The Roeyental Proposal
Seated in the grand ducal office, I was reading through the reports on everything that had happened in my absence.
"Nothing of particular note, then."
"Yes. Ah—one thing."
"Hm?"
Jester set a single letter down in front of me. The wax seal that closed it belonged to a house I had never seen before.
"What is this?"
"A letter from the Roeyental Duke Family."
"Huh?"
The Roeyental Duke Family? That was the house the first villainess opposing the protagonist belonged to, wasn't it?
"They're a house near the North, sure, but what do they want?"
I carefully opened the envelope and checked the contents.
"Huh?"
I read the letter again to make sure I hadn't misread it. I hadn't.
"Grand Duke? What is it?"
"..."
"They're asking if I have any interest in getting engaged to the Roeyental young lady?"
"Pardon?"
The maid watching Cecilia Roeyental looked at the young mistress she served with worried eyes.
"Rain."
"Yes, my lady."
"I'm fine."
"But—"
"I truly am fine."
The day she had promised the Crown Prince was drawing near. The promise that she would leave the capital before the academy's winter break ended.
I was a fool, wasn't I. I never imagined those three would appear as the commoner's proxies in the trial by combat.
No student had been willing to make enemies of her former fiancé Baron, Ryan the knight commander's son, and Boris the Magic Tower's disciple. Cecilia had finally sent a proxy from her own house into the trial by combat—and he had been crushed without mercy.
Still… Father… the Roeyental family believed in my innocence. I'm grateful for that, at least.
She hadn't done any of it, yet that woman Elysia had pinned the blame for everything that had befallen her squarely on Cecilia.
"Even so…"
It had been an engagement without love, but for years she had stood by Baron as his fiancée. She had hoped her fiancé, of all people, would believe she was innocent.
Words that denied every year she had given. Cecilia felt as though she had lost everything.
"Cecilia."
"Father."
Her father, Duke Wolfgang Roeyental, opened the door and looked at her with a gentle smile. That smile only hurt her more. She was certain she had ruined everything—because she was inadequate, because she had made a mistake.
"Has there been a reply to the letter?"
"…Not yet."
Of course there hadn't. No matter how independently the Grand Duke of the North held himself, no matter how openly he defied the imperial family—why would he take in a woman who already carried a stain?
"I'm sorry, Father… It's my fault. Even the Grand Duke of the North won't…"
"No. That cannot be. My daughter Cecilia is the most beautiful young lady in the world! Not a single soul in the Roeyental family thinks you inadequate!"
Her kind father. Remembering the retainers of House Roeyental who fought to protect her, she was about to let the tears fall—when someone spoke.
"Your Grace."
"What is it?"
"A reply has arrived from House Walterheim."
"!!!"
Wolfgang checked the contents of the letter his retainer handed him. Then he looked at Cecilia and smiled.
"He says he will come in person."
"Pardon?"
"The Grand Duke of the North wishes to visit our house himself and speak with us."
"I'm not going."
"You must, Your Grace."
"..."
The look Jester fixed on me was sharp.
"Look at the terms House Roeyental is offering. Exclusive rights to the iron ore from the duchy, plus an enormous dowry."
"…Is the North that poor?"
"The North is always short of coin. And then there are the orcs Your Grace brought back this time."
"..."
"Do you truly believe wild game and monsters alone can solve this?"
"Dammit."
I scrubbed my face dry and sank into thought. Cecilia Roeyental—the villainess who would eventually be blinded by jealousy and spiral out of control. In the end she would be consumed by rage, become a witch, and be put down by the protagonist and the Crown Prince.
But Cecilia is already broken off, when at this point in the story she should still be engaged to the Crown Prince and locked in confrontation with the heroine…
And one more crucial point.
If the Cecilia who goes berserk as a witch in the late story detonates in the North… isn't that just a North-destruction route? Wait—then the protagonist's party would use suppressing the villainess as an excuse to barge into the North…
No. This was an engagement I absolutely had to refuse.
"I've heard rumors that the young lady's mana is unstable and dangerous."
"Hmm."
"Bringing a woman whose mind is unstable after a broken engagement into the North is far too great a risk."
"And how is that a problem?"
"Pardon?"
Jester smiled and continued.
"Your Grace's arrows are faster than any spell she could cast."
"Jester…"
I was about to tell him that wasn't the point, but he cut me off and pressed on.
"To begin with, what this letter actually wants from the ducal house is not a real marriage."
"Huh?"
It wasn't?
"They want a shield. A new fence to protect a young lady who cannot remain in the capital—and themselves, who have already turned their backs on the imperial family."
Come to think of it, the novel did mention that House Roeyental began to fall after the broken engagement.
"It is only an engagement, Your Grace. An engagement that can be dissolved at any time—and for it, you gain this much."
"Then…"
"Go this time and make the terms clear. Set an exact standard for the day this contract ends."
He was right. Bound only by contract, I—as Grand Duke of the North—would simply hold the imperial family's nonsense at bay until Cecilia and her house recovered. The profit was overwhelming.
And keeping Cecilia inside my line of sight might actually be safer.
If that madman of a Crown Prince dumped the villainess on the North after she refused to leave the capital, I might waste manpower and time hunting a landmine I couldn't even locate. Better to keep her where I could see her and watch how things developed.
"Haa. Fine. Send a reply. And prepare for a journey to the Roeyental ducal house."
"Understood."
On the day we set out for the Roeyental ducal house, the knights standing guard around me—the black knights, the elite of the North's elite—nearly made me lose consciousness on the spot.
"These are the men who are supposed to be defending Blackheart Castle! Why are they here?!"
"Haha, don't worry. Only the bare minimum are accompanying Your Grace as escort."
"This is… the bare minimum?"
In the novel I'd read, the black knights following the rebel Rosé had numbered twenty. So what were ten of them doing here? Taking half of them as my personal escort felt a little…
"It's ten out of the fifty black knights stationed at Blackheart. Hardly anything."
"..."
Ah. Right. Blackheart Castle hadn't fallen, and the forces were intact. In the original, more than half of them had been wiped out with the castle's fall.
"Are you all truly fine with this?"
"It is an honor, Your Grace."
"To be entrusted with escorting Your Grace's engagement…"
"We will see you there safely!"
I leaned in and whispered against Jester's ear.
"…Why are they like this?"
"The knights from the center used to grind the black knights into the dirt, after all."
"Oh…"
"Shall I tell you how much abuse they suffered under the authority of Your Grace's two late elder brothers, before you took office?"
"No need. We're leaving."
"Safe travels."
Seeing us off with the servants, Jester watched as we departed for the ducal house. On the second day of the journey—
"Really is close."
Far ahead, the Roeyental estate was beginning to come into view.
"Your Grace—House Roeyental has come out to receive us."
Sir Steak, captain of the black knights, approached the carriage to report. I ordered the coachman to stop.
"Welcome to the Roeyental ducal house, Grand Duke Walterheim."
"Thank you for such a warm reception, Duke Roeyental."
Behind Wolfgang Roeyental—who radiated the force of a battle-hardened political veteran—stood a young lady with silver hair and violet eyes.
So that's her.
The villainess of the novel I had reincarnated into: Cecilia Roeyental. In person she was beautiful—and terrifying. One small slip in managing her mental state and she would detonate like a bomb, right? I sank once more into serious deliberation over whether this engagement was truly to my benefit.
"Well then—standing here is no way to talk. Please, come inside."
"Of course."
Before long, only the two parties to the engagement—Victor and Cecilia—were left alone in the reception room of the ducal house. Cold air hung between them, and silence stretched on, until—
"You seem to be in rather difficult circumstances. An engagement with the North, of all places—a region already at odds with the imperial family."
Victor was the one who broke the silence. The remark was tossed out with casual indifference, cool and unfeeling. Cecilia lifted her chin with composure and answered him.
"I believe the terms House Roeyental has offered hold considerable value for both the North and Your Grace."
"Exclusive rights to the duchy's iron ore alone are excellent, yes. And then there's the matter of being fellow outcasts from the imperial family…"
Victor rested his chin in one hand and regarded Cecilia. Facing those unwavering crimson eyes, her violet ones trembled.
"Very well, then."
Cecilia examined the contract Victor had set on the table.
The betrothed shall reside at the Walterheim estate.
Excepting official external functions, the two shall live as strangers.
When House Roeyental is stabilized and the North has fully escaped the imperial family's grasp, this engagement shall be dissolved.
"She is to reside at the Walterheim estate. Except for external functions, they are to live as strangers. And—"
"When House Roeyental is stabilized and the North has fully slipped free of the imperial family's grasp, this engagement is to be dissolved."
"A thoroughly political engagement."
"Isn't that common enough? Besides, I have no desire to marry anyone."
"I see."
Cecilia took up the pen, wrote her name at the bottom of the contract, and pushed it back toward Victor. He tucked the document away and rose from his seat.
"I will return to the Walterheim estate first thing tomorrow."
"Yes."
"Then."
Victor opened the reception room door alone and strode out. Left by herself, Cecilia looked at the seat he had just vacated and murmured under her breath.
"…A cold, unfeeling man… Yes. If it means protecting the people of my house…"
"Haa… haa."
Once I was out of the reception room, I braced a hand against the wall and started gasping for the breath I had been holding.
"That was terrifying as hell!!!"
Those ice-cold eyes. That was the exact look she had worn at the novel's climax. One wrong move and a single flick of those small hands would turn the whole area into a wasteland. A nuclear bomb.
"So I… end up holding the switch on a nuclear bomb."
Scratching my head as I wandered the ducal estate, I pricked up my ears the moment Cecilia's name drifted out of a conversation ahead.
"Aigoo… what are we going to do about our kind young lady…"
"As if being driven out of the capital because of His Highness the Crown Prince weren't enough—now she's engaged to someone that cold."
"How hard will she have it once she goes north… ahh."
"I'm worried about the academy, too… how much will His Highness and his people torment her in second year…"
The servants finished talking and scattered to their work. Having listened carefully, I sank into thought.
"Looks like she did a good job cultivating her reputation with the servants. Then again, even in the novel she was a born young lady who bottled everything up until she exploded. When I asked my roommate why she was even the villainess, she said, Anyone who opposes the heroine is a villainess! and I nearly lost my mind."
Damn roommate. She had better be in hell. She deserved it.
"If I want to manage her mental state, I'll have to stick as close as possible at the academy too… haa."
Such was my lot, I supposed…