Chapter 7

After the garden regained its tranquility, I bowed my head in gratitude to him once again.

"Thank you for saving me from that dangerous situation. I am truly grateful."

"Thank you as well for protecting the slime."

As we bowed to each other, I realized we hadn't even introduced ourselves.

"My name is Françoise de Blanchard, daughter of the Duke of Mercoeur."

I sent a look that suggested, "You might know this already..." but his reaction was rather tepid.

"Um, may I ask your name?"

"Mine?"

"Yes."

While I knew his name was Gabriel, I had no idea who he was.

Perhaps he was a famous person. I found it hard to believe and gave him a skeptical look.

"I am Gabriel de Griette, the Slime Duke."

"Slime... so you're the Slime Duke!?"

"Yes, well..."

One of the seven Demon Dukes, the Slime Duke, is in my home!?

Indeed, it would be rude not to know.

However, I don't remember him ever appearing at the ball. It's not in my memory.

Still, how could I not have noticed immediately? It's impossible to tame so many intelligent slimes.

"Ah, standing here talking isn't good. Please, come inside."

"Is someone else at home?"

"No, I'm alone."

"Then, I cannot enter—"

Unmarried men and women should not be alone in a closed room. This was something my governess had drilled into me until I was sick of hearing it.

However, here, there were people around. The knights had arrived, and some neighbors had come to peek, wondering what was going on.

"Please, don't worry."

"But—"

"Really, it's fine."

He seemed determined not to budge. I pushed his back, but he didn't move an inch.

Then, Pururun rammed into Gabriel's back.

"Kyaaah!!"

Gabriel let out a rather pitiful scream.

I took advantage of his movement, pulling his hand to lead him inside.

"I never thought I would be betrayed by the slimes I tamed."

Gabriel, sipping chamomile tea, grumbled quickly.

I didn't expect Pururun to help either.

"I'm sorry. The people in the lower town love rumors, so I didn't want them to hear."

"If I were to attack you, what would you do?"

"Attack me?"

The moment I asked, Pururun jumped onto my lap, extending its tentacles to protect me from Gabriel.

"Pururun, what are you doing!?"

*Pururun, protect Flora from Gabriel.*

"Have you forgotten your master?"

*Gabriel is suspicious.*

The interaction between Gabriel and Pururun was amusing. The master-servant relationship was clearly strained.

However, this wasn't the time to be amused. We needed to get to the main topic.

"About the 200,000 francs you lent me, I can't pay it back right now."

"Yes, I am aware of the financial situation of the Mercoeur family."

"Then why did you help me?"

"I thought I would propose a contract to you."

"A contract?"

Forced labor in the territory?

Or perhaps human experimentation?

What kind of contract could it be? I couldn't imagine at all.

Gabriel pushed up the bridge of his silver-rimmed glasses with his fingertips and began to explain the contract.

"I was thinking of marrying you."

"M-marry!?"

Indeed, marriage is a contract. But why?

Question marks rained down.

"Why would you want to marry me?"

I have no dowry, no honor, and no beauty. There's no reason to marry a woman with nothing.

"I was being pressured to marry by my great-uncle. I've ignored him for years, but he's been particularly persistent lately..."

Apparently, he's been searching for the best woman in the capital and declared that he would wait until he found her.

"Recently, my younger cousin got married, and the head of the family started saying that it's shameful for the head to remain single for so long..."

"But would you be satisfied with me? My father hasn't lost his title, but the bad reputation in society is well-known."

"It's fine. My great-uncle hates gossip and wouldn't listen to the lowly rumors of society. He would be overjoyed to hear that I'm marrying the daughter of the Duke of Mercoeur!!"

While pushing up the bridge of his glasses repeatedly, Gabriel spoke quickly and persuasively.

I wanted to point out that his glasses might not fit properly, but I held back. It was probably just a habit.

"Leaving aside the family background, I don't meet the condition of being the best woman, do I?"

"You are the best woman, aren't you?"

"Me? Why?"

When I asked, Gabriel's face turned bright red.

What was he blushing about? I felt embarrassed too, so I wished he would hide his shame.

Still, something was off. Would someone suddenly choose a complete stranger as a bride?

A thought occurred to me, and I decided to ask just in case.

"Have we met somewhere before?"

"---!!"

Gabriel covered his mouth with his hand and slumped.

From his reaction, it seemed we had met somewhere before.

"Where did we meet? I'll remember. Was it over ten years ago, when we were children?"

He shook his head. It seemed to be a very recent event.

"Can you tell me more?"

"No, if you don't remember, it's fine!! It's absolutely no problem!!"

"O-Okay."

When he said it so strongly, I couldn't press further.

Unfortunately, I don't remember meeting such a unique man as Gabriel.

Gabriel cleared his throat. He straightened his back and pushed up the bridge of his glasses with his fingertips.

With a stern expression, he spoke.

"Do you know about my territory?"

"No."

"It's a place called Spleen, far from the capital."

"The place where there are more lakes than inhabited land?"

"Yes, that's my territory."

"Ah."

All I knew about Spleen was that it had a lot of lakes.

The Spleen Gabriel described was a surprising and unexpected land, far beyond my imagination.