Chapter : 2
I sat in a carriage with glass windows, blinking blankly.
‘What? Is it really going to be this easy?’
This was a completely different carriage from the one I had ridden when I came to the Empire.
The Northern Kingdom’s royal carriage had been a luxurious prison. It was flashy even from the outside, and the inside was decorated so extravagantly that it hurt my eyes. It made me feel as if I were a doll wrapped in expensive packaging.
‘Though I suppose there isn’t much difference between a doll and a concubine.’
But the carriage bearing the seal of the Grand Duchy of Gonette was different.
There were no noticeable decorations, so it almost looked like a simple transport wagon. But because of that, it looked much sturdier.
And, more importantly…
The lock was on the inside, not the outside.
I could lock and unlock it whenever I wanted.
‘My miserable life actually has moments like this…!’
After all, a male lead was designed to survive no matter how bleak the world around him became.
And Shurkan was the kind of person who kept his word so strictly that he could almost be called conservative about it.
‘So this time, I really have secured my safety!’
Strangely moved, I wiped at the corners of my eyes.
“Sniff! M-Miss Concubine!”
Just then, Erich, who had made eye contact with me through the window, hurried over.
I hadn’t closed the window yet.
I was afraid that if I closed it without permission, I might upset Shurkan.
I was being that careful about everything, even something as simple as breathing.
Erich came running and stopped right in front of the open window before lecturing me.
“If you’re trying to use your beauty on His Grace, you should stop!”
“……?”
“Ahem! There are already so many women in high society who shed waterfalls of tears only when they’re in front of His Grace, and now you’re doing this even on the battlefield! This won’t work on our Duke at all! Come on, stop crying…”
“Get lost.”
“Y-Yes, Your Grace!”
Shurkan, who had kicked Erich away, looked at me inside the carriage.
He looked puzzled.
“Why are you crying? Are you afraid because you think you’re being kidnapped to the Grand Duchy?”
Shurkan had been wearing heavy silver armor the entire time, and there were still clear traces of blood on his sword sheath.
I quickly pulled myself together and answered.
“Of course not. Thank you for showing me such kindness, Your Grace, Grand Duke Shurkan Gonette.”
The flattering words came out smoothly, but surprisingly, Shurkan questioned me.
“You aren’t afraid? Why?”
‘Why?’
“Because… there won’t be any war there.”
“Oh. That’s why. Then why are you crying?”
“Because… I’m so grateful that Your Grace kept your word…”
“Really? Enough to make you cry?”
“……”
My answer was slowly becoming harder to come up with.
No, more importantly…
The Shurkan in the original novel was extremely quiet, so why was the current Shurkan asking me so many questions?
There was a faint trace of curiosity in those naturally cold eyes, and that made me even more flustered.
Shurkan moved his chin slightly.
“Laureltianna?”
For a moment, I wondered if I had heard him correctly.
I asked in confusion,
“You know my name?”
“I called you because I know it.”
“How…?”
“You’re naive.”
“What?”
“Do you really think there is a commander who doesn’t know that the King of the Northern Kingdom sent his First Princess to the Pasa Empire instead of the Saintess’s daughter?”
“……”
The word sent struck my heart like a nail.
‘Damn it. That makes me feel like such a completely useless person.’
It wasn’t that he had touched some deep emotional wound or anything.
I didn’t consider being sent in Ayu’s place a personal trauma in the first place.
‘I wasn’t hurt. I was the one who suffered the consequences.’
So what was this feeling?
It was embarrassment.
Anyone would be embarrassed if a complete stranger knew all about their miserable family situation.
It was like wearing socks with holes in them, then being forced to take off your shoes in front of a group of strangers.
Just as I was about to speak…
“Your Grace! Your Grace, the Grand Duke!”
Erich, who had been kicked by Shurkan and had rolled far away, came running back while gasping for breath.
“We just received a reply from the Commander-in-Chief’s office! They said they won’t allow us to take that concubine out!”
“They won’t allow it?”
Shurkan turned around.
“What’s the reason?”
“Th-That… I didn’t know either, but according to the message we just received…”
Boom.
“Even if all the other concubines are allowed to be taken, you cannot take that woman wherever you please, Grand Duke Gonette. That woman is the half-sister of the Saintess’s daughter, after all.”
A deep male voice cut through Erich’s words.
A tall, well-built man stood there.
He wore a medal on his chest that showed he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces.
He was also carrying a sword.
The difference between him and Shurkan was that his sword sheath was completely clean, without a single drop of blood.
“Duke Baetan.”
At the sound of Shurkan’s voice, my ears perked up.
‘Duke Baetan?’
Was it because I was beside the male lead?
Was I really meeting Duke Baetan here?
The very man who turned Ayu into a darkened version of herself in the original story?
Shurkan asked coldly,
“Who her sister is has nothing to do with this.”
The two of them clearly didn’t seem to get along.
People often said they were like lions and tigers, unable to live on the same mountain.
Well, that probably wasn’t entirely wrong.
‘But I’ve read the whole original novel, so I know the real reason.’
The heroine of the original story, Ayu, had several secondary male leads.
Unlike Shurkan, the male lead whom Ayu met relatively late, the first man she became involved with was that very Duke Baetan.
Duke Baetan was Ayu’s first love.
He had an attractive appearance and an excellent status.
But what good did any of that do?
He was destined to remain a second male lead because he wasn’t chosen by the heroine.
‘Of course the male lead and the second male lead wouldn’t get along.’
So they were destined to dislike each other…
They were naturally destined to hate each other…
Something like that?
Of course, I couldn’t say any of this to anyone.
I could only think about it to myself.
Then it happened.
Duke Baetan turned his gaze toward me.
Sharp hostility flashed in his eyes.
‘Gasp.’
I immediately lowered my eyes.
My life force wasn’t strong enough to pick a fight with a second male lead who clearly held hostility toward me.
I’m a sunfish.
I die easily.
I was terminally ill in my previous life, too.
It was then that a shadow fell over me.
Shurkan’s back was right in front of my eyes.
“What are you looking at?”
“Since you couldn’t have the Saintess’s daughter, are you trying to take her sister instead?”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“What?”
“Isn’t that right? Unlike you, I’m not already married.”
“……”
“What exactly do you mean by that?! Are you cursing me, saying I’ll fool around with another woman while I have a legitimate wife?!”
‘Gasp.’
I was shocked by Duke Baetan’s anger for a completely different reason.
‘He just predicted his own future!’
That’s right.
The reason Duke Baetan, despite his handsome appearance, wealth, and enormous advantage of being Ayu’s first love, never became the male lead…
Was because he was already married!
Ayu didn’t know this and fell in love with Duke Baetan.
Worse, his legitimate wife was a woman skilled in palace intrigue, and she tormented Ayu terribly.
That was the point when this novel truly began descending into a full-blown tragic and brutal story.
“Damn it! Why am I even arguing over something like this?! Don’t change the subject!”
Duke Baetan shouted, his face turning bright red.
“That former imperial concubine hasn’t slept with the Emperor yet! Didn’t the Great Temple clearly send out a decree? If the First Princess of the Northern Kingdom is still untouched by the Emperor, she is to be sent to the Great Temple first!”
I was extremely flustered.
The Great Temple had sent out such a decree?
Why?
Unlike Ayu, the Saintess’s daughter, I had absolutely no connection with the Great Temple.
So why were they talking about whether I had spent my first night with the Emperor and whether I should be sent there or not?
Regardless of how strange it was, my heart began pounding.
I was worried that Shurkan might agree and send me to the Great Temple instead.
‘The priests don’t like me…’
They had always been displeased with my mother because she refused to give up her position as Queen.
They believed that because of my mother, the Saintess had been unable to become Queen.
Because of that, the priests had always viewed me, her daughter, as an eyesore as well.
If I went to the Great Temple, there was no doubt that I wouldn’t be treated well.
“Great Temple?”
A cold voice suddenly cut through my anxiety.
“I believe I already made myself clear. I said I would receive one of the spoils of war. I have already informed them that I will take that woman.”
“She can be sent to the Great Temple first and then distributed later! Why? Are you afraid that she might die before then?”
“It isn’t important whether she dies.”
His indifferent words hurt me a little.
Maybe I was a little disappointed.
I swallowed a sigh and scolded myself.
‘You really got captivated that quickly just because he appeared like some kind of savior. Of course Shurkan doesn’t care whether I live or die. We only met today.’
Shurkan continued in a cold voice.
“I’ve never given up my claim to my spoils. You know that perfectly well.”
“This isn’t just some ordinary war! This is a war against the Pasa Empire! Follow the decree! Send that former imperial concubine to the Great Temple immediately! That’s an order!”
“Ha…”
Shurkan sighed and turned to me.
“Laureltianna. Do you want to go to the Great Temple?”
I was bewildered, but my answer came immediately.
“No.”
I cleared my throat and spoke more firmly.
“I am going to the Grand Duchy of Gonette.”
It came out rather dramatically, but for the first time, Shurkan smiled properly.
“Good.”
I didn’t know why he smiled.
He immediately turned away again.
‘But was there ever anything like this in the original story? Well, that stupid original story only ever showed things from Ayu’s perspective.’
“Grand Duke Gonette! Am I invisible to you? I am still your superior!”
“Your Highness, Your Highness.”
The aide who had been hiding his presence almost as well as I had quietly spoke up.
“We also signed the decree before departing. If we simply take this young concubine with us, then under continental law, the Gonette Knights will be forbidden from participating in any war for three years… Considering the situation of our territory, wouldn’t that be a problem?”
“Ah, that’s right. It was three years.”
Shurkan tilted his chin slightly and muttered,
“That definitely won’t do. The territory would go completely bankrupt.”
My heart felt like it was about to leap out of my throat.
Then Shurkan suddenly turned toward me.
“So the problem is that she hasn’t slept with the Emperor.”
“……”
“Then that means if she has slept with him, she can be sent to the Grand Duchy, right?”
“What?”
For a moment, I wondered if I had heard him correctly.
Was he really going to make me sleep with the Emperor right here, right now?
In other words…
Shurkan looked at my wide eyes and reached out.
His long, straight fingers lightly brushed down my cheek.
My throat instinctively tightened.
Then—
“I never expected that I would end up marrying a prisoner in the middle of a war.”
The words struck me like a bolt from the blue.
