Chapter 342 – Closed Ending

Chapter 342 Closed Ending

“…”

How good would it have been if he had been wearing an iron mask?
It’s only been on one date…
Who knew you couldn’t manage your facial expressions like this?
I was too lazy to become a politician.

Klopp.

Pretending to take a sip of alcohol, she covers her face with her glass.
However, the eyes are all exposed, so it is of no use.
Know.
How much i… Did it shake

“It is a sudden statement.”

“Suddenly means something confirmed and flying.
If this is the case, I will tell you in advance.
Because the marriage is now in progress.”

“Why did the southern royal family come out?
The temple participants who departed from Ariandel, a small southern kingdom, have yet to arrive at Amitye.”

“So shouldn’t we proceed with the marriage now?
A marriage alliance that can certainly shake the enemy’s rear, and a political decision that can prevent the enemy from joining forces.
I need that.
And there is another reason.”

“… You think about it even after the war is over.”

“That is correct.
I also need to know your insight.
Ariandel is Amitie’s brother country.
However, even brothers become strangers after a long separation.
Regular soldiers disguised as pilgrims and temple participants taking advantage of the civil war, and the people fascinated by the best opportunity of the temple.
Do you know what their number is now?
That’s 100,000 people.
Oh my gosh, isn’t it amazing?
The number gathered in front of us from all over Amitie is 200,000, but another 100,000!
Can you feel it?
Aiming for the 200,000-strong army in front of us, 100,000 are coming up from the south.
Because of the pretext of participating in the holy war, the borders have been completely opened.
Even if we win here, what if they sit in Amity’s castle?
Or if you capture Amitye’s capital first?
There’s nothing more troublesome than that.
It is like a guest sleeping overnight and then sitting down and pretending to be the owner.
Or if you just sit there in Ariandel and neighboring border towns… Well, very efficient territorial expansion is possible.
I will push Amity away without shedding a single drop of blood.”

“So if Anne gets married, do you think she can prevent the situation?
I think it would be like giving a very good hostage.
No, it would be more accurate to see it as giving the barn key.
Since Anne gave up her right to the throne to save her Stella, she claims it was an unfair move and she could put Anne up so that Ariandel could take over the Amity royal family.
Are you going to give the enemy hostages as well as justification?”

“That is a very good point.”

“But why…”

“That’s how desperate we are.
To be precise, His Highness and our army.”

Not allied forces… Stella-kun… ?

“The army of Alberic and Marquis John pushed Ain Castle back.
Our Stella army is currently in the Demon King’s territory.
Isn’t it funny?
At first there were many more, but now we only have 15,000 left.
Oh, and that’s a lot.
But I want you to know that not all combatants are.
It means that all of Anne’s ladies-in-waiting are included.
Do you know why?
I’m ashamed to say… Today, several people were caught deserting and executed.
Everyone is so far from home…
In Amitie, the mainstream is Catherine Farah.
It was a great victory, and a dragon was taken away, but Catherine is still considered mainstream among humans.
Because we’ve been pushed all the way from the castle of Hebraim to here.
From the outside, we can see that we are losing.
Well, actually, it’s still being pushed.
As time passes, allied nobles may leave to defend the territory within Amity.
That’s how desperate we are.
Governments in exile are always like that.
Therefore… I want certainty.”

“Didn’t you recommend Anne at first?”

“Didn’t you take Stella with you?
If you have two cards, it’s a waste to give them all to one person.
One Stella is enough for you and the alliance with the Demon King Army.”

“Anne is still… It’s a young age.
Aren’t you in too much of a hurry? .”

“Anne is 23 this year.
It’s been 8 years since her coming of age ceremony.
As a member of the royal family, the marriage period was not fully completed.
With each passing day, her ransom goes down.
If she is the prince of Ariandel, the southern country, she is the person with whom marriage talks were originally made, so it is appropriate.”

“Is that marriage story what Anne wants too?”

“Originally, I thought the prince was okay.
If it’s not okay now, what will you do?
What matters is not the individual, but the family.
Preservation of the royal family, strong alliances, prevention of war.
A member of the royal family is destined to bear such things.”

When she thought of sending the women she liked to someone else someday, she felt various emotions.
When she wrote her appeal to marry Rumika to someone else, it was as if a knife was slicing through her heart.
She parted ways with Nene, and whenever her young men approached Nene, it seemed like her ice pick was stabbing her in the chest.
When she hears that Anne is getting married to a southern country, even though Anne can’t even see her face properly… She feels a wooden stick gently pressing down on her stomach.
Stuffy, feeling that her pores are clogged up, making her unable to breathe.
Different but… Similar feeling.

Ah.
Shit.
A guy like me is really…
One date isn’t the problem.
At that level, she wouldn’t have attacked Sister Agnes in Valkyrie armor or Nuba Kane, the gold dragon, to save Anne.
It’s okay if she started out as a pity.
It’s okay if it started with compassion.
It could be seen as a fairy tale.
An elegant and dignified royalty, a responsible sickly woman.
I suddenly asked myself.
Can I really let Anne go?

“Ha…”

I gave up on facial expression management.
My strengths are not like that.
That’s me in the iron mask.
Now I am Camus Franz.
An honest, passionate demon.
Duke Dupre also guessed my feelings to some extent.
So hurry up.

“Would you like another drink?”

“Yes.”

Duke Dupre pours the wine.
A little bit of water, but still strong wine.

Jorre…

“… ?”

Duke Dupre continued to drink until half of his glass was over.

“We want certainty.
To the point where you’re just wandering around satisfied with your position as the state secretary of both countries… I cannot give you Anne.”

“As promised, we are moving forward step by step.
I’m now the deputy commander of the field army.
Taking over the military is only a matter of time.”

“No. We need more than that.
You still… You couldn’t even reveal your secret.”

Dark blood.
The devil’s blood.
Qualified to be a loser.

All over…

“?!”

The glass is now full and overflowing, but Duke Dupre continues pouring it.

“Duke… Alcohol…”

“Power is like this.”

The Duke’s eyes contain hot water that flows slowly like lava.

All over…

“If the vessel to contain power is small, it will eventually overflow.
How much will your bowl cost?
Is it as much as this drink?
Or is it a bigger treat?”

“…”

Jorre…

Now the wine that wet my hands began to drip onto Duke Dupre’s table.

“Be mindful.
What I, what we want is the recapture of Amity in its entirety.
I bet on your aspirations to become the emperor who unified both countries, and the emperor.
To say that one Stella isn’t enough… That should be enough.”

Slurp…

Wine flowing enough to fill the table.
Now I started noticing something around me.
Then Duke Dupre took up the half-remaining wine bottle and blew the bottle.

Every bit…

Great, old man.
I’ve been drinking hard enough for that age.

Gulp, gulp, gulp…

I also pour the full wine into the glass at once.
All the while, we were staring into each other’s eyes.
Fire and fire.
Like that hot something hiding under the volcano, they were facing each other with that much hot eyes.

***

I quickly found Anne.
Fortunately, I was able to find Anne talking to some handsome man.

“Oh, excuse me.
Excuse me, I have a really important and urgent story.
I’m sorry!”

Go to the uninhabited terrace.
Ann quietly followed me, holding her hand.
A light green dress different from yesterday, and colorful clothes decorated with jewels and beads.
From her hair up in a nice twist like Stella’s, to a necklace with a large topaz.
It is an outfit that came out deliberately.

“You look so pretty today…”

“Thanks for the compliments.”

She is still holding her hand.
It’s so delicate that if you squeeze it hard, it’ll break.

“I wonder why Kamyu-sama made such a mistake.”

“Sorry.
I am in a hurry.”

“What about?”

“Your marriage.”

“Ah, is that why you cut off Prince Fernando?”

“What… ?
Was that curly-haired man the Prince of Ariandel?”

“Yes.
… I thought you knew and were rude.”

“Ah… I did not know.
I see
I’m glad.
It was the right timing.
I just heard from Duke Dupre that he intends to marry you into the small kingdom of Ariandel.”

“That’s right.
He was so impatient that he invited a prince from another country to this warring land.”

“How do you feel…”

“Surprisingly, they pretended to be pilgrims in commoner clothes and came all the way here.
He’s a bit pretentious, so I doubt if it’s true.”

“I see.”

“You must have been very surprised by her maternal grandfather’s words?
Calm down.”

Ann wipes the sweat from my forehead with a handkerchief.
No change in facial expression.
Even though the talk of marriage came out.

“Marriage… Are you going to do it?”

“If necessary.”

“We went on a date today.”

“Because that is the fate of the royal family.
There is some truth in what Grandpa said.”

“Do you want to get married?
With that prince?”

“Just… I guess I’ll just live with it.”

“So you think you’ll be happy?”

“What do you want to talk about… ?”

“I don’t want to let you go.”

“Not enough.”

“What… ?”

I really stupidly opened my mouth.
Ann looked at me calmly as always.
All I know is that sweat is still seeping out of her hands that we are holding.
So, she holds her hand with both of her hands.

It means ‘I can’t be so determined’.
I don’t want to send it, that’s not enough.
Surely.
Tell me

“I hate open endings.”

“Yes… ?”

Ann stares at me with her face asking what kind of nonsense you are talking about.

“I like novels, but I don’t like endings with too many possibilities.
That, I leave it to the reader.”

“?”

“That’s why I hope that our meeting with you will also have a closed ending.
I want you and I to be together and be happy together.
I will make it.”

“Ah…”

Her mouth slightly open.
Eyes still looking at me calmly.
I don’t want those eyes to die like before, never again.

“Other possibilities, I want to erase them all.
As for the last chapter of this story, I want to leave only one ending closed.
I don’t want your story to end with only scars.
I save, I cure, I will be with you.
Marry me.”

“I am greedy.
Is one Stella not enough?”

“It has nothing to do with politics like that.
Just like you
That’s all.”

And… I gently hugged her.
Her her her.
A body that was so fragile that it seemed like it would break if you applied force, and you could feel all of her bones.
She’s been through a lot and it’s hard for her man, and every time he touches her, her nightmares come to mind.
She hugged her very lightly, full of her heart that she wanted to protect.

“I’m saying it again just in case, but this is a proposal.”

“Yes…
It’s awesome.”

Her hand gently creeping up on my back.
It trembles slightly, but it is warm.
This guy, who always had cold hands and feet, now feels as hot as dry wood burning.

“It was sudden… ?”

“Then what about it?
The situation is like this…
The original proposal is more relatable to me if I do it honestly and plainly like this.”

“Good.”

As the time passed by, Anne came out of her arms.
She leaves with a sad heart.
It was only now that the sun was about to set, but already her eyes were filled with stardust and shining brightly.

“… Camus.”

“Huh.”

“Didn’t I win the drawing contest earlier?”

“Huh.”

“You have to grant me one wish.”

“Then. Tell me anything.”

“Announce to her maternal grandfather that you will marry me.”

“!”

There is no change in this woman’s expression.
Like… As if I had been thinking about it for a long time.

“Can you?”

“I will do it right away.”

“As expected, be brave.”

Anne smiled slightly.
Really… It took me a long time to make that smile.
It would take longer to kill Alberic and return to the castle.
You can do it.
It does it.

“Are you prepared?”

“Swearing is… It’s unfamiliar
If I am with you, I will try hard to adapt from now on.”

Anne and I held hands tightly and approached Duke Dupre, who was talking in a corner of the banquet hall.
Across from Dupre, there is a black, curly-haired man who was talking to Anne earlier.

“Ah, welcome, Lord Camus.
I was talking about you.”

“Hmm… Nice to see you.
I am Fernando Ariandel, the prince of the small southern kingdom of Ariandel.”

“Excuse me earlier.
Camu Franz, who is a top soldier of the Demon King’s Army and currently holds the post of deputy commander of the Field Command.”

“How could you not know?
In fact, you are the main character of this banquet.”

The curly-haired man stares at the hand that Anne and I are holding.
The same goes for Duke Dupre.

“I came all the way here as a forced march for the wedding with Princess Anne.”

“I thought Ariandel was an ally of Catherine.
Because it is a brother country and a branch country of Amitie.”

Haha, you misunderstood.
It was not the regular army who went to Amitie, but the pilgrims.
Ordinary citizens walked voluntarily.
Even that, while the former king of Amitie was still alive, the holy war was declared and gathered…
It is an honor to host Princess Anne in this warm southern country.
You will be able to enjoy your stay with me in the orange gardens of Ariandel.”

Ah, that stomped, scented orange tree.
Was that from Ariandel?

“Princess Anne is still… It hurts.”

“I know.
You just have to go and treat yourself.
I’m not obsessed with skinship.
An arranged marriage is about giving each other trust and alliance.
Amitie and Ariandel are brother countries.
As a good ally to Her Highness Stella, it will serve as a good base for legitimacy.
That is what being with me is like.”

“Marriage is a promise of love.”

“Wrong.
Marriage is the most useful contract in human history.
Wealth, family, power, alliance.
It has been maintained for that reason.
Anne, it’s not that I don’t love you.
It means that we have a position for each other.
Rather, it is firm because it is a contract.”

Fernando reaches out and tries to take Anne’s other hand.

“It’s great… !!”

Ann cringes her arms as her face goes white.
I hide Anne behind her.
The corner of Prince Fernando’s eyes went up.

What to say
Go away?
Did I like it?
Am I marrying this woman?
Oh, can you please forgive me?
Oh I don’t know

“Are you finished with your urgent business?
Princess Anne.
Give her a hand
Please dance a song with me.”

Prince Fernando holds out his hand.

“Princess Anne is still heartbroken.”

“Are you holding your hand?
Then you can take my hand.”

Now you’re talking nonsense.
My emotions are tangled up and I don’t know what to do.
Because this isn’t a matter of logic.
This marriage is a matter of profit, a matter of politics.
My cards are love and passion.
A cheap feeling that doesn’t cost a penny.
Yes, how about that?
That’s what it means to me.
I don’t know, fuck.
I go as I please.

“Prince Fernando, since you’ve been rude, I’m going to continue to excuse you.”

“Do not do that.”

Eyes are fast
But it’s late.
Hugging Anne’s shoulder…

Jjoooook.

Match
Mouth and heart.