The Romance Fantasy Novel MC is Only Into Me

25.
“Was it going to end this easily? Does this make any sense?”
“Hm?”

“Does this make any sense?”
“What, what do you mean?”
A quiet café street in the archipelago.

Watching Baron Evil Shen, who came to collect a 10-year loan but left empty-handed, Ransell began to reason.
“If it was going to end so ordinarily, then what was the meaning of my last 300 years? There’s limits to pointless effort, isn’t there? This is kind of strange. It’s good, but isn’t it strange? Yes or no?”
“Surely you’re a bit off. I’ll give you a generous three-year grace period, so calm down first. You’re married now, so you should care more about your taste in men... really...”

“I’m surprisingly calm. And I will pay back the money eventually.”
“Three years...”
“Eventually.”
“F-four years?”

“Eventually.”
Ransell looked out at the peaceful streets of the archipelago.
Three hundred years.

Almost three hundred years.
A tedious time of endless regression.
There had been more than a few moments he wondered if it would ever stop.

More than once, he worried whether his mind would melt and dissolve to the point he couldn’t even keep his humanity.
But it ended. Overnight. So simply it was ridiculous. As if nothing had happened.
For a while, days of confusion followed.

‘I don’t know well... but is this a good thing?’
After much thought, Ransell came to that conclusion.
Anyway, if it’s over, then it must be good, right?

26.
What embarrassed Ransell most after the sudden end of his regression wasn’t the 10-year debt he’d scraped from Baron Evil Shen.
‘Come to think of it, I ended up married to Marigold.’

Since regression stopped, he couldn’t undo it anymore. Suddenly, he had a wife. A wife named Marigold.
“Ransell-nim! Ransell-nim, Ransell-nim!”
An excited Marigold held a pricey bottle of liquor.
“Tomorrow’s a holiday! Festival! Today’s free! Let’s have just one celebratory drink! Just one, then we’ll get to the front of the parade early tomorrow morning.”

“Drinking late at night isn’t good for your health.”
“Ransell-nim, just one drink! Come on, come on!”
Marigold had become a court magician and was already worn down by society.

“Hahaha!”
“......”
She poured and downed glass after glass of wine with ham and cheese nearby.

“Mary.”
“Yes, Ransell-nim.”
Ransell gently pulled Marigold, who was clinging closely, back a bit.

“Let’s make some life plans together.”
Serious voice.
“Life plans? Why all of a sudden... huh?!”

Suddenly Marigold’s face flushed hot.
She silently set down her glass and her expression became somewhat meek.
“I... I was mentally prepared, but if that’s how you feel... maybe one daughter and one son or so... Actually, I was waiting for the court magician work to get a bit less busy... but if you’re in a hurry...”

“That’s not it.”
“Ugh.”
Ransell pinched Marigold’s cheek lightly, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“You never know what life will bring, so let’s prepare for the worst.”
“The worst?”
“Like war suddenly breaking out.”
Marigold blinked.

“It’s so peaceful, why would there be a war?”
“I said if. Just if.”
“Could such a big war really threaten the archipelago? It would have to be a pretty huge war.”

Marigold was right. The empire was astonishingly peaceful now.
No war, no rebellion, no tragedy. It was hard to recall even once when the system had been this stable.
‘It’s truly a golden age.’

Laughter overflowed in the palace; the streets never lacked vitality.
So maybe Ransell’s worries were just groundless fears.
‘Still, we have to do something.’

Ransell looked straight into Marigold’s eyes.
“I’m not talking about anything grand. Just build a decent villa somewhere nice, save some money, and prepare for emergencies. Nothing to lose in doing that.”
But what he really meant was different.

‘Our lives are only one now, Marigold!’
Yes. The time of living recklessly and dying was over.
From now on, only a safe and secure future mattered.

“There’s a nice place to live in the archipelago. I’ll prepare it myself; you just need to know about it.”
“Archipelago. Got it! If Ransell-nim is doing it, I’m all for it! Yep.”
“Take your hands off me.”

Ransell gently removed Marigold’s hand, which was creeping up his thigh.
“Hehe.”
“......”

Marigold approached with a sly look.
Magic quietly emanated from her body.
The wine glass and plates on the table floated gently into the air, drifting silently to a distant shelf.

“Ransell-nim.”
With the obstacles gone, Marigold advanced more [N O V E L I G H T] actively.
“Haaah.”

Her breath smelled faintly of fruit wine.
“Tomorrow’s the festival, and I took a day off. Tonight’s completely free. What do you think, Ransell-nim? Hehehe... ihihihi...”
“Weren’t we going to get up early and take the front seat?”

“Just endure it with the vigor of a knight.”
Peck.
Peck.

Marigold kissed several spots on his face, and Ransell finally realized.
‘Ah! I’ve been played by Marigold.’
Marriage.

The sudden end of regression had bound Ransell and Marigold as lifelong partners.
But it was fortunate.
No more bitter, unpleasant endings. Literal marriage. Husband and wife. Nothing more, nothing less.

Maybe this was a life worth living.
“Ransell-nim.”
No worry or misfortune showed on Marigold’s face. Even compared to all past loops, she looked happiest now.

That was enough.
And Ransell’s regression ended. Nothing bound him anymore. He had escaped eternal time and faced real life.
‘Isn’t this enough?’

Ransell lifted Marigold up.
“Kyaaaak!”
Regression end.

Real life begins.
“Ransell-nim, look! Sandwiches!”
“Long time no see.”

“Hehe, I remembered you liked these from before.”
Marigold and Ransell headed to the festival at dawn.
With a wooden basket full of sandwiches and fruit.

“You look happy today.”
“...Because it’s a festival.”
The archipelago was bustling with a harvest festival.

Every time they passed near an inn, glasses clinked; children ran nonstop through alleys; and the smell of sizzling meat drifted from lined-up stalls.
“Keep watch ahead.”
“S-sorry!”

“Careful.”
Marigold patted the head of a child she bumped into while running.
“Let’s hurry. The seats will all be taken soon.”

“Yes, Ransell-nim.”
When she looked back with a bright smile, time seemed to slow down for a moment.
Golden blonde hair tied simply to one side, a blue dress, a radiant smile, the streets of the archipelago behind her, and the early summer sky above.

“......”
Marigold approached briskly and linked arms with him.
“Shall we go?”

.
.
.
‘Was this world always such a wonderful place to live?’
Perhaps thanks to shedding all worries with the end of the tedious regression.

Ransell enjoyed the lively festival atmosphere, watching the long parade procession.
“I’m happy, Ransell-nim.”
Marigold rested her head on his shoulder.

“Because you’re here, Ransell-nim. Because I can be at this festival with you, feel the sunrise and the coming summer.”
A gentle smile appeared on her face.
“As you said last night, it’s okay even if war breaks out. Even if the archipelago is overturned, even if we have to flee far away, it doesn’t matter.”

Marigold spoke softly.
“As long as Ransell-nim stays by my side, I think I can somehow live through anything. I don’t want anything else. I mean it, Ransell-nim.”
“...That’s heavy.”

“My feelings?”
“No, my shoulder.”
“Shoulder?”

Marigold pouted looking at the shoulder she had been leaning on.
“How can knights be so heartless?”
Ransell smiled silently.

“His Majesty the Emperor’s procession!”
A loud voice.
From the rooftops of nearby buildings came a signal: “Now!”

As if waiting for this moment, children raised flower baskets. Petals began to fall endlessly like rain.
The falling flower shadows covered the scenery faintly like pointillism. It was a moment when the whole world seemed to bloom in vivid colors.
“Mary.”

“Yes.”
Just as Ransell opened his mouth—
“The Emperor’s procession!”

The royal procession passing down the boulevard came into view.
The kindly old Emperor, waving from the carriage, was imprinted on Ransell’s retina.
How long had it been since he last saw the Emperor alive and well? Maybe the first time since awakening in this world?

“Waaaah!”
Cheers rang out.
“The Emperor’s procession!”

“Long live the Emperor!”
“Long live the Frisia Empire!”
Cheers.

Flower rain.
Festival.
Emperor.

Airship.
End of regression.
And Marigold.

“Ransell-nim?”
Until the royal carriage passed down the boulevard, Ransell silently watched, then finally bowed his head.
Something had felt strange. The suspicion within him had finally reached its conclusion.

“Mary.”
He suddenly noticed the basket at his feet.
The sandwich basket Marigold had painstakingly prepared early in the morning while nursing a hangover.

Since he had often scavenged tasteless things while wandering battlefields, Ransell wasn’t picky about food. If anything, he preferred simple tastes.
Fresh vegetables that don’t harm health, meat and protein rich, with each ingredient’s flavor clearly noticeable.
Marigold’s sandwiches were exactly that.

Stacked vegetables, ham, and cheese between slices of bread. The perfect form Ransell sought.
Even a corner with cut fruit filled in—a truly Marigold-style picnic basket.
‘That’s heavy.’

Yes.
Heavy.
Her heart.

But he knew he must reject it.
Ransell and Marigold hadn’t endured all this time just to live ‘this kind of life.’ It would be too wasteful after hundreds of years to be satisfied with just this.
“Mary.”

“...Ransell-nim?”
A question appeared on Marigold’s face.
“Let me go now.”

There was no response.
Only the unaware Marigold blinked.
Ransell reached into the basket. He lifted the silver knife prepared to cut the sandwiches.

“I didn’t want to do this.”
He stabbed at his own neck in one swift motion.
No, he tried to.

KAAANG!
Something stopped his action.
A densely built shield of magic blocked the knife from reaching Ransell’s carotid artery.

Time in the world stopped.
The royal procession, falling flower petals, cheering people—all froze as they were.
Only one thing moved.

“First. Return to reality.”
Marigold.
“Second. Continue the happy imagination forever.”

Her deep emerald eyes slowly gazed at Ransell.
“Ransell-nim, which do you think is better?”