One dress from Tiolett cost as much as a few months’ living expenses for a noble family. Even if the Withlow Duke’s family had a gold mine, it would be too much to cover the cost of this dress.

Brittany swallowed her dry spit.

‘What do I do?’

She couldn’t find a graceful way out of this situation. She couldn’t cancel what she had said.

Her heart pounded. She had never wanted to contribute to the cost of Lisi’s luxurious wedding.

She wished Lisi would say, ‘I’m kidding,’ or Zen would say, ‘No, we should naturally take responsibility for the wedding costs.’

But they just stared at Brittany with their mouths shut. No one gave Brittany the answer she wanted.

Her heart felt tight.

‘What do I do…’

She wanted to cry.

Thinking in the silence, Brittany barely found something to say.

“Well, if we… um… are okay with covering the wedding costs… Generally, the men’s side is responsible, so there might be some talk about it.”

“It’s okay. Brittany offered first, and there won’t be anyone gossiping about our Green family over this.”

Zen responded calmly.

Now, there really was no way out. Brittany even forgot to manage her expression.

With her trembling eyes, she looked around the room filled with piles of dresses.

How many years’ worth of living expenses would just these dresses cost?

Wedding costs weren’t just the price of the dresses. The party that Nella was organizing was going to require a staggering amount of preparation money.

“I am…”

She needed to avoid this situation somehow. She wanted to say it was a joke now, but the atmosphere didn’t allow it.

Even Tiolett and her assistants were there.

“Then… let’s do that.”

Brittany, with a pale face, quickly turned around and rushed out of Lisi’s room.

Tears welled up in Brittany’s eyes as she ran down the corridor.

‘What should I do? What should I do?’

+++

“What the hell is that?!”

At Globan’s exclamation, Brittany bowed her head in surprise.

This was the first time Globan had ever yelled at Brittany, but she understood. She herself wanted to scream out in frustration.

“Wedding costs… Why do we have to cover them?! How much is that going to be? They said they even rented construction machines from Matop. Do you know how much it costs to rent machines from Matop?”

“But… but… Lisi… She insisted that we should pay…”

“Then you should have refused! You should have said there was no such thing! What were you doing sitting there?”

“But how could I refuse there? Lisi said our parents will cover the wedding costs.”

“Why couldn’t you refuse? You should have calmly explained that it’s not customary for the bride’s side to cover the wedding costs. Jerecian Green and the Countess of Jernel are not ignorant of decorum. They would have understood if you just explained it like that!”

Of course, they would have.

The problem was that it was Brittany who brought it up first.

But in front of Globan, who was furious from head to toe, Brittany couldn’t dare tell the truth.

“Oh, my head. Lisi… that girl is absolutely crazy…”

Dennis massaged his temples and collapsed onto the sofa.

“No way! We are absolutely not paying for this wedding. No, we can’t!”

“But… dad. This also involves the honor of our family…”

“What honor! They’re the ones who first dishonored themselves. They’re saying the bride’s side should cover the wedding costs… If Iris said something like that, you should have corrected her. Wasn’t Jerecian there too?”

“Umm…”

“I’ll need to formally protest this part. We can’t afford it, not even a penny. I’ll have to protest!”

“To whom? To Iris?”

“To Count Green!”

+++

Without waiting, Globan went to protest to Kae, but was frozen by Kae’s words.

“What, what did you say?”

“Brittany was the first to make a generous proposal, my lord, Duke Withlow.”

“What… what does that mean?”

“Oh, didn’t you hear? Brittany came to Iris’s room on purpose and offered to bear the cost of the dress and the wedding ceremony all by herself.”

Color drained from Gloven’s face.

“Our Brittany wouldn’t have…”

“Why not? Brittany loves her younger sister so much, she would have wanted to cover the wedding costs. You truly have a loving daughter, my lord.”

Gloven couldn’t make sense of what was happening.

“Count Green. Are you not taking advantage of our daughter’s innocence?”

“Are you referring to Brittany or Iris, my lord?”

“Obviously, I mean Brittany!”

“Oh. I see. I was completely unaware. I couldn’t even guess.”

Gloven choked up.

“Our Brittany…”

He was about to talk about Brittany’s innocence, but realized this was not the time.

“Anyway, our Brittany would never say such a thing, and it’s the woman’s side that should pay so only the Green family gets bad comments, so let’s forget this ever happened.”

“Hmm. My lord, you seem to be misunderstanding something. Firstly, there were many witnesses when Brittany herself insisted on paying for the wedding. There’s our Jelresien, and Countess Nellanikus, designer Tieret, and her entourage.”

Gloven swallowed. He hadn’t realized there were so many people present.

“If the words change now, won’t the Withlow family become a laughingstock? And also.”

Gloven tried to say something, but Kevrant held up his index finger to stop him.

“Secondly. Marrying into our Green family is a great honor for the Withlow family. Even if the Withlow family bears all the wedding expenses, people won’t find it strange. There are plenty who wish to make connections with our family, even at that price.”

He was right. The Green family wasn’t the type to hear rumors over breaking a few wedding traditions. No, everyone would think it was worth it.

Gloven’s heart pounded. Brittany must have done something. But he couldn’t swallow his pride and say, ‘Just trust us.’

Most of the money from the gold mine was spent on winning the hearts of the crown prince’s close associates and luxuries. More money would come in the future, but he didn’t have much at the moment.

And he was supposed to pay for the wedding, which anyone could see would be a huge expense.

Kevrant sat with his legs crossed, smiling as he waited for Gloven’s response.