Please Marry My Son

Chapter 7

“Shall we get engaged?

2022.10.25.”

Alicia blinked in surprise and glanced at her mother for a moment.

“Invitation? What invitation? From that person? To me? Why?”

“I told you. The Earl of Russell invited you.”

“Your mother?”

“Yeah. Here, look. The invitation arrived today.”

Alicia hesitated with a bewildered expression towards the cheerful countess before quickly accepting the invitation at her urging.

Just a moment ago, her mother’s affectionate words seemed like they were all just a setup for this, Alicia thought blankly as she stared at the invitation.

“The woman who bailed me out of a bad situation, didn’t even thank me, and then stormed off after 15 minutes of meeting up with me again.

“Ugh. That weird girl is me-.”

Feeling like she was going to die of embarrassment, Alicia pulled the covers over her head.

If she refused again, she might not be the weird one this time, but rather a crazy one.

“Why do I keep getting tangled up with that guy?”

“I should’ve never met him back then. I should’ve firmly said no, regardless of whether Mother cried or not.”

But regret was pointless.

Lost in embarrassment, awkwardness, and shame under the covers, Alicia found that time had passed considerably.

With a resigned feeling, Alicia cautiously poked her head out from under the covers.

“This must be how he felt.”

I could almost hear Eric’s voice in my head, the one that had once spoken so regretfully.

“Even if we can’t help it this time, is this really the end of it? Your mother seems to be just as unpredictable as she was.”

“If I’m dragged down like this and I can’t even get it out-.”

“We’ll have to organize it somehow before then, so we don’t get in trouble later.”

Alicia muttered helplessly, then suddenly stood up and sat down.

Eric’s situation is different from hers.

He’s the heir to a dukedom, and everything is already settled and stable for him, so it wouldn’t be odd for him to marry at any time.

However, he himself doesn’t want to get married right now, so it must be a difficult situation due to his parents pushing him relentlessly.

“Apparently the largest shareholder in the trading company I audited was the Duke of Gloucester.”

I was too young and inexperienced to do much more than assist, but that kind of experience with such a big company would certainly help me in my future job search.

“I think there’s room for a deal. It’s worth a try.”

“If it works out, we can move forward, and if it doesn’t, it’s over anyway, so what’s the harm?”

Eric was embarrassed.

What his mother said was more disconcerting than her unexpected arrival.

“The Countess of Lancaster sent me a letter. She said you did so well.”

“I did what?”

The Duchess of Gloucester laughed mockingly at her son, who blinked in confusion.

“You were so eager to please that you went so far as to serve him pudding yourself, with your temper, and besides.”

The Duchess suddenly laughed out loud.

“You like kids? You do?”

“Aaahhh! I should have killed you then, old me!

I let out an inward scream of panic that actually stiffened my entire body outwardly.

“The twins are still looking for you. The Countess of Lancaster has written to thank you several times.”

“So invite her, ASAP.”

“Invite who?”

“Who, Alicia.”

“Yes? No, why?”

“Come on now, dear.”

“Will she come if I invite her?”

“Then why did this topic come up?”

“——.”

“I thought we were supposed to be talking about organizing, so why again, or more importantly, why you?

The Duchess looked at her son, who was blinking because his brain wasn’t keeping up with the rapidly changing situation, and at the Duke, who was looking at her with the most amused expression he’d seen all year.

***]

As soon as the carriage carrying Alicia arrived at Count Russell’s estate, the butler sprang forward.

Eric didn’t have time to stop him.

Whether he did or not, the butler opened the carriage door excitedly.

“Welcome, my lady.”

“Thank you.”

As Eric, who was supposed to be escorting Alicia, stood off to the side, the butler motioned for him to get over here quickly.

A normal butler wouldn’t do that, even with a knife at his throat, but neither the excited butler nor the panicked Eric noticed.

Eric quickly reached out his hand to Alicia when the butler noticed.

“Come on.”

“Hello.”

Alicia took Eric’s hand and stepped down from the carriage.

They were impeccably polite, but there was an undeniable awkwardness between them.

“What’s with this atmosphere? The big lady said it must be going well.

The butler, watching from the side, tilted his head in thought.

‘Ah, yes. It’s the first time we’ve invited a lady to the manor, indeed. I can understand that. Understanding, he resumed his most favorable and polite posture toward Alicia.

*** 

“——.”

After the butler poured the tea and left, the two sat in silence for a while.

Then their eyes met, and Eric smiled awkwardly and offered her tea.

“Please eat.”

“Yep. Oh, that’s the tea, the orange silk.”

“Yes.”

I watched Alicia sip her tea and then spoke.

“They told me that Silat used to be famous for its oranges, so they wanted to grow a tea that smelled or tasted like oranges, so they tried a lot of different things, and when they first tested it, it tasted like oranges.

But when they started growing it in large quantities to market it, they said that something wasn’t right with the conditions and it tasted like other fruits.”

“Yikes.”

“They said they couldn’t change the name because they already had the publicity and the product packaging in place.”

“Oh, so it’s still called Orange Silk.”

“Oh, I realized I forgot to tell you that last time, so I looked it up.”

“Oh, you didn’t forget, thank you.”

“Well, yeah.”

It would be awkward if they met, so she figured she should have something to talk about, so she poked around and found out about a distant relative, Baron Perl, who was helping her with the Silent Estate, and it worked.

Alicia took a sip of her tea while Eric tried to figure out what else to say, and then opened her mouth cautiously.

“I’m sorry, Count.”

“?”

“It seems you’re not the only one. My mother is also…. a bit hmm. I didn’t realize you’d come to this.”

“Ha, ha.”

Watching Eric laugh awkwardly for a moment, Alicia gently grasped the edge of her skirt and spoke up.

“To be honest, I was worried. I was afraid you might think of me as a strange woman.”

“Oh- That’s not the case. I don’t have such thoughts. And we didn’t come here because we wanted to.”

The words flashed through my head like a flashlight.

Then our eyes met, and suddenly we both burst out laughing.

“Now that I think about it, I’m really embarrassed.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve never been at the mercy of anything like this before.”

“Me neither.”

I laughed again, feeling like I’d just gotten caught up in something.

But it broke the ice, and the two were much more comfortable with each other than they had been earlier.

Alicia locked eyes with Eric, thankful for that

“?”

“Do you want to get engaged?”

“…?”

“We’re getting engaged.”

At first I thought I’d misheard.

“What’s that all of a sudden?”

Eric, who was about to fake embarrassment, straightened up when he met Alicia’s serious gaze.

“I’m sorry. This is so unexpected. May I ask why?”

“Neither the Count nor I actually intend to marry.”

“That…. so.”

“But your parents don’t seem to be giving up.”

“They are.”

“So, speaking of which, how about a contract with me?”

“Contract?”

“Yes. It’s a prenuptial agreement, so to speak.”

“Why such a bad deal? If we break up later, it’ll tarnish your reputation.”

I don’t mind, because I don’t have a reputation to tarnish, but Alicia does.

But Alicia shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t care.

“I appreciate your concern, and that’s something I’ll have to deal with, but I’m not sure I’d call it a price, since the Count says so.

“”?”

“Why don’t you hire me?”

“Hire?”

“I need a job.”

“A job? Why?”

“Because life is not easy, as you know, my father is away for a long time, my mother is weak, and my siblings are still young.”

Alicia spoke casually and with a straight face, but Eric was embarrassed.

Normally, people would want to keep things like this to themselves, not talk about it out loud.

He’d heard that the Earls of Lancaster had been quite a prominent family in the past, and he wondered how it had come to be that, after only one generation, the Earl’s younger son was looking for work.

“Does anyone know what’s going on with the Count now?”

“You see, I haven’t hidden it.”

Neither Eric nor the Duchess had even visited the mansion themselves, and they hadn’t noticed.

Not even the madam in the wardrobe room where the Duchess met Alicia.

Then the stories he’d told his mother, the Duchess, began to pop into his head and fit together with Alicia’s story.

“It’s a coincidence. The Countess of Lancaster is a regular customer of ours, and she wears most of her clothes from that outfitter. You know they don’t give clothes to just anyone, don’t you?’

‘Mother, she must have worked at that dressmaker’s.’

‘That’s why they also help their neighbors in need with the goods and cash they receive.

“Mother, I think you’re the one in need.

‘The mansion is so quaint and full of history.

“Mother, it’s just old.

“Count?”

Eric was pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of Alicia’s voice.

He looked at himself for a moment, then at Alicia, who was staring at him, waiting for an answer.

“I’m sure my parents won’t give up, given their nature. I just need to keep quiet for a few months in the capital.

A contract is only as good as the give and take, and since both parties are clear about what they want, it’s a good deal.

Besides, if Alicia was as capable as the wardrobe maid assured him, Eric had nothing to lose.

“Let’s do it, the engagement.”

The decision was swift.

“We’re equal partners, contractually bound to take what we want from each other.”

“Yes. That’s what I wanted.”

“Let’s just announce it as a betrothal, with no actual engagement since the Earl of Lancaster is out of town, so it won’t be too much of a blemish if we break up later.”

“Ah, that would be good.”

“Another thing. I’ll let you decide the reason for the breakup.”

“Why?”

“That’s because I have a lot of reasons on my side.”

“What reasons?”

“That’s for later.”

Eric smiled and waved it off, not really wanting to say it himself.

“So let’s talk about the details of the contract, shall we?”