversation with Mother, she is playing on Mother’s pride in her own beauty and the beauty she has passed down to my sister. If Mother says, "Yes, that’s right," then Father has no room for argument.

"Yes... I think Casablanca has more suitable prospects. It’s not uncommon for a viscount to marry into a higher noble family, is it? Perhaps it would be better for Mimosa to take her place."

The ageless beauty of our mother dislikes me. She finds my reclusive, gloomy, and silent nature, especially during such times, unbearable. I dislike her too.

Father, at this point, has no choice but to raise the white flag. No one in the Norton family can go against the demands of Mother and Sister.

"W-well, that’s true. They are insisting on Casablanca, but... he has just returned from the royal guard and hasn’t participated much in social activities. He is also in poor health, so perhaps it would be better for his sister, Mimosa. I will try to respond that way."

Throughout this, my will has not been confirmed at all. At this point, there is no room for me to speak.

And so, it was decided that I, who was once a 12-year-old overweight boy and is now a knight and the next count, Sir Percival Chaltry, would marry.

If anyone knew, please tell me. ...No matter what I feel inside, how could I have the courage to speak up and decline this proposal?