You're Mine
Graduation day. The big D-Day.
I hadn't slept a wink.
All because of those cursed memories from my past life.
The anxiety kept swelling and swelling...
If Jin really was Caïsis, I might actually die.
A mere noble daughter had laid hands on the de facto future Emperor of the Empire.
They say anyone at all may execute a person on the spot for insulting the imperial family... I think I'm done for.
Between all that worrying, morning came. First time I'd lost a night's sleep in three years.
Mmgh...
"Worrying about it won't change anything, will it?"
Positive mindset!
Moments like these are exactly when staying positive matters most.
And so, anxiety shoved to the back of my mind, I got ready for graduation.
As student council president, I finished saluting the headmaster and His Majesty the Emperor, who had come to observe the proceedings.
"Present!"
Then His Majesty spoke.
"I hereby grant permission for the graduation of the 692nd class!"
And just like that, the ceremony was over, smooth as silk.
A few weeks passed.
I was staying at the Pierre Estate in the imperial capital.
Nothing happened for days on end.
Perhaps this really was just another parallel world after all.
By day I kept up with social engagements or amused myself, and in the evenings I simply rested. Three years of hard study had earned me that much — my plan was to take exactly two months off.
And then it happened.
A bolt from the blue fell on my head.
An absolutely enormous one...
One day, Father summoned me alone.
A brief introduction of my father is in order: his name is Lafiet Pierre.
He was a man who lived for the family. A man who would do anything at all for the sake of the house.
Still, I had studied to bring honor to that family, and I proudly considered myself the most brilliant of his children — so I'd assumed I would be fine.
But then...
He spoke to me with a face positively glowing with good cheer.
"Your marriage has been arranged."
There I was, raising my voice out of nowhere in the marquisate's office.
"Father! Marriage, you say?!"
The flower of the household was not a welcome child.
The reason: I had been born a woman.
Had I perhaps overestimated the state of women's rights in this medieval world?
The Pierre Marquisate apparently believed my younger brothers were the ones to carry on the succession. Because I outshone both of them, it seems they needed me swept out of the line of inheritance entirely.
"Elise! The reason you could study, eat your fill, and live in comfort is the merit of this father of yours and this family! And yet you will not accept a marriage, even in gratitude to your house?!"
"Father! Still, marrying someone I have never even met—!"
I could not bring myself to agree.
"Silence! It is already decided, and he is more than worthy of your station. Look for yourself."
I was furious.
I had believed I would be the one to become Marquise.
Those two hadn't even managed to get into Arcana. Mediocre, the pair of them.
It was unfair.
Still, I swallowed my anger for the moment and looked over the document.
The union is hereby announced between
Elise Pierre
and
Caïsys von Akemes
Beneath the heading, one formulaic line after another was listed out. When I read all the way down, the imperial seal was stamped at the bottom.
And above that, the marriage was written out.
The groom: Caïsys von Akemes.
The strange memory I hadn't given a second thought to in ages came creeping back.
But I resolved not to dwell on it.
Refusal was impossible anyway.
The imperial seal was already stamped on it — meaning it could never be undone.
The wedding was three weeks away.
This invitation had been written two months ago.
My father had held it back, showing it to me only when there was no time left to prepare anything — so that I would simply have to accept.
I felt betrayed.
"So... the investiture is in two weeks, and the wedding one week after that?"
My father answered my question.
"Yes, that is how it has been decided. You may go."
A dismissal.
At a moment like this — was he saying he simply wouldn't look at me anymore?
"Yes... Marquis."
I lifted my skirt a little and bowed my head in greeting.
My way of announcing that I was sulking.
But this time my father paid it no mind whatsoever.
I felt bleak.
I attended the crown prince's investiture.
Or rather, the entire family did — from my father Lafiet, to my eldest brother Ain, my second brother Edgar, my mother Lafie, and me.
I was chatting with the other young ladies in the banquet hall when Lady Hart spoke up.
"Lady Pierre! Congratulations on your marriage to His Highness the Prince!"
Words that stabbed right into my sore spot.
"Thank you for your kind congratulations, Lady Hart."
I gave a suitably noncommittal reply.
And just as the conversation turned toward the wedding—
"The sun, moon, and stars of the Empire make their entrance!"
At those words the hall fell silent, and the doors opened.
The Emperor's entrance meant that Caïsis's investiture as crown prince was beginning.
Every noble in the hall knelt with flawless etiquette and bowed their heads.
The Emperor walked to the head of the hall, and the imperial family took their seats.
And then the star of the banquet made his appearance.
Caïsys von Akemes entered.
I lifted my head slightly and raised my eyes to look at his face.
Tall, golden-eyed, with neatly kept golden hair — he walked forward wearing a face anyone would call handsome.
He was clearly, unmistakably different from Jin.
Their height was similar, but there were slight differences in the hair color, the eyes, the very contours of the face.
Hot damn! From today on, I can finally sleep with both legs stretched out!
And so Caïsis walked before the Emperor and dropped to one knee.
Then the Emperor spoke.
"It feels like only yesterday you were born... and already you have grown into one fit to be a sovereign!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
His voice was different too.
"Caïsys von Akemes. Will you ascend the imperial throne of this Empire and pledge its peace and welfare?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. I swear to safeguard the Empire's peace."
Several more oaths followed after that...
"Yes, Your Majesty. I swear it."
"I hereby proclaim that the star of the Empire has become the Empire's rising sun!"
And with that, the investiture came to an end.
After the ceremony, in the waning hours of the banquet, House Pierre went to pay its respects to the crown prince.
Lafiet fawned shamelessly.
"Your Highness... our humblest congratulations on your investiture! The glory and fortune of the Akemes Empire will surely endure! Hahaha."
"Thank you, Marquis Pierre. And the lovely young lady beside you — would that be the Tulip of Pierre?"
At that, Lafiet pushed me forward and introduced me.
"Indeed it is. Elise, pay your respects to your husband-to-be."
I felt ill at ease.
Our eyes had met a moment ago, and something about it felt familiar.
"It is an honor, Your Highness... I have long wished to meet you..."
"Ohh...? And I you. Then how would you like to stay in my palace until next week?"
What? No.
"I am... deeply honored, but... I... I..."
No excuse would come to me...
Then Lafiet spoke up.
"I give my permission. Stay at the palace."
Oh...
"Until later, then, my lady... You there! Escort the lady to the palace!"
Oh... damn it all...
"Excuse me, then..."
I offered my courtesies and my greetings, and was all but hauled off to the palace.
Sigh...
Well... he'd make a decent enough husband, that much was true...
But deep down, I recoiled from the whole thing.
Of course it beat being married off to some backwater noble...
Who knows anymore!
In my pajamas, I flopped down onto the bed.
Can I really not use magic?
I tried — and nothing happened.
No one left the third floor unless they were imperial family, or unless the imperial family permitted it.
How boring...
Time to sleep, I suppose? I was thinking that, and I closed my eyes and—
"Elise?"
A familiar voice.
My eyes snapped open and my head whipped around.
What met my gaze was a brown-haired man. Jin.
This was the crown prince's palace.
That man was a commoner. Getting in here was impossible.
The bad memories came flooding back all over again.
And then, without meaning to, I said it.
"...Jin?"
Jin sprayed the drug over himself.
The Jin I had just been looking at vanished, and only Caïsis remained.
"...Your Highness?"
It can't be.
It can't be.
It can't be.
No. No. No...
No...!!
"We have a lot to untangle between us, don't we?"
My mind spun as fast as it could.
Could I resist him?
Impossible.
This was the third floor.
The third floor, where the imperial family lived — they alone came and went freely here, and magic belonged to them alone.
Magic: impossible.
Escape: getting out was impossible.
Impossible...
I was trapped, with no way forward and no way back.
When it's like this, you bow your head.
"F-forgive me... I failed to recognize the Empire's most exalted and caused Your Highness offense..."
Casting my dignity aside, I threw myself flat against the floor and apologized.
Then Caïsis spoke.
"Hm... I don't like that?"
"Ah—"
"That's it! That's the look! I've wanted to see you like this for so long, you stuck-up little goody-two-shoes!!"
And with that, he planted his foot on my back.
"Elise...? If you kiss my foot... no, wait — if you kiss my cock, I might consider it?"
No...
I'm the Tulip of Pierre... I'm not someone who's supposed to be treated like this...
Caïsis smiled — a smile that crawled over my skin.
"If you won't, then I suppose you'll have to be punished?"
Frightened by that, I blurted it out.
"I-I'll do it...!"
"No... on second thought, I'd rather you just took your punishment."
I clutched at Caïsis's foot and begged.
"I want to kiss it! Please...!"
"Hmm... well, all right! If you want it that badly, who am I to say no?"
Caïsis pulled down his trousers, and an enormous cock sprang free.
It looked to be a good twenty centimeters at least.
Just as I leaned in to kiss it, Caïsis seized me by the hair.
"Nngh—"
"Come to think of it, no. I can't have a cock stealing my wife's first kiss, now can I?"
And with that, he pressed his mouth over mine.
Mwah... chup... nngh...♡
My tongue was being toyed with.
Mwah... mwah... hah... hah... mwah...
He pulled away for just a moment, then dove back in to devour me all over again.
Then his hand slipped into my bodice, and he seized my breast hard......
And so even my chest was toyed with, and...
It feels strange...♡
Hahh... hahh...
"Hyaaahn!!!♡"
Suddenly, down below, I was soaked.
Had I just... finished? From only this much?
"Hah... hah... hah... hah..."
My head was spinning.
"Elise... did you just come? ...Pathetic."
I wanted to die of shame.
"So cute. So utterly adorable... Elise."
And then Caïsis whispered into my ear.
"You're mine."
To me, those words sounded like a sentence.