CH 250

“T-Take her? Where? Who? Are you talking about Brunhilde-nim? Me?”

“Yes! Please take my useless daughter!”

“What kind of bullshit is this…?” Siegfried ended up blurting his thoughts after getting too flabbergasted. Lohengrin’s request was simply too absurd. Who in their right mind would ask a person they just met to become their son-in-law right away?

“Excuse me… King Lohengrin…?”

“Tell me.”

“By any chance, do elves get mental illnesses…?”

“No.”

“Then, why does it seem like you’ve gone insane?”

“I’m completely normal.”

“But why would you spout such a bull—I mean, such a strange thing? Do the elves have a custom of marrying anyone available…?”

“No, we elves date for two or three decades before getting married.”

“Then, why…?” Siegfried was confused.

“My daughter has no hope in marrying an elf…”

“Pardon me…?”

“How can… someone so ugly get married in the first place?!”

“…”

“I do not wish to see my one and only beloved daughter live the rest of her life all alone and getting ridiculed by the elves of Elondel!”

“Don’t tell me… is it because of her hair color? Just because her hair is red…?” Siegfried muttered.

“What do you mean by JUST BECAUSE HER HAIR IS RED?!”

“…!”

“You humans will never understand, but hair color is extremely important to us elves! This is not something as trivial as you humans think! An elf’s hair color is our standard of beauty!” Lohengrin shouted and inadvertently stood up. Then, he sat down and looked at the ground with downcast solemn eyes before saying, “You will never understand just how painful Brunhilde’s life has been since she was born...”

***

Three hundred sixty-nine years ago…

“Waah! Waaah! Waah! Waaah!”

Lohengrin was full of anticipation as he excitedly prepared to meet his firstborn.

“G-Great mother nature…!”

“Oh my god!”

“How can this happen?!”

However, he also heard the screams of the midwife and maids from behind the door, aside from the cries of his child. Lohengrin rushed inside, but what awaited him was the red hair of his newborn daughter.

“M-My daughter… My daughter has red hair…?!”

An elf’s hair color was the elves’ standard of beauty.

Why?

All elves were born with beautiful facial features, slender bodies, and flawless skin. It was impossible to measure their beauty from their appearances alone. The only thing that the elves could use to measure their beauty was the color of their hair.

The elves placed great importance on their hair color, but the problem was that red hair was frowned upon—no, they abhorred the color red because it signified fire. The elves loathed anyone with red hair, and such elves were considered hideous in their eyes.

And that was why Brunhilde had led a life of ridicule since she was born…

“You are so ugly, princess!”

“Don’t come near me!”

“Ugh… Look at her! She’s so ugly!”

Brunhilde was a princess, but everyone ridiculed and bullied her. This was something that humans wouldn’t understand, but an elf born with red hair was bound to live a pitiful life.

“I… I like the sword… and I wish to become a Pegasus Knight, father…”

Brunhilde withstood the abuses by considering her sword as her friend.

“My daughter is already two hundred and eighty years old, but she’s still single,” Lohengrin lamented.

It wouldn’t be long before Brunhilde turned three hundred, and she still hadn’t received even a single marriage proposal—no, forget the marriage proposals, she had never gone out on a date before.

Lohengrin wanted to do something for her as her father, but his hands and feet were tied because he was the king of the elves. However, it wasn’t like he hadn’t done anything. He tried his best as a father by asking some of the male elves.

“Will you marry my daughter?”

“I refuse.”

The elves despised Brunhilde so much that they refused Lohegrin’s offer before the latter could even convince them.

“I would rather die than marry her.”

There were even some elves who spoke of committing suicide rather than marrying her, which was a huge taboo for elves, as lives were valuable in their eyes.

“Wait just a bit longer… I will definitely find a suitor for you, my daughter.”

“I am fine, Father. I’m satisfied with just my sword as my companion.”

“My daughter…”

“I’m ugly, but I will dedicate my life to becoming the sword of our kingdom.”

Brunhilde knew that it was impossible for her to marry an elf.

“What should I do…” Lohengrin lamented.

He did not wish to see his beloved daughter live alone for the rest of her life.

“She is quite hideous even in my own eyes, but she has a good heart…”

Ironically, Brunhilde looked hideous even in her own father’s eyes.

One day, Lohengrin received news that made him jump from his seat.

“What?! My daughter kissed the King of Proatine?! Hahaha! I should force him to marry my daughter!” Lohengrin exclaimed after receiving the secret report from one of the knights.

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He anxiously waited for Brunhilde’s return, and he immediately grilled her for answers.

“T-That is… He… I like… Him… I am not sure why… Father…”

“Oh!”

“I keep thinking about him… and I guess this is how love at first sight feels…”

“Good! Don’t worry about it! I will make sure that your love can blossom! Hahaha!”

“N-No! Please don’t…! I will take care of it myself… I plan to go see him soon, so…”

“Is that so? All right, I will not do anything then.”

Lohengrin agreed not to do anything after seeing how embarrassed his daughter was, but…

‘Hmm… I should investigate what kind of a person the King of Proatine is!’ 

He investigated Siegfried from that day on until one day…

“My king! The King of Proatine, Siegfried van Proa, requests entry to Elondel!”

“Really? He wishes to visit our kingdom? Grant him permission at once!” Lohengrin commanded.

He opened the gates of Elondel to a human without a hint of hesitation.

‘Hoho! You came walking in with your own feet? I can’t thank you enough for this?! Hahaha!’

Lohengrin had been waiting for Siegfried all this while…

***

“I wanted you to take my daughter, but I was worried at the same time…” Lohengrin said.

“What were you worried about…?” Siegfried asked. He could not help but exclaim inside, ‘How can you marry someone off without asking the person in question?! Did you ever ask me, old man?!’

Siegfried didn’t like how Lohengrin had decided everything on his own.

‘Isn’t he just dumping her on me?!’ He felt that the elven king was simply dumping Brunhilde on him after failing to find a suitor for her.

Of course, he wasn’t wrong.

“You are a human, and my daughter is an elf. You will probably die earlier than her even if you get married, and she will be heartbroken for centuries all alone before finally dying in loneliness…”

“So…?”

“But you’re his disciple, right?”

“And…?”

“I have a feeling that you’ll live hundreds of years just like him!”

“Eh?”

“I made up my mind the moment you told me he was still alive and that you were his disciple! You must marry my daughter! And I will make sure that happens no matter what it takes!”

“I… I hope you are not giving me an ultimatum right now…” Siegfried muttered while taking a few steps back.

“I am!” Lohengrin exclaimed. Then, he continued, “You are not an elf, so my daughter must not be hideous to you. No, she must be absolutely stunning in your eyes.”

“…”

“And you’re the hero’s disciple, which means that you will easily live longer than most humans, and you’ll live even longer once you become a Master. This tells me that you are the best marriage candidate! Hoho!”

“Haha… Hahaha…” Siegfried let out an awkward laugh after finally realizing why it was so easy for him to enter Elondel.

‘I basically walked into the tiger’s den with my own two feet…’ he thought.

It all made sense now how he was able to enter the Eternal Forest, which was considered one of the forbidden regions throughout the continent.

“Your thoughts do not matter,” Lohengrin said, suddenly dropping a bombshell before continuing. “I will make sure that you end up marrying my daughter no matter what it takes, and I am prepared to use whatever means at my disposal as the king of the elves to make it happen. So, I advise you to just give up and accept her as your wife. Hoho!”

“…”

“Besides, isn’t this something good for you humans? I mean, you get to marry an elf, and the elf is a beautiful princess like Brunhilde!”

“I still refuse.”

“Y-You refuse?”

“I apologize, but I will pretend we did not have this conversation. Then, I will excuse myself,” Siegfried said before running away.

***

“It’s not that easy to marry an NPC…” Siegfried grumbled after escaping from the Elven King. He looked quite troubled right now, and it was understandable. One of the biggest hazards of playing BNW was getting too emotionally invested in the game.

The NPCs in BNW were extremely attractive, spoke like humans, thought like humans, and acted like humans. They were just data composed of zeroes and ones, but the Doppelganger Algorithm developed by Hive Games Entertainment allowed the NPCs to basically become humans.

How about dating and marrying an NPC? It wasn’t something that could be easily decided, as being too invested in the game could bring detrimental consequences in real life.

Quite a lot of players started to neglect their real lives over the joy of playing the game, and the ones who had gotten in love with NPCs usually were the worst among those players.

“I haven’t dated anyone in real life, and getting involved with an NPC in the game will be…” Siegfried trailed off. To be frank, he was scared. The mental hazards of being too emotionally invested in the game were already a well-researched topic.

‘I can’t get too emotionally invested in the game. I don’t have friends in real life, and I’m definitely not going to be able to live a normal life if I get involved with an NPC…’

And that was why Siegfried had been keeping a distance between himself and the female NPCs in the game. Well, he also didn’t want to ejaculate in the capsule while enjoying BNWs adult content, but that was a whole different discussion altogether…

‘I should probably take a look around the city and search for the Terramorg once I’m done sightseeing,’ thought Siegfried.

But…

“Did you see the human the princes brought? He looks quite cool for a human!”

“Really? I heard he was a king, and he established numerous laws that helped elves!”

“Omo! Then, that means he’s a good guy, right?”

Siegfried witnessed a group of beautiful elves chatting under the shade of a tree.

“But do you think that the king and the princess will get married? Rumors say—”

“Nah, I doubt it.”

“Why?”

“I’m sure humans have eyes too. Why would he marry the princess?”

“But humans have different beauty standards from us, right?”

“Yeah, but the princess is too hideous… no?”

“I agree… I’m sure he can pick from a lot of women since he is a king. There’s no need for him to settle with the princess…”

Siegfried was in disbelief after overhearing the chatter. ‘Aigoo… Can you please cut your bullshit? Hair color, this hair color, that… It’s pathetic… You’re not supposed to judge others by their appearance, you know? Tsk, tsk… you elves still have… huh?’

His thought was interrupted halfway after his eyes shot wide open.

‘Brunhilde-nim?!’

He spotted the elven princess discreetly standing next to the chatting elves, and she looked like she was about to cry.

Without any warning, Brunhilde took off and ran away.

‘Damn it!’ Siegfried cursed inwardly and ran after her.