Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A few years ago, I, who had only grown up as a noble lady, was thrown into the harsh world. 

I was only seventeen then.

At that time, all the Count Seike family had was enormous debt, and there was no foundation whatsoever to repay that debt.

First of all, I didn’t know anything. 

Even if the system helped, it clearly had its limits.

All the people who were supposed to be relatives cut off contact, and the people around were only whispering to sell the count’s territory, mansion, and title.

Or they were just scums trying to marry me when I became an adult in 3 years.

<Um, my lady? It’s troublesome if you cry here.>

The man who called himself uncle brought people into the mansion, saying today was the debt repayment day. 

He took everything of value from the mansion.

In fact, there was nothing to take. 

Because we had already sold everything before that.

People were so worked up that they even might’ve torn off the window frames.

My brother, two years younger, was only fifteen, and even to my seventeen-year-old eyes, fifteen was still a child.

So for that child who had returned without even properly graduating from the academy he was attending, all I could do was give empty words, telling him not to worry too much, that I would somehow figure it out.

<Really…?>

<Yes. I’m sorry I can’t send you back to the academy. But I won’t leave you with any debt.>

<…Okay.>

<So don’t worry.>

Your sister will solve this.

So I told him not to worry too much, so confidently, and then cried so much out of helplessness. It was a day when I hid outside to cry because even tears were a flaw in the mansion.

And that’s when I met him.

<My lady, your name… It doesn’t seem like the situation to tell me.>

What kind of expression did he have when I explained my situation while crying and rambling? Was it a troubled expression?

I don’t really remember well. 

I was just crying, and all I remember is the gentle voice of that person comforting me.

A certain knight who even bent his knee to match my eye level, asking what was wrong. 

I ended up crying my eyes out in front of him.

<Shall I help you?>

<…Mom said, sob, not to take money from strangers.>

<Oh my. Parents’ words are important.>

He smiled slightly and continued.

<Then how about this? I’m visiting the south for the first time, could I ask you for an introduction?>

<Pardon?>

<Then this would be a fee, a fair compensation, right?>

He said, taking out his wallet.

That’s how I walked around the Seike territory with this strange knight by my side. 

Feeling a bit embarrassed about how this small, modest town might look in the eyes of such a splendid knight.

So when we returned after going around once, I liked this knight who kept talking to me about various trivial things throughout the walk.

<So the lady prefers strawberry jam over grape jam, is that right?>

<You could say that.>

Thanks to such trivial conversations, I was able to forget reality for a moment.

<Thank you, Sir Knight. I feel much better thanks to you.>

<I’m glad to hear that.>

He replied like that and then checked inside his wallet. 

When I tried to politely refuse, saying it was fine, he shook his head and said.

<I don’t have much cash, but this should be enough to delay the repayment period a bit.>

Saying that, he took out only a few important-looking papers from his wallet and then handed over the entire wallet to me. 

Then he took out his handkerchief, wiped my face which must have been a mess, and put it in my hand.

<Then, good luck to you, my lady.>

And he disappeared like that.

He left without knowing my name, without knowing anything, just handing over a wallet full of money. 

Just because a strange girl was crying pitifully.

All I knew about that person was that he had black hair and was a knight. 

That’s about it.

Oh, and I also know that he was tall enough that I barely reached his chest, and that he was kind enough to help a strange girl in a pitiful situation.

As he said, I was able to delay the debt repayment date.

The debt I had to repay was still there, but each day became much more bearable than before.

Completing the system’s quests one by one, earning money in small and trivial ways, and while reopening the winery. 

It seems things started to work out one by one like that.

The money that person gave me, thinking back now, wasn’t that much. 

But to me, it was the first pure kindness I had received at my worst moment.

That kindness kept me alive.

The wallet that the black-haired knight handed to me had a family crest engraved with a violet and a spear, but I didn’t know which family it belonged to at the time.

So for a very long time, that knight was “Sir Violet” to me.

Several years passed from then, and when the business had somewhat stabilized, I learned that this seal belonged to the Marquis Edwin family.

Even if that person didn’t remember me, I wanted to say thank you.

I wanted to tell him that thanks to his help back then, I was living well like this, that there was a moment when I really hated people, but thanks to him, I came to view the world positively.

So I inquired, but there was no black-haired man in the Marquis Edwin family.

‘Then was he a knight belonging to the Marquis Edwin family?’

I thought I should properly look for him again once I paid off all the debt.

“Ah…”

I quietly looked at the handkerchief in my hand.

But Cassis Luwin had a handkerchief with the Marquis Edwin family crest engraved on it.

And Cassis Luwin has black hair.

I closed my mouth and thought quietly.

Maybe I was going too far.

But. 

But.

I left the room with the handkerchief in my hand.

“Ah, my lady.”

I raised my head to confirm the man in front of me. 

It was Cassis.

“You were here. I was just about to come see you.”

I had to tilt my head quite a bit to meet his eyes. 

My head barely reached his chest.

“Are you alright?”

I carefully took in Cassis’s face.

His black hair covered more than half of his forehead, and his white skin, characteristic of northerners, seemed to shine particularly white because of his jet-black hair.

On that face were beautiful eyes like wine made from Laelgro red grapes that had endured an exceptionally hot summer.

“Lady Seike?”

“…Your Grace.”

“Yes.”

He tilted his head and asked.

I recalled that face I had looked up at while crying so long ago.

I don’t remember well.

Could this person have been that person back then?

I fumbled to raise my hand and held out what I was holding. 

Cassis raised his eyebrows at his handkerchief in my hand, then lowered them.

“I wanted to return this to you.”

“Thank you.”

He smiled gently. 

At that smile, I was reminded of that knight I could barely remember, and I felt a surge of emotion.

“That… crest, is it from the Edwin family?”

“Yes, it’s a keepsake from my mother.”

I see.

“…It must be a precious item.”

“Not necessarily. But I would be upset if I lost it.”

After hesitating several times, I finally asked back.

“I once met a young master from the Marquis Edwin family, and I found it a bit interesting to see the crest engraved on wallets or fountain pens.”

I hoped my voice wasn’t trembling too much. 

Cassis nodded at my words.

“People from the Edwin family tend to be quite attached to their family. I had a wallet that my mother gave me as a gift, but I lost it somewhere and can’t find it.”

My heart sank.

Cassis brushed it off casually, saying “It’s a shame, but what can you do?” But I couldn’t do that.

Then, that Sir Violet must have been Cassis Luwin.

I raised my head and carefully took in Cassis again. 

The unique fatigue and shadows visible on his face caught my eye.

‘Ah, I feel like crying.’

Male protagonist, hero of this world, Grand Duke of Luwin, none of that mattered.

The fact that someone had reached out a hand at the worst moment of my life, and that it was Cassis Luwin.

My insides churned.

‘Do you perhaps remember me?’

In this brief moment, I wanted to ask Cassis several times if he remembered me.

But I decided not to.

I didn’t want to scratch his pride by telling him that I remembered him from the past.

I know because I’ve experienced it.

When the young ladies from other families who had grown up laughing with me looked at me with pity. 

Their help was very much appreciated, but the thin, long traces left on my pride were unavoidable.

I wanted to be composed even in these situations, but it just didn’t work out. 

In the end, the wounds on my pride became another scar.

They didn’t dull even after quite a long time had passed. 

I just became able to not show it outwardly as much as before.

Cassis might be different from me.

But, I won’t say it.

Instead…

“Your Grace!”

“Yes?”

“…Seike had nothing. All we had was a mountain of debt and a fifteen-year-old younger brother.”

There was the system too, but in the end, it was me who moved.

“I was the one who paid off Seike’s debt. Of course, there was help from many people, but in the end, I did it. I think I have quite a talent for business.”

The system might be a kind of talent, if you think of it that way.

Cassis stood in front of me, holding his mother’s keepsake, and looked down at me quietly.

He wasn’t smiling like my knight, but he was calmly listening to my words.

“Would you consider hiring me?”

He stayed quiet for a long time, then let out a sound close to a sigh and passed by me. 

As he sat down heavily, organizing his place, he threw away the compulsive elegance he had been showing and leaned back on the sofa a bit more loosely.

“Do you know the amount of Luwin’s debt?”

“I know the official figures.”

“It’s much more than that. Probably more than the Count Seike family’s debt.”

“…”

He met my eyes and spoke deliberately kindly, as if trying not to hurt me.

“So it’s alright. There’s too much that Luwin needs to achieve to rely on someone’s pity.”

“It’s not pity…!”

“Thank you.”

Cassis cut me off gently but firmly.

It’s not pity.

It wasn’t because of quests or anything like that, I just wanted to return the kindness I had once received.

Even if I couldn’t solve it, I wanted to be of help.

Even if I couldn’t pay off all the debt, and even if the empire were to fall as the system said, I didn’t want my knight to bear all those moments alone.

But Cassis seemed to understand some of my feelings, as he smiled slightly.

“You said your younger brother in Seike is about two years younger, right? He probably looks much younger to you, so you must have tried to handle everything alone. I’m two years older than you, so you can think that I feel the same way.”

“…Yes.”

“But it’s been a while since I received such kindness. Thank you.”

He rejected me with utmost elegance and courtesy. 

I had no choice but to nod and step back.

[Wow. He’s really something.]

[Yeah. I wish they would kiss.]

Of course, the system was just spouting nonsense in the meantime.

Feeling like I was about to cry, I said goodbye to Cassis and fled to my room.