The Romance Fantasy Novel MC is Only Into Me

Come to think of it, Ransell didn’t have much expectation or worry about Marigold the regresser.
Watching her live leisurely in Baron Evil Shen’s mansion, it was actually hard to feel otherwise.
He didn’t have any special thoughts even about Marigold’s alias, Lemon Verbena, which clearly had no real substance.
‘When someone regreses for the first time, they tend to behave strangely like that.’

Each time he received a letter via the crow, Ransell simply thought so.
Like an old regresser watching a newbie regresser… something just like that.
No particular danger, but no opportunity either.
This turn of Marigold’s life seemed likely to settle somewhere around that. Probably so, unless he interfered himself.

…That was what he {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} thought until yesterday.
=============
—Fame event completed! Fifty gold coins have been donated to the Imperial Martyr Church under the name ‘Marigold’!
“...Am I still half asleep?”

Ransell doubted his eyes.
‘Fifty gold coins? Not silver, but gold coins?’
The notification that Marigold had donated a huge sum of fifty gold coins lingered like a mirage in his mind.
He hadn’t misread it.

Fifty gold coins.
It was exactly one week after the letter he had sent—without a shred of hope—recommending ‘the maid Marigold’ receive the junior baron title and be included in the Darkhood organization, reached ‘Lemon Verbena’. One week. Just one week.
By the way, during that time, Marigold had spent each day idly as the usual freeloading maid.

But somehow?
How on earth did she manage that?
‘What on earth are you doing, Marigold!’

Around that time, strange phenomena began to be observed near Ransell.
 
“Look at this, Lord Ransell. Don’t you feel something special?”
“...?”
Ransell gave Baron Evil Shen, who suddenly appeared with an overconfident look, a sharp frown.

He hadn’t expected a potbellied nouveau riche to suddenly ask him to judge his outfit, so his displeasure showed plainly on his face.
“What’s with that reaction? You’re embarrassing me.”
“...What do you want to hear?”
“Oh, just look at this.”
He pointed to a necklace hanging right before Ransell’s eyes. Something familiar was dangling there.
“Coral?”
“You know well! Why pretend not to know? It’s coral. Coral brought up from the distant seaside.”

It was a necklace strung with colorful coral pieces.
If well dried and kept in a pocket, it gave off a cool fragrance, serving as a kind of deodorizer for the archipelago residents. Even when Ransell used to write his seafood travelogue, he used to wear something similar on his body.
‘How did this get all the way here?’

Ransell looked at the necklace with mixed feelings of delight and puzzlement that such a thing had flowed into the capital.
“If you need one, let me know. Among the capital’s nobles, not having this means you’re considered very outdated.”
“Yes… but how did such a remote regional item become so popular?”
“Not long ago. When only one or two nobles carried it, I wondered what a strange item it was. But then I heard even His Highness the Crown Prince wears it. After that, it spread quickly.”
The Crown Prince? Wearing such a thing? Ransell thought maybe he was witnessing one of those unusual phenomena that occur after multiple regressions.

‘Fashion trends are quite curious.’
…Or so he thought until shortly after, when he saw Baron Evil Shen hurriedly returning to the mansion, changed completely.
“Damn, I should have bought a bunch earlier! If I’d known, I’d have stocked up!”
“Why are you running around so much you’re kicking up dust?”
“Coral, coral!”

Even as if preparing to go out again, Baron Evil Shen answered without missing a beat.
“The coral coming to the capital was all stolen by bandits! They say there won’t be any supply for months. The price has already jumped tenfold! Can you believe this?”
“…What was the original price?”
“Until recently, twenty silver coins per pouch.”
Twenty silver coins per pouch; a tenfold increase would be two gold coins. Certainly expensive.

“It will go up several times more. I have to buy now, no matter what. Otherwise, I’ll just watch others make money! I can’t stand that!”
Baron Evil Shen puffed his cheeks and left with a bundle of money.
He was clearly annoyed that merchants who had stocked up early were now copying gold coins right under his nose.

‘Wait a minute.’
Ransell suddenly felt something strange. He glanced down the mansion corridor. There was Marigold, hiding in a corner, stopping her cleaning.
“Lulu. Lululu.”

She was humming some mysterious song while wiggling her toes.
‘No way.’
No, it can’t be.

Look at her like that.
‘….’
Yet somehow, a suspicion stirred in his heart.

‘Maybe I’m overthinking.’
“…That’s what happened.”
“Yes, Lord Ransell.”
The next day, Ransell immediately called a man to the mansion — the master of the Thieves’ Guild, the man most knowledgeable about the capital’s news.

“I’m curious why such an item suddenly became popular and why the price skyrocketed. Do you have any info?”
“That’s because of the nobles’ greed and faith, Lord Ransell.”
“Greed and faith?”
“Yes.”
Greed was understandable, but faith?
Ransell tilted his head, and the Thieves’ Guild master continued.

“Are you talking about this?”
He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a pouch of coral.
“Nowadays it’s just a luxury good, but when it first became known, it was called a holy relic that drove away demons. Believe it or not.”
“A holy relic? Coral?”

Ransell frowned.
“Wasn’t it just a fragrant item?”
“Actually, yes. But according to nobles, when they threw this at a demon, it supposedly knocked it down in one hit. It’s just a rumor, though.”
“…How did such a superstition spread?”
“Well, there are so many nobles who swear they saw it with their own eyes. What can you do? Everyone just accepts it.”
The Thieves’ Guild master emptied the coral from the pouch onto his palm and said,

“They say when they threw this at living corpses, they just collapsed and turned to dust. Believe it or not, that’s how it came to be known as a holy relic that repels demons.”
Living corpses.
‘Black magic.’

The shock hit Ransell so hard he nearly lost his mind for a moment.
Baron Evil Shen had never heard such a thing. He never believed in superstition unless he saw it himself.
But Ransell knew.

That recently, a black magician who earned a suspiciously large amount of money had appeared. A black magician with vast wealth who casually donated fifty gold coins to the Martyr Church.
‘Marigold, that’s your doing.’
Using black magic to spread superstition, and even making money from it.

“Shortly after, a trading company appeared supplying coral en masse to the capital...”
The Thieves’ Guild master continued,
“They gave free shares to some high-ranking people, and since then it took off like crazy.”
“Sounds like a trading company that knows well sharing profits with nobles makes more money.”
“Exactly.”
“So that’s why you said greed and faith?”
“Yes, you’re quick to understand.”
“Don’t give me flattery.”
“Ah, yes.”

Ransell suddenly became curious.
“What kind of place is that trading company?”
“Well...”
The Thieves’ Guild master scratched his head.

“No one knows.”
.
.
.
“Benefactor.”

A soft voice.
Marigold’s eyes gleamed in the darkness.
—Lord Ransell.

It wasn’t just one. Suddenly, many Marigolds appeared around him. They all started crowding around him at once.
—Master.
—Saint.
—Lord Ransell.
Heavy.

The arms of countless Marigolds wrapped around his body like snakes. He couldn’t move at all for some reason.
—Hehe, come here!
Under the onslaught of Marigolds swarming from all directions, Ransell struggled for a while before suddenly opening his eyes wide.

“......”
The next moment, he found himself lying on the sofa. Apparently, he had fallen asleep while trying to rest.
“Was that a dream?”

Nightmare or something else.
His throat felt dry.
Reaching for a nearby water bottle, Ransell suddenly noticed.
“Hmm.”
Marigold was clinging to his side. Still in her maid uniform, drooling as she tried to sleep next to him.

No way.
Is this the culprit of the nightmare?
“Hey.”

He pinched her cheek, but she didn’t react.
A maid clinging to a noble.
Ransell flicked his forehead with his finger.
Snap!

“Ugh!”
After that, Marigold was assigned a month of cleaning duty as punishment.
It was Ransell’s order.

 
—This is Darkhood.
That dawn, Ransell quickly snatched the letter delivered by the crow and read it eagerly.
—As you said, a person named Mary has joined our secret organization as an executive. She seems to be outstanding in many ways, as recommended by Ransell Dante.

‘Self-praise, huh.’
—I heard she is currently doing cleaning duty as punishment for a minor mistake, but since she’s a good person, maybe you could forgive her generously.
‘...?’

—From what I confirmed directly, she is very remorseful. She refused to even take walks or snacks for two days. Your broad-heartedness would be much appreciated if you could overlook it.
Disgraceful, Marigold.
How shameless to appeal for leniency under the false identity of Lemon Verbena.

Ransell curled one corner of his mouth and muttered, ‘Do you think that’ll work?’
Considering that the price for the nightmare she caused him was only one month of cleaning duty, he had already been quite lenient.
—P.S. Our first assembly is scheduled in a week. If possible, please attend. It would be best to disguise yourself well so your identity isn’t exposed.

—From Lemon Verbena of Darkhood.
“Assembly?”
Without hesitation, he grabbed his quill. He wanted to know what kind of place this secret organization of Marigold’s really was.

As soon as he expressed willingness to participate, a reply came with the date and place of the meeting.
—Location: Baron Evil Shen’s mansion.
—Time: Midnight in one week.
“Right here.”

Could it be she chose this place just because she was too lazy to go far? Reasonable suspicion was unavoidable. It was the time when Marigold, who often switched day and night, would be most active and messing around.
‘...How did someone like her manage to get that much money...’
Anyway, a week flew by in an instant.
When the day of the assembly came.

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—Encounter event triggered! Met ‘Third Prince Yuri Langris Freesia’.
—Encounter event triggered! Met ‘Second Prince Arwen Rui Freesia’.
Ransell met two princes there.