Chapter 282: The Reason for Marriage
As Sharon had mentioned, once I crossed the bridge over the pond, I saw that construction materials were indeed being delivered. Workers from the carpenters’ guild were already on-site, beginning the construction.
Sherry and the other slave girls, along with Sarah-chan, were busy fussing at the chief carpenter, offering all sorts of complaints.
「Hey, what’s going on here?」
「Oh, Takeru, you’re here?」
「‘Here’? This Outer Leaf Palace is an important place for Queen Silhouette…」
「Takeru-sama, I’m the one who asked them to use it.」
Silhouette said, stepping through the crowd to greet me.
「But, Silhouette…」
「This place does hold precious memories, yes. But those memories of my mother live within me.」
She said with a soft smile, placing her hand gently over her not-so-prominent chest. 「Are you sure you’re okay with this?」
「Yes, and besides, this palace is also where I spent many lonely days. I think it’s time I put the darker parts of my past behind me.」
「I see…」
「They’re also going to incorporate parts of the original building into the expansion. If the place where I once lived alone becomes a lively residence filled with family, I couldn’t be happier.」
With Silhouette speaking so earnestly, I didn’t have anything more to say.
「Well, that settles it!」
Sarah-chan chimed in triumphantly, looking quite pleased with herself.
「Wait a minute. The building issue is fine, but nothing else is settled!」
This whole thing about me marrying Sarah-chan and the others—what was that about?
「Ara, don’t you remember? You promised us a reward after the victory celebration, didn’t you?」
「But why would that reward be marriage?」
「Well, you said you’d marry us. You even spent the night with us as proof of that promise, remember? We’ve already sealed the deal.」
「Wait… Did I really say that? And sealed the deal?」
I had absolutely no memory of saying anything like that. But… I did remember sleeping next to them that night.
「Fufu. Good thing I made sure you had plenty to drink.」
「Hey, that’s not fair!」
Sarah-chan simply grinned mischievously.
「Fufufu, regardless, you said it, and the facts speak for themselves. As a man, you’re not going to go back on your word, are you?」
「Hold on a minute, Sarah-chan. What about managing your territory? How does marriage even work with all of that?」
「I’ve already appointed Milk as the acting steward. He’s been handling the affairs of the Agene county for a while now, so there’s no issue.」
I could already picture the gloomy face of Milk, the blonde youth, who had likely returned to the county by now.
It was pretty clear that Milk had feelings for Sarah-chan. How could I possibly face him after marrying her?
「And what about…」
「Takeru, stop being so stubborn.」
「Come on, you can’t just spring marriage on me out of nowhere.」
「It’s not ‘out of nowhere.’ This was decided ages ago.」
「Decided when?」
「I decided it myself!」
「I… see…」
Leave it to Sarah-chan to make such a bold claim. If she had decided it all on her own, what could I even say in response?
「When I have children with you, they’ll inherit my territory. Honestly, I would’ve liked to have a whole kingdom to make us more equal, but considering I’m now a hero who helped save the world, I’ll settle for this.」
Sarah-chan puffed out her chest with pride.
Seeing her like this, it hit me—somehow, she’d grown up enough to talk about marriage.
I guess I’d been careless, thinking she was still a child.
「Oniisama, don’t forget about us too.」
「So, it’s you and the others, Sherry?」
With Sherry were the original twelve slave girls, excluding Sharon—Suzanne, Claudia, Viola, Roll, Colette, Flora, Eliza, Melissa, Jinni, Lou, Liddy, and Paula.
Although Sherry was technically from the second group of slaves, it seemed like she had taken over Sharon’s role as their leader. Well, considering Sherry’s genius, that wasn’t too surprising.
I never imagined this day would come. Over these past three years, they had all grown into beautiful, mature women—except Roll, who barely seemed to have developed at all. And Sherry, who I had always seen as a little sister, suddenly talking about marriage—it was all too much to take in.
「Honestly, I wanted to get ahead of everyone and be the first, but my last attempt to do that was a total failure. So this time, I figured if we all got involved, you wouldn’t be able to escape, oniisama.」
「It’s not a matter of escaping or not… How did it come to this, with everyone marrying me?」
Not that I planned on running away, but still…
「We’re all here because you saved our lives, oniisama. Isn’t that reason enough to love you?」
「I thought I was doing my best to make sure each of you could stand on your own and lead independent lives. I wanted to send you off with a smile when you found a good man. I never expected this…」
「Where in this world could we find a man better than you? After all this time, how could you expect us to marry anyone else?」
「Well, I mean…」
「You’re worried because you’ve known us since we were young? But let me ask you this: what’s the difference between Sharon-anesama and us?」
「Ugh…」
When she put it like that, I didn’t really have an answer. As expected of Sherry, she knew exactly how to corner me in an argument.
「So, it’s up to you now, oniisama. Will you accept us?」
「Fine, I get it…」
「You made the right call leaving it to Sherry-chan.」
「Yeah, thank goodness.」
The slave girls all breathed a sigh of relief, murmuring to each other in agreement.
「But listen, we’re going to have one-on-one interviews later! Anyone who doesn’t have a good reason won’t make the cut!」
The fact that I was even saying this probably meant I had already given in to a degree. In truth, having these girls stay with me would be a huge relief.
And, well… I had to admit that I really didn’t want to see any of them end up with another man. These thirteen, including Sherry, were different from the others. They were my special companions who had been with me all this time.
But still, what was I supposed to do?
Roll, laughing innocently, probably didn’t even understand the implications of marriage.
Sure, I loved these girls, and I’d be happy if they stayed, but the situation was complicated.
For now, I’d set that aside and ask Rara-chan what she thought.
「Ehto, Rara-chan, what about you?」
「I’ve always said I’d make babies with you, Takeru. Marriage is about making babies, right? So it’s super convenient.」
She said it so matter-of-factly, her childlike face betraying no hesitation. Her goal was literally just to make babies?
「Right… you did say that.」
With everything that had been going on, I had almost forgotten, but Rara-chan had indeed been saying that from the start.
「Thanks to Takeru-san, I’ve seen the wide world, fulfilling my dream. Now, as the next chief of the Sheba Tribe, it’s my duty to leave descendants!」
Reptilians like Rara-chan, whose average lifespan was around forty years, matured much faster than humans. For someone her age, marriage and bearing children were probably normal. But from my perspective, that’s just unthinkable.
「Alright, Rara-chan. We’ll get married, but let’s hold off on that ‘let’s start now’ enthusiasm, okay? Let’s wait until we’re actually married, and at least until you reach this country’s age of adulthood before starting a family!」
Rara-chan still looked like a child to me. I couldn’t handle it.
「Fifteen, right? I guess I can wait until then.」
If possible, I’d like her to take things a little slower. Surprisingly, Rara-chan was the most assertive of them all.
It was clear now that this marriage was no longer up for debate. I hadn’t even noticed how things had progressed this far.
「Alright, oniisama, since it’s settled, help us design our love nest.」
Sherry said, handing me the plans for the new palace.
「Love nest? I still feel a bit uneasy about calling it that.」
「I’m using the term on purpose to get you used to it.」
Clever as ever, Sherry. I looked over the plans for the new palace.
「Wow, this is quite an elegant design.」
The new palace featured a bath, a bedroom, and a nursery. The architecture combined elements of the original wooden structure of the Outer Leaf Palace with a hint of Japanese style. It was a refreshing change, but in the end, it looked like a traditional royal palace.
「If we’re all going to use the bath, it should be bigger. A cypress bath would be wonderful.」
Said a voice from behind, startling me. It was Silhouette.
「Hey, Silhouette, are you really okay with this? It seems like things are getting out of hand.」
I felt a little guilty toward Silhouette, my official wife. We hadn’t even spent much time together lately.
「Fufufu. Not at all. Having a big, lively family sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? This was my mother’s residence, after all. Let me help out too.」
It seemed Silhouette had changed during the time we hadn’t seen much of each other. Her earlier declaration about moving on from the past appeared to be genuine.
No one would dare call her ‘Shadow Silhouette’ anymore. She had become a true queen, full of grace and strength.
「Silhouette, once this is all finished, let’s go on that picnic I promised. Just the two of us, for one day. I’d like to talk.」
There were some things I wanted to discuss with her, just the two of us.
「Fufu,that sounds lovely. There’s a flower I’d like to show you, and the season is just right. Let’s take a picnic to the royal forest with a homemade lunch.」
「The royal forest?」
The royal forest was a place where the Silesie royal family had hunted for generations, known for its beautiful flowers and trees.
It was also the place where Silhouette’s father, King Gaius, had met her elf mother—a place full of memories for their family.