The Elder Sister Who Ran Away After Being Cheated by Her Fiancé and Younger Sister - Chapter 23:

Valken dragged Fretes down from the carriage, quickly boarded it himself, and left with a smile.

Estelle and Fretes, left behind, glanced at each other somewhat awkwardly.

“Um?”

“I have something to discuss with you, Miss Estelle.”

“Ah, yes.”

It was awkward. They both felt somewhat embarrassed.

But standing outside wouldn’t accomplish anything.

Estelle tried to guide him to her room, but Fretes firmly declined, so she asked the elderly dorm supervisor for the small guest room that her mother had used during her previous visit.

Estelle fetched the basket of wine and cups that Valken had brought from her room. They didn’t have anything fancy like proper wine glasses, so they had to make do. She also gave a bottle to the dorm supervisor as a gift before returning to the small room.

◇

“This is wine chosen by Valken, isn’t it?”

Fretes poured the wine. He poured it carefully into the cup as if he were a sommelier, which made her chuckle a bit. He was clearly doing it on purpose. He was good at these little performances.

“You can tell?” It’s ready to drink immediately after uncorking, has a gorgeous aroma, a light mouthfeel, and goes down easily. That’s Valken’s preference. He’s not too particular about taste.”

“I see. And what about your preference, Mr. Fretes?”

“I… ah, here it is. This one.”

Fretes pulled another bottle from the basket. It was a white wine.

He showed Estelle the label.

Written on it in Hollander language was “Fretes.”

“Eh?!”

“My family name comes from this. Pretty tacky, right?! Named after a favorite wine.”

Well, my mother did buy the winery for me.

Saying this, Fretes put the “Fretes” bottle back into the basket.

“It’s cloyingly sweet, so it’s best enjoyed as a dessert wine. It’s produced in small quantities at a rural winery, so hardly anyone notices it.”

Indeed. She’d never heard of it before.

“Ah, about family names…”

“Didn’t Valken tell you? I thought it was about time he would have.”

“Yes, he did.”

Being surrounded by people who were quick-witted, perceptive, and well-prepared like this was exactly why she couldn’t feel fully confident.

Estelle mentally blamed them for her own insecurity.

When she recounted what Valken had told her, Fretes nodded.

“That’s pretty much how it is. We do have familial connections, of a sort. We don’t inherit the family name, but we’re given something similar to a title. My ‘de’ and Valken’s ‘van’ are examples. Our given names indicate which family line we belong to.”

From how Valken had described it, she thought that once the inheritance was settled, all the children of that generation were kicked out without question. But apparently, they just change their names and lose their rights as heirs, while sometimes remaining with the family as stewards or knights.

“Most young ladies marry into other noble families. If they marry commoners, they lose their noble status. They’re also free to become independent like Valken, though they’d need to support themselves.”

“Commoners” referred to ordinary citizens in Hanzelka.

“As for the sons… well, most join the military. Occasionally, an heir might marry into a family that only has daughters. They might rise through the knight orders, marry a strong young lady from a powerful family, and build up their own new household. There’s also the option of marrying into a major commoner merchant house. In that case, like the young ladies, they lose their noble status.”

“I see…”

Estelle took a sip of wine and listened with interest.

If she was going to make her way in the royal capital, where there were far more nobles than in the provincial capital, it would be useful to understand the noble system, even if it was a neighboring country.

—Valken and Fretes must have anticipated this and were explaining it to her.

“By the way, Miss Estelle, I heard you’re hesitating about transferring to the royal capital.”

“Eh?”

Where did that information come from?

It was true that when Kautny mentioned it, Estelle hadn’t given an immediate answer, and she still hadn’t made the offer official.

She had indeed been hesitating. Until yesterday.

But after consulting with Valken, Estelle had been fully set on going to the royal capital since this morning.

Still, she was genuinely concerned about her family’s situation and wanted to know the outcome before leaving.

—Even after going to the royal capital, I can just request an investigation.

The initial service fee for Meinel’s Detective Agency had been very kind to her wallet, and even if it doubled or tripled, it would still be manageable within her budget. She considered it a necessary expense for peace of mind.

“Is it about your family, then?”

When Fretes asked that, it was spot on, so she nodded.

She was about to mention the educational guidance she’d given Patrick recently, but Fretes spoke first.

“Regarding that, I came to propose a new option. A method that can resolve things peacefully and completely.”

“And that would be… what kind of method?”

As Fretes began his presentation with his handsome face full of confidence, she thought, Wow, he’s captivating, and her genuine anticipation grew.

If Fretes went to the trouble of bringing it up, it must be a clever idea that Estelle hadn’t even considered.

“Miss Estelle should get married. If you marry into another family, you can no longer inherit the Heinny family. The Heinny family and everyone at Heinny & Co. will surely accept that reality, and you, Miss Estelle, will be free from further bother!”

Estelle looked at Fretes with a face like a prairie fox.

—Mr. Fretes, do you know? You can’t get married by yourself.

She almost let a sarcastic remark slip out but stopped herself at the last moment and asked in a flat voice.

“And where are we supposed to procure this ‘other family’ from?”

“Right here!”

Faced with Fretes’s confident declaration, Estelle instinctively looked around.

Where?

“Where?”

“Right here.”

“The table?”

“You can’t marry furniture. How about becoming Estelle des Fretes?”

Silence fell.

For a moment, Estelle carefully processed Fretes’s words in her mind.

Then she asked.

“Why ‘des’?”

“That’s what you focus on?! The formal partner title for ‘de’ is ‘des’.”

Estelle des Fretes.

Estelle processed it one more time and said.

“It’s hard to say.”

As if she’d said something terribly cruel, Fretes placed a hand over his heart, lowered the corners of his eyebrows, and leaned back slightly.

Ah, he’s cute.

Estelle, her brain having temporarily shut down from the excessive shock, thought such a thing.