Chapter 1

“Open your eyes, if you lose consciousness here, you’ll die.”

With an eerie warning, her body was forcibly raised. Iona then realized that she had passed out.

She looked down blankly at the hand that was gripping her collar, then slowly lifted her gaze upward.

A man was glaring at her with scary eyes.

Iona spoke, barely opening her dry lips.

“Lord… Leroy?”

“Yes, can you see me now?”

A strange feeling of relief passed over the man’s face.

It seemed that he finally had the hope that she would survive, but it was a futile expectation because her physical condition was in disarray. The mind was also not intact, and the memories before fainting were intermittently cut off.

Iona forced her mind to remember what had happened;

Hearing a loud sound and looking back at the source of that was the last scene that came to her mind.

Barely turning her neck, she found rubble piling everywhere as if the aftermath of an explosion.

Iona gasped and tried to clear her messy head.

‘Why did I become like this?’

It wasn’t that she had doubts about the state of her body that had become rags. There was an even more fundamental question — Why did the Emperor’s sword, Iona Modrov, have to wait for death, lying alone in the ruins?

‘Why am I spending the last moments of my life with this man who is even worse than others?’

To think that the person who came to visit her after she had been left behind, trying to protect the Emperor was none other than her husband, who had always been away from her.

Iona couldn’t decide whether the situation was funny or pitiful.

Though she couldn’t blame her husband. Wasn’t even Lord Leroy chosen to be her husband by her lord, the Emperor?

Iona was an escort knight for the Emperor, Richard, and had always been by his side even before he ascended to the throne.

She was always ready to go to any lengths for her lord. Even if it was a major event in life like marriage, it was the same.

One day, when rumors spread over an overly close relationship between her and Emperor, Richard summoned Iona and after briefly expressing his displeasure at the absurd rumor, he said in a non-trivial tone:

“I’d rather you get married…”

The person Richard had picked as Iona’s partner was the Duke of Leroy.

It was a time when House Leroy, a prestigious family with a long history, was faltering because of a mistake of their ally. Richard pushed Iona and Duke Leroy to marry at a time like this as if he was waiting for this perfect moment. The couple’s relationship was, of course, the worst.

The duke was always wary of his wife, who was the eyes and ears of the Emperor, and Iona humbly accepted his rejection.

From the moment she walked into the wedding hall with him until now, Iona had never thought that they were a proper couple.

It was probably the same for the Duke.

‘But, then… why are you here right now?’

“Why did you come here? How…”

Iona swallowed and asked with difficulty.

Except when there were foreign businesses, they mostly lived separately.

Hence she was confused about how he appeared in front of her at a time when she was left alone to die.

Her doubts were valid though; The Emperor’s cowardly manipulations against the Duchy had completely ruined her marriage. No one in the Leroy Duchy thought that Iona was a proper Duchess. But Iona wasn’t dissatisfied that much because she used Emperor selfishly as well and thought it was the right price to pay.

“I bet you didn’t come to rescue me…”

“Is it strange that the husband came to rescue his wife?”

“Of course, it’s strange for us.”

“I agree.”

Duke Leroy answered in a bitter tone and let go of her collar.

While he looked around, Iona checked her condition; The wounds she received during the battle were quite deep, but fortunately or unfortunately, thanks to her red uniform, they weren’t much visible on the outside.

Iona asked, somehow holding on to her spirit that was about to break.

“So, won’t you tell me what the real reason is?”

“If you survive safely, I will answer you.”

“It’s impossible. I’ll be dead soon, and if you’re unlucky, so will you.”

“Looking at you talking about my death, you seem to be able to hold on.”

Saying that the Duke carefully checked her body.

Seeing that he was trying to check her condition, it seemed that he really came to rescue her.

Iona turned around to hide her embarrassment.

“…Is His Majesty safe?”

“Are you asking about the safety of the master who abandoned you and ran away?”

The Duke asked angrily. However, Iona, the victim, had no regrets about the Emperor’s choice.

‘Isn’t it natural for the escort knight to protect her lord?’

Furthermore, she already knew that Richard, the Emperor, was not a person overflowing with compassion to the point of putting himself in danger just because she had served him for a long time.

She was indeed loyal to the emperor, but not so much as to deny the truth that the Emperor was objectively a bastard.

Even today, it was a surprise attack by people who were angry with his tyranny.

But Iona was not too surprised by the sudden attack because she knew that a leader who does not take care of the people’s hearts will not last long.

The fellow knights must have had the same idea, and as soon as the commotion was detected, they evacuated the Emperor in perfect order, as was expected from them.

Left behind on the scene, Iona slashed the enemies that came incessantly.

Iona was a woman who rose to the closest aide to the Emperor with only one sword, and no one could match her when faced with similar conditions.

Perhaps Iona could have killed everyone and safely returned to her lord’s side if the opponent had not used the explosives.

“My subordinates know I am here. They’ll come soon to rescue us, so don’t spend your strength needlessly and wait… The road leading to the outside has collapsed, so I can’t go out anyway.”

Saying that the Duke leaned his back against the wall with a light sigh.

‘Did he finally put his mind at ease knowing I’m safe?’

For some reason, his face looked a little less annoying.

It wasn’t that Iona was in good condition. Rather it appeared so because she was already good at hiding her pain by pretending not to be sick.

At first, she pretended to be okay out of caution, but seeing his face now, for some reason, she didn’t want to let him know that she was hurt. Perhaps because he was worried about her life and death and ran all the way here?

‘I’ll die soon anyway…’

“Lord Leroy, can I ask for one favor?”

“Speak… No. Don’t tell me If you’re going to make a loud noise again.”

“I want to kiss you one last time.”

A rare expression of bewilderment appeared on his face.

He hurriedly raised his previously relaxed body from the wall and came close to her.

“What did you just say?”

Thinking she might have hurt her head, his eyes carefully examined it.

He then frowned once before continuing the conversation.

“Is your head alright?”

“No, but it’s a bit unfair to die without kissing my husband.”

“We already kissed… at the wedding.”

“For three seconds, it was literally lip contact. Is the Duke’s mental age about 8 years old?”

This time, Iona showed a bewildered expression. Though she also understood the Duke’s suspicion.

Ever since they got married, they had never held hands in private. Of course, they didn’t kiss or spend the night together like any other couple either.

Because of this, Iona thought that he must have made a lover in a place she did not know.

Though she was grateful that at least the Duke did not insult her by appearing with another woman in front of her. Iona lived her life expecting only that kind of humane treatment from her husband.

That is until death was right in front of her eyes, and the Duke was the only person by her side.

“Let’s forget about it. I won’t tell anyone you asked me such a thing. Don’t worry, I will carry this secret to my grave—”

No one would be disappointed when it became known that they had kissed.

It was a promise that Duke made apparently to save face, but it seemed that the words sounded quite chaste unintentionally.

The Duke continued:

“—So don’t betray your lover… Don’t just say that you like me in a moment of weakness.”

“I never did anything shameless like that!”

Iona wasn’t sure how he got such an idea about her. But remembering that she was also assuming he was hiding his lover all this time from her just a few seconds ago, her head calmed down.

“What?”

The Duke showed his disbelief with a high-pitched voice.

When Iona showed a puzzled expression, the man let out a gasping sound.

“No, don’t say such a thing… Yeah, you must have wanted to have an affair after just being betrayed by your lover.”

The words that followed were incomprehensible.

She was definitely asking for a kiss from her legal spouse. The word ‘affair’ didn’t fit.

Besides, who the hell was he talking about? Who the hell betrayed her just now?

While pondering over her husband’s words, Iona suddenly came up with an absurd idea.

“No way… Are you talking about His Majesty, the Emperor?”

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