“Therefore, you are to participate in the princess’s upcoming engagement celebration, Agnes. You have to find a suitable partner this time, understand?”
“Come again?” The conversation had taken an unexpected turn while I was off in my own little world. I should’ve been paying attention. “You said this will be Her Highness’s engagement celebration, right? Isn’t that a rather inappropriate place to search for a partner?”
“Silence! We can no longer afford to take our time. The eldest noble sons your age are finalizing their engagements one after the other. At this rate, all the good marriage prospects will be snatched up, merely because you’re so gutless!”
If she really wanted me to get married already, the least she could do was help a little—primarily by updating my wardrobe and makeup style.
But if I raise a complaint with my mother, she’ll return it thirtyfold. I decided to keep that thought to myself, since I wanted my mother to leave my room quickly.
“So, which noble son should I aim for this time?” I asked.
“Viscount Brie’s son! His rank might be low, but their house is rich, so our House of Evantail would like a relationship with them.”
“Understood.”
I could easily predict a future where the viscount’s son got engaged to me because of my rank, then cheated on me after our wedding, but I had no right to refuse. I simply nodded to avoid displeasing my mother further, all the while thinking how much I wanted to join the Convent.
“You’ll go dressed in another of your grandmother’s dresses. You should still have plenty of them.”
While I indeed had many such dresses, all of them had been designed around a century ago.
No matter how you look at it, going to Her Highness’s party dressed like that is a bad idea.
Nobles from around the country would be gathered in the royal palace. I didn’t want to show up dressed like a bumpkin.
“Um, those old dresses are really heavy and cumbersome, so I’d like a new one. Also, grandmother’s shoes are too small for—”
My mother interrupted me before I could even finish my sentence.
“Such vile words! What foolishness is this? You would go out dressed in one of those flimsy, cheap dresses? Preposterous! Your grandmother’s dresses are invaluable articles that you couldn’t even get your hands on nowadays. And if the shoes are a little small, you just need to bear with it. It certainly beats wearing those flat, soft ones they make these days!”
I listened to my clueless mother prattle on, and I heaved a deep sigh. Her words were certainly true—dresses like those of my grandmother were impossible to obtain now. Of course, there was a simple reason those “invaluable” dresses had all disappeared.
They wouldn’t sell because they’re too heavy!
As for shoes, the reason the fashionable ones were on the softer side was because they’d been improved to be more lightweight, and they were slightly wider to better conform to the shape of the wearer’s feet. The heels had also been adjusted to a more reasonable height.
Whenever I wear my grandmother’s shoes, I get horrible blisters, and sometimes they even end up bleeding.
Ever since my high society debut, I’d constantly been forced into my grandmother’s old clothing. She’d passed away at a young age, but all of her belongings remained in this house.
The people in my grandmother’s time were incredible to constantly endure wearing those heavy dresses and torturous shoes! Their stamina and willpower must have been otherworldly!
I’d grown rather sturdy myself, but I didn’t think I could hold a candle to the women from back then.
Anyway, since parties were long affairs, I wanted to at least be a little more comfortable.
“May I adjust the skirt to be lighter, mother?” I decided to aim for a compromise. If I reduced the number of fabric layers stacked atop each other, I would have a much easier time moving...or so I thought.
My mother simply frowned at me.
“Would you drop that nonsense already, Agnes? Do you really think such tomfoolery would be permitted?! Those dresses are priceless heirlooms for you to pass down to your own children.”
I’d already decided that in the unlikely event that I ever had children of my own, I wouldn’t abuse them by forcing those hefty dresses on them, and instead I would simply buy them new ones.
“At any rate, make sure not to fail to get engaged this time, would you?! We’ve already spoken with his parents.”
I felt my heart grow heavy upon hearing that.
“I’d just like to confirm—you mean you’ve received a proper reply to the proposal this time, right?” I’d hate to find myself in the same situation as I had at the count’s party, so I made sure to ask my mother.
“Ahem, as I said, we’ve discussed the matter,” my mother replied, suddenly becoming evasive and losing her earlier vigor. I wondered why.
Did they only send a proposal and get no meaningful reply again?! Don’t put me in such a tight spot!
I was the one to get hurt every single time. My parents kept going on about engagement this, marriage that, but they didn’t lift a single finger to help. They had both originally been members of the House of Evantail—cousins, to be precise—so they’d shared the same values and hadn’t experienced any hardships in their engagement. They couldn’t understand the hell their daughter was going through, showed pure apathy to my hurtful “Lady Bumpkin” nickname, and only made absurd demands of me.
Why can’t they understand that the viscount is putting off his reply because he has no interest in this engagement?! Open your eyes already!
Ordering Lady Bumpkin to capture a man’s heart with no support whatsoever was practically impossible and a massive pain in my rear. And now the pain had spread to my stomach too. The overly formal and old-fashioned House of Evantail was already shunned by other nobles, and my ridiculous appearance only served to worsen their impression.
Nooo, I don’t want to go! But no matter how much I protested in my mind, my trip to the royal palace was unavoidable. I could only wait for the day to approach, all the while trembling in fear.