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… - 48

Chapter 48: A Return Without Triumph, the Invitation Thrust Upon Them

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(Alto’s POV)

I woke up from the cold. When I lifted my eyelids, what I saw was not a white ceiling, but an exposed ceiling of crude black metal piping.

“…Ngh, that hurts…”

When I tried to sit up, every muscle in my body screamed in protest. My magic power was completely drained. I felt so weak that even moving a single finger seemed like too much trouble.

“So you’re finally awake, Hero-sama.”

That familiar biting remark rained down on me. When I looked to the side, Gideon was sitting atop a pile of rubble, chewing on portable rations while grinning down at me.

“Gideon-san… Where are we…?”

“The administrative sector of the Demon King’s Castle. You blew a hole straight through the ceiling, so the heating system went to hell. I thought I was going to freeze to death.”

I caught the canteen Gideon tossed to me and drank it down in one go. The cold water soaked into my body, and my memories came back into sharp focus.

The battle with the Demon King. Reuniting with Lilianna in the mental world. And the final blow.

“…We won, right?”

“Yeah. His presence vanished. The castle’s systems are silent too. …It was a complete victory for us.”

Gideon answered curtly, then his expression turned serious.

“But this is where the real problem starts. With the Demon King gone, the flow of magic power across the world will change. It’s only a matter of time before the kingdom’s knights and investigation teams come flooding in here.”

“…Wouldn’t our position improve a bit if we say we did it?”

“Don’t be stupid. Who would believe you?”

Gideon snorted in exasperation.

“To ordinary people, the ‘Demon King’ is nothing more than a fairy tale or a religious concept. No one knows it was an actual management system. Now imagine saying, ‘I killed God and saved the world.’”

“Ah…”

“You’d be labeled a lunatic and thrown into a locked psychiatric ward. Not a hero, just a blasphemous madman spouting delusions.”

When he put it that way, he was right. We had fought on the backstage of the world. The people on the surface didn’t even know the world had been on the brink of collapse.

“We’re getting out of here. We’ll use what little power the transfer gate has left to jump near the academy. …The victory parade will have to wait.”

Without anyone ever knowing, we quietly left the Demon King’s Castle behind. The fact that we had saved the world was buried beneath the snow.

Several days later. Royal Magic Academy, men’s dormitory.

I lay on my bed in my room, staring up at the ceiling. It had taken a few days for my stamina to recover, but I was back to a level where daily life posed no problem. But my heart remained restless.

What had happened to Lilianna? When we parted in that mental world, she had been smiling. Now that the curse called the Demon King was gone, she should have recovered and yet, I couldn’t go see her.

I was just a “scholarship student from a fallen noble family.” There was no way I’d be allowed to meet a princess without a reason. Even after saving the world, reality hadn’t changed at all. I was still nothing more than a lowly student, barely better than a commoner.

I said I’d make you happy… And yet I can’t even go see you?

As I was biting down on my own helplessness, there was a knock on the door.

Knock, knock—polite, but firm.

“…Yes?”

“Excuse me. You are Alto-sama, correct?”

The person who entered was an elderly woman. Her back was straight, her bearing severe. I recognized her. She was Lilianna’s head maid. I had met her several times when I was summoned to the royal palace for treatment.

“Head Maid… Why are you here?”

“I have come to speak with you in confidence.”

After closing the door carefully and checking the surroundings, she bowed deeply toward me.

“First, please allow me to express my gratitude. …Though I do not know the details, I am convinced that the dramatic recovery of Her Highness’s condition is thanks to you, Alto-sama.”

“…I didn’t do anything.”

“Hehe, you are too modest. …Ever since she awoke, Her Highness has been calling your name constantly.”

My chest grew hot at her words. She was safe. That alone made me feel saved.

“The curse-like seizures Her Highness suffered have completely disappeared. Even the physicians are calling it a miracle. Her complexion is good now. She’s recovered enough to take walks in the garden.”

“That’s really good to hear.”

I let out a sigh of relief. Then I’d be able to see her soon. This time, for real..

“However.”

The head maid’s voice suddenly turned cold and hard, like ice. She looked at me with a pained expression.

“With her health restored… The situation has taken a turn for the worst.”

“A turn? Did her condition worsen again?”

“No. Her political value has returned.”

The head maid clenched her fist.

“The marriage proposals that had been shelved because she was ‘frail and might not live to see tomorrow’ are now moving forward formally, and at an unprecedented speed.”

My heart skipped a beat. I had a bad feeling about this.

“Marriage proposals… Who’s the partner?”

“You know him well. The son of the neighboring grand duchy, and the young genius who commands the strongest magic knight order on the continent… Duke’s heir, Leonardo von Falkenberg-sama.”

Leonardo. That bastard… A peerless prodigy in both academics and combat, handsome, and the future grand duke of a militarily powerful neighboring nation. A man whose status was worlds apart from a fallen noble like me. And in truth, a deeply jealous, twisted individual.

“With Her Highness’s health concerns resolved, the royal family wishes to solidify their alliance with a powerful nation through this marriage. …Leonardo-sama himself is strongly pushing for it.”

The head maid took an envelope from her bosom and offered it to me. A pure white envelope bearing the golden royal crest.

“What is this?”

“…A wedding invitation.”

I accepted it with trembling hands.

“When is the ceremony?”

“One week from now.”

“Wha—!?”

I was left speechless. It was too fast. Far too rushed. It was as if they had sensed that Lilianna’s heart belonged to someone else and were trying to sever that bond by force.

“Didn’t Her Highness resist?”

“She did. She cried and pleaded, saying, ‘There’s someone I love,’ ‘There’s someone I promised.’ But…”

The head maid bit her lip in frustration.

“His Majesty the King would not listen. He dismissed her outright, saying, ‘I will not give my daughter to some nobody of unknown origin.’ …Her Highness is currently confined to her room in the tower.”

The invitation crumpled in my grip. I saved the world. I killed a god. I obtained the greatest power imaginable and yet… Could I not even break through a single wall called ‘social status’?

Lilianna was waiting for me deep inside the castle, believing in me. And all I could do was sit here?

“Alto-sama… I have never seen Her Highness smile so happily except when she speaks of you.”

The head maid looked at me with pleading eyes. She, too, was just one person who wished for the princess’s happiness.

“It may be presumptuous for a mere maid to say this… But please, won’t you save Her Highness? Just as you saved her from illness, save her from this cage as well.”

I raised my head. There was no hesitation. Whether they called me a madman or our statuses differed, it didn’t matter.

“…I have received the invitation.”

I said it firmly.

“One week from now. …Please tell her that I will come for her. No matter what.”

As if defeating the Demon King was enough to end it all. The real battle against “social disparity” and “the strongest rival,” the operation to reclaim Lilianna, the wedding crash… Everything was just starting.

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