Rishana Deacly, a beautiful and innocent girl, was a venerable countess with unique strawberry blonde hair and bright sky blue eyes. Every day, she’d spend time with her kind parents, easygoing servants, and her childhood friend. Despite her age, she had never experienced love.

Lurio Grand was a courageous and intelligent boy. He was the third son of a poor baron. He had jet-black hair and deep green eyes. Every day, he’d study hard to earn a scholarship—that way, he’d be exempted from paying the tuition fee which would otherwise financially burden his house.

The fate of the two suddenly intersected one day.

“Take caution! That’s a blood-sucking flower, if you touch it, your beautiful hands will be injured.”

“My, such kindness! Please, I beseech you to give your name…!”

The two met in the backyard of their school, in a secret garden no one knew.

It didn’t take long, the two fell in love at a glance—was love at first sight. They soon became a pair of lovers.

“Lurio, how does the sandwich taste today?”

“Everything you make always taste delicious.”

But, their pleasant times would soon end. The arrogant and ugly prince, Leopold, whom was enrolled at the same academy, noticed Rishana’s beauty and cooking skills.

“My, what a delicious sandwich. I like it. It’s an order—Rishana Deacly, be my woman.”

Leopold approached Rishana with his dirty hands, abusing his authority as the prince.

“Rishana, this way!”

“Lurio!”

Lurio protected Rishana by thwarting the prince’s wicked plans.

Contrary to Leopold’s speculation, the bond between the two only became stronger.

“Bastard! You filthy sewer rat!”

The prince, who had failed many times, cursed.

The two seemed to have escaped their predicament as they were—however,

“Fuhahaha! Lurio Grand! You’re done for! Did you take me unaware of your weaknesses?!”

Despite everything he had done, the prince still failed to win Rishana. Then, he resorted to the worst.

With Rishana as the prize, he ordered Lurio to have a magical duel against him.

He knew of Lurio’s deadly weakness—even though Lurio was an aristocrat, he was unable to use magic.

“Lurio, you can’t! At this rate, you’re going to die! Let’s run away together, even if our goal is at the end of the desert, as long as I’m with you…”

“We don’t have to, Rishana. I will definitely win—for you.”

Then, the fateful day arrived.

“The victor, Lurio! Lurio Grand—!”

Lurio stood his ground and won the death match.

His amulets prevented many magical attacks, and at the very end, Lurio provoked Leopold, luring him into a trap.

“Guh…”

Despite so, Lurio was riddled with wounds—after all, not all magic could be blocked.

“Lurio! Get a grip of yourself, Lurio!”

Lurio coughed up some blood before collapsing. Rishana rushed towards him. Lurio didn’t have much time left—everyone at the venue thought so.

“I’m sorry, my promise to make you happy… it seems that I won’t be able to fulfil it…”

“Lurio…! No! Don’t die!”

Rishana’s transparent tears fell on Lurio’s chest which was dyed red.

At that time, a miracle occurred.

“Huh…?”

The tears which had fallen from the eyes of Rishana started to shine. The radiance enveloped Lurio’s body. After the faint and gentle light had subsided, all the life-threatening injuries on Lurio’s body had healed.

“What a wonderful story…”

“Wait a minute, is that how it actually goes?”

Ten minutes later.

When Tobias retold the story of the wandering troupe’s new stage play, which he saw at the kingdom where he studied abroad, Sharina wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her fingers—what a moving story!

“—afterwards, the wicked prince was imprisoned in the dungeon of the royal palace, while Lurio and Rishana immediately got married. Thus, happily ever after.”

What a moving story!

Above all, the hero, Lurio Grand, was very cool. Of course, he paled in comparison to Riol, but as far as she could tell, the two were quite similar.

Even if he couldn’t use magic, he used his knowledge and wit to defeat his enemy—such coolness! His humility also never went unnoticed.

Especially during the scene where Rishana was kidnapped by Leopold to the sky and was helped by Lurio. It was so realistic—was it really just a stage play?

“Sharina and Rishana aren’t that different, but my glorification is too intense…”

“Eh? Huh…?”

However, as she was immersed in the afterglow of the story, she noticed that beside her, Riol was rubbing his forehead. It was such a strange reaction to have, especially after hearing a truly moving romance story—was it perhaps not to his taste?

“From where did those details leak out in the first place? Moreover, it’s too early for it to become a stage play.”

Sharina thought that Riol, whom was currently pondering, was as cool as always.

“As I thought, that story is indeed based on a certain couple. Because it’s His Highness Roland, I thought he was saying weird things as per usual…”

“His Highness Roland? Why the sudden mention of the second prince?”

Roland Louis Ulyssia Elgacia. The second prince of kingdom of Elgacia. The name, which was often a topic among schoolgirls, was suddenly mentioned. Sharina wondered and asked Tobias.

“Ah, the story of the play I just talked about is based on the recent happenings of this academy. I’m also serving under the second prince of this kingdom.”

“Based on the recent happenings…? Now that you mentioned it, there are many familiar scenes…”

“There are some overdramatized scenes, and also some that never happened in the first place—but it’s certainly based on us. You didn’t notice that?”

If she were to be asked, she personally thought it was a very realistic story, but it seemed that it was based on real events. She then remembered the last scene—particularly, the wedding scene. The pair of lovers swore eternal love in a solemn church—‘…in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part—’

“If that’s real, will Riol suddenly ask for my hand in marriage…?”

“…AND also some that never happened in the first place.”

“…Together, we will then embark on our honeymoon cruise.”

“That scene isn’t even in the play.”

The age of marriage in Elgacia should had been 18 for both men and women, but there were loopholes in the rules.

“Joking aside…”

“As always, your jokes don’t really sound like jokes, so please stop…”

It was possible to get marriage at the age of 15 in a certain country in the desert.

Despite so, Riol was likely to suffer from seasickness if he were to travel by sea, so it might be better to travel by land. Further consideration was necessary.

“Haha, you two seems to be in good term with each other. His Highness Roland said that Rishana is a witch, while Lurio is her familiar—or whatever. Then, I was told to find out about the witch’s makeup tricks.”

“Makeup tricks? I’ve only ever put on makeup during evening balls, but is this trick he’s talking about something like how lipstick appears more natural when applied by finger?”

“Yes! Indeed! That kind of trick! I’m glad I can deliver a good report to His Highness—”

“—No, that’s definitely not what he was talking about.”

---

***T/N: ///Translator laughing her ass off due to the many embellishment in the stage play///

That’s defly not how it goes… but in Sharina’s mind, that’s exactly how it goes.

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