WHPR 03

Chapter : 03

Kaiden received only emergency treatment before heading to the audience chamber. His trusted subordinates tried to dissuade him, but he paid them no mind.

He escorted her to the entrance.

As they entered at the chamberlain’s announcement, a heavy atmosphere pressed down on her. Zenaida inhaled deeply and straightened her back.

Having been ruthlessly indoctrinated since childhood to swear loyalty to the Pope and the Emperor, her body moved almost on its own.

Feeling her heart pounding wildly with fear, Zenaida stepped forward.

Soon, beneath the resplendent imperial throne, a familiar face appeared.

“Ah, you’ve come.”

The Emperor of the Arden Empire—the man who had ordered her to kill Kaiden.
Felix Arthur.

The moment she faced him, a chill ran through her.

Swallowing hard, Zenaida performed a flawless bow.

“I am Zenaida Harmon of the Imperial Guard. I greet Your Majesty.”

Felix waved his hand dismissively at the formal court etiquette.

“There’s no need for that today. Help her up, Kaiden.”

Zenaida had been about to stand on her own, but at what was closer to an order than a request, she remained still.

Kaiden soon extended his hand. She rose with minimal reliance on him. The Emperor looked the two of them up and down, then smiled in satisfaction.

“Just as I thought. You look good together.”

“……”

“Well? Do you like your bride-to-be?”

At the word bride-to-be, Zenaida stole a glance at Kaiden.

“Yes. I do.”

Kaiden answered calmly—so calmly that no one would have guessed he was injured.

Zenaida couldn’t take her eyes off him until she heard herself being addressed and turned her head.

“And what about you? You are the younger sibling I cherish most in this world.”

Kill the traitor Kaiden.

The order he had given her in the past resurfaced, and bile rose in her throat.

Biting down hard on her lip, Zenaida barely managed to respond.

“I like him as well, Your Majesty.”

With both parties in agreement, a broad grin spread across Felix’s face. He looked more pleased than the couple themselves.

“Then I’ll need to send a letter to the Pope. If there’s anything you want, speak up. I’ll grant it.”

It sounded sweet, but Zenaida instinctively knew—there was a specific answer the Emperor wanted.

But she did not move as he wished.

Quietly clenching her fist, she made her decision.

“If the Grand Duke permits it, I would like to reside at the estate together until the wedding.”

In this life, she would become Kaiden’s sword—
and die for him if she had to.

Zenaida headed straight for the Grand Duke’s residence.

Everyone in the estate was shocked by her arrival. In the Arden Empire, it was taboo for an unmarried man and woman to live together before the wedding.

But the parties involved did not care.

“Show her to a guest room.”

At the Grand Duke’s indifferent order, the butler turned to guide Zenaida.

But she stopped in place, unmoving. Her stance was almost defiant. Kaiden, puzzled, lowered his gaze. Under his subtle scrutiny, she spoke.

“Please give me the bedroom.”

Asking for the bedroom meant demanding the room used by the lady of the house.

It was a bold request from someone who hadn’t even had a wedding yet, but Kaiden accepted without hesitation. His expression remained unreadable.

“Guide her to the bedroom.”

The butler hesitated briefly, then composed himself and led Zenaida to the mistress’s chamber.

It was right next to Kaiden’s room. As befitted the Grand Duchess’s quarters, it was spacious and filled with mahogany furniture.

Pretending to casually look around, Zenaida naturally dismissed the butler.

“Thank you for showing me. I’ll call if I need anything.”

The butler bowed and left. Silence settled over the room.

‘I really came here.’

More than anything, she wanted to run away with Kaiden. But that was impossible.

Given his poor relationship with the Emperor, he would never trust and follow Zenaida, the Emperor’s confidant. Even claiming she had regressed and knew the future would not convince him.

‘He’d think I was insane.’

She could have chosen to refuse the marriage. If she abandoned him and prepared to flee, she might at least save her own life.

But that…

‘That will never happen.’

No matter what they did, the Emperor and the Pope would kill Kaiden. It was better to stay by his side and protect him.

Clenching her trembling hands, Zenaida began examining the room.

Recalling memories from before her regression, she felt along the walls. In the North, there were secret passages connecting spouses’ rooms—to avoid the awkwardness of running into night guards during midnight visits.

‘If there’s a passage here too, I can reach Kaiden immediately when needed.’

The real reason she had come to his estate, even at the cost of angering the Emperor.

Before her regression, Kaiden had nearly been assassinated in his mansion within the capital. In truth, the Emperor had summoned him under the pretense of arranging a marriage, intending to kill him.

Zenaida hadn’t stayed at the estate back then, so she didn’t know the details—but she knew he’d been in danger.

He was injured so badly that they couldn’t even hold a proper wedding.

The wounds were severe at a glance.

‘If the monsters hadn’t gone berserk at the hunting tournament, Kaiden would have died in the capital—not the North.’

After the monsters rampaged during the tournament, Kaiden was finally permitted to head north, where the lairs of the demonic beasts were located.

He was strong—strong enough that it almost seemed excessive to worry this much. But unease kept gnawing at her.

She wanted him to reach the North without a single scratch.

‘Even if someone has to get hurt, it should be me.’

Zenaida searched diligently for a passage. But contrary to her hopes, none opened.

After repeated failures, she turned her head in another direction.

The window.

Since Kaiden’s room was right next door, she could cross over to his terrace through the window. It would also help her avoid the servants’ eyes—killing two birds with one stone.

The only problem was that she’d have to be prepared to break a leg.

But that didn’t matter to Zenaida.

As long as she didn’t die.

Having secured a route to Kaiden, she immediately began unpacking.

Old habits from her time in the Imperial Guard made her quick and efficient.

After finishing, she suddenly met her reflection in the full-length mirror.

Silver hair tied back in a single, practical knot, and tired blue eyes.

She didn’t look great—but it was better than being covered in blood.

Her gaze drifted downward, as if entranced, and stopped at the collar of her clothes—still stained with his blood.

Only then did Zenaida remember that Kaiden had strangled her.

‘My neck… he strangled me.’

A dull ache lingered around her throat, and memories of returning to the training grounds flashed through her mind.

An unexplained regression.

The mysterious poison on the sword.

A cold, distant Kaiden.

“Did the Emperor order you to frame me?”

Of course he would treat her coldly, unlike in her previous life.

Regardless of cause and effect, to Kaiden she was a woman who had clumsily attempted—and failed—to assassinate him.

Zenaida let out a hollow laugh.

As if regressing wasn’t disorienting enough—now she was saddled with a false charge of assassination.

‘Who on earth did this?’

The training grounds she used were restricted to the Imperial Guard. Even attendants were barred for security reasons, meaning knights handled all menial tasks themselves. Personal weapons used there were forbidden from being taken outside.

‘Could it be… the Emperor?’

Only the Emperor could command the Imperial Guard.

‘If the Emperor and the Pope had been planning for a long time to use me and then kill me… it’s entirely possible.’

She’d simply failed to notice before, because nothing like this had happened in her previous life.

She had suspicion, but no proof.

Crushing the unease budding inside her, she rummaged through her bag for spare clothes.

She pulled out a negligee and began unbuttoning her top to change.

At that moment, a sudden chill ran down her spine. Goosebumps erupted across her skin. Instinctively, Zenaida turned her head.

Her gaze landed on the door.

The door—previously closed—was slightly open.

She had clearly told the butler she would call if needed. There was no way a servant had opened it by mistake.

‘If it wasn’t a mistake… then it was intentional?’

Staying at the Grand Duke’s estate before the wedding was not what the Emperor wanted. Perhaps someone was watching her, suspicious of her defiance.

Just as she hadn’t noticed poison on the sword.

She had no intention of pleasing the Emperor—but drawing suspicion now would be dangerous. She was still under his influence.

Zenaida swallowed dryly.

Silencing her footsteps, she approached the door.

When she reached it, she flung it open and leaned her head outside.

The corridor was deathly silent.

She exhaled deeply, her breathing trembling.

Someone had been watching her.

‘Who…?’

Hidden behind a pillar, Kaiden stared at the floor.

Focusing on the immaculately cleaned marble helped calm his racing heartbeat.

Slowly, he lifted his head. The cold of the marble seeped into the back of his burning skull. Reason returned to his clouded mind.

‘Why did I hide?’

As if I had done something wrong.

He had only been returning to his room. And then—without thinking—his hand had reached for the doorknob…

Kaiden couldn’t bring himself to finish the thought and roughly rubbed his face. Even to himself, it made no sense.

Opening a woman’s door without permission was rude—uncharacteristic behavior for someone who valued propriety.

If they were married, there might have been room for excuse.

‘Married…’

Yes. Married.

The word alone filled his chaotic mind.

It wasn’t a word he welcomed.

Because he had no desire to grow close to her.

“……”

After lingering there for a few more minutes, he swallowed and started toward his own room.

It wasn’t far from Zenaida’s room. Just as he was about to arrive and open the door, he spotted a maid hurrying down the corridor.

By instinct, he knew she had been assigned to Zenaida.

“You there. Come here for a moment.”

At the Grand Duke’s call, the maid approached with a frightened expression. It would have annoyed most people, but Kaiden didn’t care.

Contempt, revulsion, fear—he was used to them. They followed him everywhere, along with the label of a beast cursed by God.

In an even, emotionless voice, he continued.

“Tell Lady Zenaida that she is invited to dinner this evening.”