Chapter 1.6
* * *
I walked around all afternoon and only returned home in the evening.
Not because I had no money. Because it was enjoyable to look around the city of three years ago.
Even the slight pain in my feet from my shoes was a pleasant stimulation.
During pregnancy my body was heavy, and after giving birth my health was ruined, so I couldn’t walk for long periods.
I think the last time I went out was on my way to the trial, after nearly a month.
I entered my room with a light step. I could hear the maids whispering behind me. It’s fine, gossip all you want. It’s okay for me to enjoy myself at least for one day after being resurrected, right?
But it seems my uncle had found something to get upset about.
Dinner time.
My uncle glared at me and said.
“Irene. Speak honestly. Is something going on?”
“What do you mean, Uncle.”
“Ernst came by our house. He earnestly asked if something had happened to you, if you’d been hanging around with bad friends.”
Quick to act.
But it seems he couldn’t bring himself to say that he might get the engagement broken off.
My uncle’s brow furrowed deeply.
“It seems you certainly behaved badly towards Ernst……. What kind of wrongdoing? If it’s a serious mistake, I’ll help you apologize. Tell me honestly.”
“It’s nothing big. I just said I wanted to break off the engagement.”
“Well, whatever trouble you cause, it’s not like it’s anything major……. Wait, br-break off the engagement?”
My uncle’s mouth fell open. Uncle, your salad is dripping.
“Breaking off the engagement! Yo-you, what, did you get yourself a man!”
“As you know, I have no friends or lovers. I simply thought I was far too lacking a woman to be Ernst’s wife. You’ve always said so yourself, Uncle. That Ernst is undeserving of me, so I should obey him.”
“Th-tha-that’s true, but! But Ernst likes you! This is an undeserved honor you’ll never get again. You’d pass up an opportunity like this?”
“I don’t want a marriage that relies on pity.”
To put it more precisely.
I don’t want to become a ‘flower’ to decorate some family’s household again.
“Uncle, I want to marry someone I love.”
“…….”
“That’s all. If I have no destiny, I suppose living alone forever would be fine too.”
My uncle’s mouth fell wide open.
Only after I grew tired of waiting for his answer and started cutting my meat did he finally come to his senses.
“Irene! You’re about to turn twenty. But you have no skills whatsoever!”
“I know.”
“I sent you to social circles out of my goodwill, but every time, you just stuck to the wall and trembled. If you let Ernst go, you’ll never marry a decent partner!”
“I know. That too must be my fate.”
“Fate? You were destined to starve to death by your mother’s side when you were twelve! I took you in and raised you, and you dare defy me? Mark my words, on your twentieth birthday, you’ll be kicked out with nothing!”
“That’s wrong.”
“What?”
“I can’t have nothing, Uncle. Return my father’s inheritance to me.”
My uncle’s mouth fell open again.
Why don’t you just keep your mouth open, without constantly dripping food?
Still, perhaps because money was involved, my uncle quickly composed himself and started ranting.
“D-don’t talk nonsense. Your father lost all his fortune while bedridden and died with nothing!”
“Yes, Father had nothing. But I believe there are still stocks left in the Langnant region floriculture industry that Father invested in before he passed away.”
Father sought ways to make a living even while bedridden. One of them was stock investment. Well, it was practically gambling.
The stocks, which were little more than scraps of paper, passed to my uncle, my guardian, after my parents’ death.
Worthless at the time. But eight years would have turned those stocks into something ‘not great, but too valuable to give away.’
Just as I thought. My uncle panicked and shook his head.
“How did you know……. No. That wasn’t even a small amount. It was far too insufficient to even cover your upbringing expenses. I should be the one demanding payment for raising you!”
“Yes, take it.”
“Huh?”
“I’m saying to officially claim the upbringing expenses from me after my birthday.”
My uncle’s eyes widened.
“What nonsense is that……? Are you saying that knowing that to officially claim upbringing expenses, we’d have to become legal strangers? What kind of filial impiety―.”
“Is threatening to kick me out with nothing a form of ethical discipline?”
“That was said in anger! Besides, so much money went into your upbringing. Do you think you can repay that by receiving those piddling stocks?”
“I know. But those stocks are the mark of my father trying to protect his family. I’ll repay the upbringing expenses somehow, no matter what it takes…… so I really want them back. Yes?”
“Grrh…….”
My uncle seemed to be weighing something in his mind.
The fact that he’s agonizing means he still doesn’t know the true value of those stocks.
Early 987. The Langnant Floriculture Cooperative develops a rose with two intersecting colors, the ‘Langnant Rose,’ and begins pushing it as their flagship product. This rose will become a massive trend in the capital a few months later.
Even I, who was insensitive to trends in my previous life, remembered it, so you can guess how popular it was.
Surely the value of the Langnant Floriculture Cooperative’s stocks will rise as well.
I gave honest advice to my uncle, who was still deliberating.
“Uncle. It’s not like you need a niece who can’t even help you build connections with the Freier family anyway.”
“Irene!”
When you strike a nerve, a person can only shout.
My uncle ground his teeth and then pointed at the stairs.
“Go upstairs and cool your head. You have no idea what’s important!”
“Yes, then I’ll speak to you again tomorrow. Just as I said today.”
One, I will not marry Ernst.
Two, I will reclaim my parents’ inheritance that I stupidly let you steal in my previous life.
I greeted him gracefully, and my uncle pounded his chest and refilled his wine glass.
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