Returning to the castle, I got to live a life on crutches for a while.
(Ugugu, my body is heavy and my sides hurt. These crutches won't break right?)
While thinking such things, at least walking around the castle could cause me to lose some weight.
After I climbed up the stairs while panting heavily, I became exhausted and stopped in the middle of a corridor.
[Gufuuu, this is impossible…]
I couldn't support my weight, so I sat down suddenly with my back against the wall.
Fortunately there's nobody around, so this shameful sight wasn't seen… or so I thought.
[Oya? If it isn't Britney.]
Very near me, a terribly familiar voice came. Lifting my face, it was the beautiful blonde prince… the culprit who fattened me was standing in front of me.
[Marlow-sama… good day.]
[Britney, why are you sitting in such a place?]
[Gufufu, I'm taking a break. Don't mind me.]
I would thank him very much if he left me alone, but that excellent crown prince instead sat beside me.
[…Is it fine for Marlow-sama to sit on the ground?]
[I don't care since no one is watching. Britney seems to be in trouble since you can't use one of your legs. Shall I support you?]
[No, isn't it better if you don't? Right now, my weight is over 60 kilograms. Marlow-sama doesn't train your body all that much right?]
[Umu, yes… but, I'll watch over you until you settle down. I have finished my work today. That's right, would you like something to eat?]
[…No! You really don't have to mind me!!]
I couldn't reduce my results up till now into nothing. So I respectfully refused food.
[By the way, why is Marlow-sama passing through this place with few people?]
[U-n, the thing is, I ran away from the minister.]
[E? Ran away…?]
[I'm already at marriageable age, so my surroundings have been constantly telling me to get married.]
[Ryuze-niisama is also the same… men sure have it tough.]
[What are you saying, aren't you the same? The marriageable age for women in this country is 16 years old. Angela and Merrill are actually getting engaged.]
Marlow's words were right. I was currently having trouble about that direction.
Although there was a talk about getting engaged to Ryuze, I couldn't accept it yet. Although I was given time extension, I couldn't prolong it forever.
[Since you're running away from the minister, does that mean that you don't want to get married?]
[It's not that I don't want to… I just want more time. In truth, I understand that I shouldn't run away.]
I was worried about the same things myself… I saw an unexpected aspect of the excellent prince.
[That's true isn't it. Maa, there's nothing one can do against feelings.]
[If I can get engaged to Britney, I can happily go to the minister.]
[Again, such a joke.]
[…No, it's not a joke.]
The ends of Marlow's eyes lowered for some reason and his violet eyes were staring at me.
[Britney is the only one who willingly suggests various proposals without showing any disappointment about my hobby. Besides, I think that your current body shape is wonderful.]
[…E, I'm not very happy about it. I want to lose weight.]
Unintentionally, my real motive came out from my mouth.
Then, Marlow shrugged his shoulders as if in regret.
[I think that your present appearance is also wonderful. Beside, for me, I don't like every fat woman there is. Because it's Britney, I want to make you fat!]
[E, no, that's very troubling.]
I mumbled my excuse to cut down his passion.
[Besides, I am nothing but a young lady of a countryside earldom. Since Marlow-sama is the crown prince, your partner should be one with higher status.]
[Aa, that's true. But if I can, I want Britney to be the crown princess. I am at ease with you and it's fun to be with you.]
Nonetheless, Marlow didn't seem to be truly serious. He could do anything with one command, such as my treatment.
(If I become the crown princess, I feel like I won't ever lose weight for my whole life.)
Nevertheless, the opportunities to be exposed to public eyes would increase…
(That's mortifying…)
In various ways, engagement with Marlow may be impossible. That's what I thought.
[By the way, Marlow-sama, aren't you a bit tired? You don't seem as energetic as usual.]
[Aa… for Britney to see it, how disappointing. There are some disputes within the castle.]
[Is that so. For those to occur as soon as we returned from the southern country, it must be terrible.]
[It's the case about where the new highway will pass in the country. It's not turning out smoothly, so Ryuze and I are currently working hard.]
[Onii-sama too?]
[It's unrelated to him, but he's been helping me a little.]
I was worried if Ryuze would collapse again. That cousin of mine, one way or another, he had the tendency to overdo himself.
Apart from that, new concerns had emerged.
(Eh, didn't the part about the highway also appear in the manga?)
I didn't have my diary about the details of the manga on hand, but I remembered about it and reconsidered about the story.
Certainly, conspiracies had begun to move in places unknown to Merrill.
Since an aristocrat wanted the highway to go through his territory, he did various wrongdoings… I was sure that the content was such.
(Marlow-sama, who was entrusted of the highway project by the king, rejected the proposal of the nobleman. Realistically, the highway would have to go around a long way to get there.)
However, that man was the type to give priority towards his own benefits rather than thinking practically… in order to change the already decided course of the highway, he used high-handed means.
He blatantly approached Angela who was rebelling against Marlow. And Angela exhibited her villainess part here. Britney was supposed to do a little secret maneuvering as an underling.
But a disaster happened in the middle of the dispute.
Merrill was attacked by the bad nobleman's underlings, and Marlow who defended her was murdered.
The time when the problem occurred was close to now.
TN: A wild death flag has appeared! What will Britney do? Fight or ignore? :3