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After several days –

In the morning, Kirsten left together with Mirabelle just like normal.

Kirsten had been summoned by the queen. Apparently, the so-called queen had something to talk with her about.

Mirabelle could only stand by the entrance of the “palace”, which was more like a mansion, and quietly wait for Kirsten. She wanted to enter together with Kirsten, but the queen had only invited Kirsten and not Mirabelle. Thus, Mirabelle could only wait at the entrance, since she hadn’t received the queen’s permission to enter.

Kirsten entered the mansion, went through the garden, and gradually went near the building. She followed the elf in front leading the way and gradually arrived at the mansion’s main hall.

This “palace” didn’t have many extravagant or colorful decorations. It didn’t seem at all like a place that a queen would live in. It was just slightly larger than a normal house.

Kirsten entered the main hall and immediately saw the queen who was sitting there.

“Your Majesty, Kirsten is here…”

Kirsten instantly kneeled on the ground and kowtowed to the queen in respect when she saw her.

“Kirsten, no need for such ceremony. You don’t need to stand on such an unnecessary ceremony with me…”
“It’s my honor to be here, Your Majesty. What might you have summoned me for today?”

Kirsten looked at the queen.

The elven queen wore a snow-white long robe and held a golden staff in her hand. This staff was the symbol of her authority –

“Recently, I heard from others that you have an extremely close relationship with a certain girl that you’re living with.”
“Yes, I picked her up coincidentally in the forest. She escaped here from the vampire territory, which is why I took her in…”
“Yes. How is her relationship with you?”
“We’re… we’re just ordinary roommates…”

As Kirsten said this, she furtively averted her gaze from the queen’s authoritative gaze. The queen easily saw that Kirsten was lying.

“That’s not all it is, right?”
“Ah…”
“I’m asking you, do you like that child?”

The elven queen asked Kirsten about her true feelings.

“Would… you like to hear the truth, or a falsehood?”
“Of course, the truth. Just what do you feel? Do you like her?”
“I like her. She’s given me a feeling that I’ve never felt before, so I really like her…”

The elven queen’s authoritative gaze vanished when she heard this. She sighed deeply before speaking to Kirsten in a gentle tone.

“Your master told me to take care of you before her death. Now that I think back on it, I haven’t taken good care of you at all for all this time. That’s why I want to act in place of your parents to propose marriage to that girl…”
“What did you say!?”

Kirsten widened her eyes as the elven queen said something she never expected.

“You’re saying for me to get married to that girl?”
“Yes, that’s exactly it…”
“Forgive me, but I find that difficult to accept. Although I really like her, I must also respect her decision. If she doesn’t want to, I can’t do anything about it…”

Kirsten clenched both her hands and lowered her head to bow to the elven queen. Kirsten then turned around and walked towards the door – however, the guards blocked her way.

The elven queen spoke to her once again.

“What you and she think doesn’t matter at all. You two saw each other naked, right? This is your sin. If you don’t get married, both of you will be exiled outside the walls, where countless magical beasts roam.”
“Are you threatening me?”

Kirsten was furious as she glared directly at the elven queen. She wanted to walk up to the elven queen to question her.

However, before she could walk even halfway up, the other guards pushed her down to force her to kneel on the ground. Kirsten’s weapons had been taken away by the guards before she entered the palace.

“Exactly so. The rules are the rules. There are no exceptions, even for you. Hurry and choose, do you want to be exiled out of the safe district, or will you choose to marry that child?”

Kirsten had a resistant expression, but the elven queen glanced at the nearby guards. The guards then began to beat Kirsten with their fists.

“So? Make your choice…”
“Even if you beat me to death, I’m still going to respect her decision…”
“Is that so? In that case, you should personally ask her what she thinks…”
“!!!!”

Mirabelle had arrived in the main hall at an unknown time. Two guards had brought her over. Of course, the guards had also taken away Mirabelle’s weapons.

Both guards were over level 100. Mirabelle could only silently follow behind them. When Mirabelle arrived at the main hall, she instantly saw that Kirsten was kneeling on the ground while getting beaten up.

“Kirsten! Kirsten! You let her go!”

Mirabelle ran over and pushed away the guards who were pushing Kirsten down. She then helped Kirsten up from the ground. She kept Kirsten behind her, as if she was Kirsten’s guardian god.

“Don’t be violent with her!”
“Mirabelle…”

Kirsten’s expression was greatly moved as she raised her head to look at the fury blooming on Mirabelle’s face. Mirabelle was so angry because Kirsten had been slightly injured.

Still, Kirsten was no idiot. She knew that the queen was doing this intentionally to force Mirabelle to agree to that so-called marriage.

“Don’t blame me for not being nice if you dare to be violent with her!”
“I didn’t intend on being violent with her. I just made her suffer a little because she wouldn’t agree to my condition. So you’re the one who’s living with Kirsten?”

Mirabelle felt a mysterious gaze from the queen.

“So what if I am?”
“What is your name?”
“Mirabelle Brillana…”
“I see. Mirabelle Brillana, is it? My name is Vio O’Neill. I am the elven queen of this country. In order to maintain law and order here, my condition is for you and Kirsten Raphael to get married…”
“M… married?”

Mirabelle had a look of confusion as she glanced back and forth between Kirsten and the elven queen.

Why had things become this way?

She originally thought that Kirsten had been injured because of trying to resist the elven queen. So it turned out that they had been arguing because they were talking about her.

“I already know what happened between you two, so you two must immediately get married! Mirabelle Brillana, if you don’t agree to this marriage, then you’re going to cause a brave warrior like Kirsten to get exiled out of the walls and become food for magical beasts, do you understand?”
“What…!?”

Mirabelle glanced with an unwilling expression at Kirsten. Could it be that what happened between them had been exposed to the queen? Was that why the queen was forcing her and Kirsten to get married?

“No, you can’t agree to her demand just because of something small like this…”

Mirabelle felt pain in her heart as Kirsten said this. However, the queen pressured Mirabelle again right after Kirsten spoke.

“So? Mirabelle Brillana…”
“Could you give me some time to think about it?”

Mirabelle neither agreed nor refused. She gave a conservative answer.

“Not a problem. However, both of you must remain in jail until you give your answer, because you two are elves that have broken our taboo. I’ll only release you when you agree to get married…”
“I understand…”

Mirabelle gave up as she lowered her head. She had actually already used her analysis ability to check the elven guards’ levels.

Two elves here were at level 300, which was the equivalent of a vampire royal’s level. The elven queen in front of them, and a certain elf who was eavesdropping on this conversation from behind the wall, were both level 300. It was likely that these two elves were the strongest elves on this entire island. They were basically like the final boss-

“Alright then, toss them both into the underground dungeon…”
“…”

Mirabelle supported Kirsten as the two of them were locked in the jail by the guards.

“The dungeon? This really hasn’t changed at all…”
“I’m sorry, Mirabelle, for getting you involved in something like this…”
“You have it all wrong. I’m the one who should be saying sorry. If it wasn’t for me getting you involved in something like this, you wouldn’t have been locked up in such a place…”

Mirabelle sighed deeply as she looked around herself. Although the jail was rather dark, there were some torches illuminating the nearby area. There was also a small window from which sunlight could enter during the day. It was thanks to these conditions that her nyctophobia didn’t activate.

“Mirabelle, do you truly intend on getting married to me?”
“Without talking about me for now, Kirsten, what do you think? Do you like me?”
“Yeah…”

Kirsten actually admitted this with a red face. Actually, she already understood the feelings in her own heart. She really did like this girl named Mirabelle. She felt really happy being together with Mirabelle, as everything frustrating would seem to disappear when she was together with Mirabelle.

Kirsten had begun thinking about this matter ever since the day that Kirsten heard Mirabelle declaring a challenge to Reyne. She had finally arrived at this answer after considering it for a really long time.

“Kirsten, you… do you truly feel this way?”
“Of course… of course I truly think so. Don’t you think it’s truly from the heart when a girl says something like that to you?”
“Is… is that so?”
“Then, what does Mirabelle think?”

Kirsten directly went up to Mirabelle and pushed her down on the soft bed.

Mirabelle averted her gaze, as if she wanted to escape from everything.

However, Kirsten pressed herself down against Mirabelle’s body.

“Don’t… don’t run away. Speak your own feelings concretely. If you don’t say anything, how am I supposed to know if you accept or reject me!?”

Mirabelle felt something wet against her hand. Had Kirsten started crying because she was running away?

‘I really am the worst after all.’

If that was the case, Mirabelle understood how she should answer.

“Sorry, I, I really wasn’t in a state of mind to think about these things. Still, I feel really happy being together with Kirsten, and I can forget about everything frustrating. If it’s for Kirsten, I don’t mind even if we get married…”
“Really?”

Kirsten looked with delight at Mirabelle. Tears were still in Kirsten’s eyes. She hurriedly wiped away her tears with the back of her hand as Mirabelle’s figure was reflected in her eyes.

Although Kirsten first had an expression of delight, she then showed a sad expression yet again.

“This really won’t do after all. I’ll only marry you when you sincerely say that you like me. Unless that happens, I’ll never be able to hear what Mirabelle thinks. I really can’t lie to myself in order to agree to the queen’s condition…”
“I suppose so. However, the main issue now is, why would the queen know about what happened between us? Logically speaking, nobody else should know about what we did in our home. Nobody else should have been around in our home or in the secluded mountains…”
“Yeah, this matter really is quite strange. It feels as if someone set a trap for us.”

-A trap!? Indeed, it seemed likely that someone they knew had set a trap for them.

Mirabelle began to seriously consider who the culprit might be. She soon came up with an answer in her mind.