My Childhood Friend Told Me to Go Marry the Most Beautiful Woman in the Kingdom, So I Seriously Started Improving Myself—and Somehow Ended Up Making Women Fall Hard - Chapter 98 & 99

Chapter 98: The Weight of What Was Lost (12)

Side: Rina Carhoi

“Is your childhood friend insane or something?”

It had been a while since he last spoke to me… and that was the first thing he said.

In the castle corridor, afternoon sunlight poured in through the gaps between the pillars.

Standing in the shade, I lowered the documents I had been holding.

In front of me stood Magnum Flabo Galactica, his green robe swaying slightly.

“…What do you want, all of a sudden?”

Maybe it was because I had seen Hort again recently.

For the first time in a while, I had regained a bit of motivation and started focusing on my research again.

And right when I was finally getting back into it—

He showed up to interrupt me.

“I’m talking about that loser! Your childhood friend, right? Hort Rubel!”

“Hort?”

“Yeah! That idiot actually pointed a sword at me and started saying nonsense about demons and possession. What a complete nuisance.”

What was this man talking about?

Hort pointed a sword at Magnum?

Demon possession?

My chest suddenly felt restless, an uneasy feeling spreading inside me.

But Magnum kept going without pause.

“Can you believe it? He actually suspected me of being possessed by a demon! Me! I’m a court mage, you know? The future head of a ducal house. My mother has always said I’m brilliant. And yet some lowly Royal Guard knight from a baron’s family dares to point a sword at me…! This is all because you never properly disciplined him. He used to be your fiancé, right? Hmph. I even bothered to play with you, and this is how you repay me?”

“…What?”

“Honestly, you’re no better. I’m the heir of a ducal house—there’s no way someone from a mere viscount family like you could ever be my equal. You were just for fun. But that Hort guy got the wrong idea and started directing his anger at me. Getting obsessed over by a man like that really shows your poor taste. And because of him, I was embarrassed in front of my brother. It’s a huge nuisance for me.”

Something inside my chest trembled.

Hort… got angry for my sake?

But when we met again earlier, he had been so cold toward me.

…And yet.

Somewhere I couldn’t see, he had gotten angry for me?

This man mocked me.

Mocked Hort.

And stood there acting like he was the victim.

And worst of all…

Someone like this had destroyed the relationship between Hort and me.

No.

That wasn’t true.

I was the one who destroyed it.

Only now did I finally understand.

Just how foolish I had been… letting someone like this ruin everything.

“…You’re the worst.”

“What?”

“I said you’re the worst, Magnum.”

When I glared at him, Magnum’s eyes widened for a moment—then he quickly snorted with laughter.

“Ha! So the pride of a woman who got dumped finally showed up? I thought you might be a little clever, but in the end you’re just a slow, ordinary idiot! Do you know what they call you among the court mages? The lowest of the low—playing childish student-level magic!”

“…………”

My mind suddenly cooled down.

When people get too angry, they sometimes become strangely calm instead.

In that quiet space inside my head, I called out softly.

(Asmo.)

A quiet, amused laugh echoed in the back of my mind.

(So you finally call for me, foolish master.)

(Shut up. Just be quiet and lend me your power.)

(Very well.)

A shiver ran down my spine.

The presence of the demon wrapped itself around my mana.

(I’ll beat this guy senseless for you.)

At that suggestion, my lips twisted slightly.

(No. I’ll do it myself.)

(Oh?)

(But you can help a little.)

(Then we have a deal.)

I looked straight at Magnum.

Then I pulled off one of my gloves and threw it at him.

“Hah?”

“Magnum. Accept a magic duel.”

“…What? Rina, do you really think you can beat me?”

For a moment, he looked genuinely stunned.

Then a mocking smile spread across his face.

“Didn’t you hear me? A magic duel. You’re a court mage, aren’t you?”

“You? Challenging me?”

“Yes. Or are you scared?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! You useless woman!”

Magnum’s face turned bright red.

So easy to read.

Seriously, such an easy man to understand.

Why did I ever feel even a little moved by someone like him?

Because other women liked him?

Because he looked cool as a senior court mage?

Because I thought he suited me as the heir of a ducal house?

All of it felt ridiculous now.

“Fine. I accept. I’ll teach someone like you the difference in class between court mages.”

“We’ll do it at the training grounds.”

“Doesn’t matter to me. Just don’t resent me if you die.”

I gave him a bright smile.

“You should save that line for yourself.”

By the time we reached the castle training grounds, a crowd had somehow gathered.

“Oh? A duel between court mages?”

“Yeah, I heard that bottom-rank girl challenged the duke’s son to a duel.”

“Isn’t that Magnum? Then the result’s already obvious. When it comes to combat magic, no mage surpasses the Galactica family.”

“…Rina.”

Whispers from the spectators spread through the air.

This was bad. Really bad.

But I couldn’t back down now.

If I ran away here, that trash would probably look down on me for the rest of my life.

And more importantly—

I’m not the lowest of the low.

And I can’t forgive someone who mocked Hort.

Magnum confidently slipped on a pair of gloves engraved with magic circles.

“If you want to apologize, now’s your last chance.”

“Say that after you win.”

The mage acting as referee was clearly someone on Magnum’s side.

But honestly—

I didn’t care anymore.

“Begin the mock battle!”

The moment it started, Magnum’s chanting was fast.

“《Fire Blow》!”

A mass of flame shot straight toward me like a blazing fist.

Hot. Fast.

He really was a court mage after all.

(Right.)

(I know!)

My body moved almost on its own, sliding aside.

Thanks to Asmo, my physical abilities had increased.

I slipped past the fire by the narrowest margin.

The spectators gasped.

“What?!”

Magnum’s eyes widened.

But I didn’t stop.

I pushed mana into my legs—then into my arms, shoulders, and back.

With Asmo’s help, my mana flowed through my body strangely smoothly.

(Next one’s coming from the left. Honestly, master, you’ve been stuck in your room too long—your movements are so clumsy.)

(Shut up! I’m supposed to be the brains, not the athlete!)

“《Fire Blow》! 《Fire Blow》!”

He fired one flaming blast after another.

I crouched, twisted, and jumped to dodge them.

The crowd began to stir.

“Hey, wait! Isn’t that the bottom-rank girl? She’s dodging!”

“Miss Rina can move like that?!”

“That’s not how mages fight!”

“Hehe… that’s more like it. So she’s finally serious.”

Shut up.

This was my first time moving like this too.

But it was working.

Sweat appeared on Magnum’s forehead.

He was panicking.

His chanting was getting sloppy.

“Damn it, stop running around…! 《Explosion Galactica》!”

A massive explosion burst right in front of me.

(I’ll block this one.)

Asmo stepped in like a shield, protecting me.

“Because you look down on women!”

I rushed forward in one burst.

Magnum instinctively pulled his fist back, trying to wrap it in flames.

(Now, master! Send him flying with everything you’ve got!)

(You don’t have to tell me!)

I focused all my mana into my right fist.

Delicate spirit techniques?

Who cares about that!

Right now, all I needed to do was pour my massive mana straight into my punch!

“You piece of trash!! I’m the one rejecting you! You demon-possessed, creepy mama’s boy!”

Our fists collided.

BAM!!

A dull impact echoed across the training grounds.

And the next moment—

Magnum’s body flew clean through the air.

“Bweh!?”

His pathetic cry escaped as his green robe spun around, rolling across the ground.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

He finally stopped just before hitting the wall.

The training ground fell completely silent.

I shook my hand, trying to get rid of the heat.

It throbbed.

It hurt.

Actually, it hurt a lot.

But I won.

The mage acting as referee opened and closed his mouth a few times before hurriedly announcing—

“W-Winner! Lady Rina Carhoi!”

(Heh… that was excellent. I’ll be generous this time and take his mana as the price.)

Asmo slipped out of my body and drifted toward Magnum, doing something to him.

Without Asmo’s support, all the strength left my body at once, and I dropped to the ground.

At that moment—

The crowd suddenly erupted with noise.

“Woooah!?”

“The lowest-ranked girl just punched him and won?!”

“Wasn’t she supposed to be a spirit mage?!”

“That last move was just a punch!”

“Ahahaha! Wonderful, Miss Rina. That’s exactly why you’re my rival.”

That’s not true!

My fist was properly wrapped in mana!

…With a little help from a demon.

The real demon-possessed one here was me.

And there was no going back anymore.

Breathing heavily, I walked toward the fallen Magnum.

Magnum looked up at me with a half-crying face.

His hair was a mess, and his robe was covered in dirt.

Honestly… it was a little funny.

Actually, it was very funny.

“W-Wait… this must be some kind of mistake…”

“It’s not a mistake.”

I looked down at him and spoke.

“This is the punch from the woman you called ‘useless’ and ‘boring.’”

“—!”

“You trash! Don’t ever show your face in front of me or Hort again!”

Magnum’s face twisted in frustration.

The heavy feeling that had been sitting in my chest felt a little lighter.

But another emotion remained.

Hort had gotten angry for me.

And realizing that made me wonder—

What exactly had I ever seen in a man like this?

(Hmph. Feeling a little better now, master?)

(…I am.)

(Then tonight I’ll praise you.)

(No thanks.)

(Don’t be shy.)

(Shut up.)

I turned around and walked away.

The eyes of the spectators stung my back.

But right now… I could hold my head up, just a little.

And for the first time in a long while, my mind felt completely clear.

Clear enough to finally realize something.

Just how foolish I had been…

And how I had already become someone who could no longer stand beside Hort.

There was a hollow space in my chest.

A hole that wouldn’t close.

I had been pretending it wasn’t there.

Pretending not to notice.

But the truth was simple.

…I had lost Hort.

Chapter 99: The Princess’s Goal, and the Sister’s Healing

After finishing my training the next morning, I was called to Lady Lumina’s private room.

Usually the place was buried under piles of documents, but today the desk looked surprisingly neat.

Lady Lumina took a sip of tea, then looked at me.

“Hort.”

“Yes.”

“I will be giving you leave starting this afternoon until tomorrow.”

“…Leave?”

The word slipped out before I could stop it.

Recently my days had been the same routine—training with Haua, guard duty, and designing underwear.

So when someone suddenly mentioned a break, I instinctively became cautious.

Lady Lumina smiled softly.

“There is no need to be so wary. This is also an order.”

“An order?”

“Yes. I want you to think.”

Her silver eyes looked straight into mine.

“I want you to think about what you wish to protect from now on… and what you wish to become. As a Royal Guard knight… no, as a person.”

“…What I want to protect.”

“Yes. Since you have heard my story, simply swinging a sword is no longer enough. I want to hear the answer you arrive at yourself.”

Her words made me pause for a moment.

Then I asked quietly.

“May I ask you one thing?”

“Of course.”

“What kind of country do you want to build, Lady Lumina?”

“My ideal country?”

“Yes.”

She was clearly working incredibly hard.

But even so, I felt like I still didn’t fully understand her true goal.

“I only wish for peace and safety during the time I am alive.”

“…During the time you are alive? Not forever?”

I had expected something like a grand dream.

Become king and make the kingdom happy forever—something like that.

“I wouldn’t say something so arrogant. But I do wish for this kingdom to remain peaceful until the day I die. And I want to do everything I can to reduce the suffering of the people, even if only a little. Times change. No one can truly know what the distant future holds.”

Lady Lumina spoke clearly.

She openly admitted that the future couldn’t be predicted.

Then she calmly took another sip of tea.

“No matter how careful I am not to create enemies, there will always be people with different beliefs who choose to attack. That is why I want to build a country strong enough not to lose to outside threats.”

Was that different from the war the First Princess wanted?

“And while protecting the kingdom from outside enemies, I want to stabilize the lives of the people. Of course, we will have to adapt depending on the times. But there is one thing I am certain about.”

“One thing?”

“Yes.”

Lady Lumina said it plainly.

“All human troubles come from relationships between people.”

“…What?”

The answer was so unexpected that I couldn’t immediately process it.

“Relationships… between people?”

“Yes. Wanting more profit than someone else. Wanting to be smarter than someone else. Feeling jealous. Feeling envious. Feeling inferior. Refusing to forgive someone. Loving someone. Because people exist together, causes appear—and from those causes come conflicts and problems.”

Beside us, Haua crossed her arms and snorted quietly.

“Hort, the princess enjoys thinking about complicated things. That’s why she’s telling you to train your brain too. If you only train your body, your brain will turn into muscle as well.”

“…Haha, that might be true. I feel like I haven’t used my head much lately.”

Lady Lumina’s expression softened slightly.

“That is why I want you to walk around the royal capital. See the things you want to see. Meet the people you wish to meet. Just for today, do not go as a Royal Guard knight. Go as Hort Rubel, and observe the people who live in this city.”

“…Understood.”

I bowed once and left the room.

As I walked through the castle corridors, my chest felt strangely restless.

All problems come from human relationships.

A country strong enough not to lose to outside enemies.

Peace for the people who live in the kingdom.

What do I want to protect?

What do I want to become?

I had never really thought about those things before.

Marrying the most beautiful woman in the kingdom.

If I said that out loud, people would laugh.

But for me, it had always been a serious goal.

That dream alone had carried me this far.

But ever since I started standing beside Lady Lumina… it felt like that dream alone wasn’t enough.

…No.

It’s not that it isn’t enough.

It’s about what I will build along the way before reaching that dream.

That’s probably what she wanted me to think about.

♢

Once I stepped out of the royal castle, the air of the capital rushed in all at once.

Stone-paved roads.

Carriages passing by.

Vendors calling out to customers.

The smell of freshly baked bread.

The scent of spices.

And the smell of people’s sweat.

Inside the castle, everything was quiet and clean, where even sound seemed to be absorbed politely.

But the capital was different.

Here, you could hear the noise of people actually living.

With no real destination, I walked through the streets, looking around.

Along the main road stood elegant shops—clothing stores for nobles and sparkling jewelry shops.

But step into a single alley, and the view changed completely.

The walls of the buildings were dark and stained.

Children ran around barefoot.

Laundry hung from ropes stretched across the street.

And some men sat on old wooden crates, already drinking alcohol in the middle of the day.

It was the same royal capital.

And yet the scenery was completely different.

Did Lady Lumina see all of this too?

…She probably did.

That’s the kind of person she was.

Without realizing it, my feet carried me toward the poorer district.

After walking for a bit, I saw a familiar old building.

A group of small children were gathered in front of it.

“It’s big brother!”

“Mister Hort!”

I turned when I heard their voices.

From behind them, Natasha, dressed in her nun’s habit, stepped out.

“Lord Hort…!”

Natasha had taken care of me before I became a Royal Guard.

Her complexion looked better than before.

She still looked a little tired, but the energy in her eyes had returned.

“Natasha, it’s been a while.”

“Yes. You look well… though… have you lost some weight?”

“My training has been pretty intense.”

I suddenly remembered getting thrown around by Haua.

“Are you able to relax today?”

“Yeah. I was given a day off.”

“Then please give some of that time to me so I can heal you.”

“…Heal me?”

“Yes!”

Natasha grabbed my hand.

“Sister looks happy!”

“Big brother got stronger?”

“He has a sword!”

“I’m gonna become a Royal Guard too!”

The kids gathered around me, making the place suddenly lively.

Creating a country where children like these could grow up peacefully…

That was probably the future Lady Lumina was aiming for.

Inside the orphanage, they gave me some tea.

“How have things been lately?”

“…Thanks to you, Lord Hort, the orphanage has been running much more steadily.”

“Really?”

Natasha smiled at me.

“The people whose injuries were treated in the temporary clinic are now working and donating to the orphanage. However…”

“However?”

“Since rumors started spreading that the king is resting due to illness, some merchants have begun raising prices. And we’re hearing that shady people who deal in bribes and other bad things are slowly starting to appear again.”

The First Prince had supposedly taken over the kingdom’s work.

But Lady Lumina said he wasn’t very interested in running the country.

If the person at the top did nothing… then the bad people in the capital could start doing whatever they wanted.

“I’ll report it to the Third Knight Order.”

“Yes. Sir Daut and the others are keeping watch, so the orphanage itself hasn’t had problems yet. But the Third Knight Order can’t keep an eye on everything.”

Natasha’s words carried the weight of someone who had struggled for a long time just to keep the orphanage running.

“Lord Hort, today is your day off, isn’t it?”

“Hm? Ah, yeah.”

“Then… would you come to my room?”

“Your room?”

“Yes. You look tired, and like I said before, I would like you to come and be healed.”

“Oh… right, you did say that before.”

The last time she mentioned it was when we talked about her father.

But I hadn’t thought she meant it seriously.

Natasha took my hand and led me to her room.

A sister’s room was simple—just a bed, a desk, and a closet.

“Over here.”

“…Huh?”

She guided me to the bed and gestured for me to lie down.

“W-Wait, what are you going to do?”

“A massage.”

“A massage?”

“Yes. There were patients whose bodies couldn’t fully recover with healing magic alone, so I learned massage techniques. I thought it would be perfect for someone as tired as you, Lord Hort.”

The moment Natasha’s hand gently touched my shoulder, I instinctively stiffened.

“…You don’t have to be so tense, Lord Hort.”

“Yeah… I’m just not used to this.”

She let out a soft laugh.

Not the forced kind.

A gentle one, like she was actually enjoying taking care of me.

“Then please excuse me.”

Her hands began pressing into my shoulders.

A warm sensation slowly spread through me.

At the same time, a gentle healing mana flowed from her fingertips.

It felt like the exhaustion in my body was slowly melting away.

“How is it?”

“…It feels amazing. I might fall asleep.”

“I’m glad. Lord Hort, you always push yourself too hard.”

As she said that, Natasha moved her hands down to my back.

The pressure was just right.

Honestly, I almost let out a weird sound.

“Right there… feels really good…”

“Really? Then I’ll focus on that area.”

“Please do…”

It felt good.

Like both my body and mind were slowly being healed.

“Lord Hort… you’ve always been someone special to me.”

“Special?”

“Yes. Did you know? People in the slums call you a saint.”

That embarrassing nickname came back to mind.

“Hey, that’s…”

“Fufu, I don’t think they’re wrong.”

“…You think so?”

Natasha’s slender fingers gently loosened the muscles along my neck.

“Haah…”

The feeling was so good that my consciousness started drifting away.

Seeing my reaction, Natasha laughed softly.

“Fufu, that’s a very nice reaction.”

Hearing her laugh only made me feel more embarrassed.

“Lord Hort.”

Natasha’s voice gently reached my ears as I nearly fell asleep.

She leaned close enough that I could almost feel her breath.

The warmth of her body brushed against my back, making my heart skip a beat.

“Natasha?”

“I don’t know what you’re struggling with, Lord Hort. But no matter what you choose to do… I will always be on your side.”

“…Huh?”

“When you came to the church before, you looked troubled. I may not be able to do much for you. But whenever you feel tired… please come to me.”

Her voice carried a gentle kindness.

“No matter when it is, I will welcome you.”

Hearing those kind words, I let myself relax.

And before I realized it…

I had already fallen asleep.