Delicate Lady

It was winter.

The Rain family, whose demesne at the northernmost tip of the Eastern Continent, began preparing for winter in September.

By November, all the bedding in the Rain household had been changed to velvet.

Velvet bedcovers, thick duvets filled with fluffy cotton, and velvet pillowcases added to the mansion’s antique charm.

Alicia opened her eyes within the deep blue velvet.

The velvet with golden embroidery was warm and soft.

And heavy.

The girl’s violet eyes trembled with unease.

From beyond the large room, faint footsteps echoed from the stone stairs at the end of the corridor.

Alicia quickly shut her eyes.

Pretending to sleep, the girl began to think.

‘I hope it’s Annie, not Daisy.’

Daisy was the head of the southern wing of the mansion.

The southern wing was practically a separate building.

Perhaps because it consisted of old northern-style architecture and a maze garden, Daisy bore great responsibility and rarely showed expression.

She seldom smiled and spoke stiffly, always saying things like “Would you like to?” or “You are to do this.”

In contrast to Daisy, Annie, who mainly did chores, always had a smiling face.

She also had a warm personality, tending even to the smallest matters with care.

It wasn’t that Daisy treated Alicia harshly or acted frightening in any way.

But just having Daisy in front of her made Alicia feel stiff.

She shrank without reason.

Sometimes, just being near her made it hard to breathe.

After a while, the footsteps stopped and soon there was a knock at the door.

A calm voice came from beyond the door.

“Young Lady.”

“Mm.”

Alicia slowly opened her closed eyes and rose from beneath the thick blanket.

Contrary to her hopes, it was Daisy who had come to wake her.

It was only natural.

Daisy’s most important task as the southern wing’s head was to care for Alicia.

Waking her in the morning and informing her of the day’s schedule were especially important duties.

There was no way they’d entrust such matters to someone like Annie, who mainly did chores.

As soon as Alicia responded, the door opened and Daisy walked in.

“Good morning, Lady Alicia. Did you sleep well?”

Daisy greeted her in a composed tone.

“……”

Alicia only lifted her eyes to watch Daisy draw back the bed canopy one by one.

Though impassive, Daisy worked quickly.

She swiftly gathered the dark-colored canopy and fixed it to one side, and was already pulling back the thin, translucent one.

As Daisy was securing the lace canopy, she sensed Alicia’s gaze and turned to look at her.

Alicia quickly averted her eyes and gave a small nod.

She even managed a mumbled response,

“Mm.”

‘Good morning, Daisy. Everything’s fine at the mansion, right?’

She couldn’t get that simple sentence out.

Even though she was the Lady of the Rain family and Daisy was merely a maid, her eyes kept drifting downward.

She hadn’t done much, yet she already felt exhausted.

She just wanted to go back to sleep.

But she didn’t dare say she wanted to sleep more and for Daisy to leave.

There was no way she could say such a thing.

The girl fidgeted with the golden embroidery on the velvet blanket with her fingertips.

“The bath is ready. Shall we go?”

Having finished tidying the canopy, Daisy spoke politely.

“Mm…”

Without even looking at her questioningly, Alicia replied and stepped down from the bed.

Alicia Rain.

The girl who had turned thirteen last summer was the only daughter of the Rain family.

Aside from the Marchioness of Rain, she was the only woman in the mansion who could walk without a servant’s escort.

Though no one led her, and she could walk ahead to wherever she pleased, if something stood in her way, a servant would bow deeply and handle the obstacle for her.

The door to the bath—one of the most beautiful spots in the southern wing—opened.

Maids wearing crisp white linen head coverings greeted her at the entrance.

“Good morning, Young Lady.”

“Good morning, Young Lady.”

To the greetings of the maids lined up in a row, Alicia barely nodded, just enough for it to be noticed.

The Lady of Baron Druyan’s house, known for her beauty and charm, was said to be so sociable she would respond to each servant’s morning greeting with friendly words.

Alicia had heard the rumors and thought she was a fine young lady, worthy of emulation.

But for Alicia, even nodding in response to the maids’ greetings was a struggle.

Whether their words were formal or heartfelt didn’t matter.

Just opening her mouth to speak while looking someone in the face was an incredibly difficult task.

Whenever she faced someone, Alicia’s mind would sometimes go dark, her thoughts blank.

It felt like all the blood rushed to her face and her palms broke out in a cold sweat. After speaking to others, her hands were always damp with sweat.

She never knew what to say, and even when she tried, the words wouldn’t come out.

When, miraculously, she did manage to speak, her tongue would tangle.

She often stumbled over her first words.

And when she didn’t, she’d horribly stutter at the most important part.

That’s why it was better not to meet anyone at all.

For nearly 200 years, no daughter had been born into the Marquessate of Rain.

The current head of the household was an only son.

The former head had three sons, and none of his two younger brothers had daughters either.

Even the generations before them—four generations total—had no female descendants.

And then Alicia was born.

Alicia knew that she had survived because she was a girl.

It was precisely because she was a girl that she could become part of the marquess’s household.

And that made her feel ashamed of herself.

She believed she was someone who should not exist.

Most noble families did not acknowledge children born out of wedlock.

The Rain family made an unusual exception in officially recognizing Alicia as a family member, simply because she was the first daughter born in nearly 200 years.

Even Alicia herself didn’t know exactly who her birth mother was.

No one ever spoke of it.

To everyone, Alicia was the Marquess’s daughter and a noble lady of the household.

Shortly after Alicia’s 18th birthday, rumors about a marriage arrangement began circulating within the family.

Among nobles, it was not unusual for engagements to be made even before birth.

But to have marriage talks at 18 was still considered early.

She still felt like a child, so marriage seemed like something from another world.

Alicia wanted to say it was too soon.

But she still found it hard to speak up in front of anyone.

She tried several times to approach the Marchioness, but lacking the courage, she simply wandered around her own room.

Rather than marrying someone she didn’t even know, she wished the world would just end tomorrow.

But the world continued on without a hitch.

At a tea party hosted by the Marchioness, one of the vassals thankfully asked whether it wasn’t too soon to discuss marriage before a proper social debut.

However, the official debut into high society was its own kind of torment for Alicia.

Even when assisting with parties or gatherings hosted by the Marchioness, Alicia couldn’t avoid small mistakes and accidents.

The thought of entering the social world, teeming with people, felt worse than being thrown into hell.

And yet, the dreaded debut into society went surprisingly smoothly.

Thanks to Lady Miller and Lady Cynthia, who stood by Alicia’s side.

Especially Lady Miller, the daughter of one of the Rain family’s vassals, practically took care of everything right by Alicia’s side.

As Alicia gained experience, she managed to blend into the crowd without drawing attention.

At least, she stopped making major blunders.

But perhaps it was because she let her guard down.

While moving hastily, Alicia tripped and fell hard near the center of the ballroom.

She couldn’t remember who the host was or what had caused her to move so urgently.

‘Ack!’

A stifled chuckle escaped someone’s nose and quickly spread around the room.

Alicia froze, unable to do anything.

All she could think was how lucky she was not to have fallen dead center in the ballroom.

Just then, a hand reached out toward her face.

The man who offered his hand was laughing like the others.

It was clearly a mocking smile, but since it was her own foolish fall, she couldn’t entirely blame him for laughing.

Though she felt resentment in her heart, she didn’t refuse the helping hand.

‘Are you alright, Lady…?’

‘Thank you. I’m Alicia Rain.’

‘Lady Alicia. I am Gregory of the Count Barker family.’

The man had brown hair streaked with blond and a pale face, his smile still lingering.

The moment Alicia heard Gregory’s name, her inner resentment hardened like stone.

Gregory Barker.

The Barker family, with territory near the imperial capital, was well-respected.

But for Alicia, that name held a different kind of notoriety.

At several family tea parties, Gregory Barker’s name had come up frequently.

Alongside Gregory Barker, names like Albert of Ipsen and Joachim of Jacoit were also mentioned.

When those names were brought up often, she assumed they were likely suitors. But now that he appeared like this, her heart felt stifled.

‘Th-thank you very much.’

Alicia fled the ballroom.

Afterward, she happened to run into Gregory Barker a few more times.

Claiming illness, Alicia had stayed home, but at the Marquess’s command she reappeared at another party, where she unexpectedly ran into Joachim of Jacoit.

It was a strange and unpleasant coincidence.

When Alicia turned 19, the Marquess summoned her for a private audience as though handing down a decree.

Before visiting the Marquess’s office, Alicia repeated it in her mind a thousand times.

If it’s someone the Marquess chooses, I will accept.

But the words she actually spoke didn’t match her mental rehearsal.

For some reason, her reply came out fragmented:

“If… the Marquess… decides… then… that’s fine….”

The Marquess ordered Alicia to marry Gregory Barker.

Alicia simply agreed.

The engagement was arranged just like that.

But the marriage never happened.

While staying in the capital, Gregory got caught in a scandal with a married woman and ended up in a duel as a result.

He survived but sustained a crippling injury—his right knee would never fully extend again.

Such a man was Alicia’s fiancé.

The Rain family announced the engagement was off.

The Barker family refused to accept the annulment.

It became a battle of pride between a great northern house and a powerful capital family.

A tedious war.

While the Rain family insisted the engagement with Barker was void, they quietly began searching for a new groom.

Alicia happened to bump into several eligible bachelors from prestigious families in the quiet countryside.

A man who had gotten lost during a gathering of her older brothers’ friends.

A visitor who turned out to be the friend of the younger brother of her eldest brother’s friend.

Albert McMahon was not a bad fiancé.

He was just as quiet and shy as Alicia.

Though technically Alicia still had an official fiancé, Albert faithfully took on the duties of an unofficial one.

Alicia exchanged several letters with Albert.

Though she found in-person meetings with him a bother, his letters about plants were genuinely interesting.