When My Enemies Began to Regret

12. Personally

“What are you thinking so hard about when you come all the way here?”

“Take a guess.”

“I don’t know. I’m not good at guessing other people’s minds.”

It had been a few weeks since Fanora spoke this arrogant way. The two of them, the main characters of today, carefully climbed up in front of the podium. Aloken then put one hand behind her back and reached out the other to help her lightly.

When she looked around, there were already necessary figures filling the seats. Priests who would grant the engagement in the name of holy god, elders of both families, vassals of Duke and Count. However, there were many nobles whom Fanora didn’t know there, so she thought they were probably from the North.

“Then, let the ceremony begin. Remember the request to keep it as short as possible. My fiancée doesn’t like when it’s become boring.”

With all the necessary guests present, all that remains is to proceed with the ceremony. The venue was decorated splendidly, and the process was surprisingly simple.

First, the priest raised the guests who would witness the engagement ceremony and offered a simple prayer. After that, everyone sat down again, and the priest recited the baptismal speech for the fiancée. Then, the vassals of the two families stand up and exchange the pre-written engagement document. Of course, the documents had to be stamped with each other’s family seals.

“…The two of you, please put the token of your promise into each other’s hands.”

And the last, the exchange of engagement rings.

Fanora could see at a glance the engagement ring that Aloken prepared arbitrarily looked so luxurious.

She thought for a moment if he was spending too much money on this fake engagement. However, since it would be retrieved after their contract was done, it won’t be a big loss to him.

When Aloken held her hand and put the engagement ring on her ring finger, Fanora did the same to him. As the engagement process came to an end, the priest made the guests stand again and recited a long prayer.

“By this, I declare that the engagement of the two has been promised by God’s permission.”

This was the end of it all.

An engagement ceremony was a simple event with no special reception. The related parties signed the document under the priest’s certification. At the end of the ceremony, the witness went back one by one. Some of them approached the related parties and talked to them.

“Little Duke, as joining the Celsius family in the future—”

“Lord, you’re so dignified today. With Lord as the successor of the family, the future of Duke Jalier will be—”

“Lord, I have the medicine that will help the Duke’s recovery—!”

As soon as Aloken Jalier came out from the high priest’s room, he was surrounded by people. But the problem was that Fanora was also surrounded by a crowd.

“Hello, Lady Celsius! I’m Emiliara, the eldest daughter of Viscount Barsen. Congratulations on your engagement today. Lady’s engagement ceremony is so grand as if the whole Kingdom blessing your engagement.”

“Lady Fanora, I heard that you’ve been out of the social world due to your weak body, but I’m glad you’ve improved. Are you okay now?”

“If Lady doesn’t have any plans afterward, how about we go to our house party…”

Fanora had been thinking about it for a long time, but it was funny. They were so desperate to make a connection with her just because she was engaged to Aloken Jalier.

It was what she had hoped for anyway. Because she also chose this engagement for power. There would be no one who would carelessly touch the person who would become the Duke’s companion. If someone’s jealousy made things get worse, Fanora now had the power to punish them. 

 “Thank you for treating me kindly as I’m not yet familiar here. Even though northern people’s hands are cold, you have warm hearts.”

“Oh my, how can Lady speak so beautifully like a poem?”

“But… I’m sorry, I haven’t gotten used to the Northern climate yet, so it will be difficult for me to accept the invitation…”

“Lady Fanora, I will send a fresh gentian to the Celsius mansion right away! I hope Lady is always healthy.”

“Yes, then, goodbye.”

Fanora managed to get out of the crowd of nobles, who hardly let her go, using the excuse of her health. Then, it was the perfect time to go back to the room where Cecil was waiting for her, change into casual clothes, and prepare to go home.

“Hey, wait!”

However, Fanora turned her head when she heard someone following her at a fast pace. She clenched her fists tight and didn’t forget to search for the vital points of the mysterious person, thinking it might be someone with malicious intent. 

“Who are you…?”

However, the person who appeared in front of her was the esteemed son of the noble family. 

“Huh, don’t you even recognize the younger brother of the man you would marry?”

“Aha.”

Having heard this, Fanora only now realized that he looked like Duke Jalier. His hair was so close to brown that she couldn’t recognize him at first. If he had black hair, she would have recognized him right away.

“Greetings, Lord Rose Jalier. It’s my first time seeing you.”

He was the second son of Duke Jalier. In the future Fanora remembered that he was the person who would inherit the Duke instead of his older brother. Still, he died suddenly in an unfortunate accident.

However, when Fanora greeted him politely, the other party suddenly got angry. “I’ve known since the time you didn’t even show your face to my family while preparing for the engagement, but I can’t find any sincerity coming from you. “

Not helping the preparation for the engagement was something could be blamed for, but was it really something that would cause the younger brother to get mad? Fanora showed a puzzled expression. 

“It was Lord who didn’t show your face. I even prayed beside the Duke Jalier when he was sick. “

“But isn’t this your first time in the North? You didn’t even recognize me until just now. “

“It’s because I had a health issue…  I said my greetings to the Duke in advance, so I was going to introduce myself to Lord after the engagement ceremony as we became a real family. I’m sorry if I offended you by introducing myself late.”

Fanora didn’t show any emotion and behaved as a noble should do. But inside, she thought about him, who was getting mad at her.

Still, Fanora thought it was not a good thing for him to give tantrums from time to time. As she stood still and took a deep breath, Aloken’s brother continued the conversation at his will.

“Huh, your family didn’t have any fertile land, and the head of your family didn’t have good skills for business…”

“…?”

“I wonder if the engagement between the Count family and Duke family was something really necessary to do in the first place.”

Fanora felt something different as her fiancé’s family, which she had only known from the book, unfolded in front of her eyes.

“Did he prepare quickly while I was away? In addition, when I heard about the engagement, I found out that you have no reputation in the social world. Just like a ghost. Besides, there’s a rumor saying that you’re born out of wedlock…”

“Wait, why are you bringing up this topic now? And why should I be listening to them?”

This had gone too far. Even the most prominent nobles had no right to make a fuss about an unspeakable scandal. 

The boy named Rose frowned and lowered his voice as Fanora showed that she felt uncomfortable with his words. “I mean, why would that arrogant Aloken Jalier make you, who is an insignificant human being, as his fiancée?”

“Are you gossiping about me?”

“Don’t you feel strange about it too? I don’t know how Aloken deceives you, but you have no idea what kind of person he is.”

And at this time, Fanora noticed a figure walking silently behind him and shifted her gaze to that figure. 

“I’m saying this for you. I don’t know what you want from the Duke’s family, but do it in moderation and break off your engagement…” Rose Jalier kept talking without noticing the figure, but it wasn’t long before he found out who that figure was.

“Anyway, isn’t it too much to try to steal your older brother’s fiancée?”

“…Aloken!?”

In the meantime, Aloken had already changed his formal attire into his usual dull navy coat. Fanora reflexively bowed her head to greet Aloken. However, Aloken wasn’t in a good mood to say greetings at all.

“I don’t know why you two talked about breaking up the engagement, but I’m sorry, I don’t want to be called a broken-hearted man right now. Ignore what he said, Fanora.”

“Cut the crap! Fanora, I definitely warned you. If you get married to him later, you’ll regret it. It will be like that! Then—”

Aloken was eager to ignore his younger brother, and his younger brother uttered all of his words to slander him. Of course, Rose had to pay the price of what he said.

“Ugh!”

“!”

With a punching sound, Rose fell back. Aloken punched him in the chest before he could further open his mouth.

“If you talk about me like this… don’t blame me for being cruel. We need to clarify our causal relationship.”

“Ugh, keheug.”

Maybe it was because he hit him so hard that his younger brother grabbed his chest and couldn’t breathe. Fanora stood still as she saw the fight between the brothers.

“How long do you think your act will work? I will tell all of this to father! There are so many witnesses!”

“You urge my beloved fiancée to break up with me. Is there anyone who won’t be angry when in the same position as me?”

What follows was, of course, a romantic statement. It wasn’t something she wanted to hear from a person who beat his relatives with a cold expression.

“Lady Fanora, you still haven’t changed your mind? Even after seeing what he’s doing right now?”

“…”

“It would be a thorny road waiting for you to become Aloken’s wife.”

Fanora didn’t respond to the ensuing threats from Rose. Then Rose groaned and backed away. He looked back at his brother, then quickly disappeared from the hallway.

“Lord Aloken Jalier.”

When the disturbing brother disappeared, Aloken approached her with a relaxed look. However, Fanora felt that it was necessary to say these words, so she opened her mouth while refusing his escort. “I didn’t know that I would suffer from your family even before getting married.”

“Just like the good astrology said, I also can’t predict the way ahead.”

* * *

“But what are you doing here? Aren’t you busy?”

Although Fanora was wearing shiny clothes as if they had been polished like jewels, only her shoes were in a frugal appearance, so the stepping sound rang out from the low heels. After walking in the hallway for a long time, she wondered why Aloken had come all the way here.

Aloken gently answered her, “I already knew what Rose would do when he found out about our engagement. When he was busy with other things, I had a hard time secretly preparing for the engagement ceremony.”

“Did you just come here to stop your brother?”

“Yes, but I was late because I was caught by the elders.”

Aloken checked his sleeves over and over again to see if any spots got dirty from his previous fight, even though there was not a single speck of dust. Fanora unconsciously checked Aloken’s clothes and thought briefly.

There were many picturesquely harmonious noble families in the society, but the relationship in this family seemed severe.