The Elven Duke Reluctantly Marries The Cursed Lady - Chapter 1
“Greetings, Your Excellency!”
Hydrangea, the Captain of the Magic Corps, is conducting a morning inspection of the troops today as well.
Once a month, he gathers as much of the troops as possible, orders them to line up, and conducts his inspection.
Great. I am glad to have brought up this many mages, Hydrangea thought as he watched the rows of neatly saluting soldiers.
All the members clicked their heels in unison as he tapped the ground with his crystal staff and raised his hand.
Inside the Magic Division’s courtyard, the members neatly lined up in rows were around 3,000. When the first head of the Laudense Ducal Family created the Magic Corps a thousand years ago, there were only 5 members.
In a thousand years, the number of mages has increased to this extent.
And all this was thanks to the Royal Family’s support.
However, it was not enough to just call it a division. This organization was created with the desire to eventually be able to take in tens of thousands of mages.
The elven House of Laudense and the Royal Family of Lilliphiltia are old allies and have been close friends for over a thousand years.
The Crown Prince, Magnolia, is 16 years old and has been taught magic by Hydrangea.
Their teacher-student relationship continues to this day, and he has been summoned by the prince to attend some urgent matters today as well.
After conducting his review, he hears a report from his second-in-command, hands down his decision, and reads the letters he has received.
His appointment with Prince Magnolia was scheduled for the afternoon, so Hydrangea left the office after finishing his tasks.
While walking down the hallway, Hydrangea passed by the maids. The maids moved to the side of the hallway and kept their heads bowed as he passed.
After passing them, he heard them talk amongst themselves.
“Kyaa! It’s Lord Laudense!”
“How wonderful! I wonder if he will notice me someday.”
Elves have good ears. Even if they are far away, they can still pick up voices.
Hydrangea shuddered and broke into goosebumps when he heard the maids’ conversation.
The truth is, he had a great dislike for women. However, there is a reason for his misogyny. It was his over-privileged family background that caused all of this.
As the most suitable bachelor in the whole country, Hydrangea attracted a lot of attention. During his debut into noble society, offers of marriage came flooding in and along with it came a long line of women wanting to form a connection with him.
The women fought each other and engaged in ugly quarrels.
At one point, he was even given tea containing an aphrodisiac which almost created a huge scandal.
Furthermore, they also tried various means to get closer to Hydrangea such as bumping into him by accident, barging into his workplace or house, and causing magic-related incidents to create a connection with him.
Due to these repeated attempts, Hydrangea came to develop an aversion to all women.
After all, these women were not looking at Hydrangea but at the wealth and prestige that came with the Duke Laudense name. If such a woman were welcomed into the Ducal House Laudense, they would end up messing with the House’s affairs to no end.
And so, Hydrangea dismissed all of these proposals as if he were completely driving a small insect away.
Thanks to that, he had been called dishonorable names such as “The Lonely Nobleman” and “The Ice Duke”. He knew he would have to get married someday, but it did not have to be right away. After all, he still had uncles and cousins that could carry on the family name and inherit the Dukedom if not him.
For these reasons, Hydrangea “The Lonely Nobleman “ continues to enjoy his bachelorhood to this day.
When he arrived at the designated room, he found Prince Magnolia sitting gracefully with his legs crossed. The beautiful boy had fluffy and unruly red hair and intelligent silver eyes.
“Apologies for calling you over at such a busy time.”
“Don’t mind it. You can call upon me anytime.”
“As expected of Hydrangea.”
As he sat on the couch, the attendant brought him a cup of black tea. The sweet, concentrated smell of berries gently wafted into the air. Realizing that he had been working since morning without having anything to drink, Hydrangea took a sip from his cup.
The sweetness that reminded him of a spring breeze quenched his thirst.
“So what made you call me all the way here?”
Prince Magnolia silently grinned as he signaled to the attendant with a look, and a pile of booklets were placed on the table in front of him.
The covers were leather-bound and came in various sizes. Hydrangea didn’t need to look to know what was inside.
“What are these?”
“Personal profiles.” [1]
“I know. But why are you giving these to me?”
“It seems father prepared them for you. He couldn’t tell you directly, so he asked me who is on good terms with you to hand it over.”
Hydrangea sighed deeply when he heard that the King had the personal profiles delivered to him.
The attendant opened the topmost booklet and showed it to him. The woman in the picture was a beautiful brunette with drooping eyes. It was said on her profile that her name was Cattleya and that she was the third princess of a neighboring country. He shuddered at how egoistic she appeared.
“Only the best of maidens have been selected as Lord Hydrangea’s potential marriage partners. How do you find her, Your Excellency?”
“…”
As the attendant continued to carefully open the booklets one by one, the crease between Hydrangea’s eyebrows remained.
Prince Magnolia could only shrug when he saw his troubled expression.
“I knew it would end up like this. I did try to warn father that his efforts were in vain, you know.”
“I haven’t even thought about getting married yet.”
“You said the same thing five years ago.”
For many years, Hydrangea avoided marriage by saying that he had not thought about getting married yet, but there was a limit to how long he could use that excuse. When he inherited the Dukedom after his father’s death a year ago, he had begun to receive offers of marriage as soon as the mourning period had ended.
“By the way, I’ve heard some rumors saying that you have already given your heart to a lady 10 years ago.”
“Gave my heart to a lady, you say?”
What on earth are you talking about? I have done no such thing.
His debut into society 10 years ago was the time when he received the most offers of marriage.
“You and I both know that I do not—”
And then, he remembered. 10 years ago, there was indeed such an offer.
He was engaged to a woman he had never met.
“If I remember correctly, her name was Violette von Northpole.”
She was a 19-year-old countess who was 7 years younger than Hydrangea.
“Heeh, so there was someone… Are you sure this lady exists?”
“How rude.”
Even though Violette von Northpole had never made her appearance in noble society, he knew that she existed.
“Speaking of Count Northpole… I believe the previous head died 5 years ago.”
“That man…has died?”
“You were unaware?”
He did not know that the father of the woman in his thoughts had already died. He received a curious stare from the prince.
Since he did not want to hide anything from his friend and pupil, Hydrangea decided to tell Prince Magnolia of the events that transpired 10 years ago.
Translator’s Notes:
[1] Personal profiles – the term used was 釣書 (tsurigaki) which means family chart or personal history. This is used mainly for matchmaking (think of the modern online dating profile) where the other party’s photo and basic family/personal history is listed in a bifold booklet. It sounded awkward to use the term family chart since it sounded like he was being shown family trees of his potential partners, so I used the term personal profile instead.
