If the Shut-In Young Lady’s Pretense Is Exposed
Episode 2
Shasha believed the reason I never changed was because I had never taken a serious interest in men. That was why it was always my brother’s job to shove carefree me into social events.
“There’s an imperial ball next week.”
“Ugh.”
“It’s Father’s order. He said if you don’t go, he’ll throw you straight into a convent.”
“As if he could.”
I was long past the age where Father’s soft-hearted threats would work on me. But my brother’s next threat was far more realistic.
“Oh really? What do you think Mother will say?”
“Mom?”
“She said if you skip the imperial ball, she’ll cut off your allowance.”
“What? That’s outrageous!”
I burst out in protest.
“You’d be in trouble without your allowance, wouldn’t you? How are you going to buy books? How will you lounge around and live? So listen to me. Just attend the ball quietly.”
The nagging was endless. Shasha kept going.
“I’m not telling you to find a groom immediately. Just try to show a little initiative.”
And then, as if it were nothing, he added a spoonful of threat.
“If it really doesn’t work out, there’s always the option of marrying into the merchant guild.”
“What? That’s ridiculous! If it’s the guild master’s son… André?”
My mouth fell open. What kind of solution was that?
Seeing my reaction, Shasha smirked wickedly.
“If it’s André, he’ll inherit the guild, and our families are close. Besides, he already knows all your strange quirks. In some ways, wouldn’t he be the most ideal match?”
“Absolutely not. Don’t say something so horrifying.”
A shiver ran down my spine as André’s face popped into my mind—his long black hair tied back in a lazy ponytail, that perpetually indifferent expression.
Sure, no matter what nonsense I did, André would probably just blink calmly and say something like, ‘My lady, you’re as unique as ever.’
“But marriage between friends?”
We’d known each other for over ten years. The fact that Shasha could suggest something so absurd so casually made him look downright ruthless.
“Right, I think so too. That’s why at least pretend to look for someone suitable with some sincerity. Father is about to bring it up with the guild any day now.”
In the end, all of Shasha’s nagging boiled down to one thing: go to the imperial ball and find someone suitable for marriage.
Reluctantly, I nodded. Perhaps my obedient reaction unsettled him, because Shasha suddenly began praising me.
“Don’t worry. As long as you keep your mouth shut and stop those weird antics, you’re actually not bad—even if you are my little sister. What you need is effort. Effort.”
“If I’m good, then just say I’m good. What’s with ‘not bad’?”
Having convinced me, Shasha looked noticeably relaxed.
“And take off those pants and bring them to my room. How long are you going to keep that up? Oh, and I’m taking the book.”
I glared at him with all my might.
“No! I bought that with my allowance. Don’t read it.”
At my sulky tone, his hand paused over the book.
“How stingy.”
“You’re the stingy one. Instead of helping your little sister, all you do is threaten me.”
“That’s—!”
“If you want to read it so badly, go buy it yourself. Hmph!”
If a grown nobleman walked into a bookstore and bought a romance novel, the entire aristocratic society would buzz with gossip. He’d become a snack-worthy topic for months.
Seeing Shasha stuck between pride and desire, I held out my hand.
“Five gold.”
“What?”
“Don’t want to? The book cost twenty gold. Five gold to borrow it once is a bargain.”
“Wow. You’re basically a thief without the knife.”
“Careful how you talk. The price just went up to six.”
From long experience, my brother knew pushing further would only fuel my spite.
Without another word, Shasha pulled six gold coins from his wallet and set them on my desk, then grabbed the pink, glossy hardcover book.
“The more I see how calculating you are, the more I think you and André really would make a perfect pair.”
After that jab, he quickly slipped out and shut the door.
I shook my head. Just as he refused to acknowledge my reputation, I felt the same about his. What kind of capable man was he? He was a childish brat.
After his lengthy lecture, I found I couldn’t focus anymore and eventually closed my book.
Earlier, I’d gone out with my maid, Michelle. It was the release day of my favorite author’s new novel, so I’d been in high spirits since morning. Yet now the words refused to sink in.
“Marriage?”
The word slipped out in a murmur, and goosebumps rose along my arms.
Of course, I understood Shasha and my parents’ concern about my marriage prospects. Even for a low-ranking noble family, a twenty-one-year-old without even a fiancé was bound to raise eyebrows about the family’s standing.
There had been that incident when I was younger, and I’d never liked social activities to begin with. Naturally, I became the center of my family’s worries. I knew their actions stemmed from affection, so I couldn’t resent them.
Shasha also had no official fiancée, but our circumstances were entirely different. I was a shut-in who did nothing but read in my room. Meanwhile, women would line up endlessly to date him.
If marriage was inevitable, my fox-like brother would choose the best possible match for his advancement. Unlike him, I truly had no desire to marry.
The noble life I’d only ever encountered through romance novels—though it might be odd for a baron’s daughter like me to say—was, in reality, all glitter and no substance.
Love? Looove? For love to intervene in a noble marriage was as rare as a flower blooming in the middle of a snowy wasteland in midwinter.
Most marriages were political—carefully calculated exchanges of benefit.
Of course, my parents probably dreamed of marrying me into a powerful house. Like any parents with a daughter, they would willingly hand over the assets they had built with blood and sweat if it meant securing a good match.
Marry well, bear children, live a peaceful and comfortable life.
But behind that fairy-tale line lay suffocating traditions and obligations that bound a person tight.
In this world, where things that would be called outdated and oppressive in the 21st century still thrived, who would willingly walk into a lion’s jaws?
If I behaved at my in-laws’ house the way I did at home, I’d be divorced within a day.
I wish they’d just give up already.
Every season of the imperial ball, my entire family united to pressure me. Even knowing their hearts, it was exhausting to play the unfilial daughter.
“Haah…”
I let out a deep sigh. In this mood, I couldn’t properly savor the new release I’d been anticipating for so long.
I climbed off the bed and carefully returned the book to the shelf—the only spotless, dust-free area in my entire room.
Most of the bookshelf was filled with works by my favorite author, R.G. This particular release had been in such short supply that even when I went early in the morning, only the display copy remained.
The cover was slightly torn from others flipping through it, but just looking at it filled me with satisfaction. My gloomy thoughts about marriage eased a little.
“Marriage? Please. Watching other people fall in love is way more fun.”
In romance novels, the male and female leads love each other fiercely, desperately. In some ways, it’s pure fantasy.
“Where can I find a man like that?”
In R.G.’s new novel, the male lead is awkward at expressing his feelings but truly adores the heroine. He’s handsome, wealthy, and a master swordsman—the perfect golden boy. The cliché of such a man falling for an utterly ordinary heroine might be overused, but it’s always entertaining.
I imagined myself in the heroine’s place and chuckled.
As if. People of high rank marry within their own circles. Or at least someone who can offer them something they lack. This isn’t a world where an ordinary, naïve girl is loved just for being herself.
“Lucky you. Loved just as you are.”
She never has to lie or pretend. The male lead gradually realizes his love for the lively heroine exactly as she is. If someone like that ever appeared for me… maybe then I’d consider marriage.
The thought made me laugh at myself. I brushed the cookie crumbs off the book and placed it neatly back on the shelf.
I was already too much of an adult to believe in perfectly beautiful worlds anymore.
