Chapter 4
Chapter 4
“Two million eight hundred thousand gold.”
“…I don’t have that kind of money.”
“It does appear that way.”
Is he mocking me?
Annoyance flared. It was only natural not to welcome someone who barged into her once-peaceful world to demand repayment of a debt.
“I assume you didn’t come all this way just to state the obvious.”
The fact that she knew him made it worse. A former student, no less.
Of course, nearly ten years had passed since then, and the student bore no resemblance to the boy she once knew. Whatever feelings had existed were long gone—though there had never been any to begin with. Had he not stated his name, Kashika wouldn’t have even remembered who he was.
“So why did you come?”
“To collect the debt. If you can’t pay, then you’ll have to sell something to cover it, won’t you?”
Noah looked around as he spoke. For a marquessate, the place was rather frugal. It didn’t look like selling the estate would come anywhere near the debt amount. Besides, Noah already knew the financial state of the House of Ramfley. Kashika Ramfley simply didn’t have the means to pay it.
“There’s nothing here to sell.”
“Then you’ll have to offer your body.”
He really said it.
Kashika frowned.
“But Madam, if you accept my proposal, I’ll reduce the debt by about half.”
“And what is this proposal?”
“Make me your lover.”
“…Excuse me?”
“A lover. An official paramour.”
This had to be a misunderstanding. Clearly. She must’ve spent too many lazy summer days—now she was hearing nonsense. When Kashika said nothing in reply, Noah let out a small laugh and asked, “Well? Your answer?”
“Pardon me, I must’ve misheard. What did you just say, Noah?”
“I asked you to make me your lover, Madam.”
Honestly, it was such an absurd thing to hear from someone she hadn’t seen in years.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because you also carry the blood of Elpertz, Madam.”
So in other words, offering her body meant taking him as a lover? Not even becoming his lover—he wanted her to make him hers?
“If I may ask, young Lord Lambroiche, are you married?”
“No.”
“And you plan to become someone’s lover without even being married?”
“No, I’m saying I’ll be your lover. Not the other way around.”
“Why?”
“To avoid marriage.”
Ah… well, there is that. Kashika thought. For noblewomen, chastity was important, but for noblemen, virginity didn’t exactly win favor.
Most noblemen had affairs with highborn ladies long before marriage.
“I loathe the social scene. The parties, the endless chatter. But as an unmarried noble, I’m required to attend—and once I do, people start swarming. Even if I want to refuse, my family or sponsor will drag me around to forge connections and dance with strangers. It’s revolting. I have no desire to waste my time like that. Dancing with strangers?”
Kashika gave him an odd look.
“Can’t you just say no without needing a lover?”
“I could. But it’s far more annoying that way.”
So, to avoid the hassle, he wanted to play the role of a scandalous bachelor with a mistress?
If you’re going to be a scoundrel, might as well go all the way.
Kashika respected Noah’s choice.
“But you’re seriously saying you’d forgive a debt over something like that?”
Still, she couldn’t bring herself to accept it.
“It’s a good deal for you, isn’t it?”
The way he spoke was irritating. This wasn’t the Noah she remembered. She had definitely taught him more refined speech.
Thinking on it… the phrasing was polite. It was just the content that was appalling.
“Compared to an old man over seventy, a younger man like me is a better deal.”
She never had to entertain the old man. He died the day he arrived.
Kashika had worn black mourning clothes instead of a white wedding dress. Her body remained untouched. She was not in a position to take on a lover.
“Well, the old man died so fast you didn’t even get to enjoy anything, did you?”
As he spoke, Noah looked her up and down, as if appraising her. And when the result didn’t meet his expectations, he shook his head slightly.
“You’d look better if you dressed up.”
As if she had money for that.
“Come to the social circles, Madam.”
Kashika frowned. There was no way she could appear in society in her current state.
Virginity.
The one thing no one entering high society should ever have.
“…Young Lord Lambroiche.”
“I received a knighthood and a viscount title two years ago. You may address me as Viscount or Sir.”
“Lord Lambroiche.”
“I’d prefer it if you called me Noah. Like before.”
“Viscount Lambroiche. You may not remember, since it was long ago, but I once said that lovers were—”
“Yes, someone you care for. I remember.”
Noah cut her off.
“You were quite naive back then, Madam.”
He stepped forward and looked down at her. Even at thirteen, he had already been taller than her. Now, the man before her was massive. Kashika instinctively shrank back. The only man she regularly saw these days was Max, the butler and husband of maid Lucy.
She had never seen such a young, towering man.
“Who takes a lover out of love? It’s always ambition and desire.”
Noah reached out and tilted her chin up, drawing close as if to kiss her. Then, with his face just inches away, he let out a soft laugh.
“Or did you say that because I was too young to understand it any other way?”
…Who even is this man?
* * *
Two million eight hundred thousand gold.
The average annual wage of a commoner was seventeen gold.
Which meant that 2.8 million gold was a sum a commoner would have to work 16,470 years for—without spending a single coin—to repay.
Just how extravagantly had Count Elpertz lived to rack up that kind of debt? No matter how she tried to make sense of it, it felt impossible. Fraud, surely? But there was a contract. Kashika hadn’t signed it—but it was in her handwriting.
She’d been had. Swindled.
It likely meant: hand over the money, or at least provide something to gossip about.
He’d offered to slash it in half. Could she get him to lower it more? Would he be open to negotiation?
Kashika tried to recall young Noah Lambroiche, now barely a memory. He had seemed smart, she supposed. But the only clear image she could recall was him choking back tears during their last lesson. Or was he actually crying? She didn’t even remember anymore. What had he said back then? Something. There were words.
Whatever it was, it hadn’t mattered. That’s why she hadn’t remembered.
Kashika looked at the documents again.
“This is bad. Really bad.”
What was she supposed to do?
There was no way out. Noah Lambroiche was bound to press her for repayment, and she had no means of escape. He had wanted to study law, hadn’t he? Planned to work in legislation, maybe become a barrister or civil servant, and enjoy all the privileges that came with it.
Even as a child, he had shown signs of promise.
With his pretty face, he’d ask things like, “Why is it this way? Why is that allowed? I don’t understand,” questioning every rule. But looking back now, she realized it hadn’t been out of pure curiosity—it was an instinct for loopholes, for finding ways to skirt the law.
…Someone like that wouldn’t leave any escape routes open.
Now that she thought about it, Kashika didn’t even know Noah Lambroiche’s current position or what exactly he did.
They say to know your enemy and know yourself to win. But Kashika didn’t know her enemy—and wasn’t sure she knew herself, either. There was nothing she could do now except be swept up in Noah’s plans.
Maybe she should’ve studied instead of wasting nearly ten years doing nothing.
When she had worked as a governess, she’d studied out of necessity for her lessons. But after the marquess, who had no family, died, and she dismissed the greedy servants leeching off the estate, she had simply coasted by on what remained, enough to live on for the rest of her life.
Eat when hungry, read romantic novels in the library, sit in the garden when the weather was nice, go to bed when night came—Kashika had repeated that quiet, mindless routine for nearly a decade. And now, she couldn’t find a single way out of this contract.
She could insist she hadn’t signed it, but there was no proof. Claiming it was forged would require evidence. And she had written a letter when her grandfather died, so she couldn’t exactly argue she hadn’t been in touch with the Elpertz family.
[To my dear uncle, César Elpertz II.
I send my condolences. If there is anything I can do to assist, I will serve with utmost sincerity.
Your niece, Kashika, Marchioness of Ramfley.]
Something like that.
And that line about “serving with utmost sincerity” could very well be interpreted as accepting the debt.
Kashika thought again of Noah Lambroiche. Honey-brown hair, a pretty face. What color were his eyes again? She couldn’t remember. She’d been close enough to see them, sure—but who cared about the color of someone else’s eyes?
They weren’t hers.
Honestly, she’d likely filed his face away as “pretty” simply because of how she remembered him as a child.
And now, because of that debt, she was supposed to become that child’s lover?
What kind of humiliation was this?
