The country has lost its master.

The suicide of the 17th Grand Duke of Hessenguard was often described like this in most history books.

Sometimes it was also described as ‘The Master abandoned the country’, but there was no big difference in the details.

Scholars were divided over his death.

Some said he was cursed for ruthlessly killing his brothers to get the position of the Grand Duke.

While others refuted this by saying people who bore grudges against him succeeded in poisoning him and so on.

There was a lot of speculation about his death, but none of it was clear.

But what was certain was that he had no children to succeed the Great Duchy.

When the continent’s richest land lost its master, its neighbors, the Kingdom of Haband and the Kingdom of Aether reached out to take Hessenguard.

The two kingdoms argued that they deserved to be the new masters of the Grand Duchy, citing how closely their royal blood and the blood of the ancestors of Grand Duke of Hessenguard were mixed.

Eventually, these arguments led to an all out war.

The armies of the two kingdoms spilled each other’s blood in Hessenguard.

The war over the Great Duchy lasted for more than three years.

During that time, Hessenguard’s land was soaked in blood and reeked of death.

Countless young lives died without being able to even close their eyes.

In the end, the two kingdoms realized that they couldn’t bear anymore damage and tried to compromise.

After several months of negotiations, the two kingdoms signed the following treaty:

The Duchy of Hessenguard will remain in the form of the Duchy.

A member of the royal family from both kingdoms will be sent to serve as a common Grand Duke.

And the child born between the two Grand Dukes will take over the Grand Duchy of Hessenguard.

The two kingdoms, that were vying with one another for the dukedom, agreed to send their respective candidates from the royal family to marry and make their successor the heir of the duchy.

That’s how Hessenguard came to serve two masters.

And so, Erna and Kalion arrived at Hessenguard to wed.

But, their initial impression of each other was extremely terrible.

“What, this pumpkin?”

“Oh my, he looks like a dried earthworm.”

Thus a marriage started just like that from the beginning with a horrible impression of one another.

They showed their teeth to each other for more than a decade, but lived together steadfastly for the sake of the Grand duchy.

Later, one day, a letter was sent for them.

‘You will have a successor within one year.’

After 10 years of marriage without any children, both kingdoms raised the issue.

They said that if they don’t have children within a year, they’ll bring them back home.

Is it possible?

* * *

“There’s nothing great about it anyway. Just make it stand and put it in. If you can’t do that……”

At that moment, Kalion flicked her forehead with his fingers. Before long, Erna’s body, which was standing up, fell weakly onto the bed. She couldn’t believe that she fell with just one flick of Kalion’s fingers. When she blinked, a huge body hovered over her.

“Yeah, there’s nothing great.”

Kalion gritted his teeth.

“So, please be patient.”

* * *

“Umm….”

She looked satisfied as she slept in his arms. A rare smile appeared on Erna’s face, something which Kalion had never seen.

Kalion unknowingly reached out to touch her lips, but when he realized what he was doing, he hastily put his hand down. Nevertheless, he did not let go of Erna, who was peacefully lying in his arms.

‘How did this happen?’

She was a woman who always scratched his insides*. (*To behave in an annoying manner or say something impudent to get on someone’s nerves.)

From the first time he met her until now, they had never spoken to each other pleasantly. Whenever he picked faults on her, she would hit back without missing a single word.

His wife whom he did not want.

‘But why…….’

Kalion hugged Erna, who was sleeping quietly in his arms.

There was a smile on his face just like the one on Erna’s face.

In the swaying carriage, Erna closed her mouth.

It took them a full week to reach the capital of the Duchy of Hessenguard by the carriage.

Although it was the road leading to the capital, the condition of the road was quite terrible.

It might have been because of the rain that poured a while ago.

Every time the carriage’s wooden wheel tumbled over the uneven stony road, Erna’s face turned pale.

“Ughh…”

When her body, which had been swaying up and down all day, bounced up once again, she felt the acid in her stomach rise up. She wondered whether it was her fortune or woe.

She had already vomited her entire breakfast and now her stomach heaved again. She couldn’t even drink a drop of water. As she retched, only a groan escaped out of her lips and luckily no gastric fluid came out.

Just then, she heard the cries of the knights who were running ahead.

“It’s the Grand Duke’s Castle!”

“I can see the Grand Duke’s Castle!”

Erna’s face lit up as their loud voices reported what was ahead of them. Finally, they could see their destination. With a bright face, she reached out to draw the window’s curtains.

As soon as she was about to do so, the maid sitting across from her quickly struck her hand.

‘Slap!’ A powerful smacking sound rang inside the carriage.

“Princess!”

And as the maid’s sharp voice continued, Erna cowered habitually. She was scared.

“What are you doing? I had told you that it was dangerous outside!”

Although the maid sounded respectful, it was clear from her voice that she looked down at her. In addition, she even showed a smug attitude as if there was nothing wrong about hitting the princess’s hand.

“I just felt so suffocated…”

“Did you forget that there have been several assassination attempts on people who’ve tried to reach this place! The princess was just lucky enough to avoid it. You better keep that in mind!”

“…I understand.”

It was not that she had forgotten about this.

It was not easy to forget how the two previous candidates from the royal families, who had been sent before her, were cruelly assassinated.

But that didn’t mean that the maid’s attitude was acceptable.

Other princesses would have yelled at their maids and bashed them for their rude behavior, but Erna didn’t do it. No, it was because she couldn’t.

Erna was well aware of her position.

She was the fourth child born to the second wife of the King of Haband’s.

The king had married Erna’s mother, expecting that the children born between them would have wizardry in their blood, just like their mother.

As a wizard from the Mage Tower, she even had a beautiful appearance, but unfortunately, she died early after giving birth to Erna.

As Erna resembled her mother, the king expected that Erna too would have a talent for magic like her mother. But Erna, who had turned 16, had not shown any aptitude for magic until now.

It was natural that the King was greatly disappointed in her. Since Haband allowed men to have multiple wives, the King took a beautiful woman from a powerful family as the Queen. The Queen then gave birth to healthy children for the King.

Erna, who had no mother and didn’t have any support from the royal factions, had a superficial existence within the royal family.

It would have been nice if the tower could take care of her, but tower said that they no longer paid attention to the worldly affairs and ended their relationship. Therefore Erna had to live with minimal treatment as a princess.

In fact, she had no complaints regarding her situation. At least in the royal palace, she would not have to worry about being hungry or having to sleep in the cold.

She thought she could live quietly, then someday get married and leave the royal palace. She thought she could live with such naive thoughts.

But in this world, everything doesn’t go well as one desires. In her early age, the harassment began, starting with the subtle bullying from her half brothers and sisters.

At first, she fought back, shouted and punched. But if she fought back and won over her bullies, the other queens would visit Erna at night and beat her hard in the name of discipline.

“We’re all members of the royal family, and should have a good relationship. But I can’t believe you would scratch others with your nails and kick them like a kid brought up in the streets. Even if you don’t have a mother, I can’t believe that you would be this unruly…”

The words left a deeper wound on Erna than the whip that struck her calf.

No one here cares about me.

Little Erna quickly realised this bitter reality. Still, she tried to resist again and again, but the beatings became more and more intense. Eventually, Erna gave up resisting. It was just too much pain for a child to bear.

“What? Won’t you fight us today?”

“Yeah. It’s too boring.”

Even though her brothers and sisters kicked her with their feet, Erna remained still. She thought that this would reduce their bullying, but this only made her look more easy to bully.

Since then, Erna became a ‘something I can treat however I want’ to everyone. However Erna, who had lost all her will to fight, just held onto herself.

Just because children are just children, it didn’t mean that they wouldn’t feel anger and humiliation. But since she couldn’t release her anger on others, she vented it out on herself.

There was a void in her heart that could not be filled.

So little Erna tried to fill it through the only way she knew. Therefore, from some point on, Erna’s hands always had something to eat.

She wasn’t picky about food. From fruits to sweets, Erna kept eating everything all day long. The maids who attended her tried to stop her, but after knowing that Erna would become quiet when given something to eat, they brought her even more food.

As she always had food in her mouth and didn’t go outside, her body quickly became plump. As her growth period approached, her body began to grow rapidly.

Her features became distorted and her skin became coarse and greasy.

Her siblings, who used to just tease her, now frowned upon seeing her and started treating her as a complete stranger.

“Even though she is a princess, would there be a nobleman who would want someone like her?”

“It might be better to send her to a convent when she gets older.”

Hearing the whispers about her, Erna only hoped that she could someday leave the royal palace by whatever means possible.

In the meantime, news came in that the Grand Duke of Hessenguard was dead, and soon a war would begin. For a few years, the atmosphere of the royal family was very gloomy.

Then finally, the news that a treaty had been signed reached them.

She thought the royal family would be peaceful for a while, but it became turbulent again.

“This is the Grand Duchy of Hessenguard. It is a position that cannot be compared to a worthless royalty like you that cannot even take over the throne.”

With the exception of the first prince, who was destined to take over the throne, all the members of the royal family began a fierce battle for the position.

Soon after, it was decided that the second prince would go to the Grand Duchy of Hessenguard, and Erna watched his farewell ceremony from a distance.

But a week later, the second prince was killed in a sudden attack even before he could cross the border. The same thing happened to the princess, who was sent from the Aether Kingdom.

The two kingdoms thought that it was an ambush done by the surrounding kingdoms who were against the co-rule of Hessenguard.

They again chose a member of the royal family to go back to Hessenguard, saying that they would not back down from their decision.

This time, the first princess of the Haband Kingdom and the second prince of the Aether Kingdom were chosen. But they too lost their lives just before they could reach Hessenguard.

After the second assassination, the pride of the two kingdoms was crushed. Despite heavy security, the members of the royal family were again murdered.

“Do you think we’re going to give up Hessenguard because of that?”

However, unlike the first time, there was no royal family member that would go voluntarily this time. Two people have already been killed. No matter how tight the security was, the probability of them also being killed was very high.

The place that everyone wanted, quickly became a place that everyone wanted to avoid. They had no other choice but to send someone. Because if they didn’t, the other kingdom would swallow the entire Duchy alone.

“Anyone is fine! We need someone to send there first!”

The ministers chose the candidate again. Someone who was from the royal family but it wouldn’t be a waste if they got killed. Someone who’s death no one will mourn.

In the whole Kingdom of Haband, there was only one royal family member who met these conditions.

Thus a week later, Erna was dragged into a carriage heading to Hessenguard without any preparation.