The Romance Fantasy Novel MC is Only Into Me

“Miss, how long do you plan to sleep!”

Merigold woke up with a fluttering of her eyelids.
She felt the winged fairy, Pinna, pulling and stretching her cheek.
The scent of hay seeped through her nose. It was an old stable.

“It’s the day to go up to the empire, so how can you be sleeping so peacefully here? You’ll miss the train at this rate.”
“Hmm, it’s tomorrow anyway. There’s still a day left… Ugh…”
Pinna stretched her cheek again.

“There’s only one day left, just one! If you’re late, you won’t catch a train but will have to take a boat.”
“Ugh, I know already. Stop shouting.”
“You haven’t forgotten that we only rented the stable until morning, right?”

“Ah!”
Merigold suddenly jumped up from the haystack. She saw the horse nearby snorting.
By her bedside was water she had received the previous night.

Pushing away the horse that was quietly drinking, Merigold quickly washed her face. As the sleepiness faded, memories of last night came back.
“You dreamed it again, that strange dream.”
“A dream?”

“Yes.”
A dream.
No.

“Is that really a dream?”
“They say growing kids tend to dream a lot.”
Merigold looked at her own reflection on the surface of the water bowl and recalled that familiar dream.
There were countless paintings hanging in that place, which looked like a museum where time stood still. Merigold had already seen that sight several times.

[Memory Album]
-1. What kind of life is this, Merigold?
-2. Merigold, a victim of war.

-3. The many ways to die.
-4. Are you the owner of a restaurant? Merigold.
...

-15. Spirited maid Merigold.
-16. Merigold falsely accused.
-17. Poor fallen noblewoman Merigold.

-18. Overwork is bad for your health, Merigold.
-19. Marriage with young noble ‘Lancel Dante’.
Young or old, all the paintings showed a single woman. Merigold instinctively knew they were all her.

Below the paintings was a long explanation whose meaning she did not understand.
===========
—Ending 18. Overwork is bad for your health, Merigold.

—To overcome poverty, you increased your part-time jobs from three to four. But you didn’t realize there’s nothing more precious than health. Your wish to sleep without limit was eventually granted.
===========
A nightmare.

Merigold considered this a nightmare.
What else could it be but a nightmare to face ‘Merigold’s final fate’ ending in death, loneliness, or nothingness?
But just one thing troubled her.

The last painting.
—Marriage with young noble ‘Lancel Dante’.
“Lancel Dante.”

Merigold quietly repeated the name she saw in the dream.
Somehow a suffocating feeling gripped her deep in her chest.
It was a feeling she had never experienced before.

“Miss, why are you crying? Miss? Did I speak too harshly? I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
“No, it’s not your fault, Pinna…”
Merigold wiped her tears.

Lancel Dante, she engraved the name deeply in her heart.
 
“The empire is a miniature continent. All power ultimately gathers here, competing, conflicting, and dividing their territories.”
One of the reasons Lancel avoided the imperial capital, Rodnis, was the many harsh judgments people gave it.

Claims like ‘go to Hanyang and you’ll get your nose cut off’ were common regional slanders, but Lancel’s family despised the name Rodnis itself.
“Rodnis is a place where nobles bloated with desire and pettiness eat well and live well. Just thinking about what happened there still makes my blood boil. Scoundrels like rags fallen into a stable’s dung pit.”
Lancel’s mother, Lady Nirvia Dante, muttered coarse curses whenever she drank and reminisced about that place.

It was no exaggeration to say she taught Lancel most of the profanities common in this world by complaining about the empire’s nobles.
“Mother, why do you grind your teeth whenever you think of Rodnis, where you were born and raised? Isn’t it still your hometown?”
When asked out of curiosity, her eyes filled with regret.

“My son, as you know well, I was a pure-hearted person chasing only pure love.”
It meant she had met many men.
At the same time,

“But most of the empire’s rakes were different. They pursued love only for bloodlines. They didn’t care who the man before their eyes was, or what kind of soul he had. Do you really think that’s love?”
“Well, chasing a better bloodline could also be a form of love, couldn’t it?”
“You should have seen those damned women swarming after the prince.”

She had.
During several cycles spent in the empire.
It felt almost like a fan club.

“Love is soul to soul, eye to eye. Finding true love within—that’s the path to happiness. Remember that well, my son.”
“So what if I marry a commoner woman?”
“I’d completely erase her from the family’s genealogy. Don’t even dream about it.”

Even a mother who preached purity of love couldn’t tolerate a commoner.
‘So this game says Merigold marries the prince? Is this really possible?’
Class differences. Numerous rivals. The noble and lofty princes’ personalities. The impossibly high social thresholds.

‘Is this really something that can be overcome?’
It was possible, of course. In the game. And it wasn’t even that hard.
If you hit the right random events, your affection would rise steadily and lead to marriage. That was all.

But that was the game.
This was reality.
‘First, I have to settle myself in the empire. I’ll probably need some money too.’

Right. It was a problem that he, himself, had nothing to offer ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) when trying to match a fallen noblewoman to a prince.
Lancel decided to solve that problem first. He didn’t care how long it took.
Spending time well was his specialty.

 
Suddenly, a conversation with his sister who made the game flashed in his mind.
‘Why do mercenaries guard inside the city?’
‘Weird?’

‘Yeah?’
He was left speechless by her answer.
From her perspective, mercenaries could do some guarding. Maybe she thought of them as a kind of security company?

Thanks to that, the empire retained that setting firmly: some city security was outsourced to mercenary guilds as if it were natural.
As a result, many swordsmen roamed the city, half-legal violence and murder ran rampant, and illegal groups flourished.
But that wasn’t his sister’s problem.

“I didn’t expect you’d be interested in the mercenary business. Isn’t that kind of work a bit far from nobility for a knight?”
Baron Ibil Shen brightened when Lancel said he was establishing a mercenary group.
“I often needed mercenaries in my business. But they all had to be reliable. If you’re doing it, investing a few coins is nothing.”

“Then could you easily provide about thirty gold coins?”
“Is that hard between us? But does Viscount Dante know about this?”
“Of course not.”

“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”
Easily securing the funds, Lancel first purchased a large building on the outskirts of Rodnis.
The first floor became a reception, and the second and third floors became lodgings, making it obvious to anyone that it was a big mercenary guild.

Filling the staff and mercenaries wasn’t difficult.
When leaving his family, Lancel brought along quite a few servants—twelve trusted individuals.
“Do I just sit around and do nothing, my lord?”

After placing a maid at reception and big servants inside, now everyone could see it was a mercenary guild.
[Lancel’s Mercenary Guild]
Lancel smiled contentedly at the sign. The servants looked puzzled but said nothing. He had filled the group only with the most trustworthy servants over previous cycles.

Among them was an elderly guard assigned to a special task.
“Go to 31st Street in the empire. There’s a girl named Meri. Go find her and teach her swordsmanship.”
“As you command.”

“Don’t you want to know why?”
“You do what the master says, so I’ll assume you have a reason. It’s a quiet time, so I think it’s a good thing.”
The result appeared the next day.

===========
— Empire Year 818, March 3. Cloudy.
— Event triggered! ‘Target: Swordmaster!’

※ Starting basic sword training today.
===========
It was common for Merigold to learn sword or magic. At least in the game.

But in reality, it wasn’t easy for a young noble lady to suddenly decide to learn swordsmanship, so Lancel forced the situation.
A month later.
===========

— Empire Year 818, April 9. Clear.
— Merigold has mastered basic sword training.
※ Starting beginner sword training today.

===========
“Already?”
After two more months.

===========
— Empire Year 818, June 1. Rain.
— Merigold has mastered beginner sword training.

※ Starting intermediate sword training today.
※ Part-time job interview list updated. Added guard, soldier, mercenary, trainer, thief, and traveler.
===========

‘…Could she be a genius?’
Lancel was somewhat surprised at Merigold’s achievements far exceeding his expectations.
When he asked Merigold’s swordmaster, the guard, the man answered with trembling eyes:

“Most of what I have is already in that girl, my lord. I have nothing more to teach her. It’s pitiful. I feel my achievements and skills are far too lacking.”
“……”
A lament that he could no longer teach his student.

Lancel thought, ‘She’s the protagonist, so she’s different,’ while gently patting his shoulder.
“My lord.”
At that moment, a maid’s voice came from behind. Hesti, a woman connected to Lancel since the last cycle.

“A commission has arrived at the mercenary guild today. But the sender… is His Excellency the Court Count.”
It has arrived.
Lancel knew his investment had finally paid off.

Among the game events, the ‘guard event’ was one of the highest probability events, and it had safely reached him.
‘This is not a commission sent by the Court Count. This is…’
The commission was simple.

Find and bring one missing man and one missing woman to the empire. The deadline is within one year.
“Hesti, start recruiting mercenaries today.”