Chapter 4

A Clever, Perceptive Man Without Greed

“Oh my! My lady, look over there!”

Early in the morning, Isabella had just stepped out of her carriage and was about to enter Fairy Garden when her personal maid, Jeanne, called out to her, making her stop.

Isabella glanced back at the exclamation.

A small girl was standing with her face pressed against the shop window, peering inside.

She had pressed her face so close to the glass that her chubby cheeks were squished flat and stretched sideways.

Isabella’s gaze dropped.

Two bricks had been placed in a zigzag pattern beneath the child’s feet.

Apparently, she had found her own way of making up for her short height.

Even so, she was standing on tiptoe, gripping the window tightly with her small hands and dangling precariously.

Should I help her?

A wrinkle formed between Isabella’s delicate brows.

At the same time, Jeanne began anxiously shifting her feet.

“Oh my! I don’t know which noble family’s young lady she is, but she’s absolutely adorable!”

Indeed, the layers of white frills decorating the hem of the girl’s yellow dress were charming, as was the yellow ribbon neatly tying back her thickly wavy black hair.

Her clothes, her appearance, even the way she was being watched…

She really is cute.

Isabella, who had momentarily considered helping, dismissed the thought after seeing the girl’s luxurious appearance.

I shouldn’t meddle.

Fairy Garden was filled with aristocratic customers who came to enjoy its sweet candies and chocolates. A child like that surely hadn’t come alone, so there was no particular need for her to intervene.

Isabella glanced between the girl and the men who appeared to be her guards before turning away.

She had more important things to worry about than this.

Yesterday, less than a day after Viscount Tyrone’s visit, a bolt from the blue had struck late in the afternoon.

The gift he had prepared had presented Isabella with perhaps the worst obstacle she had ever faced.

She needed to meet Shannon as soon as possible and figure out a way out of this mess.

“Oh? My lady! Wait for me!”

Jeanne took one last look at the black-haired girl before hurrying after Isabella.

But then—

The girl’s body, still balanced on tiptoe, suddenly slipped and tilted toward the ground.

Jeanne happened to see it.

She screamed and hurriedly turned around to run toward the child.

“No—! Uh…?”

But someone moved faster than she did.

“My lady!”

Jeanne’s face went pale as she hurriedly examined Isabella from head to toe.

The child she had called adorable only moments ago had completely disappeared from her attention.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes. Thank you…”

Fortunately, the black-haired girl had not fallen or injured herself.

The moment Isabella realized what was happening, she had immediately thrown herself forward and caught her.

The child seemed startled by the sudden turn of events. She fidgeted awkwardly and glanced around.

Her large black eyes began to well up with tears, as though she might cry at any moment.

Perhaps she was embarrassed that she had nearly fallen while secretly peeking inside the shop.

Or perhaps she was worried about the unreliable-looking guards standing some distance away, who had merely watched the entire incident unfold.

What does it mean when someone doesn’t move even though the person they’re supposed to protect is in danger?

Whatever the reason, it certainly couldn’t be a good one.

Knowing their personal circumstances would only complicate things.

And since I’ve already helped her, perhaps I should help just a little more.

Isabella pushed aside her concern about the time she was losing and decided to give the frightened child a small gift.

This isn’t meddling. Not really.

After all, she was a precious customer who had come to her shop because she genuinely liked it.

And Fairy Garden was, above all else, a place where those with pure hearts deserved to be treated with the greatest kindness.

Especially children.

Isabella’s pale aqua eyes fell upon a small painting behind the girl that represented Fairy Garden.

It depicted fairies with white wings and star-shaped wands handing out candies to children, who wore happy smiles as they received the tiny, sweet treats.

“Would you like to go inside and take a look? You can try some samples if you’d like.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Pick whatever you want and tell them what you’d like.”

At Isabella’s invitation, a radiant smile bloomed across the girl’s pale face.

It was the sort of smile that made anyone who saw it feel happy as well.

However, the child’s delighted expression didn’t last long.

She seemed to think about something, and soon both of her eyebrows drooped.

“What’s wrong?”

“Um… by any chance… how much does one piece of candy cost?”

After hesitating for quite some time, the child finally asked an extremely practical question.

She’s dressed so luxuriously, yet she’s worried about money?

Isabella found it puzzling, but she gave the girl a gentle smile to put her at ease.

The child’s words were so innocent and adorable that Isabella couldn’t help smiling.

“You don’t have to worry. You’re Fairy Garden’s first customer today.”

“The first customer?”

“Yes. Every day, Fairy Garden gives its first customer whatever gift they want. Do you understand what that means?”

The girl thought carefully about Isabella’s words.

Slowly, her expression brightened.

“Here. Follow this lady. She’ll help you. Jeanne? Please.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Isabella gently pushed the girl’s back while reassuring her once more.

The child happily ran into the shop, already having forgotten about what had happened moments earlier.

A little while later, the men who had been standing at a distance approached Isabella.

“Thank you for helping her.”

For people who had merely stood by and watched, their greeting was surprisingly polite.

Isabella looked the men over.

Perhaps to conceal their family identity, they were all dressed in plain black clothes without any distinctive features.

Yet there was an unmistakable air of status about them.

Even their ingrained manners were distinctly aristocratic.

Their voices make it sound as though they don’t care about the child’s safety, but their eyes tell a different story.

What is going on with this family? I can’t make heads or tails of it.

What good would knowing make?

She already had enough problems of her own.

Isabella suppressed the curiosity that was rapidly growing inside her.

Still, just in case, she decided to leave the men some advice for the child’s sake.

“You should tighten her security. Children around that age are extremely curious, and an accident can happen in an instant.”

Coming from nothing more than a shopkeeper—a woman who might even belong to the common or merchant class—to aristocratic knights, her words could have been considered somewhat presumptuous.

But the knights showed no particular reaction.

That’s a relief.

If they had been rigid or overbearing by nature, she would have had to deal with an unnecessary headache.

Isabella’s pale aqua eyes followed the child through the shop window.

The girl was looking at the candies hanging in rows from the ceiling and the chocolates displayed all around the walls.

She wore an expression of pure happiness, as though she had gained the entire world.

It was enough to make anyone watching her smile.

“I heard there was a commotion at the entrance. What happened?”

As Isabella opened the door and entered, a somewhat high-pitched voice called out to her.

It was Shannon, who had been sorting through boxes in the corner of the fourth-floor office.

“Nothing important happened. More importantly, Shannon, do you know of any decent man?”

“What?! C-cough! Ack, dust…”

Shannon spent quite some time coughing.

She abruptly stood up, abandoned the boxes, and gulped down an entire glass of water without stopping.

Thud!

“Are you serious? Wow! I never thought I’d live to see the day Bella mentioned a man!”

“Now that you’ve recovered from the shock, will you answer me? And give me the information I requested in my letter as well.”

Isabella gazed steadily at Shannon.

Her pale aqua eyes were unusually lowered and serious.

It reminded Shannon of that dawn five years ago, when the course of both their lives had changed.

The day Isabella had begged her for help.

The day she had said she wanted to live.

Shannon roughly ruffled her hair.

“Ugh! That crazy old man! I hope he trips and falls flat on his face somewhere! He planned this! He absolutely planned it! How could anyone pull off such a damnable scheme without planning it?!”

[To the Empire of Billoa’s loyal subject, the heir to the Brwin Ducal Family is hereby ordered to promptly proceed with marriage in accordance with the marriage proposal recommended by Viscount Roster Tyrone, the guardian appointed by this Emperor.]

Isabella had thought this would finally be her chance to escape.

But the imperial decree spread out before her shattered that hope to pieces.

Shannon already knew the circumstances because of Isabella’s letter.

Even after reading it again, she seemed so outraged that her chest heaved violently.

“How on earth did he manage to win the Emperor over? They told us our side had already finished making arrangements with him first, didn’t they? Didn’t they?”

They had.

They definitely had.

Until she received the imperial decree, Emperor Berrius of Billoa had clearly responded favorably, as though he intended to help her.

Where did things go wrong?

Why…?

“What the hell?”

Isabella clenched both fists and glared at the documents as though Shannon had personally handed her the Emperor himself.

“I’ll look into suitable men separately.”

She felt like rushing around and raging just as wildly as Shannon.

“Whew! Read this.”

Shannon shoved another document toward her.

“That Marquis Robert Fitzroy… Just like you said, he’s absolute trash. Apparently, he was having an affair with Count Talbot’s wife even before Count Talbot died.”

She grimaced.

“You’re not seriously planning to marry that bastard, are you?”

Of course not.

Who would want that?

He was the man who had already been involved in her death three times.

If there was any way to avoid him, Isabella had to find it.

But the situation was not going the way she had hoped.

[Bella. The viscount is using the Emperor’s decree to approach the elders of the family. I will do everything I can to stop him, but I think you should prepare for the possibility that things may go wrong.]

The letter from Marquis Sellerby, head of the Council of Elders of the Brwin Ducal Family, Isabella’s godfather, and the man who had been closest to her father, made it clear that the original story had twisted once again following the Emperor’s decree.

The possibility that things may go wrong.

That meant the bribes she had prepared for the Emperor and the elder nobles might fail.

And if that happened, she might be forced to marry Marquis Fitzroy just as she had in the original story.

A heavy sigh escaped Isabella’s lips.

The Emperor had moved.

And because there was already precedent for such a decision, those who had remained neutral showed no sign of taking action.

The fire had reached her doorstep.

She needed a man who would marry her.

A clever man.

A perceptive man.

But most importantly, a man without greed.