WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Pushover Young Lord in a Romance Fantasy Won't Take It Anymore ◈

Chapter 14: High Mountains, Deep Valleys

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Eterna, the heart of the Empire.

Lucia walked through the bustling district with light, elegant steps.

Whenever she passed, pedestrians hurrying along the street stopped in their tracks.

Some dropped what they were carrying, while countless others stared blankly and bumped into people around them.

Lucia did not spare them a glance as she continued on her way.

The awestruck reactions from men had long since become part of her daily life.

'So much has changed.'

She looked around the streets, newly struck by the thought.

Internal-combustion vehicles traveled along smoothly paved roads.

Beyond the shops, telephones that had replaced magical communicators rang.

Uniformed security officers had firearms hanging at their waists.

Paved roads and communication infrastructure were still luxuries found only in the capital, but they proved how quickly the times were changing.

With light steps, Lucia entered an elegant café.

Ding.

The gentle aroma of coffee mingled with soft classical music.

Guided by a server, Lucia made her way to a pleasant terrace.

Someone was already seated there. Azelin, Rosenthal's youngest daughter.

"You got here early, Azelin."

A wide-brimmed hat and mesh veil concealed her face, but Lucia recognized her at once.

Lucia smiled as she settled into the armchair across from her. Then she lightly lifted the hem of her dress.

"What do you think of this dress? I'm planning to wear it to the Founding Festival. Isn't it pretty?"

It was the sort of casual chatter she shared with a close friend.

At times like this, Azelin would usually make a huge fuss and shower her with praise.

Yet Azelin did not say a word.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Lucia glanced at Azelin's hands. They trembled faintly around the teacup.

Then Azelin removed her veiled hat.

"Azelin, you!?"

Lucia covered her mouth with both hands without thinking.

"What happened? What on earth happened to your face!?"

"Lucia... Sob! Sniff... Astin...!"

Thick tears spilled from Azelin's eyes.

She lowered her head as though collapsing onto the table and began recounting her story through miserable sobs.

It was a tale riddled with lies and exaggerations, claiming that her fiancé had cruelly cast her aside and retaliated against her.

Lucia clenched her fists as she listened to Azelin's grief-stricken voice.

"How... how could he do something like that to his fiancée?"

She had heard about Astin from Azelin before.

How he kept giving her burdensome gifts, obsessed over her every day and made her life miserable, even harmed himself by banging his head whenever she refused to go on dates with him.

Rumors that he was materialistic, vulgar, and violent had spread throughout high society.

She had thought surely it could not be that bad, but that bastard had finally gone and done it.

"The reason I asked to see you was because of this. As you can see, I look so hideous... Sob! I don't think I can attend the Founding Festival. Everyone will see my face, point at me, and laugh...."

To lay hands on his former fiancée. Personal friendship aside, it was an act no decent human being should commit.

Lucia asked in a cold voice, "Astin is attending the Founding Festival too, isn't he?"

"Yes. I heard he'll be attending as his house's representative."

"Don't cry, Azelin. I'll find him and make him pay."

It was neither an empty threat nor bravado.

Lucia was the star of the Imperial social scene and the flower of the Academy.

Behind her stood influential figures capable of swaying the Empire's future.

His Highness the Crown Prince, the Empire's next sun. The second son of a grand ducal house, renowned for his overwhelming strength. Even the foremost disciple of the Tower Master who leads the Ivory Tower.

Every one of them blindly adored Lucia and would bend over backward at a single word from her.

More importantly, Lucia herself was a prodigy unlike any seen in ages.

If she set her mind to it, socially ruining Astin would be easy.

"Lucia, you're really the only one I have. Thank you. If it weren't for you, I really... Sob!"

"Don't cry. It's all right. I'll take care of everything."

Lucia gently stroked Azelin's back with a pitying expression.

Without noticing Azelin's lips curling upward behind her hands.

'She'll be more useful than my brothers.'

Astin von Cardenos.

The collar around that arrogant bastard's neck was slowly, surely tightening.

* * *

"I did it! It stood up!"

"That's already the third person today."

"If you keep at it, there's nothing you can't do. With enough grit, anything is possible."

It was the second day of coin training.

No one had succeeded on the first day, yet three people had already done it today. That was remarkable progress.

"You worked hard. Here, have some water."

"Haha, thank you, my lady."

Celine handed out ice water and even wiped the knights' sweat.

They weren't getting any ideas about her, were they? It bothered me for some reason.

"At least their willpower is decent."

A satisfied smile appeared on Hendrickson's lips.

It had also been two days since I had heard him call them things like "young punks" or "babies." That was progress too.

"Are you going to have your sister weave a ring too?"

"I'm considering it."

I drank some water and studied Celine closely.

She was the girl who had made a coin stand upright on her very first try.

Her extraordinary potential wasn't confined to the martial realm, specifically the Sun Ring.

Mana calculations and arrays required the same kind of control as one's energy sense.

The ability to focus every sensation on a single point, along with delicate control.

She would obviously show tremendous talent in artifact crafting as well.

'Her talent is overwhelming, and she's interested in that field too.'

Rather than forcing a sword into her hands, it would be better to fully support her in the magical arts.

Honestly, I had expected Celine's potential to some extent.

Celine, the Witch of Cardenos, was dangerous enough to deserve a seventh-rank evaluation. At least, that was what I had experienced after killing her myself.

Still, none of that mattered as long as she stayed away from Luna. That was the path to becoming an Outer God's puppet.

"Y-young Lord."

My thoughts were interrupted. A servant approached hesitantly.

"The Duke has summoned you to his office at once."

"Father?"

He should have been tearing his hair out dealing with the Council of Elders. Had the reports already been dealt with?

"All right. Tell him I'll come after I wash up."

As I stood, I turned my head.

I stared directly at the furball.

"What? What did I do?"

Hendrickson desperately pretended not to know. It wasn't even as though he was sulking, which would have been unlike him.

He must really not want to see his former disciple.

* * *

"Sir Hendrickson has arrived. More precisely, I've invited him as a military advisor."

The office of the Duke of Cardenos.

Father looked at me silently.

He held that silence for a long while before finally saying,

"I heard."

That was all.

"Do you have nothing else to say?"

"...."

"You're meeting again after so long. Why don't you catch up?"

"...."

Father had always been a man of few words, but this silence was deliberate.

I barely swallowed the sigh that threatened to escape.

"I'll have him stay in the annex for now, then?"

"Do as you wish."

Father looked like he did not want to say another word about Hendrickson. Why was their master-disciple relationship like this?

Their average age was sixty. They were at that age where expressing emotions was difficult.

"Have you finished preparing to leave?"

Father finally got to the point.

"A Spirit Carriage will arrive at Cardenos tomorrow. You know what day it is, don't you?"

"The Founding Festival is four days from now."

I tilted my head playfully.

"What is there to prepare? As long as I don't show up looking like a beggar, it'll be fine."

Unlike someone who smelled.

Father let out a faint sigh before speaking.

"The Founding Festival only comes once a year. Dress as well as you can and make yourself presentable. Do not forget to maintain your dignity once you are there. Do not cause trouble like you used to, and do not get distracted by women. Remember the string quartet and the minuet. Think of this as a dress rehearsal. I ask nothing more than that."

You are asking quite a lot.

Still, I understood Father's concerns.

This was not an ordinary social gathering. It was the Founding Festival, a banquet attended by every prominent noble in the Empire.

Azelin probably would not attend looking like that, and I doubted her three older brothers would come either.

They would be sharpening their claws as they prepared for their final showdown with Cardenos.

That was what the Rosenthals were like. Somehow, they always made me uneasy.

Rosenthal was not what concerned me, though.

'I'll run into Lucia too.'

In romance fantasies, the Founding Festival was a huge event for the protagonist.

It included a special ennoblement ceremony, a national auction, and the Emperor's honors ceremony, with a debutante ball as the grand finale.

Ostensibly, the debutante ball was an event where young ladies nearing adulthood chose someone to dance with.

In reality, it was an event for choosing a future spouse.

『"Lady Lucia! I have waited for this moment. Please, dance with me!"

"Lucia. If I could be with you, I would gladly walk through a pit of fire. The moment I first saw you, I learned what love was."

"Your beauty outshines mountains of gold. No jewel could ever shine brighter than your eyes."

"Miss Lucia. My heart burns whenever I see you, like a flower in full bloom. Please, take my hand."

Lucia hesitated as she looked at the four men.

The Tower Master's foremost disciple, the second son of the Northern Grand Duke, the head of a great merchant guild, and the Imperial Crown Prince.

Which man would win her choice?

Every eye in the room focused on Lucia's feet.』

I knew. I had seen it all.

Naturally, she chose the Imperial Crown Prince.

Out of the many candidates, the Crown Prince was the one fated to become her husband. He was the next Emperor of the Empire.

The rest were practically trophy love interests.

-When you go back, seduce me.

"...."

-Make me love only you. It's the dream I couldn't fulfill in this life.

Why did that bitch have to say something like that at the very end?

Whatever. She could figure it out herself. My original goal was to save the world.

Bringing Lucia over to my side was part of the process, but I had far more pressing things to worry about right now.

* * *

"...."

I remembered falling asleep in my bedroom.

Feeling weightless, I looked around.

It was a dream.

Which meant this was a lucid dream.

A crude cot stood in one corner.

A large wooden desk at the center was covered in tactical maps and stacks of documents.

There was not a single luxury in sight. The room was filled only with practical things needed for war.

It was familiar. A commander's tent.

"Hey."

I was looking down at Astin from an observer's perspective, as if I were a ghost.

Astin was crouched against the wall. He lazily waved a hand toward someone.

The dim lamplight flickered. A shadow gradually grew larger and writhed.

Lucia was walking toward Astin.

Her uniform was scorched and stained with blood. A longsword soaked in blood and oil hung at her side. Her left eye was covered by an eyepatch.

I had thought it was only a dream, but it seemed to be a remnant of memory.

Lucia took a seat beside Astin as if collapsing.

"Another deserter."

"Who?"

"Hexon. That crazy bastard."

"Huh? He said he'd keep covering my back even if he died."

"He's gay. He probably meant it in another sense."

That was the Lucia I knew.

Even on a battlefield from hell, she never lost her stupid sense of humor. She was nothing like the protagonist of a reverse-harem romance fantasy.

"You really say the most fucked-up things. Damn it, I ought to beat you up."

"Look at you. You're going to hit a woman too?"

"You're not a woman to me, bitch."

"......Unbelievable."

A faint bitter smile spread across Lucia's lips.

Tap, tap. Pointing at her eyepatch, she said,

"Hey. Don't sit on that side. I can't see your profile. Come over to the other side."

"Do I have to look at your face while we talk?"

"Come over to the other side so I can feast my eyes on you."

"You're good-looking, I'll give you that. It's a face wasted in a war."

"Ah, don't bother coming over. Fuck off. Stop showing off, idiot."

"Look at that mouth. Are you really Lady Lucia, the star of high society?"

"Wow. That was ages ago."

Lucia burst into laughter. It was a cheerful sound that did not suit a battlefield.

Astin laughed along with her and casually asked,

"You crazy bitch, social star or not. You regret it, don't you?"

"Regret what?"

"Getting tangled up with all those men."

"Of course I do. I can't imagine what they were doing while the world ended up like this."

"Maybe you shouldn't have been so boy-crazy."

Thud!

"Urk!"

Astin rubbed his side. Lucia withdrew her elbow and glared at him.

"You keep saying I'm man-crazy, but that's a misunderstanding."

"Fuck off."

"I've never clung to men. They clung to me. I only ran away because they were so obsessed with me."

"Either way, you had a reverse harem, bitch."

"You're always saying things I don't understand. Am I... a man-chaser? Man-crazy?"

"Man-crazy."

"Right. Man-crazy, reverse harem. They're bad things, aren't they?"

"They're good things."

"Quit bullshitting me, you little prick. When have you ever said something nice to me?"

Ugh. Forget it.

Lucia tapped the floor with her heel. It was a habit she had whenever she sulked.

Lucia could never stand an awkward atmosphere for long. She had always been that way.

"There's one more thing I regret."

"What is it?"

"Keeping my virginity this long for no reason."

"Are you crazy?"

"Hey. Have you ever slept with a woman?"

"You really are crazy."

"We might die soon, so let's be honest. Come on. I know you've never done it either. Don't you want to?"

Lucia gestured at the crude cot with her chin. That alone was not enough.

She brought her clenched right fist to her mouth and moved it back and forth. At the same time, she pressed her tongue into one cheek, making it bulge.

"Someone like you would work for me. What about me? Don't I work for you?"

"......."

"Better to die with me than die to those black things. I'll fuck you to death. Not a bad way to go, right?"

"I'll kill you too."

"Ooh?"

"Where did I put my pistol?"

"......You can't even take a joke."

Thinking about it now, perhaps it had not been entirely a joke.

Lucia rummaged through her clothes and pulled out a cigarette.

A flame sparked at her fingertips, lighting it.

"Turn away if you're going to smoke."

"Ah, I want to fuck."

"Just get out of here."

"Okay. I won't ask for that much. I should've at least had a proper love. I've never even kissed anyone."

"Fuck off."

"It's true. I really want to cling to a man too. Kiss the man I love, have se... Hehehe...."

Cigarette smoke rose in thick clouds.

Lucia removed her eyepatch. She touched the eye that had turned a dark ash-gray.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if I ever loved those men."

"Why? Is love hard when you have so many men?"

"It's just... they loved me blindly. From their perspective, I think they mistook giving love for being entitled to receive the same amount back. But people's hearts aren't that simple."

"Love sure is complicated."

"I think that's why. I received too much, so it became a burden. And if it felt like a burden, it wasn't love."

"Are we going to keep talking about this?"

"And more than anything else."

Lucia let out a sigh so deep it seemed to sink into the ground.

"When all those men died, I wasn't that sad."

"......."

"Even when His Highness the Cro... His Majesty the Emperor died. Of course, I was sad. But it was the sorrow I felt for comrades dying. I guess I didn't love them, did I?"

"His Majesty in heaven must be weeping."

"I know. But what am I supposed to do? That's how I honestly feel."

Thump. She placed a hand on Astin's shoulder.

"But if you die, I think I'll be sad."

Astin froze the moment he heard her.

Lucia looked at him for a moment, then covered her mouth and snickered.

"Pfft. Look at that stupid expression. Were you seriously listening to that, idiot?"

"Ah, damn it."

"Did you get your hopes up? I would be sad, but it'd be the same. I'd be sad because you're my comrade. Comrades, can you hear me~"

Starting with a hum, Lucia puffed out her chest.

"High mountains, deep valleys, you know it, right? The one you taught me."

"I never taught you. You heard it on your own."

"Silent mountains and rivers, snow-covered front lines... we... march onward..."

After that, Lucia sang every military song that came to mind. They were all songs Lucia had heard from Astin, songs unfamiliar to her.

Song filled the tent where only the two of them sat.

Her clear, bright voice did not suit the solemn military songs at all.

Whether she knew it or not, Lucia finished every song while adding spirited staccato.

* * *

"......"

I woke up.

Morning had come.

Listening to sparrows chirping, I looked out the window.

Knock, knock.

"Come in."

The door opened, and a butler entered.

"Good morning, Young Lord. You woke early. A carriage has arrived from the Imperial Capital."

"For the Founding Festival?"

"Yes."

"Time really flies."

It was time to go.

It was time to meet her too.

Author's Note

Only two days until Plus!

Footnotes:

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