Chapter 17: “Why Lauren Was in the Forest”

It goes back to the time when Margrave Byreus and his daughter Lauren had just arrived in the Malbert territory…….

~ Side Lauren ~

My name is Lauren. I’m the eldest daughter of Gangis von Byreus, the lord of the Byreus territory, and I was currently in the neighboring territory of Malbert.

My purpose was to accompany my father on his inspection visit, but in reality, it was to assess the eldest son of the Malbert family, who was to become my fiancee.

As the daughter of a noble family, I knew that I was destined to marry someone from another noble family, but if I could, I would like to marry someone that I had met.

However, this would be difficult to achieve without a miracle like the ones in fairy tales, so I had given up on this as an unfulfilled wish.

In the midst of all this, I came to the mansion of the Malbert family, and to put it bluntly…… I was very bored. I had nothing to do.

Lilin, a maid who accompanied me from the Byreus territory, would take care of my personal care, so now it was time for me to wait until my father called me.

“…… I’m bored.”

“I see.”

I was in the room I was assigned with Lilin, who replies to my mumbling, but I was really bored, bored, bored.

(If I’m so bored, why don’t I go for a walk?) As soon as I got this idea, I started to take action.

“Young lady, where are you going?”

“……”

That was right, I now had a lookout…… named Lilin, watching over me. I had to deal with her first.

“I’m going to go pick some flowers.”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

“No, I’ll be fine on my own. Please wait here for Lilin.”

“Haa, I see. Well, please take care.”

I managed to made it work. Now I could go outside.

I managed to get out while being careful not to be spotted by the servants in the mansion.

Soldiers were guarding the gate at the front of the mansion, so if I went straight there, they would find me.

The only choice here was to go to the back of the mansion where there were no soldiers. I really wanted to go to the front of the mansion, but I had no choice, so I decided to go into the forest at the back of the mansion.

The Byreus territory was well developed, and since I live in a city, I didn’t have as many opportunities to see a forest itself compared to other nobles in the territory.

Therefore, even an empty forest could be a bit of an adventure for me, which made me excited.

After walking through the dense forest for a while, I heard the sound of the grass behind me rustling and stirring.

I turned around and there it was, a small green-skinned monster, a goblin. I had read in a book that goblins mate not only with females of the same species but also with females of other species to increase their species. Could it be that a child like me would also be attacked?

“Gigyi”

“Kyaa”

As soon as their eyes met mine, the goblins rushed towards me, making strange noises. The crotch of the loincloth they were wearing was bulging, no doubt because that thing was getting bigger.

Feeling that I was going to fall prey to the goblins, I did my best to escape. However, the goblins didn’t give up and chased after me.

The chase between me and the goblins continued for a while, but it was obvious that I would soon be exhausted if I ran around in the unfamiliar forest as I hadn’t done much exercise.

I finally reached the limit of my strength and slumped down on the ground. Of course, the goblins had caught up with me.

“Gigigigi”

“No, stop, don’t come!”

They knew that there was no way for me to escape. The goblins came toward me, one by one, with ugly, lecherous smiles on their faces.

Just as I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be scattered like a flower, a new intruder stopped them. And in the worst possible way.

“Gaaaaaaa”

“O-oh, no……. That’s a Lesser Grizzly.”

“Gyi!? Gigigyi!”

What appeared was a huge bear-shaped monster, Lesser Grizzly, no more than two meters tall. Even the goblins seemed to value their lives, and the moment the Lesser Grizzly appeared, they ran away at once.

This meant that the next target would be me. I had escaped the goblin threat, but now I was in mortal danger from a Lesser Grizzly.

Even though I knew I couldn’t be saved, I couldn’t help but scream.

“S-someone…… h-help me!!”

My voice echoed around me, but no one could possibly hear it. But there was nothing I could do about it.

I didn’t have the strength left to run away, and I didn’t have the ability to fight the Lesser Grizzly. The only thing left to do was to see how the Lesser Grizzly would cook me.

“I’m sorry, Father…… Lilin…….”

Regret came to my mind now. I never thought that a little thing called “killing time” would lead to something like this.

Will they forgive me for my foolishness? I wanted to see my mother and my two sisters in Byreus territory again…….

“Gaaaaaaa”

“Kyaa”

At last, the Lesser Grizzly tried to rush towards me. I reflexively covered my face with my arms.

I shut my eyes and prepare for the impact of the huge body that was about to hit me.

“……”

But what was going on? No matter how long I waited, the shock that was supposed to come to my body didn’t come.

I wondered if Lesser Grizzly had changed its mind, and when I opened my eyes, there was a boy about my age.

Strangely enough, he was holding the Lesser Grizzly’s huge body in place with one hand. Was it some kind of magic trick?

“Eh, ah, um”

“It’s dangerous. Stay back.”

The boy simply told me to stay back because it was dangerous and started to fight the Lesser Grizzly.

I regained my composure and hid in the bushes a short distance away so as not to disturb him.

From there, it was overwhelming. That incredibly strong Lesser Grizzly was defeated by the boy without a hand or foot. (TN: Meaning, without using his hand or foot.)

The boy had blond hair and beautiful green eyes. He had a very dignified look while still retaining his childlike youthfulness.

And then we introduced ourselves to each other. Apparently, he was the eldest son of the Malbert family, to whom I was to marry.

And it was at this point that I realized something was wrong with my body. Just by looking at his…… face, my face and body became hot, and I could hear my heart beating very loudly.

Could this be what it means to fall in love with someone? It was a complicated feeling, very comfortable and very painful.

Then, Roland’s siblings, Mark-sama and Laura-sama, came to see me, and when I asked Roland-sama what was going on, he said that they were in some kind of trouble and wanted me to help them.

Before he could finish, I immediately agreed to cooperate with Roland-sama, but for various reasons, I was to be engaged to his brother Mark-sama.

(Why!? Mark-sama is a wonderful person, but it’s Roland-sama that I love!)

I suppressed the urge to scream and went back to my room, but then Lilin came crying to me and I had a hard time quieting her down.

I felt bad for making her worry, but I couldn’t afford to care about her right now.

We ended up staying in Malbert’s territory for two days, but apparently, Roland-sama’s reputation was not so good.

According to the explanation he gave me, Roland-sama himself has been deliberately doing things to bring his own reputation down and to undermine the trust of those around him.

In the carriage returning from Malbert’s domain to Byreus’ domain, I begged my father to let me be Roland-sama’s fiancée, but he brusquely rejected my request.

— What on earth should I do? …… Is there any good way to do this?

…… Oh, that’s right! One of the things that Roland-sama explained to me to ask for my help was that he was teaching his younger brother, Mark-sama, various things such as study, sword fighting, and magic.

Fortunately, I also had two younger sisters. I’m ten years old, the same age as Roland-sama. My younger sister was eight years old, the same age as Mark-sama, so our ages were just right.

If the reason why Roland-sama was teaching Mark-sama so many things was to prevent himself from becoming the head of the family, then I should work hard from now on to become the head of the Byreus family.

If I could get my younger sister to do all sorts of bridal training from now on, and eventually get her to marry Mark-sama instead of me, and I became the head of the Byreus family and get Roland-sama as my husband, then everything would be all right.

(If that’s the case, I’ll need to do a lot of preparation and lay the groundwork now. ……)

As I was thinking a lot of things in my head to accomplish my wish, my father called out to me.

“Lauren, you’ve been laughing strangely for a while now, are you all right?”

“Huh? Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

Oops, I couldn’t help but smile evilly at my perfect plan. I should be careful next time.

Roland-sama, please wait for me. This Lauren, I would definitely make you my husband.