Episode 1: The Five-Year-Old Bride
The House of Ether. If the northern part of the continent was under the protection of the imperial family, the southern gate guarding the Misty Sea was theirs. A place where strange mists birthed all sorts of bizarre phenomena. Monsters, unlike anything seen inland, roamed freely through the impenetrable fog. Those who defended the south against these creatures became legends. Even monsters taking human form were mercilessly slain by the Dukes of Ether, whose ruthless efficiency and icy composure earned them both fear and influence.
But such power inevitably drew the emperor’s scrutiny. The duke of Ether, summoned to the north, received a single demand from the throne.
“I know the pain of being manipulated by relatives.”
In other words, he was being ordered to marry a girl from a powerless noble family.
The Duke of Ether had never cared for marriage. As the head of the house entrusted with protecting the boundary between land and the Misty Sea, he had spent more time on ships and battlefields than in the company of women.
“Very well.”
He didn’t care who his bride would be. Marriage, after all, was nothing he intended to enjoy. If she survived the cold, damp air of his estate without fleeing, it would already be a mercy. And so, he accepted the marriage proposal from the Levois family.
‘Nothing will really change.’
To him, it was just one more person staying in the estate.
A few days later, a shabby carriage from the Levois estate arrived at the Ether lands. The carriage, dirt-streaked from passing through fog-laden forests, creaked to a stop.
“Hello.”
He had thought nothing would change—but the moment he saw his bride, even the Duke of Ether’s cold, impenetrable expression cracked.
The daughter of Baron Levois was… five years old.
I could see the worn-out ceiling. In my previous life, I’d never slept in a place this dingy.
“….”
They say you wake up in another world and find it strange—but I never imagined it would actually happen to me. Yet it did. I had been screaming until the very last moment.
“Leitan, how could you…!”
I had shouted as I fell into molten lava. The heat swallowed me, and consciousness slipped away. When I woke, I found myself in this state.
“….”
To be precise, it had been five years since I first woke like this.
“I can’t believe this.”
The first sound I made upon opening my eyes wasn’t a grown-up curse, but a baby’s “waaah!” My previous-life anger at Leitan, wishing him a painful afterlife for all the betrayals, had somehow transformed into the voice of a newborn. I initially thought it was a dream. A year passed as I marveled at how much I liked being a baby.
Finally, I gained enough mobility to crawl around my tiny room. By then, there was no denying it—I had been reincarnated. Unlike my previous life, where I was born a commoner and had to study relentlessly to become a great mage, I was now born into a noble family. A silver spoon, finally.
But of course, life couldn’t be that simple.
“Cough!”
My constant coughing brought blood to my mouth. My heart—not my lungs—was the problem. Somehow, the mana surrounding it had carried over from my previous life. A great mage reborn as a five-year-old with a weak body was hardly a blessing. There wasn’t even a doctor nearby who understood mana.
“This illness… cannot be cured until you are taken to Alehara Palace.”
The physician’s diagnosis was blunt. The herbs available locally could keep me alive, but if I grew up weak, my heart wouldn’t withstand life itself. My parents, the Baron and Baroness Levois, initially tried to find the herbs.
“What? Herbs are that expensive?”
But after seeing the price, they gave up. The plant only grew near the southern coast, beyond the means of the Levois family.
“You useless little—!”
“Born weak…!”
From that moment, I became nothing more than a neglected child in my family. My baroness mother had never liked me, the child of a maid who died giving birth. Once she realized I would cost more than I was worth, she treated me with open disdain, striking me in front of the household staff.
“Can’t you stay in your room?”
Years passed with no cure for my illness. My mana grew restless, squeezing my heart, but I couldn’t use it without collapsing. Magic required a healthy body.
Then one day, without warning, my mother burst into my room.
“Cough!”
I stumbled to my feet, coughing blood. No servant came to help me.
“Disgusting…”
Her words cut through me. I realized I had to escape somehow—either die trying or somehow regain my strength to flee.
“Put this on immediately.”
A heap of white cloth was thrown at me. I barely caught it. It was far too large for a five-year-old, yet unmistakably… a wedding dress. Bejeweled, ornate, and clearly not a toy.
“Why…?”
The baroness answered casually:
“You will be a bride starting today.”
“A bride?”
“The Duke of Ether’s bride.”
What? Me? A five-year-old? I had heard stories of the Duke of Ether, the man who guarded the southern coast, known for treating monsters with ruthless efficiency and even executing humans who entered his territory at the wrong time. But I never imagined he would marry a child.
The carriage jolted. My pale, sickly face flushed as I realized I was being sent to the Duke’s mansion. In my tiny hands were white gloves; on my pink hair rested a small white veil. My round brown eyes shone like cherry blossoms.
“….”
The reflection in the carriage window was heartbreakingly cute. Beneath the veil, my round cheeks and lace-trimmed dress emphasized my youth. My tiny legs dangled above the floor, barely reaching the seat, while black shoes peeked beneath white socks.
“How… adorable.”
Adorable, yes—but I wasn’t here to play. I was being delivered to a man reputedly monstrous, a man who would marry a five-year-old.
“The mansion is ahead.”
A voice outside shouted. One of the Levois estate knights.
“If you try anything, your head will be the first to go!”
I frowned, feeling the surge of mana around my heart. The carriage jolted again. Hours passed in silence, the blind lowered to hide the interior.
“Here is the agreed payment.”
A strange man’s voice reached my ears. Had we arrived? The carriage stopped. The knights’ voices faded. Clearly, I had been sold.
I laughed bitterly. I knew the Duke of Ether sought a bride, but a five-year-old? Previously a great mage able to face dragons, now just a sickly child crushed under mana.
“To be married to a man willing to take a five-year-old as his bride…”
Suddenly, a voice outside greeted me.
“Welcome to Ether, Bride.”
I laughed again. Five years old, a wedding dress, and about to enter the domain of a ruthless, insane duke.
The carriage door opened. A towering man in black with golden hair and piercing blue eyes waited, gloves pristine, poised to receive his bride. My gaze met his.
“….”
The Duke of Ether froze for a moment.
“A child?”
He stepped closer. The foggy sky behind him, the sun hidden, and his imposing height cast a shadow over me. One of the Levois knights bowed.
“We have brought the bride.”
“…What?”
The duke peered into the carriage. Of course, I was the only one inside. He didn’t even know the age of his bride.
“You don’t mean… this child is my bride?”
A chilling aura radiated from him.
