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Prologue
“Do not expect anything from that marriage, Iela.”
On the day I was traveling to Raslet Territory in the North—Shioden’s land—to marry him, my half-brother Iswen followed my carriage all the way there and said those words to me.
At the time, I thought he was simply casting another curse my way, so I did not respond.
Iswen and his full-blooded younger brother Damian did not like me. We had different mothers, and beyond that, there were too many differences between us. We avoided each other.
But now that I look back, perhaps his words had been a prophecy.
Curled up on the cold floor of a prison cell, staring down at the ground, I heard footsteps.
“Duchess.”
When I lifted my head, I saw the man who had imprisoned me standing beyond the iron bars.
Asel—the prince of a fallen kingdom.
Kaoulem, Asel’s homeland, had been destroyed by the former Duke of Raslet, Shioden’s father.
After losing his younger sister when his kingdom fell, Asel had always waited for a chance to take revenge on the Raslet family.
And at last, while Shioden was away, he invaded one of the territories belonging to Raslet and occupied it, taking Shioden’s childhood friend Merwen prisoner.
Merwen.
Unlike me, sociable and lovely, Merwen had been the only person in Raslet Castle who had shown me kindness, even if only outwardly.
“Hello, you must be Lady Rowen.”
“Welcome to Raslet.”
“Don’t be too hurt just because Shioden seems cold. He can be a little stiff sometimes, but he’s not a bad person.”
“Shioden, why are you treating Iela like that?”
Merwen and I had never been close.
Before I came North, I had heard that Shioden’s father, the former Duke of Raslet, had intended for Merwen to become his son’s wife.
Yet in the end, it was I who married Shioden.
Though no official engagement had ever been announced between Shioden and Merwen, she had effectively acted as the lady of Raslet Castle even before I arrived in the North. Ever since the former duchess had passed away, that role had naturally fallen to her.
Had the Emperor not ordered Shioden to marry me, he likely would have wed her.
Sometimes, I felt guilty toward them.
As though I had torn apart two lovers who belonged together.
Even though my marriage to Shioden had not been my own choice, from their perspective, I must have been a calamity.
“There are people whose very existence is a sin.”
Just as those words implied, sometimes merely existing in a place could become a burden.
Perhaps my being imprisoned here in Merwen’s place was simply fate demanding that I pay the price for taking someone else’s place.
After Merwen was captured, Raslet proposed a hostage exchange to Asel. With Shioden absent, it was the only thing that could be done for her.
There were not many people in the North whose worth was considered equal to Merwen’s.
And among them, there were even fewer whose absence would matter little enough for them to be sent in her place.
So we drew lots.
“…It’s me.”
Fate had decided that I would pay for taking another’s place.
“Let us draw again.”
One of Shioden’s knights, perhaps unable to accept that the lord’s wife should be handed over to the enemy, said that.
But I could not agree.
What if someone else became the hostage instead of me?
How could I endure their resentment?
Moreover, the people who had drawn lots with me were all members of the Council of Elders—loyal retainers of Raslet, close friends of the former duke.
If Shioden learned that I had escaped the rightful outcome, and one of his father’s old allies had gone in my stead, I doubted he would approve.
“His Grace will surely save you. So…”
The knight who had suggested drawing again tried to reassure me on the way to the exchange site.
I kept silent.
If I openly agreed, only to be made a fool of later, it would hurt even more.
Still… part of me believed it.
Even if Shioden hated me, we were husband and wife.
Surely, he would not let me fall this far.
I must have believed that.
“Madam, the deadline we gave them is nearly over, yet there has been no response from Raslet.”
Asel spoke from beyond the bars of my prison.
He had told Shioden that if he wanted his hostage back, he must come before the fortress of Ethel—the territory Asel had seized—within the week.
But it seemed Shioden had not come.
Though I knew I had no right to resent him, my chest still ached.
It felt as though someone had gripped my heart and squeezed.
My eyes burned, but I lowered my gaze.
No matter how presumptuous it may have been, I still had my pride.
I did not want anyone to see me cry over a husband who had abandoned me.
Asel stared at me for a moment before adding,
“Even after I said you would be whipped on the castle walls if he failed to meet the deadline, there was still no reply.”
I wished I could have remained unmoved.
If only I had been used to torture… if such physical threats no longer frightened me.
But while I was familiar with contempt and condemnation, I had never once been whipped.
So my body trembled on its own.
Asel looked away from me and gestured to a guard.
The guard approached and unlocked the prison door.
Clank. Clank.
The sound echoed coldly.
Before the guard reached inside to seize me, Asel said,
“Consider bearing the name Raslet to be your crime, Duchess.”
I could not deny it.
Perhaps all of this truly was the sin of living as Shioden’s wife.
The sin of expecting something when I was never wanted.
The sin of hoping we might someday live in harmony.
The sin of ultimately being disappointed.
Soon after, the guard dragged me from the cell.
Iela would never forgive him.
As Shioden Raslet rode hard through snow-covered roads, that thought consumed him.
This was something that could never be undone.
“No matter how kind a person may be, there are things they simply cannot accept.”
Just as those words said, there were deeds in this world that could never be taken back.
And so, Iela…
“Your Grace, the Duchess has gone in Merwen’s place as the hostage.”
Those had been the words delivered by a messenger he encountered only after the snowstorm that had delayed him finally passed.
At first, Shioden could not believe it.
The territory attacked by the remnants of Kaoulem had been Ethel—Merwen’s land.
The one taken hostage had been Merwen.
His wife… in her place?
The words felt alien together.
“Where did you say Iela went?”
“The Council of Elders drew lots… to decide who would be sent to the enemy in Lady Ethel’s place…”
He did not even wait to hear the rest.
He mounted his horse immediately.
As he raced back to the castle, Shioden tried to understand how such an absurd thing had happened.
He knew the elders favored Merwen because of his late father’s wishes.
But Iela was still his wife.
Even if she had never been treated as befitted her station, that fact did not change.
And yet they had sent her into enemy hands…
When he demanded why they had done such a thing, the elders dared to answer:
“Your Grace, she was someone even you yourself disliked. Why are you angry with us?”
Shioden could not rip out their tongues.
Because in the end…
Iela’s isolation in his absence,
The Council’s audacity in selling off the lady of Raslet—
All of it stemmed from him.
He had cast her aside first.
It was only natural that others had followed his example.
In the past, Shioden had believed she deserved it.
He had thought Iela married him for the sake of her birth family, Rowen.
That she loved her family enough to use even herself to betray him.
Every piece of evidence, every witness, every circumstance had painted her that way.
Everything aligned—
Except for Iela herself.
“I-I didn’t do it.”
“Please… can’t you just trust me, even once?”
Back then, he had dismissed those words as lies.
Now, they lodged so deeply in his chest that he could scarcely breathe.
“Kaphrin’s daughter spent her whole life dancing on her father’s strings. How pitiful. Who could have guessed that merely speaking to you once would lead her to be sold off to an enemy house?”
Because that…
That had been the real truth.
It was too late to beg forgiveness.
Too late to hear her out.
Even knowing that, Shioden desperately rode toward where his wife was being held.
But when he finally arrived in Raslet Territory—
He was still too late.
[If Duke Raslet does not appear within this week, his wife will be tied to the castle walls and whipped.]
If anything happened to Iela, he would never forgive himself.
At last, he saw Ethel’s fortress in the distance.
Two figures stood atop the castle wall.
And the moment Shioden realized that the one being restrained was his wife—
His eyes widened.
Then, even from afar, he saw it clearly.
The whip came down upon Iela.
