“What?!”
I stared at the princess with my mouth hung open with a shocked expression on my face. The reason to this was because she had confessed to me, saying that she wanted me to marry her.
“What the hell?!” I thought, managing to control my flabbergasted emotions.
There was nothing to prepare me for such word coming out of her mouth. She said those magic words out of the blue a few minutes after we left the area we met. My reaction is also an expected one because I have never once felt love nor had a girlfriend in my previous world.
“Sure, I did have a crush on someone, but that’s not true love,” I thought, trying to reason with my brain to not fall into chaos.
I momentarily closed my eyes and started calming my brain by thinking of specific reasons.
“Maybe I misheard her, or maybe all of this is just be me hallucinating. Well, I already know this is reality but it still doesn’t stop me from daydreaming. Besides, the chances that I daydreamed about it are high because of the wish ffulfillmentI have for wanting to have a girlfriend.”
So, I composed myself and looked directly at the princess before asking, “Um… Pardon me, but could you repeat what you just said, princess? I could’ve sworn that I misheard you.”
The princess blinked once at me before she said, “To your previous question, I reply that ‘I want you to marry me.’”
I was, once again, frozen, only this time in astonishment. She smiled sweetly at me, and I successfully resisted the temptation of falling victim to her gaze.
“It’s incredible how the princess is saying those words with such composure. It’s almost like she doesn’t understand their meaning, or… maybe… she doesn’t give a damn about it…” I thought, realizing the twisted motive behind her words.
It proved to be difficult to trust anything she said considering there is the chance that she’s tricking me. On the other hand, her feelings might be pure and her words are as sincere as she is.
I inwardly sighed and thought, “Anyway, I better get to the bottom of this first before deciding anything.”
So, putting on a smile, I asked, “Okay. I understand, but could you explain what led you to make such a… um… proposal?”
This time, the princess’s smile slowly faded and is replaced with a sorrowful look that was heartbreaking to see. She is, by the natural word usage, beautiful and it would hurt any man to see such a wondrous smiling woman suddenly look so sad.
Instead of the princess explaining, however, it is the maid to her left that explained the situation.
“For generations, the kingdom and its people prospered peacefully while the neighboring kingdoms held strong friendship with us. The kings were wise and gradually developed the kingdom to its current state. Even when the people were in trouble, we—.”
“Excuse me,” I said, interrupting her explanation in between with my hand held in front of me. “Could you please explain the current problem? I think that would help out.”
Both the maids were surprised by my interruption, but I didn’t care. I never liked history lessons because of how boring and dull they always are. I mean, if it’s just reading and learning, yeah, but keeping the history of events that occurred centuries ago is quite pointless. The past created the present, but learning from the past and moving on will shape the future. That’s what I believe.
So, while the maid was giving me a history lesson that could help me understand more about the kingdom, it doesn’t help me the least bit in the current predicament. Of course, my teachers believed that I cared little and even my parents scolded me for not caring much, but it’s just me not wanting to keep unnecessary baggage around to weigh me down.
The maid momentarily stopped to stare at me in surprise before recovering to say, “Uh. Yes. Um. After so long, our kingdom is facing bankruptcy.”
Upon hearing the last word, I raised my right eyebrow automatically in surprise and said, “Huh? Bankruptcy? How can a kingdom bankrupt? It doesn’t make sense.”
The two maids became silent as the princess, with her face held down, said, “You see… my father, I mean the current king, is a gambler.”
“The king’s a gambler?” I asked, feeling surprised by this piece of news. “How did he gamble it all away? Seriously! How?!”
She looked up and gave me a sad look that probably would’ve made a sentimental fool cry, but I was firm. I’m not heartless, but I’ve seen many times where girls use fake tears and fake their emotions to get their way around men. I learned these lessons watching my close friend fall in love and then get dumped several times.
“Still, that idiot never learned his lesson and kept getting new girlfriends anyway,” I thought wryly while smiling to myself.
“Is something the matter?” she asked, looking at me in bewilderment.
“Ah. No. It’s nothing. Please continue,” I said, urging her to keep explaining.
She nodded in understanding and said, “Yes. As you may or may not know, each kingdom engaged in betting large amounts of money and due to bad luck, my father lost all of his bets.”
I raised my eyes in great surprise and asked carefully, “So... The king gambled away all of the kingdom's assets with the neighboring kingdoms? That's... unbelievable...”
“Yes. It truly is,” the Princess replied, looking guiltily at her hands.
Looking at her sad face really left a strong impression upon me because it was wrong for such a beautiful and caring princess to feel so bad about something that she didn't do. Of course, I'm only treating all of this at face value and not allowing myself to get swayed by her words until I have solid proof that she isn't plotting against me.
“Still, how did the king gamble all the assets away?" I thought to myself curiously. “It's actually unimaginable to think of how quickly the king would bet so much that he forgets himself.”
I narrowed my eyebrows suspiciously and asked, “Princess, just how did the king gamble all the money away?”
She instantly became stiff at my words and suddenly looked pale as if she swallowed something horrible. Seeing that my words hit right home, I spoke again to push the matter further.
“Did he, perhaps, gamble in horse racing, warrior battles between kingdoms, or playing some sort of game like that?”
Those were some of the things that people gambled back in my world and to this day o never understood what's so great about them. I mean, if it were me, I would probably spend the money eating food or trying whatever stuff I wanted. Of course, most might not agree considering the environment in which we grew is the deciding factor after all.
The Princess gave me a truly pitiful look and remained silent for a moment before saying, “Playing cards.”
Those words caused my eyes shoot up in surprise, but I quickly recovered to nod gravely in understanding. The reason to that is because playing cards is a very dangerous addictive game that our school monthly gives us warnings about them. Like, there's this casino gambling place where people go with plenty of money, but when they return, they're usually empty handed.
Playing arts is seriously an addictive game that has little to do with strategy and plays completely on the luck of the player. In fact, only a genius would figure out the play and even then, misfortune strikes and you lose. I've seen wiping documentaries and in newspapers that my father reads in the morning that always had some sort of news about people committing suicide because they gambled all their money away.
Stolen story; please report.
“Fools!” my dad would say in annoyance at the news. “Why gamble your money and your lives? Is it worth it? Now your relatives are the ones to mourn over your needless deaths.”
What my father said is true, but the great number of populace won't change because of their blind hope. In my honest opinion, their blind hope of winning drives them mad until they lose it all. They act normal outside the game, but once inside they're part of the game, it's either all or nothing.
“I think that's what happened here as well. The king entered that same loop of thinking that he might win if he continued to play the game.”
“What a mess your father put your kingdom in!” I said aloud in distaste.
The Princess suddenly looked utterly shocked by my words and she began apologizing repeatedly by saying, “I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I'm the one at fault here. I should've stopped him when I had the chance! I should've done it! Ah...! It's all my fault!”
She was literally speaking in agony with tears streaming down her face. It looked like this subject of her failure to act and the current predicament of her kingdom weighed heavily on her. The maids quickly came to her rescue by saying words of comfort of “It's not your fault!” and “It couldn't be helped” while throwing angry glares at me.
I am upset to see her crying like that, but at the same time, I kept my feelings neutral for obvious reasons. They brought this on themselves and blaming themselves over it isn't going to change anything. It's like crying over spilled milk. They should focus on what to do next instead of wasting tears like this.
“Mmm... Would I be as strong as I am now if that very same thing happened to me?”
As the sudden thought struck me, I was rendered speechless. I nervously gulped as I realized the horrible inclination behind such a thought.
So I softened a little and said, “Come on, Princess. What's done is done, so please calm down. Get a grip! Please! It would be truly helpful if we, you know, focus on what to do next. So, please... Stem your tears... It ruins your beautiful face.”
The Princess looked up in amazement upon hearing my complimentary words as they seemed to have surprised her. I even smiled at her reassuringly and it seems to calm her down somewhat as she started sniffing while wiping her tears.
I'm glad it worked because, truth be told, that was my first time ever complimenting a girl, and I was worried how it'd go. After all, a girl is a peculiar creature that is quite different and interesting at the same time. Sometimes, the simplest things please them and sometimes, it takes an extra kilometer to please them.
In fact, the only good thing that came out of his uterus times of getting dumped is that I learned how to deal with girls. Of course, I never got the opportunity to use that knowledge because I kept to myself and treated all girls like the sisters I never had after the incident where I thought I loved a girl before I realizing it was just an infatuation.
I shook my head and asked, “Okay. Your kingdom is in trouble, so is there some sort of plan that the ministers and the king did to rescue it?”
The Princess nodded and made a glum expression on her face while saying, “They're planning to marry me away to a neighbor kingdom king’s son.”
I blinked rapidly in surprise and exclaimed, “Huh?! Marry you away to a king's son? Doesn't that basically mean it’s a political marriage?!”
“That's right,” she said, looking upset.
I leaned my back on the seat and sighed while I thought, “Oh man...! Her father is an unbelievable jerk! He's so willing to send his own daughter away on a political marriage?! That's insane!” I am very angry not when I also realized something and thought, “Perhaps he's a bad parent, but I guess he's doing his duty as the king. It's a heavy responsibility to safeguard the kingdom, and he's taking the rough path of using his daughter as a means to settle the matter.”
“So you're engaged in political marriage. Okay, but how does that involve me? After all, I'm just a random someone you chose to summon after all.”
She formed a sad smile on her face and said, “The father of the neighboring kingdom's Prince is a dear friend of my father. As he holds much of our assets, he generously suggested that the problem can be solved by giving my hand to his son's in the form of a political marriage.”
I stare at her incredulously and thought, “He asked, you people, generously? Ha! He's probably using this as a chance to get the beautiful princess to marry his, most probably, dumb ugly son. In fact, it wouldn't be all that surprising if that king plotted all of this from the start. That's how stories of fairy tales and fantasy stories were usually written anyway.”
The reason I believe this is because of my earlier experiences during my school life when I was a little younger. There were bullies and they always targeted me because I was quiet and initially, I just minded my own business until they gradually became aggressive.
At one particular situation, when they manhandled me by hitting me, I just quietly thought, “Someone will come to my rescue. Surely.”
My parents did later, but on the spot, no one made a move to stop it as they stood there watching in silence. I looked around at their faces and saw that they had a mix of worry combined with interest. That's when I realized that there is no one in this world that can help me, but myself and so I retaliated, leading to my uncontrollable anger and the realization of how dangerous I am in that state.
“If it's for the people, I would have agreed to it, especially when it's the king lending his hand in generosity, but...” she said and faltered as she seemed to not know how to move forward in her explanation.
Deciding to make a wild joke, I said, “You're hesitant because his son is a loser?”
To my surprise, she nodded and replied. “Yes. That he is.”
I was mightily surprised, and so I exclaimed, “W-What? Are you kidding me? Haha. I was joking!”
Instead of denying my joke, she carried on by saying, “No. It's the truth. That man is an idiot and is not fit to rule a kingdom. He's ugly and doesn't have the bodily charm of a man with his body filled with fat. Most of all, he is lustful of women and surely wouldn't care one bit about me. So, there's no way I'd give myself to such a man and be treated like I'm his plaything!”
She spoke all of this in dictate and it made eye wonder seeing such a different expression she was putting on. This might be her true personality that she accidentally let slip as her anger got hold over her. Well, like I said from the start, the role of a princess is a special one that can only be graced by those capable of being cunning to achieve one's goals.
In response, I merely chuckled and said, “That man sounds like a beast in the making.”
The Princess seems to have realized that she slipped up and she covered her momentarily before removing it with an uncomfortable look on her face.
“I-I'm sorry. I-I was not myself just now,” she said, trying her best to cover up with little success.
“I see,” I replied coolly. There were a few moments of silence in which the carriage continued to move before I finally asked, “Still how does this make you summon me?”
This time, she managed to smile solemnly at me and replied, “It does. You see, I took a liking to you instantly the moment you saved the woman from danger and fought the man bravely whilst everyone was frozen with shock.”
I widened my eyes in surprise as she continued speaking.
The Princess suddenly made a serious look on her face and said in a firm voice that was much different to her usual voice. I momentarily wondered what her true personality is, but I didn't have time to think too much because her words startled me.
“You took a huge gamble when you decided to save that woman a by attacking that man,” she said, a furrowed brow formed on her forehead. “If you were slower and he was quicker to react, she might be dead right now. Even if you managed to secure her and succeeded, there was no telling how the ma might have reacted. After all, he could've struck you when you were busily kept your back on him. If you had failed, both you and that woman would've been killed!”
I became speechless from her scolding words because I know she is correct. If I had stumbled, missed or was slow to react, the situation would've changed greatly. In fact, if that guy was not intoxicated, that whole scene would've played out differently.
She saw me looking glum from the sharp beat down from her words and smiled softly.
“Still, you gambled... and won...” she said in such a soft voice that I looked. At her in disbelief.
She returned to the same mannerism as before of being very polite, honest, soft and kind.
The Princess held her hand out towards me and said, “I want to marry a man that is strong, brave, arrogant and caring. That's why I chose you. That's why I want you to marry me. I need your help.”
She gave me her usual beautiful smile that could've made any man fall for her and for once, I felt it tug me a little. I still haven't dropped my suspicious about her, but if she's slowly revealing her real personality, then I'm happy. It somehow made me reminiscent of my past and once again I felt like how I felt back then.
Still, there is the off chance that she's acting all of this knowing that I might fall for it if she did it convincingly. Perhaps it's the truth, but maybe I'm just over thinking about this. Of course, everything I've based about her were all assumptions to safeguard myself from possible traps. This made me realize thatI did not learn anything about women despite the amazing observation skills I developed watching his failures with his numerous girlfriends.
I inwardly sighed and thought, “Man... Women are so hard to understand.”
I looked at the Princess and saw that she was looking determinedly at me caused my heart to leap a little. It startled me for a moment before I realized that my feelings for the opposite gender reawakened as my doubts got clouded. Her sincere behavior and words matched by her determination would make any man come to like her very much.
I inwardly sighed and thought, “Oh well. I've come this, I might as well see this through to the end. Besides, when everything's over, there's the chance I could return to my original world.”
With that incentive in kind, I smiled at her and replied, “Alright. I'm listening.”
As I smiled, the Princess looked momentarily surprised before making a wide smile and exclaimed, “Thank you,” as the carriage trundled across the highway and towards the castle.