PROLOGUE

The Sacred Blood Empire—a nation founded where the Japanese city of Akinomiya once was.

This nation was an empire, so democracy had no place here. The emperor, Ouka, would raise taxes according to her whims and personal biases.

There were several noble families that served the emperor. They had been the emperor’s chief retainers since before the establishment of the country, and they ruled at her (or his) right hand.

One of those families was the Tatsunami family. Many in their past had held the position of shogun.

One of the daughters in the modern age, Sasara Tatsunami, strictly adhered to her post as personal guard to the emperor. Her position was at the forefront of her mind at all times, even during meals—or so she had hoped to do.

“Sasara, you’ve spilled your soup!”

“Oh, dear! I have! I am sorry, Mother!”

The table was soaked. Sasara was ashamed of her blunder—she had been so absentminded that her mother had found it necessary to admonish her.

There was no school today, so she was currently having lunch with her family. But the entire time, Sasara had been spacing out like a deflated balloon. Lately, it had become a usual sight for her to stare out blankly toward the garden, holding her spoon.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” asked her father, Maxwell Tatsunami. The foreign name was indeed his given name—most members of the Tatsunami family typically took inspiration from the western hemisphere.

“No, I don’t believe so…”

“Yet you’ve spilled your soup seventeen times so far. I believe you are indeed out of sorts. Maybe you should go to a doctor.”

“Doctor… Playing doctor with Her Majesty the Emperor, Lady Ouka… Hnnng… Oh, Lady Ouka, please administer the lewd shot… Oooh…”

“At least you sound like the Sasara we know. Your health does not seem to be the problem.”

Most would find what she’d said a bit problematic, but to the Tatsunami family, who saw vowing one’s loyalty to the emperor as the fitting course of action, it was apparently the right thing to say.

“Hmm, if you’re not ill, then is it a problem of the heart?”

“My heart is always filled with my love for Lady Ouka. Dripping wet with it.”

Who says that to their parents?

“Then, let me guess—are you in love?” her father asked, point-blank.

“Yes. I am in love with Lady Ouka. Twenty-seven hours a day.”

“…Besides Her Majesty.”

“Oh… Ah… Um…” Sasara’s eyes were swimming. He was right on the money. “Th-that is not the case at all…” She tried to deny it, but what she felt in her heart was different.

While she was not sure if it was love, there was currently someone Sasara simply could not get out of her head.

Ryouta Fuyukura.

Not too long ago, one of the dancing girls at the festival had stolen her heart. Sasara had been unable to tear her eyes away. They hadn’t been able to talk very much after the performance, since the girl had another job to attend to, but Sasara had not been able to stop thinking about her.

Her crush had turned out to be Ryouta Fuyukura, who had been put into a girl’s costume in order to round out the numbers for the dance.

Could my father be right…?

Sasara had been curious about Ryouta for a while now.

Once, the two of them had fought to the death, and Sasara had lost. Her wounds at the time had been so bad that she would not have survived under normal circumstances.

But Ryouta had commanded her to drink his blood.

Blood had super restorative effects to the Sacred Blooded, but consuming another’s blood was also essentially seen as an exchange of vows.

Of course, it was not permissible for the unmarried daughter of a noble family to do such a thing.

Even if the relationship itself was accepted by her family and society, she would have no other choice but to marry him now that the deed had been done. Like a shotgun wedding.

And Sasara had kept the whole incident a total secret from her parents. How could she tell them?

But she couldn’t change the past, and she could no longer ignore Ryouta. As much as she wanted to forget about it, she couldn’t. She genuinely even considered just taking a boulder to the head to knock out the memory.

I feel nothing special for him… But our relationship is such that I cannot not think about him…

So, what had she felt when she watched the performance, when she did not know that was Ryouta?

Perhaps she did harbor feelings toward him, regardless of the blood-drinking incident.

No, that is much too silly. Why must he move my heart so? I know—it was because he was in disguise. I was simply tricked… Yes, that must be it.

“Sasara, you spilled your soup again! This is the eighteenth time!”

Once again, her mother’s voice brought her back to reality.

“Goodness me, what is wrong with you? You’ve spilled more than you’ve actually eaten! Is this the trend among children nowadays? Spilling soup twenty times to get someone to like you back?!”

“Like me back?! Unthinkable! I don’t even like them! In fact, hate would be a much more apt word!”

“So you did fancy someone? Well, that’s not unusual for your age,” her father commented, noting her reaction.

“Of course not, Father. Nothing of the sort. Three terabytes of my mind are dedicated solely to Lady Ouka. I lack the capacity to care for anyone else that way.”

“Which means you are not interested in anyone else (aside from Lady Ouka)?”

“Yes, I am not interested in anyone else (aside from Lady Ouka).”

“I am relieved to hear that. We can now comfortably send you to matchmaking.”

He dropped the bombshell like it was nothing.

“M-matchmaking? Match…making? Making matches?”

“Why do you sound like we’re forcing you to switch careers? And you spilled your soup again.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, I was just a bit shaken… What exactly do you mean?”

“A formal matchmaking service. The one where a man and woman are formally brought together so that they will eventually marry.”

“O-oh, no… I could never. A matchmaking meeting with Lady Ouka…”

“Indeed, you would never. Not with Her Majesty, at any rate. You will do so with a man. A man.”

Sasara went pale. This was news to her. She was utterly, emotionally unprepared…

“W-we don’t need to worry about this now… I am still just a high school student…”

“It is common practice to pick out your groom-to-be early in life. Especially considering that you are a daughter of the Tatsunami family. We will need an upstanding son-in-law for you.”

“Exactly. It might be best to decide who you are going to marry beforehand, even if the wedding is still years away.”

“You, too, Mother…?”

“In fact, we have already picked out a partner for you. Why don’t we schedule for next Sunday?”

“Whaaat! That’s much too soon!”

“If you don’t like that, then feel free to bring someone else on the day.”

At the last moment, a single avenue of escape was presented to Sasara.

“If you have found a future husband more admirable than the one we’ve chosen, then there will be no need for the meeting in the first place. That would be cause for celebration. Otherwise, you are not getting out of it.”

“How do you decide who is better…? Looks are a subjective measure, so would it be lineage…?”

“That would be decided on a case-by-case basis. If you find a man you think is fitting and worthy, then bring him along.”

“Who do you have coming to the meeting anyway?”

“Ah, it’s a man you know well. It’s your cousin, Masatsuna Toraha.”

“Whaaaaaat?! No, I cannot! I hate this! I would rather eat a beetle!” Sasara wrinkled her nose.

“Sasara, you are exaggerating… But everything about him is exquisite—his lineage, abilities as a warrior, and his looks, even if the latter measure is somewhat pedestrian. And I am certain—”

“—He will love you for life,” Maxwell said, finishing his wife’s sentence.

And Sasara knew it was true. Her cousin was earnest, stable, and skilled. So what made this so bad to her…?

The answer did not come to her right away.

But that was not good enough.

Just because.