The girl lying on the hospital bed stared at her wrist…
Excessively pale skin, fingers slender enough that the knuckles' details showed clearly.
It didn't look like the body of an Uma at all—nor like one carefully nurtured by a powerful family.
But compared to her frail physique, she was actually more worried about another matter…
"Nature, we've made the decision. Because Roman performed excellently in the new Classics, her retirement has been pushed back."
"But… wasn't sister supposed to…"
"So you'll marry the Emperor in her place."
Recalling that conversation, Tokai Natural's expression turned to utter sorrow.
As a transmigrator, she'd thought about whether she had any special cheats or abilities. Sadly, she had nothing.
Forget cheats—even her body came with a built-in "sickly" debuff. Becoming an Uma galloping on the racetrack was completely impossible.
Even more unfortunately, the Three Goddesses of this world seemed like nothing but cold machines.
Unless an Uma's life was directly or indirectly endangered, the divine punishment of the Three Goddesses would never appear.
Thus, every Uma in this world was either the family's greatest hope or ended up like Tokai Natural.
Initially, Symboli Rudolf was supposed to marry Tokai Roman.
But recalling her sister's exceptional performance in recent races, Tokai Natural sighed again.
Because Tokai Roman's results far exceeded everyone's expectations, her originally planned retirement had been postponed.
Yet the engagement with Symboli Rudolf couldn't simply be left unresolved.
Therefore, Tokai Natural—born weak, completely unable to become an Uma—naturally became the only logical replacement bride.
And as a transmigrator, Tokai Natural knew clearly that marrying Rudolf was indeed something that historically occurred to her real-life counterpart.
If she refused, the Symboli family would put pressure on the Tokai family.
And she, being the direct cause of this trouble, would simply be kicked out of the household and left to fend for herself.
Of course, for most people, being cast out might just mean living independently. But for the frail Tokai Natural…
That would be no different from awaiting death.
So, having understood this point, Tokai Natural only sighed again.
Anyway, she couldn't fight back. After all, her sickly body still required the family's money to ensure she wouldn't suddenly drop dead one day.
Moreover, precisely because she wasn't an Uma, within the Tokai family, even the dog raised by the family head probably had more practical power than she did.
Thus, without any possibility of resistance—
Tokai Natural was left with no other choice but acceptance.
There simply was no alternative.
But still…
She looked at her fragile body, recalling the height difference she'd seen in Uma films she'd watched before.
"With a twenty-five-centimeter height difference, won't it reach all the way to my stomach—or maybe even my heart…?"
The girl muttering these words looked increasingly worried.
Under normal circumstances, ordinary Umas could handle that much.
But unfortunately, she was frail.
Although, honestly, if she died in bed because of her fragile health, maybe that wouldn't be so bad either.
At least she'd finally escape this world filled with hostility toward her.
But…
I really don't want to marry someone else's fiancée…
After venting her feelings a little, Tokai Natural leaned backward and fell onto her hospital bed.
She had no right to choose. The only path laid out before her was becoming her sister's bridal substitute doll—swiftly marrying the other party, carefully concealing her identity, and then quietly giving birth to a child.
After all, once a child existed, even if Rudolf herself wanted a divorce, it wouldn't be an easy matter.
Because if the child turned out to be an Uma, she might inherit talents from both parents—even though Tokai Natural's talents had never been tested.
But Symboli Rudolf's strength was beyond question.
Thus, the Symboli family would also strongly support Tokai Natural giving birth to this child.
But the real critical issue was…
Compared to her, her sister's physical condition was far superior—and that was something she couldn't possibly hide from Rudolf.
Therefore…
"Sigh…"
She sighed again. But even sighing couldn't help her change the direction things were headed.
After all, Tokai Natural was just an Uma who completely lacked the capability to race.
Other than accepting the family's arrangement, she had no way out at all.
Over the next few days, the members of the Tokai family came and went like schools of fish, one wave leaving as another arrived.
Tokai Natural knew they were only here to confirm her current condition. They, too, knew it was impossible to deceive Symboli Rudolf completely. But they never thought about hiding it from Rudolf forever.
For them, it would be enough if they managed to hide it until she was pregnant.
After all, once she was pregnant, breaking off the engagement would be nearly impossible.
So, it wasn't incomprehensible that these Tokai family figures kept visiting her frequently. After all, Tokai Natural's health condition was the most important issue.
Still…
Can we really hide it from Rudolf-san like this?
Watching the scenery outside the window, Tokai Natural's expression slowly turned serious.
Clearly, she didn't have much confidence in this matter. But her personal confidence didn't matter—the important thing was the Tokai family's confidence.
Furthermore, for the Tokai family, Tokai Natural was just an Uma who happened to bear the Tokai name. Compared to Tokai Roman, she wasn't even in the same weight class.
If Rudolf discovered that Tokai Natural wasn't actually Tokai Roman, it wouldn't be troublesome for the Tokai family at all.
They'd just arrange an opportunity to separate Tokai Natural from the family, and then officially announce her death.
After all, with her physical condition, once kicked out of the Tokai family, death would only be a matter of time.
Thus, after confirming that Tokai Natural's health could remain stable for a while, the Tokai family quickly began lively preparations.
They needed to hurry and marry her off while she was still reasonably healthy—getting rid of this money-losing burden who spent four or five months hospitalized each year.
Finally, everything was arranged within a month.
Tokai Natural herself was ready to be married off.
Or rather, she had prepared nothing except to be married off. After all, with only a month's time, and the marriage involving both the Tokai and Symboli families, completing even basic preparations was already impressive.
But this, too, was exactly what the Tokai family wanted.
After all, if things went wrong, it would still look bad on them, so fewer people knowing about it was better.
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T/N: FUTA???? OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO