His brother-in-law opposed it until the very end.

However, his parents and grandparents were all too eager, and so his brother-in-law had to give in. “Refuse immediately if you don’t want this,” he said, and then stepped back with regret. That was because it was to be a marriage of convenience.

The boy was ten years old; his partner rumored to be seven. He was led to a deep green park, rented by both families. Somewhere in the park would be his partner, a girl. He would, as if guided by fate, encounter her, and their relationship would begin. It would deepen as they grew closer to each other, and eventually a most natural marriage would come about.

How stupid.

Going to such great lengths to set up this charade, calling it a work of fate – a work of farce, more like! Every part of the script, from beginning to ending, was unnatural.

He’d heard that the setup was created by some famous matchmaker, who’d already arranged about a hundred marriages in his career. For his part, the boy was already fed up with the matter. Two hundred men and women were brought together by this incomprehensible method? Allow me to express my sincerest condolences. Please wish me luck, for it is my turn to undergo the trial.

Those thoughts running through his head, the boy stepped off his carriage and entered the park.

Within the park grounds was a small lake, a sidewalk running around it. He also noticed a flower field, along with a dense grove that gave just enough convenient cover from peeping eyes. Nausea churned inside him. What transparent attempts to create a romantic atmosphere.

“…Let’s just get this over with.”

The boy felt sorry for his brother-in-law who’d gone through the trouble of transporting him here, but in truth he felt quite indifferent about the matter. He came from a family where boys his age were tools for these kinds of marriages. From the very beginning, he’d understood that love and romance were fleeting dreams.

Then there was the other matter to consider – the age of his fiancee. Seriously, seven years old? Three years younger than me?

“They’re both children, so it’s not a problem,” the one who’d proposed this marriage had said. That person probably didn’t understand a thing. It was a typical mistake for grown-ups to make, being so oblivious of the enormous gap in three years’ worth of life experience for children. They were children once, too – how can grown-ups forget about such elementary things?

…Well, it doesn’t matter. Where is this seven-year-old, anyway? I’ll just check all the romantic spots one by one.

Flower field? Nope.

Gazebo on the hilltop? No sign of her.

Windswept sidewalk around the lake? He walked around the lake as much as he could, but still couldn’t spot her.

If that’s the case, then…

She was only seven years old, after all. Just a kid. What if she didn’t understand the meaning of this melodramatic farce? Could she be thinking they were playing a game of hide-and-seek?

If that was the case, then the situation suddenly became troublesome. Perhaps in order to heighten the illusion of having stumbled into an once-in-a-lifetime experience, he hadn’t been informed of his partner’s appearance.

Maybe I should check the other places again?

“What a pain…” As he turned around, annoyed, his eyes met with those of a little girl not too far away from him.

“Ah…”

“Oh…”

Thinking about it, it made sense. On one hand, a boy who’d already submitted to the bothersome world of adults; on the other, a girl three years younger. Their views on the situation would naturally not be the same. Of course the girl, forced to marry an unknown man, would be wary about her soon-to-be partner.

And of course she would try to delay their fateful encounter as long as possible, in the meanwhile trying to observe her partner even if only a little, to get a better idea of him.

The girl let out a soft scream, turned on her heels, and made to flee… but instead stepped on the hem of her long, expensive-looking dress and came crashing down magnificently. The dress, heavily decorated with light-blue lace, was instantly stained with dirt.

To her credit, she tried her best. She was able to hold back her tears for a few seconds, but then it all came pouring out in a wail.

The boy went to her side, holding a handkerchief wet with lakewater, and wiped the dirt from her face and dress as much as possible.

Her expression remained scrunched up and her mood dark, however, so – reluctant though he was – the boy threw himself onto the ground too and rolled around until his own suit was as stained as hers had been. This turn of events seemed to have been quite a surprise for the girl, who stared at him blankly before bursting into joyful laughter.

“Well?” he asked. “Now even if they get angry at us, we’ll be scolded together.”

“Yeah!” she replied happily. There was a rustling sound, and then from under her dress a hairy black tail popped out.

The girl had animal features.

As she took off her dirty gloves and started brushing off her dress, it became obvious. Although she was born into a family of markless, she must’ve had beast blood somewhere in her lineage that’d manifested in her generation.

Fur, covering both her hands and feet. A black tail. Small kitten-like ears hidden under her hat. Taking a closer look at her, the boy saw that her irises were catlike too, and six thin whiskers protruded from her cheeks.

“Good-fer-nothing, meself.” She spoke with a slight accent too – perhaps because of her different throat. “Good match fer you, they sey.”

“A-ah, I see.”

She probably belonged to a typically proud family, who would have viewed a beast-like child as a disgrace. Now he finally understood why their marriage had been pushed so strongly. Her family could rid themselves of what they saw as trouble while strengthening their ties with another respectable family. It must have seemed like a masterful plan to them.

“Are you a normal markless?” she asked.

“Well, more or less. But I’d rather not call my marklessness normal, you see.”

“Eh? But if yer markless, then yer like all’o the rest. Yer living a normal life, right?”

“That would be a… di-ver-gence… of opinions, I guess. There are many people in this world who differ greatly from your mother and father.”

“I… don’t get it. Can’tcha say it better?”

“You’re just seven, after all. I’m ten, so you wouldn’t understand compared to me.”

“Not fair! I’ll become ten too, very soon!”

“And I’ll be thirteen. I’ll study more and know more than you.”

“U-urk!”

The sight of her childishly puffing up her cheeks was rather cute. Of course, she was still far too young for a serious marriage. But he had to admit it – she was pretty.

They’d had a sort of dramatic encounter, and the distance between them certainly had narrowed. All that was left was for the flow of events to naturally lead into marriage.

This can’t possibly have been calculated by those organizers, but to think that the outcome might still end up being the same… The idea irritated him.

“Um…” The girl, looking apologetic, was pulling on the muddy sleeve of his suit. Did I let my irritation show? “I… haffa go home now.”

“Oh, really?” He glanced at the big clock erected near the lake. Indeed, a long time had already passed since the beginning of their meeting. No more than ten minutes left. “Well, it was fun,” he said, stretching.

By playing along with the farce to this point, he had probably more or less fulfilled the expectations of his family already. His grandfather had demanded him to “Accomplish this even if you must use your Eyes!” However, he personally couldn’t bring himself to do it – or rather, there was no need for it.

So then, let’s divert from the plan. Let’s not transform this little girl and myself into tools for our families. I won’t let things go the way they want.

“You know, it might be good for you to find a way to escape from your house after you grow up,” he said. “Definitely better than remaining locked up at home like are now.”

She tugged at his sleeve.

“What?”

“Is this goodbye?”

He didn’t answer.

“I wanna talk to you more.”

If she says it like that…

“I don’t have anything to talk about.”

The grip of the small hand on his sleeve grew tighter. The girl probably had never been allowed to have this kind of free conversation with anybody before now. If she had talked to somebody and learned of the world, she’d stop feeling ashamed of not being a markless. That wouldn’t sit well with her family, and doubtless was why she had been raised so sheltered.

If he shook her hand off now, it’d be over. He would return to his regular life as before. And she would return to her regular life, just as before.

“Please…”

She’d probably mustered all the little courage she had. Her breathing grew rough as she pleaded. “Can we meet again once more?”

It can’t be helped. How can I refuse if she says it like that?

I suppose I have no choice but to applaud the ability of a certain person who brought together almost a hundred pairs.

“Okay, okay. I’ll agree to meet with you again, you hear? So stop making such a teary face,” he said, waving his hand and admitting his defeat. “But I’ll warn you – this relationship may continue for a long time, so be prepared for that, you understand?”

“Long… something like three yers?”

“People wouldn’t talk about marriage like this if three years was enough…”

He tried to imagine the girl three years from now. How would she look after she’d grown up a little more? And even further – how would she look when she was a woman?

To his horror, he realized he was actually anticipating such a future.

“If we can meet lots more, that would be so nice!”

“I see, I see… as long as you’re happy, I’m glad.”

Although he said it flippantly, those words had reflected his true emotions hidden deep inside his heart.

But the girl, probably completely ignorant to the intricate nuance of his statement, took his words literally. “Yes!”

He had to turn away to hide his expression from the radiant, dazzling smile that surfaced on her face.

His parents were delighted, as were his grandparents.

Only his brother-in-law wore a complicated look on his face. But after he explained that “She was just an ordinary, good, girl, so I became friends with her,” his brother-in-law had replied “I see,” nodding doubtfully.

After this, the boy and the girl occasionally received a chance to meet with each other.

Every time they met, the girl would press him for new stories. In order to meet her expectations, he was forced into increasingly diligent studies.

Of course, that didn’t bother him – though the actions of her family created more than enough irritation regardless.

That aside, those were fun and happy days.

So much that, from the bottom of his heart, he wished that those bright days could continue forever and ever.