A Proposal Gone Wrong
One day, purely by chance, Curtis had been passing by the junior officers’ lounge of the Royal Guard.
He had overheard several officers, Chloe among them, bad-mouthing him in the middle of a card game with money on the table.
…Should I go in and shut them up?
Reckless slander drifted through the door. Slander about their superior officer and his friend, no less. Noel had fidgeted uneasily before asking him that, but Curtis waved him off.
“I’m always busy bad-mouthing the King to you when no one else is around.”
“But…”
“I consider it a basic social skill for an aide who’s gone three nights without sleep to call me that in secret.”
Of course, if someone started calling him a crazy bastard somewhere Curtis could hear it, they absolutely deserved military self-discipline punishment.
Somewhere like the training ground, for instance.
But the junior officers’ lounge was supposed to be a place where they could relax. Curtis had at least that much sense.
…And, if he were being honest, the thought of his aide changing yet again was rather tiresome for him as well.
In any case, Curtis regarded Chloe fairly well.
If he ever went back to the front, he might even grant Chloe Amboise the honor of being requisitioned into the army.
He had marked her as a potential strategic bride, and in the end, the reason he had taken her before the King was because Curtis considered Chloe a “sane and proper human being.”
Moreover, that sane and proper aide had duly lived up to his expectations and performed splendidly in the sudden role of his lover.
She was quick on the uptake, and her improvisation was decent.
After tonight’s banquet, Chloe’s score rose yet again in Curtis’s mind.
One might say she had been promoted from “a fairly decent human being” to “a human being I rather like.”
So, well.
If his aide wanted something like a formal proposal, he could grant her that much as often as she liked.
Truthfully, a part of him felt guilty toward the aide who had, circumstances being what they were, suddenly become his marriage partner.
Marriage to someone one loved was the stuff of dreams for a man like Curtis.
But not for her, a semi-noble.
A love match would hardly be a grave blemish. There were advantages, after all, to coming from a “lowly family.”
The little hopes about a proposal that an unmarried young lady of suitable age might have hidden deep in her heart were hardly a problem.
“Warrant Officer, I imagine you know this jewel as well. It is the Sacred Flame.”
It was an exceptionally famous gem.
In truth, Noel would have fainted dead away if he knew Curtis had kept this ring in a drawer, but Curtis had his own reasoning.
He had kept it at his side so he could present it at once to any young lady of any house, should the possibility of marriage arise.
After all, it was the sort of object that would make anyone think this marriage was a rather profitable deal.
He had not expected to use it like this, however.
Curtis looked up at her with a gentle smile.
And then he found himself facing his aide’s expression, which looked as if she had bitten into something foul.
“…Warrant Officer?”
Instinctively, he knew something had gone wrong.
As astonishing as it was, Chloe and Curtis did have something in common.
They both grasped a situation quickly.
Curtis frowned and asked again.
“Was it not a proposal you wanted?”
If she said yes here, the situation would obviously become even more tangled.
“…No, Your Grace.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“…”
Chloe drew a deep breath.
“Your Grace. When one person asks another for a favor… ordinarily…”
Of course, just because she had decided it was better to answer immediately did not mean the words kneel and beg sprang right out of her mouth.
But from that brief moment of hesitation alone, Curtis immediately understood what Chloe had been trying to say.
When a person asks someone else for a favor, they usually beg earnestly. Telling you to kneel did not mean I was asking you to propose.
“Warrant Officer Amboise. Have you lost your mind?”
As a reply from a royal to the person who had effectively told him to kneel and beg, it could be called a remarkably dignified answer.
Chloe, however, felt a small surge of irritation at those words.
Because what that man had said about her in front of the King was more than enough to fall within the range of insanity from the perspective of the person concerned.
But Chloe could not ask Curtis whether he was insane.
As stated before, this was the military.
That did not mean, however, that she felt like kindly explaining that she had not lost her mind, or brushing it off by saying it had been a joke.
“Loyalty. Shall I, Chloe Amboise, request a medical review from the infirmary to determine whether the events I endured today were sufficient to drive a person mad?”
Her tone was crooked enough that she ought to have braced herself for the stockade.
And the moment Curtis heard it, he first closed the small ring box in his hand.
The reason noble personages spent good money lining ring boxes with velvet was originally to prevent unpleasant sounds.
But the beautiful velvet-inlaid ring box snapped shut in Curtis’s hand with a sharp click.
“That is less amusing than all that ‘darling’ business. Enough jokes, Warrant Officer Amboise.”
“It isn’t a joke.”
The man’s beautiful violet eyes turned menacing.
“Are you saying I should perform a service inspection in front of you right now?”
“Precisely.”
The atmosphere between them drew taut.
Chloe clenched the fist resting on her knee.
The man had one arm draped over his bent knee, but now he rubbed his forehead as if utterly dumbfounded.
Chloe swallowed, then opened her mouth again.
“Your Grace. According to the Ibanes military tactics manual, during negotiations, it is generally advantageous to state the contents and compensation terms in concrete detail.”
“Warrant Officer. My rank is Brigadier General. Do you think I haven’t read that book?”
“Then I suppose there’s no need for me to elaborate.”
At that polite yet insolent reply, a vein sprang up on the man’s forehead.
Curtis shut his eyes tightly, took a slow breath, and said,
“Fine. Marry me. Of course, I will not require you to fulfill duties as Grand Duchess Berk, nor anything else of that sort. If you wish, after a certain period, I will even grant you a divorce on grounds of fault on my part.”
It was a proposal with not so much as a speck of romance in it.
An audacious reply came back in place of acceptance.
“Is that all?”
Curtis was not flustered.
He had expected as much.
“I will grant whatever compensation you desire. To begin with, I’ll cancel the pay-cut order I issued this afternoon. As for the incentive I mentioned in the hall, naturally. And since I know you want to be transferred…”
“Guaranteed reassignment, cancellation of the pay cut, and special promotion. Those were matters I already became aware of during the royal audience.”
“…Then do you truly mean I should perform a service inspection, or what?”
Unlike his aide, who always gave clear answers, she kept circling around the point until Curtis finally lost his temper.
But instead of startling and quickly answering with something like, “My apologies!” as usual, his aide bit her lip.
And then she answered back with a crooked attitude.
“If you don’t want to, then don’t. Instead, starting tomorrow morning, I will become the person who bid Your Grace farewell and returned to being a diligent aide.”
“Returned?”
At that shameless remark, Curtis opened his mouth in disbelief.
Chloe tilted her head lightly.
“I am aware, Your Grace, that lying before His Majesty the King is a serious crime.”
“What are you…”
“I’m saying that though I said I would marry you before His Majesty the King, once I went home, washed my feet, lay down, and thought about it, I realized it was all too burdensome after all.”
In other words, she did not intend to be someone who had lied to the King, but someone who had been lovers with him and then, burdened by society’s gaze, broke things off—thereby avoiding punishment.
Curtis ground his teeth.
“Warrant Officer Amboise, are you aware that insulting a member of the royal family is also a serious crime?”
—You think lying in front of the King isn’t all right, but telling me to put my head on the floor is?
Having interpreted his words precisely, Chloe beamed.
“If you marry the Duchess of Glintland, you’ll lose your status as a domestic royal anyway.”
What do I care? If you don’t like it, marry her. Either way, if I abandon you, you’re screwed.
Curtis’s mouth fell open.
Had her liver climbed out of her body?
He wanted to argue somehow, but he was so dumbfounded that nothing came to mind.
He mumbled a few times before finally squeezing his eyes shut, opening them again, and replying.
“…Warrant Officer. I will give you a chance to salvage this, even now.”
“Oh.”
Chloe sounded impressed.
“It is quite astonishing that Brigadier General Berk believes he is in a position to give me a chance right now.”
Curtis struggled to continue.
“…Are you aware that I am currently your superior officer?”
“Of course. You are the superior officer who blocked my marriage prospects first, then belatedly made a request, and who must receive my gracious permission no matter what.”
This would not do.
Curtis shot to his feet where he sat.
“…No matter how urgent this is, I cannot have people saying I married a madwoman. This never happened.”
Chloe was silent for a moment.
But only for a moment.
She smiled brightly, then fluttered her hand at him.
“As you wish, Brigadier General. Please be happy on the shores of Glintland.”
If you don’t like it, go be a bride.
Curtis Shan Berk had risen, but he could not bring himself to leave.
His hands trembled.