Anoseka Volume 2 Chapter 5

This is MTL. So, I cannot guarantee that the translation 100% contextually accurate or appropriate.

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Chapter 5 "The Reality of This World"

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Part 1

The second day of the school festival is over.

While the boys clean up things outside, Marie counts the amount of money she earns in the classroom.

"As expected of a school attended by rich people. Even though we set the unit price ridiculously high, it sold like hotcakes."

In Japanese yen, they sold for about 1,000 yen each.

A cup of five ball donuts costs 1,000 yen —— in a previous life, Marie would never have touched them.

Adding more toppings from there adds several hundred yen.

But the customers here are rich aristocrats.

Even though they were expensive, a good number of them were sold, and as a result, we made a lot of money.

Marie is in a good mood as she counts the bills.

"With this money, I won't have to worry about living expenses tomorrow. Oops, if I don't hide it, the debt collectors will take it."

Marie carefully tucks the wad of bills into her pocket.

A female student with her entourage came there.

The girl, whose hair was braided into a ring with braided pigtails on both sides, was accompanied by a number of demi-human slaves called exclusive servants.

It's someone you don't want to meet, Stephanie of the Offley family, with her heavy make-up and strong smell of perfume.

"You’re Marie from the Viscount Lafan family, right?"

Stephanie called out to Marie.

Although they know Stephanie, Marie is confused because she never expected her to come to see her like this.

"Yes —— What can I do for you?"

"You have no respect for those who are above you. Do you not know the Count Offley family?"

"Stephanie, right? You're famous. I at least know your name."

(Why are you even bothering with me? If it's about Brad, I failed, and now you're coming to see me because you're the one who's behind the sky pirates? Maybe she came to give me a warning?)

She doesn't understand why the other party contacted her.

While Marie was confused, Stephanie was laughing happily.

"Haven't you heard anything? Your family and ours are entering into a marriage. My older brother and you are to be married."

"——Haah?"

Marie cannot catch up with her understanding of the sudden topic.

In the first place, she had never heard of such a talk.

"I will be troubled if you tell me arbitrarily. I don't know anything about it."

Stephanie didn't listen to Marie's opinion.

However, it seems that she came to tell the truth.

"I don't care what you think. Your family said they would marry you off. And I know you're hanging out with those poor nobles, but you need to refrain from doing so. I don't want my reputation damaged because of you."

Marie guesses who she is talking about and clenches her hand.

"——What do you mean by reputation damaged?"

"It means exactly what it says. You seem to be good friends with Bartfalt, the upstart, in addition to the group of poor barons, right? Stop doing that because it's annoying."

Is this guy getting the wrong idea?

That's what Marie thought, but the other party ignored her and continued talking.

"You're going to marry my brother. —— It's a shame that you didn't end up marrying Bartfalt."

In front of Stephanie, who gave her a mocking smile, Marie could guess what she was thinking.

(This guy enjoys watching people's misfortunes.)

From her attitude and conversation, it was determined that she was the type of person who would try to be superior to the other person for no good reason.

She was a nasty person, as expected.

"I don't have that kind of relationship with Leon."

When she turns her head away and says that, Stephanie snorts a laugh.

"I hope so. Anyway, I've given you some warning, so please be careful from now on. Oh, yes, I'm sorry, but you are going to have a wedding in a hurry."

"W-Why?"

Having a wedding which meant leaving the academy.

Normally, students get engaged while attending school and get married after graduation.

However, once they are officially married, the story becomes different.

Perhaps amused by Marie's flustered reaction, Stephanie moves closer to her face.

"My brother is a shitty bastard. He's the perfect guy for you, so it suits you. Ah, don't get me wrong. You can't expect luxury just because you come to my family. You are only there to produce an heir for us."

After saying that, Stephanie leaves with a big laugh.

Marie understands her current situation at this moment.

(My second life —— is over)

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Part 2

The third day of the school festival.

While the students were excited about the competition, I was told by Marie about the situation with her family.

The location is outside the venue where it is not popular.

"You’re going to marry the heir of the Offley family!?"

I had considered the possibility of some kind of contact from Stephanie, but I never imagined that the topic of engagement with Marie would come up.

The excited voices and cheers of the students can be heard from the venue of the competition.

They sounded rather noisy.

Marie laughs weakly.

"No~, I never thought that the heir to the Offley family would find me attractive. I'm so sinful, aren't I."

She's joking, but it doesn't seem like Marie has any leeway right now.

"Can't you refuse?"

"You understand that, right? I'm still a noble, you know. ——Though I'm very poor."

Regardless of how poor they live, nobles are nobles.

The lack of freedom in marriage is not uncommon.

In the first place, marriage is more like a contract between two families.

Even if you find a partner of your liking at the school, the next problem is the family status and assets——so much so that the relationship between the families becomes a problem.

The school appears to be a place where free love is allowed, but in fact it comes with very strict conditions.

For the world of that otome game, it incorporates quite a vivid reality.

Marriages that are the result of pure love are rarer cases in this world.

Usually, the feelings of individuals are not taken into account.

This is a so-called political marriage.

I also was almost forced to get married for the sake of my family once.

I did something quite unreasonable to refuse the marriage offer, but in Marie's case the circumstances were different from mine.

Both families——both sides have reached an agreement.

For some reason, a line comes out of my mouth that seems to persuade Marie.

"He's the heir to Count Offley's family. He's probably not a bad man."

"I guess so. Stephanie even called him a shitty bastard."

"She said so? Then all the better. In the first place, the Offley family is the kind of house that will be destroyed if things continue as they are. Even if you get married, you will——"

——not be happy.

In that otome game, Count Offley's family is a family that opposes the main characters.

They joined forces with sky pirates and tried to kill Olivia and her friends, the main characters, but they were beaten back.

The result was a failure, and the Offley family was crushed.

In that otome game, they are the enemies that appear at the climax of the middle of the game.

If you think about the game scenario, it's a house you should not be involved in.

And, personally, it's a house I'd rather not be associated with.

Marie probably understands that too, and she looks down and clasps her hands together.

"I don't like it either! I want to run away right away. But —— do you think I can run away and survive on my own in a world like this?"

This marriage is a matter between families.

If Marie were to escape, the Viscounts Lafan and Count Offley would do everything in their power to find her.

It may seem like a good idea to run far away from here, but unlike my previous life, things are different in this world.

If you ask me if it is possible for a woman to live alone in a faraway place, I have to say that it is difficult.

It's tough to keep running away.

It is physically and mentally tough to live on the run while being frightened by both families.

Even if I tried to hide her at my parents' house, both families would always be suspicious of me and barge into Bartfalt's house.

Not only me, but my family will be involved.

"Even the Lafan family is a noble family, even if they have fallen. If I run away, the other party's family will be involved, and they will definitely find me someday. Besides, I don't want to live my life on the run because it would be too tiring."

Marie seems to have already given up.

"A~ah, I wanted to at least go on a school trip."

"You can't even join a school trip?"

Does not being able to participate in second semester events mean that she will get married soon and drop out?

Why such a hurry to get married?

Marie tells me what she knows.

"The Offley family said the sooner I get married, the better. I think my family accepted. —— I just received a letter asking me to get married."

What I was shown was a crushed and crumpled letter.

The text is plain for parents addressing their daughter, and does not convey any affection at all.

In the middle, the venue of the competition erupted into wild cheers.

I'm sure that someone might have played an active role, but I'm not in the mood for that.

——Now I should save Marie somehow.

"Marie"

"Oops, don't go crazy."

Just as I was thinking of using Luxion to help, Marie stopped me.

It seems that she had already read my thoughts.

"I thought about getting help, too. I thought Luxion might be able to help me. But I don't think we should get into trouble with the Offley's right now."

"——Why?"

"There are important events coming up, aren't there? What if you do something unnecessary that could have a strange effect on the event?"

I was clenching my hands without even realizing it.

If game reasons are a priority, I would like the Offley family to exist until the middle —— the second year.

Also, I wanted to avoid any changes to the scenario due to our involvement.

"Actually, the way I got married is weird, isn’t it? Maybe it’s punishment for doing something unnecessary?"

Marie, who started saying that this was her punishment for attacking the five noblemen, seemed to have made up her mind.

"If you ask me to help you, I'll——"

"Even if I say 'help', I know it will be hard. If you hide me, your family will be suspected for sure. I guess it might work somehow because of Luxion, but aren't the Offley's actually a very troublesome family?"

Realistically speaking, a house with a constant stream of bad rumors is troublesome.

The fact that their misdeeds are being covered up means that the kingdom is overlooking them.

There must be someone in the kingdom who is capable of protecting them.

If we mess with the Offley family poorly, we could make even more troublesome enemies.

If I want to help Marie, I will need considerable determination.

Big decisions will also be needed.

When I remained silent and didn't say anything, Marie smiled broadly.

"It was fun."

"Eh?"

"I said, I'm just saying it was more fun than I thought it would be. The princes didn't take much notice of me, and I couldn't make a reverse harem living in ease and comfort. Still, life with you wasn't so bad."

Marie looked down once, then looked up.

"Bye. Well, if the Offley family is destroyed, I'll be fine. After all, I'm a valuable user of healing magic. I'll survive."

Even though she has given up and accepted marriage, it seems that she is already thinking about the future.

I think Marie would be able to survive with her stubbornness.

However, that is not the happiness that Marie had hoped for.

"Are you okay with that? You said you wanted to start your school life over."

Marie was smiling as if she was troubled.

"It's better than game over. Because if the main characters don't play their part, we're in real trouble, aren't we? I don't want to have a bad ending in real life."

"B-But."

Marie turned her back to me and started walking.

"Thank you for everything. You too —— do your best. I don't think you have to worry about that, though, because you've got Luxion."

It's a very small and unreliable back.

——The back of her figure reminded me of my little sister in a previous life.

"——Ah"

I reached out my hand and immediately lowered it.

What can I do for Marie, who has made up her mind?