Chapter 51: A Vision of the Future – Hugh
“Are you satisfied…?”
“Yes, very much so.”
I could only respond with a wry smile to Lily, who wore a cheerful grin. Since then, my lips had been stolen countless times, and by the end, I had no idea what was happening anymore. Even now, my consciousness felt hazy.
We had distanced ourselves a bit from the remnants of Duke Lecherie and sat down on the grass side by side. Without a word, we held hands, our shoulders brushing against each other.
“I hope I’ve managed to overwrite some of your negative emotions.”
It seemed that Lily could read my feelings like an open book.
“Thanks to you, I feel a lot lighter.”
I couldn’t say that all my anxiety about exposing my Brainwashing Skill had vanished, but it had certainly eased considerably.
To think that just being kissed by a beautiful girl could restore my mental state—how simple-minded I must be.
…No, that’s not quite right. It wasn’t just any beautiful girl; it was Lily. Because it was her, I managed to hold myself together without breaking down.
If Lily hadn’t accepted me at that moment, I might have thrown everything away. Or perhaps I would have stepped into a dark abyss from which there would be no return.
“Thank you, Lily.”
“You’re welcome. …So?”
“So?”
Prompted suddenly, I couldn’t help but parrot her question back.
Lily sighed dramatically and shot me a pointed look.
“After being passionately pursued by such a beautiful lady, do you really think ‘thank you’ is all I get? I’m asking if you will accept my feelings.”
“Ah, uh…”
Even I, after being kissed so many times, could sense Lily’s feelings. No matter how much I wanted to encourage someone who seemed on the verge of mental collapse, I wouldn’t repeatedly seek out someone I didn’t like… passionately, at least.
Lily’s jade-green eyes bore into mine. It was a testament to her trust in me and her resolve to accept all of me.
That was why I had to answer sincerely.
“…I’m sorry. I’m happy about your feelings, Lily. But I probably can’t love just you.”
The radiant smile of Rouge floated into my mind. While I thought it was fine to remain friends for now, I still wanted to move beyond that eventually.
I was in love with Rouge.
“So, you can’t love just me?”
“Yeah. So I’m sorry, Lily. I—”
“Then I’ll give the position of first wife to Lucretia, and I’ll support you as the second wife.”
“……………………..What?”
“Let’s work together to develop the Pnosis Territory into the richest domain in the kingdom, shall we?”
“…Wait, hold on. Don’t just start a frontier development story on your own! Are you really okay with being the second wife?!”
“Well, don’t you think it’s better than being the seventh wife of a middle-aged pervert?”
“Your comparison is the worst!”
Has this girl’s judgment been skewed by her engagement to Duke Lecherie…?!
“I don’t understand why you’re so flustered, but polygamy isn’t that rare among nobles, you know?”
“…Isn’t it unusual for a marquis’s daughter to marry into a baronial house?”
“If we’re talking about unusual, it’s unprecedented for the son of a poor baron in the backcountry to think about marrying royalty.”
“Guh… That’s certainly true…”
“What’s wrong with being unprecedented? You can rise under Prince Lucas. If you accumulate achievements and become a count, it wouldn’t be strange at all to have a royal as your first wife and a marquis’s daughter as your second.”
“My goal isn’t to rise in status; I just want a leisurely, carefree life…”
“It’s too early to settle down. We’re only fifteen, after all!”
“Well, that’s true…”
After working too hard in my previous life, I wanted to take it easy this time around, but there was no point in saying that to Lily. She would probably just respond with a serious face, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Get a grip, future husband?”
“The pressure is too much…”
The fact that I couldn’t flatly refuse her proposal meant that I found it quite appealing…
From the perspective of my previous life’s morals and ethics, this was outrageous, but in this world, noble polygamy was encouraged. In fact, it might be more unusual for a noble to have only one wife, like my father.
…Yeah, being too bound by my past life’s values isn’t good!
With the lingering sensation of my kiss with Lily, the ethics of my previous life crumbled away.
After resting for a bit, we headed to the ballroom to meet Prince Lucas. By the time we arrived, the battle had already concluded, and swords—more than a hundred—were scattered everywhere.
The air was thick with the smell of rusted iron, causing both Lily and me to grimace. However, there were no monster corpses in sight. The only traces left were the reddish-brown stains spread across the ground.
…It seemed that the collapse of the monsters that had once been Duke Lecherie wasn’t due to the outburst of my Brainwashing Skill.
I let out a sigh of relief as I surveyed the venue.
Prince Lucas, Roan, Alissa, and the other knights were all safe. From what I could see, there were no noticeable injuries. It seemed they had managed to protect all the attendees of the ball with just ten people against such a large number of monsters.
“Hey, you’re back. …From the looks of it, did you let Duke Lecherie escape?”
Prince Lucas asked, and Lily and I exchanged glances. We conveyed that the situation was more serious than that, and at Prince Lucas’s instruction, we moved to a different location. He left the scene in Alissa’s hands and led Roan and us into a room in the mansion.
The reception room was a restless space filled with extravagant furnishings. Roan stood guard outside the room while we sat on the sofa facing Prince Lucas.
“Now then, why don’t you tell me what happened?”