MILWTG 33

~Chapter 33~

Outside, the sound of luggage being loaded onto the carriage could be heard.

At the sound, Merrick closed the book he had been reading and stood up.

“I thought it was a good sign that the young lady was so focused on reading this book…”

Ethan, with a casual expression, glanced at the book’s cover that Merrick had placed on the table.

The title of the book was “An Honest Daughter-in-Law Is Not a Bad Daughter-in-Law.”

Merrick clicked his tongue as he stood by the window, watching Riden’s luggage being neatly loaded onto the carriage.

“I thought you would become an honest daughter-in-law, but it looks like you’re leaving as an honest woman.”

The tone of his words revealed his regret.

Ethan, staring blankly at the book, flipped through its pages absentmindedly.

The pages turned quickly, fluttering as if the wind was blowing through them.

As he absentmindedly watched the pages flip, he suddenly remembered Riden’s figure as she disappeared in front of him that day.

That night, as she tried to escape from the room, Ethan couldn’t help but throw one last comment at her.

“You have no choice. Endure a little bit of unhappiness.”

To have the future as the future Duchess guaranteed, yet still hope for a happy marriage, was too much to ask.

No one can have everything they want.

Ethan had come to accept that while enjoying many things, he had to steadily follow the preordained path of his life.

“His Grace doesn’t want to be unhappy, so he seems to want to drag others into his unhappiness. But no, I do have a choice. Would you like to make a bet? Whether I have a choice or not?”

And indeed, she left.

“Ah, so she’s really leaving. Let’s go, we must bid her farewell.”

Unable to resist Merrick’s urging, Ethan followed him out.

Riden was speaking with her butler in front of the carriage.

Merrick approached and offered his hand for a handshake, and Riden, with a cheerful smile, shook his hand.

She was warm and cordial in front of him, unlike her usual self.

Then, as if noticing Ethan standing behind her, Riden turned her head slightly toward him.

Ethan didn’t know what to say.

Then, Riden gave him a smile, as if to say she understood everything, and gave him a slight nod.

The Duchess didn’t come out.

After saying her goodbyes to everyone, Riden, with the butler’s help, got into the carriage.

Her face, now vanishing quickly from view, seemed incredibly lighthearted.

At that moment, Ethan was overwhelmed by an incredibly strange feeling.

The person he thought would silently accept his fate until the moment he met his destined end was leaving with an incredibly happy face.

Ethan felt like he had suffered a huge loss in a match he never participated in.

‘Why do I feel like this?’

The carriage, already on its way to the destination, was moving. Through the window, Riden’s small, departing figure appeared.

She looked happy.

In the end, after all the decisions were made, Ethan realized that Riden had secretly made a bet with him that day.

She had escaped from the swamp he thought he could never escape from.

A strange feeling of loss, something he had never experienced in his life, overwhelmed him.

A few days had passed since arriving in the capital.

During these days, what Riden did at the Count’s house was mostly sit quietly, express her joy, feel relieved, and occasionally walk in the garden, suddenly bursting into excitement.

Before the social season had even started, things were progressing exactly as she had hoped.

She had been dragged to a place that wasn’t even mentioned in the novel and was taken aback, but what did she find? It turned out to be the very place where her penalty fee had been kept.

She thought the start was going well.

She had gotten the Duchess to agree, so now Riden was free!

What would she do next?

Since she had also received news from the heroine, there was no rush for her to prepare her debutante; there was nothing she must do.

‘She must be arriving soon, right?’

Yesterday, a letter had arrived from the heroine.

Riden opened the drawer and read the letter once more.

[You asked me to come up, but… I can’t quite believe you want to support my humble debutante now. Didn’t you dislike me before?]

‘Dislike me?’

Marie Herron, she was the heroine of this novel.

She had boarded the carriage with Riden at the beginning of the novel to travel to the capital for her debutante.

Marie was from a noble family, but the daughter of a poor baron without any land. She had nothing but her striking appearance.

Her father, wanting her to marry well, begged the Count’s family for her to accompany Riden, as they had a connection.

For some reason, unlike in the novel, Marie hadn’t set off with Riden and had returned to the Baron’s estate.

Still, she had stayed briefly in the Count’s territory and had been snubbed by Riden, so she likely didn’t have the best feelings toward Riden.

At the end of the letter, Marie had even questioned if Riden had disliked her.

‘I’ll treat her better now and repair the broken relationship!’

As soon as Riden received Marie’s letter, she sent a knight and maid to accompany the Count’s carriage.

If there were no incidents, she would arrive before the social season began.

Though she was a bit worried she might arrive just in time for it.

In the meantime…

With a cheerful tap on her desk, Riden’s hand suddenly stopped.

‘Let’s wrap up the failed businesses!’

She thought it would be a good idea to clear up some of the businesses the Count and his wife had started.

“Glen!”

Riden called out with a strong voice, looking for Glen.

The business the McCurry Count and his wife started was opening a shop in the capital’s busiest street, but it was on a smaller scale than expected.

‘No wonder. The monthly rent and salaries must have been a burden.’

Glen, startled by the word “modest,” asked, “Miss, do you know how much the rent for this street’s shops is?” But when Riden nonchalantly replied, “Is that why you’ve been letting the rent drain away without dealing with it? Should we just let the Duke’s family handle it later?” Glen, feeling embarrassed, mumbled.

“As someone who had to honor the late Count and Countess’s wishes, it was hard for me to shut down their last business with my own hands.”

If the Count and Countess started the business for their daughter, wasn’t their final wish to see her happy?

As of today, I’ll close it all down so no more rent will come out, and I’ll finally feel happy.

Riden patted Glen’s slumped shoulder and said,

“Get down and lead the way.”

She followed Glen as he got down from the carriage.

Following him, Glen, who had been grumbling the entire way in the carriage, pointed with a defeated face at a particular spot.

“It’s over there.”

Riden’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

The first of the Count and Countess’s failed businesses, a dress shop.

‘Let’s see what happens when someone who’s never been involved in business opens a shop out of the blue with all the taxes from the territory. I’m quite curious.’