Chapter 8
“Prince Verunoa!!!!!!”
The first person to completely lose his temper was Shurles.
He drew his sword.
Completely drew it.
The knights around him also began to stir.
Naturally.
A man who had only just appeared had suddenly started talking about an engagement.
He looked suspicious beyond belief.
“You…!!”
“Please calm down.”
“How am I supposed to calm down?!”
As always, Verunoa remained perfectly composed.
If anything, he looked slightly puzzled.
“I believe it is the most rational proposal.”
“How is it rational?!”
“If we become engaged, long-term protection and treatment will become possible.”
“That is not the issue here!!”
Shurles was absolutely furious.
Meanwhile—
Sole had completely frozen.
“…En…gagement?”
Her brain could not keep up.
She was eight years old.
And this was her first time ever going outside.
Yet somehow, she was suddenly being proposed to by a prince from a neighboring kingdom.
The amount of information was downright violent.
Then—
“I reject it.”
Aalto dismissed the idea calmly.
Thank goodness.
Sole wholeheartedly agreed with him.
However—
Verunoa did not back down in the slightest.
“Why?”
“Why do you think it would ever be accepted in the first place?”
“There are only advantages.”
“That’s terrifying.”
The words slipped out of Sole’s mouth before she could stop herself.
Verunoa turned his gaze toward her.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, you’re just genuinely scary.”
“I see.”
He did not seem bothered at all.
That was scary too.
Then—
Mishnight spoke in a low voice.
“Prince Verunoa.”
There was the pressure of a Chancellor behind his words.
“What exactly do you think my daughter is?”
The atmosphere grew heavy.
But after several seconds of silence,
Verunoa answered calmly.
“…At present, she is an extremely rare holder of magical power.”
Everyone’s expressions immediately turned cold.
Even Sole thought,
(Wow, that’s the worst thing you could have said.)
But—
Verunoa continued.
“However.”
Those sapphire eyes looked directly at Sole.
“At the same time, she is also the first existence of her kind that I have ever seen.”
“…”
“Ordinarily, someone like her would break.”
His voice was quiet.
“The surroundings would be destroyed, magical beasts would flee, and the person themselves would lose their sanity.”
Yet—
Sole was different.
Flowers bloomed around her.
Magical beasts gathered near her.
The atmosphere became peaceful.
And she spent her time petting fluffy creatures.
None of it made any sense.
To Verunoa, she was something completely unknown.
“I want to understand.”
Those words silenced everyone.
Verunoa was a rationalist.
He hated waste.
He did not act based on emotions.
And yet—
For the first time, this man had said:
“I want to understand.”
But Sole herself was thinking:
(Isn’t that just another way of saying I’m a research specimen???)
Her guard instantly shot up.
Then—
Verunoa took a step forward.
The knights once again pointed their swords at him,
but this time he did not stop.
Instead—
He walked directly in front of Sole and lowered himself onto one knee.
“…!”
Everyone gasped.
The First Prince had knelt before a duke’s daughter.
It was an unimaginable sight.
Verunoa looked up at Sole.
His night-colored hair swayed gently in the wind.
Then—
“You do not want to die, do you?”
His voice was quiet.
Sole’s heart skipped a beat.
“…”
She did not want to die.
Of course she did not.
Her previous life had ended suddenly.
In this life,
she had finally found a family that loved her.
She had finally gone outside.
She had finally gotten to cuddle fluffy creatures.
Her life was only just beginning.
Verunoa took her silence as confirmation.
“Then use me.”
“…Huh?”
“Use Emanraat.”
The moment those words left his mouth,
everyone froze.
Verunoa remained completely calm.
“I can keep you alive.”
His voice was quiet.
As though he were cutting off every possible escape route.
“So.”
“You should be the one to choose.”
It was not an order.
Nor was it a threat.
It was a choice.
But—
It was the kind of choice where there was no real way to run from it.
