Chapter 9
Responsibility and Duty (4)
If one were to ask the people of Wibin, “What is the most splendid thing in this land?” there was an answer that would return a hundred times out of a hundred.
It was, “The Wibin family estate.”
The manor, boasting hundreds of years of history, possessed a dignity that had seeped in over the ages, and it radiated a brilliance as dazzling as the value of its ornaments.
This estate stood at the diametric opposite of the Portman family, who regarded moderation and order as virtues.
Clack, clack—
The master of that manor was moving with busy steps today.
Joseph Wibin—the current head of the Baronial House of Wibin and Tiria’s father.
“So the fellow is finally returning.”
Joseph spoke as he tightened his necktie. It was a tie crafted stitch by stitch by a master artisan using expensive fabric that commanded a fortune even in the capital.
“To come back at a moment like this—is he not a disagreeable fellow to the very end?”
“He is a lowborn wretch who is never of any help in life. If he was going to disappear, he should have stayed gone forever. It’s obvious he’s come to covet the inheritance, isn’t it? After all that money we’ve put in!”
The one responding was his wife, Anyak Wibin.
She was draped in expensive finery over a lavish indigo dress. A single pin tucked into her pinned-up hair was worth enough to feed a peasant family in Wibin for a month.
She spoke with concern.
“What should we do? If he happens to claim the right of succession to the inheritance…”
“Hmph! Who does he think he is to claim succession? That money is ours! It is money we are rightfully owed from those people for wasting ten years of our daughter’s life!”
“Y-yes, of course that’s true!”
The two raised their voices as if trying to hide their anxiety.
Hoven Portman’s inheritance had to fall into their hands.
Setting everything else aside, the Wibin family was at a point where they could no longer operate properly without that money.
They were people who placed great importance on their dignity as nobles.
They believed that dignity came from an outward appearance distinct from commoners, and that it was obtained by easily getting their hands on things they did not possess.
Consequently, their spending had long since exceeded normal bounds.
That was the reason Wibin was poor.
Despite being surrounded by wheat fields that produced high-quality grain, their consumption was greater than the earnings they gained from them.
Sending their daughter to the Portmans when the family fortunes were on the verge of collapse had been an unavoidable decision for them.
Did the daughter not have a responsibility and duty to serve the family?
They hadn’t just abandoned her, either.
Joseph had actually worked with heart and soul to make the Portmans into a noble family of the same rank as Wibin.
At least in his mind, it was thanks to Wibin that the Portmans became a baronial house, and with that, he had fulfilled his loyalty.
‘Indeed, they made my daughter live for ten years without a husband, so we should at least receive this much!’
The support that had come from the Portmans on an annual basis since the initial contract was not enough.
It had been sufficient at first, but their spending had increased over time.
Holding hunting competitions with nobles from neighboring territories, sponsoring his wife’s tea parties, and the vast amounts of money required for the maintenance of the manor and his own personal dignity—it added up.
They were just beginning to expand their influence, and to grasp something even greater, Hoven Portman’s massive inheritance was an indispensable factor.
“Surely that fellow and the deceased Portman must be threatening the girl. Otherwise, would it make sense for Tiria to never once reply to our letters?”
“Of course! After how we raised Tiria!”
Anyak feigned sorrow, dabbing at her tear ducts with a handkerchief.
Tiria, who had become a Portman, had never interacted with the family since heading there. She only occasionally showed her face at regular social gatherings.
And after Hoven Portman passed away, she was acting as if she had severed ties entirely.
There was no reply when they sent letters. She would not even permit a visit.
They didn’t consider the method of forcing their way in.
If they were to be turned away at the entrance, they would become a laughingstock among the neighboring nobles.
“We must save our daughter!”
“Indeed!”
How had they raised that daughter? How many resources had they poured into her?
That child’s fair skin and golden hair were things they had personally conceived and passed down.
Her etiquette was taught by a tutor summoned from the capital.
And what of her mindset as a noble? It was perfected through admonition, even at the cost of setting aside their own dignity.
Tiria Wibin was, dare one say, the masterpiece of the Wibin family.
She was a child originally meant to be married off to a noble of at least the rank of Count.
To think they sent such a child, only for her to be kept locked up like a bird in a cage.
And all while they aren’t even paying the proper price for it.
The more they thought about it, the more their faces flushed with rising anger.
However, that trace had vanished without a sign by the time they arrived in front of the drawing room.
For a noble must not easily reveal their emotions.
Crea-ak—
The door opened.
Their hearts were quite anxious at the thought that they had to be on guard, as he was the son of that subhuman Hoven Portman.
The moment they faced him, the two felt a sense of relief.
“I apologize for coming to greet you so late. I am Elric Portman.”
A limp, and the simple greeting of a commoner without a shred of refinement.
His genial impression was passable, but that was it.
To the two of them, Elric seemed like a very easy opponent.
It’s excessive.
That was the thought that occurred to Elric the moment he saw the two of them bedecked in their finery.
From his memory of the wedding day ten years ago, it hadn’t seemed this excessive, but time was truly a terrifying thing.
What came to mind unbidden were the words of his friend, Elbus Graham.
‘Excess is no better than deficiency. No matter how expensive the things you wear, it shouldn’t be obvious. If it is, it means the value of the adornment has consumed the master.’
From his perspective, these two were, how should he put it, like people who had been squashed under the weight of their decorations.
It was a rude thought, but what could he do when it was the truth?
In any case, the first impression was not good, and that feeling only deepened as the conversation continued.
He couldn’t help it, even if he tried to suppress it.
It was because of the attitude the two displayed after the formal greetings were over.
“Has it been ten years? It is truly difficult to see your face.”
“There must have been circumstances. Since he wouldn’t have learned anything regarding duties of this sort.”
“Well, the Portmans being incorporated into the nobility was…”
They were aggressive. Though they spoke without a change in expression as if trying to maintain their own dignity, their intent was too clear.
“…Well, I suppose it’s understandable that you wouldn’t know.”
Actually, he was in the position of the sinner.
From their perspective, was he not the enemy who had returned after neglecting their daughter for ten years?
From that viewpoint, their attitude could be justified.
He would have willingly endured it.
If only their sincerity had been rooted in that.
“What is your business for visiting?”
“I saw the letters that came to the manor. Regarding that…”
“Ah, that matter.”
Pfft. A small noise, close to a sneer, popped into the air.
What followed began to settle as a significant unpleasantness for Elric.
It wasn’t for any other reason.
“You must have come to claim ownership of the inheritance.”
It was because their words, their destination, were heading in a direction that Elric could not just stand by and watch.
“You don’t have to try to hide it. Since you don’t seem to have a talent for the language of this side, let me speak a bit more bluntly. We intend to take it as a rightful price.”
“The price for leaving our daughter in such a state.”
“Don’t you think it’s too shameless to claim ownership of the inheritance now? To be honest, I even doubt whether you would use the inheritance your father left for anything meaningful. You and he seem truly different.”
“Rather, for the benefit of the territory…”
“It would be right for us to use it.”
Elric listened intently to the words the two exchanged back and forth.
He accepted their blatant inner thoughts without any filtering, and he took those words apart to examine their hidden meanings.
And in doing so, he observed their expressions.
At the end of it, he came to realize a fact he didn’t particularly want to admit.
‘There is none.’
There was no mention of Tiria.
From the moment they exchanged greetings until now, they hadn’t asked after her well-being even once, and they didn’t mention her in any words unrelated to the inheritance.
Was she not the daughter who had suffered for ten years?
Furthermore, was she not the daughter who had not visited for the past year?
Could they not at least ask how she was doing?
‘Why.’
Why did they not ask about her?
Out of a lingering hope, Elric suddenly let slip these words.
“First, I apologize for not being able to bring my wife with me. Her work is busy…”
“Are you trying to change the subject?”
The hope was shattered to pieces by the retort in an angry voice.
It was a very unpleasant thing.
The shape his emotions drew was close to rage, and it resembled loathing.
He thought he would have shaken off this kind of resentment after leaving his boyhood behind, but the fact that facing parents who did not care for their child was still quite a difficult task was becoming clear.
It was likely even more so because the subject was someone he knew.
Elric recalled Tiria’s face.
For some reason, he felt he could see through what process that indifference of hers had been perfected.
The eyes that merely spoke of duty looked different anew.
What bloomed somewhere amidst his emotions, which were fluctuating as if swept away by a torrent, was compassion.
Elric pitied her life, and he rebuked himself for becoming a sinner just like them within it.
Even in the midst of this, Joseph Wibin poured out words.
They were words of condemnation, as if trying to suppress his opponent.
Among them, there was one phrase that particularly stuck in his ear.
“Excessive greed ruins a person. I hope you remember this point.”
Excessive greed.
Those words were the fuse.
“…That greed, what will you do if I choose to indulge in it?”
“…What did you say?”
“I asked what you could possibly do if I said I would be greedy.”
Elric raised his head.
“Is there anything you can do to me?”
The faces of the Baron and Baroness Wibin went blank at the words delivered like a provocation.
The first to react was Joseph Wibin, his face turning a deep red.
He sprang to his feet and shouted.
“Y-you insolent…!”
“You’re right.”
Joseph froze mid-sentence.
Elric, still seated and smiling, said to him.
“I am indeed an insolent man. Quite a lot, actually.”
Those were words that referred to the past ten years he had lived through.
Elric’s atmosphere shifted.
The Wife Waited in the Wheat Field (Serial)
