Chapter 117: Party

“You look troubled.”

“…Your Highness.”

After Father left, Second Princess Emma was the next person to speak to me.

“You look troubled. Did something happen?”

“No, nothing.”

“It’s clearly not nothing. Let me guess: he tried to make you inherit House Willard.”

“You saw through that quickly… though I suppose it was obvious.”

“Of course. What else could it be? What will you do? Will you inherit the house?”

I frowned.

“Your face gives you away. You don’t want to. But why not? There’s little reason to refuse the position of marquis.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Do you hate them?”

“I thought I didn’t, but apparently I was only pretending to be strong. I told myself they were strangers—people who existed only for me to use as a merchant.”

“So you simply don’t want to bear the name of House Willard?”

“It seems I really did hate them.”

“Given what happened to you, I understand. In that case, perhaps you could escape by marrying into another powerful family.”

“I had hoped I might find someone in Wa.”

“…What?”

“But I can’t think about marriage yet. I already have my hands full with myself.”

“…What?”

“Even before speaking with Father, merely talking to everyone who approached me was exhausting. It wore me down.”

I was uncomfortable at parties like this, even though I had attended many as a member of a merchant company. I never became accustomed to them.

“Then let’s leave this boring party together.”

“What?”

Seeing that I made no attempt to hide my weariness, Emma spread her arms and made a proposal.

“I’m the guest of honor. It would be a problem if I left.”

Her proposal was absurd.

“It’s fine. Everyone here is trying to curry favor with you.”

“That’s why I can’t leave. If the person they want to approach isn’t here, they’ll have nothing to do.”

“You don’t understand. Trying to approach you directly is presumptuous. They should first build connections with the people beneath you—Colonel Kernel, members of your merchant company, and others like them—before approaching you.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Yes. Now let’s leave the party. The moon is beautiful tonight.”