If You Cheat, Just Don’t Tell Me - Chapter 14

“…I need to tell you.”

To put it bluntly without embellishment, a financial merchant house is essentially a moneylender. In other words, the Fidel family is the biggest moneylender in this country.

That said, Lucius, being the son of that family, isn’t actually lending money himself. He might enter a training period to take over the family business after graduating from this school, but that’s still far in the future. Right now, he’s just an ordinary student.

…Well, I don’t know what business he could possibly have with Freya. Could the Spirits family be in debt? It might not be impossible, but honestly, I can’t imagine it.

And even if that were the case, it would be a matter between the Spirits and Fidel families, not between Freya and Lucius.

…What the hell is this, really?

If this were the old me, I wouldn’t have even paid attention to something like this. I wouldn’t have cared what happened to Freya or what was going on with her family.

But now, just the fact that Freya was summoned by Lucius makes my chest feel unsettled, and I end up thinking about unnecessary things like this.

People change, they say, and I suppose that’s true. I’m not sure if this is a good change or not.

As she’d told me with her lips, Freya returned fairly quickly. She looked somewhat tired, but it didn’t seem like anything had been done to her or that she was feeling unwell.

Since she returned right when break was ending, Freya and I entered class without exchanging any words.

Then after school, Freya and I were alone in the classroom as usual. Lately, whether the class was reading the atmosphere or not, everyone quickly disappeared from the classroom once the day’s lessons were over.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

The first thing Freya said when we were alone in the classroom was an apology, for some reason. She was making an apologetic face that didn’t suit her.

“I was talking with you, but I went off with another man when he called me.”

“You had some business, right? Don’t worry about something unavoidable. I don’t mind at all.”

“Even so… it wasn’t proper behavior in front of my fiancé.”

Well, looking at the action alone, that might be true, but if there were circumstances, that’s different. I have absolutely no intention of restricting Freya that much. I don’t know about other noble men in the world.

“So, what was it about in the end?”

“…That is…”

Freya hesitated. Well, given the timing and Freya’s recent behavior, it’s probably about her family. Earlier I’d thought about various things to convince myself, but thinking calmly, he probably called her to pass along a message from the Fidel family to the Spirits family through Freya via Lucius. Something like that.

Putting aside thoughts like why Freya and Lucius had to do it, or that they shouldn’t be doing it at school.

“Is it about your family?”

“……”

Well, same as before. Even though we’re engaged, I’m still an outsider to the Spirits family. Not only is there no need to tell me about family matters, but even if I had no such intention, there’s the possibility that the Spirits family’s internal affairs could leak out through me. She can’t just casually tell me the circumstances.

…That’s what I thought, but.

“…I need to tell you.”

“…Is that okay?”

In response to my question, Freya shook her head.

“It’s not okay. It’s not okay, but I want you to hear it.”

“…If it’ll make you feel better, then tell me. Don’t worry, I may not look it, but I can keep my mouth shut.”

“Hehe… That’s right. You are my fiancé, after all.”

Then Freya looked around furtively, checking that no one else was there besides us. Then she told me the circumstances in a voice quieter than usual.

“Well, you see—”

The circumstances Freya told me about were simple but difficult.

Although it hasn’t been made public, it seems a branch family close to the Spirits family started a business that failed and incurred massive debt. If things continued as they were, the branch family would collapse, and if word got out that a business failed with massive debt and collapsed, it would damage the honor of the main Spirits family too.

So, the Spirits family secretly took over the branch family’s debt. But even the Spirits family couldn’t immediately pay off the entire debt that was enough to collapse the branch family all at once, so they got a loan from the Fidel family.

The Fidel family apparently presented a condition in exchange for the loan.

“To introduce noble blood into the Fidel family.”

—In other words, the condition was marriage between Lucius, the eldest son of the Fidel family, and Freya.

But the Spirits family opposed this too. After all, Freya was already engaged to me. Canceling that would be difficult, or so they argued.

“Besides, I hated it too. He might appear polished on the surface, but you can see right through his fundamentally vulgar nature.”

But it was also true that without the loan, there was no other way. So, the Spirits family accepted the Fidel family’s condition while proposing a new one.

That was “if the debt can be repaid within the deadline, the marriage between Freya and Lucius will be canceled.”

“They think the Spirits family can’t possibly repay the debt. That’s why they accepted this condition. The Fidel family might be the top financial merchant house in the country, but they’re not nobles. They want Spirits family blood.”

“So, is there actually any prospect of repaying it?”

“That is…”

Freya fell silent at my question. From what I heard, the debt is a considerable amount. Even though the Spirits family has assets too, so it’s not like they need to prepare everything from zero, preparing the remaining amount must still be difficult.

…I don’t have that kind of money either. If I could provide it, I’d want to, but realistically, it’s impossible.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“…Right now, we’re making inquiries in various places. But since we don’t want this to become public knowledge, it’s not progressing at all.”

“…I see.”

That was all I could say. As just a student, I couldn’t lightly say that things would work out.

“I hate this…”

Freya’s voice trembled terribly as she whispered this.

“After we’ve finally gotten this close, to marry someone other than you.”

All I could do to help Freya calm down was hold her hand.