Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel! Volume 9 E-Book

Rhythm Aida

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I'm Gonna Tell Her How I Feel!
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 300

Beschreibung

Breaking news: Slowe and Alicia are engaged! Cirquista wants to strengthen its alliance with Daryth, and Slowe’s brothers prefer battles over girls any day. Thus, Slowe and Alicia draw the short end of the stick—and are forced into a second engagement against their wills!

The entire school is going wild, but the “couple” themselves aren’t happy about it. Alicia is sick of people trying to decide her life for her, and Slowe has finally gotten together with Charlotte, the love of his life. It won’t be easy going against a decision that affects the fate of two nations, but Alicia has one last trick up her sleeve. Hoping to nip this engagement in the bud, she and Slowe take on the infamous Labyrinth of Cirquista: Demon Land! Will they make it out alive and put an end to their shocking engagement?

Leseprobe

“The Piggy Duke was intelligent, strong, kindhearted, and sadly, too stubborn for his own good. From another perspective, the story of Shuya Marionette can be interpreted as his tragedy.”

—Director of Shuya Marionette

Prologue: A Shocking Betrothal

I craned my neck to look up at the sky.

“Oiiinkaaah!!!!!!!!”

When push came to shove, I usually resorted to one of two methods of escapism.

I let out one grunt after another until the sound built to a long, drawn-out yell. “Aaah!!!!!!!!”

The first was binge eating—a perfect way to relieve stress.

“Ah, aaah, AAAH!”

The second was exercise. I’d recently gone through an extreme weight-loss regimen, one that caused me to have an epiphany—after a workout, I came out feeling refreshed. They say a healthy body led to a healthy mind, and I found that I agreed with the sentiment.

Okay, the point I’m trying to make is...

“Hrmph, aaah!!!!!!!!!!!”

...I’m not all out sprinting in order to lose weight.

Only moments earlier, I’d heard about my engagement to Alicia from Shuya, and I was currently very busy running away from reality. Literally.

What Shuya said had been a bolt from the blue. If I weighed my shock at this announcement on a scale, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it ranked up there with the world-shattering day I’d gained the knowledge of the anime. I mean, think about it. Me? Marrying? Alicia?! Dude, that’s not even funny as a joke!

“Oink, oink...” I snorted all orc-like as I walked alone down the path that’d lead me to the boys’ dorms. I didn’t have to worry about my safety at all, even though night had fallen over campus. Kirsch Mage Institute was the picture of peace. Sure, unsavory people had infiltrated the school before, but well, those were exceptions, not the norm.

I snorted weakly to myself. Okay, I think it’s about time to face reality. What exactly did Shuya say again?

I recalled his words: “I mean, I only heard some gossip about it, so I dunno much. But man, did that come as a shock. I thought your engagement with Alicia was a thing of the past.”

Hmm... Ugh, I’m drawing a blank. Even after calming down a bit, I still can’t make heads or tails of it all. Let’s just say in the super unlikely—in the impossible—event that he was right... Why did I have to hear such important news from Shuya, of all people?! And who in the world did he hear that news from, huh?! Alicia? Oh, Alicia would never open up to Shuya about me. If anything, she probably bad-mouths me all the time.

Only silence kept me company as my thoughts spiraled out of control. Even if he was right, I don’t think he would’ve heard about that engagement from Alicia, which begs the question... Where did Shuya learn this information? Are the rumors already spreading throughout Kirsch? If that’s the case... This is a nightmare.

I shook my head furiously. “Come on, Slowe, why waste your time thinking about this?”

I wanted to laugh off Shuya’s words, as ridiculous as they were. An engagement to Alicia? That went up in smoke a long time ago when I became a human orc, mind you. Even in my wildest, most delirious dreams, that engagement isn’t happening. Actually, Alicia would be the loudest voice of opposition. I mean, she’d have to marry me!

The strenuous exercise left me heaving, and I slowly steadied my breath. The problem was, I didn’t think Shuya would go out of his way to lie about something like this. That guy was eccentric and problematic in every way, but at his core, he was a virtuous and good-natured guy. I mean, he was an anime protagonist—he couldn’t be too bad.

At this point, everything started seeming suspicious to me, and my paranoia made me wary of even the gazes of students on me as I made my way back to the dorms. It might not have been the sweat and the stench that made them stare at me so...it might have been their curiosity about my engagement!

Though I knew thinking about it would get me nowhere with how little information I had, once the seed of unease had been planted, it was hard to get it out of my mind. Ugh... You know, at this point I might as well brace myself and just ask them straight about why they’re looking at me.

I chewed my lip in frustration. Naturally, I wouldn’t do such a thing, because people would start calling me the blackhearted Piggy Duke again. But no matter how hard I think about it, it’s still weird. Why did it have to be Shuya? So let’s just say, like, for argument’s sake, that he was telling the truth. If he were, then...

I kept circling back to one thought. Why the heck does Shuya know such significant information, while I, the person actually involved in this, have absolutely no clue about this engagement?! Is it because, ugh, I don’t have that many friends or something? Damn it! Why am I always left out of the loop with critical matters?!

Shuya was joking. He. Was. Joking. He had to be!

It was already late, so I couldn’t go find Charlotte and ask her about what was going on. Left with no choice, I returned to my room and silently lay in my bed.

“Oink...” I snorted pathetically.

As one would expect, sleep didn’t come to me easily. And when it rained, it poured—that night, I had a nightmare. In that nightmare, Alicia beat me into a pulp, screaming, “Why in the world do I have to marry an orc like Slowe?!” She’d gone on a rampage, whaling on me with her fists.

The only thing I could do was pray that it wasn’t a premonition.

With anxiety eating away at me, I washed my face quickly and waited for Charlotte to come around. The sun had yet to rise, but I didn’t think I could sleep a minute longer. Time seemed to stretch on forever, and it felt like the hands of the clock moved in slow motion. A single minute seemed to drag on into infinity.

As for the reason I was so anxious for Charlotte’s arrival... Once a week, Charlotte would bring over letters from House Denning. The letters would arrive at Kirsch in the middle of night, and she would collect them before coming to my room on the fourth floor of the boys’ dorm early in the morning. She’d come over and say in a sing-song voice, “Master Slowe, a letter for you!”

And you guessed it—the day after Shuya dropped that bomb on me, today, was one such day.

Anxious, I muttered, “Where is she? How much longer is she going to take? Why isn’t she here yet?”

I could have headed over to her place before she made her way here, but the thing was, Charlotte lived in the girls’ dorm with the rest of the retainer girls. Going there meant that I might come across her before she had time to wash up in the morning, and she probably didn’t want me to see her like that. As long as I received permission, going into the girls’ dorm was possible, but heading there early in the morning would definitely be cause for gossip.

I stood in front of the door, letting out rhythmical grunts as I exercised. Charlotte, please hurry, I pleaded in my mind. My thoughts are going crazy. At this rate, my brain will explode. Was Shuya right? Was my engagement to Alicia back on again? I wanted to know the answer right now. Being stuck in a state of unrest was agonizing.

I mean, even if I found some random person to ask... How could I? It’s not like I can go up to them and ask, “Hey, you know about that news about me? Am I really engaged to Alicia again?” This was a momentous matter, one that would decide my future! Why should I ask a random student at Kirsch for confirmation? They weren’t even involved!

“Oink, oink...”

My body seemed to have a mind of its own. Wanting to clear my mind, I began doing squats. My phase hadn’t ended—last night, I’d sprinted at full speed for nearly one hour like a madman, and now, I was trying to cope by exercising again. Due to the strain on my body, my muscles protested in pain.

I continued to grunt as the exercises wore on. Who cared about soreness right now? If I didn’t do something to distract me, my thoughts would wander back to the information I’d heard from Shuya.

Okay. Charlotte is going to come in and tell me that an engagement between me and Alicia was absurd. She’s gonna say, “Master Slowe, someone made that up.” We’ll then laugh and forget about it. Yeah, that’s what we’ll do.

I was so absorbed in my strength workout that I completely missed the knocks that echoed through my room.

A pale Charlotte charged into my room. “M-M-Master Slowe! Are you awake?! I have news! Big new—” She crashed into me, sending the both of us tumbling to the ground. “Gaaah!!! Why are you naked and why are you so close?! Clothes! Put on some clothes first!”

In a panic, Charlotte scrambled to her feet before dashing over to my closet to retrieve my clothes and handing them to me. Charlotte was actually more familiar with my room than I was.

“G-Good morning, Charlotte,” I stammered.

“Now is not the time to be saying that! Clothes! Put on your clothes! You’re naked!”

“Charlotte, calm down first. Has something big happened concerning me? Can you tell me what’s going on before we do anything else?”

“Something crazy is happening! Why did I find you naked when I opened the door?!”

Oh. Oops, I wasn’t considerate enough. I’d gotten hot during my workout, and I must have thrown off my clothes without realizing it somewhere down the line. I scanned around to find my clothes lying in a mess on the ground.

Charlotte’s face was beet red as she held out new garments to me. But no, now wasn’t the time for clothes, because I’d been waiting for Charlotte this whole time. “Charlotte! Please tell me about this big news you have about me! I’ll put on clothes after that!”

“Jeez! Fine, I get it! I’ll tell you, okay?! So, House Denning has sent us a letter, and... It says that they’re going to announce your engagement to Lady Alicia, and they want you to make a trip back home!”

When I stepped out of the boys’ dorm, I discovered that the entire school was in a frenzy. I was very used to being the center of attention by now, but this time, it was a little different.

“Look, that’s Lord Denning! Wow, the guy looks like he isn’t concerned at all!”

“He always puts on this indifferent air, as if he doesn’t care that much about girls, but sheesh, he’s still so far ahead of us in the race of romance! I guess we shouldn’t have expected anything less from a member of House Denning!”

The attention on me was a cut above all my previous experiences. Curious gazes pierced me from every direction, no matter where I turned. I could hear bits and pieces of their conversations, and from those, it was easy to piece together what they were gossiping about.

A younger student yelled, “Hey guys, have you heard the rumors?! Lady Alicia and Lord Denning are getting engaged!”

I’d heard the exact same news from Charlotte this morning. But there was no way I’d just believe it without a struggle, so I’d asked Charlotte to confirm with House Denning first.

Yet another shout pierced the air. “Lord Denning! How in the world did you manage to win over Lady Alicia, of all people?! Eek, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking!”

Just one glare is enough to send him running for the hills. What right does he have to ask me such a bizarre question, huh? That aside... Calling this stressful isn’t even close to describing what I’m feeling right now.

The student body chatted on, not caring for my feelings at all.

“Still, this is the news of the century! A member of House Denning is getting engaged to Cirquistan royalty! Lord Denning knew that info all this time, but managed to keep it under wraps. Wow, he’s an amazing actor!”

“Oh, you big moron. This is House Denning we’re talking about. That kind of thing’s a piece of cake for them. Look at how confident he is. Nothing we say’s gonna faze him!” A whistle. “He’s sooo cool!”

Uh, actually, I am very fazed by all the stuff you’re saying. If it were possible, I wanted to ditch classes and hide from reality in the safety of my bed. There’s one thing that’s bothering me, though... How did everyone learn about this so quickly? Where did they even get the news?! I only heard the news this morning from Charlotte. My intelligence network was practically nonexistent. I felt inadequate—I was a Denning, but I didn’t even have that much! It must be because I had way too few friends. Should I start another big operation to make friends with Charlotte’s help?

In spite of the hectic situation, my stomach still protested in hunger. Human bodies are such a wonder...

“Oi! Careful, Lord Denning looks grumpy!”

“I’m so jealous! This is Lady Alicia we’re talking about, you know. She’s the cutest girl at school! Denning isn’t worthy of her!”

Once I entered the dining hall, the sound of all the boisterous chatter died out instantly. But in exchange...

...a ridiculous number of eyes bored into me like spikes. No thanks to them, I couldn’t even remember what I’d eaten afterwards.

Everyone observed me from a distance, and nobody dared approach. At least, until one person plopped down next to me. This person must’ve either had a terrible morning or was just in a downright bad mood—they slammed their tray of food onto the table with a clank, their soup sloshing out noisily.

Hm? You wanna fight or something? I’ll gladly take you up on that. Determined, I lifted my head. There, I found...

“S-S-Slowe. Can we talk?”

...a girl. And a gorgeous beauty, at that. If she was just a little older, I’d have been willing to bet that countless suitors would be asking for her hand during her every waking moment—she gave me those kinds of vibes. Right now, this stunning beauty had a contorted expression on her intricate face as she looked at me.

Yes—the other subject of the day’s rumors had made her grand entrance. It was Alicia, the exchange student from Cirquista.

“W-W-Wow, what a coincidence, Alicia,” I stammered. “I actually wanted to talk to you a bit as well.”

Every single person inside the dining hall trained their eyes on us. But we were so solemn that we couldn’t spare a lick of attention to that fact.

“Alicia, is it true?”

“...What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb. I’m referring to our possible engagement.”

If I’d been mistaken, I was doing something pretty embarrassing right now. I mean, I was personally telling my former fiancée that we might get engaged again. If she scowled at me and said, “You’ve got the wrong idea, what were you even thinking?” I’d be so ashamed that I’d dig a hole and bury myself in it. I’d probably spend the next few days shying away from Alicia’s accusing gaze, lamenting how delusional I’d been.

People might even start rumors about how the Piggy Duke couldn’t tell reality from fantasy anymore. By the spirits, they might even start assuming that I was some cringey guy who indulged in such wild dreams on a daily basis.

But in the end... Asking her directly was the most sensible choice, so I chose to do that first.

“...”

“......”

“.........”

A long moment of silence ensued.

Alicia seemed to be taken by surprise as well. Her mouth was gaping open in shock.

“M-Miss Alicia...?” I prompted tentatively. Wait, is she gobsmacked too? But I guess...that’s to be expected.

Even after I’d become the earnest Piggy Duke, Alicia and I weren’t friends who talked to each other. We interacted more as a trio—one that included Shuya—but our original relationship had been rather disastrous. Alicia absolutely despised me. We’d kept our distance from each other for a long time, but now, we were confronting each other face-to-face.

I fell silent in a mix of relief and mortification. Okay, I can tell. So I was worried for nothing in the end. I heard a bunch of weird rumors that Alicia and I would get married, but all of that was my ears malfunctioning. Good.

Knowing Alicia, a few seconds later, she’d explode on me and yell, “How could I ever marry a guy like you?!” I raised my arms to shield my face and prepared to go on the defense.

But then, after a pause, I could hear Alicia’s appalled voice. “What the heck are you doing?”

“Well, I thought you might punch me. I mean, there’s no way we’d ever get engaged.”

Silence. She didn’t move so much as a muscle.

Hold on... This silence has dragged on for a suspiciously long amount of time. “A-Alicia? You there?”

“I-I’ll be blunt, okay? Right now, we are both stuck in a crisis. I think you’ve heard it from Miss Charlotte already, but yes. Our engagement is back on.”

Those were the last words I wanted to hear right now.

We couldn’t exactly keep talking in such a public space. Alicia and I barely had any breakfast before we sneaked over to a desolate corner of the campus, away from prying eyes.

Alicia began her explanation with ire clear on her face. It was obvious that she had many complaints about what she was about to say. I can’t blame her. She’s engaged to me, of all people.

“Slowe. You went overboard. You saved Kirsch and became a Dragon Slayer. In short, you became a suitable candidate for a political marriage to me.”

Alicia was a member of the royal family in Cirquista, one of the major countries of the south. And well, Cirquista, as a tradition, tended to view their royalty as pawns for marriages to strengthen political ties. Alicia was the right age, and I’d heard that whenever she returned home, her family would hound her constantly about her future plans. If I remembered correctly, in the anime, she’d gone grumbling to Shuya whenever she received a political marriage proposal.

“Suitable?” I raised an eyebrow. “Come on, doesn’t your country know that I’m a human with my own will and opinions?”

“I’m sure you also know the likes of my homeland very well.”

“Well... Yeah, I guess.”

She was right—Cirquista was like that. Through political marriages, they maintained their alliance with other countries. Beauty was something passed down impartially through the blood of the Cirquistan royal family, and none of them hesitated to drop exorbitant amounts of money to further their already ethereal looks. Alicia wasn’t an exception, and up close like this, she was nearly a goddess in human form. Many of the guys at Kirsch were left giddy after Alicia talked to them. Seeing them all flustered was a pretty frequent sight here. Honestly, I could understand it.

But. Charlotte was the only one for me, and I couldn’t just take this engagement lying down.

In a serious tone, I addressed her, “Alicia. Be honest with me. What is your opinion on all this?”

This was the second time we’d been engaged. Alicia was prideful, and I was sure that she’d rebel if someone forced such an absurd thing on her. There was an insurmountable rift between us—our engagement had dissolved in the past because I’d become the blackhearted Piggy Duke. I still remembered how heartbroken Alicia had looked when she had seen how hopeless I had become. So I was sure that she disliked me now, and perhaps, she even resented me.

“I think it’s ridiculous.”

Yeah, I thought as much.

Then, Alicia continued, “I’m not going to let my father decide my future for me again. I’m going to do everything I can to nip this thing in the bud.”

Alicia looked so dependable and promising when she said that.

She added, “Slowe, I know we’re facing a formidable opponent, but you need to do your best too.”

...But that promise didn’t last long, because a few days later, Alicia began shutting herself away in her room.

Chapter 1: The Hermit Cirquistan Princess

I immediately summoned Charlotte after school that day, after Alicia had returned to her dorm room.

“Charlotte,” I began gravely, “we need to have a strategy meeting.”

The topic of our debate was, of course, all the stuff going on about my shocking engagement with Alicia.

Faced with silence, I muttered worriedly, “Charlotte?”

For some reason, Charlotte didn’t seem to have her usual energy. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that she was dejected. She’d seemed relatively normal when I’d talked to her this morning despite the news, and not much time had passed since then. Has something happened since then? My engagement was an urgent matter, but Charlotte’s health was more important to me.

She replied in a weak voice, “I didn’t notice in the morning, but this time, there wasn’t just a letter for you, Master Slowe. There was actually a letter for me as well, for once, and...”

“Oink,” I snorted encouragingly.

“I... They told me to persuade you to say yes to the...to the engagement with Lady Alicia.”

I see. That makes sense. As the saying went, “he that would the daughter win, must with the mother first begin.” If House Denning wanted this sudden engagement to succeed, their first obvious point of attack would be Charlotte, who was with me twenty-four seven.

For a moment, neither of us knew what to say. Charlotte was hesitant, seeming to wrestle with her thoughts. It was likely because she was aware that she would have to go against the orders of House Denning.

“What...should I do?” she muttered helplessly.

My relationship with Charlotte was, naturally, a secret from House Denning. At the same time, in the back of my mind, I’d known that we couldn’t hide it forever. In hindsight, if I’d known this would happen, maybe I should’ve disclosed it to my family earlier.

But hey, in my defense I never expected that something like this—something that would fracture our relationship—would come around so soon!

“Ch-Charlotte. I actually had a conversation with Alicia this morning.”

“I know. It’s the hot topic of the school at the moment.”

“Huh? Wait, really?”

Did the students not have enough classes or anything? How much free time did they even have? Shouldn’t they put it into use and study instead of getting excited about this?

“Right now, there is way more attention on you than anything we’ve ever seen before, so the rumors spread pretty much instantly.”

The entire school seemed to be watching every little movement Alicia and I made like a hawk. That didn’t make me happy at all—in fact, it was rather concerning. I had to watch myself extra carefully whenever I was in public.

I hesitated. “So, um... Charlotte, what did they say in the letter addressed to you?”

The mission they gave to Charlotte was to hide the engagement from me, the party involved. If that wasn’t possible, she had to persuade me so that my engagement would proceed smoothly with Alicia.

Wow. House Denning sure put a lot of thought into this. Those guys probably had known that I’d definitely object to it. Their ideal plan had been to cut off all my paths of escape before officially telling me about my engagement. By then, everyone else involved would have already agreed, so if I were the lone protester, I’d cause trouble to everyone, and I’d crumple under the peer pressure. A smart plan, I had to admit. After all, if Alicia were willing, it’d be hard for me to refuse.

Unfortunately for them, the entire school already knew about our engagement, and I’d even heard it from Shuya last night. House Denning had gotten sloppy this time. And most important of all, Alicia would never agree. Was House Denning so confident that they’d be able to convince Alicia while I was kept in the dark? Did they have a special plan?

I went silent as I looked at Charlotte. Charlotte was indebted to House Denning. They’d taken her under their wing after she fled from Huzak, and she’d been under their care ever since. To her, it was likely agonizing to even think of disobeying their orders. She looked very distressed.

“I’m fine, I understand. In the end, there’s too big of a difference in status between us...” she whispered in a small voice.

“Hold up. What in the world are you saying? If we’re talking about status, I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you at all...!”

She was a princess, someone who would’ve stood at the top of the hierarchy in an aristocracy, if not for the past events. It was absurd for someone of her standing to be my retainer to begin with.

I continued, “You don’t have to blame yourself at all for accidentally showing the letter to me too early. I mean, I actually knew of my engagement with Alicia before you told me!”

Because Shuya told me first, I thought bitterly. If I had to hear it from someone, why couldn’t it have been Alicia, at least? But thanks to him, Charlotte technically didn’t disobey House Denning. So, Shuya, good job there.

I cleared my throat. “First things first, I’d like to declare my position on all this. No matter what anyone says, I like you. Even if it’s the end of the world, my feelings towards you will never waver.” Okay, I pulled that off smoothly. I was direct about my true feelings. “So there’s nothing you have to w-worry abouink!”

I messed up. I messed up moments after I had celebrated. Why do I keep doing this?! Mortified, I could feel my cheeks burning up. I wanted to be cool to the end when it was a key moment, but... It never goes well for me.

We stared at each other in silence. A blush creeped up Charlotte’s face, and despite how pathetic I’d been, she gave me a small nod.

Back to the topic of our emergency: my engagement with Alicia. This morning, I’d asked about Alicia’s opinion, and she’d reacted exactly as I’d predicted. In short, we both thought it was out of the question. Neither of us wanted a thing to do with this engagement, so I found it really odd that our families were marching on without us. That was what marriages for political alliances were like, I guess.

At Kirsch, Alicia and I were considered the most influential people on campus, but even we couldn’t do a thing to stand up against our families—the entities with real political influence. Tragic, but unfortunately, that was how reality worked.

Nervously, Charlotte spoke up. “So, Master Slowe, I spent quite some time trying to come up with ideas, but I couldn’t come up with any good ones... What should we do?”

I, actually, had a brilliant idea. I was a genius today. “Let’s run away from this country!” I declared boldly.

Yes, that was perfect. I could just throw away the “Denning” part of my name! I’d be reduced to a mere Mister Slowe, no longer Lord Denning, and surely even Cirquista would be reluctant to do something outrageous like making Princess Alicia marry a mere commoner.

“You make it sound easy, Master Slowe, but... Do we even have anywhere to go?”

“Don’t you worry, I’ve researched for a long time in case this day ever arrived!” I announced triumphantly.

Snorting to myself, I whipped out a book from underneath my bed. As the blackhearted Piggy Duke, I actually had considered places I could escape to with Charlotte. The book I retrieved was a catalog of places we could take refuge in. Cramped rows lined up on the pages, creating a list of areas that ranged from minor countries in the south to places in the Dustour Empire. I’d even marked the more ideal locations with big, red circles. One could tell how much thought I’d put into plans to run away with Charlotte in case I ever had to resort to it.

“Master Slowe... How much research did you even put into this?” Charlotte sounded a little appalled.

“Well, as they say, better safe than sorry.”

But... I knew that I was only running away from reality. Charlotte would never choose to run away, and she could never throw away her ties with House Denning. She felt deeply grateful towards House Denning, even considering dedicating her entire life to give back to my family. Eloping with me, who was much talked about in House Denning...she’d never choose that sort of future.

But hey, surely you wouldn’t blame me for wanting to look away from reality for a little while, right?

Many of my brothers, also of House Denning, were actually the right age to marry. But none of them had even a sliver of interest in their own marriage because they were a bunch of battle junkies who’d pick a fight over a girl any day. That was probably why I’d ended up drawing the short straw in the marriage department, since I wasn’t at our family home right now and also happened to have the weakest voice inside my family.

“L-Lord Denning, you don’t seem to be eating much... Did something happen?” Tina sounded worried.

I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. I wanted to throw a tantrum, but somehow, I managed to suppress these urges. Calm down, Slowe.

I knew the evil scheme of the higher-ups in House Denning. But I wasn’t going to let them push me around. In case all of you forgot, I’m not a Goody Two-shoes who’d listen to orders obediently. Actually, that was probably why they’d given such orders to Charlotte—so that they could make me do their bidding. Unfortunately for them, Charlotte was on my side.

“I can’t believe this... Lord Denning isn’t eating...!”

“Please keep it down, Miss Tina. Lord Slowe has a rather tricky matter on his hands.” Ever the voice of reason, that Valjean.

I’d considered asking Claude for a report on the current state of affairs, but that guy had disappeared from the medical building before I’d realized he’d gone. Apparently, there had suddenly been urgent business he had to attend to, and he’d left the medical building in a rush before heading back to Denning lands.

That guy... I’m willing to bet that he made a run for it because he was scared that I’d drag him into a mess after I heard about the engagement. Claude always had such tendencies, ugh... He probably didn’t want to be the rope in a tug-of-war between me and House Denning.

“Ah... Lord Valjean! Are you possibly, well, referring to what I think you’re referring to? You know, the rumors that Lord Denning and Lady Alicia are getting engaged?”

“Yes. I am.”

At any rate, it was impossible for me to agree to a marriage with Alicia, especially one that popped out of nowhere. On House Denning’s front, well, it’d work out somehow. As a last resort, I was even willing to make them listen with my fists and wand, if need be. The more problematic of the two houses was Cirquista, because apparently, Alicia’s home country had been the one that had started it all.

“It’s meant to be a happy event, but... He’s frowning about it. Being a noble sure is tough...”

“Yeah, it is pretty tough. So let’s give Lord Slowe some space for now.”

Charlotte had been worried that if I did anything reckless, there’d be impulsive people who’d try to matchmake Alicia with someone crazy again, and I was inclined to agree. Then again, there was the possibility that in Cirquista’s calculations, Alicia would agree to it because we were somewhat familiar with each other, which was why they’d chosen to push forward with it.

I snapped out of it. “Ah, hey, hold up, Valjean. Don’t take away my dinner without asking me first. I’ll eat it, okay? I’ll eat up properly...”

When night fell, Alicia visited my room. Charlotte had been the only girl who’d ever come to my room before. Well, other than Suz, but Suz was technically a djinn, so she didn’t count. Considering the current state of Kirsch, people would make a big fuss if Alicia came to my room either way, even for a short visit... But she looks like she couldn’t care less. Alicia had the heart of a lion, unlike me.

She didn’t beat around the bush—the first thing that came out of her mouth was the reason why they’d reinstated my engagement to Alicia, a princess of Cirquista.

“They want to strengthen the ties between Cirquista and Daryth.”

I paused. “You mean that they chose us for that?”

Hey, come on. That’s absurd. How could we be noteworthy enough to be used as pawns to reinforce the relations between two nations? I supposed that countless countries had strengthened their ties through marriage alliances between children hailing from influential families through the ages. But in our case... I had my doubts that we would fit the bill.

“You haven’t realized yet, Slowe? Right now, rumors about the return of the Prodigy of Wind are spreading far and wide, and not a few countries are scrambling for a way to approach you, you know.”

I gaped. “For real?”

“I think other people have probably offered you their hands in marriage as well, not just me. That being said, the countries making these offers likely aren’t as powerful as Cirquista... After all, the bigger the country, the more cautious they are about their every move. Cirquista only got the jump on this because of our previous engagement and because we’re fellow students here at Kirsch. I don’t really want to describe it this way, but, well... I’m guessing that according to their calculations, we might get back together easily or something.” Alicia sighed. “What a terrible country I was born in.”

Cirquistan royalty did customarily marry off their sons and daughters to other countries for political status. Alicia was probably right—that was why they’d targeted me. I’d failed to intimidate them with my international infamy, and they had offered up their princess on a platter. That was likely proof of how much they expected of me and my abilities.

Jeez... As always, Alicia’s father has an abnormally sharp intuition about such matters... Cirquista was very generous about investing in would-be heroes who had bright futures ahead of them.

But I never expected matters about my marriage partner to become such a big deal that so many other countries would get involved. I mean, this is me we’re talking about!

I couldn’t find the words to reply, so Alicia plowed on. “Slowe,” she said after a moment. “Your blindness to your reputation is your shortcoming.”

Honestly, I couldn’t come up with any rebuttals to that.

●

That night, I had a crazy dream. A crazy dream that I married Alicia.

Charlotte was still my retainer, looking after me on a daily basis. But she’d look at me with hurt in her eyes and aim biting remarks at me every single day. “So you were lying to me back then... How could you, Master Slowe?! I trusted you!”

Halfway through the proceedings, I realized it was a dream, but I just couldn’t wake up. Thanks to that, Charlotte showered me with a hail of scathing comments.

Our hearts had once been connected by our mutual love, and even during the shocking engagement, I’d gallantly told her that she was the only one for me. But in the end, I’d ended up marrying Alicia.

And though I recognized that this was only my imagination running amok, Charlotte’s words still pierced my heart like knives.

“Oh, you... Was Charlotte mad at you again? You poor thing.”

Wait, what? Why is Alicia in my bedroom? But it felt like a perfectly normal occurrence. No. I get it. This is a dream, so it’s not my fault... It’s a dream, it’s just a dream, so... Wait, this is