WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
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◈ The Protagonist of a Romance Fantasy Only Likes Me ◈
Chapter 14: Warrior Marigold. (9)
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“Finish all preparations and board the train by noon tomorrow?”
Lancel received the letter on the evening of his wedding day.
If it had come from anyone else, there would have been plenty of complaints about sending a man off to make his wife a widow on the spot. But this was a letter from the Emperor, the fake one.
That kind of authority was too overwhelming to complain about. Besides, it was not as though his death had already been decided.
“War. At a time like this...”
War itself was nothing surprising.
The Empire was a country constantly embroiled in wars, great and small.
Naturally, anyone of the knightly class often had opportunities to go into battle, whether they wanted to or not.
The reason Lancel had spent most of his early regressions at the border was because of these tiresome wars. As befitted a great empire that had swallowed half the continent, its front lines were absurdly vast.
He turned the letter over. The Imperial seal had been stamped into wax mixed with gold dust.
‘An Imperial relief force.’
Which meant a member of the Imperial family would likely command the troops personally.
“What do you plan to do?”
Hestie asked anxiously.
“I'll go.”
“Master.”
No sooner had Lancel spoken than Marigold approached him.
“Please take me with you.”
Her eyes were filled with determination.
“If you go, Master, I'll come with you. No. Even if I have to walk, I'll follow you.”
She clutched the necklace Lancel had given her tightly.
“The Imperial relief force should make the journey fairly safe. But a battlefield is still a battlefield. Do you really want to go?”
He did not need to hear her answer.
Marigold looked ready to follow Lancel even if she had to force the issue.
Bang!
“Lancel!”
“Your Excellency the Court Count?”
The person who had rushed through the rain in the middle of the night threw open the door. He discarded his dripping outer robe and walked toward Lancel.
“Knock...”
Lancel hurriedly covered Hestie's mouth as Hestie was about to mutter something.
“Did you hear?”
“This?”
He held up the deployment order.
The Court Count rubbed his face.
“So you saw it. His Majesty decided this on his own, so there was nothing I could do. If I had known earlier, I would have tried something.”
“It's fine. It's not like I'm going there to die.”
“That doesn't mean you're guaranteed to survive.”
As he spoke, the Court Count pressed something into Lancel's hand. It was the crest of House Iceford.
“Wear this when you board the train. They will seat you in the rearmost carriage, right beside His Highness.”
He meant Lancel should receive proper treatment. Even in war, there were relatively safe positions.
“I wish you victory. Come back alive, and I'll treat you to a grand feast.”
The Court Count seemed to be in such a hurry that he left after saying only that.
“Knock...”
Hestie's voice quietly followed after him. Was Hestie haunted by the ghost of someone who had died without knocking?
‘So I will finally see Marigold and a prince in the same place.’
What kind of person would he be?
There were seven Imperial princes in total. Every one of them had the potential to become involved with Marigold. At least, that was how it had been in the game.
Even excluding the Fifth Prince, who was already at the battlefield, there were still six candidates.
Lancel briefly considered who among them would be the best and the worst.
‘The Second Prince, preferably. Or the Fourth Prince would be fine too.’
The Second Prince had at least some common sense, while the Fourth Prince was frail but clear-minded. Either would be the best choice.
The worst was...
‘Needless to say.’
Lancel grimaced as he thought of one particular person.
.
.
.
“Question. Who do you think holds command over this force?”
Lancel could not stop his eye from twitching.
“That would be me.”
============
Encounter Event Occurred. Marigold has joined the First Imperial Relief Force commanded by the Sixth Prince, Karin Craig Freesia.
============
“The luckiest and most beautiful man in the Empire, Karin Craig Freesia.”
Lancel desperately struggled to keep his face expressionless. Marigold looked at him worriedly.
“Master, are you all right?”
“No. I think the alcohol I drank yesterday is coming back up.”
“That's what happens when you drink too much...”
Marigold rubbed his back as she spoke, but what he felt had nothing to do with a hangover.
Lancel swallowed bitterly as he looked at the Sixth Prince.
‘Why did it have to be that bastard?’
The worst.
“I'm sure you have all heard what kind of person I am. I hope none of you earn my displeasure.”
He was, quite literally, the worst possible candidate.
19.
“Why is this place so cramped? Change it at once. How am I supposed to spend ten days in such a stifling place?”
The moment he boarded the train, the Sixth Prince's voice began dripping with complaints.
Thanks to his great father-in-law's consideration, Lancel was placed closest to the Sixth Prince. Ironically, that consideration was causing him even more pain.
“I don't like the music! Play something faster and livelier! The food is cold, and the wine isn't chilled. Which fool prepared this?”
The Imperial relief force, gathered for war, was being used like servants. Even the knights were sweating as they lent a hand.
If Lancel and Marigold had not worn the Iceford crest, they would have been among them.
“I can finally breathe. You there, open the window. All your bustling about is making too much dust fly around.”
He complained nonstop, and before long, the entire train carriage he occupied had been transformed into a party hall.
“Master, is it all right to have that much alcohol piled up when we're going to a battlefield?”
“Of course it isn't.”
Bottles and oak casks filled one side of the carriage.
Lancel already knew what they were for, and the next day, they began to be used.
“You, come here and accept my wine. You too, over there.”
“Y-Your Highness, drinking right now is...”
“You dare refuse liquor bestowed by a prince?”
“I will accept it as a gracious favor!”
“Of course it is a favor. This wine is bestowed by the bloodline of the Imperial family, blessed by God. What could be more gracious?”
Lancel had once even attacked him with a blade, only to burn at the execution ground. Still, the Sixth Prince was not an extraordinarily wicked man, nor was he someone who could truly be called evil.
That was only in comparison to actual villains, of course.
The problem was that he liked having fun to a ridiculous degree, and his tastes ran in strange directions.
“Bring me ceremonial swords.”
The Sixth Prince, flushed from drink, tossed two swords before him.
Clang!
The thin, rapier-shaped blades rolled across the floor with a metallic ring.
The Sixth Prince was not finished.
“Look at this. Gold coins. Imperial gold coins.”
Clatter!
More than ten Imperial gold coins were tossed onto the floor.
The sound of people swallowing their saliva could be heard throughout the carriage. Even for nobles, ten Imperial gold coins was no small sum.
For soldiers, it was enough to change their lives.
“Let's make a wager. Two people fight, and the winner takes these. What do you say?”
“Y-Your Highness, this is hardly the time for something like that...”
“Why? It isn't as though I am telling you to kill each other. Surely no one can die from a mere ceremonial sword?”
As if to prove his point, the Sixth Prince picked up one of the swords he had thrown down. Without the slightest hesitation, he drew it across his palm.
“Gah!”
“Your Highness!”
Even Marigold frowned, as did Lancel.
‘Sixth Prince, you insane bastard.’
He grinned as he showed them the blood gathering in his palm.
“See? It's dull.”
Lancel barely restrained himself from saying, You died when that sword struck you.
“It is a warm-up before the war, and you can make money. Wouldn't you be a fool not to do it? Don't you agree, Lancel?”
The arrow turned toward Lancel, who stood beside him.
“I heard you won one of the Empire's Three Great Beauties with nothing but your swordsmanship. She was a woman I had my eye on. It almost killed me to lose her.”
The Sixth Prince came over and began kneading Lancel's shoulders. Then he raised his voice for everyone to hear.
“Look at this. All it takes is using a sword well once, and you can get a beauty, a title, and wealth. You should all learn from someone as dependable as Lancel. So, I will count to ten.”
A battle of nerves began.
“Ten... nine...”
Before he could even say eight, two soldiers sprang forward like lightning. At the same time, they grabbed the ceremonial swords.
“Urgh...!”
“I got it first...!”
A smile spread over the Sixth Prince's face.
“The first one to bleed loses. Begin!”
The two soldiers watched each other before swinging their swords.
Clang!
Steel struck steel, and harsh breaths burst out.
“Lancel, who do you think will win? Let's make a wager. I'll take the man on the left. He's more agile. You can tell at a glance that he knows how to fight.”
“Then I will take the left as well.”
“If we choose the same one, it isn't a wager.”
“Why would I make a wager that I will lose?”
“...Is that so?”
“Of course it is.”
The Sixth Prince suddenly turned his gaze to Marigold, who stood beside Lancel.
“Is she your lover? You have only just married, and you are already keeping a lover by your side? The young lady of House Iceford would be sad if she knew.”
“You misunderstand. She is my guard and close attendant.”
“Those are other words for a lover.”
“She is not.”
“Really?”
“Why would I lie to Your Highness when I have no reason to deceive you?”
“A guard, hmm. She is tall, but she does not look especially skilled...”
“Mary should be stronger than any soldier here.”
“Oh?”
The Sixth Prince looked at Marigold with an odd expression.
As if rejecting his gaze, Marigold moved one step closer to Lancel's side.
The Sixth Prince's eyes widened.
Marigold had shot him a cold glare, then promptly lost interest.
It was an attitude so chilly that he had rarely encountered it since being born a prince.
“Hmm.”
The duel was decided not long afterward.
“Aaagh!”
A soldier was pierced in the shoulder by a rapier and fell backward with a scream.
Even a dull sword dug into flesh the moment it struck, leaving a wound.
“I-I won. I won.”
The Sixth Prince slowly approached and raised the winning soldier's hand.
“Applause for the victor!”
Ten gold coins passed into the soldier's hand.
“M-Money! Gold coins!”
“Yes, yes. Genuine Imperial gold coins, victor! When the war is over, go live your life screwing ten women at a time.”
“Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you! Long live the Sixth Prince! Hurrah! Hurrah!”
Once everyone saw that the prize had truly changed hands, the air inside the carriage grew hot.
Regret and greed passed over the watching soldiers' faces at once. Some even cried out, “I should have gone up and fought first!”
“Then shall we raise the stakes and have some more fun?”
“Are they fighting again?”
“This time, I need to run out there and fight right away.”
The soldiers' eyes were about to gleam wildly when the Sixth Prince looked at Lancel.
No, more precisely, his gaze fixed on Marigold beside him.
“Mary, was it? Sir Lancel's attendant.”
“...Yes, but why?”
“Listen up! For exactly one week from now!”
What came from his mouth next overturned everyone's expectations.
“To whoever seduces that woman before I do, I will award... three hundred gold coins.”
“Three hundred...!”
“Good heavens!”
It was not just the soldiers.
Even the nobles and knights aboard the train stared with their mouths hanging open. That was the value of three hundred gold coins.
A confident smile settled on the Sixth Prince's face.
“Of course, I will win.”
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