“He’s engaged? How is that possible?! Why weren’t you aware of it then?”
“As you heard, it’s an engagement contract dating to a hundred years ago. Lord Father never mentioned this matter to me before, so it’s only natural that I was unaware of it!”
“What should we do? It’s one thing if it were anyone else, but of all people, it has to be the Sorofyas’ Charlotte!”
In the royal palace, Nora and Alicia were seated together around a tea table as they berated one another in vexation. The reason behind their frustrations was due to the news that Carter announced to them a few days ago during Nora’s birthday banquet—Roel actually had a fiancée!
To make matters worse, his fiancée was also quite a formidable individual, Charlotte Sorofya. She was a beauty famed throughout the Sia Continent, rumored to be as impeccable and flawless as the elves out of legends. One must know that the elves were said to possess irresistible charms that make one offer one’s all to them.
And, that was just talking about her appearance.
Other than that, she was also the first miss of the Sorofya House, its future matriarch. She was known to the world as a rare business prodigy, a top-notch designer, and a fashion icon. All in all, she was a prodigy that one could hardly pick a flaw with.
“This is really troublesome. I could have just turned a blind eye if it was anyone else, but definitely not Charlotte!”
“Your Highness, have you met her before?”
“We met once before, last year. I had paid a visit to the Sorofyas while passing through Rosa on the way to the eastern border lands.”
“How is she? Is she as the rumors make her out to be?”
Alicia’s question was met with Nora’s silence. Nora’s brow knit together for a long while before she finally uttered her own evaluation with some difficulty.
“I was moved.”
‘What?”
“From the moment I caught sight of her, my heart began beating faster. Do you understand what I’m trying to say here?”
Nora lowered her head in what almost seemed like despair, as if she couldn’t believe that she actually felt such a thing. Alicia stared at Nora for a moment before abruptly backing off a little. This caught Nora by surprise, who then raised her head up to look at her rival in confusion.
“Your Highness, there’s no need to explain yourself. It might be unconventional, but I assure you that you have my support.”
Alicia directed a kind smile at Nora, as if urging her to go ahead and spend her entire life with Charlotte. Needless to say, this only left Nora feeling even more infuriated.
“I’m saying that it’s weird! That girl possesses some sort of magic ability. It’s not just charm but something of a much higher level. Perhaps it’s due to her bloodline, but she gives off an air of inexplicable nobility.”
“Nobility?”
“Indeed. On top of that, the rumors about her appearance aren’t exaggerated at all. Her charisma is the real thing, and that’s why I’m so worried about it. If even I am taken by her charm, it’s hard to believe that Roel would be able to hold himself back before her.”
Nora muttered as she clenched her fists tightly. She suddenly remembered the situation with Victoria, how the latter had suffered many setbacks along the way just because Ponte had married before her. She had to wait for a grueling 20 years before her chance finally came.
Nora thought that it was already bad enough for Victoria, but it looked like an even worse fate was waiting for her! If Roel were to really marry Charlotte, there was a good chance that Nora could wait out her entire life and still not have any chance to strike at all!
I have to outlive an elf? You must be joking!
This won’t do. I can’t let things progress like this! I must find a way to stop the engagement between the two of them!
“But what can we do about this? For century-old engagement contracts like this, I doubt that Lord Brother will be able to one-sidedly turn the other party down.”
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The typical plotline of a powerful noble rejecting his fiancée to get together with his one true love was something that only worked out in novels. Try doing that in real life, and it will be an utter hell hole. The more prestigious the noble houses involved were, the more troublesome things would be.
To turn down an engagement, regardless of intent, was considered an act of snubbing. In the first place, individual feelings have no place in political marriages—all that really mattered was for the two noble houses to be connected by a familial bond. This was the case for Ponte and his wife, where they simply got together and fulfilled their duty of bearing an offspring.
Just the thought of Charlotte fulfilling her duty by bearing Roel’s offspring was more than enough to leave Nora’s head spinning. She felt that the world suddenly didn’t look so good anymore.
Similarly, Alicia’s face was also ghastly pale, and she was having trouble pulling herself together.
“A legitimate reason is needed to handle the rejection of an engagement, and both parties must be positively obliged to it. We can still talk to Roel about this, but trying to convince Charlotte will be nigh impossible.”
“Hm? Why is that so? She has never met Lord Brother before, so there shouldn’t be any reason for her to insist on this marriage, right?”
“There is a reason for her to insist on this marriage. It becomes clear if you consider Charlotte’s marriage problem by means of elimination.”
Nora patiently explained the current circumstances to Alicia.
This was simply a matter of ‘compatible spouses’. Charlotte, as the first miss of the Sorofyas, was as good as the princess of the Rosa Merchant Confederacy. A person who was qualified to wed her had to be a member of the royal family, but taking a quick look at the royals in Austine, Saint Mesit, and Pendor, those who fit the bill were already in their thirties, and this was including Nora’s father, Kane, too.
“Do you think that she would rather marry a man who is already in his thirties and become my stepmother rather than marry Roel?”
“But if she were to annul the engagement contract, she could simply find a person she likes and have him marry into the Sorofya House.”
“Those who are willing to marry into the Sorofya House would be the second sons of the royal family, those who aren’t in the direct line of succession. In terms of standing and influence, how could any of them compete with Roel, the sole successor of the Ascart House? Furthermore, based on what I know, even though Charlotte is the successor of the Sorofya House, her position isn’t as stable as it seems, due to how large the house is. I’m certain that they are planning to use the marriage with Roel to reinforce her standing within the Sorofyas.”
Hearing that Roel was being viewed as a tool riled Alicia up. She viewed love to be something sacred in her heart, and those who used marriage for impure motives were insulting its sanctity.
Nora was equally agitated too. There was no way she could remain calm in such a situation. If Charlotte were to succeed, Alicia might still have a legitimate reason to stay by Roel’s side as his adopted sister, but it would be game over for her.
“There’s only one solution here—we need to get Charlotte to loathe Roel. We have to make the thought of marrying Roel utterly unbearable to her.”
“Hate? That’s easier said than done. Do you have any thoughts on how to go about doing that?”
A sharp glint flashed in Nora’s eyes. She looked at Alicia with eyes filled with graveness.
“Charlotte has never met Roel before, which means that it’s possible for her to have some discrepancies in her intelligence. So, what we have to do is to make her feel that Roel isn’t a trustworthy person for her to entrust her future to and continue building on that. In order to achieve that, we’ll need to cooperate with one another closely…”
“Yes, I understand.”
Alicia’s eyes firmed up as she nodded resolutely. In the face of a common enemy, the two rivals decided to shake hands and work together to get rid of the looming threat!
“For love, as well as to protect Lord Brother, I shall play the villain for once!”
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Just clarifying, when a man marries into a noble house, it means that he’s adopting the identity of that noble house. There’s a subtle but significant difference here, as there’s, to some extent, the significance of relinquishing your previous identity.
For example, if Roel marries into the Xeclyde House, formally, he would be viewed as a member of the Xeclydes as compared to a member of the Ascarts. This difference in identity is made significant in legitimacy and law, especially when it comes to laws of inheritance.