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Chapter 09

Since I wouldn’t be able to find out even if I was curious. Just like in my past life.

“And ‘Jes’? It’s been ages since the engagement was broken off, yet someone like you dares to utter Jes’s name so casually?”

Lady Hilde’s nitpicking is truly exasperating. And yet, she’s just as guilty of using Jes’s name so casually herself.

But I didn’t want to fight. I was about to leave now, and I didn’t want to bicker until the very end.

“I misspoke. Lord Jestian.”

“No, it would be Duke.”

Hilde raised her chin and looked down at me. Strictly speaking, Jes isn’t the Duke yet. After all, the ducal title can only be inherited by someone who has come of age.

I didn’t understand Lady Hilde, who seemed intent on locking horns with me even though I said I would leave. Just then, someone hastily interjected.

“No, Lord Jestian is not yet the Duke.”

It was the butler. And beside him stood Sylvia, gasping for breath.

“Wha, huff, an annulment? Lady Linea, what do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said—we broke off the engagement. Surely you both knew?”

The butler and Sylvia tilted their heads with ambiguous expressions. I was the one taken aback. Sylvia was a knight, so I could understand her not knowing, but how could the butler of Lefgaen Castle not be aware?

The butler let out a groan and turned to Lady Hilde.

“There must be some misunderstanding. Lord Jestian breaking off an engagement? With Lady Linea of all people? That’s absolutely unthinkable.”

Then, as if seeking agreement, he looked back at me again.

“……”

But I had nothing to say. I’d already signed the annulment papers. By now, they should have arrived at the temple.

When I failed to respond, the butler’s face turned pale. Sylvia’s mouth opened and closed before she gently grasped the hem of my sleeve.

“L-Lady Linea, it’s not true, is it?”

“……”

“Lady Linea would never, ever make such a choice! Right?”

At those words, I felt a bit wronged. It wasn’t what I wanted. If I could have refused in the first place, I wouldn’t have signed. When I looked at Lady Hilde, she stiffened her expression and shouted.

“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s not like a broken engagement is something to be proud of, so why would I go around spreading it? Do you want to tarnish Jes’s reputation?”

Lady Hilde’s words had changed. Just moments ago, she had been chiding me for trying to hide the annulment.

“Regardless, the fact that you must leave doesn’t change.”

“Madam, I believe that is something that needs to be discussed with Lord Jestian. You cannot make such a decision unilaterally.”

As the butler stepped forward, slightly blocking my path, Lady Hilde sharply scanned him from head to toe. Then she let out a short, irritable laugh.

“Surely you don’t think I, of all people, would do something Jes doesn’t want?”

The butler didn’t answer. Yet he didn’t step back from in front of me. At that, as if deeply insulted, Lady Hilde’s face contorted.

With a fierce momentum, she took a few steps forward and tapped the butler’s shoulder with her fingertips.

“Really? Me? I would do that? Who was it that made last winter comfortable for you!”

Lady Hilde, still unmarried, is under the care of the Lapar Ducal House to which she belongs.

Perhaps because of that, the Lapar family occasionally extended aid to the North as well, and did so last winter. That’s why the vassals of Lefgaen, while wary of Lady Hilde, couldn’t treat her lightly.

As the butler was pushed back by Lady Hilde’s shoving, I felt uneasy. I quickly opened my mouth.

“Stop it. I’ll leave as you wish, Madam.”

At that, the butler, who had been silent, turned to me with wide eyes.

“You cannot, absolutely cannot. You must speak with Lord Jestian.”

“What have you been hearing all this time? The engagement is over—why would I want to stay here any longer? Does that make any sense to you? How audacious of you to try and remain here.”

“Still, for now—”

“For now? I’ve already said it. Do you think that’s necessary?”

Lady Hilde’s shout echoed through the room. As everyone glanced around warily, someone let out a sound of swallowing a hiccup.

“……H-Hic.”

“Lady Linea……”

The one who had hiccuped so inopportunely was me. Standing in the middle of the room in my nightclothes, I was so cold my teeth were chattering. I was shivering violently when the sudden loud noise made me bite my tongue, and that caused the hiccup…

Instead of making excuses, I kept my mouth firmly shut and tried to stop the hiccups. Just as Lady Hilde’s eyes were about to turn even more venomous, the butler quickly interjected.

“In that case, how about moving you to a different room? To one further inside… a place where you won’t run into others.”

The butler phrased it awkwardly, but I could guess what he meant. He was suggesting I stay temporarily in a place out of Lady Hilde’s sight. Lady Hilde scoffed.

“No. That won’t do. There is no place for her anywhere in Lefgaen Castle.”

“Then how about coming to the knights’ quarters? They’re clean and spacious.”

“The knights’ quarters are also within Lefgaen Castle, so that’s out of the question.”

Sylvia’s barely offered suggestion was immediately shot down by Lady Hilde. I opened my mouth to reassure the flustered people.

“It’s fi—*hic*—fine. I’ll go down to the village and stay at an inn that’s open for business…”

But I couldn’t finish my sentence before having to bite my tongue again. It was because of the problem I had been trying so hard to ignore.

‘I don’t have any money…?’

I don’t. Not a single coin. I have accessories or jewels that could substitute for money, but I don’t want to sell them because they were gifts from Jes. And selling jewels takes a long time to convert into cash anyway.

So what do I do?

Linea Hanover, 16 years old, no money. Special skill: could use divine power, but it’s gone. Occupation… the position of the Northern Duke’s fiancée, which could have been called that, has also been taken away.

That’s a self-introduction too shameful to say anywhere. As I stared blankly at the butler with lost eyes, he too seemed anxious, his pupils darting as he looked back at me.

“Sleeping rough outside the castle… it’s quite cold weather for that, isn’t it? Don’t mind me. I was just talking to myself.”

Seeing the butler’s face turn pale, I quickly cut off my muttering. So what do I really do? My head wasn’t working well facing the sudden reality, and in the end, I just blurted out whatever came to mind.

“Could I possibly borrow some money?”

“……”

“Just enough for travel expenses to the capital. I’ll send it back as soon as I arrive.”

“……”

“If that’s too much, then just enough for one night’s lodging…”

Seeing Lady Hilde’s face twist mercilessly, I quickly changed my words.

“No, then just about 1 gold.”

“Get out this instant!”

* * *

In the end, I was kicked out. Linea Hanover’s worth? Less than 1 gold. This was my reality.

I was pushed out of the room by the screaming Lady Hilde, as if being shoved. I felt a surge of indignation at Lady Hilde’s stinginess and pettiness for not even lending me 1 gold.

I will definitely become rich by any means necessary. When I become a millionaire, I’ll scatter 1-gold coins in front of Lady Hilde like charity.

…But how exactly does one make money?

While I was busily dreaming this humble dream, the butler spoke to me.

“Lady Linea. I know someone who might be able to help. Would you like to come with me?”

“Help? From whom?”

“The Administrator. For now, let’s go to where he is.”

I had no other viable option, so I nodded and obediently followed the butler.

Sylvia walked beside me, took off her own coat and draped it over me, watching me with a worried expression.

The butler glanced back at me once and began to walk more slowly.

I thought I was almost fully healed, but it seems it still shows. Thanks to his slowed pace, I could follow behind without betraying my limp. The place we arrived at was a separate mansion built within the castle grounds.

“This is it.”

The interior of the building was spacious and large, with no particular decorations. In the first-floor lobby, quite a number of people were standing in orderly lines, so quiet that you couldn’t even hear breathing.

As I was wondering if it was okay to go inside, a woman who looked extremely tired appeared and handed out pieces of paper one by one. I accepted it bewilderedly and checked it—a number was written on it.

Waiting Number 78

…Is this a bank? Why are they giving me this. Still, I couldn’t just throw it away in front of everyone, so I folded it into my palm. Sylvia seemed to have the same thought, her face looking as if she’d bitten into a sour fruit.

I wondered if the butler had also received one and looked beside me, but he was already far ahead. The butler opened the door without knocking and shouted.

“Lord Noah, this is an emergency!”

Through the wide-open door, what I could see was an enormous desk that took up one side of the room, and atop it, several stacks of papers piled high enough to reach the ceiling.

“…An emergency? More here?”

Among the mountains of documents, I could see disheveled, unkempt yellow hair.

“What emergency. Is tomorrow going to bring even more complaints than today? What is it with these Northerners and their endless problems?”

The owner of the voice, which felt gloomy beyond dreary, slowly rose. Seeing his face, I finally remembered who he was. Noah Mackinnen, the Administrator who manages the affairs of Northern Lefgaen.

Noah was a fairly famous person in the North.

‘A rigid and inflexible personality that’s hard to believe given his young age, a fussy nature that uselessly adheres to principles and rules, yet a despicableness that doesn’t uphold them for himself.’

…In a negative sense.