「We hurriedly used the forbidden revival magic on the body that had swallowed deadly poison. The flesh healed perfectly, but the spirit… the soul never returned. There were no past cases of successful revival, so the main goal was just restoring the body. Since we had already broken one taboo, we decided to go all the way and performed a summoning ritual to call a soul.」
「……」
From poison suicide straight into full-blown fantasy.
There’s a part of me that’s actually getting excited. This is kinda thrilling, right?
「We had reasons like 『we can’t summon some weird soul』, 『compatibility with the body is important』, and most of all 『we’re out of time』, so we poured every last drop of magic power we had into the spell… and the result was your soul ending up in this body.」
「Ah～, can I ask something?」
「What is it?」
「How did you know I was from another world?」
「Yes…」
He nodded, then went silent for a while.
I was wondering what was wrong when the king turned around and scratched his head, looking really sorry.
「The truth is… we added the condition 『since no man in this world wants to marry her, let’s get someone from another world who’s fine with any female』」
Click. That actually pissed me off. For real.
「…Whose idea was that?」
「The second prince. Your older brother, the second son.」
「Please send that guy a drink laced with deadly poison under my name.」
Seriously rude. That makes me sound like some horny wolf who’ll take anything with boobs.
And it’s the sexual kind of hunger, not food. That’s the worst insult to a pure boy who’s never even kissed anyone.
「That’s why we figured you’d be fine no matter who the bride is, right? Marry her and save the country.」
「…At least let me meet her first. I can’t marry someone I’ve never seen.」
「Of course. That’s only natural. But even if you see her and get scared, I won’t allow refusal. You are marrying her, at minimum.」
Wait? The way he said that…
「Um～…」
「What?」
「Does that mean as long as we get married, I can do whatever I want after that?」
「Exactly. That’s what I’m saying.」
You’re talking like a shady politician.
You’re the king and I’m the prince, though.
「So… I’m allowed to have other women?」
「I permit it. Take as many concubines or mistresses as you want. If you can, that is.」
「Then wouldn’t someone else have accepted the deal?」
As long as we get married, I’m free after that, right?
The king let out a tired sigh at my questioning face.
「Even with that condition, everyone refused. The reason… well, you probably can’t guess」
「I have no idea」
「…She has been granted a certain license」
「A license?」
Don’t tell me it’s a literal murder license?
「Yes. A royal pardon that says 『as long as it’s for dragon extermination, she can kill even the king and face no punishment』. If she uses it, even I could be killed」
Jackpot. That’s exactly what I feared.
「Why the hell did you give her something like that?」
「To stop royals and nobles from doing stupid things out of greed. Political reasons」
「Greed?」
「Dragons… everything about them sells for insane money」
「Huh?」
「Skin, meat, blood, fangs, bones, organs… not a single part gets thrown away. So to keep idiots from chasing profit and getting in her way, we issued that license. The result? It ended up strangling our own necks too」
「So if she gets mad about cheating and goes full sword-swinging berserker?」
「Exactly. Even if she cuts someone down, she can just claim 『they interfered with dragon extermination』 and walk free」
Yeah, with that condition even I’d hesitate.
Even if I don’t cheat, she could kill me just because she’s in a bad mood!
「I really don’t want to die again, so can I please refuse?」
「Your refusal is not accepted. Give up and marry her. Once you do, she becomes part of the royal family. After that… do whatever you want and get killed if you’re careless. I won’t complain」
「I’m the one who’s complaining here!」
The more I hear, the worse my position sounds.
No wonder the original guy drank poison…
And that’s when it finally clicked.
I stared hard at my hands, then my legs, touched everything… and finally my face.
「Father-sama. Do you have a mirror?」
「There’s a bronze one over there」
「Borrowing it」
I stood up, grabbed the round thing among the fancy decorations, and looked into the polished bronze plate.
「There’s a me that isn’t me!」
「…Obviously? We only summoned your soul」
The king looked totally dumbfounded as I kept checking out my new body.
The hair I pulled out was blond. The face was clearly Western. And most importantly… when I tugged my pants forward and peeked, even through the underwear I could tell my little (or not-so-little) guy was huge.
Westerners really are packing, huh.
「You’re only noticing now that the body is different?」
「Yes」
「Are you a big deal or just a total airhead…」
Well, a lot happened, so I never got the chance to check properly.
But getting a body like this means I’ve officially graduated from ghost status, right?
The original me… probably died and became a ghost? No way to check, so whatever.
「Fine, the details can wait. For now, you’re going to marry Noie and become the head of a new branch family」
「Head of a family?」
「I’m telling you to start your own clan」
「Meaning?」
「…Some of the nobles are terrified of having her in the capital. If she marries you, even as a branch family, royal rules say your household has to stay in the capital. That means they can never kick her out again. I won’t let those damn nobles have their way…」
Is it just my imagination, or did I just catch a glimpse of the king’s personal grudge?
I gave him a flat stare, and he immediately looked away. Yep, definitely personal.
「A-anyway! Right, you said you wanted to meet Noie, didn’t you? I’ll arrange it right now」
He laughed it off and called out toward the door.
…I feel like he just completely changed the subject.
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