[What is that face for……? Surely you aren’t about to say something ridiculous, like that you’d rather not?] (D)
[N-Nothing of the sort! ……It’s only that I don’t know what one gives a woman. You’d know a woman’s tastes well, wouldn’t you, Mother?] (L)
[Ho ho…… You aren’t about to say something as pitiful as asking me to send it in your stead, are you? Do not sink so low as to be the sort of shameless creature who has his mother choose his fiancée’s gifts. I should weep.] (D)
The duchess reads exactly where he’s going and cuts it off flatly. Then she shoots her sweating son a sharp look and asks in a tone of open accusation:
[……You don’t know what to give her. In that case, how have you been choosing your gifts until now? Surely…… you aren’t about to tell me you’ve never sent her a single thing?] (D)
[Absolutely not! I send them properly!] (L)
[Then you can manage it yourself this time as well, can’t you? Stop wasting my time and see to it.] (D)
As if she has no intention of continuing the conversation, the duchess ignores him and leaves the room. Left behind, Leonardo lowers his face, sweat beading on his brow.
‘Wh…… what do I do. Jewellery, of all things…… it’s impossible. There’s no way I can buy something like that……’
Leonardo has had any number of reasons for stubbornly refusing to send Chloe gifts, but the largest is simply that he begrudged the money. The allowance he receives from the family is far from generous. Even so, he spends it freely on amusements with Sherry and on things he wants for himself. Then he gives Chloe a dutiful gift out of whatever’s left — which is precisely why the contents run to flowers and sweets, cheap by comparison with gowns.
If he honestly appealed for more, he’d likely be granted additional funds. But it was obvious he’d be interrogated about what he’d spent the last lot on. Until now, Leonardo had assumed that as long as he stayed within budget, his busy mother wouldn’t check the details of where the money went, and he used it freely on Sherry and on his private expenses. From here on, though, to curb his waste, she may well demand receipts for every transaction.
If that happened, not only would the existence of a lover named Sherry come to light, there’s a danger his enraged mother would move against her. His mother is a proud woman, and there’s no chance she wouldn’t be furious to learn that ducal funds had been poured out on a commoner.
‘Then the only option left is selling some of my things…… ah, no. That won’t work either……’
He could raise the money by selling a few possessions, but most of them are stamped with the Linden crest. Put a crested item up for sale and it would be identified as Linden property at once, and society could well start laughing that the family is poor enough to be pawning its belongings to survive.
If that happened, being scolded by his mother would be the least of it. To make certain it never happened again, she might not let him set foot outside the estate, and he’d be watched whenever he did — near enough to house arrest.
But the fact remains that he doesn’t have the money to buy Chloe jewellery. And waiting until the next allowance is paid would only make his mother suspicious of what he’s been doing.
[What am I supposed to do……] (L)
Leonardo holds his head in his hands and murmurs it to no one in particular. No voice anywhere answers him.
—
The next day, Leonardo is dining with Sherry at the usual restaurant. His expression is clouded, and Sherry tilts her head, puzzled by the state of him.
[Leo, what’s wrong? You seem so down.] (S)
[Ah, yes…… sorry. The thing is……] (L)
He tells her what his mother ordered him to do the night before.
[What……!? Jewellery, for your fiancée? No…… you can’t, I don’t want that……] (S)
Tears spill from Sherry’s eyes and the fork drops from her hand. It hits the floor with a shrill clatter, and the proprietor’s wife comes over to pick it up. As she bows and says she’ll bring a fresh one, their conversation reaches her ears.
[I-I’m sorry, Sherry…… please don’t cry.] (L)
[Sniff…… But you promised me you’d never give your fiancée gowns or jewellery! You said you’d only ever give them to me…… You said that, didn’t you?!] (S)
What on earth is that supposed to mean, the wife nearly says out loud. What possible significance that promise has is entirely beyond her.
She hurries to the kitchen, and when she brings a replacement fork back to their table, the two of them are still going at it.
[I hate it…… I hate it! Leo picking out jewellery for another woman, and that woman wearing it……!] (S)
[I’m sorry…… I hate it too. I’ve decided that the only person I choose clothes and jewels for, and put my heart into, is you……] (L)
The wife watches the pair of them lament like tragic lovers with thoroughly unimpressed eyes.
‘He has a fiancée. What exactly does this man imagine he’s being faithful to? And the girl — she’s carrying on with an engaged man, and she has the nerve to be upset about that. There’s something wrong with both of them.’
She sets down the replacement fork without a word, and as she starts clearing the empty plates, more nonsense reaches her.
[Besides, even if she’s only doing it to get your attention, your fiancée won’t see you at all, will she? Preparing jewellery for a person like that is just strange……] (S)
[I think so too. Sending expensive things to a woman who won’t even answer my letters is intolerable in itself. But it can’t be helped. A fiancée of her standing is permitted that sort of tyranny……] (L)
[That’s awful……] (S)
Sherry starts sniffling again, and Leonardo quietly offers her a handkerchief. She takes it and scrubs at her eyes without much care.
And the proprietor’s wife watches it all, unimpressed.
‘——The tyrant here would be the man badmouthing his fiancée to the woman he’s cheating with and acting superior about it, wouldn’t it……’
The words rise as far as her throat, and she barely manages to keep them from coming out of her mouth. It’s none of her business, but the arrogance of what they’re saying leaves her anger nowhere to go.
Swallowing it down, she is loading empty dishes onto her tray in silence when another outrageous remark reaches her.
[Then…… at least make it something really cheap! I don’t think I’d mind so much then. ……Oh, I know! Let’s pick something from one of the street stalls. It’s only glasswork, but it sparkles beautifully in the light — it looks just like the real thing!] (S)
[A street stall……? I see, that’s…… that sounds rather good!] (L)
Both their faces light up, and the proprietor’s wife nearly cries out, Whaaat?!
She’s a commoner and not well versed in the ways of the nobility, but even she understands how outrageously discourteous it is to give the daughter of a great house a piece of glasswork from a street stall.
Keeping as calm as she can, she bows with the laden tray still in her hands. Then, so as not to forget a word of it, she hurries back to the kitchen, snatches up a sheet of paper, and scribbles the whole conversation down in one go.
[This is unbelievable…… I have to get this to the Owner, quickly……] (Wife)
At the stove, her husband looks on with concern at the state of his wife.
Simplyrical 