I want to escape from pr.., p.1
I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons: Volume 2, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons 2: I May Be on the Verge of Ruin, but I Want to Get Married!
Side Story: In-Law Surprise
Side Story: Nadir’s First Love
Side Story: Telling His Parents
Side Story: How Ben Became a Butler
Afterword
Color Illustration
Bonus Short Story
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons 2: I May Be on the Verge of Ruin, but I Want to Get Married!
I was standing at the very edge of disaster.
“We’ll be ruined! Ruined!” I wailed, diving into my bed.
There was no longer anyone to admonish me that a lady of my station shouldn’t behave like this, for you see, as I’d just mentioned, my family was on the verge of ruin. All our servants were gone. A noble house without a single servant to its name was unheard of, but that was our reality at present. Even those who’d said they would stay had been dismissed.
At the risk of sounding repetitive, the reason was that we were on the brink of financial collapse. We simply couldn’t afford them.
And if being out of funds wasn’t bad enough, we also owed a large amount. At this point, there was only one way out of this mess.
I had to marry into money. There was no alternative.
“And yet! A suitable partner eludes me!” I cried out as my gala gown turned into a crumpled mess.
The door to my room opened, and there stood the lady of the house, the baroness.
“Brianna?” she asked upon seeing the state I was in. The baron, head of the house, was behind her. “Um, you don’t have to keep trying if it’s so taxing on you,” the baroness said with a melancholy furrow of her brows. “Don’t worry about us.”
I sat up abruptly. “No, mother!” I protested. “I’ve only just begun!”
This was no time to be discouraged! So what if I hadn’t been able to find myself a partner at the most recent ball? I would simply have to try harder at the next one!
The two of them looked troubled by my words. Ah, I hadn’t meant to make them feel that way—I simply had to find myself a rich man and repay their kindness!
My determination renewed, I clenched my fist.
***
I’d been living in this house for twelve years. Truthfully, I wasn’t this couple’s biological daughter; I was but a lucky girl, plucked from an orphanage, born to unknown parents. But although the baron and baroness weren’t my parents by blood, they had raised me with such love and care that it felt as if they’d been my parents all my life.
They hadn’t been blessed with children, you see, and so they’d chosen to take me in as a young girl, simply because they wished for a daughter. And also because, in this country, women were allowed to inherit noble titles.
Thanks to them, I grew up in a loving environment and was educated as an heiress. And since I was to be a baroness—a low-ranking noble—they’d even told me that they would allow me to marry a commoner, as long as I loved the man. And so, I had lived in blissful, unambitious ignorance, thinking I could simply take a good-natured man of common stock as a husband one day.
Reality was not quite so gentle. Everything had turned on its head about two years ago.
Father was conned out of all of his wealth, taken advantage of for his kindness. In a flash, our family was reduced to a mere title and a pile of debt.
Seeing my adoptive parents in tears, weeping over the end of their noble house that had endured for generations, I made a decision.
I would marry a man of means.
Fortunately for me, I was young, and had developed voluptuous curves; the plan, then, was to find a man who would be attracted to my assets. Indeed, I had been courted by several men. My adoptive parents, however, weren’t having it.
“Don’t be a second wife! Or a mistress, for that matter!” they’d scold me.
You see, the offers of courtship I had received were mostly from older men in their fifties or sixties, saying they would give me as much money as I needed, but that they wouldn’t take me as their primary wife, only as a side piece.
Who knew having such a voluptuous body could have such harmful side effects?
My parents loved me. They would’ve rather died than seen me sell myself like that. And truthfully, I too had dreams of marriage. As such, my family collectively agreed that I shouldn’t rush into becoming someone’s second wife. Instead, I was to take my time in finding a partner.
And yet, two years had passed in the blink of an eye, and I was now nineteen—the upper limit of marriageable age. The situation had grown dire. Ruin was at hand.
Besides managing our lands, I had been able to pay interest on our debt using my side income, which I’d been earning for that express purpose. Thus, the debt collectors had been quite patient with us, but at last, they had made an ultimatum: either we paid what we owed in six months, or it would all be over.
Honestly, I’d been naive. I was young and attractive, and that had gotten to my head. I’d been so certain that I’d find a man to save our family.
But reality was harsh.
Most decent men kept their distance due to our debt. When someone approached me in hopes of inheriting our title, they’d see the amount our family owed and balk, saying that such a low-ranking title wasn’t worth it. They’d say, “I would have considered it, were this at least for the title of count.”
“Ugh!” I groaned, pounding my bed in frustration. “And I was so sure I’d landed the crown prince!”
Like something straight out of a fairy tale, His Highness had chosen me as his companion for the ball. Why, I’d been more than delighted to attend. But, as it turned out, I’d been nothing but a pawn in his little love game with his fiancée.
How cruel. Here I’d been, thinking I’d found myself an honest man who saw beyond my breasts—and the crown prince, no less!—only to be used as nothing but jealousy material. Cruel indeed.
“I should’ve charged him for my services as a pawn,” I grumbled.
He might’ve paid if I’d asked, actually. Perhaps it wasn’t too late. I could simply send him an invoice.
“U-Um, Brianna?” my mother said, confused.
Oh. Right. My parents. At the door.
I coughed in an attempt to hide my embarrassment at being seen in such a state by my beloved family.
“Um, you’ve received an invitation to a ball,” she continued, handing me the envelope.
“Thank you, mother,” I replied with a smile.
Looking somewhat relieved, my parents left the room. I opened the invitation, and written on it was a rather unexpected name.
“Nadir Dorman,” I read aloud.
That was the name of the older brother of the true love—now wife—of the crown prince who had used me as a pawn.
***
Nadir Dorman.
A name I was all too familiar with. He was the one who had gotten me into this mess, after all.
That day, as every other day, I’d been searching for a marriage partner when the crown prince approached me, smiling radiantly.
No way, right? That couldn’t have been real, now could it?
To me, having all but lost the innocent, maidenly dreams in my heart to the burdens of debt, it had been nothing short of a miracle.
That was when I met Nadir too. He’d been standing behind His Highness, and frankly I’d initially thought him the prince’s attendant.
Even to my eyes, jaded after the abundance of men I’d encountered, the crown prince was beautiful. Truly princely. His aura was on a whole new level.
And so I was absolutely ecstatic when he asked, “Would you accompany me to the next ball?”
My perseverance had paid off. I was about to score the best possible marriage candidate. I was beside myself when I attended the party. Words could not describe the sense of superiority I felt when greeting the prince’s so-called fiancée. I was so certain that His Highness had chosen me! It would be no exaggeration to call that moment the happiest of my life until that point.
Said happiness lasted but an instant, of course.
“I cannot keep you company today,” the prince told his fiancée.
She looked at him and replied, “Will you be accompanying her, then?”
Her eyes were moist, as if filled with longing. At the time, I thought this was sadness, but later I would come to learn just how horribly mistaken I’d been.
His Highness looked away from her. “My apologies.”
“Does that mean our betrothal is...” She trailed off.
“It does,” he confirmed.
His fiancée looked at us both, then jumped for joy. And I don’t mean that figuratively. She genuinely raised her hands in the air and began to hop ecstatically.
“Finally!” she exclaimed.
“Pardon?”
Her refined aura from moments ago was gone, and she excitedly called out to Nadir, who stood behind the prince.
“Did you hear that, brother?” she exclaimed. “Did you hear? You heard it loud and clear, yes?!”
“I did,” Nadir said flatly.
“At last! At long last!” She joined her hands in prayer over her chest and gazed up at the heavens, as if thanking the divine. Clearly riding her wave of excitement, she continued, “What a horrid ten years it has b een! Ever since my betrothal to the crown prince at the age of seven, day after day, it’s just been study, study, study, study, dance, dance, dance, dance! And, oh, the incessant tea parties! Awful! Every! Last! One!”
“L-Leticia?” The prince’s tone, soft until this point, changed. Well, it was no wonder. Her sudden change in demeanor had caught me by surprise too.
“I’m criticized for any and every thing I do! If I so much as laugh out loud, why, I’m too vulgar! But did my doing so inconvenience anyone? No, of course not! If I happen to be in a bit of a hurry and break into a jog, I’m improper! Faultfinding, so much faultfinding!”
“Lettie?”
“I was resigned to it,” she continued. “What else could I do? But now I don’t need to be! This is amazing! And it’s all thanks to you, ah... What was it? Buh...Be...Bre...Brie?”
“It’s Brianna!”
I’d been quietly listening to her tirade, but I had to correct her. What did she think she was doing, giving me such an odd nickname so casually?!
Yes, perhaps it was a suitable nickname given my actual name and my doubtless grating act, but uh, rude? My act was all about winning the crown prince’s hand in marriage! I wouldn’t have acted that way had I not needed to! Hmph!
The prince’s fiancée, whom I now knew to be named Leticia, had a clearly fake look of remorse on her face as she said, “Please pardon my indiscretion. That was rather cheesy of me.”
“Do you mean to mock me?!” I demanded.
“Perhaps a little, but I truly am grateful!” she exclaimed. “Thank you so much for taking on this bad debt!”
“Bad...debt,” I echoed, words momentarily escaping me at her outrageous way of referring to royalty.
“I can hardly believe you’re willing to suffer through being cooped up in a castle ten hours a day every day, studying, dancing, enduring the nobles’ harassment at tea parties, all in my stead! Best of luck to you! I’ll be rooting for you!”
“Um...” I mumbled, frozen in shock. I hadn’t heard anything about that!
Not caring in the slightest about my plight, she turned to Nadir once more.
“Ah, brother, but you must be heartbroken! It was you who forced me into this engagement, after all! Please, do find some other means to establish ties with the royal family!”
“Of course,” her brother replied.
“Lord Clarke found himself a wonderful woman, so you’ll keep your promise to allow me freedom, yes?!”
“Of course,” he said once again, a defeated look on his face.
“Ha ha! I’m free as a bird!” she exclaimed. “Goodbye, ladyhood! I’m moving to the countryside! I’ll go fishing, and then fish some more, climb trees, prance about with the village children, work the fields, and laugh with my mouth wide open!”
The way she spoke, one might’ve thought she was actually dumping the prince onto me. She merrily strode out of the venue. I could only stare in bewilderment at her swift departure, with the gnawing feeling that I was in over my head and needed to distance myself from the crown prince.
Before I had the chance to, however, I was caught. Not by the prince, mind you, but by the runaway lady’s brother, Nadir, future Duke Dorman.
“Lady Brianna, where do you think you’re going?” he asked.
“Oh, I simply thought it would be best for me to take my leave now,” I told him with a polite smile, though inside I was sweating bullets.
“Are you not with His Highness?”
“Well, we did not make any arrangements for the future, you see.” I wasn’t lying. The only thing I’d agreed to was to accompany him to the ball, after all.
I could sense trouble brewing and wanted to leave immediately, but Nadir did not release my shoulders. In fact, his grip on them tightened. His determination not to let me leave was palpable.
“But you see,” he said, “His Highness’s fiancée has run away. A replacement is necessary. Surely you understand this.”
“No,” I replied. “No, I do not.”
“And she caused such a commotion besides. It calls for punishment, no?”
The low tone in which he spoke sent shivers down my spine. I stood my ground, however.
“I would consider becoming his fiancée, but not as a replacement. As the real deal,” I told him boldly.
He grinned in response. My back was quickly growing damp with cold sweat.
“Very well,” he said. “If you can endure the education necessary to become a princess, we’ll consider it.” He turned to the crown prince. “Are we in agreement, Your Highness?”
“Yes.” The ease with which the prince accepted Nadir’s proposal left me stunned.
Taking princess lessons meant I was a serious contender to be Prince Clarke’s fiancée. But candidates for such a position were carefully chosen based on their qualities and family background, not something to be decided this flippantly. Not only that, these two men were making this decision unilaterally.
If the crown prince had fancied me, I could’ve understood this choice being made at his insistence. However, he wasn’t even looking at me, and simply kept staring in the direction his fiancée had run off to. It could not be any clearer where his affections lay.
I looked over at Nadir, who still had not released my shoulders. His eyes bored straight into me, and he made no effort to hide that a plot was brewing behind them.
They’d set me up.
And by the time that fact dawned on me, it was already too late.
Why do these things only ever happen to me?
Internally crying tears of despair, all I could do was glare at Nadir.
***
I threw in the towel immediately.
Those princess lessons had been harsh. Very much so.
You see, the household I had been raised in was one that hadn’t been particularly strict about the refinement and manners expected of a lady. As a future baroness, I was only minimally cultured, and thus I lacked the grace and knowledge to stand beside the prince.
What I was good at were math, business deals, and estate management. Higher-ranked ladies seldom learned such things, and this knowledge was looked down upon by higher-ranked noblemen. That was one of the reasons why I wasn’t particularly popular among aristocrats of finer stock. I’d never bothered to hide the fact that, as heiress to a barony, my education had been focused on economics and management, and so it was well-known.
Princess lessons, focusing mainly on ladylike etiquette, were a poor fit for me.
I had only the barest of manners, and in the eyes of my tutors, that’d been unpardonable. They’d yelled at me and punished me, and I’d been given no breaks at all. Pure hell.
Not only that, I was fully aware that these nightmarish lessons would bear no fruit, which only added to my despair.
The prince had no intention of marrying me at all. I hadn’t even met with him since the night of his fiancée’s escape. It didn’t take a creative genius to imagine how little interest he had in me.
“That’s it. I’m done. This is killing me,” I told Nadir when he came to check on me.
He gave me an appraising look. “Oh dear. Have your cheeks grown a little gaunt?”
“Yes. Yes they have. I’ve lost weight,” I said plainly, not bothering with polite language or showing respect toward him anymore. He had to have noticed, but he said nothing. And I’d been trying so hard to annoy him too, knowing that a lady of lower stature had likely never spoken to him on equal terms! Alas.
Frustrated, I ground my teeth, much to his apparent enjoyment.
“Your chest hasn’t reduced in size one bit, though,” he commented.
“This is harassment!” I snapped.
How dare he! I’d heard such comments before, in a more roundabout manner that befitted nobility, such as, “Your figure is quite well-rounded,” and, “Lucky is the man who gets to have you in his embrace,” but never something so blatant!
I crossed my arms, as if to shield myself from his scrutiny, but that only further emphasized my cleavage. Damn you, body!
Realizing the futility of my efforts, I let my arms drop and glared at him, but that only seemed to further his amusement. What a wonderful man.
“I could set you free,” he said.
Confused, I tilted my head. What did he mean, “set me free”? Wait... Was he talking about the princess lessons?!
“You mean it?!” I exclaimed.
“Yes. His Highness has declared he will not have children with anyone but Leticia,” Nadir explained.
