The Price of Love (1)

The day we graduated from the Academy.

My beloved delivered two pieces of news to me.

The good news.

"I... I'm pregnant."

And the bad news.

"I am—"

Lloyd. A commoner-born young man without so much as a title to his name, in a world ruled by the aristocracy. Me.

There were two unusual things about me. First: despite being a commoner, I was good enough with a sword to earn a place in the Knight Faculty of the Royal Academy. And the other... was that I was a Reincarnator.

Seven years old. The day bandits murdered my parents and I was sent off to an orphanage was the day I awakened my past life.

A miracle? Or magic? Or maybe the real problem was that I'd died a thirty-year-old virgin who'd never once dated a woman.

It wasn't as though I'd been run over by a truck on my way to another world, either — I had simply fallen into the world of a romance-fantasy novel.

A world unlike Earth. What was I even supposed to do here? Compared to the endless dopamine served up by every form of media back on Earth, this world was boring past all bearing.

So I made up my mind. I would do everything I'd never gotten to do in my past life.

Romance!

Marriage!

A family!

I wanted to love someone. I wanted to build a family.

As it happened, unlike my past-life self, this life's "Lloyd" was fairly handsome. His stamina was even better than my old body's ever was, and his talent as a knight more than ample.

"Lloyd. Our viscounty will sponsor you."

Thanks to that talent, I was able to take up an iron sword infused with aura instead of the plow that tilled the fields back home.

The Frontes Viscounty where I'd been born had history, but not the strength to protect that history. No one in the family had the martial prowess to make a knight of themselves — and then they found me, brimming with exactly that talent.

"Graduate from the Academy. Make many connections. Then return to the Frontes Viscounty and become its knight."

Not a bad offer. In modern terms, it was a local magnate saying he'd fund my education on the condition that I take a job at a regional company after graduation.

He'd even cover the tuition so I could study in the capital — think Seoul, back on Earth. What a magnanimous noble he was, no?

Twenty years old. I entered the Academy.

At first I took it for a second round of university life — and precisely because it was a second round, I stood out there something fierce.

Salutatorian of the whole year!

The top seat was clamped down tight by a noble-born knight, so I never once managed to steal it — but second place, second place I could cover with effort.

"Sir Lloyd. Ah — my mistake, not yet, is it? Haha, right, of course. So you're returning to the Frontes Viscounty? Perhaps, then..."

"Why not sit down for a close talk with our trade caravan? Not a noble title, perhaps, but compensation worthy of one..."

"Mercenaries speak through strength. With your skill, I could raise you straight into the officer ranks. Will you come with me?"

Recruitment offers poured in from everywhere. Sorry, Viscount Frontes, but it seemed my abilities had shone brightly enough that a little friction with my own lord meant nothing. I turned every single one of those offers down.

In modern terms: after declining scout offers from mega-corporations in every industry imaginable, I chose to return to the Frontes Viscounty.

Why?

This place.

The rooftop of the Academy Library, where she and I had first met.

For the sake of the woman with the long white hair — wearing the same black cap and gown as me and everyone else — who stood gazing down at the crowd in the plaza below.

"Welcome, Lloyd."

The woman who had been beautiful from the very first moment I saw her. I'd fallen in love at that first meeting, and after no end of effort, she had become mine.

"Congratulations on graduating."

"You too. It can't have been easy, graduating in that body of yours."

My girlfriend.

"I did my very best so that I could graduate together with you, Lloyd. Hehe."

Red eyes gazing up at me. A woman on the border between girl and maiden, her skin without a single blemish — no, pathologically white — looked at me with a gaze brimming over with love—

"Something's got you anxious, doesn't it?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You have something you want to tell me. Don't you."

In eyes that should have held nothing but love, there lurked a faint unease.

"Tell me anything. Whatever you want, I'll grant it."

"Anything at all?"

"Yes. For your sake, there's nothing I can't do."

"Then... even something like, oh, killing the Emperor of the Empire?"

"By when would you need it done?"

Delivered with a smile, it was admittedly plenty terrifying — but it wasn't beyond me.

"Though killing him and only killing him would be a problem."

"Why?"

"Well, once you count the cleanup and how exhausting the fallout would be, I'd have to plan it properly. An advance plan, of course — and a plan for after the fact, too."

I knew perfectly well this was a joke. This was the Kingdom. The Empire was the enemy.

"It wouldn't be impossible. I'm me, after all. And you're the one asking."

The way any soldier might swagger to impress a woman — "I'll go pluck the northern brute's head" — a line like that, I could afford plenty.

"It might take some time, though. If I'm going to build a happy life with Isethea."

"Darling..."

"Thank you for waiting for today."

Finally, the moment had come.

"I'm sorry I made you wait until graduation."

Beneath my gown, I drew out the box I had prepared long in advance.

"Once today ends, we're students no longer. As adults, as full members of society, we have to live lives we take responsibility for."

"Lloyd."

"Taking responsibility for one more person in that life? Not hard at all. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠No — it's something I absolutely have to do."

The way a knight kneels on one knee before a lady, I knelt before Isethea.

"If you want me to become a titled noble, I'll become one. If you want me to join the Royal Knights, I'll walk into their hall today. Though if I'm thinking of your health... then I believe living out our days peacefully in Frontes would be best."

"...Your hometown must be a lovely place. Aside from the small detail that it sits right against the Empire."

"I can't say whether war will come, but I will never abandon you and go chasing glory on a battlefield."

I hadn't planned on making her a widow from the moment I'd confessed to her, after all.

"I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Every day, every moment, I want to spend them with the woman named Isethea."

"...Why me?"

At her question, laughter burst out of me for no good reason.

"You're asking the obvious. Because you were the prettiest."

"I'm someone who could die any day, you know."

"Death comes for everyone without warning. Even if you died tomorrow, I wouldn't regret doing this."

I flipped the box open.

A jewel bought with money earned from part-time work wedged between my studies — all while never once letting slip second place through the entire final year.

"Marry me, Isethea."

"..."

"Four years at the Academy. So much happened in that time."

That was the truth.

At the very worst, if someone ordered me to write my four years at the Academy as a novel, I could probably churn out a three-hundred-chapter academy series.

"But in every single one of those moments, the most important thing was you."

"Lloyd."

"Whatever you wish for, I can give it. All I want from you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is one thing."

"...And what would that be?"

Isethea's smile deepened. That smile — the one she wore when she knew the answer full well and asked anyway, purely to tease.

"I love you, Isethea. Marry me."

She'd probably just wanted to hear it once more. Or maybe she preferred the plea — "please marry me" — over a simple "let's get married."

It didn't matter. Commoner or whatever else — the purpose and the dream of my life had become Isethea herself.

"...The day I first started seeing you. It reminds me of the day I accepted your confession."

"We were here that time, too."

"Yes. Back then, I told you something. That I had one secret I could never reveal to anyone."

"You did."

"...And you have never once asked what it was. Not even now. So let me ask you."

Isethea held out her left hand to me.

"Even if I swore I would never speak of that secret for as long as I lived — would you still want to marry me?"

"Everyone has secrets they can't tell another soul."

I was a Reincarnator.

"Sometimes not even their own family gets to hear them. And that's... because they treasure that family all the more for it."

"Treasure."

"I suppose they think hiding it, rather than sharing it, is kinder to the one they love. I understand that perfectly. Even if you never told me a thing until they laid you in your grave, I would understand."

I was a man who had, for the first time in his life, a woman he loved.

"I'll love even that secret of yours, Isethea."

I drew out the ring and slipped it, feather-light, onto the ring finger of her left hand.

"My sword, my life, my everything. For Lady Isethea."

As the etiquette of the Kingdom demanded, as befit a knight, I slid the ring onto her finger and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

"..."

Until that ritual-like rite was finished, Isethea did nothing at all. She only kept her eyes quietly closed, lashes trembling faintly, as though she still hesitated to say what was on her mind.

"...Lloyd."

"Mm."

"The reason I called you here today was... so that I could tell you my secret."

"I see."

She didn't have to, really.

"And there was something else I absolutely had to tell you."

"Has that gotten harder to do?"

"...Well, the situation has changed."

With a wry smile, Isethea caressed the hand that now wore the ring.

"Lloyd. Do you remember the Christmas Festival, two months ago — last year's?"

"Of course I remember."

"Yes. The night we spent together. You told me then — that you'd find a quiet house in the Frontes Viscounty, and the two of us would live there together."

"That's right."

"And that if we had children... two would be about ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠perfect."

"Three or more, and you might really have to suffer."

It was a future I could only ever paint with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Isethea, yes — but it had also been a dream I wanted for myself.

"You know that saying in the Kingdom? Live with a wife like a rabbit and children like foxes, and you'll be happy all your life."

"Isn't it the other way around?"

"Well, I don't think you're a fox."

"...Pfft."

Isethea let out a short laugh, as if swallowing down a cough.

"Aren't you awfully in the dark, when it comes to me?"

"Whatever you've hidden, I love you with all of it factored in. So that's on you."

"How is that my fault?"

"Don't be so pretty that people fall in love at first sight."

"...That one is my fault, I suppose. I mean, it's why you couldn't hold yourself back that night and pounced on me."

"Whoa, hey—"

Afraid someone might overhear, I swept a hurried glance around us.

"Hold on, Isethea. When exactly are we talking about?"

"Oh my. Was it so many times you can't even keep track?"

"...Could you just tell me which month? Because if this is about the Christmas Festival—"

"It is the Christmas Festival."

"Ah. Right."

One wrong step and I'd have ended up ransacking the entire calendar in my head.

"That day, you told me this. That for my sake — my health being what it is — we'd live somewhere with clean air, and I'd rest and take a long cure."

"Yeah."

"That you'd somehow scrape together the money, and we'd try living happily."

"Yeah."

A rookie knight's salary in a viscounty was, in Earth terms, right about equal to a major corporation's pay. A new hire at Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix could support a woman well enough, even one from a dirt-poor family — couldn't he? Even if Isethea and I were both parentless commoners.

"Even if telling you my secret turned your dream entirely on its head... even if we ended up standing at the very heart of the storm — would you still be all right?"

"Of course I would."

How could I not be?

"No matter what storm comes howling through, I will be at your side. Always."

As long as I had Isethea with me.

"...All right. Then I'll tell you. First, before my secret... the thing I was determined to tell you today, no matter what."

"What is it?"

Face flushing red, Isethea drew something out from inside her gown.

No way. Could it be that Isethea, too, was the same as me—

"It's two lines."

"...Huh?"

What she had pulled out was the last thing I could ever have expected. A magical device. But in shape and in purpose, it was uncannily close to something I knew all too well.

A pregnancy test.

Two crisp, unmistakable lines.

"Don't tell me..."

"It seems that at the Christmas Festival... that's when it happened, and—"

Before she could finish, I shot to my feet and swept Isethea into my arms in the same breath.

"I'll take responsibility."

"Ah..."

"Don't be scared. Don't be anxious."

"...Yes. I won't be."

Just from being held, the anxiety in Isethea's eyes was already, little by little, melting away.

"...So then, let me say this part clearly."

And the words that left her lips were—

"......?"

It was enough to short-circuit my brain for a good few seconds.

"The Empire is the enemy."

"Yes."

"......?"

"Well."

Isethea scratched her cheek and broke into a wide, sheepish grin.

"It just sort of... worked out that way."

Ah.

I knocked her up, and she turned out to be the Imperial Princess of the Empire.