WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

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

Chapter 2: Grant Me One Small Wish

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The calluses and scars on my palms had vanished without a trace.

My hands were pale and smooth, without a single mark. The hands of a finely raised young nobleman.

I jumped out of bed and stood before the full-length mirror.

A handsome blond boy stared back at me with a sullen expression.

It was me at nineteen, still unable to shake off my youthful appearance.

“I really came back.”

By some twist of fate, I had returned to my nineteenth birthday, the day I became aware of my past life.

I let out a hollow laugh and turned my head, only to spot a thick stack of letters on my desk.

[To my one and only star, Azelin.]

[For you, I could devote everything I have....]

[If I were with you, I could walk into a blazing inferno....]

“What the hell was I even writing?”

The moment I saw them, my brow creased like crumpled paper.

The stationery was covered with traces of writing, erasing, and scribbling all over again.

An irredeemably embarrassing part of my past. I had stayed up all night polishing love letters to send my fiancée.

Riiip!

I tore up every letter I could get my hands on. Scraps of paper fluttered across the floor like snowflakes.

Even now, I couldn’t understand myself.

Why had I liked a woman like Azelin before I became aware of my past life?

What was so good about her that I cried, begged, clung to her, and made such a fool of myself?

I had thought there would be no damn romance in my life from now on. All because my fiancée had burned me badly.

I had definitely thought so.

-Make it so I love only you. It’s the dream I couldn’t fulfill in this life.

“I should’ve just cursed her out. That would’ve been easier.”

Honestly, I still couldn’t believe it.

That I had regressed with Lucia’s help? That was believable enough.

If it was Lucia, she really could have completed time magic.

What I couldn’t believe was Lucia’s feelings for me.

“Does it make any sense that she liked me? Lucia, of all people?”

Even on the battlefield, we constantly bickered. We were closer through resentment than affection.

Maybe she had gone crazy at the end of the world after all her men died.

But a scenario where she had secretly loved me for a long time was absurd.

I had spent my entire life swinging a sword. I didn’t have a speck of romantic instinct in me.

For someone like me to seduce her? Physically impossible. Saving the world would be easier.

“Whatever. I’ll think about it later. First, I need to save the world.”

I shoved aside the headache-inducing problem and carefully reviewed my failures from my previous life.

After becoming aware of my past life, I had left the family half a year later.

There had been many reasons.

I thought I was treated like an unwanted burden in the family. I had assumed being tied to the family would only restrict me.

I would monopolize every lucky opportunity, hone my individual strength, and eradicate the minions of the Outer Gods before they could act.

I believed that the only answer to saving the world was my own overwhelming drive forward.

And I had, in fact, grown freely without belonging anywhere, eventually surpassing even Swordmasters with ease.

I had even been evenly matched with Lucia.

But it was a painful mistake.

I hadn’t realized that one hand could never handle ten.

So in this life, I needed to gather people around me.

Companions who would help save the world alongside me.

And the first person I needed was Lucia...

“Fuck. After all that, it comes back to Lucia?”

Thinking about her only made my thoughts more complicated.

Sitting in my room and thinking wouldn’t solve anything. It would only make me think of Lucia more.

I grabbed the doorknob and flung the door open.

“Eek!”

Someone happened to be passing by my door.

At the sound of it opening, she recoiled in fright and pressed herself against the wall.

Soft platinum-blond hair and large blue eyes.

It was my younger sister, Celine von Cardenos.

“B-Brother. Hello.”

Celine greeted me while pretending to be calm.

Only pretending.

The hand clutching her skirt trembled, and her shoulders were hunched.

Rather than look at me, she kept her gaze lowered to the floor.

‘That’s a natural reaction.’

At this point in time, I gave Azelin everything I had while treating everyone else like a raging fire. I had been especially harsh toward Celine.

Before she was my sister, Celine was an illegitimate child.

I remembered clearly how I had taken out my temper on her at every turn, using her as an emotional punching bag because she was an easy target.

“Brother?”

Celine’s young face overlapped with the image of her final moments.

When I returned after leaving the family, Cardenos had already become a sea of flames.

The knights’ mountain of corpses. My sister’s body lying on the ground. My father’s body torn into chunks of flesh.

At the center of it all, Celine, who had become a servant of the moon, glared at me.

Having lost herself and attacked me, she left me no choice but to cut her down with my own hand.

When Celine’s clouded eyes recovered their clear blue light,

she gently stroked my face with a hand stained in blood.

-Ah, Brother.......

Celine’s lips moved soundlessly before she finally closed her eyes.

Her final voice became a curse that tormented me mercilessly.

Whenever I thought of Celine, all I felt was guilt, obligation, and regret.

Not only had I treated her cruelly as a child, I had left the family while that was all she remembered of me.

If I hadn’t left the family. If I had returned even one day earlier.

It was a futile regret. I couldn’t undo the mistakes that had already passed.

But not anymore.

“...?”

Thump.

I placed a hand on her head.

* * *

‘What’s wrong with Brother?’

Celine’s blue eyes trembled.

It was an instinctive physical reaction that surfaced the instant she saw Astin.

From the morning, he would say things like, “Why is that unlucky bastard girl in my sight?” or “You’re disgusting to look at, so get out right now.”

The moment their eyes met, verbal abuse was a given. Sometimes he would throw things at her without warning.

Yet today, he hadn’t said a single word.

Just as she thought that, Astin placed his hand on her head.

“...?”

Celine forgot even to breathe as she cautiously looked up at him.

The heavy pressure of his hand on the crown of her head. Its meaning was clear.

‘He’s going to crush my head!’

The thought made goosebumps rise all over her body.

She had recently heard rumors that Astin had become irritable while looking for a gift for his fiancée.

Celine trembled all over and squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Endure it. I have to endure it. If I scream, he’ll torment me even worse....’

Astin simply kept his hand on her head.

Why? Was this some new kind of bullying?

At one point, she felt his hand tremble faintly.

“...Huh?”

The moment Celine cautiously opened her eyes, she had no choice but to doubt them.

A single clear tear slid down Astin’s cheek.

Celine froze, and Astin withdrew his hand.

Step. Step.

Astin walked away without looking back. For some reason, his retreating figure looked lonely.

Left alone in the hallway, Celine could only blink like an idiot.

“What was that?”

Hadn’t he been about to crush her head with his grip? Why did he leave without doing anything? And what was with that tear?

There was only one thing young Celine could conclude.

‘Things didn’t go well with Sister Azelin!’

They must have had a huge fight. Maybe she had rejected his gifts. Maybe she had rejected his love letters too.

Otherwise, Astin would never wipe away tears so miserably.

“Haah, I survived.”

Whatever the reason, it was an enormous relief for Celine.

Still, one question remained.

Why had he grabbed her head, then let go so easily?

‘Because my head is tougher than he expected?’

No, no. That didn’t mean her head was made of stone.

It was impossible to grab someone’s head and crush it with human grip strength.

Besides, Brother was someone who even neglected his training, wasn’t he?

“....”

Just in case, Celine tapped the top of her head.

Tap. Tap.

It made a remarkably solid sound.

“I guess I really do have a stone head.”

* * *

I hurried away, afraid I would make a fool of myself.

I wasn’t usually this sentimental.

I couldn’t even speak, afraid she would notice the tears in my voice if I uttered a single syllable.

“Well, I guess it makes sense.”

Anyone would be overcome with emotion upon seeing family members who had died.

The fact that I wasn’t bawling my eyes out meant I had controlled myself well enough.

For once, I was grateful to Lucia.

Putting aside the fact that she had dumped the responsibility on me, I would never have seen my family again without her.

-Hyaaah!

-Don’t just block! Aim for the wrist!

A resounding shout suddenly came from outside the window.

It was the spacious training ground behind the castle.

“My body needs to adjust anyway. This works out.”

Hearing those sounds made my body itch.

This was my body from ten years ago, so it still felt unfamiliar in many ways.

Without calluses on my hands, I could only manage a few hundred sword swings at most.

It would take a long time to adjust.

You couldn’t fill your stomach with one spoonful.

I turned toward the training ground.

“Hah!”

Apprentice knights exchanged sword strikes on the dirt ground, dripping with sweat.

On the raised platform above them, formally invested knights watched their sparring matches. At the center sat a middle-aged man with a massive build.

The head of House Cardenos, one of the Empire’s strongest men, and my father.

Grand Duke Valdemar von Cardenos.

Emotions surged through me again at the sight of him, but I barely managed to force them down.

After taking a deep breath, I stepped inside.

Step.

At the sound of my approach, every knight turned toward me.

Naturally, their looks were far from kind.

No, that wasn’t right. Their faces openly showed hostility and disgust.

At this point, Astin was the disgrace of the family and a spoiled delinquent.

Within the family, I was the lazy young master who neglected training. When it came to Azelin, I was known as a shameless pushover.

I had even made the family’s knights run personal errands for Azelin.

These were people who valued chivalry as much as their lives. Of course they wouldn’t like me.

If Father hadn’t been here, they would have already gathered and talked behind my back.

“What brings you here?”

A low, imposing voice sounded. It was Father.

Beneath his eyes lay a deep disappointment and resignation where even anger had faded away.

It was the look I had expected to endure.

“I just came to watch.”

“Watch?”

“At first, yes. But seeing everyone work up a sweat made me feel restless too.”

Father’s brow tightened sharply.

“If you’re going to spout nonsense, return to your room at once. If you’ve truly taken an interest, learn with your eyes.”

Ignoring him, I walked steadily into the center of the training ground.

“Learning only by watching doesn’t suit me. I want to cross swords with those apprentice knights myself.”

“This is not a place for you.”

“Then what about over there?”

As I spoke, I pointed to the formally invested knights.

Even I could tell that sparring with the apprentices wouldn’t even warm me up. It had to be opponents at their level.

Of course, for now, that was only my own thought.

Sure enough, every knight’s face twisted as though they had bitten into shit.

It wasn’t something a pushover young master who had neglected sword training and chased after his fiancée had any right to say.

A few hot-blooded knights stepped forward, their lips twitching.

Because the head of the family was present, they clenched their fists and desperately swallowed their fury.

‘The timing is good.’

Cardenos, the Empire’s great swordsmanship house, regularly encouraged live-blade sparring to foster promising knights.

It wasn’t simply training or camaraderie.

The head of the family personally bestowed a famed sword upon the best apprentice knight, and they could even receive their knightly investiture with that sword.

For those who dreamed of becoming formally invested knights, it was a chance to rise in status.

“I don’t need a famed sword or a knightly investiture.”

Oops.

After saying it, I smacked my lips.

Creak!

The knights’ expressions changed dramatically.

I awkwardly cleared my throat.

“I want something else. If I prove that I’m better than the apprentice knights, grant me one small wish.”

“A wish?”

“Today is my birthday, after all. Think of it as receiving that instead of a birthday present.”

Father held a heavy silence for a moment.

His sharp gaze swept over my entire body.

There wasn’t even the slightest expectation in his eyes, only cold disbelief.

“Do as you please. That is, if you truly possess the skill.”

“That’s a promise?”

I picked up one of the swords displayed in the corner of the training ground.

A real blade sharpened to a keen edge.

The feel of it against the soft palm of my nineteen-year-old self was strangely unfamiliar.

He couldn’t even hold a sword properly anyway.

If he felt the difference in ability against an apprentice knight, perhaps he would gain even a little respect for knights.

Even if he got hurt or humiliated, it didn’t matter. It was all his son’s just reward.

I felt as though Father was thinking that.

“Tell me what this wish is in advance.”

“Can’t I tell you after it’s over?”

“Stop acting childish. Is it another gift for your fiancée? Don’t you find it laughable to call that your birthday present?”

I knew better than anyone.

Before becoming aware of my past life, all I ever talked about was Azelin, Azelin, Azelin.

The arranged marriage had been Father’s unilateral decision, but he had reportedly regretted it deeply after learning what a pathetic pushover I was.

He couldn’t exactly say, ‘My son is too much of a pushover. Can we break off the engagement?’ So he had only watched.

“No. It has nothing to do with Azelin.”

“Then what is it?”

“I want you to give me some of your time, Father.”

For an instant, Father’s eyes widened.

Even the knights, who had been murmuring among themselves, fell silent.

“You want my time?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to learn swordsmanship from me?”

“No.”

“Have I neglected your education as my heir?”

“That isn’t it either.”

“Then what is this wish of yours?”

Standing still, I looked up at the sky.

Bright sunlight poured down, and the rich scent of wheat fields in the farming season drifted on the wind.

It was a strange but real peace, so different from the battlefield thick with the smell of blood and scattered corpses.

There was one thing I had wanted to do with Father on a day like this.

A modest but certain happiness I had never achieved and had buried in my heart.

“I want to go on an outing with you, Father.”

The rustling of wheat in the wind broke the silence.

I smiled at my stunned father.

“That’s all I want.”

Footnotes:

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