Warrior Marigold

Lancel already had a good idea who it was. There was only one person in this Imperial Palace who could impersonate the Emperor without any problems.

In the past.

Someone he almost had a very deep connection with.

Of course, he wasn’t planning on blurting that out.

No matter how reckless he was, disarming the ‘Fake Emperor’ completely was no different from self-destruction.

“Whether you’re bold or just an idiot.”

The Emperor quietly sat down on the chair behind the veil.

“Even the royalty of the vassal states would give anything to meet me. Even if it were their hearts. But you’re asking for more.”

“You know they’re just words. They wouldn’t take out anything even near their hearts.”

“…….”

Instead of answering, the Emperor clicked his tongue.

“Indeed. You’re definitely not the type to be an Imperial Knight. I’ll change the gift.”

“Your Majesty…!”

The knights looked dismayed.

They didn’t like the fact that someone who talked back to their lord was getting what he wanted.

“Quiet.”

The Emperor’s mind was already made up.

“If you refuse this gift as well, I won’t stand still. Lancel Dante.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Lancel grinned slyly.

It was a gift given in place of the Imperial Knight position. It was bound to be more than that, no matter how bad it was.

“Iceford.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Count Palatine snapped to attention when his name was called.

“If I remember correctly, your family has a daughter who will soon be coming of age, right?”

“Yes. She is a blessing in my life, Your Majesty.”

“It’s about time for marriage proposals to start coming in.”

“…Yes, but…”

Anxiety gradually crept onto the Count Palatine’s face.

“I heard she’s one of the Empire’s three beauties. It’s a relief she doesn’t look like her father.”

“I hear that often, Your Majesty. But why are you suddenly bringing up this story…”

“It must be difficult because there aren’t many decent men of that age.”

“It’s, it’s alright, Your Majesty. My daughter doesn’t seem to have any thoughts of marriage yet…”

“I’m saying this because I feel sorry for you, why are you saying such disappointing things?”

Cold sweat. Lancel saw the cold sweat forming all over the Count Palatine’s face.

“Count Palatine Iceford is my longtime friend and family, so I want to personally connect him with a good person.”

“What kind of…”

“What kind of person, you ask?”

The Emperor’s head turned sharply to the person right next to the Count Palatine.

“A man with enough guts to kick away even a gift bestowed by the Emperor because it doesn’t satisfy him.”

Lancel felt the gazes stabbing him.

“Yo, Your Majesty, first, I’ll ask my daughter what she thinks before deciding…”

“No. Let’s not drag it out, let’s hold the engagement ceremony in four days. I’ll send a sculpture from the Imperial Family as a gift.”

Hmm.

What is this?

“Don’t worry, I don’t know what it is, but he’s definitely someone special.”

Three minutes? No, two minutes? In such a short moment, the marriage was decided.

“Master. What are you talking about?”

Marigold whispered.

“They’re marrying me off to that old man’s daughter?”

“Yes?”

Marigold’s expression stiffened.

“Shouldn’t you refuse?”

“How can I refuse twice when the Emperor is ordering me to?”

“Ye, yes, but, but Master…”

“I have to do as I’m told. If I grumble this time, my head will really fall to the floor.”

In fact, it wasn’t a strange thing.

Contracting loyalty through marriage was common in this world.

Wasn’t this a medieval world?

Moreover, the Count Palatine was a traditional pro-Imperial aristocrat who served as the Lord Chamberlain.

From the moment he was connected to him by marriage, Lancel would also become a member of an aristocratic group classified as pro-Imperial or Imperial Family.

To be exact, the Dante Family itself.

‘Hmm, maybe it’s a good thing.’

The connection with the Imperial Family was good for him, and it was a celebration for the Dante Family.

His son, who had run away to the Imperial Capital, had hooked up with the Lord Chamberlain’s daughter. From the perspective of a local aristocratic family in the countryside, it was nothing short of a rise in status.

‘Marigold and I will never get married now.’

If you look at it that way, it was a good thing.

A good thing.

Hmm.

Yes.

That must be it.

“Marriage is, something you do with someone you love…”

“Are you finally pleased, Lancel Dante.”

Marigold’s slender voice was buried and disappeared by the Emperor’s voice that followed.

“Thanks to you, my father and mother will be jumping for joy, Your Majesty.”

“They should. You’ve gained the Iceford Heiress, one of the Empire’s three beauties who lives receiving the affections of everyone, overnight. Of course, they should be happy.”

The Emperor ended the conversation firmly, as if not accepting any objections.

“Congratulations on becoming the Count Palatine’s son-in-law. Lancel Dante. I will personally preside over the ceremony in the Imperial Family.”

15.

After finishing the audience.

Lancel took Marigold around the Secret Garden for a long time, but he never ran into the Prince.

He wasn’t disappointed. It was better that way. Marigold’s condition was very strange.

She was constantly blank, her consciousness far away, following Lancel’s tail.

Next to her, even the Lord Chamberlain, who was now going to be Lancel’s father-in-law, Count Palatine Iceford, was the same.

“Master is getting married…”

“My daughter…to this kind of guy…”

If he had met the Prince in this situation, something strange would have happened.

“We’ll be going back now. Um, Father-in-law? Should I say that?”

“…….”

After wandering around the Secret Garden until the sun went down, when he left the Imperial Palace, he could see the streets of the Imperial Capital far away.

“Shall we look around a bit before we go?”

He stopped the carriage at the entrance.

Lancel walked silently to the middle of the market. Marigold quietly followed him one step behind.

The loud solicitations from the stalls, the drunken shouts, the running children.

After walking for a while, Lancel suddenly stopped at one place.

“Mysterious jewels from the Eastern Continent! Just give me one silver coin! Jewels that are said to make your life bloom just by holding them!”

It was just a street vendor who had laid out stones with unique colors, not jewels.

Lancel picked up a necklace made of blue stones strung together.

“You have an eye for things! That’s the stone that brings good luck and happiness.”

Before he could make more noise, Lancel threw him a silver coin to shut him up.

“Mary.”

He approached Marigold, who was following him.

“Come here.”

Lancel put the necklace on her himself. He could see her eyes, trembling and shaking.

They were still the same sparkling emerald eyes as the day he first saw her.

“Master.”

“What.”

A low, subdued voice.

“Do many people get married…even if they don’t like each other?”

“Why are you worrying about that?”

Looking at Marigold’s thinly trembling lips, Lancel spoke again.

“A relationship doesn’t necessarily have to be inevitable. There are relationships that are formed overnight. It’s not what I wanted either.”

Marigold was the same.

There was no inevitability in her life. She was a character with very different endings that occurred with very trivial opportunities.

It was the same this time. She became a Mercenary simply because she learned swordsmanship. Can this really be called inevitable?

If she had learned to write, she could have become a scholar, if she had learned to sing, she could have become a minstrel, if she had learned to cook, she could have opened a restaurant.

Is this really inevitable?

Becoming the Empress was the goal in the game, but he didn’t even know if that was the right answer yet.

If he was lucky, this terrible regression would stop, and if he was unlucky, he would continue to wander through the eons of 10 years and go endlessly crazy.

That was all.

“Then at least let me stay by your side, Master.”

Lancel felt Marigold’s arms wrapping around his waist.

As the body of the kid, who had already grown so much, stuck to him tightly, Lancel froze, unable to do anything.

“Please allow me to keep living next to you. That much is okay, right?”

“I’m a human who drops quite a bit of crumbs for you to pick up.”

“I’m not saying that as a joke.”

Marigold’s voice was choked with tears, but Lancel laughed more confidently.

“Just use me as a maid. Master. I’ll just follow you around.”

“It’s a bit of a waste to use someone as trained as Mary as a maid. It’s a waste of talent.”

“I don’t think so.”

Stroking the head of the kid who was stuck to him tightly, Lancel felt a sense of relief.

‘If I had left her like this, she would have married me again?’

This wasn’t really bragging or narcissism. There were times when he wondered if he was too conceited, but now he was sure.

‘We’ve already been together as Mercenaries for quite a while.’

Lancel couldn’t shake off Marigold, who was stuck to him, until the evening of that day.

The wedding day came in an instant.

“Sob, I’m going to be with such an insignificant man…a pathetic noble who only runs a Mercenary Guild…waaaah!”

“…….”

Lancel twitched his eyebrows as he looked at the wailing young noblewoman.

“My life is ruined. It’s ruined, completely ruined, sob! I’m only just an adult! That poor noble from a poor family is my fiancé…sob, God, why me!”

It was just over two hours before the wedding.

Airi Wiz Iceford. The woman who was called one of the Empire’s three beauties.

In other words, Lancel’s fiancée was now pessimistic about the whole world.

“…How dare she…”

“Stop. That’s not it, Mary.”

Lancel calmed Marigold, who was growling right next to him. She was even reaching for the decorative hilt of her sword.

“Master, I tend to despise people who don’t know how lucky they are.”

“Calm down. What are you talking about.”

It was the first time he had seen Marigold with such a cold expression.

“Oh God!!!”

“…Shall I kill her, Master.”

“Bear with it.”