MDIJTOMOH CH 04

Now that things have come to this, I need to act quickly!

Just as I was about to stand up, I heard some noise nearby.

“How happy must the woman who marries Sir Dylan be?”

More precisely, I suppose it was the word marriage that caught my attention.

“He may be a commoner, but he’ll probably earn a title after accomplishing some great feats soon.”

Come to think of it, he was probably approaching marriageable age too.

Could it be… me?

Ah, no.

There were so many women lining up to marry him. There was no way he’d choose me.

I shook my head vigorously, then sprang to my feet and walked away with purpose.

Sir Tov’s sparring match had ended, so I needed to propose to him quickly.

“Sir Tov. Could you come over to the warehouse beside the training grounds for a moment?”

At my stiff tone, Sir Tov looked at me and smiled affably.

“Ah, yes, Administrator Ishael! What’s the matter?”

“It’s something very important. Please come with me.”

“Ah, sure. Let me just clean up and I’ll follow you.”

I nodded seriously.

I was incredibly nervous about explaining my situation and proposing to him.

This is my first time proposing to someone, after all.

Without looking back, I headed toward the warehouse beside the training grounds.

But just as I reached the quiet, secluded warehouse and turned around—

“…?”

Standing before me was not Sir Tov, but another knight.

That’s strange.

Why was Sir Dylan, practically everyone’s ideal type, here?

I discreetly looked around.

Beyond the alley, there was no one else, as if the place had been fenced off.

What is going on?

I couldn’t make sense of the situation.

I cautiously opened my mouth.

“Um, where is Sir Tov?”

Sir Dylan quietly whispered,

“Sir Tov is dead.”

Huh?

Sir Tov had suddenly died.

“What? He’s dead?”

My marriage candidate had died just like that.

But that couldn’t be true.

“He was definitely alive just a moment ago.”

At my words, he lowered his gaze and replied,

“It was… a mistake.”

Was I hallucinating?

I could have sworn I heard the sound of someone grinding their teeth.

I blinked and tilted my head.

Then Sir Dylan parted his lips and murmured softly,

“Tov is… busy. I’ll deliver your message for you.”

He seemed to have stumbled over his words a little.

But that wasn’t important.

What mattered was that Tov wasn’t here.

And what I had to say wasn’t something that could simply be passed along through someone else.

Who on earth has someone else receive a marriage proposal on their behalf?

“He really needs to hear it himself…”

His voice dropped even lower.

“Would I… not do?”

His already deep voice and already seductive face were directed straight at me.

For a moment, I almost fell for it.

But that was when I noticed something strange.

Why does this man sound so wistful?

I quickly came to my senses and firmly replied,

“Yes. I don’t think that would work.”

“…I see.”

Dylan quietly let his shoulders droop.

Well, he had probably taken quite a shock.

He had probably never been rejected by anyone in his entire life.

“Ah, then I’ll be going.”

I slipped the proposal letter I had intended to give Sir Tov back into my pocket.

The moment this letter became public, I knew exactly how humiliating it would be.

But just as I took a step forward—

How cruel was fate?

While I was busy putting away the proposal letter, I failed to notice a stone sticking out of the ground.

Crash!

Naturally, I fell.

Fortunately, my backside didn’t hurt too badly.

But there was a problem.

The proposal letter, with [Sir Tov, Reasons You Should Marry Me] written in huge letters across it—

fluttered gently to the ground and landed directly on Sir Dylan’s boot!

Oh, this is insane.

I hurriedly reached out and picked up the letter.

“…What is this?”

Sir Dylan’s eyes were shaking violently.

He had definitely seen the contents of the proposal.

“Then I’ll be going!”

I hurriedly limped away.

I thought I heard Sir Dylan urgently calling my name from behind me.

But!

I was far too embarrassed to turn around!

Evening came.

Having completely forgotten the humiliation from earlier, I called my best friend, Henry, out for a drink.

I was planning to propose to him over a drink.

I also figured I might be able to pick up some useful information about housing if I asked around.

“You want to buy a house? Housing prices are ridiculously expensive these days.”

It was nothing but depressing news.

“…So there’s really no way for an ordinary person without a single penny to buy a house?”

“If you don’t have any capital, there’s only so much you can borrow. If you want to buy a house, isn’t a loan shark basically your only option?”

I had to listen to this kind of pessimistic talk too.

Speaking of loan sharks, I’m getting angry again.

Thinking about all the money my parents had irresponsibly spent made me grind my teeth.

I really couldn’t keep going like this.

I’d already had a drink, so it was time to begin my marriage proposal aimed at cutting ties with my family.

“I have something to tell you.”

“What’s with that expression? You look like you’re staring at the sworn enemy of your most hated parents.”

Was my glare really that intense?

But there was a flaw in Henry’s statement.

They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

And my parents’ sworn enemy was my friend.

I cleared my throat and said,

“Let’s get married. I absolutely, absolutely promise I won’t fall in love with you. And I’ll divorce you as soon as the contract period ends!”

Henry looked at me with a wistful gaze and quietly replied,

“What the hell?”

Did anyone else hear that sound?

Like someone pouring a bucket of cold water over everything?

“Did you read some romance novel somewhere and decide to test those lines on me?”

So novels really were just novels.

Usually, the heroines in romance novels proposed to the Northern Grand Duke like this.

Looking at Henry in front of me, my excitement completely fizzled out.

“How did you know I got that from a novel?”

“Who else talks like that except people in novels?”

“You’re a genius.”

“Anyway, I dream of a love marriage, so it won’t work. But seriously, why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“Why do you think?”

“You broke up with that guy.”

I took another drink and smiled bitterly.

“Yeah…”

“You’ve gone crazy after the breakup… Anyway, I can’t do it. My goal is to date happily for more than five years and then get married.”

Ha. I just got rejected with a bang.

Of course, I had expected it.

“Fine… If you know any good husband material, introduce him to me within the next twenty-four hours. I’m going to look for Sir Tov.”

“What? All of a sudden? Gasp, are you planning to propose to Sir Tov?”

“Yep.”

“Well, if it’s a contract marriage, I guess there might be a chance. Apparently contract marriages are all the rage these days because of romance novels.”

What is wrong with this guy?

His friend had just announced that she was going to get married within twenty-four hours, and he wasn’t even the slightest bit judgmental.

He even patted me on the shoulder.

“Hey. Hang in there! And please, try to hold on to your sanity.”

I nodded ominously at him.

If I don’t get married within twenty-four hours, I’ll be buried under a mountain of loan-shark debt.

There was absolutely no way I could be more sane than I was right now.

“Yeah. Thanks, my friend.”

I should head back to the residence for now.

Sir Tov was probably on overnight duty somewhere inside the Knights’ Order.

As far as I knew, he was working hard to earn money and pay off his family’s debts.

Apparently, he didn’t even mind taking overnight shifts.

And so, after kicking open the door of the tavern and heading back into the Imperial Palace, I was walking past the training grounds when—

In front of a dark alley, where there were surprisingly quite a few passersby,

someone stepped in front of me.

“Gah!”

I nearly had a heart attack.

What was going on?

Why was Sir Dylan standing solemnly right in front of me?

I stammered and hurriedly asked,

“W-what is the matter?”

“I was waiting for you.”

He didn’t seem to care at all about the countless gazes of the men and women around us.

He simply stared at me as though he intended to devour me.

“Pardon?”

“I wanted to ask you something, so I kept waiting.”

Am I drunk enough to be seeing things?

Why did Sir Dylan look like his face was flushed red?

He was supposed to be the man who silently sparred without having a single close friend.

He was even known as a taciturn man who never smiled at anyone.

There was no way such a man could blush.

And yet here he was, suddenly blocking my path.

“What did you want to ask me?”

I looked at him and wondered to myself,

Did he drink too?

Then his lips moved slightly before he whispered in a voice barely louder than a mosquito.

“…Why do you want to marry Sir Tov?”

“What?”

I must not have heard him properly, so I asked again.

He murmured even more quietly,

“Why Tov?”

“…What?”

“Why… does it have to be Tov?”