DISCLAIMER:

THIS IS NOT MY NOVEL, MY ONLY PURPOSE IS TO SHARE THIS NOVEL!

PLEASE SUPPORT THE ORIGINAL NOVEL, THE AUTHOR, AND THE TRANSLATOR.

ORIGINAL AUTHOR/S: Kim Sanjeong & 김산정

Description

I am Lim Eun-woo – no, Eleanor Miller.

It’s absurd to enter a novel written by a friend, but I even became the wife of a villain who threatens the empire and will eventually be murdered?

The only way to change this terrible ending is to prevent the first meeting of the male and female characters, the beginning of all events!

And before that.

“I missed you a lot.”

“It’s blooming near the Hall, so I remembered how you liked it.”

“Tell me. Is it that hard to pronounce just one of my names?”

What should I do with this villain who is more loving than I thought?

Preview

“No, I… I’m not used to these kind of shoes!”

It wasn’t just the shoes. In this damn empire, women’s outfits were so rare, the girdle, the corset, and even the lining of her underwear didn’t feel comfortable on Eleanor’s delicate body.

“Lean on my arm, it doesn’t matter if you go slow.”

With a dazed face, Tashuan wrapped her arms around her waist as if supporting her entire body with one arm.

Eun-woo voluntarily paid the tax before he could even say a word and grabbed his arm.

I couldn’t help it. Wouldn’t it be a thousand times better to walk with your feet on the villain’s body than to fall down every few steps and be humiliated in front of people?

The only concern was that he was suspicious of her identity when he saw himself unfamiliar with this kind of attire.

If it had been Eleanor, it must have been an aristocratic young girl who could not have mastered it because she was not used to such clothes.

In order not to arouse such suspicion of him, Eun-woo gave strength to every toe and walked hard. Then, Tashian looked down at her with strange eyes.

Chapter 1

The knight’s hair was tangled as if it had been hit by the wind. As if he had just returned from the battlefield, he had a helmet in his hand, and sweat was dripping down the man’s forehead and nose.

“… I guess I’m not late.”

The woman’s eyes scanned his majestic figure up and down, as if in disbelief.

The man standing at the entrance of the rose garden was truly huge.

The body-fitting armor clad like the lining of a garment along the gorge of the waist that narrowed sharply past the large shoulders. His black hair was soaked with sweat and dirt, so dark that blue lighting was shining.

He was breathing so hard that she could see his chest shaking slightly.

Did he run all the way here? As the man’s wet eyelashes blinked, a liquid from sweat or raindrops ran down his cheeks.

Eleanor felt his very precarious gaze staring straight at her.

“That’s a relief.”

He took a step forward with a rattling sound. His voice also cracked, but it didn’t appear that he would rectify it. It was a tighter, more desperate voice.

Eleanor felt a cold sweat dripping through her whole body. She stepped back instinctively due to chills. She almost dropped the rose stem in her hand.

If she was right, the man in front of her was Tashian Verk.

The commander of the Hellasium Imperial Knights, and a war hero who led the armies to victory in the 3rd Continental War and the Great Genova War in the past.

A close friend of the Empire’s Crown Prince, Ikshid Lionelle Freidrich Raham Fedellamon, and the only owner of the Duke of Verk family, the most prestigious family that produced three-quarter executives of the Senate reigning over the imperial family.

(TN: If you ever want to name your kids, please not in this long manner. =_=

ED: Seconded. What’s wrong with short names?)

Also, he was also the man that was going to be her husband.

Tashian Verk’s gaze could hardly be taken away from the woman standing in the corner of the garden. From head to toe, one could only say that she was pure white. It was as if, if she had taken her eyes off of him even for a moment, then she would scatter like particles in the air.

Receiving the gaze from the front, Eleanor felt like boiling metal was poured into her stomach. The long gaze almost paralyzed her tongue. She felt like she had a fever as high as when making iron and her tongue almost became paralyzed.

This was because she knew him.

She knew him too well.

She knew everything about this man. And it was not just a matter of knowing his appearance or personality. Eleanor knew his ‘all’. How he was born, what secrets he had kept, and even how he died.

He was the worst ever villain in the novel written by her friend.

•••

It was last night.

Eun-woo was draped with a blanket in a narrow corner of a cold room that was like a closet, waiting for her alcoholic father who always returned home drunk.

She was checking the message with an old cell phone in her hand. To be precise, I was reading an Internet novel with 150 characters that my friend Ye-jin sent me, the only person in the class who used a 2D cell phone.

Novels that have yet to be titled were indeed full-fledged romance fantasy genres.

It was a story that Ye-jin had been thinking about since they were in elementary school. When they were young, novels that started with short introductions or short stories started to become quite bulky when they entered middle school and high school.

Now, the content was as large as any other epic-fantasy novel.

Nevertheless, the content of this story was quite simple.

It was a love story that transcended the status of the emperor of Hellasium, Ikshid Fedellamon I, and Selena Wellwoods, a woman and a daughter from a lowly family.

Of course, villains existed. Not only does they interfere with Selena and Ikshid’s love, but they also interfered with the empire itself.

Duke of Tashian Verk, the axis of threatening evil and an enemy that deserved to be removed.

A giant figure, hair that was blacker than a crow’s feather, deep eyes that seem to contain chestnuts, the only successor to the Duke’s family who has been guarding the imperial family like a pillar since a long time ago, and an iron knight like a beam of the Imperial Knights. A Continental hero.

He was really an attractive person who appeared opposite of the word Villain.

But the ending was brutal. The ending of Tashian, a villain who betrayed Ikshid, a male protagonist who was the eldest and long-time close friend of the family, was disastrous.

He writes treason and pays a fair price for evil deeds. It was written that he was executed by the hand of comrade Ikshid, whom he betrayed.

It was not until the very scene that made her hands sweat did Eun-woo hear the rustling sound of the front door. Her father had returned.

She had to turn off the light. She covered herself in a blanket as if she was dead and held her breath, but barely fell asleep after the noise in the living room, which had been fluttering for a while.

And the next day, she noticed that she woke up in the bedroom of Eleanor Miller, the wife of the villain Tashian.

•••

Eun-woo grabbed the mirror and was startled by what she saw. A smooth skin without any blemishes, hair as soft as a dandelion stalk, and round cheeks that were dyed with azalea, and lips like red rose were opened in surprise.

It was a lovely woman. Two broken glass-like blue eyes were staring at her with a look that seemed to shed tears at any moment.

It was exactly what the novel expressed. Marquis Eleanor Miller, a woman who was described as having a weak appearance and in poor health, was reflected in the mirror as clear as day.

Then, with a bang, a maid with a plump body came in.

“Lady! The bath is ready. Hurry up! Hurry up! We don’t have time!”

Without even having time to stutter, her pajamas were flipped off by the touch of a red curly-haired maid who protruded through the bonnet.

“Wa, wait…”

A woman in her mid- to late 40s with a face full of freckles on a hawk’s nose. It was Anit, Eleanor’s personal maid, who was beheaded by the Imperial Knights at the hands of the imperial knights along with the death of the villain Tashian after working as a marquise for the rest of his life.

“What Wait? Are you saying, Lady! A lady who wakes up early picks up a good man. Come on, don’t sleep like a child!”

Anit didn’t even pretend to listen to her, and blindly threw her into the bath water. A bucket full of water was poured over her head, which was rustling like wind in her underwear, and she began to comb her bright, golden hair like a horse’s mane.

“I mean, do you know what I heard at the marketplace today? Oh my gosh! It was so tacky! The young lady of the Marquis family is getting older and her years are passing, but seeing that there is still no news, it is said that she has lost her position as a concubine, let alone marrying to the imperial family!! Hooh!”

Her hands, which were grabbing Eun-woo’s hair and combing hard, were full of strength.

“I wonder how the 18-year-old was full of spirit and now couldn’t get over it… ! I don’t know where it came from. It’s like dog bones*, like that… ! Oh my, lady. I’m sorry. Hmm. I don’t know where it came from, but from what I heard, she looked like a maid who awaits her Master, and it’s absurd! Even if our young lady gets married while rolling over, she will marry into a better family than her daughter!”

(TN: Bones of dogs, someone who likes to butt in.)

Anit angrily opened a small colored bottle next to the bath and poured it all out in the bath medium mixed with saffron, daffodil juice, and fennel grass.

“Even if Diego did not leave the house, I would hold the woman’s arm on the spot and see her… ! No, hmm, I would have shown the maid the status of our marquis family firmly! His Majesty the Crown Prince is indifferent too. He’s sending our young master, who’s not married yet, to a bloody battlefield!“

Now, the maid was rubbing her body with a woolen brush and vomiting her anger.

“But don’t worry. As of today, when your older brother returns, he will immediately promote the Young Lady’s wedding. No matter how much the master wears gold and jade on the young girl, hasn’t he prepared a good wedding venue so far? You must have put it off day by day because you all have thoughts!“

The maid’s hand headed back to the bucket. And water poured over her head that was in chaos without notice.

“Gasp…”

“Hey, Miss! I told you several times to hold your breath when pouring water”.

Eun-woo coughed wildly and ruminated over the maid’s words.

Eleanor’s only family and brother, Marquis Diego Miller, was a supporting role in the novel and a person who had some associations to the villain Tashian Verk.

When he was young, he was said to be a very promising talent who was also nominated for the ‘successor’ candidate, the leader of the elder council, but now he was just a noble nobleman who was busy wandering around the continent.

The cleverness of his youth was thrown away in the public domain, and the Crown Prince, who could not see the marquise who was ignorant, sent him to the battle of Genova. It happened at the beginning of the novel’s play. Eun-woo stuttered and asked back.

“W-where am I going today?”

Anit’s hand that was pouring water again stopped towering over her. Eun-woo was nervous and shrank, as if her identity had been revealed.

“… Lady you’re healthy, but sometimes you talk nonsense. You received a letter last week. When Diego returned to Hellasium after his service, he told you to come and he will meet you in the rose garden of the Crown Prince.”

Anit’s eyes were burning like flames with enthusiasm.

She clenched her fists, clenching her ferret hair in her hand as if to break them.

“As soon as I opened the letter, I recognized the great and ambitious will of our master. Crown Prince Palace! How could you call a lady to the rose garden of Crown Prince Palace? As you know, Master Diego and I have not sufficiently proven that there is something in common during our twenty-four years of service to the Marquis? I am sure that this maid heard the unspoken message of Master Diego through the letter.”

Eun-woo swallowed her saliva as she saw the solemn maid’s expression.

In any part of the novel, there was no scene of the ‘transmission’ between Anit and Marquis Diego Miller.

“Isn’t it just to arrange a wedding between the Crown Prince and the young lady? A meeting disguised as a coincidence! A place for unexpected encounters!”

Prince Ikshid was the male protagonist of the novel.

After his eyes were flipped over by Selena Wellwood, the heroine he met at the victory-celebrating banquet, he played hard to get so much, that it was enough to overturn the whole empire. Eventually, nothing would be concluded until the villain Tashian is killed.

In one word, these three characters had no relationship with Eleanor, that is Eun-woo now, at all.

“I, I don’t think so…”

“Therefore, I will devote twenty-four years of experience, or even my life, to the adornment of this lady today!”

“No. This, this life…”

“As expected, My Lady! The reason why you’ve been so busy all this time was because of the Young Lady’s position as the Crown Princess!”

“No, it’s really a coincidence…”

“Come on, lady! Get out of the bath! Today I’m going to tie your waist properly! Trust me!”

And after a while, Anit really tightened her waist with a corset until there was no sign of further tightening. In a tremendous procedure that seemed to reposition the organs near the stomach, Eun-woo grabbed the bedpost and struggled, complaining of pain that she had never ever experienced before.

Tying the string of her corset, whining and screaming ironically, Anit muttered constantly.

“Lady, pull in your stomach! Phew, what if our Young Lady marries an old man? Ugh! I am so worried!“

“Ahh…! The Du- duke…?”

Eun-woo was guilty and responded to the maid’s words.

The Duke. Isn’t that the family of the villain, Tashian Verk, to which Eleanor eventually gets married to?

Tashian, was a villain who faces a miserable ending at the end of the novel, no one else. Rather than marrying her, marrying Selena who was from a poor family and the heroine, was a hundred times better.

“Of course, the Duke didn’t say anything, but… This old maid’s heart feels… First of all, he was single, and he said it would be a day before he went to the battle of Genova.”

“Did that person come and go that often?”

“It’s not a fictional day, but… First of all, the fact that he personally moved and visited the Marquis Castle is important. Because he was not a person like that.”

Eun-woo swallowed her saliva. Oh my god. Was it a love marriage? Thinking of marrying him made her sweat. It wasn’t just because he was a villain in the novel. This is because the novel continued even after his death.

The punishment for sin did not stop at the neck of the master mind. All the families who had participated in his rebellion, and the closest family’s offices, side rooms, their resuscitation, servants, and stables. Even a dog, horse, cow, pig, and even an ant cub accidentally crossing the threshold of the family were completely executed.

In a word, it was a terrible ending in which the person who had even a little connection with Tashian Verk was cut off without double confirmation.

She shouted with her face painted pale blue.

“No, no way, never!”

“Right? I knew it! The lady didn’t show it either, but she likes it, right? What do you think of the experience gained from my maid career? Lady, straighten your waist!”

Eun-woo coughed as if she had been choked. The maid seemed to have taken it in a different sense, but anyway, it seemed that she too disapproved of the marriage.

“Even though the Duke’s family is in a high-ranking family, the current owner is rumored to be… terribly bad. He is a man who has been labeled as a war ogre since he went out on his first expedition at the age of 16.”

It was a nickname for the Duke that Eun-Woo knew well.

The public called him a war hero, but it was just a well-packed, nominal tribute. Eun-woo knew well how, throughout the novel, the same nobles viewed the duke.

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s a good idea for Marquis Diego to hang out with him often. When I stand in front of him, I get numb. How on earth do those two have such different personalities and how are they still friends? I’ve never seen the Marquis smile.”

The maid shook her head as if she had seen a ghost in the middle of the day, perhaps recalling his expression she had encountered one day.

“He has that cold expression on his face that can easily kill a person… ! You can tell just by looking at the faces of the servants in the house. Everyone had a bluish face as if they couldn’t even get a piece of bread… I want my young lady to marry someone who is friendly even if he has a low status.”

Anit put her in a beautiful blue dress and turned her around. Then she gently caressed her soft cheeks, as if she was doing it to her own child.

At the young age of 10, she lost both of her parents and grew up alone in a large castle with her brother. Anit treated Eleanor like her own child. Anit patted her cheek and asked teasingly.

“But it’s our Lady that will be getting married, so let’s talk about it. What kind of man do you want? A domestic man? A man who is smart? You’ve never mentioned this before… What kind of man is your ideal type?”

“Uh…”

Eleanor’s face turned serious instantly. Eventually, the young lady Anit served opened her mouth with a serious expression on her face.

“A man who does not die by being decapitated by a guillotine.”

The maid Anit was speechless.

•••

“Welcome, Lady Miller. I’ve been waiting.“

The white-haired royal prince’s servant led her to the garden as if she already knew of her visit.

Originally, even if the Imperial Order entered, the relatives of the knights could not come to meet them at the imperial palace. It was a matter of course. This was the imperial palace where the Hellasium royal family lived.

However, Eleanor Miller was a little special. Eun-woo didn’t know, but the chief servant, who had been in charge of the Royal Palace for a long time and welcomed guests from the royal family, was well aware of the special friendship between Prince Ikshid and the siblings of Family Miller.

As if familiar with the imperial court’s favor towards Eleanor, the chaplain took her directly to the royal palace’s reception room.

When she arrived at the reception room near the back garden, she could smell a fragrant flower from somewhere. It was from the rose garden. It was a spectacular view where the royal family’s symbols, cyclamen and red roses, had bloomed to the fullest.

Dressed in a white dress with blue trims, she sat down at a table at the edge of the garden, guided by the waitress.

“Kindly wait for Marquis Miller’s appearance, during that period please have these refreshments.”

Small pieces of waffles with marmalade syrup, whipped cream, raspberry jam, and pudding topped with petals, were lightly placed on a tea cup and plate with gold frames containing chamomile tea.

However, she did not quickly touch the prepared refreshments. While looking around, Eun-woo reached out to a rose bush and picked up a rose and held it in her hand. She rolled the stem gently to avoid the thorns and was lost in thought.

As a result of reflection on the sudden information to the point of overloading her head, she was able to draw quite reliable conclusions.

Now she was living in the early part of the novel. In other words, it was still the time before the male protagonist Ikshid and the female protagonist Selena had met.

In other words, Eleanor Miller was also an unmarried young girl before marrying the villain Tashian Verk.

I couldn’t help but be fortunate during my misfortune. Wouldn’t it be possible to avoid the man you’ll be married to before marriage?

The question was to what extent the relationship between the two has progressed.

In the novel, Tashian Verk had never been mentioned to be with his wife, Eleanor Miller. She was an extra through and through. The weak wife of a duke who rarely showed her face. That was all the description for her.

‘How did such a woman like this end up marrying such a villain…?’

They were a couple that didn’t get along like water and oil. A man who was a war hero who led the continent, and a woman who was like a flower in a greenhouse never having left her castle.

Eun-woo was even surprised that the villain Tashian Verk had a wife in the first place. To think there was actually a woman who was driven with love towards this man who seemed as if blue blood would spread when a blade sliced across his throat.

Eun-woo sighed after remembering the sky blue haired woman staring at her in the mirror.

Her thin limbs were white and soft like fresh snow. It was a body that would not want to have a single drop of water on her hand, let alone a small scratch in her life.

Eun-woo recalled her body in the other reality.

Ugly body covered with wounds caused by domestic violence here and there. A belt-hit mark, a torn wound caused by a broken bottle, and a bruise mark that had swelled red and blue. It was a memory she didn’t really want to recall.

Her friend Ye-jin was a ray of light in her lonely and needy life. Maybe, really, maybe this was the second opportunity in her life. Her second life, her friend gave her.

She wanted to live properly. She doesn’t want it to be ruined by anyone’s hands.

I will never let Eleanor marry the villain. She would not live a life where her husband would disappear at the dew of the guillotine.

Along with that firm determination, emotions that could be called new hope sprang up in her.

Eun-woo smiled lightly.

Her thoughts naturally passed to Marquis Diego Miller, Eleanor’s brother, whom she would soon meet.

What kind of Viscount was he?

She remembered that he was not an ordinary person. In the scene where he appeared, explosions always occurred, infants and girls fainted in the middle of the ball, or there were civic uprisings. At first glance, he was not an easy opponent.

He was currently the most important figure for Eun-woo. If Tashian Verk was the number one person to avoid, Marquis Diego Miller was the main figure who could be the most deeply involved in her marriage.

Eun-woo seriously pondered while engraving wrinkles between her eyebrows.

‘How would I coax Eleanor’s Oppa…?’

(TN: Oppa; a term for older brother. It can also mean, Baby, and such as an endearment for one’s boyfriend, but it would depend on the context.)

As she was wandering around the rose garden and concentrating on planning her life plan, she could feel a strange gaze concentrating on the back of her head. Was Marquis Miller finally back?

Eun-woo hurriedly turned toward the entrance of the rose garden.

“Ah…”

However, her expectations were shattered as soon as she saw the man’s black hair that was tangled by wind.

It wasn’t the face that looked like her, nor the soft honey-colored hair that greeted her.

Eun-woo’s eyes widened staring at the large body that came in. A tall, black-haired man stood at the entrance of the garden with an eerily cold expression on his face. The man who had just returned to the Imperial Castle had a helmet in his hand. It must have been that he had come in a hurry, and his dark-colored hair was tangled as if it was blown away by the wind.

The man’s black eyes, which met her indigo one, held a strong light in them for a moment.

Eun-woo was trapped in the gaze of the man who seemed to be staring at her and couldn’t move.

The man’s eyes were carefully scrutinized, as if trying to feel something inside her. It was as if his gaze was obsessively caressing the surface of her skin. Like it was checking something.

At one point, her head became blank and she got goosebumps.

Eun-woo unknowingly stepped back.

The appearance of a man’s hard, overwhelming body surrounded by fragile flowers was shockingly heterogeneous. At the same time, Eun-woo was mesmerized by the suffocating beauty of the man.

Wearing armor the size of his body, he boasted a size that would not be incompatible at all even if he was called a giant. He had a head that seemed to be bigger than hers.

The man’s body, which appeared to be between heavy iron armored clothes, was clearly outlined enough to give an idea of how muscular and how trained he was.

Just walking out of the shadow of the rose garden wall, he stood in the middle of a confrontation between bright light and shadows, and he was no longer approaching her as if someone had drawn a line.

Black hair, black eyes, a dignified body that anyone can call a perfect Knight’s body, sharp gaze as if it could kill the opponent at any moment, and those cool and cold eyes contained a line of cruelty today that made her forget even his handsome face.

There was nothing more to think about.

The Duke of Tashian Verk.

In the novel, he was the man to be her husband.

Surprised by the appearance of the man, Eun-woo hurriedly turned around, shaking like a rabbit trapped in a trap.

“Ouch…!”

She let out a scream and dropped the rose in her hand on the floor. Dark red blood had formed on thin and white fingers. Her finger had been pricked by a thorn. It hurt quite a bit, perhaps because she was stabbed hard.

As she hurriedly wrapped her injured finger, she heard iron clumping into each other. The duke, who had already approached her, stood in front of her with a surprised look. Then, with an inaccessible force, he snatched her hand in an instant.

He smelled of a rough man that was indescribable. It smells like grass and mud. For some reason, it was a strong scent.

Eun-woo said loudly in embarrassment.

“Your Highness…”

“Stay still!”

And with his shocking actions that followed, Eun-woo held her breath as if she couldn’t believe the sight in front of her.

The man bent his tall height and bit her little white finger in his mouth.

The hot, squishy man’s mouth felt unfamiliar to her fingers. The man bit her wound and washed it hard in his mouth.

Eun-woo was terrified by the feeling of his lips sucking on her fingers, making her twist her whole body and as she tried to escape.

“Du- Duke… What are you doing…?!”

Regardless of her strong resistance, he removed her finger from his lips and spat out red blood once to the ground. Then, once again, he kept the finger in his mouth and sucked the blood out.

Eun-woo bowed her reddened head and grabbed the steel forearm, which was holding the hand held by the other arm.

Her whole body had been trembling and as if it were given an electric shock. It looked like it could turn into a mess.

It wasn’t long before the Duke, who repeated the action a couple of times, took his lips off her fingers. He shouted in a furious tone.

“What are you doing?! Have you forgotten that the striped thorny roses that grow in the Imperial Palace’s gardens are feeble but poisonous? It usually ends with a fever, but if done wrong, it can even lead to amputation of your finger! How could you…?!”

The man who had been shouting with a vicious force, saw the woman’s tired face and quickly shut his mouth. Her clear, glassy blue eyes were clouded with terror.

She didn’t know. How could she know that the rose of the imperial palace had thorns?

She has been in this world for only a few hours.

He closed his eyes tightly, opened them, and wrapped his arms around the woman’s shoulders who had a weak expression on her face.

“… .You’re always like this! You weren’t even careful for a bit that I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

Eun-woo gasped because of the sudden incident.

If the man had not supported her with strong strength, the body of the fragile marquis Eleanor Miller might have plummeted to the ground.

“I’m, I’m sorry. I must have forgotten for a moment…”

Eun-woo hurriedly made an excuse. The man’s expression quickly loosened.

“…I didn’t shout to get your apology. I… d**n, you’re so careless! You get hurt every time. I just don’t like it.”

He helped her and put her on a nearby bench. He knelt down on the bare floor in front of her, threw off the gauntlet, and touched her forehead with her bare hands. Then he began to massage her cold fingertips with his big hands.

Eun-woo was surprised and refused him, fiddling with her fingers in the hot hands of the man which were sticking together. But the man persistently massaged her fingertips.

“I-it’s okay! I’m really okay now.”

“Those who just fainted and woke up will be less pale than you. If you don’t want to faint again and see many people die, please stay still. If I could, I would wrap you up right away and take you to the royal court.”

When Eun-woo heard that, she had no choice but to keep her mouth shut.

Her hand was tossed around by the man’s rough, and callused hand. Compared to her white and soft hands, the man’s hands were coarse and thick, like the bark of a tree.

When her hands finally took some of his warmth, he fell onto the ground as quickly as he had approached her for the first time.

Eun-woo was shocked to think that he might be a little disappointed to even drop his body so quickly. Then he hurriedly twisted his body diagonally from her like any noble lady who was calm and coy.

“Du, Duke, why are you here…?“

She asked him while stroking her tangled hair. Suddenly, he got up and gently brushed off the dirt from his helmet, that had fallen to the ground, with his palms.

“Did you not hear anything from your brother?”

At that time, Eun-woo recalled who she was waiting for in the garden of the imperial palace.

I, myself, had received a letter from Marquis Diego Miller, the brother of Eleanor, the owner of this body, and prepared to enter the palace in a hurry in the morning breeze.

As far as she knew, Diego Miller was a reputed sharp blade of the empire. The place he was sent to before was Genova and this time, after receiving the command that he should join the army, was the battlefield where this man in front of him was the commander-in-chief.

Of course, the imperial family did have enough common sense to not sacrifice the Marquis, who had yet to inherit his title in addition to being an unmarried man, in the war. So it was not until it was the end of the war that he participated in the war silently. It was already after the war leaned towards Hellasium.

And today was the day that my brother returned home from military service.

Tashian asked her, frowning noticeably.

“Didn’t your brother write anything in his letter?”

“What….?”

In the letter Anit had handed me, the content was full of complaints saying to meet him in the imperial palace, scrawled in handwriting that was hard to recognize.

Tashian shook his throbbing head with an aching expression.

“D**n it, Diego you bastard. Now I know. He must have ended up slurring his words in a way that only he could only recognize.”

Eun-Woo felt guilty inside, because what he said was too accurate.

“What’s wrong with my brother…?”

Eun-woo asked nervously.

Of course, she wasn’t really worried about Marquis Diego Miller. To Eun-woo, the Marquis was a person whom she didn’t even know the face of.

However, it was greatly on her mind that he was the only blood relative of Eleanor and the owner of a family with the right to make decisions who was going to be deeply involved in her marriage in the future.

Tashian, who held the helmet and gauntlet neatly placed next to her, quickly reassured her.

“It’s not a big deal. Hellasium won the victory.. But your brother was caught up in a small dispute after the war. Because of that, the return time was delayed a little bit. But soon everything will be resolved and he will come back to Hellasium.“

Eun-woo looked at Tashian’s face with nervousness.

There was a lack of explanation of all the events so far. But even then he looked eager, hoping that her mouth would open a little more. The Duke’s eyebrows slightly wriggled as he looked at her. In the end Tashian continued lukewarmly with a strange sense of defeat.

“…There was a small friction with Genova, the defeated country, in the process of deciding on the hostage. What the imperial family wanted was the prince of Genova, but he was already dead. It was confirmed that many of the remaining royal family members had fled to neighboring countries in the process of searching for hostages. The Crown Prince ordered your brother to take responsibility and find a successor who could succeed, with Genova’s orthodox blood in their veins and bring them before his eyes.”

Eun-woo nodded. There were many things she couldn’t understand, but she was forced to pretend to know for she was now playing the role of Eleanor.

Tashian looked at her with a strange look.

“Then why did your Highness come here…?”

“Tashian.”

“Yes…?”

“Call me Tashian.”

Eun-woo blinked. Soon, her whole body heated up with shame.

Did she make any mistake? Did Eleanor call him by the friendly title of Tashian, not the Duke?

However, he soon answered her question in a casual tone, perhaps it was of little significance.

“As I explained earlier, your brother’s return has been delayed.”

“Did you come all the way here to tell me that news?”

To answer, he sat carefully on the bench where Eun-woo sat. And at that moment, in a very familiar manner, his hand gently passed over her shoulder and put away a handful of hairs that had obscured her view.

The touch was so natural that even Eun-woo did not realize how awkwards it was in actuality.

“Did you hear that he had decided to renovate the Marquis Castle?”

Eun-woo blinked like a toad. Due to the continuing unfamiliar situation, she was as nervous as a cat with a lot of its fur standing on its end.

In the garden, where Eun-woo who doesn’t know what kind of relationship the two had, a Knight came as the flowers bloomed fully right after the war with the news of victory in front of the woman who would later become his wife. He must have been terrified that he might bring up the marriage proposal.

… But what did he mean by repair work?

“…. Looking at your expression, you really didn’t say a word. I’ll rip his letter and shake it in front of his eyes next time we meet! What the heck?! Does he not know the significance of that letter?“

Eun-woo bit her lips to suppress the sudden burst of laughter as she saw Tashian shouting in anger.

Indeed, as he said, Marquis Diego Miller’s letter was full of all sorts of useless words.

At the same time, Eun-woo was inwardly surprised that they were much closer than expected.

That’s why they must have conspired to rebel together. Thinking about it made her mouth dry again.

“…What do you mean by repair work?”

“I heard well that the heavy rain last time caused the huge tree in the garden to collapse over the annex of the marquis.”

Of course she didn’t know. However, Eun-woo nodded hard.

“So, while building a new annex, he decided to renovate the main building, where the former Marquis couple’s bedroom was located, all the way from the front door to the library.”

“What?”

Eun-woo opened her mouth wide.

What kind of unexpected occurrence is this? It was also the main building.

“No, then where am I…?”

“The Marquis.”

Eun-woo doubted her ears.

“Yes?”

“Your brother asked me to do you a favor.“

Tashian continued calmly without blinking. Only Eun-Woo reached a state where she found breathing difficult, feeling as if her eyes were turning white.

There was an unexpected good fortune but she never knew there would be obstacles.

What do you mean, Duke? It was like being stumped by a trusted axe. All she had to do was to avoid the tiger. But she didn’t know she would enter the tiger’s den herself. Moreover she was pushed by her brother’s hand.

Meanwhile, Tashian glanced at the small woman in front of him sitting still as if she was mesmerized with both of her hands linked together. It felt like he wasn’t just looking at her, rather he was looking through something beyond those eyes, but Eun-woo, who was deeply troubled, didn’t even notice his stare.

At that moment, a low voice rang her ears.

“… I missed you a lot.”

Eun-woo looked up at him at the moment, thinking if she had heard wrong.

Even in his sitting position, his face remained far above her. He looked calm enough to believe that he didn’t know what he had just said.

“Your brother misses you a lot.“

Eun-woo wiped her chest.

That’s right. She was ashamed of herself for jumping into conclusion like a sick chicken, thinking that it meant that he missed her.

Tashian’s expression referring to Diego Miller quickly rotted. He muttered with a gloomy face for some reason.

“…. My life-span has been reduced by 10 years because I put up with him crying out your name every night.“

Eun-woo bit her lips to hold back her laughter once again.

Even if she had never seen it before, she could guess what kind of character Eleanor’s older brother had, making his cold face remind her of a tired expression.

On the other hand, she couldn’t deny that she was surprised at the thought that the Duke was a kinder person than what she thought.

Tashian in the novel she knew was a heinous, arrogant, and cold-hearted man.

He was a cold-hearted man who did all the cruel things in the world. She never imagined that he had such a grumpy face and knew how to complain.

Eun-woo didn’t know whether to be happy or embarrassed, so he just rubbed her lips.

Tashian opened his mouth while looking at Eun-woo.

“…. Diego wants you to know that he’s sorry. Such glory. He would probably be the only nobleman who could cry like that after receiving such a prestigious position. Even though there are unmanageable things, he’d still be happy for you but would know his limits”.

“Oh, did my brother say that?”

“Yeah. He’ll be back before the victory party, so he made a new request.”

Eun-woo’s heart jumped.

If it was a victory-celebrating banquet, it would be the first time for male protagonist Ikshid and female protagonist Selena to meet.

Based on that point, everything is overturned. Ikshid fell in love with Selena and stayed away from the politics, so that gave her an opportunity to pretend to be with the man in front of her.

“Then, until then, should I stay in the Duke’s residence?”

“Please.”

Tashian easily raised his body and took his gauntlet and helmet in his hand. His face, standing against the sun, had a deep shadow.

Nevertheless, it was clear who, with his eyes burning like black charcoal, were looking at.

Eun-woo felt her skin turning red up to her neck while receiving his gaze.

Tashian politely extended his hand like a Knight who would serve a Lady. He formally requested.

“Please stay at the duke’s office until your brother comes back. Eleanor.”

Eun-woo almost stared at him with her mouth open. She came back to her senses and coughed in vain.

“Oh, I…”

She could have insisted on staying in the latter area during the renovation, but she did not want to go against Diego Miller’s intentions. In addition, the victory anniversary banquet was just around the corner. In the meantime, if he had proposed, it would have been enough to refuse.

However, Eun-woo could not readily come up with an answer despite his gentlemanly attitude and the clear gains and losses.

It wasn’t just because he was the Duke of Tashian Verk. Surprisingly, the name Eleanor from his lips broke Eun-woo’s heart. The name seemed to be a sharp red string and tightened her heart.

Eun-woo was shocked by the fact that she felt this way.

Now was not the time to feel guilty about pretending to be a different woman. But the one whom he really wants him to stay with was Eleanor Miller, not Eun-woo.

Nevertheless, does she deserve to hold the hand he’s giving to her now?

Suddenly, the hot temperature of another body slightly touched her cheek and went away. Eun-woo was surprised like a caterpillar that had been stabbed by a branch and looked up at him.

His hand, which touched her cheek slightly, was wandering embarrassingly in the air.

Eun-woo couldn’t understand his expression. The first cold and insensitive face she saw shook with a certain emotion that she couldn’t even understand.

Why does he look like that?

A quiet voice almost whispered.

“Don’t go, Eleanor. Stay.”

Something cried out from inside of her.

It’s a useless idea. What a child-like feeling.

However, Eun-woo had no choice but to put her hand on his hand. Even though she knew that she was walking into the beast’s den, she held his hand and slowly raised herself.