My Fiance Keeps Trying To Raise Me

“My God, Rubellino is like Lord Hayworth himself! If you take that away, do you even know how precious a sword is to a knight?”

 

Charlotte was indignant, not knowing that Annette was looking at her with a puzzled look. And belatedly, she seemed to have noticed her excitement and shyly confessed, her cheeks blushing.

 

“I’m sorry, I was so excited, right? In fact, I am a huge follower of Lord Hayworth.”

 

“I see, follower… what?”

 

Did she hear it wrong? Annette momentarily couldn’t believe her ears and twitched his fingers. However, seeing the Empress say that she really wanted to see her, she seemed to have heard correctly.

 

‘A follower…’

 

She knew that among the knights who came to her, there were those who passionately admired some of the famous knights, saying that sometimes they wanted to compete with her skills. However, Annette gave a bewildered look as she could not have imagined that there would be such a person, or that the Empress of Arkhan would be one of them.

 

‘Come to think of it, I’ve always called him Lord Hayworth from the beginning.’

 

When she noticed this, she suddenly felt like her fingertips and toes were tickling. She then asked as Charlotte tilted her head.

 

“But Lady, how did you deal with the demonic beast without a sword?”

 

At that moment, Annette’s red eyes shone sharply. Before recalling the battle with the demonic beast, an important story came to mind that needed to be told first. She said to Lucius with a somber look on her face.

 

“Before I explain it, I have something to tell you first. I am sorry, Your Majesty, but it seems that there is someone in the Hayworth Kingdom who is in cahoots with the Valendor Empire.”

 

* * *

 

Upon seeing Annette covered in the blood of a demonic beast, the Arkhan Imperial Family naturally assumed that the Hayworth delegation had been attacked by a demonic beast, and that Annette had barely survived and returned to the empire. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t wrong, but that wasn’t the whole story. Annette remembered that it was the arrow that first stopped the carriage. The shot that was clearly aimed at her. Perhaps it was because they wanted to leave no evidence, or maybe they were anticipating an attack by a demonic beast that I don’t understand, but no arrows flew after that…

 

“It was definitely the Red Arrow of the Valendor Empire.”

 

Because she didn’t have a separate weapon, she had no choice but to deal with the demon beast with arrows. After swinging it a few times, it completely shattered, and Annette felt responsible for losing such important evidence.

 

Furthermore…

 

“The Arkhan Empire didn’t know that I and the Hayworth delegation were coming. So, the Hayworth Kingdom is probably where the information leaked to the Valendor Empire.”

 

Even though she is said to be an envoy representing her kingdom, everything from King Hayworth, who sent her in a hurry as if to gather up an embarrassing group of people and chase her away, to her confidants or even her spies, is entirely the fault of the Hayworth kingdom. Just as Annette raised her head with the intention of facing herself proudly as the princess, she now lowered her head with a keen sense of her responsibility as the princess.

 

‘They’ll probably hold Hayworth responsible. Maybe they’ll decide to treat this alliance as something that never happened.’

 

If so, she needed to change her mind somehow…

 

“So you mean they ran away and left behind the princess?”

 

“You really defeated a demonic beast with just one arrow? And then with your bare hands?”

 

…She had to turn it around, but what was it? The reaction of the emperor and empress was different from what was expected. Annette paused for a moment and finally answered.

 

“The force of those in charge of escorting was not at the level to deal with the demonic beast. And even if he passed near the swamp of demonic beasts and the demonic beasts kept popping out and ran away, I wonder if he would have returned alive…”

 

“Even so, we can’t just sit by and ignore her abandoning her mission. I will have to file a formal complaint to the Kingdom of Hayworth. And since there is no evidence for Valendor’s attack, there is nothing we can do right now, but don’t worry, we will look into it in detail separately. Apparently, the demon appeared at the right time…”

 

Lucius, who had been pondering something suspicious, naturally changed the topic after confirming with Annette the route the Hayworth delegation had taken.

 

“Well, as you said, information could leak out, so I will just inform the Hayworth Kingdom that the princess was injured but has arrived in the empire safely.”

 

“Yes? Yes. Well, then the alliance is…”

 

Even though the poor state of the Hayworth Kingdom had been exposed, were they just ignoring it? Were they only complaining about the escort who ran away and left me behind? Annette didn’t know what to say, so she opened her mouth and then pursed her lips. Then Lucius smiled and said.

 

“Princess, the engagement pledge has not been notarized yet, but once you have signed it, you are already a member of the Arkhan Imperial Family, so don’t worry.”

 

“…”

 

Annette, who was not recognized as a member of the royal family even though she was born as a princess, met Lucius, who freely called her a member of the imperial family, and Charlotte, who told her to stay close to Lucius, who would become part of her family. Thinking about this, she was struck by her strange feeling. Somehow, she keeps getting excited.

 

‘Grand Duke Harzent may not have made an excuse but really went out to suppress…’

 

“Leave the affairs of the Valendor Empire and Hayworth Kingdom to your Majesty and focus on recovering. You understand, right?”

 

“Yes? Ah… Yes.”

 

Annette, who had been lost in thought for a moment, regained her senses after hearing Charlotte’s words. Now that she thought about it, the cause was unknown, but she had to restore her child-like body to its original state. That was when she nodded her head, feeling at a loss.

 

“But it’s not all a bad thing that your body has become like this.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“When you collapsed and were carried, we showed you to the royal doctor, and he said you had minor bruises all over your body, but no other injuries! It’s just that your strength has weakened, so it’s enough for you to take good medicine and rest well.”

 

“…Is that so?”

 

Charlotte said, clapping her hands together in frustration as Annette couldn’t immediately understand what she meant and her eyes narrowed.

 

“That means your hands are now fine! You can lift her sword again!”

 

‘I can lift a sword again?’

 

Annette was dumbfounded when she heard Charlotte’s words. She was hopeful that maybe her wrist would heal completely. But she was just like the wind.

 

“Is that really true?”

 

When she asked again in her dazed state, Charlotte nodded her head with a happy expression.

 

“It went really well, right?”

 

Annette followed suit and nodded her head. She was surprised to hear that even after receiving a major injury, there was only pain and no abnormality, and unexpectedly, even her hand recovered… Annette stared blankly at her left hand, where even the deep scar had disappeared, and thought that being younger wasn’t such a bad thing. The road to the Arkhan Empire was arduous, but she felt like only good things had happened since she opened her eyes. At the same time, she was a little curious about what the royal family would say when this news reached the Hayworth Kingdom.

 

‘What… It has nothing to do with me anymore.’

 

As Lucius said, she had already signed the engagement contract. All she had to do was get the temple notarized to officially become a member of the Arkhan Imperial Family, and it would probably be quicker for all of the formalities to be completed than for news of her to reach Hayworth.

 

‘Considering that they retired as soon as I got injured in the first place, the kingdom must have been looking for an excuse to kick me out.’

 

So even if she regained her body, no one would want or welcome her back. Moreover, given her current appearance and the demon beasts’ strange behavior, there might be some witchcraft related.

 

Annette, with a bitter taste in her mouth, shook her head lightly to shake off her bad mood, then looked up. Because she had just realized that the Emperor and Empress of Alkhan had never once treated her as an ominous being like the others. And then, she witnessed a strange scene. Lucius and Charlotte, who were raising the corners of their mouths, flinched and urgently adjusted their expressions.

 

Although it only lasted a moment, it seemed like she didn’t know what to do because the creature in front of her was so cute. For example, would it be like the expression Queen Esther makes when she looks at her youngest child, Raon, or when Bridget plays with her beloved cat?

 

‘…Weren’t you looking at me?’

 

Until now, there had been only people who openly despised Annette, had no choice but to follow her while hiding their disapproval, or only occasionally showed a friendly spirit and asked her to spar. Even Franz always seemed to feel guilty, so it never occurred to her that anyone could look at her with affection. So she quickly turned her head to see if there was someone in the direction they were looking at… Naturally, there was no one behind her. This was because as soon as the food setting at the banquet hall was finished, the empress ate all the courtiers.

 

‘Then you really looked at me?’

 

That couldn’t be possible. Half surprised and half skeptical, Annette turned her head again, and this time she saw two people hastily adjusting the corners of their mouths. Annette, a little confused, thought she had made a mistake. But that was truly an illusion.

 

Lucius and Charlotte were raising a young son who was around the same age as Annette, who seemed to be about 7 or 8 years old, and they really loved Annette, who had a calm face and was seriously worried, unlike their son who was a wild child. In particular, Lucius, who almost raised his 12-year-younger brother on his back, found the girl both unfamiliar and fascinating.

 

“…I guess she was about 7 years old?”

 

“No, probably around 10 years old.”

 

Annette listened to what Lucius was muttering to himself and shook his head in response. When she first looked in the mirror or washed her body, she roughly guessed what age she was by looking at her height and the length of her arms and legs.

 

Charlotte immediately retorted.

 

“That can’t be possible. Does she look similar in height to our Mikhail? Besides, Mikhail is a little shorter than his peers.”

 

“If it’s Mikhail…”

 

Wasn’t he the crown prince of the Arkhan Empire? He recently turned 8! Annette looked strangely proud.

 

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