Boi-oi-oi-oing!
“Again?! What’s with this?!”
She couldn’t understand what was happening, but it was clear that she couldn’t hit him. Something was deflecting her sword.
The girl’s blade and Al were almost like magnets with two like poles facing each other. Both would be repelled backwards if they got too close.
“Gahh! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Al, disregarding common diplomatic etiquette and his position as king, shot a crude remark towards Sharon. But whatever further rebuke he was planning was quickly forgotten once he laid eyes on her again.
“Ah!”
Instead of crashing into the carriage, as Al expected, she was hanging onto the door with her legs.
“Are you for real?”
She readied her next attack without a moment’s hesitation.
“Haaaah!”
The battle was not over yet. She leapt off the carriage once more, launching herself directly at Al. The carriage was left shaking behind the crimson maiden as she advanced towards her target.
This time, she was sure she had him dead to rights.
“Dieee!”
“Alnoa... I’ll save you.”
The icy-blue maiden approached from behind Al.
“I won’t let lowly worms anywhere near you.”
Lesfina, the other marriage candidate, had come to his aid.
“Hey, be careful! Can you handle this?”
Lesfina nodded.
“I’m Subdera’s Diva, after all... And my plans would be... if you died now.”
Al couldn’t quite make out part of her sentence.
But there was no time to waste, as the crimson maiden was still charging at him.
“Hey, what are you doing?!”
“Don’t worry. I’m deploying a shield. Oh, oops.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I gave my wand to the maid.”
“WHAT?!”
“It’s okay. I’ll figure something out.”
She discarded her plans for erecting a shield and readied herself for physical combat. Her fighting stance was less than impressive. It was apparent that she was a complete novice when it came to hand-to-hand combat.
She’ll get chopped up in one second.
“What are you doing?! Move! You’ll get hurt!”
He grabbed Lesfina from behind and swung her around, placing his back between her and the incoming sword.
“You’re dead!”
The blade closed in on Al’s back, and...
Boi-oi-oi-oing!
Repelled again.
“Ahh!”
The unexpected deflection of the red-haired Diva’s attack knocked her off balance.
“Huh?”
Al let Lesfina go and turned around, only to see Sharon flying towards him. She appeared equal-parts astonished and confused.
“Ugh!”
Sharon crashed into Al before he had the chance to say anything. Both of them tumbled down to the ground, with her landing on top of him. This made for the second time the two of them had ended up in such close proximity.
“Watch your hands!”
Al reached out with his hands in an attempt to get away, but...
Squishy squish.
“Kyah!”
Al’s right hand had come into contact with something soft and springy.
Crap. This is bad.
Even an inexperienced young man such as Alnoa could figure out what he had ended up grabbing.
It’ll be hard to talk my way out of this one. This is so unfair! Is there no justice in this world?! If there’s a god watching over me now, then please, I’m begging you. Save me!
“Oh my, Al...”
Cecilia gasped in surprise.
“......”
He felt compelled to silence by the ominous presence of his sister and Lesfina standing at the edge of his vision.
But then reality gave him a crude awakening.
“You filthy cur!”
At the source of the voice, he found her burning red face. And just a little bit lower, he saw his hand right on her chest.
“Th-This was just an accident. I swear!”
“You...”
“Wait a second!”
“Let go of my chest already!”
Small clouds dotted the warm spring sky, and the sound of bells reverberated through Althos. The crowd that had gathered in front of the castle slowly dispersed once the gates shut. They assumed that the farce they had witnessed was a planned play to entertain the masses.
“So is this how the king of Althos welcomes his future wife?! By groping her in front of the whole city?!”
“Yeah, right. Let’s not forget about how you just tried to assassinate me! Wait, you are the Freiyan Diva, aren’t you?
“Hahaha, that’s right. Do you feel sorry, now?”
“No. Not even a little.”
They looked like a couple of fierce dogs snarling at each other before an underground dogfight. Not the sight you’d expect to see between a (potential) married couple.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, King of Althos. I’m the princess of Freiya, Sharon. I’m looking forward to spending the following month with you.”
After a few minutes of intense glaring, Sharon introduced herself with a fake smile and proper, ladylike manners. It was almost enough to make Al forget she was furiously after his head just moments ago. She was now nothing other than a maiden trying to win the heart of her potential fiancé.
“Oh my. I didn’t expect this from a Diva of such a war-ridden country. Here I thought you’d just be a big, hulking gorilla, but I have to admit—it was very sly of you to seduce my brother with your body like that!”
Sharon didn’t flinch at Cecilia’s crude remarks. Her fake smile remained intact, even under everyone’s questioning gaze.
“Is there a problem?”
There’s a huge problem!
The problem wasn’t how she had just tried to kill him. Nor was it her captivating eyes as she cutely tilted her head in confusion. The real problem was something else entirely.
She’s the one I clashed with on the battlefield, and she even introduced herself. There’s no mistake that she’s Freiya’s Diva. But then, why...
“Weren’t you supposed to come here in another month?”
“What?”
Sharon didn’t seem to have a clue as to what he was talking about.
“Ah!”
She gave a shout, realizing who was standing next to Al.
“Wait. I thought that I was supposed to come here first.”