In a Female-Dominant World with a 5:1 Gender Ratio, I Saved a Girl as a Kid, and She Said She Wanted to Be My Bride—Who Would’ve Thought She Was a Princess… - 27

Chapter 27: Mockery at the Cliff, and ‘Marriage!? in One Year’

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

(Alto’s POV)

“G—ugh…!”

Blood seeped from my fingertips as they dug into the rocky surface. We male students were now clinging desperately to one of the training grounds’ most treacherous obstacles, the Cliff of Lamentation.

A sheer rock wall rising some fifty meters straight up. For boys who couldn’t use magic, it was hell itself.

“Haa, haa… My arms… I can’t anymore…”

When I looked up overhead, the female students were gracefully dancing through the air. Amidst that, footsteps—click, click—sounds that should have been impossible here, passed right beside me.

“……”

It was Leonardo. Naturally, he couldn’t use flight magic either. But what he wore were the Spider Boots and a Weight-Reduction Magic Cloak. With the power of top-tier magic items—artifacts no commoner could afford even if they worked their entire life—he walked across the vertical cliff face as if it were flat ground.

“…F-Falkenberg-sama…”

From the rock ledge just below, a classmate who was desperately clinging to the cliff let out a strained voice. Leonardo stopped in annoyance and unbelievably, used those magic boots to step on the fingers the classmate was gripping the rock with.

“Aagh!?”

“You’re in the way. Your poor man’s sweat will rub off.”

Without changing his expression, Leonardo ground his heel down harder.

“P-please stop… I-I’ll fall…!”

“Then fall. You’re trash at the bottom of society anyway. No one would be troubled if you died here.”

He didn’t even bother with a sadistic smile. He moved like someone casually exterminating a pest. I reacted instantly, reaching out and grabbing the classmate’s arm, pulling him back up as he nearly fell.

“…!”

“Oh? A pointless show of friendship? What a bunch of garbage!!”

Leonardo looked down at me with disinterest.

“Crawling around in the dirt… What a pitiful effort. …Well, I suppose it’s a good opportunity for you to learn your place.”

While still supporting my classmate, I glared up at him.

“…What’s so fun about using people as stepping stones?”

“Fun? You misunderstand. This is a right. The strong exploit the weak and take everything, it’s the natural order of the world.”

Leonardo snorted. Then, perhaps annoyed by my defiant stare, he leaned closer and whispered in a voice only I could hear, as if to impress upon me the difference in our status.

“Did you know? The marriage between me and Princess Lilianna is scheduled to be formally announced one year from now, at the ‘Advancement Commemoration Ball’ when we move up to the second academic year.”

“…What?”

I froze, completely speechless.

One year from now? At the same time as the advancement ball…?

This was the first I’d heard of it. I knew Leonardo was Lilianna’s fiancé, but I’d never heard that such a specific date had already been decided. I’d assumed noble engagements were matters that dragged on for several years until graduation. But in just one more year… She would become this man’s?

“…You look surprised. But if you ask me, that’s far too long.”

Leonardo clicked his tongue irritably.

“Lilianna is beautiful. That translucent hair, those fleeting, fragile eyes… She is the very pinnacle of art. I truly love her, from the bottom of my heart.”

Despite his words, a cold, reptilian light dwelled in his eyes.

“But she is short-lived. A piece of fragile glasswork with no guarantee she’ll even last until twenty. Are you saying I should display something that delicate in a showcase for an entire year, just staring at it with my finger in my mouth? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“…You bastard.”

“When I finally try to take possession of her, only to be told ‘it broke and stopped moving,’ that would be intolerable, wouldn’t it? I want to savor everything she has while she’s still alive.” Adjusting his expensive gloves, Leonardo spoke of his twisted desire with an intoxicated expression.

“That’s why I have no intention of waiting a full year. I’ll create an established fact soon. A ball can come later. I’ll make her mine quickly and carve it into the very core of her body that she belongs to Falkenberg.”

“…Wha—”

“I won’t give her to anyone. Not even to death itself. Until the moment she breaks, I’ll cherish her as my personal toy. That, as her fiancé, is what you’d call mercy, wouldn’t you?”

“Don’t screw with me…!!”

I heard the string of reason inside me burn clean through.

Love? Mercy? Are those words a human should ever say?

“Oh my, how scary.”

Leonardo mocked me, completely unfazed by the killing intent pouring off me.

“Don’t bark, loser. Someone who has nothing like you has no right to comment on our form of ‘love.’ …Now stay down there, wallowing in the mud!!”

With that, he scaled the wall smoothly using his magic items and disappeared. All that remained were us, covered in filth and a nauseating, sticky malice that clung to the air.

“…I will never forgive you.”

I clenched my fists so tightly my nails bit into the rock. I felt no pain. What surged through my body was boiling rage.

Savor her before she breaks? Don’t make me laugh.

I wouldn’t let a man like that steal Lilianna’s dignity or a single second of her remaining time. I encouraged my classmate, turned my anger into strength, and climbed the cliff to the top. The moment the training ended, I broke into a run without waiting for the dismissal signal.

Still covered in mud, I headed straight for the academy library. Leonardo’s words clung to my ears like a curse, refusing to let go. “Short-lived” and unable to live until twenty?

There was no way. A girl with magic that powerful couldn’t possibly be some half-broken glass ornament. But the way he spoke… He sounded certain of it. What if it was true?

“…I’ll confirm it.”

Whether her remaining time was truly short… And whether the “despair” that man spoke of so smugly was reality.

As I ran, I looked up at the sky, dyed red by the setting sun.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー