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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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For a moment, my mind went blank.
So, she was really asking me if I had considered a political marriage, right?
I quietly pointed my finger at myself.
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“With whom?”
As if waiting for my question, Princess Elena joked.
“As you may know, political marriages among nobles usually take place between families of similar status. Your mother was probably keeping that in mind while looking for potential spouses for you.”
“…”
That was indeed true.
Considering the times, my siblings and I were an unusual case. I was the youngest at twenty years old, already past the prime marriageable age, and my elder and younger sisters, not even in their mid-twenties, were already branded as spinsters.
However, looking at precedents, marriages in our family typically occurred between mediocre rural nobles from nearby territories.
The unspoken rule of marrying within one’s class existed for a reason.
“But what if there was a marriage prospect that would clearly benefit not only you but also your family?”
“Could it be…?”
With a nonchalant expression, she shrugged her shoulders and pointed at herself.
Wow, the audacity.
Even if her face wasn’t completely brazen, she couldn’t hide the faint blush that had bloomed on her cheeks, and Princess Elena’s red eyes wavered in contrast to her expression.
“It may sound arrogant coming from my own mouth, but marrying me would guarantee a definite rise in status for you while offering no benefit to me.”
“Uh…”
“You don’t need to worry, do you? Even if there is some opposition to the marriage of the 2nd Princess, who is far from the throne, I can easily overcome it if I push for it.”
To summarize, Princess Elena was saying that although she would gain nothing, it would be advantageous for me, so I should enter into a political marriage with her…
In other words, this was a proposal.
And right now, I was being proposed to.
Thinking about it this way made my head slightly dizzy. Rather than a matter of like or dislike, the sudden acceleration caught me off guard, and my thoughts weren’t properly organized.
Perhaps sensing my expression, Princess Elena hastily added.
“However, I want to make it clear that I’m not forcing or coercing you. The decision is entirely up to you.”
“…”
Anyone who wasn’t a fool could understand the situation.
I didn’t know what had happened in the past before the regression that made her act this way, but I was well aware of the current situation where the five of them were bickering over me.
Frankly, I wasn’t thrilled about being the center of attention like the protagonist of a romance novel, but apart from that, I was slowly contemplating what I should do.
But at this point, suddenly stepping on the accelerator like this was beyond my expectations, so I was more perplexed than anything.
In my previous life, there was a joking saying that confessions should be made as a final confirmation step just before starting a relationship, after all the flirting and getting close. I recalled an online post saying that confessing out of the blue to someone you weren’t even close with was bound to fail.
Honestly, my feelings were similar.
I didn’t know what sense of crisis Her Highness the Princess had felt or what change of heart she had experienced, but suddenly proposing like this was a bit much.
“…”
The silence stretched on as I was more taken aback by the situation. When I raised my head, I saw Princess Elena’s anxious expression, as if she had committed a crime, carefully observing my reaction.
“…Your Highness.”
“Speak.”
“Based on your words, Your Highness, this marriage is not something you need to do, right? Even if it’s less significant as the 2nd Princess, there will still be many people opposed to it, and there’s nothing beneficial for you.”
“…”
Princess Elena’s words seemed to be stuck in her throat, as no response came for a long while.
“…I told you one lie. This political marriage is not entirely without benefit for me.”
“Pardon?”
“Let me ask you directly.”
With an elegant motion, Princess Elena brushed her hair behind her ear, erasing her previous expression as if it had been an act, and asked with an unprecedented seriousness.
“It may seem like a favorable proposal for you alone. And in reality, it is.”
“Then why…?”
“Instead, I gain you. That one merit outweighs all the disadvantages.”
Bang!
Princess Elena slammed her hand on the table.
“I’ll get straight to the point. I want you… No, I want Rudrick Weiss.”
“Do you like me?”
I already knew.
Whether it was turning an entire fleet around or bursting out of a coffin after regressing to the past. Until now, they had been cautiously observing, but Princess Elena, who had experienced a change of heart, had stepped on the accelerator first.
That’s why, to my casual question asked without much thought…
“…Probably.”
Princess Elena, her face flushed, quietly murmured, all traces of her previous confidence gone.
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In the office after Rudrick had left.
Elena, leaning crookedly in her chair as if she had melted, let out a sigh.
“…Ha.”
She knew it well enough. It was a proposal blurted out as if she were seized by a sudden sense of crisis, without any mood or preparation.
The die had been cast, and the spilled water could not be gathered back.
Her first gamble in life had returned to her as the sweet reward of becoming the empress of the empire, but her second gamble had failed. Not just failed, but completely collapsed.
‘…I’m sorry, but I don’t want to get married yet. Honestly, even if I do get married, I don’t know if I can be a good husband.’
‘I know. You have a free-spirited personality, unlike typical noble scions. I made this proposal taking all of that into account–‘
‘Let’s talk about this again next time! For now, I don’t think it’s the right time.’
Anyone could see that Rudrick had unnaturally excused himself, and Elena had clung to him in a way that others might find uncharacteristically pitiful of her.
The memory of what had just happened resurfaced, and Elena’s sigh deepened.
The only consolation was that it wasn’t a complete rejection, leaving some room for possibility. It meant that Elena still had the option of slowly gaining Rudrick’s favor by his side and seizing the next opportunity to make a comeback.
Of course, this was just the most optimistic outlook, and the reality was that she was left alone after suddenly bringing up a political marriage out of the blue and being rejected.
Thinking about it this way, Elena’s mood became quite gloomy.
To be more specific, she wanted to lie in bed for at least three days without doing anything, fasting and slowly ruminating on her current regret.
“…I’d rather die than suffer.”
Grumbling, Elena forcibly lifted herself up.
Regardless of her desires, there were still piles of work that she had to handle and process.
As if doing a task she despised, Elena sat back at her desk with a visible display of displeasure and pulled the documents requiring urgent approval in front of her.
White was the paper, and black was the text.
No matter how intently she stared at the documents, their contents didn’t register in her mind at all. For the princess who had steadily climbed the elite path without experiencing a single failure, apart from sending Rudrick away, both before and after the regression, the pain of heartbreak was a fresh shock.
It seemed that the current psychological impact would not be resolved in a day or two. Just as she was chuckling to herself…
“Your Highness, what happened again that you have such a deathly expression?”
The rudeness of entering the office of the empire’s princess without knocking or seeking permission. And the unmistakable tone of provocation in her voice.
As Elena raised her head with dull eyes, as expected…
Lassiel was standing at the wide-open office door.
Lassiel Reppert, the Admiral who oversaw the Imperial Navy.
At the appearance of the unwelcome guest, Elena spoke weakly.
“…I don’t have the leisure to bicker with you right now, so please come back another time.”
“I don’t particularly intend to bicker with Your Highness.”
Lassiel replied with a brazen smile and sat cross-legged on a chair, asking subtly.
“How does it feel to have your proposal rejected?”
“…You heard everything?”
“I happened to overhear it. What a sight to behold. The great Princess… No, Her Majesty the Empress being rejected by a man.”
“Lassiel Reppert. If you want to live long, it’s best to watch your words.”
“We’ve both been through a lot anyway, so why put on airs between us? I even took your side in the civil war.”
Lassiel’s tone remained casual, only the form of address changing from “Your Highness” to “Your Majesty.”
As the urge to punch Lassiel in the face began to rise within Elena, Lassiel, who had stopped laughing, got to the point.
“Ric said something interesting. He said we should film a movie together, whatever that means. Why don’t you and I film a movie too, Your Majesty?”
“…In front of me, I forbid you from casually referring to Rudrick by a nickname. It’s grating to my ears.”
“Says the one who got rejected after making a move.”
“…”
The moment Elena heard Lassiel’s grumbling, she almost lost her temper, but she suppressed her anger with superhuman patience and asked.
“What are you trying to say?”
“It’s simple. I think it’s best if we have a hands-off policy between us. Let’s refrain from interfering with each other as much as possible. And I’d appreciate it if you could pull some strings to allow me to stay in the capital.”
“…I think you’re misunderstanding something. The military authority is solely in the hands of the Empress Dowager. You know very well that I, who am still ‘just’ a princess, cannot wield it.”
“But you can arrange for a temporary leave of absence or personnel orders, can’t you?”
“…”
As Elena’s silence stretched on, Lassiel grinned and drove the point home.
“I won’t go around telling the other three that you proposed to Ric… I mean, Rudrick and got rejected, so I hope you’ll show me some leniency.”
“This isn’t a deal; it’s blackmail.”
“Well, think of it as a deal for our mutual convenience.”
Elena wanted to punch Lassiel not just once, but with all her heart.
However, Lassiel’s conditions were not unreasonable, and Elena had no choice but to think that she was simply pulling some strings to remove the constraints on her freedom of movement, which were greater for her compared to the others.
At least it would be better than having that damned cousin come to her office again, grabbing her by the collar and asking what she was up to.
Tsk.
Elena bit her lip, feeling like things were getting more and more tangled.
This wasn’t how she had originally intended for things to go…
Her sigh deepened even further.
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