Chapter 10
I waited for her answer like a criminal awaiting sentencing.
"One year......"
Erika Solnzari murmured with a troubled expression.
"That's quite a long time, isn't it?"
Is that a no? I struggled to keep the disappointment off my face.
"Father really is taking full advantage of the situation."
Huh? What does the Prime Minister have to do with this?
She muttered one of her unusually loud monologues.
"Given the current circumstances, it would certainly be easy for our family to decide who to introduce 'her' to over the course of a year. But still, a whole year..."
So the important person she was supposed to meet was a woman? That just makes it more confusing.
I felt oddly guilty about interrupting her monologue, but I did it anyway.
"No, it's not like the Prime Minister told me to or anything."
Erika Solnzari looked at me curiously.
"Is that so?"
I nodded in response to her question.
"Then this 'one year'—you proposed that yourself?"
I mean, I literally just said that.
Still, I nodded again.
"I'm not sure if I'm impressed or just dumbfounded. I don't dislike the kind of resolve that's willing to do whatever it takes to achieve its goal, though."
If you've shown that much determination, Father will probably do everything in his power to uphold the promise.
I couldn't tell whether that was another monologue or her actual judgment.
"Even so, you didn't have to stick by me so dutifully. You could've just taken on the title of nominal husband and disappeared somewhere in the kingdom."
That would've defeated the purpose, since I wouldn't be by your side—I was thinking that when her words reminded me of something.
"Now that you mention it, the Prime Minister said something similar. Of course, I turned him down."
It was starting to feel less like a conversation and more like we were just trading monologues, but Erika Solnzari showed a hint of surprise.
Then, for some reason, she stared at my face and straightened her back.
For the record, her back had been perfectly straight the whole time, and her posture was already beautiful.
"I see... So that option was presented to you. And yet, you chose to stay with me."
Her eyes as she looked at me were beautiful.
Her magical energy, far richer than that of an ordinary person, enveloped her and shimmered with every delicate movement.
The words that flowed from her lips were so movingly powerful, they carried enough emotion to strike the heart.
"To throw away a whole year just to be by my side, even for a little while."
Was that sincerity I felt in her emotion?
"It seems I underestimated your resolve. I apologize. And that resolve... I don't dislike it."
She smiled.
"Shin Longdagger, I've taken a liking to you."
Erika Solnzari had taken a liking to me.
Just that fact alone nearly made me faint.
At the edge of my fading consciousness, I thought I heard her murmur, "I wish someone would feel that strongly about me too..."
But I had no idea what she meant.
I was just too happy.