Chapter 2
“The Marquis of Grit, Undeniably the Most Eligible Bachelor, Announces a Sudden Marriage! Is His Bride a Cinderella?”
That was the headline splashed across the front page of the newspaper.
The article was primarily about Eli and Ruby’s marriage. It also briefly introduced Ruby’s family, the Viscountcy of Bionne.
In summary, the article was almost a scathing piece, questioning how a daughter from such an unremarkable family had managed to capture Eli’s heart. Yet in the end, it reached a romantic conclusion: perhaps the reason the Marquis of Grit had chosen her despite all the unfavorable circumstances was simply that he had fallen in love with her at first sight.
“Well, it’s not entirely wrong.”
Lynn murmured as she read the newspaper.
“What isn’t?”
“The part about falling in love at first sight.”
“That’s ridiculous. I told you, I was the one who pushed things forward.”
“Think about it. Do you really think Marquis Eli Grit is the kind of man who would give in just because you pushed him? He accepted it because he liked you.”
Ruby gave Lynn an awkward smile as her friend misunderstood the situation just as thoroughly as the newspaper had.
She kept to herself the thought that Lynn could never have come to such a conclusion if she had actually witnessed what happened when Ruby confessed her feelings.
“What kind of dress are you thinking of getting?”
“That’s what I’ve been worrying about.”
Only after finishing the article did Lynn turn her attention to the catalog Ruby had been looking through.
“They’re both pretty.”
“Right? That’s why it’s so hard.”
One of the dresses was an off-the-shoulder design, decorated with delicate lace from the collarbone down to the chest. The lacework was so elaborate that the skin beneath showed through ever so slightly, yet rather than appearing revealing, it gave the dress a fresh and elegant look.
The other dress followed the lines of the body before subtly flaring out toward the bottom. Combined with the petal-like decorations beginning at the chest, the model wearing it looked almost like a flower herself.
“What are you worried about? The Marquis will choose one for you anyway.”
“…Do you think so?”
“Oh, I’m so jealous. A dress chosen by Marquis Grit himself!”
Lynn deliberately made an even bigger fuss.
It wasn’t quite the relationship Lynn imagined them to have, but the fact remained that Eli would be the one choosing her dress.
Ruby found herself a little excited by the thought.
“Eli!”
Kane burst into Eli’s study with a newspaper in his hand.
“Is this for real?”
Eli glanced at Kane for a moment before turning his attention back to the letter in front of him.
Kane tossed the newspaper onto his desk.
“Looks good.”
Eli read the headline and responded casually.
“Did you put it in the paper?”
“If we’re going to do this, we might as well make a big announcement.”
Kane was the only one surprised by his friend’s calm reaction.
“Did you really fall in love at first sight?”
“It’s effective.”
Even as he answered, Eli frowned slightly at Kane’s choice of words.
“Effective? Don’t tell me… you really found some random woman who wouldn’t be a nuisance?”
“She was the one who proposed it first.”
Eli corrected his misunderstanding.
“Anyway! You actually agreed to it?”
“You told me to, didn’t you?”
“That’s…!”
Kane clutched his chest in exasperation.
Eli normally never listened to anything he said, so the fact that he seemed to have followed Kane’s advice in such a strange situation left him speechless.
“What are you going to do if you really marry some random woman? I thought you’d at least look for someone with something going for her!”
“I don’t care, so it’s fine.”
Eli genuinely seemed perfectly fine with the arrangement.
As a third party, Kane had nothing more to say.
“What about the Marchioness?”
“As you can see.”
With that, Eli waved the letter from the Marchioness of Grit.
It was the very letter he had been reading when Kane arrived.
The urgent letter had arrived only moments earlier, and her anxiety was plainly evident in every line.
“She summoned you?”
“She wants me to come so we can discuss it again.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll get ahead of her.”
“My lord. It’s time to go.”
It was Letten, Eli’s secretary.
“Where are you going?”
“To get ahead of her.”
Leaving those words behind, Eli walked out of the study first.
“We meet again.”
Eli was standing outside the carriage belonging to the Grit household when he spotted Ruby approaching.
“…Yes.”
Ruby answered shyly.
She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the scene she had dreamed of so many times.
“Ruby.”
Lynn quietly called her name.
“Oh, right. This is my friend, Lynn.”
Only then did Ruby snap out of it and introduce Lynn to Eli.
“We’ve been close friends since childhood. She’s Lynn of House Remus.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Eli Grit.”
Lynn suppressed the urge to make a huge fuss and offered him a demure greeting.
Still, she couldn’t hide the corners of her mouth twitching upward.
“Shall we go?”
“Oh, yes.”
Ruby took Eli’s hand and climbed into the carriage.
After giving Lynn a polite nod, Eli followed her inside, and the carriage soon set off.
The greeting had ended far more anticlimactically than Lynn had expected, so she watched the departing carriage with a disappointed expression.
There’ll be another chance, she thought.
“Are you staying here while you’re in the capital?”
“Oh, yes. Our family doesn’t have a separate residence in the capital.”
“That’s unusual.”
It was understandable that he found it strange. Most noble families maintained a residence in the capital so they could participate in high society and advance their interests in central politics.
The Viscountcy of Bionne had once owned a residence in the capital as well.
It had simply been abandoned for several decades before eventually being sold.
Eli pretended not to know, but he already knew all of this.
In fact, even that aspect of House Bionne was something he considered desirable in a marriage partner.
“Oh, by the way, I think we’ll have to move up the wedding date.”
“The date?”
“Yes. Something has come up that requires us to hold the ceremony as soon as possible.”
Considering the preparations for the dress and jewelry, not to mention the guest list and food, even the earliest possible date would normally require at least two months.
The higher the status of the nobles involved, the longer it usually took.
And yet, their wedding was only two weeks away.
Can it possibly be any sooner than that?
Just as Ruby was wondering, Eli continued.
“So we’ll have to leave out quite a few things. Is that all right?”
Although he was asking her, it sounded almost like he was informing her of a decision that had already been made.
Even if that hadn’t been his intention, Ruby would have agreed to whatever Eli said.
“That’s fine.”
She knew better than anyone why he was marrying her.
“Welcome, my lord. Lady Bionne.”
The carriage had brought them to a designer’s shop that specialized in clothing for high-ranking nobles.
“Congratulations on your marriage. It’s an honor to have our shop make the clothes for the two of you.”
The designer, Bella, led them farther inside.
“We don’t have much time, so let’s take her measurements first.”
“Understood. Shall I use the measurements previously taken for the Marquis?”
Eli nodded, and Bella led Ruby farther inside.
She seemed accustomed to his rapid pace.
“What about the dress?”
“Here they are.”
Bella, having received advance notice from Eli, brought out the dresses she had prepared.
“I’ve prepared several different styles.”
“Which of these can be altered to fit my wife in the shortest amount of time?”
“You’re not having one made from scratch?”
“We don’t have time.”
Bella nodded as though she understood.
The man had always been someone who cared about nothing but work.
She had wondered whether marriage would change him when she heard about his sudden decision to marry, but apparently even his wedding was going to be no different.
“If it’s between these two, I think either would be sufficient with some jewelry.”
“Let my wife choose whichever of the two she likes. The deadline is this weekend.”
“This weekend?”
There were barely three or four days left.
“I’ll pay you twice the usual fee, so make it as elaborate as a proper wedding dress. You understand what I mean?”
“Understood.”
Bella would certainly be receiving more money for the rush, but this would be the bride’s one and only wedding day.
She cast a sympathetic glance toward Ruby as she took her measurements.
“You can choose between these two dresses. As I mentioned earlier, the wedding is happening so soon that there won’t be time to have one made from scratch.”
Once Ruby finished having her measurements taken, Eli explained.
“Ah… I’ll choose this one.”
The remaining designs were dresses Ruby wouldn’t normally have chosen.
Hiding her embarrassment, Ruby selected the one that looked the most acceptable.
“I’ll make it into an elaborate dress befitting a wedding.”
Bella’s words sounded as though she pitied Ruby, so Ruby forced a smile.
“Ruby!”
When Ruby returned to the Remus estate after choosing her dress and jewelry, Lynn came running toward her as though she had been waiting for her.
“Lynn.”
“How did it go? But who’s this?”
“Ah…”
Ruby had left with Marquis Grit, yet someone else had brought her back.
Lynn eyed the unfamiliar man warily.
“I’m Letten, the Marquis of Grit’s secretary.”
“Oh, I’m Lynn Remus. But… where did the Marquis go? Why are you the one bringing her back?”
“The Marquis had some urgent business to attend to, so he left ahead of us. He ordered me to make sure Lady Bionne returned safely.”
“…I see.”
Even after hearing Letten’s explanation, Lynn still looked unconvinced.
“I’ll go inside now. Thank you.”
Ruby quickly bid Letten farewell, as though trying to smooth things over. Then she linked arms with Lynn and led her inside.
“How busy could he possibly be that he had to leave in the middle of preparing his own wedding?”
“You know who he is. He’s His Majesty’s right-hand man. There must be plenty of things more important than a wedding.”
“That’s exactly what’s wrong! His Majesty is being unreasonable if he won’t even let him take the day off for his own wedding. The water downstream can’t be clean if the water upstream isn’t. If a high-ranking noble works like that, imagine how hard the nobles beneath him have to—”
Lynn realized she had gone off on a tangent and cleared her throat.
“Maybe he felt bad about it, because he bought me so much expensive jewelry that I don’t even know which pieces I’m supposed to wear.”
[I have some matters to take care of, so I’ll have to leave. My secretary, Letten, will assist you with the jewelry.]
Eli had accompanied Ruby all the way to the entrance of the jewelry store before leaving.
The fact that he had at least gotten out of the carriage himself and personally escorted her inside did a little to ease Ruby’s disappointment.
[The Marquis instructed us to purchase all of the most expensive jewelry.]
Ruby hadn’t even needed to choose the jewelry herself.
His secretary, Letten, had already purchased expensive gemstones in every color and style imaginable.
So what she had said wasn’t entirely a lie, nor was it entirely the truth.
“…Really?”
“Really. I was worried something might happen if I kept them myself and lost them, so the Grit estate agreed to store them for me.”
“I’m coming with you when you try on the dress. I want to see what you picked.”
Lynn still hadn’t completely lowered her suspicious gaze, but she didn’t seem inclined to badger Ruby when it was clear she didn’t want to talk about it any further.
“Okay. You pick the jewelry that suits me best.”
After all, Marquis Grit probably won’t care about the dress fitting.
He might not even come.
Ruby quietly forced down the disappointment rising inside her.
(To be continued in the next chapter.)
