I’m Going to Marry a Poor Count in the Middle of Nowhere and I’m Going to Work Hard to Reform My Territory - Chapter 2

Angelique ran back to the castle quickly. Frederick, the butler, was waiting for her and led her to the private rooms of her father, the Duke of Montan.

“Oto-sama, there must be some mistake!”

“Sigh, they claim they have all the evidence. Don’t try to talk your way out of this, Angelique. That’s shameful.”

“Was there any evidence?”

“Yes, it seems there were witnesses. And they say you didn’t answer a lot of questions when they asked you to confirm a series of incidents.”

“Confirming the incident…?”

Do you mean the incident with the shoes and clothes?

Angelique actually gave only a cursory answer because she was not particularly interested.

When asked, she replied, “I don’t know.” Because she really doesn’t know.

She doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. That’s just the way things are.

Everyone else, however, seemed to have a different interpretation.

Someone said, “I think I saw Angelique nearby.” Someone else said, “I saw her, too.” They assumed it was Angelique because the color of her dress matched that of the perpetrator.

In retrospect, it looks like everyone had recently been whispering to each other while staring at her.

Apparently, Angelique was the target of the whispering.

If the first rumor was true, then Angelique was very careless.

If she had asked someone what they were talking about, she might have been able to stop it before it got that big.

But now that it has happened, she is powerless to stop it.

“Please give me a chance to explain myself.”

She tried not to look helpless as she spoke to her father.

They will understand that Angelique didn’t do that if she remembers and explains everything properly.

After all, she wasn’t the one who did it. But the situation is a bit troublesome.

The Duke of Montan said seriously.

“The decision has been made.”

“What?”

Without saying a single word, the higher-ups made a decision against her.

How could this have happened? Was it then when they questioned me about the incident? I shouldn’t have said, “I don’t know.”

Angelique was told to be more polite to people even if she had no interest in them.

Even if the conversation is unimportant, pretending to listen is an important social skill for the ladies. Even if it is insignificant gossip behind their backs, they simply nod in agreement.

Angelique, on the other hand, was not very good at such things.

She could just about tolerate it, telling herself that it was part of her job. Lately, though, she’d been ignoring it.

I thought I would be done with school in a few months, so I let my guard down. I had been too careless. I failed…

That’s the only thing she graciously admits.

However, the real culprit must be someone else. I hope they will look into the matter, but if they don’t, I will take care of it myself. What about the breakup of the engagement?

If it’s the end of her engagement to Ernest, the second prince, Angelique is sorry for her father, but she doesn’t care because she neither likes nor dislikes Ernest.

“What’s the decision?”

I hope it doesn’t make my father’s situation worse. The royal family’s cancellation of the engagement may have hurt him a lot. But I have two younger sisters and a good father. I hoped they could make it up to me.

Angelique’s next engagement might be postponed, but it didn’t matter if she couldn’t marry. She would retire to a country estate and live a slow, comfortable life.

She waited for her father to say something.

“Your engagement to Ernest-sama has been broken off.”

“Yes.”

“…You are to be married to Count Voltairel.”

“Count Voltaire?”

She is not familiar with him. Her father explained to her that he is the Count of Bourg, a border region.

“Bourg… That’s quite a distance from here.”

That is the northernmost point of the Kingdom of Alkan. As she recalled, there was nothing there.

The thought of having to say goodbye to her father, her sisters, and this castle after graduating from the academy made her cry.

“…You have to leave tomorrow.”

“What!”

There was no time to let her feelings get the better of her.

“By the king’s orders. Apparently Ernest-sama doesn’t want to see you anymore.”

Ernest… What have I done to you to deserve this?

Angelique treated the second prince, who had no special merit, in the usual way and was neither mean nor mocking. Some people teased Ernest behind his back because he was smaller and always absentminded, but Angelique never liked or disked Ernest. He was not a bad person, despite his slowness. That was enough for her.

Ernest is the second prince, and if he were to marry Angelique, he would inherit the Duchy of Montan.

It did not matter that Ernest was not a good manager as long as Angelique ran the duchy. She didn’t want to be a bad person, but even if she was, she didn’t care.

I wasn’t expecting Ernest to say he didn’t want to see me.

She also wondered if someone was plotting against her, but she didn’t have time to pursue it because she had to leave the next day.

She would like to look into the matter if she had the chance, but at the moment she didn’t want to make her father’s situation worse.

You have to follow the king’s orders.

“…I will say goodbye to Marlene and Francine.