What did this kid just say? Marry? Bury? Carry? Ah — parry. “I would like to parry with Mister Mochizuki Touya here.” Yeah, makes no sense.
”…Sorry, could you say that one more time, Yumina?”
“As I said — I would like to marry Mister Mochizuki Touya. Father.”
“My, my.”
At the king’s words, Princess Yumina repeated it again. Queen Yuelle, seated next to him, was staring at her daughter with eyes wide.
The Duke seemed startled too — his gaze ping-ponged between brother and niece.
“What’s the reason?”
“Yes. Saving you, Father, is part of it… but Lord Touya brings a smile to those around him. Uncle Alfred, Lady Charlotte — he’s making everyone happy. His character is most appealing as well. I want to walk through life with this person. …It is the first time I have felt that way.”
”…I see. If that’s how you feel, I won’t oppose it. Be happy.”
“Father!”
“H-hold on a seeeecond!”
I raised a hand and chopped through the parent-child exchange. If I didn’t break in here, this was going to spiral — or rather, it had already spiraled.
“Excuse me, but you can’t just push the conversation forward without asking me!?”
“Oh — sorry. Lord Touya, with that said, please look after my daughter.”
“No no no no no no! That’s wrong! Your Majesty, you’re wrong!”
I’d just you’d a king, but I wasn’t in a position to care. My life was on the line.
“Even if she’s a princess of the realm, marrying her off to some nobody — is that all right!? I might be a terrible person!?”
“On that count there’s no doubt. The fact that Yumina has acknowledged you means at minimum you are not a bad person. The girl can read a person’s quality.”
Huh? “Quality”? What did that mean?
“Yumina has the Magic Eye. She can see through to a person’s nature. It’s similar to instinct, but in Yumina’s case, she’s never been wrong.”
The Duke explained. Simply put — she could instinctively tell good people from bad? So those heterochromatic eyes had that kind of power. Well — I could spot a Count Balsa as a bad guy too, but if her ability was real, she’d never get tricked by a bad man.
Being told I’m a good person by a princess like that didn’t feel bad, sure. But that was a separate matter from this.
”…How old is Princess Yumina, exactly?”
“Twelve.”
“Marriage and so on isn’t a bit too soon…!”
“No — for the royal house, most are betrothed and have decided their partner by fifteen. I myself was fourteen when I became engaged to my wife.”
Urgh. Other-world for you. I was pulling a sour-medicine face when my coat sleeve was tugged tight.
“Lord Touya… do you dislike me…?”
Yumina-hime gazed at me with sad eyes. Hey — that’s a foul. Cheating.
“Aah… not — dislike, exactly…”
“Then there’s no problem at all!”
Yumina turned a smile on. Cute. — wait, no!
What was I supposed to do? True, I didn’t dislike this kid, and I didn’t have anyone I was into. Her parents endorsed it; livelihood wouldn’t be an issue. …Hang on. Reasons to refuse — none?
No. Marriage is the grave of life — my older cousin said so.
He’d had a shotgun marriage; three years in, he was suddenly handed divorce papers. Reason unknown. Then he was promptly thrown out of the house he’d over-stretched on a loan to buy because his wife wanted it. After that, for the kid living far away, he kept paying high child support — but the ex-wife reportedly spent most of that money on herself, doing whatever she pleased. At New Year’s family gatherings, my cousin would have drinks poured for him while everyone consoled him.
That tired face of my cousin floated up in my mind right then.
All right — I’m staying a bachelor for life. Not nobility, but.
”…In my country, men can’t marry until eighteen, women until sixteen. And I don’t know anything about the princess. I can’t really think about marriage yet.”
“How old are you, Touya-san?”
“Fifteen. Nearly sixteen, though.”
I answered Queen Yuelle’s question. My birthday was about two months off, I thought — though whether the dates lined up with the world I’d come from, I wasn’t sure.
“In that case, the wedding is two years away. Plenty of time for you to come to know Yumina. For now, an engagement, and Touya-san can have time to think.”
No no no — even in two years, Yumina-hime is fourteen! This Queen’s also wrong!
“Lord Touya.”
“Y-yaes!?”
A weird sound came out of me at the king’s address. Couldn’t be helped, given the situation — I could feel my own panic.
“In two years, get to know Yumina, and then — if at that point marriage still isn’t in the cards, give it up. Let’s start there. How’s that?”
“Aah… well, in that case…”
Several times better than instant marriage. And after a while the heat might cool and her eyes might go to some other guy. Further, if she got a look at reality and gave up the marriage idea, perfect. No point arguing further.
I gave in and accepted what they were proposing.
“How wonderful, Yumina. In these two years, capture Touya-san’s heart. If you can’t, you’ll have to accept spending your life in a convent.”
“Yes! Mother!”
“H-HOLD ON! What is THAT!?”
I’d jumped the gun. Heavy! Way too heavy! It really did feel like my escape routes were being walled off one by one.
And why does dumping this girl mean she’d never marry? Just find a better guy, surely!
“I’m in your care from here, Lord Touya.”
The princess’s smile, radiant. To which I could only manage a dry laugh. My cousin’s voice in my head: don’t end up like me…
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“What are you doing, you?”
“I don’t even know what’s happening to me anymore…”
I’d returned to Silver Moon, and as soon as I told the others the chain of events, Elze gave me a thoroughly fed-up look.
“Lord Touya is to be married, indeed…”
“Surprising, isn’t it…”
Yae and Linze, both with exasperated expressions, turned their gazes to the girl clinging to my left arm.
That’s right. She’d come along. The princess of this country. Yumina Erunea Belfast.
“Yumina Erunea Belfast. I am in your care, all of you.”
The princess bowed politely before everyone. Her can’t-help-but-be-happy smile weighed on my chest.
“So? Why’s the princess here?”
“At my father’s order, I am to live with Lord Touya. They call it bride-training. I will be quite worldly-ignorant and a bother, but please do look after me.”
That’s right. After all that, I got saddled with the princess. What had that king been thinking. Apparently to know your partner well, being close is most important, or something along those lines. At least put a guard on her — wasn’t he worried about his daughter? Hopefully there wasn’t a guard ninja in the ceiling rafters or anything.
Just as I had that thought, a clatter came from the rafters above. …That was a rat. Right?
“Live together, here? You’re a princess — it’ll be okay, will it… be okay, will it?”
Elze had a point. Same here. Someone who’d lived surrounded by a vast staff of servants — to suddenly do everything herself? Hard to picture.
Honestly, part of me hoped she’d find it tough and run back home.
“Please, do drop the polite speech, Elze-san. I’d like to start with what I can do, and help Lord Touya. I’ll do my best not to be a hindrance!”
She made small fists in front of her chest, an all-out I’ll-give-it-my-best pose. Cute. — no.
”…Specifically?”
Linze raised a question.
“First, I would like to register at the guild like everyone, and start taking on jobs.”
""""Eh!?""""
Our voices harmonized. Register at the guild? She meant to become an adventurer!?
“Wait — Princess? Taking guild jobs, do you understand what that means!? There’s a lot of dangerous—”
“I do understand. And please drop the Princess. Call me Yumina, Husband.”
“Drop the Husband!”
“Then, Yumina.”
The princess — call her Yumina — smiled sweetly. Mngh. Tougher than she looked, this kid.
We got Husband dropped, and Lord Touya also dropped. Settled on Yumina and Touya-san.
“Lady Charlotte tutored me in magic, and I’ve trained in archery. I’m reasonably strong, I think.”
“Bow and magic… aye, ranged attacks are most welcome, indeed. What is the magic affinity?”
“Wind, earth, and dark. I can only summon three kinds of beasts so far, though.”
Wind, earth, dark. Exactly the elements Linze couldn’t use. Her actual ability was still an unknown, though.
“Mm — what do we do?”
Elze turned to Linze and Yae and folded her arms. What do we do — meaning, do we let this girl into the party, basically.
”…For now, just to gauge it… how about taking a job and seeing?”
“I see. To check the strength of her arm first, indeed?”
“Yeah, I guess. Worst case, Touya can protect her if it gets dangerous. Settled, then.”
A lot I could’ve said to that, but it’d just open more cans of worms — staying quiet. Or rather, the room’s vibe was making it feel like I had no vote anyway.
It was settled, then: tomorrow we’d go to the guild and register Yumina.
After that, Mika-san found a room for her (she tried the same room as Touya is fine, I refused absolutely), we all had dinner together, and went to bed to prepare for the next day.
Back in my room, finally alone, I collapsed onto the bed. Tired… insanely tired.
Just as I wanted to sink into mud-deep sleep, a long-absent ringtone reached my ear. Suppé’s Light Cavalry. The bouncy melody was vaguely irritating in my current state.
I pulled the smartphone from my pocket: Incoming: God-sama.
”…Hello.”
“Oh, it’s been a while. Touya-kun, congratulations on the engagement.”
”…How do you know that. …Well — God knowing wouldn’t be strange, I suppose…?”
“Hahaha. By chance. I checked in on you for the first time in a while, and what a thing’s happening.”
God’s amused voice came through.
“It’s not amusing… I can’t think of marriage at this age.”
“She’s a fine girl. Are you not satisfied?”
“No — Yumina is cute, and she’ll grow into a real beauty, I can tell. Honest personality, likable. But that’s separate from this.”
“You’re rigid, fellow. In your world over there, polygamy’s normal — if there’s a girl you like, just keep adding her to the bridelist.”
That so? The Duke and the King both had only one wife, so I’d just assumed… no no, that wasn’t the issue. I had no harem ambition.
“Anyway, everyone’s looking forward to seeing what you do, so do your best.”
“Selfish of you… hm? Everyone — what?”
“The gods of this world. I showed you to them, and they all seemed quite interested. Half for their own amusement, no doubt.”
Eh? What did that mean? God wasn’t just one person?
“Gods? You mean there are others besides you?”
“There are. I am the highest-tier, the world god, but there are also lesser gods — god of art, god of love, god of swords, god of agriculture, all sorts. The Love God in particular was very interested.”
Don’t stick your nose into people’s love affairs, Love God.
“For your wedding, the lot of us were planning to attend as the relatives’ side, all in good cheer. Ah — I’ll be playing your grandfather.”
“Excuse me—”
Were gods just bored? The groom’s-side attendees all gods — what did that even mean. True, I had no relatives in this world.
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t intervene once you sent me off?”
“More precisely — as the world god, I can’t do much. If we descend as humans, it’s no problem.”
Plenty of problem there too, I felt — but pressing the point seemed like the losing move. Even the gods of myth dropped down to earth willy-nilly, after all.
“Anyway, I’m rooting for you. Live a life you’ll think well of. I want you to be happy. Until next time.”
“Aah…”
I gave a vague reply and ended the call. A life you’ll think well of, huh.
Engagement at twelve… how did that sit. If I thought senior in high school, sixth grader, the age gap felt enormous, but four-year difference — not that big, maybe? My parents were six years apart. Celebrities had thirty-year-gap marriages too.
Honestly, I’d never even dated a girl, so marriage didn’t really click anyway.
…This makes no sense. I’m just gonna sleep.