"No Marriage, Please! vs. Marry Me or Die: The Ultimate Love Showdown" - Episode 9

I had just returned from the dungeon and was making hamburg steak. Fortunately, I had more than enough ingredients for it.

“Hm. Looking good.”

After preparing two servings, I waited for Ria to come back. Then—I heard the door open. I quickly headed to the entrance to greet her.

“I-I’m home…!”

“Welcome back, Ria.”

“…Y-yeah! I’m home…!”

“Want to eat first? Or take a bath?”

“Ah… um, I think I’ll take a bath first.”

“Got it. I’ll have everything ready so you can eat as soon as you’re done. Also, do you need to do any laundry?”

“No, I’ve got a few clean changes of clothes.”

“I see.”

Now that we’re going to be living together for a while, maybe it’s time to talk about sharing household responsibilities. I could handle everything myself, but then Ria might not become more independent.

“After dinner, can we talk about how we’ll divide the chores?”

“Sure. Alright, I’ll go take a bath then. A-and don’t peek, okay…?”

“Of course. I’d never do something like that.”

“Hmph…”

With that, Ria headed straight for the bathroom. In the meantime, I hurried to finish preparing the meal.

“Whew. Oh wow, it smells amazing.”

“It’s just finished. Come on, let’s eat.”

“Yeah…!”

Ria came out of the bath right as dinner was ready.

Hamburg steak with sides of potatoes and carrots. I even made the sauce from scratch and lightly toasted some bread to go with it.

“Well then, I’ll dig in.”

“Go ahead.”

Ria took a bite of the hamburg steak. Her eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s d-delicious…! I’ve never had anything this good, not even in a high-end restaurant back in the kingdom…!”

“Hm? I didn’t do anything special, though.”

I tried a bite myself—yeah, it wasn’t bad. Ria looked genuinely satisfied as she polished off everything I made. Seeing her eat so happily put me in a good mood too.

Afterward, we sat down to talk about our living arrangements.

“So, about the division of housework…”

“I’ll do my own laundry! It’d be way too embarrassing otherwise…”

“Got it. Each of us handles our own laundry. What about cooking?”

“Hmm. I’ve got to go to the kingdom some days, so…”

“In that case, I’ll take care of the cooking on those days.”

Her trips to the kingdom weren’t regular, but lately, they’d been happening about once a week. I figured travel like that must be exhausting, especially if she had to stay overnight. We’d have to be flexible.

Aside from cooking, I ended up taking on most of the other chores.

Ria said she wanted to cook more herself since she hoped to get better at it.

“Oh, and… um, I have a suggestion.”

Ria spoke hesitantly, as if unsure of what she was about to say.

“About the rooms… I was thinking it might be better if we stayed a little closer to each other. Just in case anything happens. How about the room across from mine?”

“Are you sure? Didn’t you pick the farthest room on purpose because you were being cautious of me?”

“That was… ah—I was testing you!!”

Her panicked “Ah” gave away that she was making it up on the spot, but I decided not to press her on it.

“I see. Well, moving rooms isn’t a problem. So, from today on, the room across from yours?”

“Yeah… Thanks. You know, this whole exchange kind of feels like we’re newlyweds or something.”

Blushing slightly, Ria glanced up at me with an upward look.

“Well… maybe it does.”

“Hehe.”

She laughed shyly.

I decided to change the subject and made a proposal of my own.

“By the way, are you free this weekend?”

“Huh? Yeah, I don’t have work on the weekend.”

She apparently gets one day off per week. In that case, maybe I should invite her to go fishing—something I’d been planning to do myself.

“Want to go fishing?”

“Fishing?”

“Yeah. We’ve got meat, but I haven’t seen any fish around. It’s better to get protein from a variety of sources.”

“I don’t really get what you mean, but… I’m a total beginner. Is that okay?”

“Of course. It’s not that hard anyway. Alright, looking forward to it.”

“Yeah…!”

Ria’s eyes seemed to sparkle—at least, that’s how it felt to me.

After that, I decided to quietly investigate if anyone had been targeting Ria. I concealed my presence and watched during the day, but saw no signs of anyone stalking her.

Right now, I’ve completely suppressed my dark magic and aura. Even a skilled mage would have a hard time detecting me.

As I kept watch near the church where she worked, Ria noticed me and gave a small wave. Her expression looked cheerful. I lifted my hand slightly in return.

In the original story, Ria joins the protagonist Theo’s party near the end, and she’s a powerful and talented character.

Even if something happens, I’m sure she’ll overcome it. I thought maybe I could still be of help, but… it feels like there’s not much left for me to do.

Our parting—it was already drawing near.
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“Hey… hey, wake up!”

“Mmm…?”

“It’s morning.”

“…Morning?”

It was the weekend. The day Ria and I were going fishing.

I glanced at the clock—it wasn’t quite six yet. A bit earlier than I usually got up.

The one shaking me awake was Ria. She had already changed into a casual one-piece dress for the trip, complete with a straw hat. I could tell she was really excited—her outfit said it all.

Yawning, I sat up in bed.

“Yawn… Isn’t it a little early?”

“Well, I was just really looking forward to this, that’s all.”

“I see. I’ll get dressed quickly, so could you wait outside for a bit?”

“Okay!”

I got ready in no time and grabbed two fishing rods from the mansion’s storage room.

“Oh wow, we actually had fishing rods?”

“They were in the back of the cleaning supplies closet. There are two, so it works out.”

“Perfect.”

Chatting as we went, we stepped out of the mansion. It was a crisp spring morning—cool and refreshing, lifting my spirits.

“Hm-hmm-hmm~”

Ria walked cheerfully beside me, humming a little tune. She seemed to be in an especially good mood. These days, she rarely wore that shadowed expression she used to have when we first met. Seeing her like this made me happy too.

I couldn’t help but smile faintly as we walked together.

But what I didn’t know yet… was that a darkness was quietly creeping toward her.