Chapter 5
The tightly laced corset and the ornate lace dress caught the eye, but the unusually proportioned eyes were jarring. It wasn’t that she wasn’t pretty. She was pretty, but strange. Perhaps her eyes were too big. It was a face hard to forget once seen.
“Haven’t we met before?”
Annette R. Bonnel soon recalled her name was Laetitia Garnier.
“Miss Laetitia?”
She was the only daughter of the Viscount Garnier family. For some reason, she seemed to be wandering alone without a chaperone or a group. When Annette R. Bonnel acknowledged her, she smiled brightly.
“Annette R. Bonnel! I was worried you wouldn’t remember me. I told you to call me Laetitia.”
“Why worry?”
“It’s been a week, how have you been?”
Annette R. Bonnel first noticed Laetitia about a week ago. They had coincidentally run into each other at a city tea house when Annette R. Bonnel was out with Gervais.
Laetitia had first recognized Gervais and approached to say hello, then started probing into the relationship between Annette R. Bonnel and Gervais. She was definitely not from the ‘That Chavin’ faction, but closer to the ‘Those Bonnells’ faction.
‘It’s so fascinating that you’re engaged to a Bonnel,’ she had said.
She was very personable.
‘This is no time for that. I’d like to give you a congratulatory gift. Would you like to go shopping with me, Annette R. Bonnel?’
Come to think of it, Annette R. Bonnel had never told her to use her first name.
Laetitia, her face flushed as if she might fly away with delight, said:
“I never expected to meet Annette R. Bonnel at the Cheboteteu mansion. Did Sir Gervais escort you? Where is Sir Gervais?”
“He’s over there exchanging greetings with acquaintances.”
Annette R. Bonnel, about to point toward Gervais, paused. She now noticed an unsettling, prickly gaze directed at them. Thinking, ‘What is that?’ she looked around and saw three or four groups of women fanning themselves rapidly and watching them intently.
It was a vulgar, staring gaze. As if sensing it, Laetitia said with an embarrassed tone:
“Don’t mind them. Rumors never stop in Lenore. Everyone is just interested because they heard that Sir Gervais and Annette R. Bonnel are engaged.”
If that was the reason, it was understandable. Even if the ‘Alderfreud’ family was a dried-up sponge with nothing left but the name of a prestigious house, the Bonnells were ultimately just nouveau riche with no honor left to be dried up. Therefore, they felt displeasure that the Bonnells ‘dared’ to cross the line.
It wasn’t the first time she had felt such gazes. Even though Gervais was the one who pursued her for marriage first, their engagement was followed by a torrent of rumors. Gossip suggested that ‘Bonnel, who came from the countryside, sold her daughter to an honorable but impoverished capital family to supplement their illegitimate lineage.’
The Kingdom of Hannasy in the northeast of Beloff had already exposed the hypocrisy of the Traditionalists, and the revolutionary party had been in power for a long time. Even Shollotera in the south had started to tolerate the political activities of the propertied class to some extent… No, they didn’t need to look to other countries. The Kiwi Party had been officially recognized in Beloff itself for four years. Did these people even read the newspaper?
Then again, considering that nobles from Hannasy and Shollotera migrated to Beloff as a last resort, it made no sense to expect the people of Lenore, the most deep-seated traditionalists in Beloff, to have open minds.
It was what she expected, so it wasn’t intolerable, but she felt the urge to correct them.
How could she provide legitimacy to the Bonnel name when her surname would change upon marriage? Wouldn’t it be more persuasive to point fingers at ‘Gervais, who disgraced the honor of the Alderfreuds’?
‘Let it go.’
She gave up the complicated thoughts and decided to redirect her attention to finding Baron Cobain. It was a waste of time. But precisely and perfectly at that moment, ‘that person’ appeared.
“Oh, my?”
Laetitia’s eyes widened, and she covered her mouth in admiration. ‘Goodness gracious.’ It was around this time that a wave of murmuring started throughout the hall. The reason was on the elegant spiral staircase connecting the first and second-floor party halls.
It was a young man leaning on a silver cane as thin as a reed, with a brown handle. His gait coming down the stairs seemed uncomfortable, but that was certainly not what drew attention.
The man had sleek, pearl-white blonde hair neatly swept back, revealing an intelligent yet masculine nose and features that exuded a controlled neatness. His beauty was difficult to describe in words. Add to that his warm, deep blue eyes and a smile.
Since no one in the world is perfect, it would seem fair if a face like that came with some physical flaw, but whether due to the costly efforts of a tailor or innate physique, the perfectly fitted blue tailcoat and black breeches boasted a spectacular figure.
‘A face money can’t buy.’
For Annette R. Bonnel, who had been raised to know the power of capital down to her bones, this sentiment was the highest praise.
“Ah, I thought he wouldn’t come because he was injured…!”
Laetitia sighed with a hint of pity.
That man was Lionel Yorkshire, the eldest son of the Duke of Yorkshire family.
She had seen him in the newspaper recently. The article about ‘the idiot who shot himself in the leg.’
It was reported as an accidental discharge from a firearm, but either way, Annette R. Bonnel was left with the impression of a man who’d shot himself in the foot. It was laughable that a Yorkshire, so closely linked to Beloff’s defense, armaments, and security, couldn’t handle a gun properly. Yet, looking at that face, it almost seemed fair that a man with such beauty lacked a bit of intelligence.
“He looks uncomfortable walking. Since he was seriously injured…”
“Didn’t he shoot himself in his own leg?”
“It was an accidental discharge, they say. Have you ever seen Sir Lionel Yorkshire before?”
“Today is my first time.”
“Sir Lionel Yorkshire is so good-natured that he’s invited everywhere… and he socializes with many people, so he often appears at social gatherings. I’ve seen him from a distance several times.”
Laetitia spoke with an excited expression, as if she wanted to award herself a medal for having seen Lionel Yorkshire‘s face multiple times. She almost lost her breath when mentioning witnessing the man with the Third Prince Désiré at the engagement party of His Royal Highness Prince Françoise.
“Besides, since all the Princes are already married, he is the best eligible bachelor there is. At least until a Prince or the Earl Brienne gets a divorce.”
“If he’s so great, why don’t you try for him?”
“That’s… a different matter. It’s about preference, or perhaps… I need to feel a flutter in my heart.”
In contrast to her lavish praise of Lionel Yorkshire, Laetitia drew a clear line. She was less greedy and had a more charming side than expected.
Although Annette R. Bonnel came from the provincial city of Chavin, Lionel Yorkshire was the son of a nationally famous family. His news was published in many newspapers besides the local ones, and one interview, in particular, remained vividly in her memory.
It was published in the Buchanan Times about three years ago.
Q. This time, we’ve selected the question everyone is curious about. Sir Lionel Yorkshire, a fine gentleman of Beloff, loved by all ages—why haven’t we heard news of your marriage yet? If it’s not too intrusive, could you answer?
A. I am waiting for that one person with whom I will spend my entire life, and I do not wish to make such a decision hastily. I am…
Gentlemen bowed their heads, and ladies cheered. Husbands were outraged, and wives trembled their fists. The atmosphere of that week, where flowers and jewels sold like hotcakes, speaks for itself.
