Chapter 13

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: You'll Need Me
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Just as the marriage proposal was about to turn into a duel.

"Lady, calm down!"

Audrey, who had been anxiously watching from behind, quickly intervened to stop Aracilla.

"Let go, Audrey. I'm going to teach that arrogant knight a lesson, the one who doesn't even recognize his savior!"

"No, you can't! Please, control yourself!"

She was desperate for her lady's reputation and future. Seeing the maid clinging to her slender waist, Demian raised an eyebrow.

The way she touched her mistress without permission, and her subtly familiar tone, suggested a closer relationship than that of a typical maid and her lady.

"Don't overstep your bounds by interfering in your mistress's affairs. Just let her be."

"You're the one overstepping your bounds by lecturing me. Audrey is perfectly fine."

Aracilla, who had snapped sharply at Demian, finally reined in her temper, sat down, and glared at him.

"You're going to regret this, treating me like this."

"Lady, you should be the one to not regret interfering in another family's matters. I do not need your help."

Demian replied coldly, stood up, and opened the door. It was an unmistakable dismissal.

Aracilla let out a scoff of disbelief and approached him with a resolute stride. She looked him directly in the eyes and said,

"You will absolutely need me, Sir."

Demian furrowed his brow at the conviction in her clear, vibrant blue eyes. But his eyes widened at her next words.

"Look into this arranged marriage, Sir. Your grandfather reached an agreement with His Majesty to pass on the ducal title and fortune to the grandson who marries a Hugo granddaughter."

"What kind of, that's absurd..."

"I've told you everything; the choice is yours."

Aracilla retorted coolly and swept out. Audrey, sensing the mood, followed her lady.

Unable to fully believe or dismiss her words, Demian watched her receding figure with a frown.

* * *

Upon returning home, Aracilla was greeted by her older sister and younger brother.

"What brings you two out to greet me?"

"Adrian said he had something to show you."

Iris's eyes crinkled softly as she gestured to her younger brother. Aracilla looked at her brother, who seemed quite flushed with excitement.

"Sister! Look at this!"

Adrian, holding a bundle of papers, approached his second older sister.

"I wrote down all the reasons why you shouldn't get married, Sister!"

"Oh, my dear Adrian. You must have spent all day writing this instead of studying."

As she took the papers her brother offered, Aracilla hit the nail on the head. Adrian flinched, averting his gaze to the floor.

"Let's see what my brother has written, abandoning his successor lessons."

She calmly read the contents, written in a handwriting that clearly showed an attempt to appear grown-up.

"1. The groom is ugly."

Oh, Adrian. Objectively, he was quite handsome.

"2. The groom is short."

What to do? He was tall enough that I had to crane my neck to look at him.

"3. He's weaker than you, so he can't protect you, Sister."

This one was true. Although she had never directly dueled Demian, Aracilla firmly believed she would win.

He was an arrogant knight, and she was a proud mage.

"4. Your ideal type is a man who's good at charming gestures, but he might not make any for you."

This was actually a lie Aracilla had told to get Adrian to make charming gestures for her.

After this, all the reasons Adrian had written were truly absurd. But the last reason alone made Aracilla feel a pang in her heart.

"If you leave, Sister, I will miss you very much. I might even cry."

Adrian was a late addition to the family, eleven years younger than Iris and ten years younger than Aracilla.

Knowing that her younger brother had felt lonely by himself at home while the two sisters, born a year apart, were always out together, she felt a pang of pity.

"Adrian."

Aracilla called her brother's name in a gentle voice.

"Yes, Sister! You're not getting married, are you?!"

"No, I am."

Adrian's face, which had briefly swelled with anticipation, turned ashen with disappointment. His small shoulders slumped.

Aracilla gently stroked her brother's hair, which was the same light purple color as her own.

"Just because I get married doesn't mean I'm leaving you. I'll always be your second sister, Adrian."

"That's right, we'll be the three Hugo siblings until we die. Even if your last name changes after marriage, your roots won't."

Iris chimed in, comforting her brother. Adrian, looking up at his sisters alternately, fidgeted with his fingers.

"But Mom said that if you get married, you'll leave home, Sister."

"Of course. When you get married, you have to live with your husband. You'll have to do the same when you grow up and get married."

Hearing that he would have to live separately from his family upon marriage, Adrian shook his head vigorously.

"No! Then I'll never get married!"

"Alright, try your best, though I'm not sure if that's possible."

Her parents had largely accepted Aracilla's declaration of singlehood because she was neither the family's successor nor the eldest child.

Adrian was the successor to the Hugo Marquisate, and Iris was the eldest.

As the second child, Aracilla was in a position where her parents could fully support her in pursuing her desired path.

"Sister, can't you also not marry Sir Vandermir? I don't like Sir Vandermir."

"When have you even met him, Adrian? And if not him, I'd have to marry someone even worse."

Aracilla gently pinched her brother's soft cheek.

If Demian refused the proposal, the only remaining option was Oscar Vandermir, a man with a bloody future.

She wondered if her life would truly be safe if she married a man who might already be plotting treason.

'Of course, if he marries me, I'll stop the treason even if I have to beat him to death.'

A gentle hand rested on Aracilla's shoulder as she steeled herself internally.

"Aracilla, if you dislike it so much, you don't have to marry. Your older sister is here."

Iris offered a mature and thoughtful smile. She had always been like that: volunteering for unpleasant tasks and yielding good things to her younger siblings.

Even when Aracilla declared she wouldn't marry and would become the Magic Tower Master, Iris supported her without complaint. And if Adrian got tired during his successor lessons and tried to run away, Iris would gladly hide him in her room.

'I'll always be here, so if you two, Ari and Adrian, ever find things difficult, you can always come to me.'

As her siblings, they couldn't help but love and follow her.

"Fulfilling the family's duties is originally the eldest's responsibility. If there's an arranged marriage, I should be the one to do it."

Her mature voice conveyed the sense of responsibility she held as the eldest daughter of the Hugo Marquisate.

Perhaps her sister in the premonition dream married with this same mindset, only to be unjustly sacrificed in her husband's rebellion.

The Iris from her dream, as gaunt as dry kindling, overlapped with the vibrant Iris standing before her. Aracilla felt a surge of emotion.

No, I can't let my sister die. No matter what, I have to be the one to marry a Vandermir.

"So, don't feel bound by the arranged marriage..."

"It's not because of the arranged marriage that I want to marry Sir Vandermir."

Aracilla denied it, half-impulsively. It was to relieve her sister of the burden of the arranged marriage.

"Then why?"

"I just... liked the person."

"That's a lie. You don't just like someone for no reason."

Iris, who knew her younger sister better than anyone, narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

If Aracilla were such an easy person, her family wouldn't have been so flustered by her.

"It's really because of the arranged marriage, isn't it?"

"...No? It's not? Actually, I just liked Sir's face?"

Fearing that Iris would volunteer for the arranged marriage if she admitted it here, Aracilla desperately shook her head.

Though there were rarely secrets between the sisters, she couldn't be honest about the premonition dream, so she had to tell this white lie.

"Still, it's unbelievable. Ari, you decided to marry based solely on a face?"

Wasn't this her sister, whose own exceptional beauty meant she'd never cared about anyone else's appearance her entire life?

Iris couldn't easily dismiss her suspicions.

"His physique was good too."

"..."

"And his voice was quite nice."

Aracilla brazenly listed additional reasons, covering Adrian's ears. Iris's eyes wavered slightly.

"Are those really the only external reasons...?"

"Of course. Sister, people are naturally susceptible to visual appeal."

Aracilla continued, her face confident, to drive the point home.

"Anyway, since I have all the money, honor, and status, isn't it reasonable for me to choose a man based solely on his appearance?"

"No, even so, I don't understand..."

Iris pressed a hand to her forehead, looking bewildered. She, too, knew about Demian Vandermir, who was famously handsome.

She just hadn't expected her sister to fall for that handsome knight.

"Wait, Aracilla... Are you saying you're having a love marriage with Sir Vandermir?"

Aracilla thought for a moment. A love marriage would be easier to overcome objections, right? Having quickly decided, she slowly nodded.

"Yes."

"But you said it wasn't like that before."

"It changed. I did meet Sir."

Meeting once still counts as meeting, doesn't it? Aracilla reversed her words without hesitation.

'Well, if I can't marry Sir, things might get a little awkward...'

Aracilla was certain he would absolutely need her. Even more so when she recalled the wavering expression he'd shown at the end.

Soon, Demian Vandermir would realize the reality that they were each other's only best option.

'I just have to wait until then.'

Thinking that, Aracilla tightly held her brother's and sister's hands and entered the house.

* * *

Demian investigated the arranged marriage between the Vandermir Ducal Family and the Hugo Marquisate through his aide, Colin.

The results were shocking.

'So the mage's words were true after all...'

As Aracilla had said, the previous Duke had left a will stating that the grandson who upheld the arranged marriage, sworn before the Emperor, would inherit the fortune and title.

Of course, the right to designate the successor primarily belonged to the current Duke, Demian's father, but it was a different matter if the person who notarized his grandfather's will was the Emperor.

No matter how powerful a Duke, he could not defy the Emperor's command. Especially an Emperor who, backed by the previous Duke, now legitimately held the right to intervene in the family succession.

'What on earth was Grandfather thinking...'

During his lifetime, the previous Duke had been the only one in the Ducal Family on Demian's side. He probably hadn't left such a will with ill intentions towards his grandson.

The important thing was that the current Ducal Family had thoroughly hidden this fact from him.

Their intention was clear.

'If I marry and get my hands on Grandfather's will, the position of successor will be mine.'

Then Demian's long-held desire for revenge could also succeed.

In the darkness, Demian's eyes glinted like a predator's. He took out stationery and a pen from a drawer.

It was to write a belated reply to Aracilla Hugo.