My sister has been going through a little Fire Emblem Three Houses trip, so I figured I should bounce off her brainrot and write for one of my favorite characters in the game!

Enjoy a little Marianne One Shot!

-----

Being married to someone you hate is hell.

Being married to someone you love is heaven.

And being married to someone you don't know can very easily turn into either.

So when (Y/n) was married off to Marianne von Edmund, he had a feeling it would be more hell than heaven.

The ceremony was rushed because neither of their fathers cared to glamorize it, the marriage was purely political to justify the House of Fairbrook politically merging with the House of Edmund, and to top it all off, Marianne hadn't said a word to (Y/n). Not even a single one!

So yeah, things looked hellish.

(Y/n) sighed as he sat in his garden. The rushing wind and flowing water paid for by the House of Fairbrook certainly made clearing his mind a little easier, but he only wished his father could've married him off to someone with a little more personally than a wet rock.

"Or maybe I'm judging her a bit too harshly? If she hates this arranged marriage as much as I do, then her reluctance to speak is reasonable," (Y/n) clicked his tongue, looking into the distance. The home overlooked a small village that was known for its bustling marketplace. It wasn't uncommon to see the servants of some nobles from time to time, or even some nobles themselves, assuming they weren't snobby.

The village was already bustling, even as the sun began to rise from beyond the mountains of Fodlan. Truly, it was a beautiful sight.

And then he heard the sliding door behind himself open and the beauty of the village suddenly seemed annoying. Opting not to turn around, (Y/n) simply listened to the sound of Marianne's awfully light breathing. But there was something wafting around... what was that smell?

'Sheesh, does she not even breath right? That's... wow, that's actually impressive.'

"I, um, I... I'm sorry!" And then, just like that, she ran off.

(Y/n) slowly craned his head around, looking at the spot where Marianne once was in pure astonishment. He fully planned on spending the moment in pure shock at how it turned out that the girl wasn't what he expected, but something caught his eye.

Well, in truth, it caught his nose first.

The smell of freshly made breakfast caught his attention. Sweet Bun Trio and freshly brewed java were sitting on a little tray, with accompanying utensils and sides! As a true expert of Sweet Bun Trios, (Y/n) was stunned that it was cooked as he liked it, not just as was typically liked.

He liked it a little darker in the center than the outside to get a specific crunch to it halfway through the meal. And it was done exactly like that!

"How...." (Y/n) stopped asking the question before a second word could come from his mouth. No, it was clear how she knew. "She... asked father? Or one of the maids?"

The house constructed for the newly wedded couple was completely devoid of maids. It was supposed to allow the newly weds to "get to know one another," which (Y/n) found quite... annoying. If there were some maids around, it would've been very easy to take the responsibility of cooking and give them the credit, but as such, that was impossible.

The truth had to be faced.

"She's clearly not just a wet rock. She's probably just crazily shy and here I am insulting her, damn it. She even went out of her way to make my favorite breakfast the day after we got married. Shit," (Y/n) rose, insulting himself all the way before chowing down on the food.

He may've felt like garbage for his actions, but that didn't mean he was going to let his favorite meal of all time go to waste!

He finished the food and sat the tray down on one of the marble counters he was already becoming accustomed to. He went to his bedroom — they had separate bedrooms, Marianne's choice— and changed before preparing to head out. All the while, he didn't run into the insanely introverted woman.

Hoping to rectify his actions even a little bit, he knocked on her door and waited to hear some kind of response. Rather than a response, he could actually tell that she went still in the room, as if she'd been caught in some crime.

Getting the feeling she wasn't planning on responding anytime soon, (Y/n) gently spoke. "Thanks for the food earlier, I, uh, I appreciate it a lot. It was really good. Uh, anyways, I'm heading out to the village, and I should be back later."

He waited for a second for any kind of response, but after about twenty seconds, he gave up on it and left with a sigh.

-----

The life of the village was even more impressive when walking through the area than when looking down from above. It wouldn't be inaccurate to compare the hustle and bustle of the village to a war zone when (Y/n) thought of the silence of his and Marianne's home.

And in the city, (Y/n) was well-known.

Vendors happily waved to him, and a few friends spoke to him from time to time. One of those friends was a jovial young man named Gano.

"Hey, (Y/n)! I heard you got married, eh?" The grinning man elbowed (Y/n) in the side. The noble man rolled his eyes. "The, uh, lucky lady is the Edmund girl, right?"

To hear his seemingly brainless friend hesitate grabbed (Y/n)'s full attention. He glanced at his friend, saying, "Yeah. Marianne von Edmund is her name. Why do you mention her?"

"I, uh... well, you've heard the rumors, right?"

(Y/n) frowned. "What rumors?"

Gano cleared his throat. "Like how she's cursed, y'know?"

"I don't know," (Y/n) responded clearly. "So, tell me straight, what is it?"

Gano nodded slowly. "Her, uh, her parents died like, years ago, I think. There's always some bad thing happening around her. I was just curious if you knew, especially if anything weird... uh... happened...."

Gano's voice tapered off as he took a step away from (Y/n). The noble's face was contorted into an expression not often seen on him, rage.

(Y/n) slowly turned to face Gano. "That sweet girl has rumors like those following her?"

"Uh, y-yeah."

(Y/n) clenched his jaw. His expression eased a little bit. "Gano, do you know where the flower shop is?"

-----

Being no saint, (Y/n) couldn't say he had learned essentially anything about Marianne before the marriage. He was more focused on how much he'd hate it to really think about asking her about herself at all, or better, to ask anyone she knew about her. There were a few people there, at the marriage, like Hilda Goneril or THE Claude von Riegan.

How he even showed up to marriage that was essentially unprompted was completely unknown to (Y/n). The King of Almyra just... unceremoniously appearing like that was simultaneously terrifying and amazing.

Regardless, (Y/n) didn't know what Marianne liked, and he didn't have any way of learning the information in a pinch. So, when prompted with, "What kind of flowers are you looking for today?" (Y/n) answered, "The kind of flowers that show a woman she's... loved."

So obviously he returned home with roses.

"I'll leave them at her door, and knock. Then I'll... uh, I dunno, figure it out from there? If she comes out then I guess I shouldn't set them down or that'll just be stupid. But it seems like there's a very, very low chance of that happening. Maybe I should just leave them and not knock? Ooooh, wait, maybe a note is for the best? That way I'm positive she can read what I mean?" (Y/n) hummed to himself, liking the thought of creating a note for the woman.

He entered the shared home and stopped in his tracks.

Marianne was standing there, seeming to be walking back to her room. But when (Y/n) appeared, she turned to face him.

It was only right then, right there, that he realized she was beautiful. It felt extremely late to the man, because she looked no different than the day before, but no, she did look different.

This was real. The marriage was arranged, and the smile she wore was not only forced, but a mask. This, however, despite the gloomy aura she radiated, was undeniably real. And in that way, it was also undeniably more gorgeous.

The sight of her actually made (Y/n) pause uncharacteristically. He wasn't often literally caught off-guard like this, but here he was, caught.

She took that opportunity to turn and began to quickly walk back to her room.

"W-Wait!" (Y/n) yelled, quickly following Marianne. He gave her adequate space, but still kept close enough to force her to notice him. And shockingly, she actually stopped. She didn't face him, but he took her halted attempt at fleeing as a decent first step. "First, I really need to apologize for before. I... I was an asshole before. I didn't really try to see your side of things."

"N-No, you don't need to apologize. I... um... I'm sorry! I'm no good at talking to new people. Claude and Hilda made me promise that I'd try harder, but I'm just too scared. Just ignore me!" Marianne continued to walk away, and stunned into silence, (Y/n) let her go.

A few seconds later, (Y/n) let out a sigh and sunk in place. "Good job, prince charming. Really stood out as the knight in shining armor there."

Making a conscious decision to not beat himself up any further, (Y/n) got to work.

Firstly, Marianne had it bad. She had clearly opened up to people before, but she wasn't quite ready to accept getting married to (Y/n). That was fair, he originally had no interest in being married to her.

Why did that change?

Easy answer: She was cute.

Secondly, Marianne would be tough to break because of how bad she had it. However, she wasn't impossible to break, shown by her friends. I mean, shoot, she was close enough for the goddamn King of Almyra to show up, so that had to mean something.

Lastly, she clearly wasn't very receptive to direct confrontations. Vocal compliments would probably be outright denied or seen as some twisted insult.

So, (Y/n) crafted a — hopefully — ingenious plan and set everything up. He knocked on Marianne's door gently stepping over the flowers and notes he spent the last several hours crafting.

"Hey, uh, Marianne. I'm heading to the market again. If you need anything... well, I have a feeling you won't. But uh, yeah, that's where I'm going. So, uh, feel free to leave and uh, roam the house."

Feeling sufficiently stupid, (Y/n) turned on his heel and left for the village. 'Let's hope this goes well.'

It took about an hour, but Marianne did leave her room. She made a conscious effort to peak outside to make sure she was alone, but she did leave. And she was thoroughly surprised to see a rose put at the foot of her door, placed over a small note.

She didn't quite frown as much as blink, bending down and picking the note and flower gently. She read the note aloud, "I often fail to be romantic even on my best of days, but today I'm willing to try. And I must tell you, your kindness towards animals has been seen and recognized. We'll have a stable, if you wish for one."

There was a trail of petals leading to the next flower and note. "Your...." Marianne hesitated. "Your beauty is something even the goddess would aspire to recreate."

Marianne found herself gently blushing. If the man was here, she could deny his compliments, but with no one to argue with, she found fighting the words to be quite pointless. She flipped the note around to see a separate message scrawled on the back.

"Yeah, yeah, possibly a bit hyperbolic. Listen, I just think you're pretty, honestly," the note admitted. His honesty brought a small smile to the meek woman's face.

Another note. "The food this morning was absolutely delicious. Like, wow, if this is an annual event, I'll absolutely need to mark my calendars!"

There was another, and another, and another. But one caught Marianne's eye.

It was a lone note, without a flower. Instead, the ink pen used was next to it.

"I have to be completely honest; everything about this freaks me out. I don't know anything about you, so maybe this all came off totally wrong and I've doomed the rest of our known lives to a sorrowful existence where we hate every day. I know that's kinda... a fatalistic way of looking at things, but it's a fear. But I hope my stupidity will make all this just a little bit easier. I promise to make this as bearable as I can."

Marianne took the ink pen and began writing.

-----

(Y/n) only got home late at night, to leave the most opportunities for Marianne to see and experience his work. And when he walked inside, the sign of his work was actually mostly gone!

The flowers were put into a vase and were somehow shining with more brilliance than before. 99% of the notes were gone, but one was propped up against the flower vase.

(Y/n) sat down and grabbed the note gently. The very first thing he notices was how god-awful Marianne's writing was. But something about that made his heart flutter. He could read it just fine.

"I think this will be more than bearable. I won't say I know you, since that's a little presumptuous, but right now, more than anyone else, I'd... love to learn more about you. In that way, I too, promise to make this as bearable as I can."

(Y/n) felt himself grinning from ear to ear, pumping his free fist into the air with renewed vigor. "Hell yeah! A cute girl's giving me a shot! I'm not blowing this one, we're already married!"

Unlike what (Y/n) expected, Marianne stood just outside of her door to listen. A small smile rose to her face. She couldn't help herself from giggling. "Hehe."

Being married to someone you hate is hell.

Being married to someone you love is heaven.

And being married to Marianne von Edmund is a situation (Y/n) was beginning to enjoy.