Kishin still looked lost. The small spark of courage Claisey had mustered was cut in half by his baffled reaction.
“Money problems?”
He asked again, seeking confirmation.
“Yes…”
Claisey desperately wanted a hole to crawl into. However, recalling how easy Dernic had been to talk to, she pushed on.
“I already have five nieces and nephews. And as Sir Kishin knows the laws of our country, since I am unmarried, I have to share my inheritance with them. When my older sisters and brothers were married, they had no nieces or nephews, so they received their full shares. I’m the only one who has to divide mine.”
“…”
“And my second older sister is nine months pregnant, so there will soon be six. In a few months, I’ll have to divide the inheritance that was meant for five into six parts. That’s not all. My oldest and second brothers are on good terms with their wives, and they’re all still young. They both want two or three children each. In other words, as time goes on, my inheritance will only shrink further.”
The more Claisey spoke, the more like a materialist she felt.
In reality, she had never discussed this with her family. After all, they were the ones benefiting from this law—everyone except her. If Claisey complained, they would only criticize her for being “calculating among family.” She was close with Anna, but Anna was a member of the Kalasi Family; she couldn’t simply take Claisey’s side.
“That is why I want to protect my assets before it’s too late. Before my one-seventh share is split into eleven.”
She finished her sentence and glanced at Kishin. Would he understand her situation the way Dernic had?
“In other words, Miss Claisey, you didn’t propose because you liked me.”
Kishin’s reaction was the complete opposite of Dernic’s. He looked overtly disappointed.
Claisey, blaming her own lack of eloquence, hurriedly added:
“No, no. That is just why I proposed *quickly*. The reason I proposed to Sir Kishin is, of course, because I like you. It’s just… if I’m going to do it, I figured sooner was better… something like that…?”
Her rapid-fire excuse trailed off into a mumble. As she spoke, she felt a sense of grievance. It was true that she was being calculated to protect her inheritance, but wasn’t that how marriage among the nobility worked anyway? Everyone weighed their partner’s conditions against their own, and if they determined that the family’s prestige would be maintained for the next generation, they proceeded with a strategic marriage.
Others had guardians to handle this for them, but because Claisey’s parents were abroad and her siblings only cared about their own new families, she had to navigate it herself.
Kishin, however, clearly didn’t see it that way. He spoke coldly:
“By Miss Claisey’s method, it wouldn’t necessarily have to be me. As long as the person came from a family your parents would approve of, right?”
Of course, that was true. She had always thought so. Her goal was the inheritance, not the marriage; it wouldn’t have mattered if they divorced three years later. But Claisey wasn’t dim-witted enough to just say, “Yes.”
“If I’m going to have a strategic marriage… it’s still better to do it with someone I like.”
“No. If this were just a strategic marriage, we wouldn’t have to be doing this. Our parents would have handled everything. Why would we be exchanging letters and flowers?”
The colder Kishin’s voice became, the calmer Claisey felt.
*No wonder.* She’d had a strange, ominous feeling since this morning. It was far more unnatural for things to go well with an excellent man like Kishin.
Fortunately, being dumped was a familiar experience for Claisey. She had even cried her allotted five minutes in advance earlier.
Having finished her thoughts, Claisey spoke calmly.
“I understand. No matter how much I explain, Sir Kishin won’t understand, will you?”
“Yes. I believe marriage should be entered into with someone you love, because you love them. No other reason is needed.”
“Yes, I see. Our values are different. Then, let’s pretend this never happened.”
“From where? From the proposal?”
“From the part where I said I liked you.”
“!”
Kishin stared at her, shocked. It seemed as though her words had struck a chord.
*Why is he acting like that after being the one to dump me?*
Claisey thought to herself, then bid him a polite farewell and turned away.
*Today was my mistake. Things were going too well, and I got lax. From now on, I must never say that the reason for my proposal was the inheritance.*
* * *
*Was I the one who got dumped?*
Unlike the excitement she felt when she arrived, the return trip was unpleasant. Kishin looked back once or twice as he walked past the small garden and out the main gate.
Claisey was nowhere to be seen.
As Kishin boarded his carriage, he ordered the coachman to head straight to the Palace Guards. Inside the rattling carriage, he furrowed his brows, mulling over what had happened. He hadn’t experienced dating personally, but he had often seen his subordinates do it. They claimed that when dating, “at some point, you end up fighting and breaking up over ridiculously trivial things.”
Kishin had never understood that. Why fight over trivia? Even if they did, couldn’t they just make up? He never imagined he would find himself in that situation. By the time the carriage arrived, he felt a sense of grievance—a very rare emotion for him.
*What exactly did I do wrong?*
He had certainly been unfair to Claisey in the past, spitting harsh words at her whenever misunderstandings piled up. The strange thing was that back then, Claisey had moved past it magnanimously, without even clearing the air. But this time, her reaction was entirely different.
Having learned from past mistakes, he had tried to have a conversation. He had tried to understand her sudden proposal and her tears. But Claisey had delivered painful words on her own and retracted her confession.
By the time he entered his office, his sense of grievance had curdled into faint anger. He glared at the pink cushion he had prepared for Claisey and, unable to help himself, shoved it into the closet.
His adjutant, Phils, entered and spotted the movement.
“Huh? Isn’t that the cushion you prepared specifically for Miss Claisey? Why are you putting it away?”
“I was dumped.”
“Already?!”
Kishin sat at his desk in stony silence. Phils was so shocked that instead of handing him the report, he simply hugged him.
* * *
Claisey poured her emotions into the piano in the 1st-floor music room. As the loud, magnificent sound echoed, she felt a bit more refreshed. After five songs in a row, the pent-up frustration felt half-released.
*That’s it. There’s no reason to blame Sir Kishin. I was the one who got excited when he asked me to stay by his side and proposed. It’s my mistake. I had just started developing good feelings, but I proposed out of nowhere. I even laid out all the detailed circumstances of my family; it’s no wonder he was startled and ran away.*
Claisey closed the piano lid and stood up. In the kitchen, the cook kindly offered snacks.
“Would you like me to prepare some?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Holding an apple-filled bread, she returned to her room. She ran into Merran in the hallway; Merran snorted, clearly still angry, and ducked into her own room. She didn’t seem to know yet that Kishin had left after their argument.
*That’s fortunate. If she found out, she would have torn me to pieces.*
* * *
Starting the next day, Claisey began preparing to return home. Since packing for three months was impossible, she squeezed enough luggage for one month into her bag. She had plenty of belongings left at home anyway; she could just use them or buy new things there.
“Are you leaving tomorrow? Or the day after?”
Merran, who had ignored her yesterday, seemed to have cooled off; she offered a sullen greeting and began helping with the packing.
“You don’t have to come, you know. Will you be alright?”
Claisey asked out of genuine concern, not wanting to ditch Merran. A two-month round trip would be exhausting. Even if Merran wasn’t helping with the newborn, if the family was preoccupied, wouldn’t she be just as neglected as usual?
“I’ll go to pay my respects to Father and see him.”
“Ah. Are you planning to stay at your eldest brother-in-law’s house?”
“I’ll stay there, and at our house, too. I’ll do as I please.”
*What’s gotten into her?*
Merran loved her father but loathed his home. Her relationship with her stepmother and siblings was past the point of “distant.” To hear she would be going back and forth between her father’s house and the Kalasi mansion felt strange.
“Why the sudden change of heart?”
Merran shrieked.
“Aunt, you don’t tell me a single thing about your own life, yet you pry into mine! I’m not telling you!”
“Hmph. Is asking a simple question prying? Forget it if you don’t want to talk.”
* * *
As Claisey retreated to her room, Merran shot a glance after her, then snorted to herself.
*Aunt keeps her own romantic life a secret, too. And she expects me to tell her everything? Not a chance!*
Merran’s plan was to tell her father about the connection between Dernic and her mother, and then have him propose a marriage match to the Grand Duke’s household. Although she lived at the Kalasi mansion, her biological father was still her legal guardian and had to be the one to initiate the proposal.
However, Karen, who had been listening while helping out, asked nervously:
“Wouldn’t it be better to tell Miss Claisey? The Marquis of Omal trusts her. It would be better if she were by your side, convincing him to move forward.”
“Forget it. Even without Aunt’s help, Father will send the proposal. Sir Dernic isn’t a strange man, and he’s the only son of the Grand Duke, isn’t he?”
“That’s exactly why. The conditions are so favorable that he might be hesitant to propose. It would be a disgrace if the proposal were rejected…”
At Karen’s point, Merran’s jaw dropped.
“Is that true?”
“A marriage that elevates one’s status usually happens when the higher-ranking family proposes to the lower-ranking one. It rarely happens the other way around. If it fails, it’s a disgrace. If there was a personal friendship, it would be different, but the Marquis has no connection to Grand Duke Siwil or the Grand Duchess.”
Merran wasn’t as desperate for marriage as Claisey. She would eventually have to marry to become an heir, but she had no bad rumors and excellent status. She had never had to rack her brains over this. Assuming everything would be resolved as long as her father stepped in, she panicked.
“Then what should I do?”
Karen directed her gaze toward Claisey’s room.