MPGF 11

Chapter 11: Rumors
Before I knew it, the sun had set and the sky was covered in a deep blue. I hadn’t realized time had passed so quickly.

Hertian had left, and I walked not to my room but to my father’s study as the steward had instructed.

I was certain that both of them had liked Hertian.

But then,

“I cannot permit this marriage.”

What was this all of a sudden?

Father changed his tone and even his expression completely.

“You suddenly oppose the marriage?”

The light feeling I had just moments ago plummeted to the ground.

“I’ve thought it over carefully. It seems like a rash decision.”

I immediately rushed to the desk where my father sat.

Without even looking me in the eye, he shoved the marriage proposal letter into the drawer.

“You said you approved just a while ago! If not, you should have said so when the Duke was here!”

I shouted rudely in front of my parents.

“Please, say something. There must be a reason why you suddenly changed your mind.”

He was definitely hiding something from me.

“Father!”

I kept pressing my tightly-lipped father.

“Are you really going to say nothing? How can I accept the marriage being canceled without any explanation?”

My father, with a serious look, held his forehead.

“The truth is…”

He ultimately couldn’t continue. His face looked troubled.

“The truth is?”

He opened his mouth but then shook his head and closed it again, clearly unwilling to say anything.

“Did something happen while I wasn’t around?”

This time, I shifted my gaze toward my mother sitting by the window. As soon as our eyes met, she quickly looked away.

“Why are you both so frustrating? Is marriage a joke? Especially when it’s with His Highness the Duke!”

I wished they would just tell me the reason clearly, but neither seemed willing to say anything.

“I won’t accept it. No matter what Mom and Dad say, I will marry His Highness the Duke.”

I had already talked with Hertian about picking a date.

Unless some natural disaster occurs, the marriage will proceed as planned.

I looked at my parents with the coldest eyes.

“Are you really not going to tell me?”

Neither my father nor my mother dared to speak first.

As I was about to leave the study, I turned around and listed one by one why I must marry Hertian.

Still, they had no answer.

Should I talk to them again tomorrow?

“His Highness the Duke will be a perfect husband. Exactly the kind of man I have always wanted.”

I added that as my final remark before turning to leave.

“How can you be so sure of that?”

Finally, my father spoke.

“As I said earlier, he is polite and keeps winning battles one after another. No matter what happens, he will protect me.”

“How do you know he just commands knights from behind?”

I shook my head at his negative comment.

“He’s doing his best as a commander. Besides, he’s the most handsome in the empire.”

“You can’t judge just by looks. Men should be big, ahem…”

Father started to say something but stopped with a cough, embarrassed.

“He must be sturdy. How many horses has he ridden across battlefields?”

“Hmph, that’s not what I meant.”

“Also, His Highness has a smooth, prominent nose.”

I bluntly continued without mincing words.

“What does his nose have to do with anything?”

“Men should have high, straight noses to perform well in the bedroom.”

This was something I had heard from a physiognomist on the hospital TV before I got possessed by a book.

“Who said that? Was it Cassian?”

“No, the ladies were chatting about it.”

At the academy, the nose was often a topic among friends.

At this, several awkward coughs came from around the room.

“Father, I’m grown up now. I pretended not to know, but I knew everything since academy. I see all there is to see.”

My tone was shameless.

“Besides, my compatibility with His Highness the Duke is good…”

“No way!”

Before I could finish, my father shouted loudly. I was momentarily surprised by his unexpectedly loud voice.

“His Highness the Duke is not the one. He’s not!”

He stood up suddenly, throwing a tantrum. Seeing my father’s face flushed red like an apple, I was puzzled.

“Why do you refuse so much?”

“Well… His Highness the Duke. No, that man!”

Just as my father, looking like steam was about to rise from his head, was about to reveal the reason, my mother rushed in and stopped me.

“Anette, go back to your room for now.”

“I want to hear the reason. What do you mean by ‘not the one,’ Father?”

But my mother frowned seriously and spoke with a tone as if hiding something.

“Won’t you listen? Just go back now. I’ll explain later.”

When Anette left the study, the atmosphere was tense.

A man hiding on a large couch stood and opened a window, letting fresh air in.

“Phew. I wonder if this is the right thing to do.”

Lucas wiped sweat from his forehead and quietly said to the man.

“How do we explain this to Anette? What can we say to make her understand?”

The man glanced at the closed door before walking over to the count.

“Please be careful with your words to Miss Anette. If what I told her leaks out, both I and my friend will die.”

The count pressed his deeply wrinkled brows.

“Don’t worry about that.”

“Thank you. Anette will soon understand why you opposed this.”

“I hope that day comes soon, Baron Melson.”

Baron Melson smiled in relief, his beard trembling with the movement.

“Of course.”

“Well, Baron, how long have we known each other? Thanks for coming today.”

The count forced a smile and thanked Melson, the long-time family physician of the Leamberia Count family.

“Luckily, I was passing by and came to deliver medicine to Miss Anette.”

Melson had been striving to cure Lian’s fever since the beginning.

Having seen how hard he worked to treat Anette’s illness, no one could doubt his words.

“The Duke of Blandice is disappointing. I thought at least his love life would be clean since he’s at war.”

The count ground his teeth quietly.

“I almost sent my precious daughter to a scoundrel.”

He recalled Melson’s urgent knocking and story when he was in the private garden with his wife just a few hours ago.

“I heard that the Duke of Blandice and Miss Anette are to be married!”

“Haha, the steward must have already told you. Yes, that’s true.”

“Did he sign the marriage proposal?”

“Not yet. Why are you sweating so much?”

“Well!”

Melson’s unusually anxious words shocked the peaceful couple.

“His Highness the Duke is said to be that promiscuous?”

“My friend, who was dispatched as a doctor on the expedition, told me that.”

It was said that the Duke indiscriminately took advantage of women in conquered villages and even touched princesses.

“They say his private part was so badly damaged that my friend had to personally treat it.”

Gasp.

Both of them shuddered at the obscene medical terms they’d never heard before.

“Now, only half remains.”

“Half? It’s been cut in half?”

“My wife is here, so please check this.”

Melson handed over the medical record.

It contained unimaginable symptoms and bizarre conditions.

“But the name isn’t the Duke’s. Is this someone else?”

“For royal or high-ranking nobles like the Duke, they intentionally record under different names to prevent leaks.”

It was true, and Melson was no one to lie without reason after years of service.

“Ah…”

Lucas sighed quietly, then his eyes widened like lanterns.

“No. We must cancel the marriage immediately.”

Baron Melson wiped the cold sweat from his forehead as soon as he climbed into the carriage.

“Well, I’m lucky. This time, I can squeeze a good amount out of it.”

Despite the sweat, his face was full of a victorious smile.

“Where to, sir?”

The coachman asked.

Melson thought about going to report the news but decided rest was more important since it was late.

“Take me to a back alley.”

He leaned back on the hard carriage seat and chuckled.

“This is why well-bred nobles are easy to deceive.”

He thought of the pure-hearted Leamberia count couple who took everything at face value.

Having grown up only seeing good things and living honorably, they would never do anything to sully their reputation.

So when Lian began falling ill, Melson sniffed a ripe mark and began approaching.

After becoming Anette’s attending physician, the money came naturally.

No one knows his true identity even now. He just did as told and collected money from both sides.

He only delivered rare medicines to Anette, once even pretending to bring rare herbs from the East, which gained the count’s full trust.

“Why is that man so obsessed with that family’s daughter?”

The exact reason is unknown.

“Does the count’s daughter have some hidden treasure?”

He only guessed, doing what he was told.

He disliked sudden orders to send or fetch people like today.

“How did you know the Duke was bringing the marriage proposal?”

The more he worked, the more impressive his intelligence was.

How could he know such details so soon after the Duke returned from war?

“He must not be royalty.”

Melson rubbed the goosebumps on his arm and dismissed the troublesome thought.

He only cared about getting paid, after all, though he smiled thinking about the recent events.

“Maybe the half-cut thing was too much?”

He tried to create a story hard for the count to check, but the rumor spread in a crude manner.

‘Doesn’t she believe it?’

But his anxiety was brief.

The trust in him was deeper than expected, and the medical records helped.

Still, to cancel a marriage without verifying was foolish.

“Trusting is stupid.”

Even if something went wrong, the wealthy sponsor would handle it.

Melson shrugged off worries and scratched his itchy ear.