CH 3

Since dancing non-stop throughout the ball wasn’t enough, he must have gone around with the marquis’s daughter and shared some ridiculous ‘reading appreciation.’ She’ll find a suitable husband for her immature behaviour, but not you. Don’t you know that simple truth?”

There was no mistaking Mrs Heaton’s nervousness.

Natalie was a noblewoman, but her dowry was woefully inadequate, and Emily, though her dowry was generous, was not technically a noblewoman but a lady of the gentry.

Neither was the beauty of the century, so in a word, it was ambiguous.

“As for gossiping among ladies, that is reserved for your unseemly book clubs.”

Mrs Heaton was at first quite pleased that Emily and Natalie were making the acquaintance of a wealthy marquise. She had no idea that the three of them would hang around and read in a corner.

Their friendship is based on book clubs. Mrs Heaton, a bookworm herself, was not privy to the kinds of books they read, but she knew they read poetry and plays and shared their impressions.

“I can’t bear the disgrace of my daughter remaining an unmarried, old woman. Of course, the same thing coils be said by my sister, the Baroness.”

Natalie quickly nodded her head at the mention of her mother. But the expression on Mrs. Heaton’s face as she looked at Natalie was not pleasing.

After a long sigh, Mrs Heaton spoke again.

“I see that you have not yet come to your senses, so there is nothing I can do about it. As your guardian, I can only give you a cold dose of reality.”

“Oh, mother….”

“Emily, you must bear in mind that if you do not marry this time, you must marry a gentleman thirty years older than you next season.”

“What? Mother, how….”

“It will be better than being an old virgin living on your eldest brother. And you, Natalie….”

Emily protested strongly, but Mrs Heaton cut her short.

“The sponsorship is only for this season, my dear, and I’m sure you didn’t expect to be indebted to Heaton Park next year.”

It had come to this, Natalie thought.

“There will be no next year for you.”

Mrs Heaton’s stern announcement set off alarm bells in Natalie’s head, which had been secretly turning away from reality.

Natalie knew that this was her last chance, as an unmarried young lady’s third social season usually meant her last chance to find a husband. But she also knew, and now admitted, that for a woman of this age, marriage was a serious business.

“So whether it was pie or pudding1used to express that the outcome of a situation does not matter as much as the fact that a decision or action must be taken., I knew I had to get married this year.’

And yet it was still something that seemed so far away, like it wasn’t her business.

Natalie finally parted her lips.

“…I see. I understand, Auntie.”

“Get your act together from now on. I know I always say this, but you two should follow Bianca’s example of succeeding in marriage during her first season. That girl became a countess at suvh a young age.”

Bianca Dowse. No, she’s now Countess Rutherford. Natalie’s younger sister by one year, was different in everything except for a slight resemblance to Natalie in her appearance.

She was a very down-to-earth young lady, the polar opposite of her daydreaming sister. The same year she made her debut in society, she outdid her playful sister in marrying, and had just given birth to a son.

Although there was a fifteen-year age difference between her and her husband, Lord Rutherford, it was not such a surprising age difference in today’s world.

After all, the Rutherfords were a prestigious family of judges. As the second daughter of a baronet with little possessions, she had nothing to lose.

“I hope you both become a role model for the ladies.”

With those words, Mrs Heaton elegantly opened the newspaper.

Natalie stared blankly down at the bowl of soup that had been sitting in front of her for some time now. Emily’s protesting voice in the background.

‘A paragon of ladyhood. A perfect bride. Marriage….’

There was nowhere to run. Marriage was no longer a matter that could be put off.

‘Now I really have to get married.’

My stomach rumbled, whether from the reality of the situation or my hangover.

Due to the approaching reality or perhaps because of a hangover, her stomach churned.

“Oh my! Duchess Eris of the Duchy of Hainsnover got divorced. What on earth did she do?”

Whether or not she was speaking to anyone, Mrs Heaton was already talking about something else. There was a strange delight in her voice as she relished the misfortune of others.

Emily, who had been complaining, quickly became interested in the sensational news with a careless thought that her mother might marry her off to an old man.

“That countess was the beautiful woman famous before marriage, wasn’t she? How did she end up getting a divorce?”

“Well, who knows. She wasn’t really a lady, was she? Anyway, with a divorce, she can never restore her honour.”

Mrs Heaton’s reaction was not unusual.

The conservative church of Grand Batten led the way in maintaining a wholesome and moral society, preaching that its followers must be faithful to their families.

In a world where being born and dying in the church was commonplace, the influence of the church was powerful, and as a result, divorce became a shameful act, especially among the nobility who were deeply entwined with religion. Divorce was seen as equivalent to breaking one’s vows to God at the wedding ceremony, and therefore, it could be considered a violation of doctrine.

“So you see, Emily. It doesn’t end when you get married, you must always maintain your dignity….”

Another of Mrs Heaton’s tedious lectures followed.

Of course, nothing had come to Natalie’s ears since earlier. Instead, she remembered what her mother had said with a sigh in her long defiance to abandon her ladyly duties.

“Living like everyone else is the happiest thing. If you try to live differently from others, you’ll become unhappy. Be ordinary, Natalie. Everyone puts up with it. Please give up that rebellious phase…”

At the time, Natalie had many questions about society and snickered at her mother’s teachings.

However, she didn’t have the courage to leave this society. While special actions might be necessary to change the world, Natalie didn’t feel any particular sense of duty.

‘…Ah, I feel sick.’

The questions remained. However, there was no better alternative then or now. Hers was still a life that didn’t belong anywhere.

Natalie felt like throwing up all over herself right now.

***

It was a week-long journey by boat from Grand Batten to a small island nation called Roland, where the commanders of the ‘King William’s Fleet’ were staying at a hotel.

Thump, thump, thump.

A regular sound of knocking on the wall could be heard in the hallway where one of the high-ranking commanders was staying. Occasionally, there were also sounds of high-pitched moans.

“Ah-ah!”

The varied moaning sounds added to the atmosphere.

The guard on duty in the cabin corridor narrowed his eyes. As if to tease him, a muffled moan escaped this time.

If he could, he would have kicked in the door of the cabin he suspected to be the source of all the noise, but the owner was no match for a common soldier.

He was a lieutenant, after all.

“Lieutenant Roger Heaton.”

At this point, a soldier of the last rank appeared and bravely knocked on the door of Lieutenant Roger Heaton’s cabin.

As expected, foul language that couldn’t be heard or seen anywhere else came back.

“But, the Major wants to see you.”

When the soldier stood bravely at the door and shouted, an unintelligible scream was heard this time. Only the last word was in a recognizable language.

“Three minutes. Just wait for three minutes!”

It seemed like a special situation where they couldn’t come out right away.

The soldier scratched the back of his head with a puzzled expression, then ignored Roger’s orders and disappeared somewhere in a hurry.

At this point, Roger pretended he didn’t see or hear him, thinking he was just another vase decorating the hallway. But he couldn’t keep his mind off it.

The Major was looking for the lieutenant. There was only one major on the King William ship.

That person.

“…It seems like more than three minutes have passed.”

Not long after, the officer on duty suddenly felt anxious and lifted his eyelids.

And then there was a pause. At the end of the corridor, there was a tall figure that hadn’t been there before.

‘No, is that a person?’

He suddenly had that thought. Because it was too beautiful to simply call them a person…

Oh my goodness. That person is…

“Major…!”

The officer’s mouth dropped open. His mind was so white that he’d forgotten he was supposed to salute first.

Thump, thump, thump.

“Aang.”

All the while, the horrible noise echoed through the corridor.

In the midst of the overwhelmed officer on duty, a tall man, the Major, leaned against the wall of the corridor in a nonchalant pose, which surprised him. He then stared blankly at the soldier who was gazing at his face with awe, with a poker face as if he was watching him do something stupid until when.

Just before the duty officer could work up the courage to say something, the Major smiled slyly. It seemed as if he was reassuring him that there was no need for more than one reaction.

When the beautiful lips of the Major drew a gentle curve, even the offer on duty’s face, which had been so tense and stiff, relaxed for a moment. Although he was not a lover of men, any human being would have had the same reaction.

The lieutenant kindly informed the duty officer of what he should do next.

The soft, gentle voice that coaxed him made shivers run down the back of the officer on duty’s spine. At the same time, he could barely recall his duty as a soldier upon hearing the word ‘salute.’

“Yes, sir!”

His clumsy response was followed by a sloppy salute that was fitting for such a foolish answer.

The Major didn’t point out his mistake. Instead, he walked down the corridor at a leisurely pace. He halted in front of Roger’s cabin, where a thump, thump, thump was coming from.

“Open it.”

The Major turned to the officer, who was staring at him dumbfoundedly. Although his face was kind, his tone was not.

“Yes!”

The guard lurched forward, grabbed the cabin door knob, and yanked it open.

Click, click. The sound of the door knob turning echoed through the hallway.

The Major’s smile deepened.

“…You think that’s going to open a locked door?”

“Ah….”

The enlightened officer spat out an exclamation.

“Tell them I’m here.”

The Major whispered patiently.

The guard swallowed hard in secret.

The fact that a superior officer personally knocked on a subordinate’s door was certainly not an ordinary occurrence. And when their eyes met, the angelic man with a habit of slightly raising his eyebrow was not just any officer.

He was Prince Ian of Grand Batten.