MAC 06

Chapter: 06

The next morning.

Before he had even fully recovered from last night’s hangover, Mrs. Bennett stormed into Patrick’s room.

“Get up, Patrick. We have somewhere to go, so dress properly.”

“Mother. I only arrived yesterday….”

A sharp reprimand flew at Patrick, who was mumbling with his face buried in his pillow.

“You answered with your own mouth yesterday that you would attend tea parties and balls, didn’t you? As a gentleman, you should keep the promises you make.”

Under his mother’s relentless urging, Patrick finally dragged himself out of bed.

Mrs. Bennett practically grabbed him by the collar and forced him into the carriage. Patrick desperately tried to settle his churning stomach before burying his head against the carriage window. Whether his eyes were open or closed, his stomach continued to roll violently.

“I can smell alcohol all over me.”

“All I smell is a pleasant fragrance. The maids ironed your clothes properly, and you’ve washed yourself clean, so don’t worry. You only need to make sure nothing comes back up your throat.”

Haaaaah….

How am I supposed to have tea in this condition…?

Patrick was half-conscious and only managed to open his eyes when they were passing through the main gates of the Viscount Norton estate.

“Wait a minute, is this… the Norton estate?”

“Yes.”

“If I remember correctly, you said everyone in this household was a bunch of dreadful snobs….”

Mrs. Bennett shot her complaining son a sharp look and snapped.

“Who told you to marry Lady Norton? We’re coming because the tea party held at this estate is the largest. That means there will be plenty of respectable young ladies there. Have some conversations, take a walk with them, and meet a few different ladies.”

“Who would like a man suffering from a hangover? I might even bring disgrace to the family….”

“Patrick William Bennett. Shut your mouth.”

Patrick obediently fell silent and sank into his seat.

Sure enough, once they arrived, the gathering at the Norton estate was as grand as any royal court function, just as his mother had said.

In the midst of elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen, everyone was gracefully sipping tea while constantly whispering about one thing or another.

Round tables covered in pristine white cloth were arranged throughout the grounds, and three-tiered trays were piled high with freshly baked scones and clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, and colorful macarons.

“Patrick!”

Dominic, who had arrived earlier, gave him a small nod from a distance. Thanks to that, all the young ladies gathered around him immediately turned their attention toward Patrick.

Mrs. Bennett subtly tugged at her son’s collar and whispered with a knowing smile.

“You asked who would like a man suffering from a hangover? Look at that. Every young lady over there is staring at you.”

“How tiresome.”

Patrick let out a quiet sigh and slipped into a suitable seat.

Every second was precious, and he had no time to be relaxing in a place like this. The opening ceremony of the Natural History Museum was approaching, and he still needed to organize the materials he would be taking with him that day….

“Oh my, you’re Viscount Bennett, aren’t you?”

“You’re truly handsome, just as I heard.”

“Do you remember me? We met at a ball when we were young….”

The ladies gradually moved closer to him, showing their interest. Patrick found it extremely burdensome, but conscious of his mother, he gave them polite little bows and answered some of their questions with brief replies.

“I heard you studied biology!”

“Then, do you study animals?”

“Have you ever done taxidermy? I heard it involves handling dead animals!”

“Oh my!”

Yes, no, yes, yes….

I prefer plants….

Despite his obvious discomfort, the young ladies surrounding Patrick continued talking to him without pause, bursting into exaggerated laughter even at his simple answers.

At gatherings like this, the standing of mothers watching their sons and daughters naturally rose and fell from moment to moment. Mrs. Bennett’s lips remained curled into a smile as she basked in her son’s popularity.

At least, that was the case until the hostess of the tea party, Viscountess Norton, approached.

“Viscount Bennett. I hear you have considerable knowledge of plants? How fortunate. I was hoping you might take a look at our garden.”

Exercising her authority as the hostess, Viscountess Norton easily drove away her competitors and subtly beckoned her daughter over as she continued.

“My daughter is also very fond of flowers. It would be an honor if you could teach her a thing or two.”

“Ah… yes.”

Everything felt like an exaggerated performance, and Patrick was becoming increasingly uninterested. His churning stomach had settled somewhat, but the headache squeezing his skull was growing worse by the minute.

“Hello, Viscount.”

Lady Norton came right up beside him with a bright smile. She was quite a pretty young woman, with an extremely slender figure and a pointed chin, but her eyes lacked liveliness, giving her a somewhat nervous and irritable appearance.

“Would you come with me?”

In the end, Patrick followed Viscountess Norton and her daughter into the garden.

He thought that if he wanted to catch his breath, even for a moment, in this hell, perhaps the green garden would at least offer him some comfort.

The enormous greenhouse of the Norton estate was filled with rare potted flowers and meticulously trimmed trees.

“After my husband passed away, gardening became the joy of my life. Last year, I even proudly won an award at the Horticultural Society’s show.”

The viscountess busily boasted about everything, explaining how she had gone to great lengths to bring in a particular rose from a distant country and how three gardeners had spent several years carefully tending another tree.

Meanwhile, Lady Norton followed beside Patrick like his shadow, walking alongside him.

“Yes, that’s truly impressive.”

As he repeated similar responses, Patrick gradually became bored. He had yet to find anything particularly appealing anywhere in the Norton estate’s garden.

The branches were trimmed as precisely as if they had been measured with a ruler, while the flowers were planted in neat rows according to color….

Just like the tea party itself, the artificial beauty that had been meticulously arranged irritated him beyond endurance.

“This way, Viscount.”

At the viscountess’s gesture, the gardeners who had been absorbed in pruning quietly stepped aside.

“Isn’t it exquisite? Whenever the plants grow wild, we trim them again. With a capable gardener constantly looking after them, the plants almost seem to become gentler, don’t you think? We tame them.”

Patrick looked around at the plants she proudly pointed out without the slightest interest.

Every one of them was nothing more than a creation excessively shaped by human hands. He almost wished he had not looked at them at all.

However, unaware of her guest’s displeasure, Viscountess Norton continued walking several steps ahead, eager to show him the carefully trimmed and rounded boxwood hedges and the pansies planted around the fountain in matching colors.

Patrick lowered his gaze and slowed his pace.

His head throbbed with every step.

It felt as though someone had shoved his head inside a gigantic bell and was pounding it with a hammer.

And as Patrick struggled beneath that terrible headache, he completely forgot about the lady walking beside him.

He forgot all about Lady Norton, who had been gazing at him with an entranced expression ever since they entered the garden.

Patrick William Bennett.

A handsome young man of marriageable age. The only son of the Bennett family, who would one day inherit the entirety of his family’s enormous fortune!

Frankly, he was a somewhat ambitious target for the Norton family to pursue, but you never knew how things might turn out, did you?

When it came to marriages between families, the result was what mattered, not the process. Even if she had to put her pride aside for a moment, if she could only pair her daughter with the son of the Bennett family, that would be enough!

Unfortunately, before Patrick Bennett returned, there had been a severe shortage of decent marriage prospects in high society. Mothers with daughters of marriageable age would swoop down like hawks whenever they spotted even a remotely suitable young man, competing fiercely for their turn.

Lord Ashworth, the eldest son of one of the most distinguished families, had long been pursued by every eligible young lady in high society, with mothers practically fighting over him. The only remaining option, Baron Fitzroy, was far too old. And the other men simply failed to meet the standards of the proud viscountess….

Just when Viscountess Norton had been growing increasingly desperate, word arrived that Patrick Bennett had returned to the capital.

And so Viscountess Norton tended to her beloved garden with even greater care than usual, held the most magnificent tea party she had ever hosted, and invited Mrs. Bennett.

‘I hear that Viscount Bennett is quite knowledgeable about growing plants? Then, today, bring out every potted plant you can find and put it right in front of him. You have to catch his attention somehow, don’t you?’

‘I’m not sure. I don’t even know if he remembers my name….’

Unlike her mother, who was bursting with anticipation, her daughter looked rather dejected. Several years ago, she had already suffered a harsh rejection from the arrogant Patrick Bennett.

Although they were around the same age and had encountered each other several times within their small social circle, Patrick had never once remembered Lady Norton.

Even when she occasionally tried to speak to him, the aloof and cold boy had always been absorbed in a book or distracted by catching insects in the grass. Apparently, Lady Norton had left absolutely no impression on him.

“There’s no need to be discouraged already, my daughter. All you need to do is make a good impression today.”

And so the viscountess had placed Patrick Bennett beside her daughter, her eyes gleaming with desire.

She was certain that she would succeed in making this marriage proposal a reality.