I Transmigrated as an Extra in a Trashy Dark Romance Game - Chapter 79

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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

He had idly assumed he would marry the merchant’s daughter who was practically already chosen, build a harem as was customary, and lead the kingdom. What changed his mind was the journey back from fulfilling his duties as the kingdom’s envoy—a trading village with a beautiful lake.

“Then, by any chance, are you in need of someone to prepare meals?”

A small, petite woman with brown hair and brown eyes.

Compared to the consort candidates waiting for him in the kingdom, she was utterly ordinary.

But as he spoke with her, her unique presence and spirited personality kept drawing his gaze.

“…Shall I just call you Edie?”

She had looked uncomfortable at being called “Miss.” But at Perry’s suggestion, her expression brightened immediately, as if that was the address she had wanted all along. She nodded vigorously.

For the first time, Kazan found a woman cute.

“…Can you show us something to prove your identity?”

At the checkpoint, as they were leaving the Empire, she had been detained by the knights and looked distressed.

Even if someone fell behind on the journey home, it was none of his concern. But the thought that she might not accompany them, that he might never see her again—it left him unsettled.

Finding this strange, he did something uncharacteristic. He revealed his Silverwind royal identification plaque to the knight.

“She’s to be my princess consort. I’d appreciate it if you let us pass.”

“Oh my!”

Perry, standing beside him, stared with an utterly shocked expression before breaking into quiet, stifled laughter. It was embarrassing, but Kazan didn’t regret following his feelings.

“You surprised me. So you can speak, Mr. Kazan?”

‘So you make expressions like this, too?’

It wasn’t as if he had never spoken since they began traveling together. But the way she deliberately exaggerated her surprise, her smile clearly plotting to tease him—it was so unbearably cute that he struggled to keep his expression neutral, terrified of being found out.

The night they camped in the monster forest. Beside him, tongue-tied and unable to speak properly, Edith chattered away to herself.

Listening quietly to her words beside him, Kazaniel’s fondness grew. Perhaps, even then, he had already silently decided in his heart: if he were to take a princess consort, he hoped she would be someone like this.

But.

“And there, just until… before next year… I hope I can live safely without anything happening.”

“…Why specifically until next year?”

“Huh? Ah, I have to get through this year safely to return home.”

“Then you’re leaving again next year?”

“That’s right…?”

He had been making plans. Of course, if she came to the kingdom with him, he would take good care of her—the first woman he had ever felt fondness for. He had hoped to persuade her to settle in the kingdom. But Edie was firm. She was going back.

‘How can I make her stay in the kingdom?’

Was this feeling simply because she was the first person he had ever felt this way about? His stubbornness, childish and unfamiliar, surprised even himself.

His mind was consumed with that single thought. He barely remembered the rest of the conversation. Whatever came after, however it went—it didn’t matter.

Then, suddenly, Edie clutched her head. Her eyes squeezed shut. She was in pain.

“Are you unwell?”

His worried words didn’t seem to reach her. Unfamiliar with this situation, caught between panic and alarm, he was about to call for Perry when—

Her demeanor shifted. Instantly. Calmly, she began to speak, as if she were a different person entirely.

‘Is this still… her?’

Before he could even register the sudden shift, before he could feel the chill of it, Edie pressed her small, delicate body against his. She drew close.

Then, with those soft lips that his gaze kept drifting toward, she murmured something unintelligible and wrapped her arms around his neck.

‘What the…!’

He had feelings for Edie, yes. But her sudden attempt at such intense physical intimacy—skipping over every step in between—startled him so much that he pushed her shoulders away.

He had only pushed gently. But perhaps because her body was so small and light, she slid backward.

She stared at him with wide, round eyes—so wide he could see every detail of her clear, brown irises. He had no choice but to look away.

‘Was this what she meant by “help”?’

He may not have been interested in women, but he knew well enough what one was supposed to do in this kind of situation.

But perhaps because it was her, his mind went completely blank. All he could feel was the heat rising to his face, the sheer embarrassment of it all.

While Kazaniel averted his gaze and tried to recover his blanked-out memories, Edie suddenly brushed herself off and stood up. Her voice was flat.

“If it’s not you, Mr. Kazan, there’s one more person I can ask.”

He realized immediately that the “one more person” she meant was Perry, asleep inside the cave.

The thought of her doing this with Perry instead of him… Something like jealousy surged in his chest. Before he knew it, his hand had grabbed her wrist.

Of course, his grip was firm. But when she turned to look at him, his face flushed again. He looked away, nervously rubbing the back of his own neck over and over.

‘Is this really what she wants? What if it’s not…?’

Watching Edith sigh at his apparent indecisiveness, he was suddenly gripped by the fear that she might go to Perry right now and kiss him the same way she had tried to kiss him.

So, Kazaniel threw caution to the wind.

“What… do I need to do…?”

At his words, she smiled—as if she had been waiting. It was a bewitching smile that could enchant anyone. Slowly, she climbed onto his lap.