Chapter 6.1

The Newly-Wed Huntswoman Life (1)

After officially getting married to each other, Cermiane and I started our newly-wed life at the mansion Cermiane’s mother had left for us.

Our home was located on one of the street corners in the region where lower-ranking nobles lived, and was around the typical size of a lower-ranked nobleman’s mansion. It was a pretty cute mansion, with its faded pink walls and brown roof — a very feminine taste. The garden was spacious and was pretty well-maintained. However, it appeared to be too much for a single butler to maintain, so with a little more manpower, it would be in even better shape. As a gardener’s daughter, I was itching to get started.

The butler and maid were an elderly couple who were both over fifty years old and had been serving Cermiane’s mother for a long time. Even after her passing, they still protected this mansion and maintained it so Cermiane could use it when he got married. Thus, they were overjoyed about Cermiane’s marriage and welcomed me with open arms. The butler was Jamal. The maid’s name was Quemella.

Anyway, even though we just got married and were in our “honeymoon phase,” there was an unavoidable problem we were facing: Money…. Or lack, thereof.

“What shall we do…”

Cermiane looked at the ledger and let out a sigh. I saw it too, and indeed, the financial situation of the Emilians was not looking too good.

The cause was straightforward: overspending. He had used too much for our wedding.

In order to marry me, Cermiane had been straining himself quite a bit. First, the gifts for when he went to the Caliente residence to ask for my hand in marriage. Since he was going to a marquisate, inexpensive gifts like flowers and pastries were out of the question. And this wasn’t just a one-off, but every day.

He also needed quite a bit of money to go out to meet me in the Caliente territory. In addition to provisions and lodging fees, the tolls he needed to pay at the various territorial boundaries were nontrivial as well. And make that double, to include the way back as well. The reason why we camped on the way back wasn’t just to suit my preferences, but also to save on lodging fees.

And now the wedding. It was customary for the groom to pay for all the fees and costs associated with the wedding. That was why our wedding was planned at the scale of a typical knight’s wedding, but even so, it was still prepared to be at a level such that it would still meet the bare minimum standards for having a marquis attend the wedding. The marriage officiant was the Vice-Head Priest, too.

Now, the banquet. It was customary for the bride’s family to host the banquet, but the groom was responsible for the decorations and flowers. Since this had to match the prestige of a marquisate, once again, he couldn’t cut expenses on them.

Lastly, preparing for our new home. We were fortunate that Jamal and Quemella were living there and maintaining the place, but preparing my room for my move-in was apparently costly. I graciously received the shelves, dressers, and other furniture Cermiane’s mother used, but we had to order chairs and tables, and the curtains and carpets were new, too. Finally, he bought that spacious bed for our bedroom and ordered blankets and bedsheets for them as well.

Like that, all these fees and costs struck quite a blow to Cermiane — a young knight —’s wallet.

Cermiane’s mother had left him a nontrivial inheritance and he saved up his salary and bonuses from his knight duties, but all the marriage-related costs made him use up a major portion of these savings. Now, we’ll need to pay for our living costs instead of just himself, the maintenance fees of our home, and also pay Jamal and Quemella’s wages too. A knight’s salary was simply not enough to cover all these expenses.

I had brought my savings from the territory as well as my dowry, so we won’t immediately be in a really tight situation. But since we have more money going out than coming in, it was just a matter of time.

Jamal and Quemella said they didn’t need money, but not paying them was out of the question. Laying them off was also out of the question, especially when they had been protecting this mansion for decades. Thus, even if others might consider it as being opulent, we continued to hire them.

Cermiane troubled himself over our dire financial situation, but he simply said, “Well, I just have to work hard, rise up the ranks, and earn more money.” True, that was the conclusion most people would come up with. I believed in him and his fighting prowess to the extent that every time there was a war, I was confident he’d make a name for himself in each, but that wasn’t the problem here. I said,

“It’s simple.”

Cermiane widened his eyes.

“What is?”

“If there’s no money, just gotta make some.”

“Who?”

“Me.”

Yes. Why did Cermiane not include my earnings in our family finances? The husband not earning enough by himself was a normal occurrence in commoner households. It was expected for the married couple to both work hard and contribute to the family finances.

If Cermiane wasn’t earning enough, I just needed to earn money too. I have many skills that would let me make some money. And if we wanted to earn money quickly, then, well, there was only one option.

As I had predicted, not a single thought of me helping out with the finances ran through Cermiane’s mind. So he goggled in astonishment, but I quickly made up my mind, and the next day, I went to the huntsman guild and the fur-trading guild to buy my permits.