Chapter 1
Translator: RantingOtome Editor: Arocks141 Proofreader: Arocks141 TLC: Mans.h.i.+ro
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Breaking Off Engagement at The New Home
"I'm sorry, Dahlia. I want to break off our engagement."
That was what my fiance said in front of me, an hour after the first day of our arrival at our new house.
So, suddenly breaking off an engagement was not something that the prince did to a villainess n.o.ble girl at the graduation ceremony like in the otome game, huh? There was no other person in the living room besides the two of them, and there was no n.o.ble lady behind her fiance– Dahlia asked while trying to escape reality by musing about this:
"Could you please tell me the reason for it?"
The familiar almond colored eyes of Tobias, her fiance, glistened as he replied.
"I… have found my true love"
Somebody, please compliment Dahlia, who somehow managed to endure it without laughing.
This world had magic, demons, knights, and sorcerers. Dahlia, who thought of that as fantasy, was a reincarnator.
In her former life, she was born in a normal j.a.panese household, went to high school and university, and found a job at a home appliance manufacturing company. She had been hoping for a job at the manufacturing section, but in her second year, the job turned into hard-working days handling complaints which wore off on her nerves. Her last memory was a severe chest pain during overtime work one day, so the reason for her death could be myocardial infarction.
The next time she woke up, she was a young child in this world.
Her name here was Dahlia Rosetti.
She doesn't match the name of the flower dahlia. In nicer words, she was composed, in poorer words, her outward appearance was plain.
Unlike what she had read in stories in her previous life, she was a craftsman's daughter, not a high-ranking n.o.ble. However, what they made were magical tools only possible in fantasy.
Her father was a magical tool craftsman recognized for his skill and had received the status of an honorary Baron for one generation from the country.
Dahlia also worked with magical tools from an early age, aiming to be a magical tool craftsman like her father.
Her father's best friend was a merchant.
The fiance who was decided for her when she became a magical tools craftsman at the age of 19 was Tobias Orland, the second son of her father's best friend, and the man in front of her.
He was also a magical tools craftsman and had studied under Dahlia's father.
He was the second son of the Orlando company and was in charge of magical tools development and sales, and had a good face and educational background. For common people, he was a young man who could be considered as a 'good catch'.
The marriage arrangement was for when Dahlia turned 20 and Tobias turned 21, but Tobias's father suddenly died. When the mourning period was over and it was time for the marriage, it was now Dahlia's father that died.
By the way, Dahlia felt that, even though she had tried to stop them many times, repet.i.tive heavy drinking was the cause of the early death of their fathers.
Two years being engaged.
When the work and procedures finally settled down, they had moved to a new home today, and were going to submit the marriage registration tomorrow, but the engagement was cancelled just now.
Sitting facing the table in the living room, both of them were silent.
Looking down, Dahlia sighed only once.
It did not feel real. Since it was a broken engagement, it would have been normal to cry or to get angry, however there was only a feeling of never-ending exhaustion.
But she couldn't stay this way forever. First of all, she needed
"May I know the name of the woman?"
"… Emilia. Emilia Tarini."
Tobias gave the name without hiding it.
Dahlia searched through her memory from the name.
A girl who entered the Orlando company a few months ago and worked as a receptionist.
A cute little girl with honey-colored hair and brown eyes with a small build who looked fluffy.
It seems that she was the polar opposite of Dahlia who was just tall and plain. She was honestly surprised that Tobias's preference was a small animal girl like that. 1
"I want to marry her"
"Is that so…"
She got a headache listening to Tobias who kept telling her things when she didn't really ask.
"We have to go through the breaking up engagement procedure, right?"
"About that… Won't it be enough for the two of us to just talk this out?"
For now, Dahlia swallowed the words ‘There is no way that this could be settled just by talking'.
After being engaged, they had been co-registered in the commercial guild to work. With the purpose of getting married, They had split the expenses and built a new house. For contracts like that, one would have to cancel and change the entirety of it.
"The proof of engagement by your father and my father is in the commercial guild. That doc.u.ment contains the conditions for disengaging the engagement. We have to separate both the contracts and names of the contractees we co-registered at the guild. If you get married, you have to make sure that you get a perfect disengagement"
"The proof of engagement forms… Oh, right"
"Let's confirm them with the commercial guild this afternoon. Would 2 'o' clock be okay?"
"Yes"
He could have gone already, but Tobias didn't stand up and instead scratched his right temple with his finger.
That was his habit when there was something difficult for him to say.
"Is there something else?"
"That … She said she wants to live in this house"
The arrangement of this new house was mainly decided by Tobias.
Dahlia had put in her opinion only for the workplace that was planned to be used by both of them. So she had no particular attachment to the house.
Still, there was something depressing about hearing that the next woman wants to live in this house on the very same day as the cancellation of the engagement.
"… After the dissolution, let's change the joint name to yours. Also, I will take my luggage home as soon as possible."
"I'm sorry."
Having said that, Tobias went out without any follow-up.
Dahlia sat down in the chair and hung her face down for a while.
Whether in her previous life or this life, she always ended up in a humped position.
In her previous life, she was never in love, let alone getting married. Even in this world, she wasn't in any relations.h.i.+p until she was 19 years old, and when she thought the spring in her life had finally come, she ended up like this.
Dahlia's father told her, "If something happens, get protection from Tobias." He must never have thought things would turn out like this.
As they had planned to go submit the marriage registration tomorrow, she was indeed not actually married yet.
However, they had been engaged for two years… And their engagement was widely known to the people around them.
It was depressing that she will probably be the topic of rumors, be they due to pity or just as interesting gossip.
Not only that, until now, they have been buying materials through the Orlando Company, Tobias's home. If they separated, she might be refused in the future. Even if she continued buying materials, it would certainly be terribly awkward. 2
The more she thought, the worse the headache got.
Suddenly, she remembered the words that were said after the greetings on the day when her engagement to Tobias was decided.
"You are very tall"
The height difference between her, for a woman, tall body and the slightly on the small side for a man Tobias was about 3 cm. Of course, if she wore shoes with heels Dahlia would be even taller.
After the engagement, She stopped using shoes with heels and only put on flat shoes.
Being told that her red hair stands out too much, she dyed it dark brown and started keeping it held together behind her head.
To match up with him who didn't like the flashy appearance, the silver frame gla.s.ses became black frame gla.s.ses, and originally plain clothes became even more plain, dark blue and dark gray.
Like this, for the past two years, she had tried to become the good wife Tobias wanted, doing the ch.o.r.es at work and being considerate of him.
But it seemed as though for him, Dahlia seems to have no such significance.
She remembered more.
At her job in her previous world, she hung her head when a customer complained, she hung her head when her boss yelled at her because she was late in responding to a complaint, and when she was too busy to contact her friends and got out of touch with them, she hung her head in depression.
Until the last day of her stay in the previous world, she continued hanging her head, until the only thing she remembered was the pattern of her desk.
"… Let's stop"
Dahlia raised her face to the window where the sunlight came in from.
In her past life, she always conformed to other people's wishes, pus.h.i.+ng and finally breaking herself.
In this life, she tried to match the other party's ideal, and the result was this.
It was her precious second chance at life, so what was she doing with it?
Lets stop looking down now.
From now on, just say it when she hated something, and say it when she loved something.
Luckily, she had a job as magical tools craftsman which she loved and which would allow her to survive on her own.
There was no need to force herself to be with anyone.
Put effort into your work, go where you want to go, eat what you want to eat, drink what you want to drink.
Let's live as I want to live as much as possible.
With renewed enthusiasm, Dahlia stood up.
The spring sky seen from the window was a gleaming blue.
Arocks141: Whoa! Is Toby a lolicon?!
Mans.h.i.+ro: Nah. He just likes the usual Otome game female protagonist type.
Arocks141: Between you and me, Dahlia, this turned awkward the moment Toby decided to break off a two year engagement.
h.e.l.l it turned awkward when your fathers came up with the idea of a two year long engagement.
Mans.h.i.+ro: Bonus points for doing it in the house they built, on the day they moved in. d.i.c.k move, Tobias.