"Excuse me?" Miss Eleanor squeaked.
Wolf sighed, but obediently approached the woman and bent down on one knee. "Madam-"
"Miss," I corrected.
"Ok. Miss customer-" Wolf resumed.
"Eleanor. Miss Eleanor," I rolled my eyes.
Wolf nodded. "Right. Miss Eleanor, will you do me the honor of-"
"Wait! Stop for a second!" This time it was Miss Eleanor who interrupted him. She scampered around the table to stand next to me and hissed in my ear. "What is going on right now? I thought you were going to save me from getting married!"
"I am," I smiled. "Though, I suppose it would be more proper if the Marquess brought his proposal to your father directly."
"M-my father?" The poor woman turned pale.
"Well, of course," I reassured her. "I imagine your father will be so pleased by a man with such standing and connections that he'll drop any other marriage offers right away—no matter how far along they've progressed."
Slowly, realization dawned on Miss Eleanor's face. Then a smile spread across her lips. "Oh I see! Yes, Marquess, please take your proposal to my father! As soon as you can!"
Wolf sighed again and then whirled around and left the room.
By the next morning, it was common knowledge that Miss Eleanor Vargo and Lord Pendleton's engagement had ended. According to rumors, it was because an extremely high-ranked noble had asked for Miss Eleanor's hand instead.
Her father had been so pleased that immediately after the proposal meeting, he had barged into Lord Pendleton's place of work to personally break things off. And dozens of listening ears handled the rest of the rumor work.
The city was already abuzz with Pendleton slander and wondering who the mysterious new Vargo suitor was, when—exactly one week later—, news broke that Lord Pendleton had cheated his way through the academy.
Naturally this completely crushed his reputation among other nobles and businessmen. Nobody wanted to be caught dead associating with a scummy cheater. (Cheater as in cheating at the academy; of course they didn't care if he was faithful in his relationships or not.)
When all was said and done, the rumors of his recent broken engagement had added an excellent amount of fuel to the fire. It made the whole thing blow up so much better than I could have done on my own. I really had to hand it to Miss Eleanor's father for that. He'd managed to put such a nice touch of drama to this scandal.
I heard Lord Vargo was extremely distraught, however, to learn that the 'high-ranked suitor' had suddenly withdrawn his proposal soon after the news of Lord Pendleton. Now the poor man had no fiance for his daughter.
But I had a feeling his business would carry on just as well.
"I'd thank you for your help, but it's the very least you owe me after breaking our agreement," I scoffed, lounging on my parlor sofa the afternoon after finally wrapping up Miss Eleanor's case.
"We never had an agreement." Across from me, Wolf sat brooding. Between us on the tea table was the newspaper containing the story about Lord Pendleton.
"I told you to stay away from me in public, and you did. That's the definition of an agreement," I argued.
"Not my fault you didn't get it in writing," Wolf leaned back, his fingers laced behind his head. "No proof, no agreement."
I swallowed a rather pointed insult and reached for a cookie instead. Marissa had brought a platter of freshly baked goods a few minutes ago, and this was my second helping. They were just too delicious.
"You know, you could have just used the fake proposal method in the first place and never bothered with that d[omitted]m Count's ball."
I looked over to see Wolf side-eyeing me as he lounged.
"Right, why didn't I think of that," I rolled my eyes. "Of course her father would have sent her right back to Lord Pendleton after you broke off the engagement, so you were fine with following through with the marriage then?"
Wolf paused to think. Then he frowned. "Yeah, I guess you have a point, Jer."
"Anyway, I think things turned out rather well," I went on. "Besides, I did get a little bonus out of it all—and I'm not talking about Miss Eleanor's generous tip."
".. What kind of bonus?" Wolf gazed at me skeptically.
"It's another invitation-" I put up a hand to stop Wolf as he angrily jumped to his feet, teeth bared, "-this time from Madam Cordon."
I reached under the newspaper and pulled out the card from the stack of mail there. It was simplistic—the card itself a pinkish hue with a dainty border and neat writing.
"Huh. Nice. Who is that?" Wolf sank back onto the sofa, all interest completely dissipated now that he knew the invitation had nothing to do with Count Graye.
"A woman known for her tea parties," I explained. "I have no idea why she invited me. Probably purely out of curiosity thanks to a couple flashy noblemen who couldn't help but drag me onto the dance floor."
I shot a glare at Wolf before continuing.
"Anyway, I'll probably only get this one invite, so I plan to make the most of my time there and form a connection with Madam Macaron."
"Well, you're welcome then. By the way, who is Madam Macaron?"
I sighed at my lackey draped on the sofa, an arm hung lazily over his eyes. His stark white hair and pitch black clothes stuck out vividly against the sage green upholstery. "Honestly, don't you have anything better to do?"
"Nope." Wolf responded immediately without so much as cracking an eye open.
I shook my head and laid back on the sofa I was sitting on. It was funny to think about the fact that this was the exact same situation as when I'd first met the Marquess Easton Wulfstan.
Except he wasn't a Marquess back then. Just a beautiful boy with absolutely no interest in anything or anyone.