The Romance Fantasy Novel MC is Only Into Me

Blue moonlight bathing the one-horned Marigold.
Ransell slowly watched the barefoot figure descend from the windowsill, already anticipating what was about to happen.

“Wait, Mary.”
He hurriedly stopped her by grabbing her shoulder as she approached.
“How come you’re here again? If you’re not busy, shall we… talk a bit?”

Strangely, in this space, Ransell felt powerless. His whole body felt heavy, as if walking underwater, and his limbs lacked strength.
Even the simple motion of getting down from the bed was slow. Escaping from the slowly approaching Marigold was nearly impossible.
‘A dream? No, this can’t be a dream…’

It was too vivid to dismiss as mere fantasy.
The scent of early summer drifting through the window, the fragrance of wildflowers carried on the breeze that brushed Marigold’s shoulder.
Everything filling this space felt so real it seemed tangible.
The same space.

The same situation.
The same Marigold.
Ransell could not resist his curiosity about this figure he met again beyond the timelines. Even after dozens of regressions, this was the first time he experienced something like this.

“Mary… right? You’re Mary, aren’t you? Ah, just curious, don’t misunderstand. Hey, wait. Hey. Not there. Ugh!”
But Marigold gave no answer. She silently grabbed him and lifted him up.
Though Ransell was taller and heavier, Marigold lifted him effortlessly as if unaware of his weight.

Then she slowly carried him back to the bed. Lying sideways, she silently lay down in front of him.
‘…’
Marigold bathed in moonlight exuded an almost bewitching aura.

Her skin was so white it shimmered, spotless face, and her eyes softly gleamed with an emerald hue.
Marigold and Ransell stared at each other without a word, imprinting each other’s presence onto their retinas for a long moment.
“Mary…?”

Unconsciously, Ransell raised his hand and brought it to Marigold’s cheek, lightly touching it with his fingers.
She closed her eyes and leaned into his palm, seemingly savoring the warmth and sensation conveyed through it.
The one-horned Marigold.

A meeting beyond timelines.
A place no one could possibly call a dream.
“Why are you here, Mary? Answer me.”

At Ransell’s question, Marigold slowly opened her eyes.
Would she answer?
That hope quickly crumbled.
“Ugh!”

Her lips suddenly covered his as always.
‘This again!’
Once more, the only thing left until the end was the intense presence Marigold conveyed through their kiss.

.
.
.
“Keng!”
He snapped his fingers and flicked Marigold’s forehead.

The girl, who had been dazed by the sea breeze, blinked tears from the sudden pain.
“Why did you hit me all of a sudden, Lord Ransell?”
“Just because.”

“...?”
“Don’t torment Mary, Ransell Dante!”
Marigold’s face was full of grievance.

Anyway, it’s your fault.
“If you bear a grudge just because I joked around while sleeping…”
“...?”

From beyond the deck, the silhouette of the archipelago gradually appeared.
 
“Where are you!”
“Here, sir!”

Baron Coral was sweating profusely as he rushed through the naval base.
“Ransell Dante!”
With a bang, he threw open the door, and two familiar faces simultaneously turned toward Baron Coral.

“Why is this person still alive?!”
Baron Coral had doubted the news of Ransell Dante and Marigold’s return.
But seeing them sitting there, healthy and not a pound lost, he silently called upon the gods deep in his heart for the first time in a long while.

“Why are you alive!”
“We haven’t seen each other in a long time, and you say that?”
“That’s good news! I almost ran to Marquis Dante to bang my head!”

“You still haven’t done it?”
“I was putting it off just in case. Mary! I’m glad you’re alive too!”
“Yes! By the way, how’s that promotion going, Captain?”

“You’re already a Sergeant, you know? It’s been three years, so I’ll just keep it that way.”
“Double promotion!”
Baron Coral’s thick palms ruffled both Ransell and Marigold’s heads at the same time.

“I’m really glad you’re alive! Where have you been all this time? Not just a day or two but a full three years.”
“Nothing special. Just drifted to a nameless island and stayed put.”
“Stayed put?”

“There were no passing ships, so I had to settle down.”
“Is that so.”
“But it was quite fun in its own way.”

“What? Fun? Drifting?”
“Yes.”
“That’s right. It was good. I want to do it again sometime.”

“Drifting?”
“Yes!”
Baron Coral was genuinely surprised by Marigold’s response. Even Ransell seemed to agree.

A man and woman drifting on a deserted island.
Baron Coral hastily stopped his imagination from running wild. After all, if the people involved liked it, wasn’t that enough?
“Have you found Her Highness the Princess yet?”

“We thought we had, but it was a dead end. Still, I think we found out who’s holding her.”
“Who…”
“Black Beard. A newly emerged pirate leader in this region. Seems like we just have to follow this guy. You should also take this chance to aim for some achievements again, right? It’s not often one gets a chance to become an imperial hero.”

Indeed.
Ransell stroked his beardless chin.

On the way here, he had dealt with all the pirates who remembered him.

Even if someone slipped away, few would trust what such people say.
‘If there are any, I’ll deal with them when the time comes.’
After finishing his thought, Ransell nodded.

“I see.”
“Well, congratulations on being alive, Ransell. I was worried I’d sent the navy and turned a promising knight into fish food.”
“I was already almost fish food once, so what does it matter if I die now?”

“Huh, you should value your life, what are you saying?”
“That’s right, Lord Ransell. I gave you my life, so you should treasure it.”
Marigold chimed in. Come to think of it, it was thanks to her that Ransell was alive in this timeline.

‘But how did they find me?’
Even thinking about it again, it was an incredibly exquisite coincidence. Marigold being in the archipelago, discovering him fallen into the sea.
Since meeting her, so many unimaginable things had happened that this coincidence seemed like it could just be that.

‘Fate…’
Who knows.
.
.
.

“Sniff, sniffle!”
That evening, at the banquet, Lady Iceford, after several drinks, began to cry.
“Why is she like that?”

“Nothing special. The steward said not to leave the island until the princess is found.”
“The imperial army has already returned, but she’s still left behind?”
“Exactly.”

Leaving the splendid capital,
Lady Iceford, stranded in the archipelago, looked only pitiful.
Ransell’s carefully hidden Third Princess would never be found.

The young days of the empire’s three great beauties would all likely flow away on this island.
“Sniff, I am a poor woman. Pitiful. So pitiful.”
In front of Lady Iceford’s murmurs lay a feast of delicacies and expensive drinks, and attendants fanned and massaged her with devoted care.

Yet she couldn’t bear her fate of being trapped on this island.
“She acts like she knows nothing.”
Ransell chuckled.

‘The steward really cherishes his daughter. Since the empire’s situation is strange, he planned to hide his daughter here.’
Right.
Leaving a princess to one maid to find was a ridiculous demand.

People lost at sea were usually presumed dead, and even if alive, finding them in a short time was hard.
Even Ransell and Marigold took three years to return here.
This was clearly the court marquis’s scheme to have an excuse to hide his daughter outside the capital.

From now on, the empire would shatter into over ten pieces, and the curtain of endless war would rise.
The only safe place was truly the archipelago.
The steward was clever.

“Sniff, sniff. I am a tragic heroine of the imperial theater’s tragedies, pitiful and heart-wrenching…”
“…”
Soon, the empire’s talented youths would starve watching her pitiful state.

“Lord Ransell. You’re here.”
Suddenly,
A small head burrowed into his side. It was Marigold.

She whispered in his ear.
“It’s Pia. I sent her to the place you mentioned. She seemed to like it more than I thought.”
“Well done.”

Marigold whispered again.
“She just returned after taking the Third Princess.”
“When did you build such a place? It’s so nice for a villa, I was surprised.”

“Well…”
Ransell thought for a moment before answering.
“Just… a place I looked into to visit when I want to rest comfortably.”

“Heh. Nobles really think differently. Ordinary people think it’s a waste to spend money like that.”
“Are you saying I’m a spendthrift?”
“Not at all. I didn’t say that.”

“…Among nobles, there’s no one less greedy for money than me.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”

“I’ll believe you.”
“…”
The archipelago villa.

A place no one knew, where Ransell always went to spend time alone.
There, Ransell lived every day like a corpse. If not for Marigold, this time would have been no different.
After realizing that being dazed was better than suicide, this was the method he chose.

Yes. For him, time in the archipelago was virtually a substitute for death.
If he hadn’t met Marigold, he might have spent most of his time there by now.
“Mary.”

“Yes, Lord Ransell.”
“Did you like the archipelago?”
“As long as I’m with you, Lord Ransell, anywhere is fine.”

Flirting?
“Hoho.”
Marigold seemed pleased with her answer.

Of course, it didn’t make Ransell’s heart flutter at all.
“How about you, Lord Ransell?”
“…I wonder.”

Ransell imagined this timeline without Marigold.
What if he had miraculously survived without her help and reached the archipelago?
What if he had spent peaceful days without any incidents?

Thinking quietly, a smile appeared on Ransell’s lips.
This vacation.
“It was pretty good.”

Not bad.
Enough that one day he might long for this moment.
Thus, ten years passed.

.
.

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[Playtime 10 years 0 days]
— Marigold has turned 25 years old.

— No marriage partner.
— Achievements recorded.
▶ Only One Person +300 points.

▷ Only One Person +300 points.
▶ Benefactor of the Princess +100 points.
▷ Navy Sergeant +50 points.

— Total achievement points reached 2000.
— Memory Succession ‘1 time’ accumulated.
— Points left until next memory succession (500/1500 points).

[Extra Ending 5. Deep Sea King Marigold and the Island of Illusions]
— Ending recorded in ‘Memory Album’.
— Album opened.

.
.
.
The life they started together brought Marigold infinite happiness.
By day at the naval base, at night at the villa, on holidays in the archipelago’s streets.

Marigold’s life had nothing more to wish for. Her only desire was for days like this to continue.
But the peaceful daily life was broken when one family member passed away.
Don’t be sad. Until we meet again.

The two left behind lived their days in sorrow.
And so,
Years passed.

Finally, Marigold stood up from her grief.
Amidst yet another approaching threat, she steeled herself.
‘This island we shared is the only legacy left to me. I won’t let anyone ruin this place.’

To protect the grave of the departed, the villa, and the one person remaining by her side.
‘This is all I know how to do.’
Taming whales.

Marigold’s island gradually became surrounded by whales she had tamed.
From one to two, two to four, four to eight… starting with whales and extending to octopuses and sharks.
Hundreds.

Thousands.
Tens of thousands.
‘Well done, Mary. You’re now the ruler of this archipelago. Sink all the traitors’ ships.’

No being can now approach this land.
Pirate ships, imperial ships—all collapse before the barrier Marigold created.
One day, kraken tentacles, another day a giant whale’s tail, another day shark teeth block intruders completely.

Finally, the war ended.
Peace came to the continent.
The legend of the Deep Sea King spread beyond.

‘We worship you, ruler of the island of illusions, the archipelago.’
Her existence became a myth passed down through generations.
Forever.

[Deep Sea King Marigold and the Island of Illusions – fin]
※ Outlaw penalty: Karma 15 points achieved.
— Would you like to use Memory Succession ‘1 time’?

.
.
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“There’s no such thing as an ordinary ending, Marigold.”
Ransell held his dizzying head.

Marigold’s extraordinary path was dizzying enough, but the decisive factor was still Ransell’s own death.
‘Why do I keep dying?’
It wasn’t a meaningless death.

He didn’t die because he wanted to.
There was definitely some reason behind it.
‘Moreover, the rebels entered the archipelago.’

Ransell remembered the archipelago as a safe land. At least during the ten years he had lived, it almost always was.
He never thought rebels would invade after those ten years.
Maybe his death was part of that process.

He didn’t know.
‘Anyway.’
Ransell looked at the next entry: ‘Outlaw penalty.’

Fortunately, the karma points didn’t jump to 200 all at once like last time, but 15 was still not safe.
‘What was with karma points of 15?’
He recalled briefly.

Over 10 points: initial travel funds stolen.
The funds given to Marigold—about ten silver coins—were meant here.
“How much can they steal?”

Even fleas have their limits.
For a fallen noble girl thrown out at ten years old, ten silver coins were her only hope. Without that, it was as if she was told to go die immediately.
It was a wonder Marigold had survived until fifteen with just that money.

And now someone stole it?
Ransell clenched his teeth.
Whoever did it would be killed if caught.

‘No, but it’s probably fine for now.’
Ransell shook off the worry.
Why?

‘Regression Marigold.’
This was the timeline she arrived in.
Even starting without a single coin wouldn’t be a problem in this run.

Three years later.
Knock knock.
“Hello.”

“Who is it?”
The mansion’s gatekeeper scanned the visitor up and ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ down.
She was a tall woman for her gender, with braided hair down her back, wearing a longsword at her waist and a blue cloak.

“Is Lord Ransell Dante here by any chance?”
A bright smile appeared on her lips.
“I request a knight.”

[Naval Marigold – END]
[NEXT – Succession 2nd Run. Husband Ransell]