Chapter 42
Fortunately, no one was standing guard when Britney arrived at Iris’ door.
However, she didn’t recklessly open it.
This is because the friendly conversation heard inside the room blocked her like a barrier.
“Wow, Irie. You’re so pretty.”
“Really?”
“Beautiful, very beautiful. Especially at the shoulders…”
“Oh, that tickles, Mel.”
“If brother sees it, he’ll lose his breath, really.”
Britney gritted her teeth. Because she remembered what happened in the dining hall.
Celestine and Melanie, who treats Britney like she doesn’t exist, were talking in Iris’ room with the atmosphere of being close friends of Iris.
‘Should I go back?’
But she wanted to confirm. Is Tilette really here?
She took a deep breath and softened her expression.
The expression of an older sister who loves and cares about her younger sister.
She had failed at the dining hall, but she won’t fail today.
Knock, knock-
The knock interrupted the conversation inside.
The door opened and Christina showed her face.
“I’m here to see Irie.”
“Oh, wait a minute.”
Christina closed the door.
Britney glared at the closed door.
How dare she close the door in front of her.
A moment later, when the door opened, Britney had an elegant smile.
“Come in.”
Christina opened the door and stepped aside.
Britney went inside and caught sight of the sitting room.
Lots of dresses all over the place.
And a small woman with short blue hair and red horn-rimmed glasses.
It was really Tilette.
Britney breathed in and turned to Iris.
Iris was wearing a light black dress, a thin dress that hardly seemed to be worn. The back of the dress was cut off, revealing the white and fine back, and the black cloth made Iris’ fair skin stand out.
“What is it?”
Celestine, who was standing next to Iris, holding a dress like a maid, spoke somewhat informally. However Britney didn’t lose her graceful smile.
“I came here to chat with my sister, but I didn’t know she was this busy.”
“Oh. As you can see, she’s busy.”
Celestine gave her a, ‘Get lost if you know,’ glance but Britney pretended not to see it.
“I guess you’re fitting the dresses for the wedding. But I think that dress is a little too revealing to wear at a wedding. Irie, are you still sticking to that dress?”
Iris just smiled lightly.
It was a smile that read, ‘When did I say I would wear this dress?’ as if she thought it would upset Britney more that way than to protest.
If Iris had insisted on this dress, Britney would have made up a lot of stories about how she has always been like this.
“What’s wrong with this dress? Don’t you think it’s a good match with Irie? It’s very beautiful in my eyes.”
Melanie said.
“Of course it’s beautiful. She looks good in anything. Her face is such a treasure.”
“I know. She tried on all the dresses that Tilette brought, but there wasn’t a single one that didn’t look good on her.”
“It’s the first time I’ve felt that it was worth making dresses today. If I could, I’d like to give her all the dresses here as a gift. If Miss Iris wears them, it’ll be a huge promotion.”
At Tilette’s words, Britney felt her ribs tightening. But she didn’t show it on her face.
“Oh, Tilette is already famous. But if you give it to her as a gift, that would be great for our Irie. Irie loves such expensive dresses. Thanks to Irie, I’ve inherited a lot of her dresses.”
Again, Iris simply smiled.
It was the bearing of someone who was saying, ‘Yeah, do whatever you want.’
Celestine, Melanie, and Tilette and her party knew enough about the strange war of nerves between women. That’s why they had noticed the thorn in Britney’s words. However Britney wasn’t aware of that fact.
“But it’s a little…I’m worried, Irie. It’s nice to have a luxurious wedding, but you’re the mistress of the Green family now. It’s not good to waste money like when you were single. So I’m just saying…”
Britney’s eyes went to Celestine and Melanie.
“The cost of our Irie’s wedding, Duke Whittle will pay for it.”
It was just empty words.
It was natural for a man to pay for the wedding, and she was sure that the Green family wouldn’t open their hands to the family of the bride.
Maybe she thought the answer would be, ‘Come on, how could we do that? I appreciate the thought.’
“That’s a good idea, sister.”
Iris, who hadn’t said a word so far, spoke for the first time.
At the unexpected answer, Britney widened her eyes.
Iris was still smiling.
“I was worried that my husband was spending too much money, but if my family is responsible for the wedding for me, there’s nothing better than that. Please give father and mother my thanks.”
When things didn’t go as expected, Britney became flustered.
She couldn’t even say, ‘Yes, I’ll definitely do that. Even so, you’re married now, so don’t waste too much from now.’
There were dozens of dresses in this room now.
A pair of Tilette’s dresses were expensive enough to cover months’ worth of living for the nobles. Even if Duke Whittle has a gold mine, it was too much to pay for all of these dresses.
Gulp-
Britney swallowed her dry saliva.
‘What should I do?’
She couldn’t find a way out of this situation gracefully. With what she had said, she couldn’t go back on it now.
Her heart thumped. She never wanted to pay for Iris’ lavish wedding.
She was hoping that Iris would say, ‘I’m just kidding,’ or Celestine would say, ‘No, of course we should be responsible for the wedding.’
But they just stare at Britney with their mouths shut. No one gave her the answer she wanted.
Her heart sank.
‘What am I supposed to do…?’
She wanted to cry.
Britney, who was wracking her head in silence, managed to find something to say.
“I-is it okay if we pay for the wedding…? You don’t mind? Since it’s natural for a man to take charge of it, I’m sure there will be talks.”
“It’s okay. It’s something Miss Britney suggested first, and there’s no one who would talk about our Green family behind our backs.”
Celestine replied calmly.
Now the real way out is gone. Britney even forgot to take care of her facial expressions.
With shaky eyes, she looked around the pile of dresses in the room.
The cost of these dresses, how many years of living expenses was it?
The cost of the wedding wasn’t just the price of the dresses. Melanie’s parties will be huge.
“I…”
She has to get out of this somehow. She wanted to say it was just a joke, but it wasn’t the right atmosphere.
There were even Tilette and her assistants here.
“Well…let’s do that.”
Britney turned around with a pale face and ran out of the room.
Tears welled up around Britney’s eyes running down the hall.
‘What do I do? What do I do?’
* * *
“Has she lost her mind?!”
At Reuben’s shout, Britney flinched her head down.
It was the first time Reuben was so mad, but she could understand it.
Britney also wanted to yell at the top of her lungs.
“I can’t believe she said we were going to pay for the wedding…Why do we have to?! How much money is that?! Apparently, they even rented construction equipment from the wizard tower. Do you have any idea how much it costs to rent a machine from the wizard tower?!”
“Ah, but…Iris…She insisted that we pay for it.”
“Then you should’ve stopped her! You should’ve told her it’s not going to happen! What were you doing just sitting there?!”
“How could I stop her there? Iris said we were going to pay for the wedding.”
“Why can’t you stop her? You can calmly tell her that the women’s side of the family don’t pay for weddings. It’s not like Celestine Green and Countess Jennel don’t know etiquette, I’m sure they would have understood if you had said so.”
Of course they would.
The problem was that Britney had brought it up first.
But Britney couldn’t bear to tell the truth in front of Reuben, who was fuming to the top of his head.
“Oh, my head. Iris, that bitch is crazy…”
Denise fell down on the sofa, touching her temple.
“No way! I’m never paying for this wedding. No, I can’t!”
“But…Dad. Our family’s honor is at stake…”
“What honor?! It’s her over there who defiled our reputation. The bride’s family paying for the wedding…What kind of crazy thing is that? If Iris said that, you should have stopped her. You said that Celestine was there too?”
“Mhm…”
“Not a penny or two. I’ll have to go and make a formal complaint on this part!”
“T-to who? To Iris?”
“To Count Green!”
* * *
Reuben, who immediately went to Keivrand to protest, froze at his words.
“W-what?”
“I’m just saying thank you, Duke Whittle, and to Miss Britney, for making the offer first.”
“W-what do you mean…?”
“Oh, didn’t you hear that? Miss Britney came to Iris’ room on her own accord and said Duke Whittle would pay for all the dresses and wedding expenses.”
Reuben’s face became drained of color.
“M-my Britney wouldn’t have done that…”
“Why not? She cares so much about her sister that she wants to pay for the wedding. You have a very sweet daughter, Duke.”
Reuben couldn’t figure out what the hell was the situation.
“Count Green. Aren’t you trying to use my daughter’s naivety?”
“Duke, your daughter, do you mean Miss Britney or Iris?”
“Of course I’m talking about Britney!”
“Oh. I see. I had no idea. I couldn’t even guess.”
Reuben was furious.
“Our Britney…”
As he was about to mention Britney’s naivety, he remembered that this wasn’t the time.
“A-anyway, I don’t think Britney meant what she said. And, only the Green family will hear bad rumors if it was to happen, so let’s pretend this never happened.”
“Well. Duke, you’re misunderstanding something. First of all, there were a lot of witnesses when Miss Britney said she wanted to pay for the wedding. Celestine, Countess Melanie Jennel, and Tilette and her party.”
Reuben swallowed his breath. He didn’t know it was such a crowded place.
“Wouldn’t the Whittle family be a laughing stock if they went back on their words? And…”
Reuben tried to say something, but Keivrand lifted his index finger and continued.
“Second. It would be a great honor for the Whittle family to marry our Green family. So even if the Whittle family pays for the whole wedding, people won’t think it’s strange. Not only that, there are a wide range of people who want to connect with our family.”
That was right. Breaking some wedding rules didn’t mean the family would receive bad talks behind their backs.
No, everyone would think it was natural for Duke Whittle to pay for the wedding.
Reuben’s heart thumped. He knew Britney had done something she shouldn’t have. And even with his pride at stake, he couldn’t even say, ‘Okay, just leave it to us.’
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Most of the money from the gold mine was spent on luxury and winning the hearts of the Crown Prince’s aides. Money will continue to come in, but there isn’t much money in hand now.
With that going on, they have to pay for the wedding, which anyone can tell will be huge.
Keivrand sat cross-legged, smiling and waiting for Reuben’s reply.
== Translator’s Note ==
1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section .