Radiant Dragon’s Otherworldly Reincarnation

Chapter 46. You Must Have a Lot of Worries (2)

The banquet hall of the Count Parmas estate.

The Count held a banquet to praise the nobles who had responded to his summons.

Excellent dishes filled the tables, melodies played by musicians flowed through the space, and well-dressed servants attended to the nobles, ensuring the wine glasses in their hands never went empty.

Amidst this, the nobles gathered in small groups, conversing.

“I heard your daughter has taken up horseback riding recently.”

“I’ve heard the rumors as well. They say horseback riding is in vogue among the ladies in the capital these days.”

“Tsk tsk, for noble young ladies to be wearing riding breeches. How shameful…”

“Hahaha. It’s just a phase.”

“Ah, speaking of which, didn’t the Viscount’s son also enroll in the academy?”

“Hahaha. He did indeed. He was accepted into the department of public administration.”

“Excellent. I am truly envious.”

“Could he be on his way to becoming a high-ranking official in the central government?”

“Please, do share the secret to raising such a child.”

“Hahaha. What did I do? It is all the result of his own efforts.”

Amidst the nobles who were, under the guise of casual conversation, boasting about their children and fiefdoms, Baron Schneider and Patrick stood alone, separated from the crowd.

They stood awkwardly near the food table, dressed in formal party attire and holding wine glasses.

Patrick thought.

‘Ah… this wasn’t the kind of banquet I had in mind.’

There were many delicious-looking dishes, but no one touched them out of decorum.

They were just for decoration.

The servants endlessly refilled the glasses in the nobles’ hands, but they did not give any to Patrick, who was still 15.

‘I wouldn’t have come if I knew it would be like this.’

Patrick sighed, sipping only the grape juice in his hand.

Having never attended a nobles’ banquet before, he had held some expectations, but his disappointment was immense.

And above all….

“Father.”

“What is it?”

“Are you an outcast?”

“Cough…”

Baron Schneider choked on the wine he was drinking at his son's words.

He, who had almost spewed wine from his nose, wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and said.

“What nonsense are you suddenly spouting?”

“Well, everyone else around is talking, but you’re just standing here alone, sipping your wine, aren’t you? So, if I make a reasonable inference…”

“It is simply that our fiefdom has had little interaction with the surrounding ones, so there is no one I know.”

“Father.”

“What?”

“Isn’t that what an outcast is?”

“……”

Baron Schneider wanted to cry.

He wanted to ditch the banquet and everything else and go back to rest, but Count Parmas had not yet appeared.

It would be rude to leave before the host of the banquet had even shown up, so he had no choice but to stay.

“The arrival of Count Parmas!”

Fortunately, Count Parmas, whom Baron Schneider had been waiting for, appeared not long after.

With the attendant’s voice, the host of the banquet, Count Parmas, entered through the main doors of the hall.

However, the real star of this banquet was not Count Parmas. It was the young, blonde-haired lady whom the Count himself was escorting.

In Count Parmas' eyes as he looked at her, an undisguisable affection overflowed, and his hand escorting her was full of tenderness.

As she appeared, the eyes of all the younger men gathered in the banquet hall changed.

“Ooh, Lady Parmas has arrived.”

“She’s attending the academy, it’s a wonder she could make it.”

“She has grown even more beautiful.”

Marianne Parmas.

The only daughter of the Count Parmas family was the true star of this banquet.

If one were to ask the nobles of the east, ‘Who is the most coveted bride?’ there is one name that would come out without a moment's hesitation.

That name was Marianne Parmas.

First of all, she was the only daughter who received the full affection of Count Parmas.

Count Parmas was a widower and had no son, which meant his daughter was, for all intents and purposes, the next heir to the Count Parmas family.

Marrying her meant the Count Parmas family came with her.

This alone made her the best bride, but that wasn’t all.

Even judging her purely on her own merits, without her background, she was formidable.

She was a talented woman who had entered the academy at the age of 14 and was attending with excellent grades, and with her dazzling blonde hair, blue eyes, and slender figure, anyone who saw her even once did not hesitate to name her the most beautiful woman in the east.

She was a woman who truly combined beauty and talent, and her background was impeccable.

All the young noblemen of the east desperately wanted her.

Indeed, as soon as the Count appeared with her, the young men were drawn to her as if pulled by a magnet.

“It has been a long time. Do you remember me?”

“I am Terin of the Viscount Romero family. You have become dazzlingly beautiful.”

“I have composed a song for you, my lady. Would you please grant me the honor of listening to it?”

It was like watching ants swarm over spilled sugar.

The Count, at his daughter’s side, subtly checked and pushed away the young men, while looking around as if proud and pleased.

‘Hahaha. That’s my daughter, indeed. Throughout the East, no, even if you search the entire Kingdom of Atronia, would there be another woman with beauty surpassing my daughter’s?’

As they say, one well-raised daughter is better than ten sons. The Count was extremely proud of this moment when his daughter captivated the banquet hall with her mere presence.

Weren’t all the people in the banquet hall focused on his proud daughter at this moment?

Except for two people who were looking on with indifferent expressions.

‘Hm? What are those two doing?’

What caught the Count’s eye was the presence of a father and son, standing far apart and looking perfectly calm.

“Aren’t you going to go?”

“Forget it. I’d rather just eat.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, beauty is won by the bold, you know.”

“Munch munch… First of all, she’s not even that beautiful, is she?”

“She is quite beautiful.”

“Think about Mother or April.”

“…Ah.”

This made sense.

One could tell at a glance that Marianne Parmas was a considerable beauty.

But the Baron hadn't felt much of an impression, and now he knew why.

‘It’s because my wife is ten times prettier.’

Having been married to such a wife and living with her for decades, there was no way a young lady like that would catch his eye. However….

“I may be a married man, but do you really not feel anything at all?”

“Nope. Oh, this is delicious. What is this on top of the bread made of?”

“Shark eggs.”

“Shark eggs? You can eat those?”

“Yes. You didn’t know?”

“I’ve never had it, so of course, I didn’t know. Why haven’t we eaten it? It’s quite tasty.”

“Because it’s expensive.”

“I’d better eat a lot now then.”

Watching his son begin to pile rye bread topped with caviar onto his plate, Baron Schneider sighed.

My embarrassing child.

Still, they were at a banquet; was it alright for a young man to be gorging on food like this?

“Think carefully. Lady Marianne is renowned as the most beautiful woman in the East.”

“Eh, that’s just because of her family’s influence.”

“No, what does her family have to do with her beauty?”

“It has something to do with it. Of course, it does. When a pretty girl is born into a prominent family, she tends to receive an exceptional amount of praise from a young age.”

“Is that so?”

“It is. There’s a bit of flattery involved, and when people keep hearing it, they start to believe it’s true and get swayed… Anyway, that’s how it is.”

In his past life, Patrick’s wife was the most beautiful woman in Sichuan.

But thinking about it now, the most beautiful woman in Sichuan always came from either the Tang Clan or the Emei Sect.

The most beautiful in Anhui was usually from the Namgung Clan, and if you said the most beautiful in Hubei, seven out of ten were from the Jaegal Clan.

‘Wow, thinking about it, there was a serious problem with the standard for choosing beauties in the Jianghu. How many beauties must have been unjustly overlooked?’

It was an unfair aspect of the Jianghu he had only just realized.

In any case, having married the most beautiful woman in Sichuan in his past life and having a nation-toppling beauty for a mother and a personal maid who outshone even her in this life, Patrick’s discerning eye gave Marianne a cold evaluation….

“Well, she’s just okay.”

It was a comment that, had Count Parmas heard it, would have made him say, ‘Off with that bastard’s head.’

‘Let’s just eat. What you eat is what you… huh?’

It was at that moment. An unusual glint flashed across Patrick’s eyes.

“What is it?”

Baron Schneider asked cautiously.

It was because his son was wearing an expression he had never seen before.

But Patrick couldn’t answer Baron Schneider.

He stared fixedly at one spot and muttered.

“…Why is something like that here?”

* * *

At a banquet, praise is endlessly showered upon the one who receives the people's attention and interest.

Just like right now.

“Hahaha. You truly are remarkable. To have never been held back a year at the academy. It is something I could never even dream of.”

‘Yes, I know. You’re a blockhead.’

“I bought a new carriage this time. It’s a handmade carriage made by a master craftsman from the Kingdom of Magellan.”

‘So what? You little shit.’

“My lady, do you by any chance believe in fate?”

‘Do your parents know you live like this?’

Marianne smiled.

She just smiled sweetly.

The place was swarming with men whose intentions were obvious, and her father was keeping her by his side, drunk on the superiority of ‘How about it? My daughter is pretty, isn’t she.’

She was enduring it with a truly filial heart, but if she had her way, she wanted to shout at the guys who were furtively glancing at the cleavage of her dress, ‘It’s obvious, so stop looking, you perverts.’

In fact, if she put herself in their shoes, it wasn’t that she couldn’t understand.

Her family was loaded.

She was pretty.

She had a good figure.

She was smart.

‘Even if I were a man, I’d probably want to marry me.’

So, the desperate actions of these barons were not incomprehensible. But still….

‘Still, what’s annoying is annoying, isn’t it?’

From the guy sending overly blatant gazes to the guys trying their luck as if poking at a fruit they couldn't have, she disliked every single one of them.

In truth, everything they were doing was in vain.

She had no intention of finding a groom in the East.

‘A person should play in the big leagues. I can’t just be a frog in a well within the East forever.’

She was an ambitious woman.

Even the Parmas family was just a count’s family ruling the most barren and dangerous land in the small eastern kingdom of Atronia.

Having encountered a larger world while studying at the academy, the position these men so desperately desired seemed small to her.

So, if she were to marry, she intended to marry a noble from the central government if possible.

Or a foreign noble.

If she were to be a bit greedier, someone who could give her the opportunity to actively use her abilities.

A husband who would permit her to do business using the knowledge she learned while studying in the academy's department of public administration and the connections she actively made in the capital's social circles.

Even better, a husband who wouldn't be jealous but would actively rejoice when she brought home a lot of money.

In that sense, the men of the East were a lost cause.

The East was a land pioneered by the blood and sweat of men on a barren land.

As such, their sense of patriarchal authority was strong, and many people would look down on her, a woman, engaging in external activities.

The men acting as if they would pluck the stars from the night sky for her now would completely change their attitude after marriage.

It was obvious they would confine her to managing the household and educating the children, and not let her touch the family's external business.

‘So what you’re doing now is all in vain. Give up. And seriously, stop staring at my chest, you guys.’

She was starting to get tired.

Marianne let out a small sigh and said.

“Father, I’ve become a bit tired. If possible, may I go in and rest first?”

“Hmm, are you not feeling well?”

“I’ve been in the carriage for a long time, so I’m a bit tired.”

“Alright. Your health is what’s most important. Go in and rest.”

“Thank you, Father.”

And before she left, she gave her father a small kiss on the cheek.

It was a slightly embarrassing display of affection for a grown daughter to do, but….

“Hahahahahahahahaha…”

He enjoyed it so much, how could she not do it?

She chuckled and was about to return to her room to rest.

And the moment she separated from the Count and moved alone….