I’m Not the One Who Seduced the Grand Duke Chapter 17

“Have you heard the rumors? Apparently, guests have been coming nonstop to the Bernstein Grand Duke’s residence.”

“Guests?”

Creak.

The quill that had been moving diligently across the page stopped with an unfamiliar sound.

Ink splattered from the nib, leaving a black dot, but I ignored it and looked up to see Laura’s serious expression.

“They say it’s all a line of marriage proposals.”

“Marriage proposals? At this time of year?”

“When it comes to proposing, what does the season matter? Whoever gets their hands on him first gets him.”

Laura sighed and nodded.

“Until now, he was like a cake in a painting. A very tempting cake at that. But once everyone found out that the cake they thought existed only in a picture could actually be eaten, they all started scrambling.”

Laura clicked her tongue.

“Still, there’s a limit. They have absolutely no manners. Even if they’ve lost all sense of shame, they know perfectly well that you’re already in the middle of marriage negotiations!”

“You’re right.”

It was certainly a breach of basic etiquette to some extent.

But that was only when one acted alone.

When many people did it together, their shamelessness multiplied, and they stopped caring about appearances altogether.

“‘You’re right’? You’re right? Marquess, do you know what this means?”

“What does it mean?”

“It means you could lose His Grace!”

Laura shouted in a frenzy, as though I had asked because I genuinely didn’t know.

“No, of course, Your Excellency has the upper hand right now! But nothing is certain until the wedding takes place!”

Not only the young ladies who had been pursuing him all this time, but even ambitious people who wanted to establish connections with House Bernstein.

Apparently, they were all holding their money bags and eagerly competing to place their bids.

‘I guess that’s why I haven’t been seeing him as often lately.’

He had been appearing in front of me one after another, so I’d wondered if he had too much free time.

But apparently, as the head of the Grand Ducal House, he couldn’t simply ignore the guests coming to his residence.

“I hear the others are showering His Grace with all kinds of gifts, calling them bribes or whatever, trying to win his favor.”

“…….”

“And meanwhile, our Marquess is receiving these incredible showers of gifts from His Grace practically every other day!”

There it is again.

Laura pointed at the carriage-load of gifts and flowers that had arrived today.

Sure enough, gifts had been coming in practically every day.

Almost as if he were apologizing for not being able to come see me himself these past few days.

“Why don’t you send him something in return, too, Marquess?”

“Whatever I send probably won’t come close to what I’ve received so far.”

“Oh, does the price of a gift really matter? What matters is the thought behind it. The thought.”

Who knew?

‘The things I’ve already received are so extravagant that I can hardly get away with simply offering my feelings……. I haven’t even finished checking everything yet.’

But Laura had a point. Just sitting around and doing nothing about it did leave me feeling somewhat uneasy.

“……Then think of something appropriate and send it.”

“Yes! I’ll think about it with the butler!”

“We are House Zaherette, after all. We can’t fall behind other noble families!”

Laura became visibly excited.

Watching her, I let out a small laugh.

“But Laura. Have you heard anything from the information brokers yet?”

“No. Unfortunately.”

“I see……”

Laura’s face quickly fell, as though her earlier excitement had never existed.

Why wouldn’t it? Even I couldn’t help sighing.

‘I need to get that ring back as soon as possible.’

The ring signifying the head of the family, which the outsider who had entered my body had carelessly pawned without knowing its value.

I had been asking around everywhere, but its whereabouts were still unknown.

As though it had simply vanished somewhere.

‘I can’t just keep waiting like this.’

It wasn’t simply because the ring symbolized the head of the family.

It was something deeply meaningful to me.

That was why I needed to find it as soon as possible……

“Come to think of it, speaking of nobles, what should we do about these?”

As though trying to change the mood, Laura brought over a large basket from somewhere and asked.

Inside was a mountain of letters, far too many to fit on a single tray.

“They’re all invitations addressed to you, Marquess. There were always quite a few, but lately, I think they’ve increased severalfold.”

“It’s obvious. They’re trying to pry into my relationship with the Grand Duke.”

The scandal is currently sweeping through the capital.

They wanted to uncover the truth, but they couldn’t bring themselves to touch the Grand Duke, the central figure, and I was safely holed up inside my residence, so they must have been itching to get at me.

“Just decline them like you always have. I rarely attended social events before anyway, so it’s not as though I have much more to lose by being criticized now.”

“That’s true. You don’t really need to build connections, Marquess.”

I nodded.

Having too many people flocking around me would only become a headache.

‘Information gathering is essential when you’re running a business, but that’s only when you still need a stepping stone.’

It didn’t apply to someone who was already at the top.

Anything that came out of my mouth would become information, and I was far more likely to have information taken from me than to gain any.

‘Besides, a garden party?’

I picked up one of the invitations and looked through it uneasily.

I was a marquess, after all. Being naturally invited to gatherings of noblewomen was a little awkward.

For one thing, I wasn’t married.

Of course, these days it was becoming customary for noblewomen to bring their daughters along one by one, but I wasn’t really either of those things.

“I’d just get torn apart from both sides if I went.”

“That’s true……. Ah, then what about this one?”

“Hmm?”

“It’s an invitation from Viscount Evrel.”

“Evrel?”

I held out my hand, asking her to give it to me, and Laura handed over the letter.

“Evrel…… That’s the place, right? The owner of Hotel Eldvrel at No. 7 Roden Street.”

“That’s right. And it’s also one of the places I’ve been trying to supply my branded tea.”

Viscount Evrel was, like me, a woman who had inherited her family title.

However, her viscountcy wasn’t wealthy. She had torn down the capital residence she owned and built a hotel in its place, becoming seriously involved in business.

‘She now operates three hotels across the Empire.’

Perhaps because she was a self-made businesswoman, she tended to avoid becoming personally entangled with powerful figures.

And yet, she had sent me an invitation first?

I quickly opened the letter and read it.

[I respectfully invite you.

I sincerely wish to invite Your Excellency to the modest banquet currently being prepared by House Evrel.

It would be our great honor to welcome your noble presence.

Furthermore, I hope we may have the opportunity to exchange valuable opinions regarding the business partnership Your Excellency proposed previously.

I earnestly ask that you attend and grace us with your presence.

— Viscount Evrel.]

“What will you do?”

At Laura’s question about whether I would attend, I silently flipped the invitation back and forth.

No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like she was blatantly trying to lure me in……

“What should I do about this?”

 

***

 

Meanwhile, at that very moment.

The lounge of Hotel Eldvrel at No. 7 Roden Street.

“Oh, it’s so embarrassing. I can hardly even bring myself to mention it anywhere.”

“I know. Who would have thought the young lady who had always been the quietest would cause a scandal like this?”

“Strictly speaking, she isn’t a ‘young lady.’ It may be rare, but she is, after all, a young woman who inherited a title.”

“My goodness, it just slipped out because I’m so used to calling her that. Well, what does it matter? It’s only something we’re saying among ourselves.”

The noblewomen laughed softly, sipping their tea elegantly as they chatted away.

Everything they wore and everything they put into their mouths.

Every bit of it suited elegant ladies of high society perfectly.

Yet the words coming out of their mouths were nothing short of vulgar.

‘Tsk. All they know how to do is badmouth other people.’

Doresa Evrel, sitting at one corner of the table, let out a small sigh.

The lounge of Hotel Eldvrel was originally an exclusive place accessible only to hotel guests and annual members.

Yet she was already fed up with shameless people who came whenever they pleased, invoking her name and wasting their time.

‘If they at least paid, I might understand. But they come here every time and shamelessly occupy the seats like this…….’

The viscount’s expression hardened as she stared at the noblewomen.

Once, when she had finally lost patience and said something about it, their response had been absolutely ridiculous.

“Oh my, I’m sorry. I suppose we were being rather insensitive. Still, I’m a little hurt. I thought we were quite close to the Viscount.”

“This is why you shouldn’t associate with business ladies. They don’t see people as people. They only see money.”

And once again, on this day, they simply left without paying a single thing.

‘If they had any shame, I thought they wouldn’t come back.’

But they continued coming here as though it were their own home.

And every time they did, they would drag Doresa, who was busy working, over to sit with them and chat.

‘Would it be better to get involved with the Marquess instead? She may be young, but she’s running her own business, and she seems quite good at handling money, too.’

It would certainly be far more beneficial, Doresa thought, swallowing a sigh as she took a sip of tea.

Then one of the noblewomen spoke.

“Come to think of it, has anyone among us received a reply to their invitation from the Marquess?”