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Chapter 01 …
“Marry her, Charlotte.”
At the banquet of the Noha family.
At the most honored seat of the family dining table, those words made the cutlery that had been moving across plates all stop at once.
An unnatural, barren silence.
It was an icy stillness that hardly seemed like a warm meal shared by just three family members.
The one who broke that cold silence was the dark-haired young man seated to the right of the head seat.
Clink. The young man, Quincy Noha, set down his utensils and spoke with a displeased smile.
“……It is true that Charlotte has come of age for marriage, but this is quite sudden, Father. It has only been a week since she collapsed and woke up. If she could be allowed a little more time to recover—”
“There is no time to waste on such things.”
Dominic Noha, a middle-aged man seated at the head of the table, cut Quincy off sharply.
“Alfonso Linus Eduard. I have received information that he has submitted a pre-marital oath document to the temple.”
A pre-marital oath document.
At those words, Quincy’s expression stiffened slightly.
“……Are you saying Duke Eduard is trying to get married?”
“Yes. This is information obtained immediately after the Duke submitted the oath yesterday.”
All marriages on the continent are officially sanctioned by the Temple.
And in order to receive that sanction, it is customary to submit a pre-marital oath document in advance.
Submitting such a document is the clearest sign of an impending marriage.
“There has been no close interaction between House Eduard and any other family so far, so it seems he is now searching for a marriage partner. Soon enough, news of his submission will spread in whispers.”
Once the rumor spreads, it is obvious that noble families will rush to offer marriage proposals to Duke Eduard.
“We must seize Eduard before that happens. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.”
Dominic’s tone was calm and even as he explained, but his intent was unmistakable.
“Marry Alfonso Linus Eduard, Charlotte.”
“That’s absurd.”
But before Charlotte could even speak, Quincy let out a cold sneer.
“Do you really think Eduard would accept a proposal from Noha? He is the kind of man who won’t even turn his head toward us.”
Who is Eduard?
A prestigious noble house led by Alfonso Linus Eduard, cousin of the current Emperor, Benoit III.
And standing in perfect opposition to that noble Eduard was House Noha.
A family backed by the Temple, amassing immense wealth through all manner of illegal dealings.
In particular, due to their brutal and ruthless traditions, they were publicly known as villains.
A marriage between Eduard and Noha?
It was so absurd it was almost strange to even voice it.
“There is no way. Even if we submit a proposal, Eduard will reject it.”
Unlike other families, coercion through the Noha name would not work here. Eduard was too great a power.
“Irrelevant whether it is possible. We will make it possible.”
Yet Dominic remained unfazed, as if he had already expected Quincy’s reaction.
Thud. Dominic slammed his fist onto the table.
Despite his wrinkled face, his sharp green eyes gleamed coldly like those of a snake.
“We recently lost part of the southern maritime trade rights we monopolized through the Temple to the Emperor. The Emperor is gradually tightening his grip on us.”
They had been wondering how to escape this crisis, and now Eduard was suddenly attempting marriage.
“If we form a familial alliance with Eduard, even the Emperor will not be able to touch Noha.”
Conversely, if they missed this opportunity, it was obvious the Emperor would continue to constrict them further.
“This marriage must be made happen, no matter the reason!”
“Father, but—”
“Enough. Shut your mouth, Quincy. Do you think just because you’ve become the heir, you can defy the head of House Noha?”
Dominic’s oppressive aura filled the room, and a crack formed in Quincy’s ever-smiling face.
But just as the atmosphere grew sharper, the red-haired woman who had been silently seated on the left side of the table finally spoke.
“I’ll do it. Stop this already.”
“Charlotte!”
“You don’t need to call me like that, brother. If it’s something House Noha needs, I’ll do it. That’s what Noha is, isn’t it?”
“As expected of you, Charlotte, you understand well. Can you make Alfonso Linus Eduard yours?”
As satisfaction colored Dominic’s face, Charlotte’s eyes curved into a soft smile.
“Of course. It will be easy for me.”
Yes, truly easy.
Charlotte had once already made Alfonso kiss the ground beneath her feet.
She knew clearly what needed to be done to break him.
The only difference this time was that the goal was different from before.
‘In the past, I simply followed the family’s orders…….’
But not anymore.
Charlotte slowly crumpled the napkin she had been covering her mouth with as she let out a brief cough.
Because of that, the red stain that soaked the napkin was hidden within her grasp, unseen by anyone.
As if nothing had happened, Charlotte neatly concealed her inner thoughts and smiled brightly.
“Just wait and see.”
Because in this life, she would make sure to save Alfonso.
Sometimes love is tragedy. Perhaps that is a natural proposition, but in Charlotte’s case, it was especially so.
The reason was simple. She had never seen anyone happy while loving destruction.
Charlotte Noha. She was destruction itself.
A flame that never ceased, even after devouring everything it loved.
The day she first realized that, Charlotte lost the one she loved.
“……Why.”
A cracked voice slipped from her dry lips.
Her green eyes, which had always been sharp or dangerously alluring, lost their focus.
The cold, cynical expression that rarely revealed emotion had finally fractured.
Charlotte Noha, the infamous villainess known for her cruelty and beauty alike, asked with a face drained of all color.
“Why did you kill my husband, Quincy Noha?”
She asked the reason for the death of the man she loved most, to the only blood relative she had ever trusted.
At the sound of his name, the man standing across from her finally turned to look at her.
A young man who resembled Charlotte quite closely.
He smiled gently and spoke in a soft tone.
“You’ve gotten quite sharp-tongued toward your brother, Charlotte.”
“Just answer me!”
Unlike Quincy’s calm demeanor, Charlotte was nearly squeezing out her voice.
She could not even speak properly while standing still.
Only a few hours ago, she had seen her husband’s corpse.
Alfonso Linus Eduard.
A man who had never once smiled at Charlotte, yet had completely stolen her heart without mercy.
A man who shattered the past Charlotte, who believed she could never give her heart to anyone, as if it meant nothing.
—Even if I marry you, I will never love you.
And the first regret Charlotte had ever known in her life.
Three years after marrying Alfonso and becoming Duchess Eduard.
Charlotte deeply regretted her marriage to Alfonso.
Why?
Because she had fallen in love with a man who hated her so terribly.
Their marriage had been nothing more than a political arrangement for House Noha.
As soon as rumors spread that Duke Eduard, Alfonso, was seeking a marriage partner, Noha had sent a proposal to Eduard.
Naturally, Eduard strongly opposed it.
How could Eduard, the Emperor’s right hand in all but name, accept a proposal from Noha, a family backed by the Temple and notorious for ignoring the Emperor’s will?
It was like a weasel daring to marry a wolf.
They insulted it as a hopeless attempt, a shameless grab for Eduard’s prestige, and rejected it with open contempt.
But Noha—more precisely, Charlotte—did not care and pursued Alfonso relentlessly.
The reason was simple.
‘Because it was the family’s order.’
So Charlotte repeatedly sabotaged Alfonso’s engagements, setting traps several times to create scandals between him and herself.
“Isn’t it true that the infamous Noha villainess and Duke Eduard were involved?”
“I hear there were many witnesses of them together in the lounge.”
“Oh my, how scandalous…”
As such rumors spread, Alfonso eventually had no choice.
No family dared to marry him, and he urgently needed a marriage solution due to his house’s circumstances.
In the end, he had to exchange a vow of marriage in front of the officiant with a woman he despised.
So it was not surprising that Alfonso came to hate Charlotte deeply.
Nor that he ended up loving another woman instead of his wife.
