“W-what did you just say?”
Bella repeatedly tilted her head in confusion as she asked calmly, wondering if she had heard incorrectly.
But judging by the way the foxes’ lips kept twitching upward, it seemed this wasn’t a hallucination after all.
“Why are you so surprised? You’ve become a proper adult now, so it’s time for you to get married.”
At the elder fox’s words, Bella was stunned.
Of course she was shocked.
Once the only direct descendant of House Etten disappeared, all the property and the title would rightfully become theirs.
I thought they were planning to lock me away somewhere deep inside the castle until I grew old and died.
This was completely unexpected.
While Bella was lost in thought, the elder fox, who had been smiling brightly all this time, suddenly spoke.
“Well, instead of merely talking about it, why don’t you see for yourself?”
Wait. See what?
The fox smiled sweetly and suddenly gestured toward somewhere.
At once, a servant who had been waiting behind them approached, carrying something large.
When the red cloth covering the object was pulled away, a portrait appeared beneath it—a painting of a young man from the chest up.
Bella stared blankly at it.
Watching her reaction, the fox grinned and said,
“This is the man who will become your husband. Well? Do you like him? You’re such a lucky girl.”
“……”
“Goodness, look at you staring at him like that. Have you already fallen for him? Ho-ho-ho, I really do have an eye for people……”
The fox began to boast proudly.
She went on and on about what an excellent match this was and how much effort she had supposedly put into finding such a marriage prospect.
Anyone listening to her would have thought she had brought home some priceless treasure.
Bella let the fox’s bragging go in one ear and out the other as she stared intently at the portrait in question.
But the longer she looked at it, the more familiar the face seemed.
Something felt strange.
“Who is he?”
Unable to hold back any longer, Bella finally asked.
The elder fox, who had been endlessly praising the man, froze before frowning and replying irritably,
“If I tell you who he is, will you recognize him?”
“Of course I will.”
Bella quickly nodded.
Then she shot the woman a look as though the answer should have been obvious.
“Unlike some man who probably spent his days plowing fields somewhere, I’m a perfect noblewoman down to my bones.”
“……What?”
At the implication that Bella’s very birth made her fundamentally different from them, the fox’s face gradually turned red.
The little fox across the table, who had been snickering, reacted the same way.
Amused by their fresh reactions, Bella grinned.
The foxes had a weakness.
Their origins and bloodline.
No matter how hard they tried, those were things they could never possess.
That was why they treated Bella even more cruelly—to soothe their inferiority complex.
And that was precisely why Bella deliberately answered them with even greater confidence.
The trembling fox let out a deep sigh and downed the wine beside her.
Soon, the fox began glaring viciously at Bella.
After some time, the elder fox finally spoke.
“He’s Viscount Leblanc.”
“Wait. Leblanc? You mean that Leblanc?”
“Yes. Viscount Leblanc.”
The fox nodded as though she had been waiting for that exact reaction.
It felt almost like a death sentence for the very thing Bella had feared.
Bella instinctively stopped breathing.
Viscount Leblanc.
As expected, she had heard that name before.
In fact, she knew of the man.
There was just one problem.
The ‘Leblanc’ in Bella’s memories was a white-haired old man well over sixty.
And he’s supposed to be my husband?
Was this some kind of joke?
“He may be close to seventy, but I hear he’s as vigorous as any middle-aged man. If you’re lucky, he might even be able to father another child.”
“……”
“Don’t worry too much. You’re still young, aren’t you?”
“……”
“I heard Baron Ruak from the south fathered a late-in-life child at the age of eighty. What’s seventy compared to that?”
The excited fox rattled off one statement after another.
Her lips, painted an even deeper red than usual today, stretched into a horrifying grin.
She looked just like a witch intoxicated by some wicked power.
But that wasn’t the end.
“Oh, Mother. Why are you talking about having children? I heard Viscount Leblanc already has two sons around Bella’s age.”
“Oh my, really?”
“I’m telling you. And if you include his illegitimate children, there might be more than five. Apparently, that old man is openly obsessed with women.”
Cecil giggled as she joined the conversation.
According to rumors, the Viscount Leblanc in question was a notorious perverted old man even in the capital.
He was especially infamous in his own territory, where he committed all sorts of abuses, to the point that even his own people had turned their backs on him.
“I heard both of his sons are unmarried. If you play your cards right, you might have some fun, Bella. Aren’t you lucky?”
As the foxes continued to taunt her, Bella’s head began to spin.
She shook her head in an attempt to clear it, but it did little good.
The two of them were cackling and making such a fuss that anyone watching might have thought they were celebrating some grand festival.
Bella stared blankly at them.
So, if she had to summarize the situation in one sentence—
These people had deliberately decided to screw her over.
“So.”
Inside the lavish ballroom,
“You actually declared war on those annoying foxes and told them you’d find your own husband?”
At the voice beside her, Bella weakly turned her head.
There stood a blond man who looked completely at home in the atmosphere of the party, leaning casually to one side.
He was none other than her longtime childhood friend—and the Crown Prince of Arhen, Evan.
His handsome face, which was praised as the most beautiful in the entire empire practically every day, was filled with concern.
“Yes. That’s what I said.”
Bella nodded obediently.
A darker shadow immediately settled over the man’s face.
“What are you going to do if rumors about you start spreading?”
“Rumors are the least of my problems right now.”
She muttered gloomily.
Bella knew what he was worried about.
Among the nobility, it was extremely rare for a young lady to personally seek out her own husband.
And even if such a thing happened, it would be considered improper enough for her to become the subject of gossip throughout high society.
But this was not the time to worry about such things.
“I don’t have much time.”
Unfortunately, she was pressed for time.
Bella sighed and lowered her head.
As the throbbing in her head gradually turned into a hazy numbness, she remembered what had happened yesterday.
“How many years ago was that portrait painted?”
Still unable to recover from the shock, Bella finally asked.
According to the useless information Cecil had provided, the Viscount was sixty-eight years old this year.
In other words, there was more than a fifty-year age gap between them.
And that wasn’t all.
“Oh, now that I think about it. Apparently, this is already his third marriage because his previous wife committed suicide……”
“I heard he has at least twelve mistresses.”
The elder and younger foxes excitedly began chattering.
Before long, the dining room was filled with their vulgar laughter and cheap gossip.
Bella could only stare at them in disbelief.
“You kept driving away every marriage proposal that came for me. Was it so you could marry me off to someone like this?”
“Oh, Bella. What do you mean, someone like this? His Lordship is such an excellent gentleman.”
“That’s right. He agreed not to interfere with the title. And he doesn’t even require a dowry. Do you know how rare a match like this is these days?”
The title.
And the dowry.
Only then did Bella finally understand the situation.
So that was what this was.
They had made a deal over her.
They treated me like a thorn in their side all this time, yet they kept me from marrying anyone. So there was a reason after all. Not only did they want to keep the title, but they wanted my dowry too.
A hollow laugh escaped her as an overwhelming sense of futility washed over her.
BANG!
Bella slammed her hands against the table and rose from her seat.
Then she glared at them.
“I’m not marrying him.”
“What?”
At Bella’s firm declaration, the noblewoman’s eyes, which had been narrowed with laughter all this time, became sharp.
The little fox beside her was the first to respond.
“And if you don’t? What are you going to do if you refuse?”
“That’s right. Then do you want to spend the rest of your life growing old and dying in the attic? Hmm? Is that what you want?”
“……”
“I said I’m not marrying him. I never said I wouldn’t marry at all.”
“What does that mean?”
“Exactly what I said. I mean that I’ll find my own husband.”
When they demanded to know what she meant, Bella immediately answered.
At her audacious response, the foxes’ expressions twisted instantly.
Seeing this, Bella deliberately raised one corner of her lips into a crooked smile.
“I don’t trust your judgment.”
At the accusation that their taste was so terrible despite wearing the skin of nobles, the noblewoman’s gentle mask shattered in an instant.
She was furious.
Yet Bella didn’t even blink.
If anything, she smiled even more sweetly and innocently.
Let’s see if things go the way you want.
A husband.
It wasn’t as though finding one herself was impossible.
She would rather find one on her own than be sold to a perverted Viscount for a handful of dowry money.
Bella steeled herself.
Yes.
That was what she had decided.
But—
“No matter how much you rebel, it won’t do you any good.”
The fox, who had seemed momentarily flustered, suddenly chuckled.
“What do you mean, it won’t do me any good……?”
“Because I’ve already reached an agreement with them.”
At that moment, Bella felt as though the sky had collapsed on top of her.
The hope she had been clutching tightly in one hand seemed to slip away like grains of sand, revealing the despair hidden beneath it.
“They’re sending someone over next week. Obviously, there’s no way you’ll be able to find a husband and bring him here before then. So don’t waste your energy and just obediently go with His Lordship.”
“……”
“You should live a life where you’re cherished. Isn’t that better than spending the rest of your life in the attic?”
The fox’s lips twitched again as she began to smile.
As though she were barely holding back laughter that threatened to burst out at any moment.
She bit down on her lips and remained silent.
After some time, the fox rose from her seat and approached Bella.
Then she whispered in a low voice,
“You’ve been subtly looking down on us all this time, haven’t you? Well, look at you now. We’re the ones who decide your fate. And your life is about to be dragged straight into the mud.”
At the quiet whisper, Bella felt as though the ground beneath her had disappeared.
She was falling endlessly into an underground world she could never escape from.
“So that’s why you came to the party today?”
“That’s right.”
“To find a husband here?”
“Exactly.”
Bella readily admitted it.
Evan muttered self-deprecatingly,
“I was wondering what had gotten into you, attending an event like this.”
“Well, today happens to be the one day a year when there’s no curfew, doesn’t it? When else am I supposed to go out?”
“That’s true. The Founding Day celebrations take place at night.”
Bella nodded.
The fox had strictly forbidden her from leaving the house.
However, perhaps because she was still concerned about what people would think, she allowed Bella to attend major parties held by the Imperial Family.
Today was one of those days.
The country they lived in—Arhen—had worshipped the God of Dreams since ancient times.
Because of this, the five-day Founding Day celebration was held at night rather than during the day.
In other words, this was the last opportunity she had been given.
“Evan. Do you happen to know any decent men?”
“What?”
“Just pick one for me.”
“Why are you asking me?”
The man crossed his legs casually and asked.
Bella shrugged.
Why else?
“Because if the Crown Prince approves of a man, I figure he should be a decent candidate for a husband.”
I might as well take advantage of having a Crown Prince as my childhood friend.
Bella grinned as she said it.
The man frowned as he looked at her before finally speaking.
“Well, there is one person I could recommend.”
