Chapter 02
Clatterā!
The carriage jolted violently.
Even with the dull vibration traveling up through my seat, I didn’t take my eyes off the view outside the carriage window.
It was the first time I’d seen the outside world in a week.
I hadn’t realized before just how refreshing the open air could be.
A week ago, I had been dragged away by a group of unidentified men and locked inside some unknown hideout. They had also taken away the bag containing my herbs, poisonous plants, and research journal.
After spending the entire time cooped up in a room that barely even had a window, finally seeing the world outside made me truly realize that I had survived.
Butā¦
“Now, Your Highness. Open wide.”
I cautiously placed a hand over my upper abdomen.
They called this Helvine.
That was the name of the poisonous herb they had forced me to swallow.
I thought I’d studied medicinal and poisonous herbs quite thoroughly in this world, but this was the first time I’d ever learned that there were poisonous plants that could use the human body as a host and parasitize it.
At first, I’d laughed at them inwardly. If this really was some kind of poisonous herb, then the moment it entered my body, I would simply detoxify it.
But Helvine was different.
For the past week, instead of being detoxified, it had settled firmly inside my stomach as though it had finally found a comfortable home.
Once a day. They said that if I didn’t take a sedative, the thing inside my stomach would start eating away at my organs.
The excruciating pain came as an added bonus.
I’d even nearly lost consciousness while experimenting with it.
“Think of it as the bare minimum precaution necessary to keep you from betraying us. If you so much as utter a single word about our guildā¦ then the thing inside your stomach will chew up and swallow every last one of your organs. Keep that in mind.”
I’d die if I didn’t take the sedative, and I’d die if I said the wrong thing.
In most martial arts novels, when someone is forced to swallow something like this, they spend the rest of their lives being worked like slaves before eventually dyingā¦
At this rate, unless I managed to create an antidote, escaping from the Grand Ducal House would be impossible.
Once I arrive at the Grand Ducal House, I need to find out everything I can about Helvine.
What kind of plant was it? How did it work? How could an antidote be made? Andā¦
How can it be removed?
Phewā¦ This was exhausting. So damn exhausting.
I sighed and turned my gaze back toward the window.
Then I caught sight of myself reflected in the glass.
And yetā¦
Was I always this pretty?
I rubbed my fingertips against the reflection of my face in the carriage window.
Transparent, snow-white skin. Deep, dark blue eyes. And platinum-blonde hair cascading down my back.
That was the result of the women who seemed to belong to the same guild as those men washing my body dozens of times over the past week and rubbing fragrant oils all over me.
Of course, they hadn’t been able to get rid of every old scar scattered across my body, nor the calluses that had formed on my fingertips and palms.
Still, this is basically the same as shedding my old skin.
There was no trace left anywhere of Evelyn, the commoner who had spent her entire life rolling around in the dirt and digging up medicinal herbs.
Even if I happened to run into the people from Billot Village while traveling, they probably wouldn’t recognize me.
Maybe that’s actually a good thing.
If I stayed hidden deep inside the Grand Ducal House looking like this, I’d never have to encounter the people of Billot Village again.
The problem lay elsewhere.
“But I don’t know a single thing about royal etiquette. Will that really be okay? What if they realize I’m a fakeā¦? Wouldn’t it be better to use the substitute you originally planned to train properlyā”
In response to my concern, the leader of the unidentified men had chuckled.
“You don’t need to worry about that. The Princess of Delmar had already lost her mind from the trauma of the war and was known as a mad princess anyway.”
“ā¦So you’re saying people will just accept whatever I do?”
“Exactly. Spout nonsense, crawl around on the floor, do whatever you want. All you have to do is seduce the Grand Duke and bear his child.”
“Ugh. I have preferences too, you know. I can’t justā”
“Then you can die right here.”
“I will pour out every last ounce of energy I’ve accumulated over my entire life and make absolutely sure I complete the mission!”
“ā¦ā¦”
I’d said that because I had no choice if I wanted to survive, butā¦
Seduce the Grand Duke?
For someone like me, who had never dated anyone in either my previous or current life, that was practically an impossible task.
And on top of that, the Grand Duke wasā¦
Valkan Escar was one of the novel’s secondary male leads.
How am I supposed to seduce a man who’s going to lose his head over the original heroine the moment she appears?
In the end, was I destined to die no matter what I didā¦?
I’d even made plans to leave for the Eastern Continent so I wouldn’t get involved with the original story, yet somehow I felt dangerously close to it now.
I couldn’t help feeling dejected. It was as though my modest dream of sailing to the Eastern Continent, opening an apothecary, and quietly growing old was waving goodbye as it drifted farther and farther away.
Then, suddenly, I shook my head vigorously.
No!
There was no reason to get scared or discouraged in advance.
I’d survived being poisoned, and I’d survived facing men who thought nothing of taking human lives.
Where am I going to find a life force tougher than mine?
So this time, too, I had to survive somehow.
I’d survive, visit the Eastern Continentāthe paradise of poisonous herbsāand open a respectable little apothecary there!
I looked out the window at the magnificent estate that had come into view.
Its walls were solidly constructed from dark bluish-black stone, while tall, dark-red roofs and spires rose toward the sky. Rather than being built for elegance, the old-fashioned estate had clearly been designed with practicality and defense as its foremost priorities.
It looked exactly like the Grand Ducal House I’d heard about from the men.
So that’s the Escar Grand Ducal Houseā¦
That’s right.
Whether I died this way or that way, the result was the same.
Since things have come to this, I have no intention of dying as easily as the princess did in the original story.
I’ll survive somehow.
I’ll survive, and then I’ll leave the Grand Ducal House like the wind!
I clenched my fists tightly as I watched the Grand Ducal House grow closer and closer.
And then, a little while laterā
“Your Highness, we have arrived.”
The voice of one of the men disguised as an escort knight came from outside the stopped carriage.
I took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and straightened my posture.
Then the carriage door opened.
The cold air of the North rushed inside all at once.
I took the man’s hand and slowly stepped down from the carriage.
At that moment, the man whispered in a low voice.
“Don’t forget your mission.”
“ā¦ā¦”
Honestly. Had he always lived his life assuming everyone was a liar?
I didn’t answer and simply walked toward the servants of the Grand Ducal House.
There were enough servants standing in front of the estate to match its enormous size, all gathered to welcome me.
Yet there wasn’t the slightest trace of warmth or welcome in their eyes.
Instead, quiet gazes tinged with subtle wariness were directed toward me.
Then a white-haired servant standing at the very front stepped forward.
Judging by his neat attire, perfectly straight posture, and expression that didn’t reveal the slightest opening, he was undoubtedly the head butler of the Grand Ducal House.
As if to confirm my assumption, he spoke.
“Welcome to the Escar Grand Ducal House, Your Highness. I am Hendrick Terdano, the head butler responsible for managing this estate.”
His voice was polite.
But the temperature contained within it was just as cold and chilly as the gazes of the other servants.
I smiled sweetly at Hendrick.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hendrick. I amā”
I paused for a moment before continuing.
“I am Evelina Delmar, the sixth princess of the Kingdom of Delmar.”
It was an excessively cheerful greeting for a hostage sent from an enemy nation.
Hendrick’s eyes grew cold as he looked at me, as though he were trying to determine whether the rumors about the mad princess were true.
“Yes, Your Highness. I will do my utmost to ensure that you experience no inconvenience during your stay.”
He bowed politely.
I smiled even more brightly and replied,
“Yes. Please do.”
“ā¦ā¦”
“But.”
I looked around at the servants and tilted my head.
“I don’t see the Grand Duke.”
Hendrick answered without even blinking.
“His Grace has gone to deal with the monsters that have appeared in the Millidren Mountains of the North.”
His voice was calm.
It wasn’t an excuse or an apology.
It was simply a statement of fact.
Wow. Even though I’m a fake princess, on the surface I’m still a princess of a kingdom.
And yet he didn’t even bother to welcome me. He actually left the Grand Ducal House?
What an absolute jerk.
I blinked innocently, and Hendrick continued.
“The monsters happened to appear at this particular time. However, such occurrences are common in the North, so His Grace asked that you kindly understand the circumstances and forgive his absence. He also wished for you to know that he will return safely.”
I scoffed inwardly.
Monsters, my ass. He just ran off to the mountains because he doesn’t want to see my face.
Even in the original novel, Grand Duke Valkan had despised the Kingdom of Delmar to an extreme degree.
He had lost countless subordinates during the war, so it was only natural.
There was no way he would enthusiastically welcome a princess who had been forcibly foisted upon him by the Emperorāespecially one whose mind was supposedly no longer soundāalong with his knights.
The same undoubtedly applied to the servants who might have to accept this mad princess as their future Grand Duchess.
I nodded lightly.
“There’s nothing that can be done, I suppose. I’m not so madāā¦”
I quickly corrected myself.
“ā¦I’m not so narrow-minded that I can’t understand something like that. I only hope that His Grace returns safely.”
Perhaps because my response had been far more normal than expected, Hendrick’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he looked at me.
“ā¦ā¦Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness. Then, I shall escort you to your chambers.”
“Yes, please.”
I followed Hendrick as he led the way.
Then, suddenly, I stopped walking.
“Oh, but.”
Hendrick turned around, and the servants who had been keeping their heads bowed also looked at me.
“Yes, Your Highness?”
I slightly raised my chin and spoke calmly to them.
“I’m not crazy.”
“ā¦ā¦Pardon?”
Hendrick asked a beat later.
So I spoke again, this time with an even more confident expression and voice.
“I said I’m not crazy.”
“ā¦ā¦”
“ā¦ā¦”
A brief silence descended.
Looking at the expressions on the head butler and servants, as though they were staring at a woman who had completely lost her mind, I smiled with satisfaction.
Phew. That was natural.
It seemed my first attempt at playing the mad princess had gone pretty well.
