My Engagement Got Broken, But I Don’t Remember Getting Engaged in the First Place

Chapter 53: Is This What Every Damsel Feels Like?

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“G-get married…” Nora was still flummoxed by what Flora said, but the latter had already started compiling some sheet music.

“He had proposed to you on the first meeting… no, actually, didn’t that hawkeye try to get engaged to you even before that? It wasn’t like Elias never had marriage in mind. Haven’t you thought of when you get married to that dangerously handsome creature?”

“Hawkeye…”

Flora had mentioned a suspiciously unfamiliar term  her, but instead of prying further, Nora just took the score handed to her.

“There’s that but… can you just hear me out for a while?”

“All right. Go on.” Flora tidied up her sheet music and offered a glass of water to Nora.

Nora set the score aside to keep it from getting wet, then took a sip of water to moisturize her throat.

“Somehow I feel like there’s something wrong. I mean, I do like Elias, at the very least.”

“I don’t think you need to say that because you’re obviously lovers, but I suppose I’m happy for you, at the very least.”

“There’s no target reference… No, there’s no one so I can’t really say that’s the problem.”

“Then what are you worried about?”

Nora has never dated a man before, much less a fiancé. She was once engaged to Allan on paper, but she was unaware of it, and in the end, it was rendered null and void.

So the only thing she could think of was Allan’s “test”. With the same face and voice, he told her, “I like you, Nora,” making her compare what she felt when Elias did the same. And that was how she realized she had special feelings for Elias.

…Could that be considered a target reference?

“Well, isn’t that precisely why you’re officially lovers now? You wouldn’t really waste away years together considering your age, right?”

“Well, I guess so. Everyone has a different opinion on the appropriate age at which an aristocratic lady must get married, but I suppose I’m no longer in my prime.”

It wasn’t uncommon for an upper class nobility to get engaged before ten, and there were even cases where it was decided before they were even born. Most would have it after their debut into society, but even with that in mind, Nora was already about to enter late into the acceptable marriageable age.

And if one has got no status, beauty nor wealth to offer, using youth to one’s advantage was natural.

“Besides, Elias is a prestigious marquis’ son. I don’t know if he’s going to succeed the title or not, but in any case, I’m not a good match for him.”

It was, of course, a different matter if Elias looked ordinary, was a poor baronet, or a commoner merchant.

But as it was, Nora was just a burden clinging onto him.

“I can’t change how I look, so I could only try to appear sophisticated. I hope I could learn more about basic aristocratic etiquette and manners.”

As a poor baron’s daughter, Nora never had any etiquette lessons from her mother nor was she educated by a governess. She’d like to convince herself that she knew at least the basics, but she still felt anxious.

“Regarding finances… I suppose it’s better now that we’re no longer in debt. We’ve also been working on expanding the sales of our specialty, the grape juice. And whether it was the debt or the grape juice, Elias had been such a great help, so I want to do something for him.”

“Well then… Why don’t you just give him a gift?”

“Flora, I’m serious here.” As Nora glared at her, Flora straightened her back.

“Right, sorry. To sum it up, you’re worried that your looks and finances as a nobility would affect your marriage, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but more than that… I’m not sure if I could continue to sing.”

She was now renowned as the “Azure Nightingale”, but the fact that an aristocratic lady was singing at a commoner restaurant wasn’t exactly prestigious in the first place.

Nora liked the restaurant, and she also loved to sing. But she also knew that it was generally frowned upon by the nobility.

If Elias succeeded as the next marquis, it would bring harm to his reputation if the lady by his side was but a singer.

“I’m worried about a lot of things, but I can’t exactly put them into words.”

Nora’s anxiety was all anchored on her future with Elias. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to marry Elias, but she didn’t want to be a sloppy lover, so she couldn’t help but worry about the future.

However, if Elias hadn’t thought that far into their future, then it meant she was just getting carried away on her own, and she didn’t want to burden him. And that’s why she decided to ask for a third party’s opinion. But Flora simply gave Nora a continuous nod of understanding, poured a glass of water and began drinking it.

“Nora, you’re essentially going through what every damsel feels like.”

“What every damsel…”

Flora told her with a serious look on her face, so Nora couldn’t help but repeat it, but then she started wondering how in the world was she a damsel?

She had a feeling Flora wasn’t referring to the expansion of the sales of their grape juice.

“You don’t seem to get it, but you’ve got progress. Development. And that’s a positive sign. I think it’s best you just leave everything to Elias. You’ll most likely end up happy.”

“But that’s not what I want. Somehow… I don’t agree with that.”

Indeed, she could leave certain things to Elias and he would resolve them with ease and accuracy, better than Nora ever could. But Nora found that unacceptable.

“If we could overcome all our struggles, we would either… be overconfident or break up.”

“You’re taking it a little too extreme.” Flora let out a sigh and stood up with the sheet music in her hands.

“Anyway, singing is your priority now. Let’s go, Azure Nightingale.”