NOVEL NEXT chapter 84 - Second succession, husband Lancel. (9)
Cola.
Ah, cola.
Suddenly, Ransell recalled that invention of civilization he had forgotten for hundreds of years, and now he could no longer bear the thirst.
Anyway, in this world, the only things with carbonation were bottled fruit liquor or beer.
If chilled well, they were bearable to drink, but compared to cola, the sharpness and lightness left much to be desired. Carbonated plain water was completely out of the question.
Right.
Thinking back, his memories from the battlefield boiled down to two strong cravings.
One was the desire for salty, savory meat; the other was thirst to quench a parched throat.
While struggling through the mud that swallowed his feet, those thoughts always filled his mind.
Desire for glory and honor? Wish to end the return? Loyalty to the First Princess?
He probably wasn’t the kind of great man who could think of such things on a battlefield where blind blades were coming and going.
Salt and thirst.
It was truly ironic how they always stayed together yet made each other crave more.
Yes.
Maybe Ransell’s feelings toward Marigold were like that. The desire to make her happy, and the desire to end this long cycle of returns.
When one side was satisfied, the other tipped over, and when the other was satisfied, the first tipped again. It felt as if balance between the two did not exist.
Fill salt, thirst arises.
Quench thirst, salt returns.
As if they endlessly pursued one another.
“...Merry.”
The stable smelled strongly of straw.
Light and shadow split and seeped across Ransell’s face.
Behind him, countless mercenaries lay collapsed and unconscious—at least thirty.
The shattered straw floating in the air told what had happened not long ago.
“Monster... mon-monster...”
A few terrified men sat down and slowly backed away.
Ransell paid no particular attention to those who had lost the will to fight and fallen.
“What were you writing?”
Ransell’s long bangs drooped over his eyelids as he looked at the worn notebook.
“Merry, you really are Merry.”
A bitter smile.
“My throat’s burning.”
Today more than usual, thoughts of cola plagued his mind. He wanted to gulp down endless buckets of that black, sweet liquid.
“Hurry up and get on! Don’t you want to find the prince?!”
Blonde women were boarding a carriage.
There was even a woman with almost brown hair among them, but they just took her along anyway.
“What on earth is that?”
Having lived long, Ransell felt like he’d seen all sorts of ridiculous things.
No matter how much someone wanted to find a person, dragging women around like that was a crude method.
“What’s that guy doing?”
“I’m here to find someone, so don’t mind me.”
Ignoring the mercenary’s shout, Ransell climbed into the carriage’s luggage compartment and examined the women one by one.
He even lifted each bowed head by the chin to check their faces.
“None.”
“You bastard!”
He grabbed the arm of a mercenary about to raise a fist and twisted it down with force.
“Ugh!”
“You gathered the women here like this, right? Where are you taking them?”
“What... what is this guy? Hey! There’s a weird guy here!”
Mercenaries scattered nearby rushed in at once.
“What? Who is this?”
“Who are you drooling over the women we gathered? Get lost right now!”
“Leave him alone. He says he’s here to find someone. Probably some guy whose woman ran away and is poking around.”
“Again?”
That was a sharp analysis for mercenaries, as if quite a few people like Ransell had come before.
“Brother, if you want to find your runaway woman, it’s better to go to the capital. Haven’t you heard that returned women are all sent there?”
The mercenary shrugged off Ransell’s grasp on his arm.
“How many women go lookin’ for the prince on their own? Doesn’t mean yours won’t do the same.”
Ransell watched the mercenaries’ carriage disappear.
‘Marigold wouldn’t have gone to the First Prince...’
It was Marigold, the Returnee, after all. One who had vivid memories of being killed by the First Prince’s hand.
Still, the reason Ransell was poking around the women heading to the prince was...
‘She wouldn’t have gone...’
The image of Marigold drawing a sword and rushing at the First Prince kept swirling in his mind.
Ransell wanted to believe his thoughts were excessive.
‘She’s not that kind of person, but if, like me, she’s lost her mind and casually thinks about stabbing the prince... then what do I do?’
Revenge from the previous loop?
His head throbbed.
He hoped not.
He did not want to see Marigold burned at the execution grounds.
‘She can’t have gotten far yet.’
Marigold was noticeable in many ways.
In a region where blonde hair and green eyes attracted attention, it wasn’t hard to hear news about her.
“I saw a woman with a sword loitering, struggling with the militia.”
“That woman’s sword skills were amazing. She took down that big mercenary with one blow.”
“Where did she go? No one knows.”
She was rather famous in town as a woman who was skilled with a sword.
For about a week, following faint leads of Marigold’s whereabouts, wandering between villages and towns.
“Ransell?”
By chance, in a tavern, Ransell encountered his eldest brother, Leo Dante.
“Are you also looking for women, brother?”
“Of course. The prince ordered it.”
In the quiet tavern, Ransell heard from Leo Dante the stories so far.
How he settled in the area by the First Prince’s orders, searched for women, knightly brawls between orders, fights with bandits and traitors.
Quite a lot had happened while they hadn’t seen each other.
“Ransell, you should leave this area before it’s too late. Go somewhere safe and far.”
“...?”
“The empire’s situation is unstable. A war will soon break out here.”
He frowned, drunk.
“At first, I thought it was just a search for women, but it wasn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Marigold countess family.”
Ransell stiffened.
Leo Dante poured wine into an empty glass and casually mentioned the name.
“I heard that the seed of a traitor remains in this area. The woman we’re looking for is that woman. No wonder the prince is searching with such intensity.”
“How do you know that...?”
It was surprising that Leo Dante knew, since it was highly classified information even in the royal court.
No rumors, no leaks.
“Everyone who needs to know already knows. Who she is. I bet rumors are starting to spread in the capital too.”
Leo Dante sank deep into his chair.
“Therefore, the First Princess, the Fifth # Nоvеlight # Prince, and the Sixth Prince are all rushing troops to this region.”
“...”
“I guarantee you this is a war, Ransell. A war that could decide the fate of the empire... Don’t be reckless and get involved. Quietly return home. I’ll handle it.”
Rumors that Marigold was alive.
From the beginning, Ransell found that suspicious.
Why?
Because only two people in this world knew Marigold was alive.
Ransell Dante.
And Marigold herself.
Just those two.
Since Ransell hadn’t spread the rumor, the only one left was Marigold herself...
It was hard to believe she would spread rumors that would harm herself.
“At first, I thought it was nonsense. But apparently, the royal court doesn’t think so? They know more than me, who’s just a knight in the borderlands. I guess I have to accept it.”
Leo Dante chuckled.
“The living daughter of the fallen Marigold family... The last bloodline of the old empire... a princess of the fallen empire.”
Suddenly, he turned his head.
“But where’s your fiancée? Why are you wandering alone? Did you fight?”
Ransell stopped listening and got up.
Without answering where he was going, he headed straight outside.
Soon, as his brother said, the region became a battlefield.
Mercenary clashed with mercenary, knights with knights, and scattered skirmishes broke out everywhere.
A silent civil war to find the ‘princess of the old empire,’ a tense power struggle between royal family members.
The age of civil war was truly coming.
Marigold’s existence and the rumors about her hastened this discord in the empire.
It was around then that Ransell found her traces.
Bang!
He smashed through the stable door.
“Gyaaah!”
“Mo-monster...!”
...
“Merry, you really are Merry.”
Looking at a familiar-looking notebook, Ransell smiled bitterly.
He already knew it wouldn’t be anything impressive. But the contents were even more trivial than he expected.
Truly worthy of Marigold.
===================
Marriage!
=> Success.
One night at Lord Ransell’s mansion!
=> Success!
One night at the Forland Festival!
=> Success!
One night at Firefly Village!
=> Success!
One night at the Desert Oasis Village!
=> Success!
One night at Lizard Valley!
=> Failed sadly due to sandstorm...!
Together at the festival ball!
=> Somehow succeeded!
One night watching sunset at Dotrin Estuary!
=> Failed due to continuous rain!
Camping in the Dragon Mountains!
=> Almost froze to death but succeeded anyway!
Visiting the rumored hot spring!
=> It was the best.
The anemone flower field in the Rekril Plains heard of only by word of mouth!
=> Should have come earlier!!
...
The rumored cruise in the Meiran region!
A proper wedding!
Repaying Lord Ransell!
===================
“They’re all just ‘one night’.”
No wonder she kept rushing at him constantly.
Even Ransell, with his abundant stamina, sometimes complained of fatigue, so it made sense.
Most of the seventy items on the list were either failures or unrecorded past the middle.
“Can I raise it?”
“No.”
“How? How? How?!”
“No.”
“Please...!”
“No.”
“Please, please, please, please...!”
“No means no.”
For example, number 31, “Raising a pet together!” was a canceled item due to Ransell’s firm refusal.
“We have a long way ahead; what pet are you talking about...?”
After all, the schedule was to find the Demon King, so how could one carry a puppy not even weaned yet?
But now he wondered if he should have just agreed. Regret came late.
“...Why do you want to do so much in such a short life?”
A laugh escaped.
Now Ransell felt like he understood everything. Though a bit late.
If he had been in Marigold’s shoes as a Returnee, he might have noticed it right away.
If she had looked at Ransell with her eyes, she might have realized it quickly.
Anyway, she was someone whose feelings toward him were too heavy.
Whether it was attachment, obsession, or love, it was sometimes overwhelmingly weighty.
===========
—Don’t look for me.
—To my Lord Ransell.
—‘Marigold Curtain Marigold.’
The reason Marigold left him her true name.
She had been preparing to part ways with Ransell Dante from the very start.
Whatever the reason, that must have been her intention from the beginning of this loop.
‘Who gave you permission.’
Ransell’s bangs fluttered in the wind as he looked at the notebook.
His cold, settled eyes were fixed on Marigold’s many wishes.
Her final travel list, not even half fulfilled yet.
“My throat’s burning.”
Today more than usual, thoughts of cola plagued his mind.