I Didn’t Save You To Get Proposed To - Chapter 26

Irene began to pour out words like a rapid fire.

[The capital is upside down. Prince Ixion has proposed marriage to you. So, you’re on your way to the capital, right?]

“…Huh?”

[The well-known minstrel has already written a song. The title is “I’ve decided to dance with the Prince.” If you want, I can sing you a wedding song. I’ve memorized all of the lyrics]

For a brief moment, my mind went blank.

[I’m not sure how much I jumped when I heard the Prince was going down to see the Marquis of Evgeny himself. This is the story that everyone tells when they get together. Elsia, your love has come true. The Imperial family was surprised, and even—]

“Wait, wait!” I almost cried out, but suddenly Irene’s face in the mirror disappeared.

「Disconnecting.」

“Niel!” I cried out, shaking the mirror with my tears, “Hey, how do I get it back? We’re no longer connected!”

“Are you finished? I told you.” Without looking back, Niel, who was fiddling with the other machine, said, “The connection isn’t very long. I’m going to need a month to recharge.”

It was at that point that I realized why this ground-breaking product had not been commercialized. I sighed and held my forehead. Now that this has happened, I’m thinking I’ll never go up to the capital again.

‘I will remain quietly under the Marquis until everything is forgotten,’  I can imagine how irritated the noisy capital society would have been. Even though I miss Ridan and Irene, I promised myself that I would not go near the capital for the time being.

*******

In my spare time after returning to the Marquis, I began to learn divine magic from Niel.

‘Wow, I’m going to volunteer while crying and eating mustard seed.’

(t/n : ‘cry while eating mustard seed’  is used when someone is forced to do something he or she would rather not do, but pretends to enjoy it.)

If there was a disadvantage in the world, I thought it was mine. In a life where my only goal was to retire and play, I couldn’t be interested in volunteer work.

“Lady, you’re incredible.” Sera, impressed by my learning of divine magic, said as the carriage rested for a while, “A life of service in the countryside instead of the splendid and beautiful life of the capital.”

“Ahaha—” I smiled clumsily because I didn’t know what to say.

Dalton would also lend a hand, as if impressed.

“In fact, there was a lot of talk going on in the Marquis. The Madam unexpectedly announced that she would adopt the Princess of the Enemy.”

“I can understand that.”

“Because the succession is now in stake, I assumed that if she adopted an adopted daughter or child, it would be a cousin or first cousin.” Of course, he would not have anticipated bringing in a ruined princess.

“Besides, the rumors that Artise’s conquest this time was due to black magic have turned around—.” Artise was a depressing country simply by virtue of its existence for the people of the Empire. There’s the only preserved ancient temple, but there’s always a rumor that there’s also a demon altar there.

Dalton turned around, but I was expecting a lot of rumors anyway. Niel, who is involved in the “unstable succession” of the Marquis, shrugged.

“Heim will come to his senses one day. Don’t worry.”

“Do you really think so?”

“No, it was just for my own comfort.” What a meaningless consolation. Dalton sighed and turned to face me, completely ignoring Niel.

“However, the Young Lady is learning divine magic to aid in the subjugation of the Marquis’ monster—. I was moved, and I decided to acknowledge Madam’s incredible eyes. Clearly, if you are a true leader, you must be in the most vulnerable and dangerous situations.”

I reflected on the Marchioness’s misfortune; one of the children became an inhumanity wizard, the other son was a middle schooler who was sick here and there and even had extreme phobias, and I, as an adopted daughter, turned into a monster.

‘Evgeny might get cut off in this one.’

It wasn’t for nothing that Marquis Evgeny was losing power in the capital. A family without a future will eventually collapse over time. Seeing this concern, I realized I had grown quite attached to Marquis Evgeny in a short period of time.

I think it’s because it’s the first place in this world where I’ve ever felt at ‘home.’

*******

“You may return to the Marquis, Sera.” I said with a smile during the break. “The same goes for Dalton. I’ll stay between the knights and won’t need an escort.”

“What exactly do you mean, Lady?” Sera jumped, but I just shook my head.

“In any case, it’s an evil monster. Sera, you’ve only lived in the Palace since you were a child, so you’ve never seen a monster, right?”

“That’s correct, but—”

“You must be terrified. It’s terrible.”

“That’s true but— I can’t imagine being away from you, Lady.”

I was aware of how much ordinary people hated the monsters. Of course, it was going to be terrifying. I, too, didn’t want to run into it. Dalton was also cautious when he went for a walk with me at Marquis, even though he was far from the area where the monsters were discovered.

Niel, who was listening to the story at the time, smiled innocently and said. “What makes the monsters so terrifying?”

Sera replied, a tear in her eye. “You’re a wizard; you might be okay because a monster dies if you lift one finger, but how frightening a monster is to ordinary people. Furthermore, it’s the Devil’s Children, which is terrifying.”

“Is that bad?”

“Just thinking about it makes me sick. It’s awful.”

“Is it because of their physical appearance? After all, small and cute things do not exist in the human world—”

“Are there any small cute monsters?”

“I believe I’ve seen research indicating a high level of arrogance. Everything that enters the human world is big, disgusting, and harmful.”

“Ugh, I hate it.” Sera trembled, as if she didn’t want to say anything else. It was a typical public reaction. So, subjugation of monsters was an important part of Ixion, and it was also one of the reasons why Ixion was so popular among the people of the Empire.

And I could see Niel, who doesn’t understand Sera’s reaction at all, being unconcerned about public opinion.

‘You can only live a womanizer’s life if you lack empathy. Personality can be dirty when combined with social intelligence.’

I nodded to myself, realizing once more Niel’s inconsistent character.

‘So Ixion told me that the person who will be with me until the end, rather than Niel, is himself. You are right.’

Dalton patted himself on the back and said firmly. “I’ll follow.”

“You’re afraid of the monster, Dalton.”

“I’m not scared of the monster; I’m scared of death.” Dalton responded immediately. “And as frightening as my death is your death. The guard’s death represents the guard’s failure.”

Niel leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on Dalton. “Are you afraid of death?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Not everyone possesses the wizard’s power.” Dalton responded in steps, as if speaking to a child. “I’m so afraid that I want to avoid it in any way possible. Isn’t it true that tyrants in a riot to avoid death appear in a variety of stories? Young Master Heim keeps saying he’s going to die and make a big deal about it.”

“He’s always saying stupid things.” Niel says.

“Whether it’s nonsense or not, fear of death is what drives people insane.”

“Uhm, really?” Niel looked at me blankly after asking Sera and Dalton questions.

“What are you up to?” Dalton was furious as he stood in front of me.

“Why?”

“Why are you giving Lady that cheesy look?”

“What exactly do you mean!”

“Don’t look at her any longer than necessary. There will be no more tragedies for Evgeny.”

Niel sighed, frustrated.

‘Well, you got what you deserved.’

I ate a snack with Sera while thinking indifferently.

******

On his way to Marquis, Niel was constantly teaching Elsia. Elsia, as Rebecca mentioned, accepted divine magic quite well and quickly grew used to it. Yoga, on the other hand, was prohibited because Niel found it difficult to control the flow of mana.

There are only a few wizards on the continent, and wizards are very individualistic, so they didn’t have to live by using divine magic to help someone.

However, divine healing magic was unable to significantly heal anyone. It was on par with ordinary doctors in terms of medical level. Nonetheless, it was clear that it would be extremely useful in difficult areas such as the Subjugation of Monster Site.

“You are free to stop practicing. There’s no one to practice with anyway.” Niel said, glancing at Elsia, who was sitting across from her and working hard on her practice. Dalton was so fussy that the only time the two of them spoke was in the carriage.

Her expression was serious, her lips tightly closed as if she was concentrating. He was staring quietly; she was definitely a beauty, and he couldn’t take his gaze away from her.

Black magic, which is also a devil’s power, can easily attract someone, and as he observed it every day, it became increasingly difficult for Niel to take her gaze away from her.

‘How come I had no idea three years ago—or even a few months ago?’

Mana’s flow was so unusual when he first met her that he couldn’t think of anything else. He approached in great discomfort, unsure of how to satisfy his curiosity. It was similar to the sensation that wizards would experience when they came face to face with the subject of their life’s work.

A riddle that he feels he doesn’t know, that he wants to know in detail, and that he wants to solve even if it means staying with it for the rest of his life. Although Rebecca didn’t tell him exactly what was going on, it was true that it would be an unprecedented record that would be remembered for a long time in the Wizard Tower.

Come to think of it, Mela, never told him why she chose Elsia as her adopted daughter.

‘She’s an odd woman. Everything. To be honest, there are a lot of things I don’t know.’

He’s always liked to play with women, and Elsia hasn’t been one since the first time they met. Elsia wasn’t as vigilant as she was at first, possibly because he didn’t feel like he was being clingy.

“But I can be embarrassed when I see a patient. I’ll give it my best.”

“Have you always been an excellent volunteer?”

“Not really,” Elsia said, shrugging her shoulders. “—I’m going to have to be good at what I do.”

She didn’t say anything else after Niel mentioned her conversation with Rebecca.