I Think My Fiancé Has Regressed

Chapter 19: When she became a young lady (3)

“Ariana!”

As soon as I noticed her body tilt to the right, a chill began to run down my spine.

It was a clear sign of exhaustion.

She had collapsed in front of me many times before, and whenever her body tilted like that, I would hold her to prevent her from hurting herself.

There was no time to hesitate.

By the time I regained consciousness, my body was already moving to save her from the fall.

If she fell five stories in a stunned stupor, this time it wouldn’t end in injury.

I wrap my arms around her as she falls without wings, and somehow manage to catch her in my arms.

Still, it’s not like I know how to land safely when falling from this height.

In my desperation, I tried to use the wind spell I’d recently learned to slow me down, but unlike Ariana, my magic was not powerful enough to keep me from falling.

“…That’s all I have.”

Giving up on what didn’t work, I immediately pressed the emergency beacon hidden in my sleeve.

My mom had given it to me to carry with me at all times, in case I was kidnapped or blackmailed because of my royal status.

As soon as I activate it, the royal family will know where I am and summon my bodyguards and the royal chaplain.

With this, even if I fall to my death, there’s a chance I’ll live as long as I don’t die instantly.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself.

Some sacrifice would be inevitable.

* * *

When I woke up again, I saw a familiar scene.

My heavy eyelids, which had been closed for quite some time, were the first thing to catch my eye: the ceiling light in my room.

I turned slightly and looked to my right, where Dale was holding my right hand with his hands clasped together with a somber face.

To my left, a familiar redhead was kneeling on the floor, her face buried in my comforter, sobbing.

At first glance, it was clear what had happened.

“…Dale.”

The pressure on my right hand suddenly intensified.

“Alex!”

I must have been up a little too long, because Dale was looking so worried.

“I’m glad you’re awake, Alex!”

“Yeah, yeah….”

“I’m going to get the others right now!”

“Please.”

Dale flung open the door with a loud bang and bolted out, and the commotion woke Ariana up as well, and she lifted her face.

“…Alex?”

Red, swollen eye sockets appeared from beneath her veiled face.

She, in her own way, had been crying, too, worried about me.

As soon as she saw my face, she burst into my arms, sobbing, as if to release all the emotions she’d been holding back.

“Alex! Alex…!”

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Ariana.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Alex…! Just because I almost got you killed…!”

“But I’m still alive, and I’m fine, so stop crying.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry….If I hadn’t been so stupidly excited….”

Even when Dale came back in with the others, Ariana didn’t even think about pulling away from my side.

Or, more accurately, for a long time after that.

* * *

According to Ariana and the others, three days had passed between my passing out and my waking up.

I remember feeling a small bump between my neck and shoulder as I fell, and that seemed to be the cause.

They told me how the royal priest’s quick action saved my life, but that it wasn’t unusual for me to stay down for a month or more.

It was a bit frightening to hear, but I was glad that Ariana was okay.

“Okay, just be careful in the future. Do you know how freaked out I was every time Ariana did something reckless and fell down?”

“Yeah…. I’m sorry….”

For once, she was sincerely remorseful, and each of her short words was dripping with apology.

“…You were angry, weren’t you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, of course you are….”

I should have been angry, I thought, but for some reason, her apologetic expression melted my anger away as soon as I saw it.

I was also relieved that she wasn’t hurt.

“It’s okay, as long as Ariana’s okay.”

“…Huh?”

“It doesn’t matter, because I ran to save you in the first place, and I accomplished my goal.”

“I see….”

I don’t know if it was the mood, but her face flushed a little.

“Shouldn’t you be apologizing to the others rather than me, didn’t Sir Dominic or Duchess Natasha say something?”

“My parents had a busy schedule, so they went home for now, but I told them I’d only stay until Alex woke up.”

“You’re going to get in trouble again when you get back.”

“…This time I’m really not going to get away with it.”

It wasn’t intentional, and it wasn’t her doing, but it still nearly cost the life of the heir to the throne of a country.

If I hadn’t jumped in there, Ariana’s life might have been in danger.

I was even a little worried that this would demoralize her and cause her to lose interest in magical studies.

“I’ve already explained to the others that I was creating a new spell, testing it out, and Alex jumped in and saved me from what could have been an accident.”

“Does that mean that the magic you showed me that day, you also showed the others?”

“If it was the spell to create the floor with dark magic, then of course I showed the others the whole thing.”

“…I see.”

It was a revolutionary magic even for me, a child. What if someone else with magical knowledge had seen it?

Apart from the fact that she was dealing with dark magic, there would undoubtedly be ripples.

For example, something like this.

“May I see Miss Arianna Anastasia?”

A wizard who had entered the palace with a royal guard called Ariana’s name.

Black robes and epaulets on the breastplate of his top.

It was the mark of an unmistakable wizard of the Tower.

“Yes, and what is it?”

“I have come to deliver a message from the Matriarch.”

“Tower Lord…?”

Ariana’s head tilted slightly to the left, as if she didn’t know what the hell that meant.

“If you are the Matriarch, then…. Are you referring to Christina’s great-grandmother?”

“Yes, that is correct. Archmage Christina Leavrov, great-grandmother of Prince Alexandros, has come to you, young Ariana Anastasia, with a proposal.”

“To me, a proposal?”

The wizard from the tower coughed once, and then proceeded to offer a proposal that Ariana would find quite fascinating.

“If you don’t mind, Miss Arianna, I was wondering if you would be willing to join the Tower, even though you are still very young.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Ariana and I both blurted out simultaneously at the unconventional statement from the wizard’s mouth.

“The Tower? Me?”

“The Matriarch is impressed by the number of spells you’ve already developed at such a young age, as well as the magic stabilization technique you just perfected.

She says she’s excited about your future, even if you only have experience with dark magic, and she’d like to keep Miss Ariana by her side from now on, if possible, to teach her herself.”

“…….”

“If you are willing to accept the offer, Miss Ariana, we will also take care of the matter of your engagement to Prince Alexandros.”

Ariana’s expression grew troubled and serious.

This was exactly what she had hoped for just a few days ago.

Although it was a bit premature, it would have been a better offer for her love of magical studies.

As soon as the wizard finished speaking, I silently prepared myself to part with her.

After all, she was destined to be a canary with free wings, untethered by the label of my wife.

“That’s good, Ariana, because you wanted to get into the tower too.”

“If you enter now, Miss Ariana will be the youngest person to ever enter the tower, and the first to use dark magic….”

“I’m sorry if I interrupted you while you were talking….but can I refuse?”

“What?”

This time, it was the mage’s turn to ask back. Neither I nor the mage who had traveled all the way here had expected her to refuse.

“I’m sorry…I just want to be the prince’s fiancée…I have obligations, so I don’t think I’ll be able to enter the tower….”

As I listened for a while, I wondered if this was the same Ariana who had said such strange things to me a few months ago.

Perhaps she had changed her mind in the past few months, but she hesitated and seemed about to decline the offer.

“I see, I’ll pass it on then.”

“Oh, bye….”

Perhaps because he didn’t think Ariana was likely to change her mind, the Mage of the Matriarch gave a short bow and headed back outside.

As Ariana refused the tempting offer, I couldn’t help but wonder.

“Why did you decline?”

“…….”

“Didn’t you say the other day that you were going to dump your fiancé and join the Tower?”

“Is it because you don’t like the idea of me being your fiancé?”

“I don’t think so.”

They say a woman’s heart is a reed, so maybe Ariana was a woman after all.

“It’s just, I changed my mind. It occurred to me that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to be Alex’s wife….”

“That’s very kind of you to say.”

“Well, I mean, I’ll try from now on. I’ll try to be a fiancée that Alex isn’t ashamed of….”

“That would make me even more grateful.”

That was good news for me, too.

That she had chosen to stay and not leave me, after all, and that for the first time she was seriously considering the position of my fiancé.