The Protagonist of a Romance Fantasy Only Likes Me - Chapter 13

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Potter

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◈ The Protagonist of a Romance Fantasy Only Likes Me ◈

Chapter 13: Warrior Marigold. (8)

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16.

For the three days remaining until the wedding, Marigold's mood swung between heaven and hell.

"Young Master Dante is marrying the Chief Chamberlain's daughter?"

"Good grief."

"He acted like he had no interest in women, but I guess even he couldn't resist one of the Empire's Three Great Beauties."

"I wouldn't be able to resist either. How could anyone resist one of the Three Great Beauties? It makes me want to ask how he won her over."

Everyone gathered in the mercenary guild voiced their shock, then, for some reason, glanced cautiously at Marigold.

"Mary must be heartbroken."

"She's been out of sorts since this morning..."

Marigold heard them perfectly, no matter how quietly they whispered.

She marched over to them.

"Don't you have work to do? Do you think the mercenary guild is some tavern?"

"D-Did you hear us?"

"Hear what? Anyway, if you keep loafing around, I'll tell the Master."

"W-What are we supposed to do when there isn't any work?"

Marigold's hand moved toward her sword.

"Then would you like to spar, just to loosen up?"

"I-I should be going now."

"I-I'm coming too!"

Things like this happened several times that day.

Marigold had no idea why everyone was so conscious of her when they heard the Master's wedding news. But one thing was certain. It irritated her terribly.

"You'll meet someone nice someday, Miss Mary. Or how about me?"

"No, thank you."

There were even more people than usual clinging to her and making advances.

* * *

The day before the wedding arrived.

"Mary, don't take any requests today. Come with me."

"Pardon?"

"We're going to buy you new clothes."

"I already have plenty of clothes."

"You need something presentable if you're entering the Imperial Palace. I told you that you were coming in with me."

For some reason, Lancel intended to bring Mary to the Imperial Palace, where the wedding would be held.

As a result, Mary spent the entire day visiting expensive clothing shops and having a dress fitted from head to toe.

"You're pretty. It suits you."

And:

"Even the prince might fall for you."

Mary felt as though she were floating at Lancel's endless praise.

Then, whenever she heard nobles from the capital recognize Lancel on the street, her body stiffened.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Chief Chamberlain's son-in-law! Sir Lancel! How in the world did you win over one of the Empire's Three Great Beauties?"

"You never know with these things. I thought he was an eccentric young man for starting a mercenary guild, heh heh."

Lancel Dante is marrying the Iceford young lady!

In Rodnis, the Imperial capital, where rumors about romance spread with startling speed, the news had become widespread in only a few days. Similar chatter could be heard wherever they went.

"So, what about children? Will you have one as soon as you're married?"

"Well, I haven't thought that far ahead yet, so I don't know. There's no need to rush, is there?"

"Oh, come on. Why act like that when we all know?"

"Know what?"

"This, obviously. Have you done it already?"

The vulgar hand gesture made the nobles watching burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha!"

"Khuhuhuhu!"

Crack.

A fracture ran through the wooden cup in Marigold's hand. Marriage, children, a happy family...

"Grrrnk!"

She tore into the hard bread with brutal force.

Something was strange. Marigold felt as though a smoldering ember had settled in the center of her chest.

Whenever she heard talk of marriage, the Iceford young lady, or one of the Empire's Three Great Beauties, a gust of wind seemed to fan the spark inside her like a bellows.

The heat rising from her body proved it.

"Mary, half of what you're eating is ending up on the floor."

"The bread is! Too hard! It can't be helped! Grrrnk!"

"Use your hands to tear it apart. That's an expensive dress."

Then, whenever Lancel Dante came near, the fire quieted again.

Marigold repeated this cycle all day.

"Do you perhaps like him?"

"Hm?"

Pina asked before bed that night.

"Uncle Lancel."

"Like him? Me? The Master?"

"Yes. Do you like him?"

"Well, I do like him."

"Not in that sense. Do you like him as a woman? Like wanting to kiss him."

"W-What are you..."

Marigold's lips stumbled over the words.

Lancel Dante. He was the man who had appeared in her dreams long ago. As her husband in a previous life, no less.

Whenever Marigold saw him, she felt something like nostalgia. It was like remembering her mother, whom she had been separated from as a child.

When she held him, memories of that time came back to her, and there were often times when she did not want to let go. That was certainly true. But did that mean she liked him? Was it truly love? Marigold did not know much about such feelings.

"I..."

What sort of person am I?

Why had he appeared in her dreams?

Why was she continually drawn to him?

If there were a god, she wanted to ask them.

Right.

A god.

"God!!!"

Fury rose within Marigold as she watched the woman cry out as though she would split the heavens.

Lancel Dante had both hands over his ears.

"What should we do about this?"

"Try to understand. She's my daughter, but once she gets fixated on something, she's like that."

Even the Court Count, who had rushed over after hearing the news, clutched his head.

"Whatever we do, the ceremony must take place within two hours. It isn't as though we can postpone it now, with so many people gathered."

"Tch. What a headache."

Various suggestions flew back and forth.

Calm her down somehow, cover her mouth, knock her out and drag her there, cast magic and control her, and so on.

But they were all rejected.

"My partner should be His Highness the Prince... Sob..."

Marigold's eyes turned icy.

"Your eyes are terrifying, Mary."

"This is what happens when noble young ladies are raised being coddled, Master."

"You haven't forgotten that the very person who did all that coddling is listening right beside us, have you?"

"I'm fine with it. She's right, after all."

The Court Count readily admitted it. Even he seemed to consider his daughter a troublesome burden.

"But, Young Master, I thought of something while looking at the bride's clothes."

Hestie broke the silence.

She held up the veil that the bride would wear over her face.

"So, the nobles in the capital hold their ceremonies with this over their heads, right?"

"Well, yes. Why?"

"Then can't I just put this on and go through the ceremony in her place?"

"...Hestie, you're not in your right mind either."

"Was that strange?"

"You're suggesting a stand-in at a wedding?"

Lancel gave a hollow laugh, but the smile suddenly vanished from his lips.

He looked at the Court Count. The man immediately made a face of disgust.

"Don't entertain such foolish thoughts. His Majesty will be watching. What are you even saying?"

"I'll take responsibility."

Lancel was not especially worried. They just had to avoid getting caught. No, even if they were discovered, it would be fine. Lancel already knew who the current Emperor, the fake one, was. That person was not someone who would care about something like this. If anything, they would probably be pleased to see something amusing.

At Lancel's repeated insistence, the Court Count finally sighed.

"I know nothing about this. If anything goes wrong, you will take full responsibility."

"Of course."

He had even cut off a prince's head before. Why would this frighten him?

17.

"Enter."

The ceremony hall was crowded with nobles.

A wedding held at the Imperial Palace was one of the rarer kinds of parties. And the Chief Chamberlain's daughter was getting married? Most had cast aside even urgent business to attend.

"In the name of God, I, Freesia, bless the marriage of these two."

The Emperor officiating the wedding remained behind a curtain.

"The two who are to become husband and wife, step before the dais and face one another."

Neither the dazzling interior decorations nor the countless gazes fixed upon him particularly unsettled Lancel.

He was too busy feeling a sense of déjà vu from the disguised bride, Hestie, who walked beside him.

'Didn't they put her in shoes that are too high?'

The nobles reacted much the same way.

"Was she always that tall?"

"She was rather tall for a woman, wasn't she? She wouldn't be one of the Empire's Three Great Beauties for nothing."

"Still, she seems taller than usual."

"My woman... The woman who should have been mine... Kuhuk."

There were occasional sobs. The Iceford young lady had bewitched more than one nobleman.

Hestie had not spoken a single word since appearing in the veil.

'My first marriage partner in life is Hestie.'

Strictly speaking, Marigold had come first, but Lancel had no memory of that. At least for him, this was his first marriage.

Lancel and Hestie faced each other amid bright yellow petals raining down like rain.

"Silence. Let all listen."

The Emperor behind the curtain raised a hand.

"Perhaps countless trials await the two who become one today. Days of breaking and shattering will always assail the path before them. But if they depend on and help one another, I firmly believe that they will overcome it all."

That was when Lancel realized the identity of the person before him.

How could he not? The outline of her face beneath the veil belonged to the person Lancel knew best in this world.

'Marigold?'

He barely managed to swallow the words, Why are you here?

The wedding continued.

'Was this Hestie's doing?'

There was no other possibility.

Lancel saw Marigold's shoulders trembling faintly. She was tense under the countless gazes.

He quietly placed a hand on her shoulder. He gazed into her eyes through the veil. He could feel her trembling gradually subside.

"God, beneath this blessed sky, the two have at last become husband and wife."

The Imperial Archbishop finally began the formal declaration.

"May neither good nor evil, death, time, nor eternity ever separate these two!"

============

Marigold stands once again in the same place as the man from her memories. She intuitively senses, as if by fate, that her bond with him is so tenacious that not even a blade can sever it.

※Affinity with the young noble Lancel Dante has increased.

※300 points have been added to the Album score. When it reaches 1,500 points, "Inheritance of Memories" will open.

============

Lancel saw Marigold's face through the falling petals. A bitter smile touched his lips.

'Failed again, huh?'

But why?

It was not entirely unpleasant.

It was almost a relief.

After all, he had an infinite amount of time left.

"Kiss one another."

Lancel stepped closer to Marigold and kissed her.

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