“I’m sorry for crying for so long.”
Olivier, who had been crying for a while, wiped away her tears and pulled away from Jared’s back.
Jared felt a slight regret as her warmth receded, and Olivier began to speak.
“My Mother was constantly targeted for her life. It may have started when one of the consorts, unable to bear a son, mocked my Mother and threatened to force her to abandon her position as the legal wife.”
Jared turned towards Olivier and faced her on the bed.
“But, at the time, we were still living at the main family’s estate, so it was merely harassment and threats. However, when they realized my Mother wouldn’t give up that easily, I became the target.”
“I… I didn’t know.”
“I never told you. After that, many unpleasant things happened, but my Mother, Trane, and I got through it together. But when the attacks started happening whenever we went out, and we truly began to feel a sense of crisis, my Father suddenly ordered me to live in a separate residence. I even wondered if my Father was targeting my Mother.”
However, that was a misunderstanding, and Duke Alway had moved them to a separate residence for Hannelore and Olivier.
But Olivier, at the time, must have felt betrayed by her father.
“After we moved into this mansion, hired adventurers attacked us. At first, it was just intimidation, but it gradually became more extreme. We tried to hire guards, but we didn’t know who to trust, so in the end, we couldn’t keep anyone by our side except Trane.”
Jared couldn’t fathom how much Olivier, a ducal young lady, had suffered.
“Life without household staff was tough. But my Mother is a strong person, so she enjoyed the housework without any problems. She taught me housework, saying it was bride training, and Trane, who seems so capable now, couldn’t do anything at first. Despite the hardships, there were strangely more happy memories than difficult ones.”
“I’m sure it’s thanks to Hannelore.”
“I think so too. But while our happy life continued, the attacks grew more and more aggressive. I believe a struggle broke out at the main family’s residence to decide my Father’s successor. My Father said he would appoint the most outstanding among his younger sons as the head, but such ambiguous words would surely make anyone uneasy. All the consorts wanted their own sons to be the next head. As leverage, they each desired the position of the legal wife.”
“So, that’s why they started targeting Hannelore’s life.”
“Precisely. And they saw me as an obstacle. They kept bringing me marriage proposals one after another. They were probably worried that if I wished for it, I could also become the head of the family. But I couldn’t leave my Mother. So, just like I did with you, I made impossible demands, and at times, I used my authority as a ducal young lady to reject them all.”
The result, it seemed, was Olivier’s bad reputation.
“I couldn’t marry and leave my Mother behind. But if I couldn’t refuse them myself, I wanted them to reject me. If that happened, bad rumors would spread, and consequently, there would be no one who wanted to marry me.”
“That must have been difficult.”
“…I’m telling you this because it’s you, but at some point, I started enjoying making the other party uncomfortable with my unreasonable demands, and seeing my Father’s troubled expression when I acted arrogantly. It was a small way to relieve my stress. The rumors were worse than I had imagined, so I decided to enjoy it and went all out.”
“So, the one who had a difficult time was Duke Alway…”
He must have been greatly troubled by his daughter’s whims.
Nevertheless, he endured it due to his own sense of guilt and continued searching for a suitable marriage partner, wishing for his daughter’s happiness. And then, Jared was chosen by fate.
“Everyone would, of course, get angry when I made unreasonable demands and would speak ill of me behind my back. You were the exception. However, I couldn’t actually marry you. My Mother was looking forward to it, so I intended to play at having a fiancé, but I couldn’t involve you in our dangerous circumstances.”
Her refusal of marriage and her chasing away of potential fiancés weren’t for her own sake, but for theirs.
Her methods may not have been commendable, but it was the result of Olivier’s own considerations.
“But, in the end, you got caught up in it. I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t apologize. It’s okay, involve me.”
“Only you would say something like ‘involve me.’ As I thought earlier, you really are an idiot. Hey, Jared, is it really okay to involve me like this?”
Her tear-filled eyes met his, and Jared nodded.
Then, the tears that had stopped began to flow again.
“Olivier-sama?”
Without a word, she leaned her head against Jared. He quickly embraced her.
“Hey, is it really okay if I cause you trouble?”
“Of course.”
“It’s dangerous!”
“Danger is inherent for a magician.”
“I might die.”
“That’s nothing new. I’ve already come close to death once, so please don’t worry about it.”
“You really are an idiot.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Jared tightened his arms around Olivier and confessed his intentions to her.
“Olivier-sama—no, Olivier. I am your fiancé. I care about you, Hannelore-sama, and Trane. So please, involve me. Don’t hold back. I won’t die. I refuse to die. Until the day Olivier and Hannelore-sama can live together with smiles on their faces, I will absolutely not die. Therefore, I will protect you all.”
There was no verbal reply. Instead, he heard crying, and Olivier embraced him tightly.
As he gently stroked the hair of his older fiancée, who had started crying again, Jared made a resolution to defeat Pfeil, who had declared he would appear again tonight.
***
“That was good, Olivier-sama.”
Trane had been eavesdropping on Olivier and Jared’s conversation.
Although she felt it was unbecoming of a maid, she had remained nearby just in case.
Initially, she had thought Jared was merely a man seeking status. Trane knew that his father had strongly pushed for his son to be recommended to Duke Alway, and she had been wary of him. However, after a brief conversation, that impression quickly faded.
He bore a resemblance not to his father, but to his grandfather, Baron Daum, as Hannelore had mentioned.
Baron Daum, who Duke Alway trusted and who had also been his sword master, was outwardly a subordinate but was arguably more of an advisor. Trane had heard that Hannelore had also received his help.
When she looked into it out of slight concern, she discovered that Baron Daum had been secretly providing protection during the early stages of the attacks on Hannelore and when Olivier and she herself were struggling.
The fact that Baron Daum’s grandson, Jared Murphy, had declared himself Olivier’s fiancé and promised to protect everyone, including herself, made Trane feel as if it were fate.
Could it be that the Duke and the Baron had both wished for this outcome? Was she overthinking it?
Even so, Jared had chosen to want to protect Olivier and the others of his own free will, regardless of any possible machinations by the Duke.
Knowing that even the continent’s top assassination organization, Waalthe, was targeting them, and having narrowly escaped death the previous night, he had still declared his intention to protect them without regard for the danger.
Jared likely didn’t realize how much that one statement had saved Olivier.
Even Trane, no, even Hannelore hadn’t seen Olivier shed tears for years. Tears were unnecessary for Olivier, who continued to act strong to protect her mother, refusing to be defeated.
“Jared-sama, I’m truly glad you are Olivier-sama’s fiancé.”
Therefore, Trane felt gratitude.
Trane vowed to repay Jared someday, for he would fight for Olivier, whom she cherished like an older sister, and for Hannelore, who treated her with the warmth of a mother.
