“I don’t want you to be startled when you hear this. The moment I saw you, I—”
“Oh heavens, my mother and father must be so worried about me!” Jill interrupted him loudly, bolting away like a startled foal.
Gerald’s dazed look of amazement was worth seeing, but Jill had much bigger problems at hand.
I have to run away! There’s a chance this is a dream, but regardless, if this goes on…I will be reliving a nightmare, because this time I know everything! There’s even a chance that my life will come to an early end! But it seems as though he’s already zeroed in on me… What steps can I take now? Jill wondered, pushing her way through the crowd.
She caught a glimpse of Gerald leaving the terrace. She had hoped he would just give up there, but she supposed she ought to have known better. When Gerald saw her, he shouted: “Lady Jill! Why are you running away?”
Jill wondered how good it would feel to shout back, “Because you’re the man I’ve already left!” But eyes were already turning toward the prince since he had called out to her. She could probably only buy a few more moments pretending she couldn’t hear him.
What’s a good strategy to evade the prince’s proposal without a fuss…? Pretend like I already have a boyfriend?! No, I’m a child right now, that would be impossible! Plus, unless it’s a guy who would make the crown prince back down… There’s no way there’s someone like that just hanging around! At the very least, he’d have to have abnormally high magic power and be physically strong… But people like that come from my family, and Prince Gerald is strong too!
As her thoughts drifted into the realm of escapism, Jill desperately ran away. Her ten-year-old body, however, kept getting swept away by the waves of people. Jill pressed forward, pushing towards a spot with fewer people, but this also meant that it was easier for Gerald to shorten the distance between them.
“Lady Jill!”
Just as Jill managed to slip out of a circle of people, Gerald finally caught up with her.
That’s right! If I propose… I’ll accept responsibility for getting you involved! I’ll make you happy!
As Gerald reached out for Jill’s arm, she threw her hand behind her back and grabbed whatever it reached. It was a very fine cloak, strangely pleasant to touch. Jill shrank backward, and her back came into contact with something—probably a knee. From this person’s steadfast composure, she guessed that it was an adult man.
If that was the case, this might all be neatly tied up as a child’s practical joke. The fact that Gerald gasped also gave Jill courage.
In any event, she needed to escape from this emergency situation—and with that one thought in her mind, she shouted: “I’ve fallen in love with this person at first sight! I’m going to marry him! I’m going to spend the rest of my life making him happy!”
“Jill?!”
Jill heard her parents’ stunned voices as they shouted her name—they must have overheard the disturbance. The room was buzzing, and Gerald’s lips were drawn together in a flatline, his expression displeased.
Jill blinked at the crowd’s reaction, which was slightly more dramatic than brushing it aside as a child’s practical joke—and then, she heard a voice from above her.
“Okay. Then I will take you as my wife.”
That was not the response Jill had hoped for. It was not the response of an adult deflecting a child’s practical joke.
The man’s voice was low and pleasing to the ear. It was so alluring that a shiver went down her spine. It was a voice that, if whispered in a woman’s ear, would make her knees buckle.
If you had savored that voice once, you would never be able to forget it.
I-I’ve heard…that voice…before, she realized. On the battlefield, just recently—or, maybe six years in the future… Jill was confused. In any event, in the future, when she engaged in a battle against the Rave imperial army, the person that voice belonged to had appeared before her.
“What’s your name, miss?”
“Ji…Jill Cervel…” Jill replied without looking back.
The impressive voice answered: “The daughter of Margrave Cervel? No wonder you have high magic power. Most importantly, though you are young, you seem to have a discerning eye. To think that you proposed to me yourself!”
His glass made a soft thud when he put it on the table, and Jill could feel the man standing up. At the same time, he gently lifted her up with one arm. The cloak fell from her hand, which had lost its strength.
His glossy black hair reflected the light of the chandelier. Every feature, from the contour of his cheeks to the cut of his jaw—the shape of his eyebrow, the bridge of his nose, his thin lips—looked like it belonged to an intensely beautiful sculpture. The most captivating part of all were his golden eyes. They were as tranquil as the moon, but they also had a merciless, beast-like twinkle to them.
His mannerisms were kind as he looked into Jill’s eyes, but she felt as tense, as if he had thrust a sword against her throat. Yet he was so beautiful, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“I heard that on some island country there is a saying that goes: ‘like a moth flying into a flame.’ Are you familiar with it?” he asked.
Jill shook her head from side to side. That was exactly why she wanted him to let go of her. But the man’s smile did not falter in the slightest.
“I see. But it’s okay, you have nothing to worry about. I’ve decided to kneel for my wife.”
Gerald said nothing. His face couldn’t look more displeased. His fists were shaking. In that sense, Jill had intuitively chosen the right partner. She had been right in that way, perhaps, but in choosing her life’s course, she had been hopelessly wrong.
“I, Hadis Teos Rave, accept your proposal. Please make me happy, lady with lovely amethyst eyes.”
With that, the young emperor of their neighboring country gracefully knelt in front of Jill, gave her a smile as sickly sweet as poison, and reverently bowed his head.