Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Refusal-7
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"...My apologies."
I hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief from nearby and wiped her clothes.
She might think I'm an asshole, but the one who messed up right now was me.
Those clothes looked expensive at a glance. If the smell of spit soaked in, it'd be a huge loss.
"It doesn't matter. I figured you'd be flustered in such a sudden situation. Please, think it over carefully."
"Think..."
Regaining my composure, I mulled over her words, then let out a hollow laugh as I glared at the Hero.
"Do you think that makes any sense?"
My mistake was a mistake, but I couldn't accept the Hero's words at all.
"To begin with, that you'd propose marriage? What exactly are you hoping for?"
"Baron Leodrín still lacks recognition and rank. It's impractical for the Imperial Family to propose first, so to make others understand this marriage..."
"You need to make me understand first."
Forgetting my disgust, I glared into the Hero's eyes.
"You're going to need a lot more explanation. Why exactly should I accept this marriage..."
"That it's an order from His Majesty the Emperor is reason enough for me, but I suppose Lord Leodrín won't be satisfied with that."
"An order?"
My hollow laugh must have looked like a sneer, because the Hero's eyes sharpened.
"Mind your attitude."
"If you barge in out of nowhere and say 'Please marry me,' anyone would hate it. I'm telling you now, but I hate you."
The Demon King subjugation was over. I'd tried to keep up appearances somehow, but with so many bad memories, treating everyone 'kindly and warmly' was impossible.
"Fortunately, we now have one thing in common as a prospective couple. I hate you too."
"You're the one telling me to marry someone like that. How can I speak nicely?"
"It's necessary."
The Hero seemed a bit angry with me, but she wasn't foolish enough to lose herself to rage.
"I'm all but guaranteed to be the next Emperor. But as a woman, that's an unavoidable weakness. I have to bear heirs with this body, and if I get pregnant, my power might waver."
Pregnancy with that body. No matter how I thought about it, I just felt sorry for the kid.
"Marrying into a family with a base in the Empire would inevitably strengthen their influence. But marrying into a lesser house would weaken imperial authority itself."
"So, me?"
Officially, I'm treated as the sole male of the Leodrín family who went missing and miraculously returned.
They figure no matter what I do, since I have no support base, imperial authority won't be threatened. It was pretty logical. But.
"So, what's my reason to accept that?"
"...You've gotten stubborn. When we adventured together, didn't you listen well if I persuaded you nicely?"
The Hero started emanating killing intent, perhaps to intimidate me.
Honestly, it was scary. Scary enough that I might do something stupid.
Fear, the ingrained submission in my body, obedience to her dignified appearance. But overriding all that was an even greater emotion: hatred for her.
"Back then, we were subjugating the Demon King. I agreed to that. The situation was different from your bold words at the time, but I accepted it anyway."
"It was your choice."
Without a hint of hesitation, the Hero shoved the responsibility onto me.
"I know. That's why I did it, didn't I?"
Killing the Demon King was something that had to be stopped immediately. Even if my treatment felt unfair, I could endure it with a sense of duty.
Or maybe not endured so much as didn't fall.
"But this? No matter how I look at it, it doesn't seem related to Demon King subjugation."
"It's an order from His Majesty the Emperor...!"
They say the greatest knights can subdue civilians with killing intent alone.
I don't know if that's true. Normal knights prove their worth with the sword, and if intimidation or killing intent could handle it, they'd just draw their blade instead of messing around.
It was half rumor, but seeing the Hero up close, I had no choice but to believe it.
Her killing intent was so blade-sharp that it was amazing I could even meet her eyes straight on. But somehow, I was fine.
Maybe some of the Hero's power she hadn't fully claimed lingered in me. Or perhaps tagging along after the Hero party through monsters had built my courage.
Or, for a bit more unrealistic speculation.
"That's no reason for me to listen."
My hatred might just be stronger.
"It's an order from His Majesty the Emperor! For the Empire!"
"Not my problem!"
The Hero and I glared at each other for a moment.
"To begin with, marriage for someone about to leave soon? Ah, if I go, do whatever. Sell my name however... It's not even really my name anyway. Marry or adopt, I won't care."
"I need you in person."
"Too bad. The person in question is already gone."
"Then we'll have to delay your return. You'll need to stay here a few more years. Once imperial authority stabilizes, we'll say you died appropriately, and you can go home..."
I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking. The Hero was crossing a line I'd drawn inside me like it was nothing.
The reason I'd hidden and endured my hatred for the Hero party was because I was leaving.
I could forgive—no, forget—whatever they did to me. But if they blocked my return now, I had no choice but to get angry.
"I've waited months already, and now you want me to endure more?"
Gathering the last shreds of my reason, I appealed to her conscience.
A month was maddening enough, but I could understand. Even I thought the Hero party had completed the mission at an abnormal speed.
But forcing sacrifices on me with self-serving excuses stirred a fresh disgust in me, who already hated the Hero plenty.
Originally, the Hero wasn't this irrational. She was the type to make valid points in the most disgusting, uncomfortable way. She never started with wrong ones.
Maybe this was her true nature all along. The Demon King subjugation aligned with her goals, so she said 'right but unpleasant' things, and this was her real face in politics.
"You've gotten awfully bold. Backed by the Emperor's favor, do you feel like you're somebody now?"
"Ha..."
In the Hero party, I'd endured. The Demon King subjugation goal was proceeding smoothly enough.
I didn't want to reveal I was the Hero instead of a porter and ruin the teamwork.
Picking up magic tools, talking to locals, standing night watch, doing miscellaneous chores—I endured it all for the greater efficiency.
"Now, there's just no reason to endure."
"I'm treating you with respect now... but the moment His Majesty's favor ends, you'll have no choice but to propose to me, whether you like it or not."
I'd forgotten amid the heavy talk. Propose. Right, that damned marriage.
"I have zero intention of doing that."
"If the Empire refuses to send you back to that world, what do you think you can do?"
Now it's threats. My already brimming hatred for her piles up, sticking thick and heavy.
"You, who never even tried, with nothing to your name but being granted Hero authority by the Goddess? You, who abandoned your duty and handed all your power to me?"
At that moment, I remembered what I could do—what I had done.
"Watch your words."
I forcibly suppressed my boiling impulses. Reason returned in an instant.
"Did I say anything wrong, Lord Porter?"
Even the Hero's mocking words didn't register. Right, I need to stay rational.
"...Well, not wrong. But the problem is the emotion it makes me feel."
My resolve to return 'somehow' within a month hadn't changed, but I didn't want to take anything from this world or cause harm beyond that.
No matter what the Hero said, better to think of it as a dog barking and move on. Next time she comes, I need to dodge her, royalty or not.
"I have emotions too, but they never override imperial affairs or my duties. Getting swayed by emotions—isn't that shameful?"
Words I'd heard countless times in training; now I could even predict her next lines. Hearing it politely was a bit different.
"If you feel inferior, train. If dishonored, earn merits. Fostering petty emotions without action just makes you inferior and base."
"That's not the issue."
"Then what is?"
"It sounds like I need 'the Hero's power' just to go back."
I downed the rest of my tea and lay on the bed before she even left.
Words not worth hearing, thoughts not worth considering. I'd forget them after sleep.