Fiancée Candidate
“E-Eh!?”
To think that Elizalina-sama would directly ask me to become her fiancé…
“T-That kind of thing is absolutely impossible!”
When I said that, Elina-san immediately responded with a calm demeanor, as if she had already expected me to say so.
“It’s just an if, okay? And I don’t mean accepting out of consideration because she’s royalty, I mean judging purely as a person.”
“E-Even if you say that…”
The idea that Elizalina-sama would want to get engaged to me was so far beyond anything I could imagine that I couldn’t come up with an answer right away.
I couldn’t come up with one, but still.
“I think someone like me would be unworthy of Elizalina-sama, so I would prefer for her to be engaged to someone else.”
“She’s the one asking to be engaged to you, so that kind of answer isn’t allowed.”
In terms of appearance, knowledge, and everything she’s accomplished, she far surpasses me in every possible way. I know that I’m the one who falls short.
“But if I set all that aside and speak honestly, I haven’t really spoken with Elizalina-sama very much, so I can’t picture whether I would accept an engagement or not. Even so, I do know that she’s a kind person. If someone like her asked me to become her fiancé, I think I would feel genuinely happy.”
“Ah…!”
When I said that, Elina-san’s eyes widened.
“Even if I say that, I think I’d be troubled if Elizalina-sama actually did ask me to be her fiancé… I mean, there’s no way that someone like me would ever be proposed to by Elizalina-sama in the first place.”
Precisely because it would never happen, I was able to talk about it calmly like this.
As I was thinking that, Elina-san rested her cheek on her hand and said,
“Even so, Lux, you really are strange.”
“Eh? Why do you say that?”
“Well, I mean, if the Second Princess asked you to be her fiancé, wouldn’t most people agree without even thinking about it?”
Eh…?
Feeling puzzled by Elina-san’s words, I replied,
“I-I don’t think that’s true. If someone were to become engaged to Elizalina-sama, the Second Princess of this country, they wouldn’t just be responsible for the people of their own domain. They would have to protect the lives of everyone in the nation and lead them toward happiness. And if I came to the conclusion that I didn’t yet have the strength to do that, I would probably shake my head, even if it meant disappointing Elizalina-sama.”
I said what I believed was the obvious. At least, that was what I thought. But Elina-san averted her gaze from me as she rested her cheek on her hand and muttered in a voice too quiet for me to hear.
“Most nobles only care about themselves… They put the people second. If I asked them to marry me, they’d do it out of filthy ambition… It’s disgusting.”
“…Elina-san?”
Thinking that there was something dark in Elina-san’s expression, I called her name, and she stopped resting her cheek on her hand, looked at me, and said,
“Sorry, it’s nothing!”
When she looked at me and said that, the shadow in her eyes was gone.
It seemed it had just been my imagination.
“Anyway, Lux, do you have a fiancée?”
“No, I don’t.”
I knew that I’d have to find one someday, but there was still time before I graduated from the noble academy, so I didn’t feel the need to rush into anything right now.
When I answered honestly, Elina-san immediately asked,
“I see, I see~ Just to be sure, there isn’t anyone you’d consider a fiancée candidate, right?”
“A fiancée candidate…? No, not really, I don’t think so.”
My father had told me to introduce him to any woman I fell in love with, so I was about to explain that there wasn’t anyone like that in my life. But just then, a certain person’s face came to mind.
And, as that person’s face came to mind, I said,
“…I’m not sure if it’s right to call her a ‘candidate’ exactly, but… there is one woman who has offered me a marriage proposal.”
“…Eh?”
When I said that, Elina-san let out a confused sound and froze up for a moment.
I wonder what’s wrong?