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Chapter : 5
What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this? That’s impossible!
A storm was raging inside her head, but Frisia couldn’t bring herself to say a word.
Caw, caw. As a single bird flew past the window, silence settled over the room. Ron, who had been watching the stiffened Frisia, took a step forward toward Hatz.
“Young Duke. Forgive me for saying this, but Her Highness the Princess has never been engaged to anyone.”
“No, she has. To me.”
“When was that?”
“Half a year ago.”
“What?!”
Once again, the two shouted at the same time. Ron covered his mouth with one hand and carefully whispered into Frisia’s ear.
“Don’t tell me you got engaged without telling me?”
“Are you crazy? This is the first I’ve heard of it!”
“Then what on earth is going on? He couldn’t possibly be mistaken about his fiancée.”
“Half a year ago would have been before Mother passed away…”
“…?!”
Frisia and Ron turned their heads simultaneously to look at Hatz.
“Looks like you need some time.”
“Um…”
“Let’s sit down and talk first.”
The three moved to the reception room.
It was a spacious, open area beside the front entrance on the first floor of the mansion. They took seats around a modestly sized antique wooden table. Frisia and Hatz sat facing each other, while Ron stood beside Frisia. It seemed the conversation would take a while. Frisia removed her hat once more. As she took a breath, maids brought in tea.
Clink. Clink. Freshly baked cookies and a tea set were placed on the table, and hot tea poured from the teapot, filling the cups.
“Drink.”
Frisia stared at the tea in her cup.
Ah… black tea again.
“I specifically ordered the same tea you used to drink at the palace.”
“Well, thank you for that.”
She smiled faintly at Hatz and lifted the cup. The aroma of black tea rose with the steam and brushed her nose.
…The scent of grass.
She thought she would never drink this tea again. It felt like she was right back where she started.
She forced herself to take a single sip of the tea she didn’t want and set the cup back down.
Clack!
“Was this something my late mother arranged?”
“It was arranged jointly by Empress Rocherin and my father.”
“When did you find out?”
“On the day of the engagement.”
Good heavens.
So I was the only one who didn’t know? About my own life? Why?
“It’s my own affair, and yet I was the last to know?”
“In the end, yes.”
Hatz looked as though he had already accepted everything. Frisia squeezed her eyes shut. Her fingers, resting against the cup, tensed.
So it really was Mother who arranged this engagement? For what reason? No—does this even make sense? An engagement without the person involved even knowing?
“Why you, of all people? We don’t even know each other.”
“Whether we know each other or not doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t matter? Engagements are supposed to be about loving each other!”
“…How naïve.”
Hatz tilted his head slightly and let out a dry laugh.
“Our engagement happened because I’m the heir of the Switzerard family.”
“What?”
“Do you still not understand the situation?”
“…?”
“You survived because you’re my fiancée. From your stepmother.”
“What did you say?”
“You truly know nothing.”
Hatz lowered his gaze and lifted his teacup with his left hand. Frisia’s mind went blank.
She had thought the reason her loveless father spared her life was simply because she was still his daughter. But was the real reason he didn’t kill her because she was engaged to the heir of the Switzerard family? Was that also why she wasn’t dethroned?
Half a year ago…
It was shortly before Empress Rocherin’s death. The time when her cruelty toward Blois reached its peak. Her reputation as a beautiful empress had already crumbled, and countless people were calling her a villainess, pointing fingers at her. It was also just before Rocherin discovered the existence of the illegitimate child Vivian and attempted to poison the Emperor and Blois.
During that period, Frisia hardly saw her mother. Rocherin, growing increasingly haggard, had been avoiding her. Frisia had felt secretly relieved. She no longer had to tremble in fear at seeing her mother, and she had begun to hope she might soon return to reality.
It was then—the engagement that even the person involved didn’t know about. Rocherin had prepared it as a contingency. In case something happened to her, for the sake of the daughter who would be left alone. To save Frisia, she had secured an engagement with a family the Emperor couldn’t touch.
“…What is this.”
Frisia murmured quietly to herself.
‘It wasn’t that I could live just because I wanted to. I thought I’d regain my freedom once I left the palace.’
Leaving the imperial palace had never been that easy. She thought everything would be fine once she was out—but it wasn’t at all. The reason she survived… was all thanks to her mother. Her heart grew chaotic again.
“I understand what you’re saying.”
Frisia stood up from her seat.
“I’ve ended up owing my life twice, against my will.”
She picked up the hat she had set on the chair and looked at Hatz.
“But this engagement is canceled. We’re break—! Mm!”
Suddenly, Ron covered Frisia’s mouth. Her eyes widened as she looked at him. Hatz reacted the same way.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“My apologies, Young Duke, but may I speak with Her Highness for a moment?”
Hatz’s expression turned cold at the unexpected situation.
“Take your hand off.”
His low voice and sharp gaze were directed at Ron. Just then, the butler knocked on the wall.
“Young Duke, there is someone here to see you.”
Hatz set his cup down and stood.
“You really never listen once you’ve made up your mind.”
He roughly pulled Ron’s hand away from Frisia’s mouth. After silently glaring at Ron for a moment, he turned and briskly followed the butler out.
“Ron! What’s wrong with you?”
“Your Highness, you can’t break off the engagement.”
“What?”
“Please, endure it.”
Endure it? When she had expected Ron to be on her side?
“What are you talking about?”
“This is an opportunity.”
“An opportunity for what?”
“An opportunity for you to rise again, Your Highness.”
“What opportunity? I’m breaking it off. Now. Immediately.”
Frisia shouted, drawing an X in the air with her hands.
“I will. Break it off.”
“Yes, but—”
“But what?”
“Not right now. Let’s use our heads a little, Your Highness.”
Ron tapped his own forehead lightly with his finger as he spoke.
Meanwhile, as Hatz headed toward the front entrance with the butler, he allowed himself a faint smile no one saw.
So that was her true self.
His decision to accept the engagement had been half curiosity, half sympathy.
The first time Hatz saw Frisia was half a year ago, when he visited the imperial palace. He had gone suddenly at his father’s request. He was waiting while his father spoke privately with the Empress.
The wait was longer than expected, so Hatz took a walk through the palace gardens. Wandering aimlessly, he ended up in a very remote part of the grounds. It was as he crossed a grassy area few people visited.
“Puhahaha! That’s so weird! It’s drawn terribly! Kyaahaha!”
A bright female voice rang out.
Following the sound, Hatz discovered Frisia.
‘The princess…’
He had never seen her before, but he knew instantly. There was no mistaking it.
Light pink hair gleaming in the sunlight, milk-white skin, large eyes and a high nose just like the Empress’s. A luxurious dress and crown that matched her dazzling appearance. She was the empire’s sole jewel, the princess cherished and protected by Empress Rocherin.
‘Is that her knight beside her? What’s so funny?’
Hatz frowned slightly as he watched her for a while without thinking. She felt completely different from the rumors he’d heard.
Laughing loudly with her escort knight. Her behavior was hard to understand. According to rumors, Princess Frisia disliked socializing and rarely spoke—so little that hearing her voice was said to be difficult. Then what was this?
‘Does she not know what’s happening in the palace right now? How can she laugh?’
In truth, this was the first time Frisia, who always trembled in fear within the palace, had laughed freely with Ron in an open garden. With Rocherin’s cruelty spreading and Frisia growing anxious, Ron had drawn a picture for her. It was so badly drawn that she laughed out of disbelief, out of amusement, and out of gratitude for his thoughtfulness. But Hatz, who knew none of this, couldn’t understand.
Soon after, he was summoned by the Empress and his father. The Duke handed Hatz a piece of paper.
“What is this?”
“An engagement pledge.”
“…”
“It’s Her Majesty’s request. And my wish as well.”
“What are you saying?”
“You will become engaged to Princess Frisia.”
Hatz looked at his father instead of answering.
The Empress, rumored to be a mad villainess driven insane by the Emperor’s desires. He already couldn’t understand why his father associated closely with Rocherin, whose former reputation for beauty had long faded—an engagement on top of that?
After a moment of thought, Hatz slowly turned his gaze to the Empress. He doubted his eyes.
Was this woman truly responsible for such atrocities?
To him, Empress Rocherin still looked beautiful.
A mad Empress? Consumed by hatred? Her?
She looked exhausted, thin to the point of being pitiful. And yet the air around her was warm and gentle.
“Your Majesty… weren’t you the one who hated political marriages more than anyone?”
“If nothing happens to me, I’ll pretend this never happened. But…”
The Empress couldn’t finish her sentence and lowered her head.
It was the first time Hatz had ever seen a woman cry for her child. The proud Empress, who had lived her life with lofty dignity, was weeping for the daughter who might be left alone.
“Please protect my daughter.”
Those were her final words, spoken through tears.
“…I will do so.”
Hatz signed the pledge as it was—half out of curiosity about Frisia, half out of sympathy for the Empress. No one knew about the engagement. It was something the Empress and the Duke had arranged in secret.
Not long after, the Empress died, and those associated with her began to die one by one. For over ten days, bloodshed swept through every corner of the empire. Countless people connected to the Empress were killed.
When only Frisia remained, imprisoned in the castle, the Duke of Switzerard went to see the Emperor and revealed the engagement between his son and Frisia.
“Who gave you permission to speak of an engagement?!”
“You didn’t know? I naturally assumed it had Your Majesty’s approval.”
“How dare you do this without even informing me?!”
“Is it truly that displeasing, Your Majesty? The partner is my son, who will one day lead the Switzerard family—”
“That’s not the issue!”
“Is it really a disadvantageous engagement?”
“Duke!”
“On the contrary, I’m pleased that this matter has brought me into a closer and more mutually beneficial relationship with Your Majesty.”
“…”
The Emperor glared murderously at the smoothly speaking Duke of Switzerard. Rage boiled within him at learning his daughter had been engaged without his knowledge. A daughter he hadn’t even cared about—yet how dare they arrange such a thing without his consent? Still, he could do nothing.
The Duke of Switzerard, who controlled the greatest wealth in the empire, was someone the Emperor needed. He couldn’t recklessly move against his family. As the Duke said, viewed coldly, it was beneficial to both sides. And so, the Emperor’s massacre ended, leaving only Frisia alive.
“Young Duke.”
Lost in thought as he walked, Hatz stopped at the butler’s voice.
Behind the mansion, in a secluded area, the butler halted. At Hatz’s gesture, the butler turned back. Once Hatz was alone, a subordinate cloaked in black appeared before him.
“Did you confirm it?”
“Yes. It was definitely arson.”
“And the one behind it?”
“It’s the person you suspected.”
“…So they followed my father’s men.”
Hatz’s expression darkened. Folding his arms, he tapped his forearm lightly with his fingers.
“Who bribed the security officer? He leaked false information.”
“It appears he took a bribe from the arsonist.”
“Find him.”
“Yes!”
“I need definitive proof about the mastermind.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, and get rid of that security officer. Make sure he can never set foot on my land again. Thoroughly.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Hatz turned and headed back into the mansion.
Once he returned to the reception room, the topic of breaking off the engagement would surely come up. If Ron hadn’t covered her mouth earlier, she would have shouted for annulment on the spot. Instead of clinging to him desperately, she wanted to break it off—what on earth was she thinking?
Frisia troubled Hatz far more than he had expected.
She exuded elegance and calm, yet couldn’t drink black tea. She was blunt, without coyness or affectation—and yet she talked about love. A woman raised as a princess, not a commoner.
Most nobles chose their engagement and marriage partners based on conditions. The higher the status, the stricter the criteria. Hatz was more than adequate as a groom—he was, in fact, the man all imperial nobles desired.
‘How should I respond?’
With that thought, he stepped into the reception room.
