I Must Survive
“First on the list? What are you talking about?”
Marchioness Laurelle stood in front of Lilliana, demanding answers.
“Prince Tesid had a special condition for the lady to be brought in first. Platinum blonde hair, and green eyes… it is exactly right.”
The secretary looked over the Marchioness’s shoulder, reconfirming Freya’s face, and smiled with satisfaction.
‘What? He specifically asked for a lady with platinum blonde hair and green eyes? Then running away wouldn’t do any good, would it?’
Lilliana’s face fell.
‘But why those conditions? Surely, he’s not looking for me to take revenge for pointing my finger and running away that day. No way, that couldn’t be…’
Anxiety churned uneasily in Lilliana’s chest. She felt the death flag she thought she had escaped was once again approaching her.
A little later.
“The wedding will only take place after safely surviving the first night?” Lilliana asked again, disbelieving her ears as the secretary explained the marriage procedure.
‘Since so many brides keep dying on the first night, I guess they’ll only hold the wedding for the ones who survive now. What an economical move. Can the Royal Family really do that?’
She had a week left until she was to enter the palace for the first night. She had to find a way to survive within that time.
“My dear, run away now while you still can. I will testify that you are not the real Freya.”
After the royal secretary departed, Marchioness Laurelle pleaded.
“But since they’re looking for a woman with platinum blonde hair and green eyes, running away will be useless. He’s already confirmed my face.”
“You’re like family to me now. I can’t lose another daughter like this.” The Marchioness embraced Lilliana, tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke with resignation.
“Thank you. I also consider the Marchioness to be like my new family. This is the first time I’ve ever received such warm care.” Lilliana’s eyes were moist as she recalled the past days.
Before she was betrayed by Sylvia, Lilliana had worked diligently for the Count Widdersohn family, grateful that they had adopted her.
For a supporting character who died in the prologue, Lilliana was granted the rather excessive ability called the ‘Hand of Purification.’
It wasn’t a powerful ability, as the name might suggest. It simply meant that any surface she touched became cleaner than if someone else had handled it. It was like the difference between sweeping the floor with a broom and using a vacuum cleaner—a bit cleaner and faster. That’s the kind of difference it was.
“Won’t you use your ability for the Count’s family? We are family, after all.”
The Countess noticed her ability early on. And from the time Lilliana turned nine, she was burdened with all the cleaning and laundry of the Count’s house.
‘In other words, she used me as a human vacuum cleaner, a human washing machine.’
In some ways, she was treated worse than a maid. A maid at least received a salary. However, the Countess expected her to be grateful and serve for everything, using the single word ‘family.’
The reality omitted from the one-line description—that they had adopted a foundling and raised her with devoted care and love—was exactly this.
“Lilliana, your little sister will be born soon.”
After Lilliana was taken in as a foundling, the Countess finally conceived the child she had been longing for. Lilliana was excited about having a sister, but she soon realized they were not in the same boat.
Nevertheless, Lilliana believed the words, “We are family.”
Even when all the good things went to her younger sister, and even when she was made to work like the sister’s nanny because she was a child who still needed care herself, she thought she could do that much for her family.
But now, she realized. To them, she had never been true family.
“If you marry Hans, it will be a great help to our Widdersohn Count family. Didn’t you always say you wanted to do anything for our family? Besides, Hans is more than you deserve. A person must know their place.”
It was also at the Count’s urging that she got engaged to the eldest son of the Baron Anderson family, a family with a lot of money but low status.
However, Hans, who had persistently courted her as if he would pluck the stars from the sky for her, was secretly involved with her younger sister Sylvia. And now, Lilliana’s death and the ‘Marriage Conscription Order’ would serve as a convenient excuse for them to realize their love.
“Don’t worry. I will definitely survive. I will become the Princess Consort and make the Marchioness proud.” Lilliana said with a determined look, recalling the past events.
‘No matter how far I run, this damn novel will somehow drag me back to the death flag.’
Since the novel’s title itself hinges on her death, what was the point of a brief escape now?
‘But do they think I’ll just meekly die? No, I will survive somehow.’
Lilliana strengthened her resolve.
She had already defied the predetermined plot of the novel and survived once. There was no reason she couldn’t survive twice, or three times.
‘Since things have come to this, I’ll survive the first night with Tesid and become the Princess Consort. If I hold the highest power, even Sylvia and Hans won’t dare to kill me easily.’
After comforting the Marchioness and sending her off, Lilliana sat down at her desk with resolute eyes. She picked up a quill pen and began to write down the information she knew onto the parchment, one by one.
First. The rumor that Tesid wears a veil because he is displeased with others looking at him.
‘If he dislikes others looking at him, he must hate being touched even more, right?’
I need to be careful not to accidentally touch him, ever. Although I’m very curious about his face, lifting the veil while he’s asleep is…
Gulp.
Just imagining lifting the veil of a handsome man in deep sleep made her swallow.
‘No, absolutely not.’
No matter how curious I am, it’s not worth trading for my life. Lilliana took hold of herself.
Second. The rumor that he killed his brides because he couldn’t stand the fact that they weren’t as beautiful as he was.
‘Isn’t he a complete psychopath? Killing someone because they are less attractive than him?’
Lilliana set down the quill pen for a moment and walked to the mirror. She knew her own strength: her face!
Lilliana was the villainess who died in the prologue, but fortunately, she had the built-in attribute of being a ‘Beauty.’
When describing her evil deeds in the novel, the phrase ‘her beautiful face was contrasted by her ugly heart’ was briefly attached only once, which seemed to be the reason for this attribute.
Large, sparkling emerald-green eyes. When she looked intensely at someone, a powerful aura was felt, but when she relaxed her gaze and blinked, the look instantly changed to one of innocence and fragility.
Her slightly small but high-bridged nose, and her cherry-like red lips, accentuated her lovely atmosphere. And her platinum blonde hair, which flowed in natural curls without a perm, exuded a noble and mysterious air.
‘Perhaps this is why Count Widdersohn adopted me instead of casting me out.’
She looked like a noble lady to anyone who saw her. Even if they didn’t know her origin, she was too precious-looking to be treated as a maid.
‘Even so, I was still used more severely than a maid in the end.’ Sigh.
Shaking off the past she didn’t want to think about, Lilliana reaffirmed her resolve toward her reflection in the mirror.
‘If he kills me because he doesn’t like my face, then all the other women in the Bayliss Duchy will just die.’
That was Lilliana’s confidence. Whatever else, she believed she wouldn’t be killed because of her looks.
So, the second rumor is a pass.
Finally, the third. The rumor that Tesid was so excessively virile that his brides died.
‘Oh, goodness. Really. Seriously.’
Lilliana’s face flushed pink as she recalled the third rumor.
‘But how exactly do you survive the first night while avoiding touching him as much as possible?’
Also, isn’t this rumor completely contradictory to the first and second?
A man who hates base people looking at him, hates being touched, and dislikes ugly brides is going to be that way on the first night?
‘I don’t think this one is right.’
However, if there was even a slight possibility, she had to be thoroughly prepared.
For the week leading up to the first night, Lilliana diligently ate strengthening foods, exercised, and built up her stamina.
And finally, the great day arrived.
