After eating a mouthful of soup and getting forced to do a full body check up (courtesy of Yuno-"I don't think this is necessary-" "You either let the doctor examine you or you go back to bed, which is it?" "...") Cyrus was finally able to leave.
The General looked outside the carriage window, it was already nearing dusk and they were halfway through reaching the palace.
'What would be a reasonable excuse to tell the Emperor?'
He needed to avoid the marriage at all cost. Now that he knows that the contents of the book were really true then his two years of loveless marriage would also come true. Though he doesn't know what his self did in the book when he was faced with such situation-since the story was in the omega's point of view, he's sure that he might have at least resisted.
'If I was me in the book what would I do?'
If he was there, he would have declined directly at the Emperor's face-politely of course. Though given the Emperor's stubbornness, he would have pushed the order in his face and nag him non stop.
"Come on Cyrus, do this old man a favor and get married. What would your old man say when I see him again 'Harold you old buffoon how dare you let my only son live as a virgin forever!' Do you want to see your favorite uncle beaten up?! See? This old one is only concerned! Come on Cyrus do you really want to die as a virgin?! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"
Cyrus internally shudered. Just imagining it would be nightmare inducing, but if the him at that time did experience such treatment then...
'I would have been carried by his words and surrendered.'
Since the Emperor was a close friend of his late father, he treated Cyrus like a nephew and Cyrus treated him as his uncle in return. When his father passed away, it was the Emperor who drived all the greedy relatives away. He was also there when Cyrus officially became the master of the house and it was also the Emperor who advised him to take the position as General like his father.
In retrospect, Cyrus owes a lot to the Emperor. So if his self did experience the Emperor's constant whining along with the emotional appeal that come with it then it would be no doubt that he accepted it in the end.
'So I can't reject him directly...should I just go back to war then?'
He was originally the General in charge of taking the West, though he had to come back to the capital to recuperate. Halfway through the war, the enemy suddenly launched a suprise attack at their base. At first everything seemed to be doing well, the enemies were a small number and they were obviously amateurs from the way they swing their swords.
It didn't take long for them to fall one by one, only when the last enemy fell did things start to get weird. The Empire's troops cheered in joy, though it was soon filled with despairing screams as the fallen enemies started to lunge themselves at the soldiers.
The soldiers panicked after seeing the dead attack, even Cyrus felt slightly unnerved when he saw the gruesome sight of an enemy with it's stomach split open and organs hanging from the outside. Nevertheless he had to step up and lead his troops.
It went on for much longer and not once did they managed to kill or even scratch the enemy-"They're dead of course we can't kill them, they've already been killed!" "Stop shouting I'm thinking here!" "Let's just burn all of them, they'll just attach themselves after we cut them off!" "Do you want our main base to burn you idiot?! We might as well lose!" "Oh we'll lose alright. We're gonna lose our fucking heads!" "Shut up so I can think, will you?!" "Think faster!" "Then fucking shut up!"
It was truly a wonder how Derick and Yuno still managed to have the leisure of fighting each other amidst fighting a bunch of undead. Though, they did fight each other even if there was really nothing to fight about so it wasn't that suprising to the General.
"There must be a necromancer nearby, it's the only explanation. If we kill that guy then we can end this. General!"
"I'll take care of it. Cover for me."
It took a little longer than expected, when Cyrus found a trace, he quickly made work to track down the necromancer. A hooded figure greeted him at the end of the track. Cyrus swiftly unsheated his sword and pointed it at the necromancer's throat. His eyes locked at the fan on the hooded figure's hand.
'A fan? That must be the medium he used to control the dead.'
"Hand over the fan and I'll give you a quick death."
Suprisingly enough, the necromancer did what he was told. He handed the fan to Cyrus and Cyrus quickly destroyed it. Puzzled, he was about to question the hooded figure when suddenly a knife pierced the side of his stomach.
'Huh?'
Due to the utter shock that he experienced, Cyrus didn't even have enough time to draw his sword. Though the stab wasn't life threatening, his whole body went limped and he fell to the ground. The necromancer was silently staring at him, he wanted to reach out his arms and prevent the enemy from leaving, unfortunately he fell unconscious.
The next thing he knew when he woke up, he was already in a transporting carriage headed to the capital. It seemed that the dagger was dipped on poison, specifically the Snake Lily's poison. Luckily this poison though deadly, still had a cure and that cure was in the capital.
In the end, he was forced to return early and be replaced by the emperial prince. The royal doctor said that his treatment would last for about three months. He of course, resisted at first. The necromancer was never caught and he refused to leave the war halfway through. He protested, though his protests fell into deaf ears-"My body is in a better shape now, we can-" "Doctor, give the General his depressants." "..."
By the end of it he couldn't even open his mouth. In the end he had to go along with it willingly, lest Yuno feed him depressants on a daily basis.
Four months have passed since then, he was busy with the manor's affairs that he completely forgot about his three month recovery that's passed.
'I'll request to be dispatched on the West before he can even bring the topic of marriage.'
Cyrus nodded to himself. If he let's the emperor talk about marriage first, then him going to war would be seen as an excuse. But, if he beats him to it and proposes to return to war first, then the whole marriage thing will be seen as a hindrance.
'And if that doesn't work then...'
Though he's quite confident on his impromptu plan, he wouldn't solely depend on it. If he thought it, then he on the book must have thought it as well. If that is the case then he'll still end up marrying that omega. So his plan B is...
'I'll just say I'm impotent.'
Though he and himself on the book were the same person with probably the same thoughts, their experiences were quite different. The book him doesn't understand the feeling of being hit by a book, going unconscious for four days and being threatened to be castrated by a man who also happened to ki-NO.
It was a sacrifice he needed to make. Afterall 'A man's pride is useless if he doesn't have one from the start!'