Blood-soaked and breathless, Yuri Catreia burst into the room. Her entrance was sudden enough, but the words that followed were an even greater shock. It was a proposal—one that had come completely out of left field.
"Alright, hold on a second! Everyone, stay calm!"
In truth, Rest was more bewildered than anyone else in the room, but he managed to pull himself together through sheer force of will.
"First, Viola, Primula—this is as much a surprise to me as it is to you, I promise. I haven't been leading her on or trying to seduce her, so please don't get the wrong idea!"
Even though their current arrangement allowed for polygamy and mistresses, he made sure to clarify the situation just in case.
"I-I understand..." Viola stammered.
"We believe you..." Primula added.
The twins finally snapped out of their daze and nodded at Rest’s frantic explanation. Turning his attention to the servants who had been chasing after Yuri, Rest issued quick instructions.
"You there, in the back. Please draw a bath and prepare a change of clothes for her. And I'll need you to clean the floors and the hallway as well."
"U-Understood, sir."
"We will prepare everything immediately..."
Once the butler and maid had scurried away, Rest cleared his throat and turned back to Yuri.
"Now... Yuri. Tell me what is going on."
"Of course. Marriage is the union where a man and a woman become a couple to produce offspr—"
"Stop. I don't need a definition of marriage. Let's try this: can you tell me exactly what happened from the moment we said goodbye until today, in chronological order?"
The last time Rest had seen Yuri was after their mission to hunt the Worm. They had parted ways after returning from the eastern side of the Subnock Plain, and he hadn't seen her since. At the time, there hadn't been a single hint of romance between them.
So why had she suddenly appeared, claiming she wanted to marry him and that she’d defeated the Knight Commander?
"Ah, my apologies. I skipped ahead a bit, didn't I?"
"Not just a bit... you skipped the entire middle section."
"Then, allow me to explain."
Yuri nodded, puffing out her chest with a beaming, strangely cheerful smile.
"After we parted ways, I realized something. I realized I wanted to marry you, Rest."
"Okay."
"So, for starters, I went to give my father a good thrashing."
"...I see."
"And since I won, I came to see you. Marry me."
"..................Wait, what?"
"Oh, thank goodness! You're saying yes!"
"Wait... No! That 'I see' wasn't an 'I do'!"
Unable to hold it in any longer, Rest finally shouted.
"Your explanation makes no sense! To begin with, why do you even want to marry me!?"
"Well, you saved me when I was falling from the sky, we’ve taken classes together... and then after sharing a bed and spending time with you, I realized I felt lonely when you weren't there. I started to think I wanted to be with you forever. I hadn't realized it until now, but it seems I love you. Let's get married and have children."
"Alright... thank you for that."
For the moment, he offered her his thanks. Even though he’d asked for an explanation, he hadn't expected her to be quite that blunt. He was so embarrassed he felt like rolling around on the floor.
"Well... I suppose I saw this coming," Viola said, looking at her sister.
"She was always quite easy to read, wasn't she?" Primula agreed.
The twins exchanged a look of mutual understanding. Rest had known Yuri was fond of him, but given her innocent, wild-child nature, he’d never been sure if that affection was actually romantic.
"Moving on... why did you have to fight the Knight Commander?"
"Father was against me leaving the house or dating men. As long as he was in charge, he would never have allowed me to marry you."
"Wait... you didn't kill him, did you?"
If she couldn't marry him as long as her father was around, did that mean she had... eliminated the problem?
"No, of course not. He’s alive. I defeated him, but I didn't kill him."
"Oh, thank goodness."
"Both his arms and legs were crushed, his neck was twisted nearly a hundred and eighty degrees, and he’d lost about half the blood in his body... but he’s my father, after all. He wouldn’t die from something like that."
"No, that’s exactly what kills people!" Rest screamed.
No matter how one looked at it, those were fatal injuries. An ordinary human would have been dead several times over.
"Father wouldn't give us his blessing, but 'the strong are right' is the ultimate rule of the Marquis Catreia House. Since he lost, he no longer has the right to object!"
"I... I see..."
"So, marry me! It’ll be fine—I’ll make you happy!"
"............"
Rest turned a desperate gaze toward Viola and Primula. Both girls looked troubled, but after a heavy sigh, they finally spoke up.
"For now... let's get you in the bath and get that blood washed off..."
"Viola and I will join you. We need to hear the full story."
"Ah...!"
Before Yuri could protest, the twins grabbed her and began dragging her toward the bathroom.
Left alone in the quiet room, Rest slumped his shoulders in relief, feeling as though he had just barely survived a natural disaster.