Chapter 02

“Milady…”

Across from me in the carriage sat Margaret, the maid who had lived with me at the duke’s estate. Her brown eyes were filled with worry for me.

“I told you… you don’t have to come with me.”

I felt terribly guilty that Margaret had to leave her family behind and travel to another empire because of me, so I told her that if I were dragged away she should stay at the duchy.

“How could you survive without me? You still mix up the fork and spoon…”

She was the same age as me, and I could tell she was trying to lighten the mood inside the carriage with jokes like that.

“I know… I can’t live without you, Margaret. I’ll treat you well, okay?”

When I held her hand and expressed my gratitude, Margaret smiled softly and stroked my hand—as if she were my older sister.

+++

Exhausted, Margaret fell asleep inside the carriage. I looked out the window and recalled my past.

Three years ago, when I was fifteen, I died in a hospital in South Korea.

I had spent over ten years mostly in hospitals. The only things I ever did were read romance novels or watch the TV mounted on the wall.

After my death, I found myself collapsed in a grassy field in a forest of the Luna Empire, where the duke—who would become my adoptive father—found me and took care of me as though I were his own daughter.

Just before I reached adulthood, they officially adopted me and made me a noble lady of the empire.

Back then, I really thought nothing but flower paths lay ahead for me.

Even before my formal adoption, they taught me not only the etiquette of a noble but also swordsmanship and archery. They even let me wear beautiful dresses and attend imperial banquets—places a commoner could never dream of entering.

My loving foster parents. My kind, handsome older brother Chester. The warm-hearted people of the duke’s estate. For someone who suddenly fell into this world out of nowhere, the duke’s estate was the perfect shelter.

Which is why… last night they didn’t even station guards outside, to make it easier for me to run away…

But perhaps someone envied my good fortune?

The moment I became an adult, Crown Prince Ian began pressuring me to enter the palace as his concubine.

Probably because my black hair and black eyes were rare.

Indeed—black hair and black eyes were almost nonexistent here. Among nobles, I was the only one, so people stared at me with fascination.

Fortunately, since I was legally a noble lady, they couldn’t forcibly drag me away.

Ian! The more I think about that jerk, the more annoyed I get!

After losing a war they themselves had provoked, the emperor and Crown Prince Ian decided to send Princess Catherine as a hostage bride to the Abel Empire as part of the peace treaty.

But the very morning before she was to depart for her wedding, she vanished.

And as if they had been waiting for this, they ordered me to marry in her place.

They must have hidden Princess Catherine somewhere… because they didn’t want to send her!

That had to be the case. Otherwise how could she disappear the day before?

The Agnis Duchy I was adopted into had originally been a distant branch of the imperial family. So by law, they could send me—a duchy’s adopted daughter—in place of the princess.

Not even a drop of shared blood! Those awful people! That awful imperial family!

Why did they start a war, and why was I the one who had to clean up their mess? I tried to run away, but they caught me.

“Ugh. So annoying… what am I supposed to do…”

I was overwhelmed thinking about how to handle a marriage that even the princess had run away from, supposedly because the groom—Callis—was terrifying.

+++

“From here on, we will escort you.”

It must have been the border. People dressed in unfamiliar uniforms of blue surrounded my carriage to escort it.

Margaret and I opened the carriage window to look at them.

Wow… they’re huge… What were the emperor and crown prince thinking starting a war with these people…?

They were all much taller and more muscular than the men from my empire.

Is it because I’ve only ever seen the people in the capital?

Possibly. The only well-built men I’d seen were the duke’s knights with their sleek physiques.

“I am Owen, commander of the knights. I will be in charge of your escort.”

A middle-aged man among them stepped forward and bowed. His hair, shining bright gold under the afternoon sun, contrasted with his bronzed skin.

“I understand.”

I answered indifferently and closed the window. In Owen’s golden eyes, there wasn’t even a hint of welcome.

“Milady… don’t they seem… a bit too big?”

Margaret must have felt the same because she shivered slightly and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Don’t worry, Margaret. I’ll protect you.”

“I’ll protect you, milady.”

Her brown hair tied cutely into two braids today, Margaret clenched her tiny fists with determination.

Ah. So cute. Margaret! I’ll definitely protect you!

I hugged her tightly again as she blinked her big squirrel-like eyes.

+++

“Lady Philina, dinner is prepared.”

Perhaps the other knights found it uncomfortable to speak to me—Owen was always the one addressing me.

“Sir Owen, I’ll eat outside the carriage. Staying inside all day is too tiring.”

After days of eating and drinking while stuck on a carriage seat, nothing digested properly.

Why! Why do I have to wear a wedding dress even inside the carriage!?

I was dying from discomfort. Since only Margaret and I were women, I couldn’t change clothes frequently… which meant I even slept in this frilly, heavy wedding dress.

Apparently, the reason they prepared so many wedding dresses was because Abel Empire customs required the bride to remain in her wedding attire even inside the carriage.

At least they didn’t make me wear the veil.

“But outside… there are only male knights. Will you be all right?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll eat right in front of the carriage and only walk around nearby.”

I was suffocating in the prison-like carriage. Eating through stress in this bleak reality was exhausting too—I just wanted to stretch my legs. Margaret seemed delighted at the idea of going outside.

“Very well. I’ll prepare a table.”

Owen glanced between us and quickly set a small table in front of the carriage.

+++

When we stepped out, there were no farmlands—just a wide, empty plain. The sharp autumn sunlight made us squint.

Ah… the weather is ridiculously perfect.

The cloudless blue sky was so bright it contrasted painfully with my dark mood.

That sky… it’s exactly the same sky I saw with Mom in my past life.

And the same blue sky I saw while walking in the garden with the duchess in the Luna Empire…

“Milady!”

“Ah! You scared me! I almost dropped my heart!”

Margaret must have noticed me getting sentimental because she suddenly called out loudly from behind.

“Gasp—Milady! Who was it? Who made you cry? I’ll kill him right now!”

Oh, Margaret… with those tiny hands that couldn’t even kill an ant, talking big again.

“I was just speaking figuratively.”

“Honestly! Don’t say weird things! You studied etiquette for three years!”

“All right, don’t be mad, okay?”

Really… who was the lady and who was the maid?

I put my arm around the sulking Margaret to comfort her.

After finishing our meal, we stretched our cramped bodies.

“Ughhhh. My joints are killing me before I even get married.”

When I stretched my arm above my head and groaned, Margaret turned pale and rushed to cover my mouth.

“Milady, I told you not to say things like that! Gracefully. Gracefully!”

She was far more elegant than me, and she panicked whenever I acted unladylike—which only made me want to do it more.

“Try it, Margaret. It feels good.”

“Sh-should I…?”

She must have been stiff too, because she fell into my trap.

“Kya—!”

When I pushed her back to help her stretch, she screamed and tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

“Milady. Now it’s your turn.”

“Kya—!”

Margaret took revenge thoroughly. Every bone and muscle in my body was stretched to the point I screamed. She had surprisingly strong hands.

“Ahh. That’s better. Doesn’t it feel nice, Margaret?”

“Yes. My body feels lighter.”

“Um…”

“Milady… they’re coming toward us…”

While we were stretching, a group of large, dark horses approached—ridden by knights wearing uniforms so stained we couldn’t even tell their original color.

+++

Callis was returning with his knights after subjugating bandits in the mountains near the capital.

Rushing back in time for his wedding, their once-blue uniforms remained stained with blood.

“Commander, I think that carriage over there is hers.”

Dylan, his close friend and vice-captain, stopped talking for a moment and pointed to the fancy white carriage in the distance.

“Philina Agnis, wasn’t it?”

A few days ago, the Emperor of Abel had ordered Callis to subjugate the bandits and told him that his future wife was not the princess of Luna, but a duchy’s adopted daughter—her origins unknown.

“It doesn’t matter.”

She was going to live locked up in the duke’s estate anyway. Whether she was a princess or a lady made no difference.

During peace negotiations, the Crown Prince of Abel had demanded the princess as a hostage bride. The emperor, fearing the growing power of Duke Rubelia’s household, ordered Callis to marry the hostage instead—so Callis wouldn’t marry a powerful noblewoman.

“The emperor must be thrilled.”

He would be even happier now that it was a nobody from nowhere.

“Will you go greet the lady?”

Red-haired Dylan grinned playfully.

“Of course.”

Callis answered carelessly and headed toward the white carriage.

Dozens of knights in blue cloaks followed him toward Philina’s carriage—still covered in blood from battle.

+++

Dozens of men on black horses galloped toward us, their cloaks flapping, stained to a color I could no longer identify.

One of them fixed his gaze on me as if he had locked onto his target.

Riding a black horse and wearing a dark red uniform, with silver hair… he stared at me like he was looking at an enemy he needed to kill.

As the distance shrank, I could even see that his eyes were red—