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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 446: Princess of the Sun (3)
Princess of the Sun, Parina.
Born between Proxima—the youngest of the Centauri brothers—and the Sun, Moro, she was considered a "stellar candidate" from a cosmic perspective.
This was because, in the universe, a child of a star could, upon the extinction of their direct parent, inherit part of their power and possibly become a new star.
Thus, Parina’s centuries-long secluded training had been in preparation for that potential future—as a star.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason she pursued strength.
『Wh… what are you telling me to do?』
Parina moved her rugged jaw and stared at the “insignificant creature.”
Then, Yeongwoo, who had stood up and dusted himself off, answered in place of the Sun.
"Marriage. Let’s get married."
From the depths of a dogfight on the first day of Reset to proposing to the Princess of the Sun—what an insane journey it had been.
Not that his past was flashing before his eyes or anything.
After all, this marriage wasn’t exactly a happy matter for Yeongwoo either.
『What the hell are you saying, you dumb bastard!』
Feeling severely insulted, Parina immediately swung her tail.
KWAaaAAANG!
A hundred-meter-long mass of scales swept the ground as it moved, and the planets in its path were struck by the tail and launched into the air.
『Aaaaagh!』
『P-Princess!』
『Please calm down!』
Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars screamed one after another as they soared skyward.
Watching this, Pluto’s king Svera groped along the office wall, trying to find an exit.
Meanwhile, Yeongwoo gripped Aratubank tightly once more, preparing for the shock.
"My wedding gift is the entire universe! Still not interested?"
『SHUT UUUUUUP!』
Negotiations collapsed.
Parina’s tail moved at high speed without the slightest hesitation.
Seeing that, Yeongwoo changed tactics and leapt into the air.
TAAH!
Barely a second later, a massive scaly tail swept across where he had just been.
KWAJAJAJAJAK!
“……!”
Her murderous intent could clearly be felt.
But Yeongwoo had no intention of killing Parina, so he only fired Bastard toward the tip of her tail.
SWEEEET!
And then, what happened was—
『No…!』
An unexpected interference from the Sun, Moro.
Seated on her throne as if merely observing their fight, she suddenly waved her hand to intercept the attack the moment Yeongwoo threw Bastard.
FWEEEP!
A kind of telekinetic grasp of the void.
With just a gesture from Moro, Bastard’s trajectory shifted and it stabbed into the barren ground.
"That was self-defense, wasn’t it?"
Yeongwoo’s face twisted at the interference, but Moro bared her teeth and her eyes shone a fierce yellow.
『I said I’d let you marry my daughter. I never said I’d let you hit her. You don’t even grasp the basics of married life.』
“……!”
Yeongwoo was left speechless by the Sun’s declaration.
Parina was no different.
『M-Mother…? What are you saying right now?』
She had finally realized that the earlier "Would you marry him?" was meant seriously.
『Marriage? With that thing? He’s not even on Father’s level!』
Parina’s rage stemmed from none other than her father, Proxima.
Her mother, the Sun, was a majestic existence with a power level of 66—placing her in the top 1% even among stars.
By contrast, Proxima was a red dwarf—one of the most common and weakest kinds of stars.
If he had any redeeming quality, it was being the closest star to the Sun.
To Parina, who naturally pursued strength, a weak father who was leagues below her mother in every way was someone she could never admire.
『How could I ever become a brilliant star by marrying someone like that? How dare you suggest such a thing to me…!』
Even so, she couldn’t bring herself to speak harshly in front of her overwhelmingly strong mother.
Of course, Moro didn’t have much to say either.
She had, after all, set the minimum requirement for a son-in-law as “at least a stellar candidate.”
But then—
"A star? Is that the best you can dream of?"
Moro couldn’t refute the insane little creature’s outrageous logic.
『W-what? Best?』
Parina immediately reacted to Yeongwoo’s provocation.
Yeongwoo pointed toward the sky with Bastard.
"So you trained for thousands of years just to become one of the thousands of trillions of stars out there? That’s your dream?"
『Thousands of trillions? That’s such an ignorant thing to say. The star I want to become is……!』
One that shines brighter, stronger, and longer than all others.
Just as Parina was about to rebuke him while thinking of her mother, Yeongwoo cut her off again.
"If you’re truly that special, then you should become a one-of-a-kind being in the entire universe. That’s the only way your mother’s name can shine forever too."
『What……?』
"I told you—my wedding gift is the whole universe. I wasn’t lying."
Yeongwoo said this with eyes gleaming with an unsettling sincerity, and Parina turned to look at her mother.
She couldn’t believe or understand a single word from the insignificant creature, so she sought the opinion of the stellar being.
And then the Sun, Moro, once again closed her eyes tightly.
『He exaggerated a bit… but he’s not entirely wrong.』
『What did you say?』
『If you marry him, we can leave our orbit and go anywhere in the universe.』
Even as she spoke, Moro was staring off into the distance beyond the sky.
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Though she was the absolute ruler of the solar system, she had spent her entire life locked in a fixed orbit.
She, too, had her own dreams—and curiosity.
What lies beyond the orbit, in that vast cosmos?
And now, a tiny creature born and raised on Earth claimed he could unlock that mystery.
But the cost of that was……
『Marriage. If you truly don’t want it, I won’t force you. But at least give it some thought.』
Moro’s expression, as she said this to her daughter, was the most complicated it had ever been in her life.
『If it’s a marriage without love, then why not fill that void with romance? Through this union, you’ll gain the universe as well.』
Romance.
Yes.
If one were to choose marriage as a gateway to a journey into space, then perhaps that too could be considered a form of romance.
Of course, Princess Parina of the Sun could not easily agree to it.
『Mother……! Are you seriously insane? Romance? You call that a husband and think it’s romantic?』
Whoosh!
When Parina pointed her black claw at “that,” Yeongwoo shamelessly looked her straight in the eye.
“Romance? Don’t look for that in me. Didn’t your mother say it? You’ll gain the universe.”
『What? Mother!?』
“The romance you’ll get from marrying me is the chance to meet powerful beings scattered throughout the universe.”
As Yeongwoo said the word ‘powerful beings’, Parina’s crimson scales trembled slightly.
A princess of the Sun who revered strength—
To her, “power” was something that instinctively excited her.
“What’s the point of training in this backwater all your life? Gonna use that strength just to beat up that pitiful Svera?”
Yeongwoo pointed at Svera, who was still looking for a way out, and Svera turned around with an awkward grin.
“To become truly strong—and to truly use that strength—you need to enter a much bigger world, don’t you?”
『……!』
Parina was momentarily speechless at Yeongwoo’s ‘expansion theory.’
She couldn’t deny that, at least when it came to strength, he might be right.
“And I’ve brought the key to that world. We’ll activate the Earthship through a covenant. What you have to do is…”
Yeongwoo fell silent for a moment, then looked around at everyone present.
“Cross the line.”
『The line?』
“If marriage—especially one with a lowly creature like me—is a line you think you can’t cross, then you have to cross it. Leaving your orbit and heading for space is already an act of crossing far beyond any lines.”
Then Yeongwoo added:
“And isn’t that a kind of training, too? A journey that strengthens you from within.”
『This lunatic... What kind of nonsense is that?』
Parina’s brow furrowed.
She could agree, to some extent, that a marriage without love was a form of training—or even suffering—but tying that to why she should marry that creature?
That made no sense.
“All of us here have already resolved to cross our own lines. Why can’t you?”
『Are you insane? Did the other planets all agree to marry lowly creatures too? No, they didn’t.』
Parina, still keeping her reason relatively well.
But the truth was, even she had been a little shaken by something that creature said earlier.
That no matter how much she trained in the solar system, there would be nowhere to use her strength.
And that out there in the universe, mighty beings the size of mountains might await… to face them, she had to leave the solar system.
But the price was marriage to a lowly creature.
『…Mother.』
Parina looked at Moro with eyes begging for rescue—but even as the Sun, she had no clever solution.
『…I’m sorry, my child. If I were a freer being, you would not have to go through this.』
『This isn’t your fault, Mother. All of this is because of that despicable creature who’s disrupted the planetary system as it pleases.』
When Parina said this, Yeongwoo couldn’t hold his tongue.
“If the planetary system can be shaken by a mere creature like me, then maybe it deserves to be shaken. Maybe it’s time to let it go.”
Then he pointed back at the sky.
“Marry me and leave the planetary system! Do it for your mother—and for the planets under her!”
A lowly creature daring to propose marriage to the princess of the Sun—
Overflowing with blasphemy.
And yet, surprisingly, this time Parina didn’t erupt in rage.
Instead—
『Fine.』
She gave an answer no one had expected.
“Wha… what? Fine?”
Yeongwoo was the one flustered now, as Parina raised her large claw.
『But there’s a condition.』
“What is it? Just say it.”
『I won’t have a wedding ceremony with you.』
Yeongwoo’s eyes widened instantly.
“Huh? That’s… going to be a bit of a problem…”
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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