Kamen Rider Is Playing the Villain in Pretty Cure

"...?"

What was this woman going crazy about now?

Another lie? No, at this point, lying would be utterly meaningless... Besides, judging by how animated she sounded, it really didn't seem like she was lying.

And don't look at me with those serious eyes, damn it! It makes me remember the old days!

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Let's get married, Ash."

"...?"

Like floodwaters unleashed from a broken dam surging down the riverbed, the impact of that instant alone was enough to leave his mind completely blank, unable to say a single word.

"This isn't some spur-of-the-moment joke. I'm serious."

"In human terms, I'll become your wife, and you'll become my husband. Let us complete a union of love."

Your heart, your power—greedy as I am, I've decided that I want all of it!

"Oh, you still don't understand? Well, that makes sense. If I remember correctly, your actual age is only twelve, less than one ten-thousandth of mine. Marriage must still be a rather unfamiliar concept to you, right?"

"But it's fine. As the older one, I'll guide you. You only need to trust me—"

No matter how much Primum continued to chatter, Ash, swallowing as his throat bobbed, wasn't listening.

It had nothing to do with age. He understood perfectly well just how weighty the demand in her words was.

Before, I told them that because of my parents, I hated marriage—that troublesome ritual inherently burdened with responsibility and restraints...

So let me state it once again.

I really hate marriage!

"I refuse."

This topic could only end here.

If she said that, then there was only one path left before me.

"Can you say that again?"

I accepted the reality that everything from the past—everything that had been "hard to understand, yet still happy"—would