Chapter 2 - Abduction (2)

They said that changes in life always came violently and without warning. Even so, this much change overnight was a little excessive.

It was only today that he had been dragged here with a declaration of “Let's start living together today,” as though he had no right to refuse the request to “pretend” to be her husband. Accompanied, of course, by a subtle threat to hand the evidence of his crimes over to the police if he didn't come along.

His various attempts at resistance and escape had all foundered against Dame Noel's faint, impenetrable smile. Letting him leave his family a letter saying he had somewhere to go was apparently her final concession...

“This will be your room from today onward.”

Inside, the female knight assigned to guide Aiden continued in a businesslike tone, her silver armor clinking. Dame Stella, he had been told. Noel's closest aide, was it? Aside from Noel, she was the only other person who knew about the sham marriage Aiden had been forced into.

“We'll assign you an orderly. Tell them if you need anything, and we'll have it prepared promptly.”

“... Right.”

“You'll be visiting the imperial palace soon. Please make sure you're well prepared.”

The words reaching his dazed mind were getting hopelessly jumbled, but he still managed to catch one thing worth asking about.

“... The imperial palace?”

“Dame Noel is a national hero who symbolizes the imperial military. His Majesty the Emperor takes a keen interest in her marriage prospects, so a meeting is unavoidable.”

“Do I really have to—”

One look at Stella's expression made Aiden shut his mouth. Come to think of it, if they were willing to let him refuse, they wouldn't have dragged him all the way here without once asking his opinion. Instead, he decided to voice a slightly different concern.

“Are you sure it's all right to trust me with something so important?”

The question also encompassed whether they should be asking someone like him to carry out this insane sham-marriage con in the first place.

“Dame Noel made the decision. How could it not be all right?”

“...”

“Dame Noel has never made a wrong decision.”

The almost blind trust in those words left Aiden speechless. If anything, she seemed to be reprimanding him for questioning Noel's judgment. The thought that followed came naturally.

'Is she insane?'

He could sense the makings of a lunatic. The kind who, if Noel said the sun rose in the west, would get angry at the sun the next morning for rising in the east instead.

“Well then, please make yourself comfortable.”

With that, Stella left and shut the door behind her. Aiden quietly sighed. Everything had happened so suddenly, but first he needed to take stock. He sat in a chair and stared into empty space. The window that always responded to his thoughts immediately opened before his eyes.

-Skill Info

◈ Weaver of Fate

Only you know the truth of this world. Build bonds with key characters in the main story to earn new rewards!

【 Noel Astria Seamus 】

- Bond: Level 1

- You can copy 1 skill.

This was absurd. Never mind the grandiose name, Weaver of Fate or whatever.

'Level 1 bond with Dame Noel?'

What fucking bond could there be between someone who had kidnapped him to play her husband and the hostage she'd dragged here against his will? Even if he wanted to develop Stockholm syndrome, they hadn't had the bare minimum of interaction needed for that. They'd exchanged only a few words.

Still, beneath that bizarre choice of words was something he could view in a positive light.

'Copying a skill...'

That would mean he could reproduce one of Noel's abilities exactly. Given her standing in this world, simply having that option would be a considerable help right now. Because...

-Quest Info

▶ Failure in the events listed here will incur severe penalties!

◈ Sham Marriage

- You have been chosen as Dame Noel's spouse. Maintain your contract with her to the end!

- Additional information will be updated as events related to the main story approach!

Aiden narrowed his eyes at the windows. The words “sham marriage” alone were enough to make his stomach burn, but the bigger problem was what came beneath them.

What was the main story? Epic battles against the forces of evil threatening the world. A maelstrom of schemes and conspiracies among contending powers, swirling across a continent rife with the threat of war. A grand tale about grand people.

Which meant...

'I'll die if I get involved.'

The problem was that, like it or not, he was already involved. What should he do? More precisely, how could he throw all of this aside and run away, even now?

As Aiden wrestled with that question, the sudden sound of the door bursting open struck his ears. Stella had said she would assign him an orderly. That was probably who it was. He immediately straightened up and composed his expression. Whatever else happened, he had to play Noel's spouse for as long as he was stuck here.

“A pleasure to meet you. I'm—”

BANG!

Before he could finish his greeting, the man who had kicked his way through the door spoke coldly.

“I am Gale Osron, an old friend of Dame Noel and heir to House Osron, a marquessate. Draw your sword.”

“...”

What was this guy talking about? That certainly wasn't something an orderly would say, and the man who had entered the room didn't look like one, either. With his sword and full armor, he was plainly dressed for a fight. And he was radiating murderous intent without the slightest attempt to hide it.

Aiden barely managed to keep his cheeks from trembling as he spoke.

“Sorry, I'm not quite sure what you—”

“I hear you're Dame Noel's fiancé. I'd like to see what you can do.”

“... Why?”

No, seriously. Why? Was Noel surrounded by nothing but people like this?

“I've never once heard Dame Noel mention you. All I heard was that she'd suddenly become engaged today.”

With those words, Gale Osron drew his longsword.

SHING!

“I can't rest easy without personally testing the man my friend intends to take as her spouse. And crossing blades reveals a person's true nature. Come at me.”

“...”

Aiden had learned one thing for certain: Noel really did have a lot of lunatics around her.

At the sight of the knight actually striding toward him with his sword drawn, Aiden frantically turned his eyes to the system window. If he just stood there, he might really get stabbed. He had to find some way out of this!

-System Message

▶ Activating the skill-copying ability of 'Skill: Weaver of Fate.'

▶ Analyzing the skill list of target 'Noel Astria Seamus.'

▶ Displaying skills in descending order of val—

He selected the top entry without even looking. Anything would do, as long as it got him out of this right now!

-System Message

▶ Copying 'Unique Ability: Heart of Pure White.'

▶ This ability belongs to this individual alone in the entire world.

▶ Target 'Noel' may take greater interest in you!

A somewhat troubling line flashed across his vision, but he certainly had no time to worry about it.

“I'll take the first strike.”

“...”

Where had he sold off his chivalry? Shouldn't he at least concede the first move?

“Stand straight and show me what you've got!”

At those words, and the sight of the blade coming down on him, Aiden squeezed his eyes shut.

▣

“How does he seem?”

At the softly spoken question, Stella barely suppressed a sigh. She could hardly commit such a discourtesy in front of her revered Dame Noel.

“Utterly terrified.”

“How terrified?”

“It's painfully obvious he feels dragged into something he can't handle. Like a bedraggled puppy caught in the rain, I'd say.”

At Stella's persistently curt replies, Noel couldn't hold back her laughter. Apparently, she found it so funny that she even set down the wooden sword she had been practicing with in her light clothing.

“That's perfectly natural, Stella. I'd have been more taken aback if he'd adjusted to all this right away.”

“...”

The standing within the military of Noel Astria Seamus, the knight also known as the Lionhearted, was nothing short of absolute. Stella herself was one of the people chiefly responsible for that attitude, but seeing Noel act like this, she couldn't help having questions.

“May I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Why that man, of all people?”

As Noel wiped away her sweat, her red eyes slowly turned toward Stella. They held neither emotion nor intent, yet the moment Stella met that clear gaze, she barely managed to steady the breath that threatened to catch in her throat.

Simply sharing a space with her was enough to feel a presence on an entirely different scale. As though the whole world had been designed to revolve around that woman. It was inevitable, then, that Stella's next words emerged slightly choked.

“... You had plenty of other marriage candidates. Any of them would have been better than that man—”

“Don't be ridiculous.”

Before Stella could continue questioning her, Noel firmly cut her off.

“As things stand, it'll cause an uproar no matter whom I marry. You know that, don't you, Stella?”

That was certainly true. The Coalition War, which had plunged the entire continent into decades of warfare, had ended only a year ago. Under those circumstances, a national hero whose prestige was second only to the emperor's joining any one faction would very likely set off a butterfly effect that shattered the fragile peace.

“Then couldn't you simply turn them all down?”

“The others are one thing. But even I have trouble dealing with an imperial prince pressing his suit in person.”

At that, Stella could only fall silent. Noel might be a knight whose name was etched into imperial history, but she was still a soldier in the imperial military. The mere thought of a direct member of the imperial family pushing for marriage was dizzying. All the more so for anyone who knew the rumors about the prince in question.

“Exactly. I don't want that sort of marriage, either. Hence the alternative.”

Noel chuckled as she continued, facing the now-pale Stella.

“An outsider with no political backing who suddenly appears out of nowhere. If we say we fell in love and got married, even His Highness can't keep finding fault forever, can he?”

“... Even within that category, there must have been any number of alternatives to this Aiden.”

At Stella's still-stiff reply, Noel tilted her head.

“Stella, didn't you look up his records?”

“I recall there being nothing remarkable about him.”

A back-alley con man. A lowlife criminal who had never been involved in a single major case. Just how unremarkable a petty crook did someone have to be not to have even one arrest on record? The authorities must not have thought him worth the trouble.

“Exactly. That's what matters.”

As those thoughts passed through Stella's mind, Noel spoke softly.

“How did he manage to avoid every one of those 'remarkable' things?”

“Pardon?”

At Stella's blank question, Noel continued with a gentle smile.

“He's ordinary to a remarkable degree. Considering what he does for a living.”

Despite making his living as a con man, a profession so liable to draw attention, he had never even been investigated by the authorities, much less arrested. He was, quite literally, thoroughly small-time. Yes, thoroughly. To the point that, viewed a certain way, it seemed contrived.

“... I'm afraid I don't follow.”

“Hmm, there's something to it. I'm sure I'll have a chance to explain soon.”

With that, Noel raised her wooden sword again.

“I'm just certain he seems rather interesting.”

“...”

Thinking of the man called Aiden, Stella found even that a dubiously generous assessment. But she soon swallowed her questions. She could feel energy circulating through Noel's body as she gripped the wooden sword.

Energy. A blessing bestowed upon her subjects by Karva, the Empire's chief deity and goddess of strife. The superhuman power wielded by imperial knights came from refining the energy within their bodies through training methods and releasing it outward. The color of that energy was the measure of mastery.

One famous example was the Knight of Dawn, who had first developed combat forms and methods using energy. The first knight. A monster said to have been able to cleave mountains and split the sky with nothing more than a sword in hand. A great figure revered as the Saint of the Sword. Someone who could condense the energy rising from within his body into just two colors: silver and blue.

And here, now, stood a genius who made even that legend a relic of a bygone age.

“—”

As Noel let out a deep breath, energy rose from her body like mist.

'Pure white.'

Stella swallowed involuntarily. The energy Noel wielded was white without a single blemish. Purer than anyone else's. Simpler than anyone else's. More distinct than anyone else's.

Across the Empire's long history, among all its countless talents, as numerous as grains of sand on a beach, Noel was the only knight who had ever condensed her energy into a single color.

“Dame Noel! Dame Noel!”

The moment a soldier's voice intruded upon that wondrous sight, Stella's face creased into a fierce scowl. Interrupting a scene of such grandeur! If this was some trivial matter, she wouldn't forgive—

“The eldest son of the Marquess of Osron has just entered your fiancé's quarters!”

—Well, it was urgent enough that she had to forgive him. Stella's and Noel's faces stiffened at the same time.

Gale Osron. An old friend of Noel's. He wasn't a bad person. He wasn't, but...

“What trouble is that muscle-brained idiot about to cause this time...!”

“Stella. That's a bit harsh.”

Noel chided her with a wry smile, but she didn't deny the substance of it. The speed with which she threw on her coat alone made her resolve clear: he was bound to cause trouble, so she would have to intervene herself.

Knowing Gale, he would have shoved a sword at the man without warning, claiming he wanted to test his character again. That posed a rather more serious problem than it might seem. He wasn't an elite on the level of a formally ordained knight, but as a marquess's eldest son, he had received years of specialized combat training. Put him among ordinary soldiers, and he would be a lion among sheep.

'If I don't hurry, something really could go wrong.'

Worse, Aiden's likely capabilities fell below even those ordinary soldiers. It would be no surprise at all if something truly disastrous happened.

Noel drew a deep breath and braced her legs. She presumably intended to leap straight to Aiden's location in a single bound. She would probably break a few windows getting in, but what choice did she have? Every moment counted. That was what she had been thinking.

CRASH!

“Aaaaaagh!”

Until she saw someone plummeting with a scream from the very window she had intended to break through. His armor was crumpled all over, as though he had been struck by a giant's fist.

“...”

Wasn't that... Gale? The full armor alone was enough to identify him as the man she knew. Then she saw someone else hurriedly lean out of the window he had shattered on his way down.

“H-hey! Are you all right?!”

The voice spilling out through the broken window belonged to Aiden Kellermain, completely unharmed and without a scratch.

“...?”

And coiling around his body was snow-white energy. Exactly the same as the pure-white energy Noel herself had been wielding just moments before.

“... Huh?”

It was, without question, a sight that could leave even Dame Noel sounding utterly dumbfounded.