CH 2

This young lady, if it were not for the fact that her cousin Emily was with her in her third year, would have been forced to give up being indebted to her aunt this time.

So she knew better than anyone that the truth was not what it seemed in the eyes of the servants, let alone Mrs Heaton, the mistress of the manor.

With a clear conscience, Natalie made her way slowly to the breakfast room, understanding the strangely cold stares.

It was the sunniest room on the ground floor of the mansion, sometimes doubling as a parlour, to which Mrs Heaton paid special attention.

In the middle of that small and pretty room full of flowers was a long rectangular table. And on top of that, was the usual.

‘Oh my, well.’

A young lady with dark wheat-colored hair, who had collapsed and was pressing her forehead, was lying there in the dark. Looking at that sight, it becomes even more understandable why the maids would shield their eyes upon seeing her.

Damn. Damn thing.

Natalie giggled and bade her dear cousin good morning.

“Emily, Good morning.”

“Good morning, Natalie.”

When Emily looked up briefly, she replied. Her hazel eyes, which had lost their luster, and her hoarse voice were not ladylike. Of course, the same could be said for Natalie.

“No, actually, it’s not good, I think I’m going to die.”

“We’re getting old. Next time, no matter how much fun we have, we’ll have to ride the carriage at midnight.”

Emily spat out the truth, and Natalie sat down, cracking jokes that Mrs Heaton would have hated to hear.

The servants blamed Natalie for the young lady’s excesses and delayed marriage, but the truth was that Natalie was being dragged around by Emily.

Not that she didn’t want to, of course. It was a thrill for the country bumpkin to follow around Emily, a so-called city girl who knew how to play.

They should enjoy this opportunity. Who knows, once they get married, which is still just a vague idea, they may not be able to have this kind of fun.

“I want only cold water and cold soup.”

At Natalie’s order, the maid replied, ‘Yes, Miss Dowse,’ and quickly left the breakfast room.

In the meantime, the butler appeared with a pile of letters. He put the letter that had come for Mrs Heaton, who had not yet come down, in front of her seat and distributed the letters to Emily and Natalie, one by one.

Most of the letters to the two young ladies were invitations to balls.

For some reason, Emily didn’t move when she saw the invitation. Maybe she had a really bad hangover, or maybe she just wasn’t interested in looking at them today.

However, Natalie was different. She had a letter she was waiting for every day.

At the same time, she had no expectations. She had been harboring expectations and getting disappointed for several months now. She started mechanically flipping through letters of various sizes with no particular expectations.

Before long, her hand stopped. Natalie’s eyes widened in surprise, and her voice broke out in excitement.

“Oh my god…. Oh my god, oh my god! Really?”

“…That surprised me. Did you get an invitation from the Duchess of Horace?”

Lady Horace’s ball was considered the grandest in Duan. Naturally, not just anyone could be invited. It was a ball that even the country bumpkin baronet and a lady of the gentry could only dream of.

“What’s the use of Duchess Horace’s invitation anyway?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, it’s amazing, more than anything else.”

When Natalie, who was usually so placid and dull, stammered in her excitement,the curious Emily, finally looked up.

“Uh… What was I going to say?”

Emily immediately regretted what she had said.

“It’s about Roger’s letter or something.”

“But it’s the first reply this year.”

Whether Emily was making a rotten face or not, Natalie’s hazel eyes sparkled with joy.

What Natalie had thrust in front of her was a ‘reply’ from her second brother, Roger Heaton, to her.

Emily didn’t like Roger. To be honest, she thought he was a very unlucky guy.

He was a hypocrite, full of vanity and self-righteousness. A vain hypocrite with an inflated ego not proportional to his own achievements.

He was the child who resembled Mrs. Heaton the most. Emily loved her mother, but she knew her character wasn’t that great.

Roger, the embodiment of hypocrisy and vanity with a severe case of Prince Charming Syndrome! Natalie has been in love with such a person for five years now. How pitiful.

Still, Emily held her tongue to protect Natalie’s first love. Instead, she coyly opened her mouth, hoping to get Natalie to change her mind.

“I don’t know why you’re waiting for only Roger’s reply as if something is missing in your life.”

“Well.”

Natalie replied absentmindedly, frantically reading the letter. No more breakfast with Emily was probably a good thing.

Natalie read through the letters hurriedly and responded haphazardly. She was no longer interested in having breakfast with Emily.

“You’re amazing for waiting for a reply that may or may not come after sending 10 messages! Even though he’s my brother, Roger won’t be a good husband or father.”

“Roger’s already a lieutenant in the navy. How busy can he be. He’ll only be able to write back when he’s at a mooring.”

“Ahem, he’s ‘only’ a lieutenant. Is he really that busy? Anyway, you’re too lenient on him when it comes to his work, our dear lady Dowse.”

“Emily, Roger said he’ll be back in Duan this winter as early as possible!”

“So what?”

“What?”

“You’ll have to leave again for Warfield when the season ends. I won’t be able to see you again this time either.”

Natalie was so excited about Roger’s return that she forgot what was really important.

She only stayed at her aunt’s house from spring, when the social season began, to the beginning of summer. Even if she pretends not to notice anything, it was really careless to stay here all year round.

“Oh… right. I won’t be able to see him.”

“You’re something else. You’ve only seen him once five years ago, and he only stayed in Dowse’s for a week. Yet you still like him all this time.”

Even though Emily’s eyes were a bit cloudy, her second older brother was a quite handsome city guy. Despite having only seen him once when she was around fifteen years old, and it had been five years since then, Natalie’s continued affection for her handsome cousin with blonde hair and blue eyes was still surprising to Emily.

“I don’t know either.”

Truth be told, Natalie really didn’t know either. The connection had been a habit she developed since Roger’s visit to the small town of Warfield.

Still, if she tried to remember, it must have began….

When you live in the boring countryside, the only entertainment is to eavesdrop on the gossip of the adults in the village centre. Among them, the ladies’ chatter about the beautiful ‘Grand Batten royal family’ caught Natalie’s attention.

The imaginative girl had a talent for daydreaming, and she began to fantasise about a prince with blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin.

Then she saw her brother Roger, a cousin four years her senior.

In the countryside, where young men were hard to come by, a girl’s first love and crush was likely to be her cousin’s brother from the city, even if he wasn’t very handsome.

Besides, Roger was wonderful.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. He was the epitome of the prince charming that the ladies gossiped about. Moreover, at the time, he was nineteen years old and attending the Royal Naval Academy, and wearing a navy blue cadet uniform!

Of course, Natalie knew that this feeling was closer to admiration than love, but since it had been with her for a long time, it was strong.

Feeling sorry for Natalie, whose fondness for Roger had become a habit, Emily put on a serious face and said.

Roger’s face is completely ruined when he came back last time. He’s not the Roger you knew. He’s climbed up the ranks and got caught up in the nightlife! His height hasn’t changed from the first and last time you saw him. He’s still short.”

Natalie was well aware of what soldiers did for fun in the base. But Roger was her first love, he was a perfect subject for her hobby of daydreaming. She retorted sourly.

“Can you not ruin my only source of pleasure?”

“Oh, my God, Natalie! You sound disappointed! And why does your pleasures not include going to balls and book clubs with me and Christina now?”

It was then that Emily forgot her hangover and leapt out of her seat to snap at Natalie.

“Raising your voice in the breakfast room. Emily, a lady never does that.”

Just then, Mrs Heaton entered the breakfast room.

She has come.

The two ladies at marriageable age, who couldn’t find a marriage partner yesterday, shut up as if they had made a promise.

Mrs. Heaton looked at the foolish young ladies who came home drunk last night with an unpleasant gaze. Her thin, tight-lipped appearance revealed her typical sternness.

To cut off the nagging as much as possible, the guilty ladies didn’t even breathe after giving her a good morning and a quick hello.

Without another word, Mrs Heaton began to examine the letters before her. Her hand, which was checking the sender in a lazy motion, finally stopped on one letter.

‘Oops. I should have hidden or burned that letter first….’

Natalie and Emily exchanged nervous glances and swallowed hard as they realised who the letter was from–a regret they would later share.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Heaton, who had read the letter rapidly, set it down slowly on the table. As if pressing down on the anger that had reached the top of her head, she gently touched her forehead and murmured lowly.

“Because I couldn’t be your chaperone for the third year in a row, I reluctantly entrusted it to Lady Maureen.”

Mrs. Heaton didn’t want to go through the embarrassment of introducing her daughter and niece three times, so this season she searched for a lady who could act as their protector and watchful eye. Lady Maureen, who lived in Duan all year round, was a well-connected vicountess of her own means.

“The rumor is that you never danced and just chatted with the other ladies, avoiding Lady Maureen’s gaze…”

“Mother, is that true…?”

“I just read this. Does that make sense?”

“…?”

Natalie thought of the petite lady who urged her to dance with the old man next to her, but she didn’t say it out loud, thinking it was a good thing anyway.

“Are you both sane? Should I remind you of the importance of this season? Emily, tell me with your own words why this season is important.”

“…If you don’t find a husband within the third season, we’ll be stamped as defective goods.”

Natalie’s expression slightly frowned at the phrase ‘defective.’ She thought that even if you substitute pig meat for the unmarried woman1an idiom that means to substitute something of lower quality or value for something that should be higher quality or more valuable., it still doesn’t make much sense. She even imagined the pathetic sight of herself trapped in a small pigsty.

“You remember it well. Natalie, you haven’t forgotten, have you?”

Mrs Heaton asked, looking back at her unexpectedly.

“Of course I haven’t forgotten, aunt.”

“Those kinds of kids ruined the first ball of the season.”

Natalie quickly scrubbed her face and put on a face to imitate a meek lady, but Mrs Heaton’s reaction was cold.