F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 213: A One-of-a-Kind Marriage Proposal

"...So, Grace, tell me why you called me here?" Marie says with a pout, crossing her arms. She’s not wearing the blindfold she usually has on her eyes, which is a genuine rarity—normally she hardly ever takes it off, but with me, whenever we’re alone, she puts it away.

’How do I explain this to Marie...’ I look around at our surroundings. We’re alone after she and I had a nice little romantic date at a restaurant—a bit cliché, but nothing beats the good old spaghetti cliché! I even managed to get a kiss when we grabbed the same strand of spaghetti from the plate!

"Marie... I..." I get nervous. I received a message from my kingdom, and it seems the King already knows I slept with Marie, and he’s furious. He ordered me to ask Marie to marry me, and said he’d kill my friends and everyone I know if I didn’t.

And I even understand his side. Marie is a princess, daughter of the demon king, one of the most dangerous beings in the world, and the very being the King of my kingdom is trying to make peace treaties with.

Besides, for demons, virginity is important because apparently it does something with their magic. So while for humans virginity is more symbolic, for demons it’s biological.

But I don’t want to ask Marie to marry me out of obligation or because I’m being forced. That would be wrong to Marie. I really like Marie, so I want to be honest. That’s why I’m going to tell her the truth and ask her to marry me—not out of obligation, but because I already liked her and this is the final push.

"Spit it out already, Grace! Or I’m leaving," she says, already all irritated. It’s cute seeing her get annoyed when I take too long to say something.

"...It seems your father and the king of my kingdom already know about our relationship, and the king of my kingdom threatened me, ordering me to ask you to marry me."

"But I don’t want you to think you’re being forced, or that I’m being forced. Marie, I love you and I was already going to ask you to marry me someday—it just happened to be sooner."

"I don’t have a ring right now, or anything to offer besides myself, but for my love, Marie, would you agree to marry me?" I bow to her, taking her hand and giving it a kiss. For the first time, I speak to her in a formal tone, because marriage is something serious.

"..."

"...Is this serious?" she says something I didn’t expect. I look at her and she has a strange look.

"...I... know it seems pathetic... I didn’t want to make such a shallow marriage proposal, but... they’re my friends... and I love you. Things just sort of lined up for me to ask you to marry me right away." I’m sad, genuinely sad. I adore Marie, and I wanted to make an amazing romantic proposal to her, but if I don’t ask her to marry me soon, the king will torture my friends.

And I’m sure he’ll know whether I asked Marie or not, so it’s better to be honest than to let Marie find out on her own later. Honesty is important in serious matters.

"...I bet it was my father who found out, wasn’t it? He had his eye on you and saw our relationship," Marie says, staring into my eyes. She looks... disappointed, and irritated.

"This is the most pathetic, lame marriage proposal I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It’s so ridiculous it’s downright deplorable. It hardly even sounds like you talking," she says maliciously, taking a step back. She has a very cruel smile on her face.

’She says that, but she didn’t refuse the proposal... does she want to see me humiliate myself over this? Kind of mean...’ I give a small smile. I guess I like this mean-girl Tsundere archetype of hers.

"You’re smiling? You like looking pathetic? You filthy pig, I don’t know how I still let you have the honor of touching my body. Get out, go away," she waves her hand as if shooing a dog.

"Does that mean no to my proposal?" Even if she acts like this, she loves me, and I know it. That’s why I’m not hurt—it’s not the first time she’s said cruel things without it being purely cruel.

"..." She stays quiet and looks away, and that’s all the answer I need. Someone like Marie, who’s always direct and malicious when refusing something, wouldn’t stay quiet if she didn’t want this.

"K-Kyaa!! What do you think you’re doing, you commoner!!" she screams when I take a slight step forward, grabbing her legs and lifting her up, using a tree behind her as support to hold her up in a very vulnerable position.

"You’re wearing pink, how cute," when I say this, she moves her hands to her skirt, pushing it down to cover everything possible.

"Y-You damn bitch!!!"

"I know that marriage proposal was pathetic—I really think so too. So how about this? Marie, marry me," I say more in a commanding tone than a request.

"N-No..." she refuses, but her voice has no conviction whatsoever, and she’s not even trying to resist for real. If she were, she’d be using her magic to throw me far away.

"No? Marie, since when did I make a request to be refused? I said, Marie, marry me. In my kingdom, there are stories that say: the demon king kidnaps a princess, and the hero, upon saving the princess, marries her." It’s a silly children’s tale.

"If you dissect the story to the max, the hero kinda kidnaps the kidnapped princess for himself. So Marie, please let me kidnap you and lock you up in my tower," I say all smiling to her, and she blushes.

"Y-You damn bitch!! Damn it!! L-Let me go... a-and I won’t be kidnapped," she gives a weak punch to my forehead, as if "resisting" the kidnapping. I see this as confirmation.

Why isn’t she using any real strength in that, and her cute, blushing face gives it away too much? Plus, her wavering gaze is so clear. She’s always blindfolded, so it seems she hasn’t learned to hide emotions in her eyes.

"How sweet. So I, your favorite heroine, will kidnap you to my tower! Where I’ll lock you up there and take care of you until we’re old ladies taking care of our 501 children!"

"!!!!"

"W-What the hell are you talking about!! And why specifically 501?!" she asks, confused, knowing it’s a joke, but it’s too funny to stop now. Besides, of course there’s a reason for that specific number.

"501 was the number of times you..." I lean in and whisper in her ear. She turns completely red and her whole body trembles with embarrassment.

"Y-You’re a psychopath!!! Who the hell counts that!?"

"I do, because it came from the girl I love. So, will you be my princess?"

"...Fine... I-I’ll marry you... b-but stop counting that! It’s disturbing, weird, and kinda gross!!" she says with pure anger.

"Hehehe, I know, it is kinda weird," I just have a really good memory, so I end up knowing exactly how many times that happened even though I’m not actively counting.

"What shouldn’t I count?" I ask flirtatiously as a joke. If she doesn’t say exactly, I won’t know.

"..."

"If you don’t tell me, I won’t know, Marie. By the way, what color and style of ring would you like me to buy for you? I have some money I got... through totally legitimate means..." I can’t say I found stuff in the demon king’s castle and took it for myself to sell.

That would be weird, but they were hidden behind secret things! And no one seemed to care when I went to sell that stuff! I’m sure they were left for me! Because, as a heroine, I strangely have a talent for finding hidden treasure.

It’s probably part of my title—it favors me to find treasures I can use to help me on my journey! Besides, if I couldn’t keep it, the demon king would probably say something or take it back.

"..." Marie bites her lips.

"I won’t say it! I refuse to say that nonsense! Now let me go! This position is embarrassing! A-And I’m busy! I want to go home! I-I have things to do!" she tries to escape. A shame, I wanted to hear her say exactly what I shouldn’t count anymore. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Alright, then I won’t try to stop counting."

"...D-Do whatever you want, you psychopath... besides, don’t bring up children. I don’t want to have kids, I hate children!" she says with an angry scowl.

"Really, but you’re so..." She gives me a scary look when I was about to say something. I give up on talking about her height and her cuteness, where I would say our future kids would be really cute. Of course, I don’t even know if we can have kids, but from what I know, demons can have children regardless of the couple’s gender being the same—I just don’t know how it works.

"Well, it’s great that you accepted! Let’s get married then! How joyful!! We have to tell your father so he can pay for everything!! Hehehe," I hug her, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Of course the demon king will pay for the wedding!

"Okay..." She just gives an "Okay," but for me that’s enough, because she’s very Tsun-Tsun and getting more than that is difficult.

"Maybe I’ll buy a pink ring for you," I say playfully.

"Pink? Why...!!!!"

SLAP

She slaps me in the face, pushing me as I fall to the ground, holding her skirt tightly.

"Y-You pervert! Die! Die!!!" She creates a huge fist of earth and strikes me.

"IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IIIIIIT!!!" I shout to her as I’m sent flying somewhere, happy that she accepted the marriage!