Chapter 4.4

Chapter 4: The Proposal (4)

“I sincerely apologize for my late direct proposal. However, I want you to believe me. From that day on, I have only ever loved you, Ral. Please marry me.”

Urk, I felt suffocated by the direct proposal. It was spoken from the bottom of his heart, and I couldn’t find it in my heart to refuse it. I could feel Cermiane’s warmth from our connected hands. I couldn’t look away from his gentle, smiling eyes.

With that said, though, I couldn’t immediately respond to his proposal. Although I could believe his feelings, marriage wasn’t just about feelings. Especially for me, if I would be marrying off to the Capital, I would be really far from Papa and Mama.

But, it appeared that Cermiane could see right through my dilemma. He smiled brightly and said,

“It is okay, Ral. Even if you marry and move to the Capital, I will ensure that you will always be able to come back and visit here. I have already talked with the Marquis regarding this.”

“Huh? Is that so?”

“Yes. That day, you told me that you really loved your parents here, who raised you. I would never do something like preventing you from meeting such precious people to you.”

My heart lifted slightly. Even if it’s not often, with Cermiane and Father’s approval, I would be able to come back and visit relatively freely.

“Also, since I am but a mere knight, I do not expect you to be a noble lady.”

“…? What do you mean?”

“I don’t plan on having us attend social events, so let’s live like commoners, is what I mean.”

That would be immensely helpful. I’m kind of barbaric, so I would be put into a really tough spot if I was asked to act like a noble.

“If you would like to go hunting, you may go whenever you desire. Of course, if I’m able to go with you, I will go too.”

Urk, I’m getting a little swayed. The Capital’s forest, the one I ended up not being able to go to that time. The thought of being able to explore that uncharted forest and facing off against prey I’d never seen before was making the huntswoman inside me fired up.

Seeing me get excited, Cermiane’s eyes glistened.

“I also gathered information on the King Grizzly. I would love to hunt one together with you.”

The bear that was known to be bigger than the great red bear. The big prey of my dreams. Urgh, I want to hunt it! I want to fight it!

“I don’t have information on dragons yet, but once I rise up the ranks further as a knight, I’ll be able to gain access to past subjugation records.”

Dragons! The legendary big shots! If you can hunt one down, you gain the epithet, “Dragon Killer,” the dream of huntsmen. Coming across a dragon is extremely difficult, but there might be a chance if we have the slightest of information.

“I will work hard to make sure I can grant anything you would like to do, Ral. I no longer have any parents, so there will be no mother-in-law troubles. I will never tie you down. So please, please become my wife, Ral.”

Cermiane, for whatever reason, showed his greatest concession. I haven’t the slightest clue why he is so desperate to make me his wife, but I understood that he was serious. And also that he knew me really well.

Father had already given his approval to the marriage between Cermiane and me. Nothing would change no matter what I say. Or actually, since they spoiled me rotten, if I cried and said I didn’t want to, they might cancel it, but it seemed like I didn’t dislike this to the point that I would cry about it.

I already knew that Cermiane and I got along well. I had never felt uncomfortable or unhappy with him. And he would probably become someone who is stronger than me and who I could rely on.

I don’t know if a better marriage candidate than Cermiane would come if I refuse this marriage proposal. If I were to marry a commoner, a very patriarchal household wasn’t rare, so there was a good chance I would lose a lot of my freedom once I married. On the other hand, if I married a noble, they would expect me to fulfill my duties as a noble lady. They would no doubt say hunting was out of the question.

I was starting to think marrying Cermiane came with a lot of benefits. Since he’s been pursuing me so passionately, he would probably treat me preciously. To be honest, I don’t know anything about love and I don’t particularly like Cermiane in that way, but if I have to marry someone, I’d want to marry someone who would be okay with my free-spirited way of life.

“Mia, you truly mean everything you said, right?”

“Of course. And I promise that I will only love you for the rest of my life. I swear to the Almighty.”

Cermiane solemnly swore and made a circle with his fingertips on his forehead. A pledge to the Almighty was absolute. I made a decision.

“…I understand. I accept your proposal.”

At that moment, Cermiane embraced me tightly. I almost elbowed his solar plexus in response but held in that instinct. It would be bad if I made him keel over now.

“Thank you! Ral!”

He hugged me quite strongly. I could very well feel the flood of emotions from his body. I just let myself go with the flow while letting out a sigh internally. Well, it can’t be helped, right? It can’t be helped. Honestly, it didn’t feel like I was actually getting married yet, and I’m full of worries and dissatisfactions, but I have to get married, so it can’t be helped. I can only acknowledge that I was lucky enough to be able to meet a decent husband. But, by accepting the proposal, I felt like I was able to open a new path to my future. The boring days have come to an end and a fresh new breeze has blown into my everyday life, which was something I was happy about.

By the way, out of all the promises Cermiane made just now, it turned out that he was only able to fulfill about half of them.

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