I Got My Engagement Annulled… Even Though We Were Never Engaged - Chapter 4

It takes three days by carriage to travel from the royal capital to the Cambrelive earldom, but using a teleportation magic circle makes it instant.

Although using a teleportation magic circle costs one silver coin, considering the expenses of rocking in a carriage and staying at inns. It’s exceptionally cheap, so many people use it for long-distance travel.

There are three locations in the royal capital where teleportation magic circles are installed, and prior application is required to use them.

The earliest available slot after submitting my application was four days later, so I reserved that day and was packing my light luggage accordingly.

During this time, the Marquisate of Levesius contacted me and delivered one hundred gold coins as compensation for damaging my reputation. It was quite a substantial sum. Moreover, they even promised that if anything happened because of this rumor, the Marquisate of Levesius would help me, so I thought they handled it with considerable sincerity.

According to rumors, Lord Fevan also seems to have successfully dissolved his engagement with his proper fiancée, Lady Adrienne Canteloupe.

Although it was a lie, probably because Lord Fevan said things like “I like men,” Adrienne panicked, fearing her own lie would be exposed. I heard she made an offer from her side to “pretend this never happened.”

According to information my elder sister obtained from her friends, Adrienne had apparently fallen in love with Lord Fevan at first sight and schemed to somehow secure the position of his wife.

She was originally a woman with many loves and had numerous other lovers, but after falling for Lord Fevan, she focused solely on him. Just as she was trying to win him over, his study abroad was decided. Panicked, Adrienne told the lie that they were lovers, or so the story goes.

Since noble marriages are mostly political alliances seeking connections between houses, she apparently calculated that if she could push it to an engagement, Lord Fevan would give up. I think it was a rather forceful and sloppy plan.

The reason her plan worked even that much was solely because Marquis Levesius is an honest person. While his sense of justice, judging that if he laid a hand on the young lady, he should take responsibility as a man was admirable, I can’t help but think that if he had verified the facts with Lord Fevan beforehand, such a commotion could have been avoided.

“Allie, is this enough for the luggage?” “Have you prepared souvenirs for the master and mistress?” “…Ah, I forgot.”

If I returned empty-handed, Father and Mother would surely sulk.

…For Mother, some delicious sweets from the royal capital? For Father, perhaps some alcohol? Ah, but the doctor has ordered him to abstain from drinking.

After all, the reason Father fell ill was due to excessive drinking.

Although Father has always had a high tolerance for alcohol, not getting drunk isn’t a reason to overindulge. As a result, his internal organs were damaged, and he was ordered to take it easy for a while. It’s his own fault.

Father is a magic potion researcher, and lately, as his health has begun improving slightly, he seems to be researching medicine for himself. I expect he’ll eventually recover his vitality with a medicine he develops, but as his daughter, I wish he’d reflect a bit more.

…So, no alcohol for souvenirs. Like for Mother, I’ll go with sweets.

The royal capital gathers delicious alcohol from various regions. Whenever Father came to the royal capital, he happily bought alcohol everywhere, but I’ll make him endure for a while longer.

“Departure is scheduled for tomorrow, so shall we go buy sweets now?”

With Allie’s help, I changed into a navy-blue dress for going out, tied my strongly orange-tinged blond hair into a single bunch, put on a hat, and firmly adjusted my non-prescription glasses. I don’t wear makeup. Both Allie and my elder sister complain, “A girl your age…”, but a plain woman like me wouldn’t change much even with makeup.

My elder sister often says, “Are you seriously planning to find a marriage partner?”, but if I put on makeup, disguised myself, and still got no attention, wouldn’t I be unable to recover? I want to keep some excuses for myself.

It’s not like I’m going to say something dreamy like, “Someday, a man who sees my inner self, not my appearance, will appear.”

Most men are attracted to women with nice bodies and beauty. I know how many men’s eyes turn toward my elder sister’s prominently emphasized chest, so I no longer dream about men.

…I wonder what faces they’d make if I told them, “That chest is padded and pushed up, you know.”

I’m too scared of my elder sister to ever expose that, though.

In short, that’s just how the world is.

So, if I wore makeup and still got no attention, any hope or anything else would be gone for me. To protect my own heart, I want to keep reasons like, “It’s because of my plain face that I get no attention.”

When I said something like that to Allie, she said with a straight face, “Are you stupid?” But it’s fine if I’m stupid.

My elder sister is on a date with Mariotte today, so I just need to tell Robinson my destination before leaving.

It seemed Allie would accompany me, so as we headed to the entrance to have a carriage prepared, that’s when it happened.

I saw the gate beyond the garden open, and a carriage enter the grounds.

Squinting at the unfamiliar carriage, I blinked when I saw the Levesius marquisate’s crest painted on its side.