Chapter 145
Chapter 145
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: 13. Cutting Water with a Sword (5)
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“Huh?”
“It's just talk for now. Just talk.”
“No, let's be honest—this is a proposal that's hard to turn down. It's a problem if you bring it up without even discussing it with me first.”
The Emperor's expression crumpled a bit at my words. Big Sis Mina quickly averted her eyes and pretended not to notice.
To be honest, I almost got a little angry, but seeing her look so apologetic and deflated made me decide against making a fuss.
Instead, I had to figure out how to smooth this over.
“W-Well, couldn't we just... leave it like this...?”
“So if Father approves, it's set in stone, and I'd have no choice but to get married?”
“...You don't want to?”
“I told you, I can't decide right now.”
She quietly sipped her tea with a deflated look on her face, glancing sideways at Mina, who had fled to my bed, and continued her excuses.
“But otherwise, I can't explain why I came here in the first place.”
“You could tie it to the Demon God Church—that wouldn't seem strange at all. There was already an incident with the dwarves.”
“Then they would've made the request from nation to nation with the Imir Kingdom...”
“So why did you decide to come in the first place?”
“...To propose marriage.”
“Why without even telling me?”
“Because if I told you ahead of time, you'd make sure I couldn't come at all.”
I couldn't hold back the sigh rising from deep in my chest. She knew I'd stop her, yet she did it anyway—what was she thinking?
I'd heard something like this in my past life. That forgiveness is easier than permission.
And honestly, I wasn't as furious as I might've expected, so maybe it wasn't entirely wrong.
“So, let's think about what to do now.”
“Hee hee. You're forgiving me?”
“No. I mean, let's figure out how to handle the aftermath. What if Father gives the OK?”
“Marriage?”
“Didn't we say we'd think about that later?”
“Mm.”
For now, I put these two clever idiots up on my bed, sat down the relatively level-headed Big Sis Leimi and Karin with her friends, and started the discussion again.
“These two idiots went ahead without a word, putting me in a tough spot.”
“We haven't heard the full story—what happened?”
“They tried to break off my original engagement and set me up with the Emperor.”
“Wasn't your original fiancée Senior Rias?”
“Yeah. Honestly, I wasn't planning to cut ties completely—I figured I'd take the time to sort it out.”
The reason I'd come here was solely to resolve things with my father, not to immediately blow up the engagement.
With the Calamity Duke right there, I couldn't back out now either.
I shot a glare at the two idiots peeking at me from the bed, then pressed my fingers to my temples against the rising headache.
“But doesn't it feel like a net gain in the end?”
“Sophia. Whether it's a gain and whether I can accept it are two different things.”
“True, but looking at the results, doesn't it put you in a position where you can delay the engagement and marriage indefinitely, plus make dealing with Senior Rias way easier?”
True.
Yeah, it was.
Even if it benefited me, I didn't want to decide something that affected my future life and relationships so lightly.
On top of that, since I still hadn't rediscovered what it felt like to truly like someone, I had no desire to marry into an unpredictable relationship.
Sophia saw my dissatisfied expression and dropped her argument, retreating.
The youngest from a noble house, and still such a scaredy-cat.
I let out a heavy breath through my nose as I watched her shrink back.
“Sometimes I swear, it's like they're my mortal enemies.”
“Senior Yulius seems pretty conservative about dating and marriage.”
“Isn't it the opposite? Conservative nobles treat engagements seriously—they don't push them away and live freely like I want to.”
“Just seeing how seriously you weigh the consequences of marriage makes you seem pretty conservative.”
“Fair point, maybe. Anyway, I have no intention of deciding my future lightly.”
They didn't fully understand why I was so stubbornly against it, but they nodded anyway, as if respecting my stance, and the conversation wrapped up.
Then Karin, who had been watching for an opening, spoke up again.
“So what do you plan to do? You mentioned family activities too.”
“No idea. Father will handle it.”
“You look really upset...”
“With those two troublemakers who caused this and a father I've never even had a warm conversation with in the same space—wouldn't it be weirder if I felt good?”
“Y-Yeah, you're right.”
Karin looked flustered by my sharp response and cast her eyes downward. No, what was I supposed to do about that?
The culprits deserved to stew in the corner, but it wasn't my place to get angry.
In the end, I headed to the kitchen to cool my head a bit.
When I was a kid, I got caught practicing cooking here, and the servants who let me in got whipped for it.
I swallowed the resurfacing displeasure and pulled ingredients from the food storage kept cold by magic.
With my mind made up, I put the coffee I'd brought specifically to serve the family into the pot.
I made mashed potatoes with potatoes that grow well even in poor soil, pondered pairings, then just grabbed some meat and started grilling.
It wasn't the best cut, but I made beef steak with mashed potatoes, hash browns, and cheap sausages.
At a glance, it looked like a guy's meal, but it was actually a practical, calorie-dense plate for laborers or knights in the field.
I prepared more than enough for one person and brewed the coffee in the pot for a large batch.
Cooking while focusing really does chase away bad thoughts. It's my true calling.
Rather than dealing with noble society, I'd rather be a chef in some nameless shop—that's what I thought as I carried the food and coffee back to my room.
Big Sis Mina and the Emperor whispering in the corner like fellow sufferers, Big Sis Leimi and Karin with her friends chatting across the table.
And my little sister, who had just come in and was standing awkwardly.
“Want some too?”
“Eh? Brother. Can I?”
“No reason not to. Come sit.”
Including the two problem children who crept out at the smell of food, we all ate together. Better than trading sharp words—filling our stomachs was the way to go.
I'd sneakily prepared potato salad for Big Sis Mina just in case, and she was devouring it, saying it was good.
When I glanced her way, she put both hands on her head and made a heart.
It's stuff like this that makes it impossible to hate her.
After we all finished eating, I asked Yustina.
“What does Father plan to do?”
“No idea yet. He seems to have a lot on his mind.”
“I see.”
“His Grace the Calamity Duke keeps teasing him, though.”
“He's the same as ever.”
Was it really okay for him to act like that?
To be brutally honest, I wondered if the Duke's attitude and behavior hadn't played a role in twisting Rias's personality as she grew up.
In the original story, Rias cheated because she thought her fiancé wasn't a good match, and now she'd headbutted a prince just to spark my jealousy—without even talking it over.
If she'd had the intelligence and heart to respect a man mutually and discuss issues openly, none of this would've happened, I was sure.
In a way, wasn't the Duke treating her son-in-law like mere wallpaper the root of all evil?
If Rias and I had gotten along well, Ermina might not have even had an opening with me.
“How long is he staying?”
“He says he'll play the mother role.”
“Is he insane?”
No, wait.
Even so, saying it like that wouldn't do.
Maybe being back home was bringing out the rough speech vibe from growing up in the facility in my past life—I clamped my mouth shut.
My own mother wasn't some paragon, but honestly, as a human being—not a noble—the Calamity Duke was barely scraping above zero.
“Ahem. Anyway, so he's not planning to leave.”
“Yeah. He's always sung about how great it would be if you were his son, so I doubt he'll pass up the chance.”
“He's been going around saying that? Ugh.”
“There are testimonies about jokes like 'if not a son, then a husband'...”
“What a mess.”
Everyone listening had incredulous looks, so my sense of it wasn't off.
But given that he'd engaged Rias and me in the first place, there was clearly some connection between the Calamity Duke and my father.
Well, I'd figure it out gradually this time.
That's why I'd come, after all.
“...Brother.”
“Yeah.”
“Is there any more to eat...?”
“Hold on a sec.”
Yustina had changed in her own way, so I couldn't expect much from Father either.
Anyway, things would work out somehow.
It was peak 'whatever happens, happens' mode for Yulius's life.