Please Let Marriage Be Your Payment!
Chapter 49 —
“Did Jenny really tell Miss Elizabet right to her face? That your very presence was a burden?”
“…Not exactly.”
Elizabet glanced at Leonard’s expression, hesitating before speaking.
“Well… in the annex garden, that huge man made a strange sculpture, right? I went to look at it and happened to overhear them talking.”
“A strange sculpture… do you mean the camel?”
“Camel? That was a camel? I read about camels in a book before. They carry water bags on their backs, right? That’s how they survive in the desert. On its back… was that really a water bag?”
Her excited, scattered words reminded Leonard of what Michel once said.
“Leave him be, it’s his hobby. He always picks up a carving knife when a child’s around.”
“Oh, so he carved it for Charlotte?”
“Not for Charlotte. For that cute kid.”
Ah, I see.
It wasn’t for Charlotte—he carved it for Elizabet.
Did he pick an animal unfamiliar to Elizabet on purpose?
Maybe Heath had already sensed the distance between Elizabet and Jenis. That’s why he wanted to give Elizabet something to start a conversation with Jenis.
After all, Jenis doesn’t have friends either.
Since drowning in debt, Jenis had swallowed her pride and begged to borrow money, only to lose the friends she once had. One even stole her fiancé.
So in the end, Jenis was also left with no friends. Leonard didn’t want his sister to miss this chance to make a new one.
“Have you asked Jenny that question too?”
“What, about the camel? No, I didn’t. Why would I ask her that?”
“Try it. Jenny knows a lot about deserts, and also about the Ilrum Mountains or the great Weinberg Forest, where even in summer the snow never melts.”
“The Weinberg Forest? Isn’t that where they found the ruined palace last year? How does she know stories about there?”
At her puzzled question, Leonard gave a rather unexpected answer.
“Once Jenny was buried in debt, she started putting a price on everything around her.”
Before, she would just gratefully accept a gift. Now, she would write it down in her ledger and make sure to return something of equal value.
That was the only way she could keep her pride after being crushed under debt overnight.
The thing that hurt her most in the past three years wasn’t unanswered letters. It was the small sums of money thrown at her like charity, along with the words ‘Don’t ever contact me again.’
“The only gift she doesn’t feel pressured to repay is the stories we tell her. So, Miss Elizabet…”
Elizabet felt that Leonard’s expression seemed strangely familiar.
“If you ever give her a gift, ask her to repay you with a desert story instead.”
And then she realized—that was the same expression Irene sometimes made when looking at her.
“That girl has a talent. She can retell another’s story so vividly, it feels like she lived it herself. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too.”
His face looked both worried and affectionate, impossible to describe with a single word.
Is that just how brothers and sisters are? Do I make the same face when I look at Charlotte?
Unable to picture it, Elizabet grumbled instead.
“You two aren’t even that much older than me.”
“Sorry?”
“Nothing. Talking to myself.”
Elizabet shook off the grass from her hands, stood up, and said,
“I’m going to bed now. Future brother-in-law, you should too. If your eyes are swollen tomorrow, people will say my sister had to force a man who didn’t even want her into marriage.”
“If my eyes swell, I’ll just say I cried because I missed my late parents.”
“…Oh.”
Elizabet hadn’t expected that answer. She looked away awkwardly, recalling what she had said earlier, then blurted out,
“So… that means even thinking about your late parents doesn’t really make you cry? Were your parents’ deaths… noisy too? Ours were. My uncle even tried to steal my parents’ inheritance with a fake will and forged seal, together with the butler.”
“I heard the retainers were close with your uncle. I guess more people were involved than I thought.”
“A lot. Now he’s just Baron Callio, but he used to be the Marquis Blair’s son.”
Those followers of Baron Callio were narrow-minded men. They had hated the idea of a woman, Irene, becoming the next Marquis of Blair.
How ridiculous. Even the current Emperor was a woman. Would they dare say the same before her?
Despite serving Blair, they had looked down on Irene, the heir. For that sin, they lost both wealth and honor and were expelled from the Blair estate. But Elizabet still couldn’t forgive them.
She could never forget the tearful face of the old friend who had once knelt before her, begging, “We were friends for so long, please forgive me just this once.”
“…Future brother-in-law, don’t be like that. My sister chose you, so of course you’ll treat her well. But if you betray her, I’ll chase you to the very ends of hell for revenge. Got it?”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Promise? Swear it!”
It wasn’t exactly a promise. Leonard had meant to say so, but Elizabet’s face was so serious that he simply nodded.
“Good. I’ll believe you.”
“Thank you.”
Leonard wondered whether this was really something to be thankful for, but seeing the fierceness leave her eyes, he decided to let it go.
“Here, I’ll return this.”
“It’s fine. Keep it on.”
“I don’t want to. If Ann finds a man’s jacket in my room tomorrow morning, she’ll freak out.”
She glared as if saying Don’t you get it?, then handed the jacket back. Leonard accepted it without protest, realizing she was right.
“And also…”
Elizabet tapped the ground with her foot, hesitating, before blurting out almost recklessly,
“From tomorrow, just call me Ellie. Don’t keep saying ‘Miss Elizabet’ like I’m a stranger.”
Leonard blinked in surprise, then smiled.
“Shall I? Alright, I will.”
“And talk casually too. Not today—start tomorrow. After you’re my real brother-in-law, not just future brother-in-law.”
“Understood.”
He only smiled and nodded, but Elizabet’s face went red hot.
Why am I embarrassed? I didn’t even say anything strange.
She fanned her cheeks with her hand before turning away.
“I’m really going now. You should go in too!”
“Alright. Sweet dreams, Ellie.”
“I-I said from tomorrow!”
It didn’t even occur to her that she had just called him brother-in-law instead of future brother-in-law.
When Leonard laughed at her flustered reaction, she shot him a glare and dashed off. Halfway, she stopped, turned back, and looked at him.
As if expecting it, Leonard smiled warmly and asked,
“Shall I walk you to your room?”
“This is my house!”
She had only turned back because she wanted to say thank you for listening.
“….”
But Leonard’s gaze reminded her too much of her sister’s, so she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
After all, aren’t thank you and sorry the hardest words to say to family?
…But still, tea time with her feels like such a burden.
I wasn’t planning to invite her ever again…
Just one more time. I’ll try again, like brother-in-law said.
Even if her voice still makes me tear up sometimes… she’s family now.
Elizabet insisted she’d be fine since it was her own house, but Leonard stayed back, watching until she disappeared into her room.
Maybe it’s because I still don’t feel like this is my home…
Indoors was fine, but out in the open garden he couldn’t help feeling tense, as though all the eyes surrounding the mansion were watching—not protecting, but spying.
Maybe once the wedding is over, it’ll change.
With a sigh, he returned to his room.
He was about to toss his jacket on the table when he suddenly froze and stepped back in shock.
“Rin?”
“Done with your little secret meeting?”
The room was dark, but Irene’s teacup gave off warm steam as she set it down with a click.
Leaning back with arms folded and legs crossed, she looked like the true owner of the room.
Leonard stared at her in surprise, then realized what she meant.
“You saw everything?”
“Yes, everything. Including you giving my sister your jacket.”
Leonard walked over to the window. From there, he could clearly see the pond where he and Elizabet had just been talking. Irene must have been watching them from here.
“So I can’t deny it then.”
“…Deny what? What were you even planning to do—elope with my sister?”
Suspicion flickered across her face.
When Leonard burst into laughter, Irene’s cheeks flushed as she realized she had taken his joke too seriously.
“If you want to joke, at least smile when you say it. My heart nearly stopped.”
“You’re the one who teased me first. Since when is your sister considered a stranger?”
“Since you gave her your jacket. You’ve never done that for me.”
Her playful glare made him smile in return.
“That’s because I was saving it for my fiancée. I wore it all summer, but never got the chance.”
The younger sibling of the protagonist can be a tough position