I Asked Her About Refusing The Offer

“Also, Mr. Takumi. There is one other thing I want to ask you..”

“Yes, what is it?”

As we both petted Leo and relaxed, Ms. Claire said that there was something else.

She looked rather serious.. Perhaps this was the real reason she had come here?

“Anne.. Anneliese’s proposal. What will you do?”

“Ah, that..”

“I suppose it would be strange for me to hear the answer first. But..I cannot help but think about it..”

Ms. Claire was very curious to know about my response.

Indeed, it would change things greatly, so I understood why she cared.

If I decided to marry into her family, then I would not be able to stay in this house and would have to move to Count Barsler’s lands.

..And then, what would happen to the contract that I made with the duke to sell the herbs..?

Well, there was no point in thinking about that, as I already knew what I was going to do.

“There’s nothing to worry about. I will reject it, obviously. It is really just a matter of how to tell her. That is what I’ve been thinking about.”

“Is that so? ..Reject.. I see. What a relief.”

Ms. Claire stood with surprise when she heard me.

I couldn’t hear the last few words, but she seemed pleased.

Well, I’m sure she was also concerned about our contract.

“Yes. I just want to be able to do it in a way that will not offend her.. You see, I’ve never experienced something like this before.. Was it like this for you, when you had to turn down your many suitors?”

“Indeed. ..Well, it was not all that difficult. After all, I am the daughter of a duke. And some of them were even commoners.. But either way, they could not be too forceful.”

“I see. I suppose it only gets complicated when you are a commoner who is rejecting a noble..”

As Ms. Claire adjusted her position on the bed, I asked her about the suitors that Mr. Ekenhart had brought to her.

Even among nobles, the duke was of the highest rank.

The only people above him were the royal family.

Considering this, Ms. Claire always had the upper hand.

So it was no wonder that she found it easy to reject them.

“..Of course, since there were so many, I sometimes had my doubts. After all, it would be quite rude to deal with all of them in the exact same way..”

“I see..”

Yes, it must have been difficult to deal with so many of them.

Even if she had the superior position, one would get tired of thinking of new ways to reject the suitors that arrived with every new day.

“So, if a commoner receives a proposal from a noble.. What should they do?”

“..Well, when that happens, people almost never refuse. After all, it is very rare for a commoner to marry into a noble family. Most people would never get such a chance.”

“I see.. That’s why Ms. Anne was so confident..”

“Well, yes. That is part of it. But I think you’ll find that she is just confident in general..”

So she was always like that.. I suppose I wasn’t used to such people, since I was always around Ms. Claire.

Well.. She had stubbornly gone off to the forest alone. Though, that was against the wishes of Sebastian and the servants.. She even apologized about it after. There was no point in thinking about that now.

In any case, commoners usually don’t turn down such offers..

It was true that it was a rare opportunity to become a noble, and so I could understand why most would accept.

Besides, there was the promise of comfort and luxury.. That would be appealing to most people.

Still..if rejecting them was so rare, then it put me in even more of an awkward position..

Not that it would make me change my mind or anything.

“Hmm.. How to tell her..”

“It can be difficult.. I know how it is.”

And so the two of us sat there and pondered on it.

During such times, it was nice to have Leo here. We both touched her soft fur, which was very comforting.

“I think I have an idea, Mr. Takumi.”

“You do?”

“Yes. You are currently contracted by my family to sell herbs. In other words, your ties to the duke are quite strong.”

“Indeed. ..And I’ve been living here for some time now.”

Ms. Claire had thought of something.

It was true that my ties to this house were strong now.

And it wasn’t even just Ms. Claire, Tilura and Mr. Ekenhart. I had even become close with the servants that worked here.

“If you marry into her house, you will no longer be able to do business with us as before. After all, it would mean doing business with their house, not you as an individual.”

“..Is that right?”

“Yes. While noble houses may do business together, it is almost unheard of for individual nobles to make contracts.”

Indeed. Nobles would enter different businesses as a way of improving their lifestyle, when taxes were not enough.

And if they succeed, they can lower taxes, so doing so was highly recommended..

Well, everything would be fine if you didn’t break the law like the count, or fail in other ways.

And if your business did fail, you have to then raise taxes to make up for it.

While business might expand to other territories, it was generally kept on your own lands.

And while it happened sometimes, contracts between individual nobles were rare, apparently.

If you went through another noble, that noble would also be making a profit..which meant more expenses, perhaps.

And so maybe it was best to do business with residents of other lands directly.

Even in Japan there were ways to sell directly to customers, which meant less expenses and cheaper prices.

..But there were also disadvantages to that as well.