The Romance Fantasy Novel MC is Only Into Me

“Hey, you little thief! How much did you steal exactly!”
“Only three silver coins…”
“Only? Only?”
“Eek!”
Leaving behind the scene where the guards were roughly handling the tightly bound Marigold, Ransell put his arm over the shoulder of the guard captain.
“Listen. You know who I am, right?”
“Of course. You’re Lord Ransell of the Dante family.”
It paid off to have gotten familiar with the guards while patrolling the capital.
“That kid tied up back there, I know him. Just give him a light spanking and release him.”
“No, that won’t do, Lord Ransell.”
“...?”
“Baron Pelon was furious and ordered that if he’s caught, hang him immediately. You know Baron Pelon’s temper well, don’t you?”
“...Could it be he put his hand in that man’s pocket?”
“Yes, he got caught red-handed.”
Baron Pelon was a well-known usurer in the capital.
“He only said to hang him, but didn’t say how to hang him?”
“Excuse me?”
“In other words, just hang him. That’s all that matters, right?”
Saying that, Ransell slipped a few silver coins into the guard captain’s hand.
It was just wordplay, but using the Dante name, the guard captain would have some excuse to speak up.
After all, the Dante family’s rank was far above that of a petty loan shark baron.
“Hang the petty thief!”
“Eek!”
That day, Marigold was hung in the town square wearing nothing but her underwear.
“What’s that woman?”
“She stole something. Don’t ever end up like that.”
Ransell said that and dispersed all the kids who were watching.
Marigold’s cheeks, hanging on the stocks with dead, hollow eyes, had already turned bright red.
24 hours on the stocks.
Ten lashes on the buttocks.
That was the punishment Marigold received.
===============
—Imperial Year 816, September 12. Clear weather.
—Marigold was left tied in an embarrassing posture for a whole day. She pays dearly for the theft. The marriage prospects are completely gone now.
※ Still, lucky to have survived? Libido and faith UP!! Morality, dignity, and condition DOWN.
Chirp chirp!
The birds that had been sitting all over Marigold’s body flapped their wings and flew away.
A guard appeared, yawning repeatedly.
“The prisoner is released.”
“Ugh!”
Marigold, once freed, collapsed weakly onto the nearby haystack in the carriage.
Ransell, who had been sleeping there, opened his eyes at that moment.
“Mary.”
“...”
Marigold looked up at Ransell with a completely dead face. There was a faint flicker of curiosity in her dazed eyes.
A mysterious nobleman who suddenly appeared, negotiated with the guards, and stood watch all day around her.
For this run, the presence of the unfamiliar Ransell was quite curious to her.
“You’re the kid from the theater troupe ensemble, right?”
“Do you... know me?”
“Take this.”
“Whoop!”
Marigold hastily threw the clothes that flew at her face over her body.
At the beginning of autumn, slightly chilly, and she had spent the whole day in just her underwear.
“Follow me. Let’s get some food in you.”
“W-wait, come with me, ugh!”
Ransell turned and led the way. Marigold staggered to her feet with shaky legs and followed unsteadily.
 
Clink, clink.
“In this cold-hearted capital, yum yum, to think there are still kind people... gulp gulp...”
“Eat too fast and you’ll choke?”
Watching Marigold scarf down meat, bread, honey, and cheese in a frenzy, Ransell only sipped his beer.
His gaze caught the colorful string bracelet tied around her wrist.
“Where did you get that?”

Marigold quickly swallowed her food and raised her hand to show it closely.
“This? My master gave it to me when I was little. He said to pass it on to my disciple when I save one someday... ah.”
When Ransell took Marigold’s palm and examined it closely, her face suddenly flushed.
With meat grease all over her mouth.
‘Thief?’
A thief.
Thieves in this world were truly complicated beings.
It was easy to think thieves were just those who snuck in at night and pilfered valuables or pickpocketed in the marketplace.
But some formed guilds and flaunted their influence.
Some were trap specialists active in expeditions or wars.
There were even “privateer thieves” who legally stole with permission from the imperial, royal, or noble houses.
“Was your master a thief too?”
“Well, he said he was the best-known thief on the continent. He boasted so much that I’m not sure if it’s true...”
Marigold slipped her hand away from Ransell and blinked.
‘Maybe it’s true?’
The bracelet was familiar.
Among many types of thieves, this was clearly a “Thief Master” bracelet.
As the name implies, it was the highest rank and reputation a thief could achieve.
“He was a good person though. When I was little, I got all my money stolen but he found it and returned it.”
“Oh...!”
Ransell’s mouth opened wide.
‘What luck?’
Marigold, doomed to wander the streets starving, was suddenly saved by the Thief Master.
That was it. The whimsical kindness of a great thief had saved her.
Lucky, Marigold.
“Thanks to that, I learned to steal and made some living from it... ahem.”
...Or not?
The experience of being helped by a thief had led Marigold onto the thief’s path.
‘Good thing... right?’
It was ambiguous.
Anyway, a thief was a thief.
Bad was bad.
Even this time, she had nearly died.
‘Hmm.’
Ransell scratched his neck and the game guide popped up before his eyes.
===============
[Game Guide]
The list of attainable endings has been updated!
Thief Master Marigold. -A Rank-
Righteous Thief Marigold.
Dust on the Scaffold Marigold.
Labyrinth Explorer Marigold.
Just a petty thief Marigold.
???.
Unacquired achievements found.
Shall we steal even from the royal report? -S Rank-
Obtaining the temple’s sacred relic. -S Rank-
Master of the Thieves’ Guild.
Stealing the chastity of young noble Ransell Dante.
???
※ It’s not stealing, just temporarily moving items near my body, though?
‘Why steal that again?’
While Ransell was baffled,
“I do try to restrain myself from stealing as much as possible. Sometimes my hands itch and it’s hard to resist but I’m trying my best... Yes. Though things could go wrong like yesterday...”
“You’ve definitely caught the thieving habit properly. You petty thief.”
“Misunderstanding! Misunderstanding! I really couldn’t help it! As soon as I stole something, I confessed it was a mistake! But that miser... I mean, noble got so mad saying ‘Is that all you stole?’ and got super worked up... sniff.”
“Anyone would be suspicious.”
“I’m innocent! I’m really trying hard to suppress it! Barely holding on!”
Marigold trembled slightly, suppressing her bad habit, her eyes wavering. She looked like an addict.
Ransell quietly clicked his tongue.
‘I thought so.’
In the game Fallen Noble Lady Simulation, ‘kleptomania’ was treated as a status ailment.
===============
Status Ailment ‘Kleptomania’: Active ‘naughty hands’ occasionally occur. Marigold steals things around her without realizing it.
A status ailment causing unconscious stealing. Marigold’s condition was already severe.
‘Is that the fate of thieves?’
As Ransell clicked his tongue, Marigold suddenly brightened her eyes.
“Above all, I have a dream. I’m not someone who can live as a thief forever.”
“Dream?”
“Yes!”
“What dream?”
“Of course, to be the star of the theater! You said you know I work in the troupe!”
Marigold put down the fruit she was holding and clasped her °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° hands together.
Her emerald eyes practically glittered.
“An inspiring story! Theater prima donna! Music and songs! Dance and drama! Instruments and arpeggios! Beautiful costumes! Stories of love, adventure, and fate!”
The noisy inn scene shifted instantly into a theater inside Marigold’s mind.
“Even someone of low status like me can be anything on stage. Noble, rich, official, priest, knight, wizard—anything! Isn’t that amazing?”
‘You’ve actually done all that in real life though?’
Ransell swallowed the words.
“I love the theater. I want to go on stage as the lead. It’s an endless space of freedom. It’s truly the best!”
“Calm down.”
“It is the best!”
The empire was relatively lenient about cultural activities.
As long as you didn’t insult the royal family, any story was permitted and authorities did not interfere.
Marigold was talking about that.
“I want to shine. Like the protagonist of the play I saw with my master when I was little...”
“Your dream’s surprisingly normal for a petty thief.”
“Ugh.”
“You almost ended up as dust on the scaffold.”
“I will retire from thieving someday. If I can make a living with the troupe. Right now, I only get three fairy tales a month, and that’s not enough even for food.”
“Stop stealing and earn honestly, you petty thief.”
Marigold averted her eyes and murmured.
“...Benefactor...”
Her gaze locked on Ransell.
Benefactor — a nostalgic title.
A bit embarrassing, though.
“...Actually, sometimes even now, when I close my eyes, I recall stories. Stories that happen between a gallant knight and me...”
Ransell raising the beer mug to his lips felt a faint warmth linger in her eyes.
“I believe in fate.”
“...?”
That day.
Ransell took Marigold back to the troupe’s lodging and parted soon after.
When he returned home and took off his coat, he noticed something had dropped onto the floor.
“Lord Ransell, this fell here.”
“Thanks, Hesty.”
What Hesty handed him was a note.
—Please come watch the play.
—I’m about to join the noble’s troupe soon, so please come watch me now!
—To my benefactor, Mary of the Logi Troupe.
‘When did she slip this in?’
Ransell held the paper quietly, momentarily speechless.
Thief Master’s apprentice, Marigold.
Her sleight of hand seemed to have already risen to a high level among thieves.
“By the way.”
Ransell recalled the owner of the Logi troupe Marigold mentioned.
‘She’s been using my sponsorship to wipe her mouth, huh?’
Marigold had been looking like a beggar, so it was obvious.
Ransell immediately began preparing to head out again.
“Hesty, contact the Thieves’ Guild Master for me.”
“Yes, young master.”
.
.
.
“The Logi troupe is not a troupe, Lord Ransell.”
Then Ransell heard an unexpected statement from the Thieves’ Guild Master.
“Then what is it?”
“It’s... a trading company.”
“A trading company?”
“Yes. They buy and sell people.”
“...”
Ransell was briefly stunned by what followed.
“All the children there are slaves. They are merchandise. When the time comes, they will be sold off. They won’t even realize they were slaves until then.”