“Isn’t it perfect! Let’s have them get engaged!”
“Indeed!!”
With an unbelievable level of casualness, the fathers decided on their children's engagement, leaving me with my mouth agape.
“It’s a great idea. Katrina, who’s skilled with the sword, and Eugene, the magical genius. Both families coming together, it’s all benefits!”
“How wonderful!”
Neither my brother nor my mother objected, instead they cheerfully agreed, and there was no way I could say anything to spoil the mood.
While Eugene’s mother asked him, “Are you okay with this?”, my family never bothered to check my feelings.
Eugene, who had been reading a magical tome, indifferently responded with, “Whatever...”, showing no interest. Since he didn’t seem opposed, his mother took it as consent and was pleased.
No one confirmed my feelings, and I was left completely out of the loop while everyone else excitedly celebrated.
My family comes from a lineage that rose from knighthood, and now my father, a viscount, is an active presence on the battlefield.
My mother also wields a sword, though she does not join the battles.
Together with my brother, who is the heir, I’ve been trained to fight both monsters and bandits.
We often form pairs, one combatant fighting at the front lines to draw the enemy’s attention, while the other supports from the back with magic.
Eugene’s family, on the other hand, holds a count’s title, and his father, a knight, is best friends with my father, while their wives are also close friends.
Thanks to this, Eugene and I have been childhood friends.
Eugene’s mother comes from a powerful family of magicians, and from a young age, Eugene has been obsessed with magic, earning the reputation of a genius.
However, his combat partners kept changing because Eugene, being a genius, avoided communicating with others.
Despite being childhood friends, neither my brother nor I had much interaction with him. Even when we visited the count’s estate, Eugene would be engrossed in his magical studies, reading or writing in books. I barely knew anything about Eugene.
And now, I was to become the partner—and fiancée—of this Eugene.
It was something I had to reluctantly accept, a decision made out of resignation.
For five years, I endured.
Conclusion:
There’s no way I’m marrying this jerk.
As a knight who wields a sword, no one expects me to act like a noble lady. But it’s not as though I use foul language openly.
If I ever do think poorly, it’s entirely Eugene’s fault.
It’s because of the frustration that has built up from dealing with him that I’ve grown bitter—though only in my mind.
I can only use basic magic.
I’m capable of enhancing my physical abilities and casting small, low-power offensive spells.
If I can buy enough time, Eugene will release a spell five times more powerful than mine. He continues to master increasingly stronger magic, and rumor has it that he's on the verge of creating new magic that could earn him a knighthood.
When I simply complimented him on this, he responded:
“You don’t have any talent, so stop pretending you understand.”
He sneered, his face twisted in irritation.
Eugene frequently criticized my lack of magical talent.
When I used magic to create an illusion during combat, he scoffed, “Is that the best magic you can manage?”, and when I immobilized an enemy, he yelled, “You could’ve finished it off right there!”
I never understood what his problem was, but countless times, he would irrationally shout at me to “Do your job as the frontline!!”
At first, I consulted about dissolving just the partnership, but I was dismissed because “a pair of a man and woman equates to an engagement” and breaking it off would look bad.
“We can’t have people thinking you two don’t get along,” my mother laughed. But when I replied bluntly, “We don’t get along,” she looked shocked.
“How could we be close when he doesn’t even follow the basic norms of being a fiancé? I’ve never received a single gift from him.”
My mother was speechless.
Did she really not know? I never even tried to hide it.
Though I’d send him birthday presents, I never received anything in return.
I brought this up in the third year of our engagement. After that, two more years passed, and still, nothing.
“But you see, Eugene has that kind of personality. Geniuses tend to be like that,” my mother laughed dismissively.
I couldn’t understand it.
A genius doesn’t fit into common sense, so I’m supposed to put up with it?
I wanted to dissolve the pair because I couldn’t trust my life to him on the battlefield.
I consulted my father, but he refused. He told me that as long as I did my job on the front lines, I could leave the rest to Eugene and the enemies would be annihilated.
My father, who had complete faith in Eugene’s powerful magic, wouldn’t listen to me.
I also talked to Eugene’s parents, but they were desperate to keep me as his partner after so many others had quit due to his personality. They insisted I was managing just fine.
When I explained that wasn’t the issue, they, like my father, tried to persuade me to trust Eugene’s magic.
I told Eugene directly that I wanted to end the partnership, but all he said was, “Do whatever you want.”
When I said that I couldn’t break it off because I didn’t have his consent, he laughed and sneered, “They just can’t afford to let go of a magician as talented as me.”
Unbelievable. I’d much rather team up with a magician who isn’t you. So, just let me go already.
I pleaded desperately.
Even so, neither of my parents would agree to end the engagement or the partnership. They refused to budge.
“So, what you’re saying is that it’s fine if I die on the battlefield?”
I voiced my frustration bitterly.
“What nonsense are you talking about? There’s no monster that could survive Eugene’s magic,” my brother Luke laughed it off cheerfully.
“Then why don’t you switch places with me, brother?”
“Me? I’m paired with my fiancée, Nina.”
“Yes, which is why I’m asking you to switch Nina and Eugene.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous? I’m telling you that I might die, and you still don’t understand. I’m proposing this so you can experience the danger for yourself.”
Unfazed by my brother’s anger, I said this to him, and he stood up and left the room, clearly unwilling to continue the conversation.
“And you, Father, won’t switch with me either?”
“Come on, now... You’re engaged, Katrina. It’s been five years already.”
“I’ve endured for five years. As I’ve said repeatedly, I can’t take it anymore. There’s no guarantee of safety on the battlefield, and there’s no way we’ll work out as a married couple.”
“Stop being so selfish, Katrina.”
Even when I asked my father to switch with me, he brushed it off as selfishness.
I had reached my limit.
“So that’s how it is. You force an engagement on me just because a knight and a magician make a ‘perfect match’, pair me with him on the battlefield, and continue to disregard my feelings. I’ve done everything I could, but I won’t hold back anymore.”
“I’m not ignoring you! Katrina! Hey, Katrina!”
My mother called after me, but I didn’t stop. I started preparing.
As a last-ditch effort, I also consulted my brother’s fiancée, Lady Nina, asking her if we could temporarily switch partners, but she looked troubled and said, “If Luke said no, then…”
Lady Nina is a gentlewoman, not the type to argue. If my brother objected, she wouldn’t try to persuade him.
Even when her future sister-in-law told her about a life-threatening situation, she still wouldn’t act.
I’d had enough.
So I wrote letters to both families, clearly stating my intent to dissolve the engagement and the partnership.
I wasn’t so lacking in self-preservation that I’d stay in a dangerous situation forever.
My family chose to maintain ties with their best friends over protecting their daughter.
By the time they realized it, I would already be dead. It would be too late.
I chose to escape. I chose to leave behind the family that disregarded me.
I left a single message behind:
“I will never return to a house that values my life so little. Goodbye.”
As an act of revenge, I sent a letter detailing the entire situation to the newspaper.
An outdated engagement decided by parents.
A proud genius magician who fails to fulfill his role as a fiancé and only insults me.
The countless times I pleaded for a dissolution, only to be denied.
The proof of these facts is simple: I have run away from home.
"This also serves as a form of revenge, but I sincerely hope that it may lead to fewer forced marriages by parents like mine. I would be happy if it could help in any way."
That’s what I wrote in my letter to the newspaper.
What happens next is up to them.
If they decide it’s not worth publishing, so be it.
But if it makes it into the papers, maybe my family will face some shame in society and reflect on their actions—that’s my revenge.
Determined not to be caught, I immediately cut my hair short and moved to a neighboring country.
There, relying on my sword skills, I began my life as an adventurer.
For a while, I had been keeping an eye on the newspapers from my homeland, monitoring the situation.
When my story didn’t get published, I was a little disappointed, thinking it had been rejected.
But once my new life had settled, there it was, splashed across the headlines.
“Story of the Missing Noblewoman!”
The bold letters took up the entire page.
It seems my family had finally gotten serious about searching for me, and the newspaper seized the perfect moment.
No doubt, this would draw major attention.
I felt a weight lift from my chest.
The article stated that the noblewoman, after pleading with her family for years to no avail, had left her home, concerned for others who might face similar fates.
It was a skillfully written article.
“Praying for the Safety of the Young Lady!”
I almost teared up in gratitude.
Thanks to this, my family, along with my former fiancé’s family, was now under intense public scrutiny.
I’d love to hear how they plan to explain why my fiancé abandoned his duties, especially the fact that Eugene hadn’t given me a single gift in the entire five years of our engagement.
I can only imagine Eugene’s flustered expression as he faces the cold glares of the public. Ha, serves him right.
As for my family, they’ll learn how outrageous their behavior was when society tells them so. Hmph.
I had no intention of ever setting foot in my homeland again. Feeling fully satisfied, I turned my attention to the life ahead of me.
I began my career as a solo adventurer under the name Lina.
After about a year, when my hair, which I had cut short, had grown back past my shoulders, I received a request from the Adventurer’s Guild.
It was a mission to defeat monsters that would be difficult without a magician’s firepower, and they proposed pairing me with one.
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