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Chapter 10
I blinked several times in confusion before frowning.
“You want to marry me?”
“If possible.”
At his immediate, unwavering answer, I muttered as if giving up.
“You do know I really proposed because of your money, right?”
It was quiet, but the Grand Duke didn’t miss a word and looked straight at me.
“Is that a problem?”
Where had the shy little white kitten gone? His voice suddenly dropped low enough that I didn’t even feel like answering.
“Countless nobles marry off their daughters without even asking their opinion, all for the family’s profit. They enter loveless marriages for the sake of preserving their house, then keep lovers on the side afterward. If your reason is just money, isn’t that still a pretty profitable arrangement? What’s wrong with using marriage as a means to obtain what you need?”
I could only blink at his words.
Right. I’d forgotten, but this was normal for nobles. Daisy’s parents were the rare case who actually fell in love after marriage, and in this game world balanced ambiguously between fantasy and medieval Europe, loveless marriages were considered ordinary.
“When I was young, my wish was simply to have a friend for even one day. Every night, I went to sleep hoping a fairy from a storybook might visit me while I slept.”
“……”
“I never even dared dream about marriage… and now you say it’s only for money. I’d stake everything I have just to keep you by my side. If there’s something you want, I’ll give you anything.”
I listened quietly, and perhaps he hadn’t expected an answer in the first place, because Solard simply continued speaking in a low voice.
“You might not care who it is, but for me… it has to be you.”
A bitter smile formed at the corner of his lips.
Unable to overcome the guilt that washed over me at the sight, I buried my face in my hands.
From somewhere in the back of my mind, an unidentified voice rang out.
Ah, Player Solard! A perfect strike at the opening! Goal! It’s a goaaal!
I wanted to scream at the sportscaster-like voice of my conscience to shut up already.
I know I’m acting like complete trash right now, so please be quiet, you stupid conscience.
This is why being half-hearted is bad. If you don’t want your conscience bothering you, either live kindly or throw your conscience away properly. Pick one!
I let out a long, silent sigh with my face still buried in my hands.
Then, while I was busy having a moment of self-reflection, Solard delivered the finishing blow.
“Of course, that’s only how I feel. If you don’t want this, I can’t force you, so think about it comfortably—”
“Ah, I’ll do it! I will!”
Without realizing it, I cut him off and shouted.
I’m the one who brought this up to test the waters in the first place, but if you say it like that, then I become the confirmed trash here! How am I supposed to reject you after that?!
In the end, clutching my head, I shouted again.
“Let’s get married!”
The moment the words left my mouth, the carriage door flew open.
Cool air rushed into the cramped space, and it felt like my head cleared a little.
“You promised, miss! No taking it back!”
As I sat there fuming, the butler’s eyes sparkled brightly.
Honestly, I’d noticed it earlier when he was bickering with Daisy, but… if I backed out now, this old man looked fully capable of staging a one-man protest in front of Count Wintellia’s estate.
The image of the butler rolling around dramatically on the ground appeared vividly in my mind, and I pressed a hand to my forehead in despair.
I was the one who started all this, so why did I feel wronged?
I don’t even know anymore. You people figure it out yourselves…
“I won’t take it back…”
“Thank you, miss! I believed in you! Then how would you like to arrange the schedule? If there’s nothing you particularly need, you could simply come with us right now.”
The butler clasped his hands together, grinning with the sly smile of a scheming court official. I could only stare at him blankly.
“Um, I thought you came here because of some important matter…”
There wasn’t long left until that international friendship exchange event or whatever it was called. I still vividly remembered Daisy dragging me around a few weeks ago to shop for dresses for it.
“It’s fine. What importance could something like that possibly have? Right now, there’s nothing more important than miss— mmph! Mmph!”
Gillein hurriedly grabbed the butler from behind and covered his mouth, desperately trying to stop him from saying more.
The way he jerked his head toward the outside seemed to mean, Run while you still can.
What in the world was this situation?
Could we really do this? Were we actually getting married? Didn’t I decide this way too impulsively?
Wasn’t I the one just days ago talking about how only the heroine should strategically blah blah…? How did this happen? Was this really getting settled so easily?
“Haah… Let me organize my thoughts first. Could you come back in a few days? It’s my first time getting married too, so I should probably look into some things… Um, hello? Can you hear me?”
“…Huh?”
At some point, Solard had—unsurprisingly—lost his soul again.
Where had the man who’d just spoken so firmly about transactions and how it had to be me gone?
I snorted and hopped out of the carriage.
“At least you’re not fainting today. See you next time, Your Grace.”
“Uh, y-yeah. Let’s… meet again.”
I grinned a little at the Grand Duke struggling just to speak, then hurried off before the butler could catch me.
Sigh… what was I supposed to tell Daisy?
Lost in thought after thought, I trudged along.
When I finally reached Daisy’s room and carefully opened the door, I saw a lump of blankets rolled up on the bed.
“Daisy.”
No answer came, so I walked closer and gently pulled the blanket down.
“Daisy?”
“I thought… I was the only one for Seliiie…”
“Excuse me, Miss Daisy? Could you show me your face?”
“How could you… not tell me anything?!”
Curled up like a hedgehog inside the blanket, Daisy’s tear-filled face was flushed bright red.
No, but how was she still this adorable in a situation like this? Seriously, somebody patch this balance issue. Long live the heroine.
I stroked Daisy’s damp cheeks and started comforting her.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you. Things got complicated, and I only just found out too. You’re my best friend—there’s no way I’d intentionally hide something like this from you.”
“Hing! Hing!!”
“Oh dear, you need to speak properly like a grown lady, miss.”
“It’s hing!”
Sniffling, Daisy suddenly sprang up and clung to my arm.
“Sellliii.”
“Yeah, yeah. So here’s what happened.”
I sat down on the soft bed. Maybe her sulking mood had eased a little, because even though she still pouted, she looked at me while I patted her head and started explaining.
“Have you heard the rumor about the cursed Grand Duke of the North?”
Her obviously displeased face nodded slowly.
“The curse on him doesn’t affect me.”
“…How?”
“Probably because my soul isn’t originally from this world. Which means… it’s probably the same for you.”
Daisy, who had been sniffling, instantly widened her eyes like a startled rabbit.
“That person… has no friends because of the curse?”
“So you became his friend because you felt bad for him?”
“No. I heard he’s rich, so I was planning to milk him for money.”
“…What?”
After hearing my last sentence, Daisy even dug at her ear like she suspected she’d misheard me.
“Selly, was your dream actually to become a thug instead of a rich unemployed person?”
“Oops, you caught me.”
I answered playfully with the same sly grin as a certain someone hopeless at romance, and finally Daisy stopped crying.
Though I joked about it, I genuinely meant it. I’d never felt more like a scumbag in my life.
Yep, Min Selly has no conscience~
“He’s pitiful. He has no friends because of the curse, and apparently he can’t even get married.”
And… originally, he was supposed to be one of your romance targets too.
I swallowed the words I couldn’t say aloud and smiled bitterly.
“You’ve got lots of people who love you, Daisy. So how about letting me have just one person who’s never been loved in his entire life?”
“Well…”
Her deeply furrowed brow showed she clearly didn’t like that answer.
My reasoning sounded convincing enough, and Solard certainly was pitiful, but that didn’t make it entirely right.
Who could I possibly tell about Korea or reincarnation? Her parents? Lennox?
Ever since she’d fallen into this world, Daisy said she’d always felt strangely hollow inside. That parents and boyfriends were ultimately still outsiders, and that I was the only one who truly understood her.
That was probably why she’d become so attached to me. I knew that too.
Daisy lowered her head gloomily.
“But earlier, you said you weren’t getting married.”
Her resigned tone made it clear she’d finally accepted it. That this time, unlike all the times I’d talked about “leaving someday,” I had truly made up my mind.
“I kind of already agreed to it.”
“Why do you talk about marriage like you’re asking someone what they want for lunch tomorrow?”
“Okay, then let’s have lunch together tomorrow.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
When I deliberately answered in a light teasing tone, Daisy finally gave up and lightly smacked my arm.
I stretched her cheeks out playfully.
“You’re getting married too, you know.”
“That’s different! The North is super far away, and there aren’t even airplanes here! We won’t get to see each other often!”
“This is what they call double standards, right?”
Your own romance is a romance, but my marriage is some kind of affair?
I pinched the mouth making those ridiculous complaints before patting her head again.
“I’ll visit sometimes.”
“If you don’t come often, I’m kidnapping you.”
That sounded slightly threatening, but…
After a few more jokes, we wrapped up the conversation.
Still, I felt uneasy.
Was this really okay? Was this actually fine? Even beans roasted over lightning wouldn’t burn this quickly… Didn’t we turn up the heat way too high? Could marriage really be decided this casually, like picking tomorrow’s lunch menu…?
Buried in thoughts with no answers, I headed back to the Count.
Knock knock.
I tapped on the door and peeked my head through the half-open gap, only to meet Madam’s eyes. At some point, she had joined the Count in the study.
“Count, Madam?”
“Selly, you’re here?”
“Y-yes…”
As I awkwardly stepped inside, Madam welcomed me with a radiant smile.
Something about that carefully composed expression made me uneasy.
Madam… I’m pretty sure you just clenched your fist really hard. That’s my imagination, right? Please tell me it’s my imagination.
