For My Birthday, I Was Gifted Five Husbands - Chapter 5
In an instant, the edges of her vision turned white, and she felt dizzy.
“Peter…?”
“Ah, I’m sorry, Eugenie.”
After sharing a tender kiss with Apollin, Peter turned to Eugenie with a sorrowful look in his eyes.
“I… I’ve been seeing Apollin since you started graduate school.”
“What…?”
“But, I couldn’t help it!”
Peter, clutching Apollin, whimpered.
“You always prioritized your research over me. Do you know how lonely I was?”
Could this be real?
With the Empire’s primary energy source, the ‘magic ore,’ gradually depleting, Eugenie had decided to investigate alternative materials for her graduate research. Peter had expressed pride in her commitment.
“I’m very proud of you, Eugenie. I’ll wait until you achieve satisfying results.”
To think he had said that and then betrayed her?
Before Eugenie could respond, Apollin wiped her tears and shouted.
“You really don’t understand people. Is it all about what you want? Did you not know how lonely Peter was?”
“Hah…”
“Now that you love your research so much, you can focus on it as much as you want. On your own, with your own money!”
“……”
Eugenie stared blankly at Peter and Apollin, then, after a brief moment of thought, raised her fist holding the end of her bag.
“Peter.”
Coming straight from the lab, her bag was filled with heavy textbooks.
“Buckle up.”
“Eugenie, I’m s—kugh!”
In front of her father’s coffin, Eugenie gave Peter a satisfying smack on the head with her bag.
* * *
She had avoided handsome men on purpose, but even someone average could betray her. It would have been less infuriating if she’d been deceived by someone who lived up to their looks.
However, there was a more urgent matter than her lingering resentment towards the man who had fainted from a blow with a textbook.
“What about my inheritance, Mr. Banker?”
“Ahem.”
“Is it really true that I can’t receive it without a legal husband? Even though I’m estranged from my father?”
Back at her apartment, Eugenie vented her frustrations to James Banker, the lawyer who had long supported her family. The kindly, chubby middle-aged lawyer continuously wiped his forehead with a handkerchief.
Although Eugenie had left home partway through, she had known him for a longer time than Apollin had been officially recognized as a member of the family. Despite visiting to offer some comfort, he was now caught in a torrent of Eugenie’s drunken anger and frustration.
“This is why our country hasn’t progressed. We haven’t abolished these outdated laws that have persisted for 500 years!”
“Yes, indeed. But inheritance laws are laws.”
“Hah.”
After venting her frustration about the empire’s bleak prospects for progress, Eugenie sighed in resignation. She then stared at James Banker with a wistful look.
“Mr. Banker, didn’t you mention you have a son?”
“My son is now five years old, Miss Eugenie.”
“Damn it.”
“Well, pardon me, Miss, but do you happen to know any other men with whom you could discuss this matter?”
James looked at Eugenie with an objective gaze. Despite her estrangement from her father, she was a distinguished noble and an outstanding beauty among her peers.
‘She must have had several suitors before her engagement.’
Such rumors had never surfaced in the narrow social circles. Even if Eugenie’s personality was somewhat unconventional.
“Have you considered asking someone you know to act as a husband figure?”
“I do have one man in mind.”
“Oh! Then perhaps that person—”
“Professor Racket, who oversees my research, has been happily married for 45 years without ever straying from his wife and even welcomed a grandchild last year… Sh-t sh-t!”
Unable to contain her temper, Eugenie slammed her fist on the desk. Why was it that the reliable ones had already found their partners long ago? Why couldn’t their admirable reliability manifest in the present day?
Eugenie ruffled her hair with an irritated expression.
“Honestly, I’d prefer to have my mother’s belongings over my father’s inheritance. There must be things I wasn’t able to take.”
“But by now, everything in the mansion has been mixed up… and Agatha Norton won’t allow you to check.”
“Ahhh…”
The conclusion of the repetitive conversation was always the same: find someone to act as a husband as soon as possible. But where could that be so easily accomplished?
After James Banker left, Eugenie lay on her back and cursed the ceiling.
Damn it, Hermeland. If it’s going to fall apart, let it take the graduate school down with it.
Just then, a light knock sounded.
“Mr. Banker? Did you forget something?”
“Eugenie, it’s me. Carter Livingston.”
“…Oh.”
Eugenie hesitated to stand up. It was the first time Carter had come to see her here, and they hadn’t met since graduating from the academy.
Even though Carter had once been a childhood friend she thought she would know forever.
“Um… Come in, Carter.”
The old door creaked open, and the man she hadn’t seen in a while walked in.
The first thing Eugenie noticed was his dark blonde hair gleaming in the sunlight. Next were his thick eyebrows, sharp nose, strong jawline, and ice-blue eyes…
His features could sometimes be intimidating, but Eugenie had only ever seen Carter smile at her like sunshine.
That was until the ‘incident’ when they were seventeen.
“It’s been a while, Eugenie.”
“Ah… Yes, it has been a while, Carter. How have you been?”
“As you can see, I’m well.”
Eugenie unconsciously scanned Carter’s attire. Her childhood friend was dressed in black mourning clothes.
‘Looks like he’s continuing the family business well.’
The days when holy knights wielded swords and saved people with ‘holy power’ had become myth, but in Hermeland, the state religion still worshiped the Creator God, Arthurian. While devotion wasn’t as fervent as in the old days, many still went to the capital’s main temple to pray.
One unique aspect of the imperial religion was….that the Livingston Count family was the only one allowed to hold priestly positions at the capital’s temple for generations, with inheritance through marriage and childbirth also permitted.
