The dealers, expecting only to bleed a bit of loose change from a bumpkin noble, wound up taking him for the ride of a lifetime. Having saddled a man with an unfathomable debt that no ordinary mortal could bear, they were probably stunned themselves.
“Ah, I’m penniless now. Haha, hahaha. What do I do? What am I going to do?”
“You’re not penniless, old man. You’re in debt up to your ears! How’re you going to pay it back, huh?”
“P-please, spare me!”
“…G-girls. It’s not like I wanted any of this to happen.”
“…”
“Still, heaven didn’t abandon me, and I managed to borrow the money from someone nearby… but having no means to repay it…”
“S-someone help me, please! I have four unmarried daughters at home!”
“…How much?”
“Pardon?”
“I will help you. In exchange…”
“Just how much did you borrow?!”
“…A million golds.”
“…”
In an instant, silence smothered the table.
While my older sisters glared at Father with eyes full of resentment, I clenched my teeth and focused entirely on what lay ahead.
…I can survive this. I must.
Muttering silently, I closed my eyes. Even as a ruinous sum swept over the table, I did not let a single breath falter, fixing my thoughts solely on my future.
“A million golds? Someone lent that to you, Father? What madman would do that?”
“M-Melanie. Calm down first.”
“The Northern Federal Bank’s prime rate was three point five percent last month! Even applying that baseline, the monthly interest alone would exceed three thousand golds—and if you borrowed it in a gambling den, they’ll easily demand ten times that!”
True to form, Melanie, the most practical of us, was already clattering away on her mental abacus. But no matter how much she ranted, the milk was already spilled. The true outrage was yet to come.
“…W-well, he did say I didn't need to worry about the money. Told me not to fret over that part.”
“Oh, please! What kind of idiot in this world would say that?”
“He said he was an aide to the Grand Duke of Valencia.”
“Val… who?”
“The Grand Duke of Valencia. Surely you girls haven’t forgotten who he is?”
“…”
A chill far colder than the mention of a million golds descended upon the room. My second older sister dropped the book she usually guarded with her life.
“The Incarnation of Evil! The Sovereign of Slaughter! The Blood-Soaked Grand Duke!”
“…There’s one more. The Cursed Beast.”
When our eldest sister, who had been holding her breath, chimed in with a whisper, Father’s expression soured. The burden of having to tell her ‘He’s your groom’ must have weighed heavily on him.
“Everyone, calm down for a moment…”
“A-and then what! What did that aide say to go dragging His Grace’s name into this?”
“He told me… if I lacked the means to repay it anyway, it didn’t necessarily have to be money.”
“…Not money?”
“You all know. The thing our household has the most of is…”
Father looked slowly across his four daughters, his gaze finally coming to a halt on the face of our eldest sister, Elijah.
Having stared blankly without grasping what he meant, she burst into screams and tears only seconds later.
“F-Father! You can’t mean…!”
“Elijah, think carefully. It might not be such a bad thing for you. You would become a grand duchess, no less.”
“Uuuugh! Waaah!”
“Granted, His Grace doesn’t enjoy the best reputation in the world, but with our circumstances, becoming a grand duchess is beyond our wildest dreams.”
“I don’t even want to dream it! If you covet the title so much, why didn’t you become the grand duchess yourself, Father! Waaah!”
Collapsing onto the table at last, Elijah’s shoulders shook violently. And who could blame her? Mere hours ago, she had been enjoying a sweet tryst with a young lover head over heels for her.
Above all, there was another truth tormenting her most.
“Don’t you know who he is? He’s cursed! His entire face is hideous and disfigured! I’d rather live with a handsome beggar! How could you tell me to become that thing’s wife?!”
To Elijah, looks were talent, wealth, and the future itself. Telling her to marry a grand duke turned beast was crueler than ordering her into a convent.
“I won’t! I refuse! I’d rather die than do it!”
“Elijah, be quiet!”
“…Hic.”
“A promise has already been made, so what else can be done? Besides, you can’t go on living like this forever. It’s time you settled down. A proper marriage here is out of the question anyway, but at least there, you’ll live in luxury. The entire North belongs to him.”
Bellowing first like the archetypal hopeless patriarch, Father belatedly tried to soothe Elijah. But his words were powerless to sway a heart already shattered by shock.
Beside our sister, whose wails threatened to bring down the shabby house, Melanie shook her by the shoulder.
“…Sister, stop it already. It can’t be helped.”
“What? Are you out of your mind? You’re only saying that because you don’t have to go, Melanie!”
“Hey, I’m comforting you and you’re snapping at me? Frankly speaking, if you’d carried yourself properly, would Father be casting you out so far away?”
“Why you—do you need to be buried alive under your books to come to your senses?!”
“Quiet!”
BAM!
Only when I slammed both fists onto the table with all my might did my sisters’ weeping and shouting grind to an abrupt halt. Having watched me sit there with my eyes shut in stony silence, they parted their lips, utterly bewildered.
“…Can’t you see I’m trying to think? Shut up, both of you.”
“Bella, you…”
At the voice grinding through my clenched teeth, my sisters’ grip on each other slackened. But that was only because seeing me like this was a novelty, not because they were truly afraid.
Turning to face my sisters, who looked ready to flip the table right back over, I opened my eyes with solemn resolve. There was only one sentence that could resolve this utter disaster.
“…I’ll go. That settles it, doesn’t it?”
“…”
“I said I’ll go, so drop it.”
“…”
The impact of my words far exceeded expectations. The room, a total circus just moments ago, fell completely still. Not only my sisters, but even Father, who had been trying so hard to persuade Elijah, stood tongue-tied for a long while.
“B-Bella!”
“I’ll go. So everyone, just stop.”
“That cannot be. How could I send you? What kind of house do you think we are? For a younger sister to marry before her elder defies all family propriety.”
“Hah…”
Look at the grand aristocratic patriarch now.
A hollow laugh welled up from deep in my chest until I couldn't hold it back anymore. As empty chuckles slipped from my lips, an uneasy tension rippled through the room. When I cut off my laughter in a split second and lifted my head, their agitation only worsened.
“Father, if you wish to speak of family propriety, a patriarch should protect his daughters first.”
“…Bella, how could you say such a thing?”
“Have you even thought about what happens after you send our eldest sister?”
I looked at Elijah. Her disheveled state from clawing at our second sister was a perfect portrait of this family’s future.
Under my unblinking gaze, she flared up, her face flushing red.
“W-what about me?”
“Indeed. What could Elijah possibly do…”
“Do you really think she’ll go there and become a virtuous grand duchess? Do you honestly believe she can live the rest of her life looking only at a grand duke turned into a beast?”
“…W-well, that’s…”
“Let’s be blunt. Can you guarantee she won’t have an affair there?”
“…”
As expected, Father couldn’t answer. Even Elijah herself cast her eyes down, looking distinctly unconfident. Knowing one’s own limits was truly her greatest virtue.
“Still, Bella, you’re being far too hars—”
“Unless you’re the one getting married, stay out of it.”
“…”
Having silenced Elijah completely, I turned back to Father. Wearing a pained look, he still hadn’t given up and sought out his next target, but I was faster.
“Surely you aren’t thinking of Melanie?”
“…If not Elijah, then Melanie, the second, should go. As you know, Melanie is modest, so in that regard…”
“Right. Modestly talking back to His Grace at every turn with ‘Why me? Why should I do that?’ until only her severed head gets sent back.”
When I made a slicing motion across my throat with my fingertip, Melanie grabbed her neck. Our second sister couldn't deny it either, unable to guarantee she wouldn't do just that.
“Even so…”
I thought he’d run out of options, but Father was still Father. Going from the first to the second, and then gazing past me toward Rose, made me completely explode.
“Where do you think you’re looking right now! Don’t tell me you’re planning to send Rose!”
“N-no. Of course not.”
“Don’t even think about it! Then why are you skipping over me, the third daughter?”
“…I only meant that you’ve suffered so much all this time.”
“Right. You mean ‘keep suffering like you always have.’ Because if I leave, there won’t be anyone in this house willing to roll up their sleeves and work!”
“…”
Now not just Father, but my sisters shut their mouths tight. Seeing only Rose trembling anxiously, I barely reined in my fury and lowered my voice.
“I’m going. That’s the only way any of us survive!”
“B-but I already told the aide I would send the eldest. If we change it now…”
“What does he care whether it’s the eldest or the third? To them, it’s just keeping up appearances anyway.”
“…”
“Besides, we all look pretty similar.”
Though, of course, I was far prettier.
