“Father!”
Merdi ran, her long skirt fluttering, and threw herself into his arms.
It was the first time she had set foot in her homeland since leaving for Elsmere for her Bridal Lessons.
The journey between the Empire and the Kingdom took several weeks, and she’d had no choice but to be mindful of Grand Dame Margaret’s scrutiny.
Compared to the Empire, Belloc was a small, weak nation with slow development.
Sometimes, when Margaret spoke of Belloc, she would frown as if recalling something utterly disgusting.
‘But how will she react when she finds out I asked the Grand Duke for an annulment?’
Would she say, “How dare you?” just as Clifton had?
Or would she jump at the chance and prepare a ticket for the next boat?
Merdi tilted her head in thought, then pushed her worries about Margaret aside.
She was finally back in Belloc.
If it weren’t for Clifton, Margaret would never have allowed her to come.
Just for this moment, she was a tiny bit grateful to him.
Even though their discussion about the annulment had been filled with hurt feelings and unpleasantries…
The memory of emptying her stomach in his arms surfaced, and cold sweat prickled her palms.
Merdi quickly cleared her mind.
Anyway, at that moment, she felt a little grateful.
“Merdi, my little peanut has become a lady in no time!”
Sterling, the King of Belloc, hugged his daughter, his face alight with joy.
Merdi willingly buried her face in his embrace.
Her father smelled faintly of grass, a natural scent she never encountered among the people of the Empire.
‘Ah, how I’ve missed this.’
As if she had reverted to a child, Merdi lifted her head abruptly and replied with a burst of energy.
“Calling a lady a peanut!
If Grand Dame Margaret heard that, she would have a fit.”
“Ooh, but the Grand Dame isn’t here, is she?”
Sterling’s benevolent smile never wavered as he led Merdi into the castle.
The mossy gray walls, the stone path where weeds grew in sparse patches, and the untended garden that was as free-spirited as its owner.
It certainly wasn’t elegant, but it was far more lovable than the perfectly manicured gardens of Greenfield.
That suffocating perfection felt just like the corset and shoes that bound her waist and feet.
Sterling led her to the reception room in the east wing.
The old floorboards smelled of musty wood, but Merdi didn’t mind at all.
It was the scent of home.
“Come to think of it, I don’t see William,” Merdi asked, having finished soaking in her memories.
William was Merdi’s only sibling, her older brother.
Since their mother had passed, her only family were her father and William.
She was inwardly disappointed he hadn’t come to greet her.
Sterling’s eyes darted around before he swept a hand over the back of his neck.
“…William’s been busy.
You know how it is—so much happening in Belloc these days.”
His hesitance seemed a bit odd, as if he were choosing his words carefully, but Merdi didn’t press him.
She didn’t want to interrogate her father after being apart for so long, and it was true that the Kingdom had become much busier.
Since they had started full-scale resource development, William, as the Crown Prince, would have a great deal to learn.
When Merdi nodded, Sterling laughed awkwardly and changed the subject.
“More importantly, I was surprised when you said you were suddenly coming to Belloc.
I thought perhaps you were coming with His Grace the Grand Duke ahead of the wedding.”
‘Ah…’
She had come to ask for his permission to annul the engagement, but she hadn’t expected the topic to come up so quickly.
Still, delaying it wouldn’t make her anxiety disappear.
It was probably better to get it over with.
Sterling, not noticing her hesitation, continued.
“The news that he succeeded to the title of Grand Duke has reached even this faraway place.
Had you come together, I would have offered my congratulations in person.
What a pity.”
There was still plenty of time, she supposed.
Watching Sterling chatter with a laugh, Merdi finally managed to speak.
“…Actually, the reason I came before the wedding is that I have something I need to ask your permission for, Father.”
“Permission…?
Is something wrong?”
Seeing her unusual expression, Sterling finally seemed to sense the shift in mood and lowered his voice.
Merdi took a small breath before broaching the subject.
“Well…”
It was the first time she was telling anyone besides Clifton.
Even though it was her father, she was still trembling.
“I… want to annul my engagement with the Grand Duke.”
As Merdi’s sigh-laden words fell, Sterling’s eyes went wide.
He froze, staring at her for a long moment before muttering, “Oh my God…” and pressing a hand to his forehead.
She had expected him to be surprised, but his reaction was far more severe than she had imagined.
She felt like a criminal.
“I’m sorry… to meet you after so long only to tell you something like this…”
“Wait, wait a moment, Merdi.”
Sterling, looking dizzy, barely managed to force out a trembling voice.
He sounded breathless, like a man who had just run a great distance.
“An annulment… Why are you saying this so suddenly?
You haven’t said a word for five years.
To bring this up now… I’m a little… no, I’m utterly bewildered.”
Merdi bit her lip.
It was true.
She had accepted the engagement obediently, and the weekly letters she sent her father contained nothing but simple pleasantries.
But that wasn’t because nothing was wrong.
It was because she hadn’t wanted to worry him.
How could she tell him that she was locked in the Room of Repentance for any mistake, that she survived each day on the cold soup and meager sandwiches served by maids who ignored her?
She had just thought that if she endured, it would all work out somehow.
That if she just endured and tried hard enough, things would change.
But too much had already gone wrong to harbor such hope.
“I liked him, too.
That’s why I accepted the engagement, even though I knew it wouldn’t be easy.
But Father…”
The words ‘half-blood’, ‘stranger’, and ‘wild bird’ flashed through Merdi’s mind.
Frowning as if in pain, Merdi confessed in a low voice, “I… I’ll wither and die if I stay there.
I know, now, that they will never accept me as one of their own.”
Despite her honest, desperate plea, Sterling’s expression remained grave.
“Merdi… I want to listen to you, I do, but this is a matter between nations.”
“That’s why I’m telling you, Father.
If we request the annulment first, the Empire can’t simply insist.”
It would be awkward, but not impossible.
The Elsmere Empire’s plan was to rehabilitate their image through an engagement with a weaker nation.
Strictly speaking, Belloc held the key to this marriage.
Merdi knew that.
Sterling still looked troubled.
“Is it because of the aid from the Empire…?”
The Empire had promised Belloc a great deal: technology and manpower to develop their resources.
It was no small price.
It would solve the Kingdom’s long-delayed problems.
With their abundant resources, proper development might allow the kingdom, which had been stuck in the past, to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Empire.
But even knowing that, Merdi found it hard to understand her father’s hesitation.
He was a bit complacent and indecisive, yes, but he was a peaceful man with no greed.
Belloc itself reflected its leader, being peaceful and laid-back.
Which was why his current obsession was so puzzling.
The father she knew was not someone so desperate for the Kingdom’s development.
Merdi studied his face again.
The shadow over his eyes was still deep and heavy.
“Father…?”
“Actually, there is something I haven’t told you.”
Finally, Sterling’s tightly shut lips parted.
He couldn’t seem to find his next words, pressing his fingertips firmly against his brow.
When he spoke, his voice was dry.
“Well… we’ve incurred a bit of a debt to the Grand Duke of Greenfield.”
Startled, Merdi could only stare at him.
Debt…?
A debt?
“What do you mean by that, Father?”
“William caused… an accident.
A situation arose where money was needed.”
“What kind of accident?
Please, tell me everything.”
Merdi felt her mouth go completely dry.
Clifton had been on the battlefield for most of the past five years.
When on earth could they have become indebted to him?
It was something she, his fiancée, knew absolutely nothing about.
“As you know, Belloc is beginning full-scale resource development.
William was overflowing with enthusiasm.
I think he saw and learned a lot during his recent trips to the Empire.
The problem was… his enthusiasm was excessive.
Because of that… he was swindled.”
“…Swindled?”
“He made a mistake with a real estate contract for the land meant for a factory and nearly lost thirty percent of the southern granary.”
Thirty percent of the southern granary was by no means a small area.
Losing that much land would cripple the Kingdom’s operations.
They would have been forced into debt.
The revelation sent a tremor through her; her hands and feet began to shake.
“The man who cheated him was from the Elsmere Empire, so it wasn’t easy to retaliate.
The cunning fellow had arranged it all so neatly, legally.
He said if we wanted the land back, we had to pay him.”
Merdi was too stunned to speak.
“It was too large a sum, but we couldn’t just stand by.
If this became public, the people wouldn’t have forgiven William for losing such important national land.
So, grasping at straws, I sent a letter to the Grand Duke.
It happened to be during a time when His Grace was staying at Greenfield for recuperation during the war.”
“…So the Grand Duke paid it for us.”
Sterling stroked his beard and nodded slowly.
“I suppose he couldn’t bear to see his in-laws become a laughingstock…”
She fell silent.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner.
But… I thought telling you would only burden your heart.”
“How much was it?
The amount the Grand Duke paid?”
Sterling’s eyes wandered, refusing to meet hers.
“…About three hundred thousand pounds.”
At the massive sum, her lips began to tremble.
“Still, considering the experience William gained, it’s a small price to pay—”
“Father!”
Three hundred thousand pounds.
It was enough to build two castles with money to spare.