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Chapter 1
“Tomorrow is the day!”
Napolitan, the port city at the far southern end of the Empire.
From here, a passenger ship bound for the Eastern Continent departed only twice a year.
Odette had come here without thinking twice.
If she could only board the ship to the Eastern Continent, she would be able to escape Caesar’s grasp forever.
Caesar Myse. The God of War, the Empire’s hero.
‘He was almost my husband.’
Caesar’s oppressive presence was frightening, but what was even more frightening was that she was slowly getting used to him.
It felt as though she would be occupied, the same way the northern cities Caesar had swept away had been occupied.
So worn down that she would no longer be able to resist him.
And then, at some point, she might end up begging for his affection just to be loved.
‘I couldn’t throw myself into an obvious disaster.’
Odette swallowed her lingering attachment and fear, and fled south—toward the end of the Empire.
But when she arrived at the port, all the tickets were already sold out.
Still, she could not give up, so she said to Jack, the escort knight who had come with her.
“Find out whether there is another ship leaving the Empire.”
“Yes, Lady Odette.”
As Jack turned back toward the ticket booth, a group of women who seemed to be sisters spoke to them.
“E-excuse me. Would you perhaps like to buy a ticket?”
“Oh my, miss! This is a ticket for the Eastern Continent.”
Emma, who had come all the way here with Odette, practically bounced with joy. But Odette could not take her eyes off the woman holding the ticket, not even for a moment.
‘Why are her hands shaking like that?’
As if they were being watched by someone, the sisters looked terribly intimidated, their faces drained of color.
Odette looked around with trembling eyes.
“It’s too quiet.”
People were crowded everywhere near the harbor and in every alley.
Only the alley where she was standing was empty.
Odette lifted her head and looked toward the inn she had chosen as their lodging.
The inn, built on a seaside cliff, was one of Napolitan’s most famous landmarks, offering a full view of the entire city.
And yet, not only the uphill path leading to the inn, but even the area around it, was devoid of a single ant.
“…Run.”
Odette groaned the word as though she were being strangled.
“Pardon? Run?”
Emma and Jack looked at each other, confused.
“Caesar is watching us.”
Caesar must have bribed the sisters through his adjutant Aden in order to find out how far she intended to run.
If Odette bought a ticket to the Eastern Continent, Caesar would surely decide then and there.
That he would never let her run again—he would lock her away somewhere with not even a single ray of light.
‘That crazy bastard would definitely do something like that.’
Lowering her head so that her hair covered her face, Odette said,
“Do not look back, do not look to the side… Leave the harbor as naturally as possible and ask Princess Trisha for help. I’ll buy you time. Go. Please… hurry!”
Immediately, Odette turned around and began walking up the hill toward the inn.
Her legs were shaking and fear was rising all the way to her throat, but she forced herself to walk slowly, as though she had all the leisure in the world.
Praying desperately that Emma and Jack would safely escape the harbor.
“W-w-were you able to enjoy your harbor sightseeing?”
With all the curtains drawn, the inside of the inn was dark.
The innkeeper, pale as a sheet, was sweating profusely even though the weather was not hot at all.
“…Was there someone looking for me?”
“Y-yes, there was.”
She had hoped and hoped that her judgment on the uphill path was wrong, but—
A wave of dizziness hit her and her vision swayed.
Barely gathering herself, Odette asked,
“Where is that person now?”
“B-b-behind you….”
The innkeeper, white-faced, pointed behind her shoulder with a trembling finger and hurried away.
A sharp gaze pressed against the back of her neck.
Odette bit her lip hard to suppress a scream.
In the meantime, the flow of air behind her changed.
She could feel the silent approach of a familiar yet terrifying presence walking toward her.
“C-Caesar… My lord.”
Odette slowly turned around.
“Why are you only arriving now? I’ve been waiting a long time.”
Caesar, wearing a white shirt like snow and black leather pants, stood close enough to touch, looking bored out of his mind.
A faint scent of black tea drifted from him as well.
It seemed he had been drinking tea while looking down from the foot of the hill.
Had one of the sisters been dragged away by Caesar’s adjutant Aden and beaten?
Sweat gathered in the palm of her hand.
The corners of her lips, forced upward, trembled.
“You shouldn’t have waited blindly. You should have sent Sir Aden to let me know you had arrived. Then I would have hurried back.”
“Pfft!”
As if wondering what sort of nonsense she was painstakingly spouting, Caesar burst out laughing.
His beautifully alluring blue eyes narrowed into crescent shapes.
But within those smiling blue eyes, a storm was raging.
A dangerous resolve flickered there—one that said he would exact punishment on her for deceiving him and running away, no matter what form it took.
“Lord Caesar, please do not misunderstand and listen to what I have to say. The reason I came all the way to Napolitan was… because I love you.”
“Oh, really?”
With a snort, his lips twisted in mockery.
Whether he believed her or not, Odette shrank her shoulders and trembled as she barely managed to speak.
“The fact that you and I are getting married doesn’t make sense. I am not the one who should marry you.”
“Then who is? Who should I marry?”
Caesar stepped closer and brushed his fingers through her hair.
It was a gentle motion, but to her it was more terrifying than any threat.
It felt as though the punishment he intended had finally been decided as the marriage bed she had been avoiding all this time.
If she had to share a bed with him, a man who radiated something almost demonic, even her will to run would be broken.
“The p-princess has been looking only at you for a very long time. For your revenge, and for the Empire, it is right that you marry the princess. So please….”
Let me go.
But the rest of the sentence never left her mouth.
Caesar pulled her by the waist and held her close, then whispered in her ear.
“I told you already, I’ll only marry you. I’ll take my revenge with you too, and I’ll have my children only through you. If you hate that, then stab my neck with the dagger I bought you while I’m asleep. Then you’ll be free.”
“Do I… have to kill you for it to end?”
“Yes. So if you want to run away again, do not hesitate to kill me.”
Having said words that meant he would never let her go as long as he lived, Caesar claimed her lips.
Odette became entangled with Caesar, a man she had never expected to meet in her entire life, because Amelia ran away.
“Who was Amelia having an affair with?”
The household was thrown into chaos when Amelia, the count’s daughter, disappeared.
Odette, who had been Amelia’s personal maid, was immediately dragged before the count.
“Tell me which bastard you’ve been fooling around with!”
“I only became the young lady’s personal maid a week ago….”
Smack.
A blinding flash burst before her eyes with the sound of a slap.
The half of her face that had been savagely struck felt hot, as though it had been burned.
“Punishment will continue until you give me the answer I want. Where did Amelia say she was going?”
“She never said anything to me. I swear it!”
This time her head was slapped to the other side.
Her lip split, and a bitter taste of blood filled her mouth.
The merciless beating continued even after Odette collapsed onto the marble floor.
‘This is unfair. Why do I have to go through this!’
Swallowing the groans spilling between her lips, Odette clenched her teeth.
The atmosphere made it clear they would not forgive her simply for crying and pleading.
This was not mere venting of anger; it was punishment beyond that, the kind delivered by fists and kicks with the determination to see it through to the end.
‘I can’t take any more of this.’
Just before she fainted, the butler Jovern flicked his snake-like, evil tongue and whispered in a low voice.
“My lord, kill that girl. Kill the one with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the young lady, and then say she is the young lady. Then the young lady’s disgrace will be buried forever in the earth.”
“That was my intention as well.”
The count tightened his hand around Odette’s throat.
So it was not just punishment after all.
“Ugh! Kheh…!”
She wanted to resist, unable to bear the injustice, but the air in her lungs was cut off and the strength drained from her body.
She thought she was about to die like that.
