Chapter 1: A Fake Wedding
The wedding ceremony was held fifteen years ago, when Shayla was nine years old.
“Shayla Lexi, you will marry next month.”
Her hand, slicing an apple, froze.
The news struck her like lightning that morning.
‘Marriage at my age? Not an engagement, but marriage?’
Under a questioning gaze, her father continued:
“Your husband is from a noble family in the north, far above your station, so be grateful.”
“Ah.”
Early marriage was common in the north.
Despite the domineering tone that resembled a notice, nine-year-old Shayla obediently nodded.
“Alright, I will, Father.”
Her father, Count Lexi, was a domineering and violent man.
He made money through trade, but his humble origins were always a complex for him, so he bought a family tree.
Finally, the Lexi family joined the emerging nobility in the capital.
‘A shameless rabbit.’
That was the title given to them. The Lexi family, symbolized by rabbits, was always accompanied by this contemptuous name.
Count Lexi was a petty father who tried to compensate for the dignity he couldn’t build outside the home within his family.
‘If only I could leave this house under Father’s authority…’
Marriage was an opportunity!
Shayla, who knew she couldn’t disobey her father’s orders, had learned compromise early.
“Then, from today, I’ll buy some dresses, necklaces, and jewelry.”
Her wardrobe was already full, but she wanted to squeeze more money from her father.
“If the daughter of the great Lexi family doesn’t have a decent dress, wouldn’t that be embarrassing, Father?”
“Do it.”
She hadn’t expected agreement, but Count Lexi nodded enthusiastically.
“Since it’s the Duke Graywolf family, we must prepare well.”
“Yes, if it’s a ducal family, how modest our family will seem… Wait, a ducal family?!”
From the shock, her ears perked up. Under a sharp glare, Shayla quickly flattened her ears back.
“Sorry, I was so surprised…”
“Control your ears! Unless you want to be considered useless!”
Her heart jumped at his cold shout. Her golden eyes wandered the table in confusion.
“Listen carefully. Because of that stupid girl Layla, your marriage paths were nearly closed, but a ducal family, a ducal family!”
A charming smile appeared on the Count’s face, like someone who had won a fortune.
“Be grateful and always mind your behavior!”
It was annoying, but her father’s words were true.
The Duke Graywolf family was one of the top families in the Bista Empire.
Protector of the north.
The steel sword of the empire, as the Graywolf family was called.
From the distant north, evil monsters attacked, and the Graywolf family always defended the front lines with prowess.
‘The noble wolf.’
That was one of the many titles preceding the name Graywolf.
A shameless rabbit and a noble wolf.
A marriage between two families that could never meet was strange from the start.
First, attendance was limited to the parents and siblings of the bride and groom, and it was held in complete secrecy.
Contrary to the prestige of the ducal family that could make birds fall from the sky, the ceremony was extremely modest.
And moreover…
‘Where is my husband?’
There was no groom at the wedding.
Shayla never saw her husband’s face, not even a finger, until the moment of the wedding.
‘Maybe he’ll appear when the witness from the grand temple arrives.’
Perhaps he was shy.
Her husband was younger than her. Even as the heir to a great ducal family, he was still a seven-year-old child.
At seven, yes, an age full of shyness.
She waited patiently, but even when the priest from the northern diocese read the marriage declaration, the husband never appeared.
‘What is this? A wedding without a groom?’
In the end, Shayla held the wedding ceremony alone and only saw her precious husband’s face upon entering the bedroom.
In the Duke Graywolf family, there is a story passed down through generations.
When the Demos appeared beyond the Hamelock cliff, eating humans and corrupting the world.
By order of the main ruler, a black warrior descended, defeated evil with a single sword, and restored peace, as the legend goes.
‘The Black Wolf.’
The hero of prophecy who will become this great hero!
The heir of the ducal family born to be the Black Wolf!
‘Callion Graywolf.’
Unbelievable, but he was Shayla’s husband.
But in the capital, no one had seen him.
“They say he’s the boy born on the day the moon firefly was eaten.”
“They say he’s sick and bedridden, so he never leaves his room.”
The mysterious boy was surrounded by rumors.
‘But he’s just a seven-year-old child.’
Shayla thought so, but she couldn’t suppress her growing expectations.
During the month she spent traveling from the capital to the north, Shayla imagined her husband every day.
The portraits of the Duke Graywolf family helped with that.
The duke was handsome even by capital standards.
And what about the duke’s late wife? She was incomparably beautiful. Unfortunately, she died seven years ago…
‘If he’s the son of these two, he must be an extremely handsome boy.’
Honestly, Shayla was excited to leave home.
Traveling by carriage for a month was hard on a nine-year-old girl, but she was thrilled the whole time.
‘The farther from the capital, the better. Because Father isn’t here!’
Moreover, her husband, who would be her new family, was younger than her. Shayla, whose twin sister was her only family, had always wished for a younger brother.
‘If I can win him over, we’ll have fun.’
Even though her husband didn’t appear even at the wedding ceremony, Shayla was completely satisfied with this marriage.
Certainly, until the moment she opened the bedroom door.
* * *
“Young Master Callion is already in the bedroom.”
“Already in the bedroom?”
What kind of husband was this? He didn’t even attend the wedding ceremony, yet he dared to enter the bedroom first with such audacity.
He didn’t even help her with her dress.
Shayla muttered inwardly as she lifted the hem of her long wedding dress and opened the heavy door.
“Wow…”
Their bedroom was decorated luxuriously, as rumored for a ducal family. The ceiling was endlessly high, the walls were adorned with tapestries embroidered with the gray wolf, the family symbol, and the bed was enormous.
Though it was a bedroom for a nine-year-old bride and a seven-year-old groom, it was impressive.
‘Finally, I’ll see my husband’s face.’
Her shoulders pulled back as she looked around excitedly.
“What is this… no one’s here?”
The bedroom was cold and empty. No matter how she looked, she found no trace of her husband.
“Sniff, sniff…”
She tried sniffing the air for any clue, but found no scent.
But there was something faint…
‘A bad smell?’
A sharp smell that stung the nose, a bitter smell, the smell of dried corn.
With this strange mix of scents, Shayla’s nose wrinkled involuntarily, then she suddenly stopped.
‘If Father saw me like this, he’d lock me in the storeroom.’
Noble families in the empire adopted symbolic animals that suited them.
The Graywolf family was the wolf.
The Lexi family was the rabbit.
The imperial Salador family was the snake.
It was based on the legend that the Bista Empire was created by animals subordinate to the main ruler.
Though noble society revered animal myths, displaying beastly behavior was a great shame.
“Callion, Callion…?”
While searching for her husband in the vast bedroom, Shayla lay on the large bed in disappointment.
‘Does he not like me?’
Regardless of being the boy of prophecy or the legendary Black Wolf.
Being the eldest grandson of a ducal family was certainly above her level, for the daughter of a newly ennobled count.
‘But why did he choose me specifically?’
There was no old promise between the families, no arranged marriage from previous generations.
The Lexi family had no history to allow that. It was called a family only because it bought a family tree.
Moreover, this family tree looked fake no matter how you looked at it. The founder was allegedly the incarnation of a rabbit that lived on the moon, or something like that. The exaggerated family tree was embarrassing.
‘Even I’m a domestic rabbit.’
Her father bought a family tree from an unknown source…
‘What did Duke Graywolf see to insist on this marriage?’
No matter how she thought, there was no explanation except that Callion had a major flaw.
Perhaps…
‘Do they want to sacrifice me?’
Or… prey?
There was a class of nobles with predatory symbols who maintained barbaric traditions.
They sacrificed families with herbivore symbols to enhance their family’s prestige, offering terrified prey to their gods to show their power.
This strange belief of predatory families was something Shayla, from an innocent herbivore rabbit family, couldn’t understand.
‘My husband’s trace isn’t even visible…’
Her father left her alone and returned to the capital. In this strange north, there was no one to protect her.
Duke Graywolf wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about welcoming Shayla as a new family member.
‘So, when will I be devoured?’
Roasted rabbit?
Rabbit stew?
Which would it be?
While lying alone in the quiet bedroom, all sorts of strange delusions swept over her.
At that moment.
Awooooo.
The resounding howl of a wolf echoed from outside the duke’s castle, where dense forests spread.
Shayla covered her ears in terror. For a girl who had lived her whole life in the capital, the rural environment was truly alien.
At that moment when her body hair stood on end, a small sound came from somewhere in the quiet bedroom.
“Squeak, squeak…”
It resembled the chirp of chicks or the squeak of a mouse.
‘What is this?’
Shayla instinctively lightened her footsteps and searched for the source of the sound.
It was from the dressing room.
Between a narrow gap in the wardrobes.
There, Shayla found the problem.
“Squeak…”
A small white dog hiding in the corner, whimpering.
The moment their eyes met—his blue eyes, similar to Duke Graywolf’s.
Shayla instinctively realized.
“You… Callion.”
“Sister, this fur-covered creature is my husband.”
