Vol.5 Ch.99 - Congratulations

Hey. It’s been a while, a few months in fact. How’ve you been? How’s thewife and kids? Nah, I’m just kidding (although the fact about it being a fewmonths since Issei left is completely true). Marina and I are still enjoying ourlovey-dovey lifestyle to its fullest extent, and to top it all off we’re finallyreaching a point where we’ve amassed a sizeable fortune for ourselves.Certainly enough to live out our remaining days doing whatever we please.She hasn’t changed all that much in the meantime, meanwhile my beautifulhair is once again back to its glorious image! I can finally tie it into aponytail again, granted the tips of my hair are still showing signs ofblackness ever since I had it dyed by Issei. That bastard said it would washoff in a few rinses, but it seems a lot more permanent than that!Eh, I can’t be angry at him. He’s just a guy who had the misfortune of beingtaken to a completely unknown world. He probably had no idea of theproperties of the flower’s dye, since the flora here might be different than inhis world. And if you’re wondering, I’m not mad at Issei in the least forleaving us. I sometimes get angry fits, but I have Marina there to help me outin those times. She really is like a Guardian Angel in that regard…Oh right, I said Marina hasn’t changed at all since then, but that’s kind of alie, at least in the physical regard. Truth is, she’s becoming a lot moreemotional these days, easily switching from being happy-go-lucky to cryingout tears of absolute happiness about me handing her a plate of snacks orsomething, or throwing a hissy fit about me going in the bath before her (evenafter she so coldly denied my generous offer of us going in together). Ihonestly don’t know what to do with her in those times, since I’m genuinelynot sure if that’s just what she’s like when she’s lax or if there’s some deepermeaning behind it. Guess I’ve still a long way to go before I reach the levelof understanding the intricacies of the woman’s heart. Well, I’ve managed tosnag two so far, so I guess I should be giving myself more credit…And Issei… I haven’t heard from him at all since he left. No letters, none,zilch. It’s like we were never friends to begin with, which makes meextremely sad. Wait, wasn’t that how I’ve been treating Anna and Arthurthough? Ugh, thinking back, Issei really had that same adventurous look in hiseyes as I did back when we left Whitehood. I could tell from his very facethat he was thinking I can’t wait to go out and explore the world!, since Iwas the same.Well, I keep telling myself that the reason he’s not sending me any letters isbecause he’s got too many things on his plate, or perhaps he just doesn’tknow how the postal system works here. But by the Gods, man, ask around orsomething! I’m still keeping his goodbye letter on my desk, right next toNelly’s framed picture. I understand Nelly would probably get a bit jealousof me cherishing him equally as much as I cherish her, but well, friends andchildren are two different categories. I won’t ever see Issei as my child(since we’re the same age and that’d be weird), and I most certainly won’tever see Nelly as my friend (she’s my amazingly cute daughter, after all!). Soyeah, I’ll find a special place to keep her picture on back home, and I’llprobably just shove Issei’s letter in a closet or something. Sorry Issei, butyou’re nothing compared to my Nelly!Oh right, hehe, did I forget to mention? Humu, what is it that I’m talking aboutyou ask? Well, it’s about Operation “Harem”, of course! That’s right, afterfinally summoning up the courage to ask Marina if she’d be interested, shefinally caved! Well, she was really hell-bent on keeping me to herself(obviously), as the very idea of a man marrying multiple women was franklyabsurd, but after some carefully thought out guilt tripping and whining, Ifinally got her to agree.“How could you do this to me~?” I started reenacting the scene while I wasalone in the house, “After making me cheat on my wife, don’t you realize justhow bad I feel about that~? And my daughter, what do you think she wouldsay to this~? I love you, but I love them equally as much, can’t you agree toshare~?”These were the sleazy and scummy words I had used to get her onboard(word for word, in fact). I really didn’t want to abuse the idea of her beingthe ‘homewrecker’ in this scenario, but sadly it seems she never would’veagreed to the idea of the three of us coexisting together without me having touse that as a trump card.Now, a couple months after hearing about how cool Cecily is, she seems tobe a lot more interested in meeting the person in question. Heh, I even caughther asking when we’re going back home, to ‘make the whole thing official’.Now if that isn’t a clear sign of acceptance, then I don’t know what is!Here’s another fun fact. While we were out and about doing our weeklygrocery run, Marina and I actually stumbled upon a wedding parade. Awedding parade, for those of you who don’t know, is a cultural thing endemicto the Cardina region (and some Northern parts of The Kingdom of Carmen).What basically happens is that the bride and groom stroll around the city, andall the guests follow them, making a massive line. Onlookers are free to joinif they wanna spread the positivity, and there’s dancing and cheering allaround. Marina was enthralled by the cheeriness of it all, but I just found itannoying because they were blocking the market entrance.Even still, I noticed she wasn’t all too focused on the others, but instead shedrew her focus on the bride. She wore a white-as-snow wedding dress, andthe smile on her face indicated she was currently experiencing the best day ofher life. Well, as a man, I just couldn’t stand seeing Marina get jealous! I’mthe type of guy who spoils his loved ones! You want it? Here, have it! That’show Sol Pandora operates, goddammit! Well, that being said, I’d at least liketo wait until we get back home, so I can have Cecily’s go ahead first. Eh, I’msure she’ll accept it the same way Marina did, so it’s basically all but donealready.Oh? Is someone knocking at the door? Hmm? Adam-?“Is this the house of Mariabelle Pandora?” He skipped the pleasantries.“A-Ah, yes!” I noticed he was carrying a sickly-looking Marina by the arm,“What’s wrong?”“Congratulations, Mariabelle is pregnant.”***A COUPLE HOURS EARLIERYoohoo!! Hey, it’s been a while! Remember your old cute maid of the GrysCastle? That’s right, I’m Marina Dola, posing as none other than MariabellePandora, and right now I’m on my way to another day of work! Ugh, howmuch longer are we gonna be stuck here? If I didn’t know any better, I’d thinkLune’s been making me wait for some stupid reason. That boy, didn’t Ialready say it was alright to be part of his ‘harem’ or whatever it is that heinsisted? What a guy, he just can’t be happy with one woman in his life…Well, from what I’ve heard, this Cecily girl is really cool. She’s the Generalof some bigshot gang organization over at Great Hiana or something. Thesame one as Lune, and she’s apparently really strong. The way he woulddescribe her fighting style was really beautiful, and elegant to boot. His eyesglimmer a special way when he describes that aspect of hers. Different thanany time he’d talk about me, that’s for sure. Well, at least I have one thing upon her, and that’s that I was the first to take him to bed! Heh, sucks to suck,girlie, but it seems like that guy’s a total boob maniac~!“Good day, Mariabelle.” The nicely built Adam greeted me at the gate whileon his morning walk, “Ready for another day of making this country a betterplace?”“…” I stopped to admire his muscles.This guy really took my advice to heart. He started lifting weights, grew outhis beard and now looks like a total beast. Honestly, where did the feeblelooking young Prince whose head could barely fit his crown go? Now thatcrown is actually getting refitted because he’s grown so much!“Mariabelle?”“A-Ah, nothing. ” I snapped out of the muscle-trance, “But My King, you’vereally grown since then. It never ceases to amaze me just how much you’vemanaged to get in shape. Must be because of that Queen of yours~!”Oh right. Adam snagged himself a girl, can you believe it? Apparently it’s achildhood friend of his, a young girl who’s originally from a nearby village,but they used to play a lot back when Adam’s position didn’t clash with otherkids’ positions. Back when he confessed to me, I thought for sure things weregoing to get awkward between us, but he seems to be doing perfectly finenow.“Well, I do agree that she’s been motivating me a lot throughout the process,but I will never allow anyone else but you to take the credit for being thecatalyst who forced me to get out of my shell and stop with my silly ways.”Eh? Stop that! Hearing a buff guy say such things is making me start to regretsaying ‘No’ to you! Hey, Lune’s gonna get pissed, so just shut those puckeredlips and move that tight ass inside!“Mariabelle…” He acted a bit hesitantly, “For today, please just wipe off thetables.”“Again? Ugh, why are you coddling me all of a sudden?! I’m perfectlycapable of doing harder jobs still, y’know?”He approached the situation carefully, as if treading on thin ice. Ugh, justbecause I accidentally spilled some tea on those two lovebird guests that onetime… I promise it won’t happen again, come on!“Mariabelle, do not overexert yourself. I know it’s tough, so don’t forcethings.”“What’s tough!?”“…Oh.” He finally realized that I didn’t know what the hell he was on about,“Never mind, just listen to my orders and be glad you’re getting lesserwork.”Well, that’s certainly one way to look at it. Actually, didn’t Lune say that wecan go back soon? Maybe he secretly met up with Adam and had him shortenmy workdays because it’s gonna be my last day here soon or something? Inthat case, heck yeah Lune!Generally, the other maids were doing the harder jobs, like cooking andcleaning, so you’d expect them to be at least a tad bit jealous of me gettingthe easier jobs these days. But no, they’re really acting weird too! It’s likethey know something I don’t! Wait, maybe if I ask Erie, she’ll know what todo! She’s always got my back, she’s the head honcho here! She’ll definitely-!“No.” Erie gave me a serious reply, “If you don’t know what’s going on, thenI will most DEFINITELY not tell you myself.”“Oh, come on~!” I tried nudging her, “You’ve always been the most honestone of all us maids! Surely you’re not gonna let that streak end here, willyou?”“A-Ah…” She started blushing, “M-Most honest, you say? W-Well, thanksfor the compliment… Wait, no! I’m not falling for your flattery this time! Goto some other maid!”Heeding her advice to a T, I yelled out to another maid who was in the sameroom as us, “Yo Leah! You’re the most honest maid I know! Could you tellme why everyone’s acting so weird around me!?”In that moment, Erie finally realized that Marina’s previous remarks werenothing more than hollow compliments.“Ugh, why are you guys being so careful around me?!” I finally lashed out.“Hey, Mariabelle, calm down now…”“No! Screw you all, you’re just a bunch of… a bunch of…!” Right then, thethoughts from my mind completely disappeared, and I fell to the floor in themidst of my sentence.Waking up, I was in an unfamiliar room. It was one I had never been to, eventhough I cleaned almost every place in the castle because of my job. I wasfeeling really sluggish, and my mouth tasted awful. Like I had just thrown upmoments prior. My eyesight was foggy, but I could barely make out twopeople standing right outside the wide open door.“…My Prince, if you noticed signs of this earlier, I honestly don’t see whyyou hadn’t contacted me earlier on the matter…!” The female wearing adoctor’s coat reprimanded the other speaker.“…You’re right, sorry for the short notice. I’ll be sure to take her home,her husband will probably be really glad to hear the news…” Said Adam.After that, they both noticed I was awake and staring at them with eyes ofconfusion. They didn’t react almost entirely, rather they simply gave me awarm smile and waved. I waved back because it was the obvious thing to do,but I still didn’t understand what had just happened.Even still, Adam finally joined me and told me I get to leave early today. Ididn’t really have the energy to ask why, since when I tried to speak Iimmediately threw up. Thankfully, he somehow expected me to do this, so heswiftly handed me a bag so as not to make a mess.“You’re in a clinic right now. Must be a new sight, huh? Don’t worry though,you’re fine. C’mon, I’ll take you home.”And just like that, he had me stand up and put my arm around his shoulder,then slowly but patiently escorted me back home without even saying a wordthe entire time. It was quiet, and he wore a kind smile on his face, but I couldtell from the countless days we’ve spent together that that expression wasfake.In the end, he opened the doors to mine and Lune’s house, then greeted Lunewith the news, “Congratulations, Mariabelle is pregnant.”