How to Extend a Marriage Contract - Chapter 1
How to Extend a Marriage Contract - Chapter 1
“Long live the Woburn Kingdom! Long live the Woburn Knights!”
“Duke Owen! Ahh! Please look over here!”
“Look over there! The person riding the black horse at the front is the commander of the Holy Knights!”
Emily forgot her grace and stretched her body out of the window. Her blue eyes moved busily around and soon captured a red flag with a lion's head. Soon after, her eyes turned to the man leading the Order of the Holy Knights.
The man riding on a gigantic horse was as majestic as the horse. The silver armor he wore was no different from that of other knights, and his helmet completely covered his head. But the countess recognized at a glance that he was her husband. She licked her lips and spit out her husband's name awkwardly.
“Kyle….”
A strong wind blew. Her hair, which had been tied up loosely, came untied and flew towards the boulevard. Her rich blonde hair fluttered in the wind.
Then Count Lampard took off his helmet. As the handsome face of a man was revealed, the screams of the women grew even louder. The Countess lifted her head and looked at Count Lampard in the distance.
“……!”
For a moment, it felt as if their eyes met, Emily quickly fell from the window. But the misunderstanding was clear. There was no way we'll ever see eye to eye from a far distance he....
‘Can’t see me….'
Even if he saw her, all he looked at was his house and met eyes of the woman with loosely ruffled hair.
Her cheeks were burning red. Emily took a deep breath, sat in front of the mirror, and started dressing up again.
“Sasha, that’s too flashy. Bring something with less lace. Anna, can you put my hair higher than before. The decoration should be made of pearls.”
Emily put much more effort into getting ready than usual.
Today was an important day. The day Count Kyle Lampard returned.
And the day their marriage contract ends.
She put a cold spoon over her eyes before putting on her make-up, trying to make herself presentable with her puffy eyes from the tears of the night before. (TN: Koreans put cold spoons to de-puff eyes - link for an explanation)
* * * * (read on pink-grapes.blogspot.com)
Emily was the only daughter the Count Lampard who was barely fifty. Since Emily's mother lost her life giving birth, the Count poured all his attention and love into his precious only daughter.
Thanks to that, Emily grew up doing everything she wanted to do. Although she was a Count’s daughter, she was reckless and clumsy in more than one way, but everyone around Emily just took it as it was. And also….
“I’m going to marry my dad when I grow up!”
“Ha ha, this kid. You can't marry your father."
“Then I’m not getting married!”
“Okay, don’t get married. Emily can live on her father's wealth for the rest of her life."
"Wow! Dad is the best!”
It was like that for Count Lampard.
But that didn't last long either. It was the year when Emily was 23. A rare shout echoed from Count Lampard, who usually couldn’t stop laughing.
“You said that it was okay if I don’t get married!”
“That was just a saying!”
"Nonsense! You liar!”
“How dare you talk to your dad like that!”
The Lampard family did not have much wealth, but they were one of the oldest and most prestigious families in the Woburn Kingdom. And the Count was the most proud of the Lampards, an old man who had just turned seventy. There is no way he could just keep his eyes open and watch him lose his lineage.
Children within the Lampards were rare. The only successor to Count Lampard was Richard Robertson, who was Emily's seventh cousin. Lampard's elders did not like him, not only because he came from a non-direct lineage, but also because he had a bad reputation in social circles.
They all wanted Emily to get married and bring in a son-in-law. But Emily did not want her marriage to happen. It wasn't that she didn't like men or marriage. It was simply that she had a desire for a marriage made through love.
Emily went to school instead of having a tutor, which was rare for a noble. She, of course, was sent by the Count because she wanted to attend the school. Studying wasn't much fun, but she really liked that she had friends she could talk to without using formal words. She became particularly friendly with Rebecca, the daughter of the bookseller.
Rebecca was a lively and playful girl. She fit perfectly with the reckless Emily. The two would miss class and wander the town, or hide in a library or stable, reading romance novels that Rebecca had secretly brought from her home.
“A man who falls in love easily is boring. It's not my type.”
“But last time you said you didn’t like the blunt guy?” (TN: the word used is 퉁명스러운 which means blunt, curt, and brusque. Basically a bad boy type)
“Come to think of it, it was fun to read it while critiquing it.”
The days when they laughed and giggled out loud will never come back. Emily was already 23 and was old enough to be considered an adult even if she wasn’t married yet. She had to act like a grown-up. She sighed deeply.
“Okay, I will get married.”
What's wrong with his frivolous daughter? Count Lampard looked down at his daughter with suspicious eyes.
“Thank you for understanding this father’s will.”
“I’m going to marry Thomas instead.”
"Thomas?"
Thomas. Where have I heard the name? The Count did not know who he was and he felt betrayed that his daughter had chosen a man to marry without his knowledge.
“Yes, it’s the Thomas that my father knows.”
No, there was a thief among the Thomas that he knew who made my daughter fall for him! Count Lampard inwardly threw his fist at the unknown Thomas.
"Thomas… Thomas....”
Count Conta's son had recently been married, and Viscount Borland's brother had recently died of a fall.... Maybe Thomas Perry?
“Not that old man!”
That would be a son-in-law with more balding than me! My daughter couldn't be so blind! Seeing the desperate Count, Emily frowned.
“Who were you thinking of? The Thomas I am talking about is Thomas the stable keeper.”
"That’s right…, Stable Keeper Thomas... If so... Eh? Stable Keeper?”
That handsome skinny little punk! How can my daughter marry the stable keeper? The Count roared as he recalled Thomas' smirk.
"No!"
"Why? Why not?”
"Don't tell me you had something with him!"
“If dad allows it, I was planning on hitting on him.”
"Never!"
Emily frowned. In order to bring a son-in-law, she herself picked a husband candidate but why was he so opposed to him?
“Why are you saying no?”
“He’s a stable keeper!”
Emily sighed deeply. It seemed that her father has a prejudice against the profession of a stable keeper because of his age. However, Emily had no lingering feelings for Thomas so she didn’t argue with her father to marry him. Because there was no contact between the two in the first place.
"How about Walter, Earl Allen's third son?"
“He's too fat. How about Sir Arthur?”
“Arthur is a commoner! How about Sir Jeffrey?”
"Sir Jeffrey's gaze is disgusting!"
The two argued for a long time. The man that Count Lampard pushed didn't appeal to Emily, and the man Emily pushed didn’t appeal to the Count.
The father and daughter had a completely different view of men. Emily wanted a handsome, tall, fit man, and Count Lampard wanted a man of noble descent with a decent job. And, unfortunately, a man who met both conditions would probably not agree to become the son-in-law of Count Lampard.
~
Three months passed without Emily and the Count Lampard reaching an agreement. The situation was getting worse. Rumors that Count Lampard was recruiting a future son-in-law had spread throughout the Woburn Kingdom.
All kinds of people gathered to be the son-in-law of Count Lampard. They weren’t wealthy, but anyway, the Lampards were a Count, and although Emily was also rumored to be a troublemaker, she was also a gorgeous blonde with blue eyes.
Sadly, however, half of them were scammers, and half were idiots who didn't even catch the eye of the father and daughter. After all, a decent man would not come to the Count after hearing such shameful rumors. Earl Lampard and Emily wrapped up the goal.
But even in the midst of it, there was one person, a decent person, no, there was a great man who went beyond an average person. That was Kyle Wade.
As for this person, he was the fourth son of Duke Wade, a family with a long history that could not be compared to Count Lampard, and although he was the same age as Emily, he had already risen to the rank of deputy commander of the Woburn Knights. His appearance was as good as any other actor, making the women of Woburn Kingdom suffer from lovesickness.
Emily opened the door to her parlor slightly, glanced at the black-haired nobleman drinking his tea, and then quickly turned around.
“There must be something wrong.”
“Emily, it is clear that he fell in love with you at first sight. Why else would he want the two of you to talk like this?”
Instead of pursuing marriage to Emily through Count Lampard, Kyle, surprisingly, asked Emily for a private conversation.
He was an unusual guy. Count Lampard was also tongue-tied.
“But it’s strange….”
No matter how spoiled Emily grew up, she knew herself very well. Of course the rumors were exaggerated, but rumors spread in the social circles that she was an incredibly big troublemaker. Would a man like that comes to her to ask for marriage?
On the contrary, Count Lampard was proud to marry his daughter off to a man like that. In addition, Emily didn't seem to hate the him due to the fact that she blushed while shaking her head. The Count deliberately made a stern expression on his face and pushed Emily's back.
“You can’t make him wait any longer.”
“…….”
That was true. To make a man who is the son of the Duke and deputy commander of the Holy Knights wait for an hour. It was no wonder that he didn’t leave right away.
Emily took a deep breath and entered the parlor room. The man raised his head at the sound of the door being opened. The moment their eyes met, her heart pounded.
[TOC] [Next Chapter]
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