“Prepare to leave for Irugo.”
The hall stirred at the emperor’s words. He didn’t say why she was to leave but everyone in the hall knew why.
An arranged marriage.
It was an arranged marriage with not just anyone but Irugo, their enemy. It was called a marriage in-name but who knew when she would be killed.
Perhaps that was what the Emperor was hoping for.
Aristine’s death.
However, Aristine, the person concerned, simply stood still with an elegant expression on her face like always. Despite the noisiness in the hall, she was the only one who seemed to be in a different sphere.
The emperor looked at Aristine’s behavior with displeasure and his mouth distorted.
“Isn’t it fortunate, my daughter?”
His tone seemed kind at first. But his voice was soon laced with poison.
“You might be useless but the blood flowing in your veins is noble so you can at least serve some purpose.”
Even when she was insulted, Aristine’s expression did not change at all. Whether it was her fluttering long lashes, her eyes which were as calm as a lake, or her lips which were sculpted like the moon, nothing so much as flinched.
The emperor sneered.
“Then again, having something so useless next to me was making me sick so this is perfect.”
He looked around the hall and laughed.
“You can take out the trash, be helpful to your country, and have an excuse for your existence, even if it’s rubbish. I suppose we can call this killing three birds with one stone.”
People chuckled scornfully at her as if they were agreeing with the emperor’s laughter.
Aristine stood as before, not showing any reaction.
Her slightly lowered eyes seemed to be showing obedience to her father.
* * *
And one month later, Aristine was on her way to Irugo. A few people sighed, feeling pity for her circumstances but Aristine was determined as she climbed into the carriage.
Her unwavering, elegant figure left a deep impression even on those who were ridiculing her.
The moment the carriage door closed, and the curtains went down, “You can **** right off, you waste of air.”
Aristine changed as if her appearance so far had been a lie. She raised her middle-finger high towards the emperor’s abode.
She smiled sweetly, looking like an angel who had just descended to earth.
~please ignore anything below. thanks~
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‘I’m finally free!’
Aristine barely stopped herself from cheering out loud. She had finally gotten away from her sickening country and even more sickening father.
‘He is definitely crazy.’
Her father, the emperor, tortured her in all sorts of ways, using the justification of turning her into a ‘success’.
‘I really thought I died in that fire.’
The first thing she felt back then was the burning air, not the heat. Aristine had woken up to the sensation of something scraping her lungs and throat. If she had woken up just a little later, she would have died in her sleep.
When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by flames and the windows were blocked off.
At the time, Aristine was only six years old. A normal person would have died. But Aristine survived. That is if you could call that survival.
She was charred black like a chunk of meat, yet her father looked at her young self and asked.
《How did it go? Did you awaken?》
Aristine, who was blankly staring at her father in confusion, realized.
‘Ah, father was the one who set the fire and blocked the windows.’
That realization hurt her more than her scorched lungs and the blisters that had begun to form on her legs and arms. It hurt so much that she wanted it all to burn.
‘I don’t think it will hurt anymore when my heart turns to ashes.’
And now, more than 10 years later, Aristine’s heart had burned completely into ashes.
After ‘the incident’ with her half-sister, Aristine had even been confined. Since she was locked up as a young child, she lived on her own for more than 10 years so it was strange to feel her heart beating with excitement.
‘Then again, I was able to see my past life thanks to the confinement so maybe there was one good thing about it.’
Aristine’s mind unlocked its potential to protect herself. She became able to ‘see’ her past life otherwise she would have gone mad.
‘…It’s nice to finally leave but it will be a little annoying later.’
Aristine gave a faint sigh as she thought of her older blood-brother who wasn’t in the palace right now. Either way, now wasn’t the time to think about the place she was leaving, she should be thinking about where she was heading to.
‘I wonder what kind of place Irugo is .’
The land of barbarians.
A place where fire and iron rule.
An isolated plain surrounded by demonic beasts.
《The Irugo barbarians mate with both beasts and humans, you can’t even call them human.》
《You will be in bed with a bastard who rolls around with demonic beasts.》
《Who knows, he might prefer the beast to your stiff self.》
The words her father whispered to her echoed in her ears again.
Certainly, a part of it was because he wanted to spew curses on Aristine’s marriage, but the emperor had always hated Irugo.
Silvanus and Irugo have not had a good relationship for generations.
Silvanus was very proud of the nations it had conquered but there was only one place it couldn’t invade—Irugo.
Aristine’s father, the current Emperor, came up with a grand plan to bring Irugo to their knees. However, the direction of the war took a strange turn and Irugo began to swallow up Silvanus’ land instead.
The person who made the greatest contribution to Irugo’s success was none other than—
‘Tarkan. My future husband.’
Aristine recalled the target of her arranged marriage.
The emperor proposed a ceasefire with Irugo when the court realized that a further continuation of the war would only result in a loss. And in response, Irugo’s king demanded enormous war reparations and one more thing.
‘The emperor’s direct bloodline must marry Tarkan.’
The arranged marriage was meant to represent an end to the hundred years of hostility and the birth of a new alliance.
The King of Irugo truly wanted the war to end. Because Irugo was surrounded by demonic beasts so continuing the war would put a great burden on them.
This was a story that would normally end with the saying—and there was peace between the two nations.
‘But my father never intended to let the war end.’
The only reason the emperor negotiated for a cease-fire was to buy time. For now, he wanted to break Irugo’s streak then he planned to prepare for war behind the scenes before trying to invade again.
‘And that’s why he sent me. I’m a discarded hand.’
Something to give enough justification to declare war on a nation they had entered a marriage alliance with. There were many things they could easily cook up to achieve that, but there was only one thing that suited the emperor’s taste.
‘Killing me and blaming Irugo for it.’
Aristine laughed inside the shaking carriage.
Did the emperor know that the discarded hand he sent to die would send back a gigantic ‘fuck you’?
But to achieve that, she needed one person’s cooperation first.
“Tarkan.”
Aristine quietly recited the name of the person who would become her husband.
‘What game are they playing now.’
Aristine quietly stared at the simple tea-table laid out before her. She already knew something was up when they set out with an old-fashioned carriage instead of using a portal.
Sure enough, she was right because she was unable to get out of the carriage for almost 10 days.
‘I can’t even feel my legs now.’
Because of that, she couldn’t even wash up or change her clothes. She tried to at least take off her uncomfortable dress but the knights kept knocking on her window so she couldn’t even do that.
But then, they suddenly told her she could come out and when she did, they claimed to have prepared a few refreshments for her…
‘It would be weirder if I wasn’t suspicious.’
“Have a seat.”
The maid’s words were polite but with her tone and attitude, it was practically an order. However, Aristine sat down without saying anything.
‘Not yet.’
She was still acting as docile as she usually was in the palace.
‘It is not time yet.’
Aristine’s eyes swept over the armed escorts. Who knew whether they were guards, surveillance, or…
‘Assassins.’
Regardless of who they were, the Empire had only just begun reorganizing so it needed time. Which meant it was not yet time for Aristine to die. But in a way, that also meant they could do anything to her, apart from killing her.
Ironically, Aristine, a princess of Silvanus, could only be protected when she arrived in Irugo, an enemy nation.
‘Although, time will only tell if I will truly be protected.’
Aristine stared into the teacup which was filled with black tea. Its shaky surface reflected Aristine’s composed face. She was yet to even touch the teacup, but the surface of the liquid kept wobbling, and soon, Aristine’s reflected face disappeared completely from its surface.
And in its place…
‘Ah…’
Was a different sight.
* * *
The sight reflected on the surface was that of the handmaid who had just ordered Aristine to sit down. Her attire was exactly the same as it was now.
Unlike Aristine, the maid was able to wash up and change clothes every day, so she was far more cleaned and groomed.
The maid was moving a pot of boiling water. Her destination was the tea table.
Or Aristine, to be more precise.
Inside the surface, the handmaid poured the boiling water on Aristine. Aristine’s burned face swelled up with redness.
[Oh no! I’m sorry, Princess.]
Despite what she said, the maid’s face was full of obvious ridicule. Her hands were rough and harsh as she wiped Aristine’s face with a cold towel. Her actions seemed to make the injures worse instead.
[Wow, she looks like a drenched rat.]
[It’s the perfect look for a barbarian’s bride.]
The other maids a little further away giggled and whispered among themselves as if they wanted Aristine to hear it.
“…”
The surface shook and it soon fell silent.
The scene from just now vanished into thin air and Aristine’s calm face was the only thing reflected back.
Just like it had been in the beginning.
This was Aristine’s ability.
The ability her father, the Emperor, desired so much.
But it was the ability he thought Aristine failed to obtain.
The reason why she couldn’t be considered a ‘success’ and ended up as a ‘failure’.
The Monarch’s Sight which manifested through a mirroring surface. It wasn’t just an ability to see into the future.
Aristine could see the future, past, and present through a surface. However, Aristine wasn’t able to see things just because she wanted to, and just because she didn’t want to see something didn’t mean it wouldn’t be shown to her.
In other words, she could not control it.
‘What shall I do.’
Tap, Tap, Tap.
Aristine’s index finger slowly tapped on the table. She could see the handmaid approaching out of the corner of her eye.
Carrying the boiling water.
For a brief moment, Aristine’s eyes went on alert. As soon as the maid got right next to her, Aristine sprang to her feet.
“Ahh!”
The maid screamed as she was doused in boiling water. When she saw the figure in front of her suddenly rise up, she reflexively stepped back but because her center of gravity shifted, the water she was carrying ended up pouring on herself.
The maid’s face swelled and reddened in the blink of an eye.
“Oh no.”
Aristine lamented, covering her mouth with her hand.
“My, my face, my face…!”
The other maids were shocked and hurriedly went to bring cold water. It was quite different from the scene she saw with the Monarch’s Sight.
After fussing over her for a while, one of the maids stood up and stomped over to Aristine.
“What are you going to do about this!”
“Why are you asking me?”
When Aristine threw back a question in response, the maid, Rosalyn, gaped in surprise. This scorned princess had the nerve to talk back to her now?
“All I did was stand up.” (Aristine)
“That…!”
“She poured the water on herself, you can’t blame me for it. Am I supposed to act as a babysitter for you guys?”
Aristine tilted her head.
“Well, it does look like you guys need a babysitter.”
This much was perfect.
She omitted the snide remarks she wanted to make, but the very slight lift at the corner of her mouth said a lot more than a hundred words could.
“Wha, What did you just…!”
“If you do not need a babysitter, you should have been careful.”
Aristine’s tone was as if she was just informing her of the truth.
Rosalyn couldn’t say anything in response. She was so startled and taken aback. However, the thing that annoyed her the most right now was the fact that she couldn’t think of any rebuttal.
‘To this dumb bitch of all people…!’
Her face heated up with humiliation.
While Rosalyn quieted down, Aristine sat down and sipped the black tea. Her back was straight as a line, and the movement of her wrist was as elegant as a swan.
Even though she hadn’t been able to wash up or change her clothes for almost 10 days, she looked as if she couldn’t be more relaxed.
“Hah…”
The maids watching her huffed in disbelief. They wondered if the person they were seeing right now was really the princess they knew.
It wouldn’t be accurate to say they knew the princess well. But she was ‘that princess’, you know. The nuisance who was shoved out of the emperor’s sight and treated worse than strangers in the Imperial family.
The idiot who never got the chance to learn or be taught anything. A mentally unsound lunatic who had lived alone for most of her life.
‘But…’
‘Is this really that crazy princess?!’
That didn’t make any sense.
This wasn’t just different, it was different by a long shot.
Right, she probably just guessed right this time.
However, this was only just the beginning.
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