RETL 03

Chapter 3

“…Your Highness, surely you do not mean to take us to the North?”

Unlike the capital, the center of refined culture, the North was an extremely dangerous place.

Did she really intend to take them to a place that was attacked by monsters almost every day?

“Why would you think I am not serious?”

“Your Highness, do you really think that is possible?”

“Then do you think His Majesty the Emperor would refuse to grant his younger sister one last wish before she leaves the Imperial Palace?”

It was common for a princess leaving for another land because of marriage to take her personal maids with her.

And since they would not want her making a fuss about dying again, the Emperor would probably grant such a small request.

When the three women realized this, the color drained from their faces.

Lumiere looked over them with an indifferent gaze.

Once she left the Imperial Palace, she would never have to see them again anyway.

She could not remember their names, nor did she have any desire to know them.

In her mind, she simply classified them as Maid No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3, then pointed at the maid who had dared to speak most disrespectfully to her.

“Will you come with me?”

“Pardon…?”

“From the way you boldly acted just now, I think you would adapt quickly even in an unfamiliar place.”

“…Your Highness, would it not be more helpful to Your Highness to take someone trustworthy with you, especially when going to an unfamiliar place?”

“I doubt it. I am going to die sooner or later anyway, so what help could you be? As long as I have a companion to go with me to the afterlife, I do not care who it is.”

“Your Highness, what do you mean, you are going to die? How could you say such a dreadful thing…!”

“Did you not say that I was going to die soon anyway?”

“Th-that was…!”

She slowly looked over the three pale-faced women and asked,

“So, what are you going to do? Will you follow me?”

The first to back down was Maid No. 1.

“I-I beg you, Your Highness. Please withdraw your order! It is far too great an honor for someone like me to accompany Your Highness.”

“Then who will come with me?”

Would there really be anyone willing to go to the frontier, where they had to live under the constant threat of monsters?

“……”

“……”

“……”

As expected.

All three fell into an ugly silence and avoided her gaze.

“To think the loyalty of my maids amounts to this…”

As she trailed off as if deeply disappointed, the maids dropped to their knees.

“Your Highness, we will serve you with even greater sincerity than we have shown until now. Please, calm your anger.”

“Please forgive us…!”

After all the years they had spent persecuting her, how dare they try to get away with everything for free?

“Do not try to take credit for doing what you should have done anyway. You need to show me some sincerity.”

“What do you mean, Your Highness…?”

“I mean that you should return everything you have stolen from my palace until now.”

“What? How could we ever dare to personally take anything belonging to the Princess’s Palace?”

“That is right! Please do not misunderstand us!”

They lied without even blinking.

Why else would her palace be so empty?

The budget allocated to the Viola Palace was ridiculously small, but more importantly, they had stolen everything that could be sold for money.

It would be unfair to simply leave them behind, so she intended to make them give back everything they had taken over the years.

“I will take two of the three of you with me. Who I choose to show mercy to depends on each of you, so why don’t you try your best?”

She turned around firmly, as if she would accept no objections.

Despair spread across the maids’ faces.

A group of people riding sturdy warhorses entered the city while escorting a rough carriage.

Their appearances were all different, like wandering mercenaries, but their disciplined movements were more befitting of soldiers.

Clatter.

They slowly traveled along the wide road before stopping in front of a relatively large building.

A large blond man opened the carriage door.

“Your Highness, they say there is a room available. Shall we go to the tailor’s shop after we unload your luggage?”

Brian von Walton.

A man who stood by Axid’s side on the battlefield and assisted him with state affairs at the castle.

He was the commander of the knights and also served as the Grand Duke’s adviser, making him one of the most capable men in the North.

“…Since we are going to bring back the Grand Duchess, I suppose I should at least make an effort to look presentable.”

“I agree, Your Highness. First impressions tend to last a long time.”

At that moment, a red-haired man cut in with a sharp, sulky voice.

“Your Highness, whether you dress up or not, we are barbarians in the eyes of those Imperial bastards. Do you think the princess will be any different?”

“Kaiden, watch your manners when speaking to His Highness.”

“I did not say anything wrong.”

Lumiere von Weiser.

The young Emperor’s half-sister and the disgrace of the Weiser Imperial Family.

She was a woman famous for being unbelievably foolish and so ugly that it was difficult to look at her.

As if that were not enough, her passionate unrequited love had caused quite a stir in high society.

In the end, she had even attempted suicide over a man and become the laughingstock of everyone.

A marriage proposal involving such a princess was nothing less than an insult to the Grand Duchy, which had protected the empire from monster invasions for so many years.

“Anyway, I cannot accept this. Of all people, you expect us to take the princess as the Grand Duchess? How could that possibly make sense?”

Axid, who had been silently listening, asked,

“Why does it not make sense?”

“That is because…!”

“Even the women of the Grand Duchy do not want to become the Grand Duchess. Compared to them, a princess is far too good for me.”

“……!”

Since ancient times, daughters from noble families who received marriage proposals from the Grand Duke’s family had either fled in the middle of the night or rejected the proposal by hastily marrying someone else.

Whenever they gave birth to a child, they all died within a year as if they had made a promise with one another. What woman would want to become the Grand Duchess?

Thus, marriages to the Grand Duke were traditionally only possible when people seeking power or families buried in debt offered up their daughters.

Axid’s mother had married in the same way, and she had died without fail after giving birth to him.

There were rumors that the mother of the heir would be murdered, or that any woman who carried the Grand Duke’s bloodline would be cursed.

No one wanted to become the subject of such ominous rumors that were based at least partly on truth.

“Your Highness, a woman who believes in nothing more than a superstition like that does not deserve to become the Grand Duchess in the first place. If we look carefully, there must certainly be women who do not believe in such nonsense…”

“Enough. I do not want to hear any more.”

Axid stopped him with a cold voice.

The rumors circulating among the people were by no means baseless nonsense.

His subordinates dismissed it as an unfortunate coincidence because every Grand Duchess in history had died for different reasons, whether from illness or an accident.

But the deaths that befell the Grand Duchesses who had given birth to heirs…

That was an inevitable result of giving birth to the cursed bloodline.

The filthy instinct that returned every year, making him unable to control his impulses like a beast, was proof that the curse truly existed.

“Then just tell the princess to leave on her own.”

“Going to welcome the Grand Duchess is a tradition of the Grand Duke’s family and a duty of the lord. It is not your place to interfere.”

“She is not even a citizen of the Grand Duchy. Do we really have to go that far?”

As the two began arguing again, Axid released a chilling aura.

“You are noisy.”

Silence fell all around them.

An eerie coldness that made the back of their necks tingle.

Even knights who constantly fought in places close to death instinctively shrank back from that presence.

Under the heavy warning, Kaiden eventually shut his mouth with a dissatisfied expression, and Axid withdrew his gaze.

The Imperial Family’s attitude and even the objections of his subordinates.

Just as he had expected, this was an annoying marriage with far too many things to worry about.

And yet, perhaps because this was his first time facing marriage in his life, his heart felt strangely restless.

But by now, the princess was probably trembling in fear and despair.

“……”

He smiled bitterly and calmed his unsettled feelings.

The position of Grand Duchess had been vacant for a long time.

The longer the position remained empty, the more ominous rumors spread throughout the North, and the nobles’ pressure became more persistent with each passing year.

A marriage was necessary, even if it was only for appearances, to silence them.

But there was no reason for the princess to worry.

He had no intention of producing an heir.

And the princess was in a miserable position where she had to use the institution of marriage to escape the Imperial Palace.

If they simply negotiated the details of their married life, this marriage could become a “deal” that satisfied both parties.