I Don't Want to Get Married

“Um, I-I know I'm dressed as a maid right now, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't come so close, M-Master.”

“Why are you being so formal with me, Yuria? Maybe not in public, but when it's just us, you can relax. We've known each other since we were kids, so surely it's fine if we say something rude to each other's faces.”

“Th-then? Well, hey, you bastard, get the hell over there! If you lay a hand on me, my big brother'll beat the shit out of you!”

“……You actually did it. What happened while you were recuperating in Elche for those few years to change your personality so much?”

“Hey, you punk, don't take advantage of me just because I'm a maid. For the record, I'm a man.”

“……Your head seems a little different too.”

********************************

Ordinary maids spend the whole day busy with cleaning and housework.

A personal maid like me, on the other hand, doesn't have much to do unless her master's schedule is unusually eventful.

I mean, what am I supposed to do standing by and serving among knights who unleash ominous auras through their swords?

The morning run only takes an hour, so waiting around for that is one thing, but standing there for hours watching them swing their swords just so I can wipe their sweat and bring them water is incredibly inefficient.

The knights around me also warn me not to enter the training grounds, since I'd be in serious trouble if I got hit by stones or debris sent flying by the wind from their swords.

I'd watched them train exactly once, and it was a sight straight out of a fantasy.

They'd merely drawn their swords, flared their auras, and made one light horizontal slash, yet a boulder the size of a house had been cleanly cut in two.

I suddenly remembered something from not long after I became a maid.

Maybe he'd hit a late-onset chuunibyo phase, but Derek had suddenly tried to cleave the fortress wall in half to show off how cool he was.

He said that since a swordsman at his level had once sliced through a kingdom's border fortress wall in a single stroke during a war and brought it down, he ought to be able to do the same.

I'd gone pale and rushed over to cling to him, desperately trying to stop him.

That must've been…… the first time I'd ever touched Derek.

Never mind. What use is there in remembering hugging a guy?

I snapped the book shut.

It was a hefty tome, easily over a thousand pages.

The material was ridiculously difficult, and with no foundational knowledge, I couldn't understand a thing no matter how much I read.

No wonder my thoughts kept wandering.

“You're reading a book about magic again, Yuria.”

“Eek?! O-oh, Dad! Could you at least make some noise when you come in……? You startled me.”

A slender, middle-aged man in a suit picked up the book I'd closed and flipped through the pages.

Yuria's dad…… in other words, my dad now.

His name was Erne, Count Erne von Lloyd.

Officially, he was the Grand Duchy's chief steward and one of its key retainers; personally, he was the Grand Duke's one and only friend.

He was the one who'd suggested I become Derek's personal maid, and the reason I'd resolved to live as the real Yuria.

“If I'd known you were this interested in magical theory, I would have sent you to study at the Mage Tower in the capital.”

“No, it's too hard. I can't even understand what it's saying. And you're the one who brought me here so you could keep an eye on me in case I got sick again, Dad.”

“Haha, that's true. How have you been feeling lately?”

“You know, Dad. I caused another accident at the mercenary company's contract meeting yesterday. My shoulder still isn't doing well. The rest of me seems fine for now, at least.”

“As it happens, the finest doctor in Emeria is due to arrive before long. I hope this one will finally be able to help.”

Dad gently massaged the area above my aching shoulder.

Anyone seeing us like this would think we were an ordinary, affectionate father and daughter, but……

Dad was a little too obsessed with me—I mean, Yuria.

He worried over every little thing and tried to check on my condition every day.

It was understandable, since his only child had nearly died, but being the person in question, I sometimes found it exasperating, and at times, awkward.

For instance, something awkward like…… this.

“By the way, my dear.”

“Yes, Dad?”

“How are things going between you and Young Master Derek? Her Grace has started bringing up the young master's marriage, so you should hurry and win him over before you have any competition.”

“W-what?”

Dad was extremely interested in my marriage.

Mom, who worked as the Grand Duchy's housekeeper alongside Dad, was just as interested.

I mean, their daughter had dipped a toe in the River Styx and somehow come back, so they couldn't help worrying whether I'd be able to build a proper family like any normal noble girl.

The problem was, they kept pushing Derek as my match.

Obviously, I had no intention of marrying a man, but I had even less interest in Derek.

Derek was my precious friend. If I really had to make a concession, he was like a sibling…… no, like a brother.

“Her Grace says she plans to have the young master married this year, or by early next year at the latest. She's declared that once the monsters beyond the mountain range stop stirring in the spring, she'll send him to the capital to find a bride in its social circles.”

“He's going to the capital?”

“Yes, dear. Naturally, you'll go with him. So you should either settle things for sure before then, or go there and fend off the competition. If necessary, you'll have to act not as Yuria the personal maid, but as Yuria, the next Countess of Lloyd.”

Leaving this harsh, desolate land for the capital sounded like a good thing.

Mom and Dad were making a huge fuss about me seducing Derek as soon as possible, but I could just let their words go in one ear and out the other.

Though every time I listened to them meddle, reality hit me like a truck.

It'd be better to go and help Derek find some demure young lady in society and marry her. Then I wouldn't have to hear this anymore.

……I was in a bad mood.

I couldn't even have a normal romance, yet I was supposed to help with someone else's.

“What if Derek finds himself a bride there and gets married?”

“Then, though it would be a shame for you, since you've been singing about wanting to live with the young master since you were little, you'd have to look for another groom, wouldn't you? You're eighteen now, so you're old enough to marry.”

“I don't want to get married……”

“I don't want to see your mother nagging twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. She gives me the exact same treatment, you know.”

I hadn't given it much thought while I was still underage, but now that I'd come of age, it had become a serious concern.

How could I avoid marrying a man?

That was why I was devouring books on magic I could barely understand.

Just in case there was a spell that could turn me back into a man.

Even if the heavens split in two, I'm not marrying a man.

……While Derek goes to the capital and turns the social scene upside down, maybe I should look into some options too.

If all else failed, I'd have to find someone willing to enter a marriage of convenience on the condition that he never laid a finger on me, and look into becoming a wife on paper alone. What else could I do?

*******************

A short distance from the Grand Duke's estate was a lake called Amethyst Lake.

It was named for the purple hydrangeas that bloomed in profusion around its crystal-clear water: reflected in the lake, they made the whole surface shimmer like an amethyst.

Now, in winter, when no hydrangeas were in bloom, the lake was so white that its name seemed rather out of place.

My favorite place in the Grand Duchy was a bench in one corner of the lakeshore.

Hardly anyone besides me ever came there.

It was a quiet, secluded spot where I could admire the beautiful lake and lose myself in thought, so I often came here whenever I had something on my mind.

I stared blankly at the frozen lake.

It was transparent, like the floor of the salt desert I'd seen on Earth after the rain—a place I couldn't figure out how to return to now, and didn't even want to.

And then, in an instant, a sharp crack rang out, and fissures spread across the entire sheet of ice.

At the center of the cracks spreading in every direction was a hole about the size of a pebble.

“……What are you doing?”

“I definitely threw it gently. The ice just wasn't frozen enough, so it broke that easily.”

“I brought Maria here just the other day, and we played on this ice. You call that not frozen enough?”

“It must've thawed since then. Let's go with that.”

Of course Derek knew perfectly well that I liked this place, since we were childhood friends.

Knowing I didn't get much personal time as his personal maid, Derek sometimes brought me here, thinking he was doing me a favor.

Unless it was training time, I had to follow Derek around most of the time, so whenever he came to Amethyst Lake like this, I got to come along and take a little break too.

Unlike me, though, Derek couldn't sit still and got restless easily.

So sometimes, like now, he interrupted my quiet contemplation.

“Maria might cry if she finds out. Now she can't go sledding, all thanks to her useless big brother.”

Maria was Derek's younger sister. Apart from Derek, she was the Grand Duke's only direct descendant.

There was quite an age gap between them. Derek was twenty, and Maria was five.

I was Derek's personal maid, but thanks to my illustrious résumé from my days as a man, young Maria tended to follow me around as if I were her nanny.

……From my days as a man? I'm still a man now. What am I even saying?

“Why? We can just get one of the mages attached to the Knights to freeze it.”

“You idiot, have you lost your mind? That's not what they keep highly skilled personnel around for. The Knights are already being called out on emergency deployments all the time because of the monsters. What if something happens after you call one away for no reason?”

“It's fine. There are plenty of mages who adore me and follow my every word like fanatics, so I can just ask any one of them and it'll be done in no time.”

“Adore you? The…… female mages?”

At my last words, Derek visibly flinched.

So annoying. Is he bragging about how popular he is with women or what?

He was handsome, sure. And had a great body.

But some people can't get popular with women even if they want to, while he's over here humblebragging.

“Ugh, forget it.”

I picked up a pebble from the ground for no reason and tossed it toward the lake the same way.

My pebble landed nowhere near the hole Derek had made.

I can't put much strength into my shoulder.

As I rubbed my shoulder with my other hand, Derek quickly circled around behind the bench and stood behind me.

Then he began carefully pressing down on my shoulder.

“I'll give you a massage, Yuria.”

“Why are you suddenly sulking? I'm the one with something on my mind.”

After flinching once, Derek visibly watched my reaction.

I did often give him a hard time when it was just the two of us, but I hadn't done anything special today. Why was he acting like that?

“Something on your mind? Is something wrong?”

“Hey, don't suddenly pretend to be nice. I don't need that kind of attitude from another guy, you bastard.”

Derek muttered softly, ‘Pattern No. 17…….’

I can hear you, you know.

“Phew, it is something to worry about. A goddamn important problem in my life right now.”

“What is it?”

I turned my head and looked up at Derek.

Our gazes met.

“Hey, I…… how do I avoid getting married?”

At my words, Derek's eyes wavered noticeably.

Why are you the one getting flustered?