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[The three chatted together 1]
Lutz, Mark, and Benno were having a conversation.
Mark asked Lutz with a hint of curiosity, "How are things going with Myne?"
Lutz took a deep breath and replied, "No good."
Benno said, "She turned you down, didn't she?"
"That's not it," Lutz said with a complicated expression. "I think… she still doesn't see me as a member of the opposite sex."
Mark and Benno exchanged an exasperated look and said in unison, "That's just like her."
[Lutz's Crush 1]
There's something that bothers Lutz a little, yet secretly pleases him.
He's already eighteen.
Myne is also eighteen.
And that something is—
"Lutz!" The moment Lutz opened the door, Myne called out his name and threw herself at him, burying her face in his chest after hugging him.
Embarrassed, Lutz tried to push her away: "Myne! How many times do I have to tell you? We're not kids anymore, too old to be acting so clingy!"
"What's the big deal? It's just the two of us here." Myne chuckled.
Over the years, the family and the people at the Gilberta Company had worked hard to supervise Myne's exercise, so her health had improved considerably—enough for her to jump out of bed and rush over to hug Lutz. Still, her underlying frailty hadn't gone away, and she often fainted.
The sensation of Myne's hair brushing against him through the fabric of his shirt made Lutz lose control; he curled his fingers around the tips of her navy-blue hair.
Myne finally let go of him. "I never knew you liked playing with people's hair, Lutz."
Embarrassed, Lutz quickly released his fingers. "Th-this is all your fault! Did you think you could keep clinging to me like this forever?"
"Isn't that how it is? You said you'd always stay by my side, didn't you, Lutz?" Myne tilted her head as she spoke. Even at eighteen, she was still slimmer and smaller than others her age, and the gesture made her unbearably cute.
Faced with Myne's matter-of-fact attitude, Lutz, trying to hide his burning cheeks, muttered, "I just remembered I have work to do," and left.
Honestly! Does that girl Myne have any idea what it means to say "always stay by my side" at this age?!
[Lutz's Crush 2]
"Hey, Lutz, guess what? Mom set up an arranged meeting for me."
He really wished she wouldn't drop bombshells so casually every time. It gave him a headache.
Lutz stiffened for a moment, then suppressed his inner complaints and asked, "It didn't work out, did it?"
"No, it didn't. The guy couldn't care less about books."
"I see."
"By the way, Lutz, why do you always assume it didn't work out?"
"Because you're not exactly a beauty, Myne."
"Darn it. Everyone keeps looking down on me. And my sewing skills have actually improved!"
"They may have improved, but not enough to meet the standard for a beauty, right? So I figured it didn't work out."
Because the other guy probably didn't fancy Myne either.
Myne read the unspoken second half of Lutz's sentence, pretended to be angry, and gave the back of his hand a firm slap. ...Even if she hit hard, it didn't do much damage to a guy. Can't be helped.
Lutz apologized with a laugh, but thought to himself: The truth is, I can't help loving you just the way you are—hardly a beauty.
[Lutz's Crush 3]
Today was the day of the tea party with Freida. Myne smiled and sat down across from Freida.
"Oh my, Myne, your movements have become quite elegant too."
"It's all thanks to your teaching, Freida."
After Freida became the noble's concubine, she not only introduced new commercial trends into the noble quarter but also taught noble etiquette to Myne and the others, allowing both their merchant houses to soar. Thanks to that, Myne could visit like this, under the pretext of discussing business matters, even though she was a commoner.
"I heard that Lutz has already found his chosen Goddess of Light. Is that true?" After some small talk, Freida brought up the topic.
"Really? I haven't heard anything about it."
Freida took a sip of black tea. "Who do you think it could be?"
Myne thought for a moment and said, "Could it be Tuuli?"
When Freida asked why, Myne answered, "Because my Tuuli is an angel!"
"That's just you answering that way because you like Tuuli yourself."
"You caught me?!"
What a shame, Lutz. Regarding the matter you asked me to look into, Myne is completely clueless. Freida wrote this in a private letter sent to Lutz.
[The three chatted together 2]
So and so, this and that—Lutz recounted all the ways Myne had been clueless.
Lutz said, "Lately, more girls have been showing interest in me. Everyone keeps asking me when I'm getting married. Turning down their advances and answering all those questions is exhausting. If I wanted to get married..."
"That she could be this much trouble is astonishing," Benno said.
Mark nodded in agreement. "Yeah, at this rate, she might really end up never getting married."
Lutz said, "After all, she's hardly a beauty."
Benno said, "True."
With a *click*, the door opened, and an angry Myne appeared: "I heard every word!"
"...How much did you hear?" Benno gently patted Lutz on the back, signaling him to calm down.
"Starting from when Lutz said he was exhausted!"
The three of them suddenly looked like they wanted to hold their heads and groan. Myne let out a confused "Huh?"
[The four chatted together]
After a while, the four of them calmed down.
Myne had originally only overheard Lutz talking about marriage and got curious, eavesdropping behind the door. But then the topic suddenly turned to her, and it was all criticism, so she immediately pushed the door open in displeasure.
Now, she set aside her momentary annoyance and thought seriously.
"So, Lutz, you don't want to marry any of those girls who've been showing interest in you, and you don't want to answer any more questions about it, right?"
Myne asked, resting her chin on her hand.
"...More or less," Lutz replied.
*But you left out the most important part,* Lutz thought to himself with a wry smile.
After a moment, Myne said, "I've thought of a good solution."
Lutz asked, "What is it?"
"Hey, Lutz," she said with a bright, radiant smile that made Lutz unable to look away. "Why don't we just get married?"
The atmosphere suddenly fell into an eerie silence.
Just as Myne was feeling quite uncomfortable and about to say something more, Benno clapped his hands and ordered Mark, "Go prepare the necessary documents for submission to the temple."
Mark smiled and said, "Yes, sir."
"Wait," Lutz said, still seeming out of the loop. "Sir, what documents?"
Myne answered in Benno's place: "The marriage papers for you and me, of course."
"Huh???" This time it was Lutz who let out a very, very, very confused and shocked sound.
So and so, this and that—Lutz and Myne became engaged. Congratulations!
[The Night Before the Starbind Ceremony]
"I'm so looking forward to the Starbind Ceremony! We can have a water fight again!"
"Myne..."
Seeing that Lutz seemed a bit down, Myne quickly patted his cheek. "What's wrong, Lutz?"
"Hey, Myne... why are you marrying me?"
"Not wanting to get married is perfectly normal, right? I don't want to get married either. It just so happens that my parents are also arranging matchmaking meetings for me. So the two of us getting married is the most convenient way to escape the pressure to marry! And besides! That way we can stay together forever, right?"
Seeing the complicated look on Lutz's face, Myne took his hand and continued, "Thank you, Lutz, for being willing to marry me. I know myself that I'm hardly a beauty, my sewing skills aren't that good, I know a lot of recipes but don't have the physical strength to make them myself, and I still faint from time to time. I feel like I probably couldn't give birth to a healthy child... Even so, Lutz, you're willing to take me in and choose me. Dad, Mom, Tuuli, and Kamil are also very grateful to you."
Listening to Myne's words, Lutz smiled and said, "I'm such an idiot."
He cupped Myne's face in his hands and gazed straight into her eyes. "Myne, you have no common sense, you're sloppy and always leave a mess behind, you have a dream-like past life, you're hardly a beauty, and you're an utterly hopeless girl. But I love you. I'll say it again—I love you. I'm not marrying you to escape the pressure to marry, not to focus on business, and not to take in a girl who'd have a hard time finding a husband... It's because I love you."
At that moment, the emerald-green eyes reflected in Myne's own were as mesmerizing as jewels.
Whether as Urano or as Myne, this was the first time she had been confessed to by a boy. So this is what it feels like to be confessed to? I'm so happy. I feel like I'm melting.
Unable to find words to express the new feelings welling up inside her, she used action—her lips met Lutz's.
...As for the fact that Myne fainted in Lutz's arms from sheer excitement, well, that's a story for another time.