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Chapter – 06
Current time: 9 PM.
It had been three hours since I finished my audience with the Emperor.
Guided by the maids, I was relaxing in the room the Emperor had given me. I had just been handed dessert and was enjoying the sweet taste of sugar when—
“Your Highness, you must prepare now.”
“Prepare?”
Emma, one of the maids assigned to me by the Emperor, politely clasped her hands and nodded.
Normally, dressing me up was Madam Hailey’s duty as the princess’s nanny. But the Emperor and the maids acting under his orders had been so firm that tonight’s preparations were left to them.
“You will retire at eleven.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but no words came out.
There were still two hours left. Why prepare already?
If I lay down at eleven and closed my eyes, wasn’t that enough to sleep? Why would sleeping need preparation?
But I knew saying something so pointless would only make them suspicious. So I glanced at Ribed and simply nodded.
“Very well.”
Emma smiled in a way I could not understand and stepped back.
That only made me feel more uneasy.
“Sir Ribed… Did I miss something?”
Imperial palace etiquette, duties during a royal marriage—I had learned so much. But now that the moment had come, I could not remember anything.
“Surely not.”
“?”
Ribed wore the same blank expression as me. Then he suddenly realized something and muttered in despair.
“Oh no.”
Then he sighed even more deeply.
“I can’t believe I forgot this.”
He bit his lip.
Usually, his red hair was always neat, but now he ran his hand through it roughly. Then he looked at Madam Hailey, who stood behind him.
“Madam Hailey. What do we do?”
“…I truly didn’t expect they would ask you to stay here for the night. Neither did I.”
Even she, who had looked relaxed from the moment I met her, let out a heavy sigh.
“This isn’t… what I think it is, right?”
Even a person with no sense could understand their own bad luck when it stood right in front of them.
If there was a cave ahead, you could at least sense whether it held a tiger or treasure.
My trembling voice only made Ribed and Madam Hailey look even darker.
Why aren’t you answering? Why won’t anyone answer?
“It’s not that thing in my head, right? Right?”
“……”
No, maybe I already knew.
Maybe I simply refused to think about it.
“Ah… damn it.”
I looked down at my neatly braided blue hair and bit my lip.
What else would two people married today do alone in one room?
“Do you have any alcohol?”
Whatever happens, happens.
I bit my lower lip.
Neither Ribed nor Madam Hailey could stop this.
And because my life depended on it, I dragged my feet as slowly and miserably as a prisoner walking to execution.
Am I really this unlucky?
Then again, considering the person I had possessed, maybe it made sense.
A beggar.
Out of all the characters in countless romance fantasy novels, not even a common extra—but a nameless beggar from some remote village.
“You must be very nervous. But His Highness the Archduke is kinder than he appears.”
At 10:50 PM, as if he had been waiting, someone knocked on my door.
He introduced himself as Miller Kisney, aide to Archduke Lankea.
Unlike Lankea, he had light brown hair, a gentle impression, and a calming smile.
Behind him stood Emma, the maid who had dressed me earlier and disappeared.
Ribed and Madam Hailey wanted to follow me, but Miller said one guard knight was enough. So in the end, Ribed, Emma, and Miller escorted me to the bedroom provided by the Emperor.
“Ah… yes.”
I forced a smile and barely lifted the corners of my mouth.
“Is there really no way to stop this?”
I slowed my already slow steps even more and let Emma and Miller walk ahead. Then I whispered desperately into Ribed’s ear.
“……”
“I knew it. Haah…”
“I didn’t think things would move this quickly. That part is my fault for being careless. I apologize.”
Ribed looked at the breath leaving my mouth in the winter air and apologized plainly.
“Oh dear…”
For some reason, I felt embarrassed and looked away.
Nothing about my future had changed, and it only made me gloomy.
“Th-then… is your body alright?”
“…Ah.”
“I said it wasn’t a good choice. But you insisted, so that’s not my fault.”
“Please. I’m not blaming you, so stop worrying.”
“…We have arrived.”
While I was bickering with Ribed, my steps must have quickened without me noticing.
I had arrived at the place I least wanted to reach.
“Please go inside, Princess Consort. We will stop here.”
Miller and Emma stood on both sides of a splendid golden door.
“Uh… here?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes. His Highness the Archduke will enter shortly.”
“……”
Miller nodded without even blinking.
Before I could say anything else, he opened the door.
“Please enter.”
Emma also raised both hands excitedly and gestured inside.
I turned to Ribed one last time, hoping he would stop this somehow.
Damn it.
His eyes were fixed on the floor again.
“Whew… it’s hot.”
Alone in the large room, I sat on the soft bed decorated with shining silver thread under the moonlight and stared at the window.
Earlier, I had begged Ribed for alcohol, saying I would at least try to match the mood.
Now the effects were finally hitting me.
What was ridiculous was that Ribed, who normally would have firmly stopped me, had let me drink out of guilt.
And now warmth was slowly rising through my body.
“Should I just cover myself with the blanket and pretend to sleep…?”
Right.
If he came late, that was his fault, not mine.
And after such a huge event as a wedding, anyone could be sleepy.
I looked at the clock on the wall.
It was already 11:30.
Lankea still had not come, and now I was simply bored.
“…Or maybe he didn’t want to come either and ran away halfway. Fine by me.”
I hurriedly moved from the edge of the bed and crawled to the middle.
The alcohol I drank in anger was stronger than expected.
My eyelids grew heavy, and so did my body.
“…Ah, whatever. Wedding night? First night? Forget it… I’m too sleepy.”
Unable to endure anymore, I stretched out across the bed.
I let the softness of the luxurious bed hold me and turned my eyes toward the door.
I thought I heard something from the other side.
Maybe it was just drunken imagination.
But I was not mistaken.
The door really opened.
And through my blurry vision, a tall man I knew by heart appeared.
“Your Highness the Princess?”
He walked toward me with a puzzled look.
“Are you unwell? Your face is red.”
He seemed to say more after that, but my memory ended there.
When I barely forced my eyes open again, Lankea was much closer, sitting on the bed.
Because he leaned slightly toward me, I could see his firm chest through his sleepwear.
Even the scars on it.
“Your Highness the Princess?”
I raised my head a little and looked at his face.
Even seeing it again, it was the kind of face that would make anyone turn back for another look.
Sharp and handsome features.
Eyes as black as dark pearls.
Straight black hair that suited the night perfectly.
And perhaps because he wore perfume, every movement carried a sweet fruit scent that wrapped around my senses.
Was it the scent?
Or the alcohol?
I was captivated by his beauty.
And for some reason, I could not stop the thoughts filling my head.
“Y-you…?”
Lankea’s lips moved, matching the shape of my words.
“So… you really came.”
That was the first normal thing I said.
“It is my duty. But I thought Your Highness might feel uncomfortable, so I came a little later.”
His low, pleasant voice tickled my ears.
So he had that kind of sense too.
I weakly lifted the corners of my lips and laughed softly.
Strength kept leaving my body, and I felt like I would fall asleep any second.
“How did you know? Correct answer.”
With the little strength I had left, my lips moved on their own.
Then after a pause, I continued.
“But…”
“?”
“No matter how I look at it… your face is amazing. You’re really handsome.”
And just like that, my consciousness sank into darkness.
