Chapter 001
There is a saying in this world.
That if it rains on your wedding day, the couple will live a very prosperous life.
Someone out there surely believed those words and had a happy ceremony, but unfortunately, that proverb didn’t seem to apply to me.
“Haah, haah…”
As the bride, I was running breathlessly, still clad in my wedding dress. The gown tailored specifically for today was already covered in stains and torn into a tattered mess.
“Get inside, over there!”
“Take cover immediately!”
The people who had attended as guests were already busy fleeing for safety.
“The rebels are breaking in!”
“Escort Their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress to the inner chambers!”
“Summon the mages and priests! To your guard posts!”
Everyone was frantically devising countermeasures, but not a single person spared a glance for me, the bride.
It was only natural.
After all, this wedding was nothing more than a performance.
* * *
I was the daughter of a Saint.
I use the past tense because I am no longer “the Saint’s daughter.”
The family I belonged to, Agnito, was a Ducal house of the Empire known as ‘Those Blessed by God.’
The Agnito family produced Saints for generations, but because they possessed such immense divine power, only one person per generation could become a Saint.
Naturally, many coveted that bloodline. As a restriction to protect the Saint, she was required to marry someone chosen by the Temple.
Agnito, having produced Saints for ages, was immensely proud of these marital ties. Everyone was desperate to marry into the family of a Saint.
However, that prestige shattered in an instant.
The Saint—my mother—suddenly became pregnant with another man’s child.
The father was unknown. My mother’s divine power vanished.
To make matters worse, the child born from her—me—manifested no abilities at all.
What followed was predictable.
My mother was officially recorded as having died during childbirth, and the child born was forbidden from taking a single step outside the family estate…
A common, tragic tale.
From Agnito’s perspective, I had smeared dirt on the family’s reputation, so it was only natural that they loathed me intensely.
Regardless, the fact that I was a child born of ‘impurity’ remained unchanged.
Lacking any ability, I had to remain shut away in my room alone.
If it hadn’t been for ‘that boy’ I met by chance, I would have stayed that way forever.
With his help, I was able to gradually step out of my room.
But that wasn’t the end of it. I wanted a family.
So, I tried everything I could to truly become an ‘Agnito.’
Then, one day.
“Get married, Hanisha.”
My maternal uncle, Duke Agnito, spoke.
“They are those who have reconstructed the Forbidden Lands. Their momentum is unusual, but we lack the justification to suppress them. There has been an order from His Imperial Majesty to propose an alliance through marriage. You shall marry their leader.”
“But, Your Grace…”
I couldn’t help but hesitate at the sudden marriage proposal.
If a marriage was truly necessary, it would be better for my cousin, Esther, to marry him instead of me.
Unlike me, Esther was the only Saint in the Empire.
However.
“If this marriage is handled well, you will finally be able to become a true Agnito. His Imperial Majesty and the Temple will both acknowledge you.”
“…”
“This is all for the sake of the family.”
I had never once been revealed to the public. It was because I was the family’s stain. It was to the point where more people remembered me as the ‘Stain’ than by my actual name.
To someone like me, the recognition of the Agnito family was something I craved more than anything.
So, I accepted the marriage.
I was scared, but I also felt a small spark of expectation.
Having a husband meant forming a family of my own.
And then, on the long-awaited wedding day.
“It’s the rebels! Move that way!”
The man who was supposed to become my husband had led an army and stormed the Imperial Palace.
“Found her, she’s over there!”
“Milady, come this way!”
I heard voices shouting at me from behind.
It was the Agnito Knights, who were originally supposed to protect me, but I ignored them and kept running.
Just before the wedding ceremony began, the Duke had told me this:
“If anything happens to you, head toward the west corridor in the inner palace. I have made other arrangements there.”
Until that moment, I truly believed the Duke was looking out for me.
But at the promised location, there was no one.
Truly, no one at all.
“Congratulations, Sister.”
In that moment, I recalled the words Esther—the Saint and my cousin—had said to me right before the wedding.
“You’ll be able to be free now. You’ve worked hard all this time.”
Only then did all the puzzle pieces fall into place.
The entrance connected directly to the Imperial forest. A passageway where not even a single refugee could be seen. This scene, looking as if it had been emptied on purpose…
‘It was all a planned setup.’
This marriage was merely bait to lead the rebels into the heart of the palace.
‘And I am just a chess piece to be discarded.’
The moment I realized this, I tried to flee the area. As if they had been waiting, the Agnito Knights began to pursue me.
It became even clearer.
The Duke wants me to die.
To create the perfect justification to suppress the rebels. And so, he could demand a fitting price from the Imperial family in return.
“…Haah, haah.”
Why was it?
I thought I would burst into tears, but no thoughts came to mind.
Perhaps it was because I had known all along that it would turn out like this.
That no matter how much I struggled, I could never become a real part of the family. That I could never be acknowledged.
Because I was alone from the very beginning…
“Ugh!”
In that moment, my body was grabbed firmly. It was the Agnito Knights.
“We called you ‘Milady’ and you really thought you were some kind of noblewoman…”
“Let go of me!”
“Just come along!”
There was no mercy in the violent force pulling me. It was just as I was being dragged away.
“Gah…!”
Suddenly, with gasping breaths, the knights collapsed onto the ground one by one.
It was because of someone standing before me, who had appeared out of nowhere.
Hair as black as the night sky. Golden eyes.
A man whose face was perfectly hidden from below his eyes down to his toes by a mask connected to his tunic.
I didn’t even need to ask to know who he was.
Rene.
The Lord of the ‘Forbidden Lands’ and the illegitimate child of the Emperor.
Abandoned from birth, he had survived tenaciously to become the leader of the rebels, uniting many races including magic beasts, beastmen, and elves.
And… the man who was to be my husband.
The man, who had cut down many knights in an instant without a single sound, slowly straightened his posture.
Noticing the blood dripping from the tip of his sword a moment too late, he flicked it off nonchalantly as if it were a nuisance.
Then, our eyes met.
“…”
He gazed at me with quiet eyes.
I stumbled back. It was because I didn’t know what to say or how to act.
It was then.
Rene slowly approached me.
I flinched and retreated further.
My gaze was drawn to the sword that was still dripping with blood.
Is that why?
“…Heugh.”
Tears, which hadn’t even fallen when I realized I was abandoned, finally began to stream down. Because it felt as if that sword would pierce through my body at any second.
Seeing me avoid him, Rene frowned and followed my gaze to his own sword.
“…”
Then he lifted his gaze to look at me again.
I swallowed hard. I wondered if Rene would charge at me while holding that sword, but…
Clang!
With a sharp, shattering sound, the sword fell helplessly to the floor.
Rene had suddenly tossed his sword aside.
As if… he had noticed that I was afraid of that blade.
It was before I could even process the situation.
“I believe the wedding hall is that way.”
A strange voice intervened.
Black hair fluttering with the dust. Crimson eyes. Black energy scattering around him.
It was the Duke of Stykia from the North, Pater Stykia.
The House of Stykia was one of the four great Ducal houses of the Empire, a family that had walked the path of ruin due to a certain incident.
However, that was all in the past.
After this man before me, Pater Stykia, inherited the title, the Duchy had once again enjoyed the greatest prosperity in the Empire.
Of course, that is if one includes their notoriety as “Trash” in that prosperity.
Without me noticing when he arrived, the Duke of Stykia spoke while partially blocking my front.
“Since the bride and groom are both here, it’s not like I found the wrong place.”
“…”
“In that case, am I the officiant?”
The Duke of Stykia asked back with a light shrug.
But I couldn’t answer.
Why is the Duke of Stykia here?
Not only was this our first meeting, but he had no justification to protect me.
And his face… that was…
“Young Lady.”
“…!”
Even though I flinched visibly, the Duke of Stykia remained unperturbed.
“What is your name?”
He asked in a relaxed tone. Since there had been few people who asked for my name, I stammered as I answered.
“Ha… it’s Hanisha.”
“Right, Hanisha. I know my face is handsome enough to make even a bride-to-be lose her mind, but shall we try to snap out of it?”
A slow, playful tone. Yet, I snapped back to my senses at his words that pierced the core of the matter.
“It seems the bride is frightened, so it looks like today isn’t the day. The dumped groom should come back next time.”
At the Duke of Stykia’s words, Rene, who had been expressionless throughout, furrowed his brow.
“…Move.”
Soon, a low voice flowed out from behind the black veil that had swallowed his expression.
“Men who push too hard aren’t charming. The bride will run away. This is advice coming from experience.”
“I do not kill the innocent. But if you do not move, I will kill you too.”
“He’s even violent. Young Lady, he’s the worst as a husband candidate, so how about reconsidering this marriage?”
Even as he said that, the Duke of Stykia slowly drew up his energy. It was his mana, which he hadn’t shown for years to the point it was considered a secret.
“I feel bad for the groom, but I can’t back down either. I’m quite desperate on my end too.”
“So you are on the Emperor’s side.”
“If I had to choose, then yes.”
The moment the Duke of Stykia expressed his affirmation, Rene’s gaze instantly turned cold.
The mana leaking from the two men clashed fiercely in the air.
While neither of them moved, and only the heavy atmosphere weighed down on the area…
Rumble—!
The ground shook with a massive roar.
Simultaneously, the sky slowly darkened.
Was it an earthquake? Or some other magic?
I had never seen magic that could spread darkness over such a wide area…
‘Ah.’
Realizing it like a bolt of lightning, I raised my head.
It wasn’t the sky that was darkening.
The Imperial Palace was collapsing.
Right over my head.
In that moment, the life I had endured flashed before my eyes like a revolving lantern.
“Young Lady!”
“…Nisha!”
Voices calling out to me came from somewhere as well.
But I couldn’t turn my gaze.
‘If.’
I thought as I watched the debris of the building pouring down toward me.
Even though it was impossible.
‘If another chance were given to me…’
And then, my vision went completely dark.
