For nobles, marriage was an obligation that had to be fulfilled. Through marriage, alliances were strengthened and heirs were produced to continue the family line. This was how wealth and bloodlines passed down from family to family were preserved.

Kaella, born as a member of the imperial family, was not unaware of this. She merely thought that after safely overcoming her father’s death, finding a better husband than Peon would be the best course of action.

The best choice she could make was to find a son-in-law, but even suitable son-in-law candidates were rare to find. Above all, Kaella had no desire to marry again. She just wished she would not open her eyes after collapsing.

Now that she had seen her father alive, could she not just die? If she was to be forcibly taken to Lucenford, it would be better to die peacefully now.

“My lady!”

The precious Austain princess barely opened her eyes. The worried faces of her maid, the doctor, and her father who had been by her side all along came into view at once.

She also discovered the excessively calm and peaceful morning light. She moved her parched lips. Having suffered from a high fever, her voice wouldn’t even come out.

“Yes, Kaella. Yes.”

But her father, who had raised his only daughter himself, immediately understood what she was saying and hurriedly drew closer. He understood and answered all the wheezing sounds she made.

“Three days have passed, three days.”

It was more than enough time for everything to be settled.

“I told His Majesty that you fell ill from nervousness as it was your first time handling a big task. He was worried and sent medicine and a doctor.”

Knowing well what his daughter was concerned about, Adeo spoke gently about the emperor to reassure her.

“Prince Elkanan also left his greetings and a gift for you. He regretted not being able to say goodbye before leaving.”

“Marriage…”

At the word his daughter squeezed out of her dry throat, Adeo gestured to the doctor.

“Let’s have you examined first, and then talk after you’ve eaten something.”

Kaella knew it was already too late. If three days had passed, there was no way to stop the marriage anymore.

*

Of course, that didn’t mean she could give up without doing anything. Kaella, furious and even more furious, kicked off the bed and rushed out.

“My lady, please, you’ve been suffering from a high fever for three days. If you go out like this, you’ll fall ill again! You might even get pneumonia then!”

Everyone in the ducal household tried to dissuade her, but she had no other choice. She knows her husband, the Grand Duke of Lucenford, very well. He’s not someone who would come just because Kaella dared to tell him to. She had to go and meet him no matter what.

This time, she had to stop this crazy marriage. It was a marriage that should never have happened in the first place. It would only bring unhappiness and be a terrible tragedy for everyone involved.

“You can’t! Absolutely not! Why don’t you send a message asking him to come instead!”

The maids, butler, and knights who didn’t know whom the lady was going to meet were at their wit’s end. But they simply couldn’t stop their high-ranking lady who was insisting on leaving her bed for the first time.

“Then please, just wait a little longer before going out! A guest is scheduled to visit for lunch today!”

“That’s Father’s guest, not mine.”

Oh dear, our lady, you can barely speak properly and you’re wheezing just from talking, how could you possibly go anywhere? The butler was on the verge of tears.

“It’s your fiancé, my lady! The Grand Duke of Lucenford is coming!”

She wanted to shout, “Who decided he was my fiancé?” but her throat felt like it would tear.

“Butler, the Grand Duke’s horse is in sight!”

“Oh my, my lady, please. I beg you. Please stay still. Alright?”

As luck would have it, the Duke of Austain had gone to the imperial palace again to finalize negotiations with Kerujan, so the butler had to plead with the Grand Duke of Lucenford to wait for a moment.

The butler watched the lady reluctantly sit on the bed before hurrying out. Unlike the Austain ducal carriage, the Grand Duke of Lucenford’s horse was so fast that by the time he reached the entrance, the Grand Duke was already dismounting.

“Welcome, Your Grace. I apologize, but the master has gone to the imperial palace urgently for negotiations with Kerujan. He asked if you could wait for a moment.”

“And the princess?”

It was he who had immediately picked up the princess when she collapsed in the audience chamber.

“She woke up this morning, but she’s still in a condition that needs to be monitored. She’s been very ill all this time.”

The Grand Duke of Lucenford looked not at the butler, but up the stairs the butler had hurriedly come down.

“She’s in a condition that needs to be monitored, yet she’s walking around?”

“Pardon?”

The butler followed the Grand Duke’s gaze and was shocked almost to the point of fainting. The lady was standing at the top of the stairs, panting, wearing only her nightgown with a shawl hastily thrown over it.

“Look at me, Your Grace.”

Kaella spoke as loudly as she could squeeze out, then turned abruptly and staggered, bracing herself against the wall. She felt dizzy. Still, she had to quickly pull herself together and deal with Peon, that hopeless man.

She took deep breaths, waiting for the dizziness to subside. The maids anxiously supported her, but she leaned quietly against the wall before moving on her own.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

With the deep, low voice from behind her, her body was lifted gently. Kaella looked around blankly before reacting a bit late. Having just overcome a crisis and barely woken up, her reflexes were naturally slow.

“Put me down. I’ll go by myself.”

“Where is her bedroom?”

Peon ignored her and asked a maid. The maid bowed her head and guided him. Kaella was about to speak again but held back. It was better to conserve what little energy she had for now.

“Lie down for now, princess.”

“Is this the time to lie down?”

“I’ll stay by your side until you tell me to leave, so go to the bed.”

The maid quickly piled up pillows on the bed so that Kaella could lean back.

He quickly drew back the bed curtains and cleared away the basin with towels and medicine bottles. Peon calmly pushed her back into the thick blanket. Then he pulled up a chair and sat down.

“Everyone out.”

Is it alright for the grown lady to be alone with her fiancé? The maids and knights looked visibly uneasy, but since Kaella was so adamant, they had no choice but to close the door.

“Is a princess from Kerujan coming to be married?”

That was what Kaella had found out after waking up while her father was away. Kaella’s tone, though still respectful and formal, was highly defensive as she asked bluntly. Peon quietly nodded.

“Yes. His Highness the Crown Prince and the Kerujan princess are engaged. Have you eaten anything?”

Krania is forming a marriage alliance with Kerujan. The Crown Prince and princess are a suitable match.

It was a larger and more significant marriage than the collateral Prince Elkanan marrying Kaella, a collateral of collaterals. And Kaella is told to marry the Grand Duke of Lucenford. Why?

“How did Your Grace respond?”

Father can’t resist the Emperor anyway. I know. It’s the same for Kaella.

Even holding the core of Austain Duchy, which the late Emperor had given to Father, he didn’t dare to pressure the cunning Emperor by spending money. If he did, the Emperor’s army would immediately destroy the duchy.

So the only one Kaella could trust was Peon, who had greatly resisted even when forced to marry before dying. He had to marry forcibly while being greatly trampled for his great resistance.

Didn’t he realize that the Emperor rather enjoyed it? This insensitive blockhead didn’t know that the Emperor liked giving greater humiliation to those who showed greater resistance. But now, even that resistance was needed.

“My answer cannot influence His Majesty the Emperor’s will.”

“So you’re saying you’ll marry me now, leaving Lady Lavalle behind?”

Kaella was truly angry. Rage surged to the top of her head. Has this person gone mad, why is he like this?

Throughout their marriage, because of the Lucenford people constantly seeking that Beatrice, Beatrice, Kaella felt as if she had married Beatrice, not Peon.

If she was so precious and so cherished, they should have loved each other until death! That love, the intruder will disappear, so be happy forever!

“Do you think that makes any sense? Do you want to do that? The whole empire knows who Your Grace loves! Why pursue a love you can’t keep?”

After spitting it out, she felt relieved.

“You two should just run away!”

That’s what should have happened. Kaella de Chasser. The woman who became Kaella Ferraro after marriage, rather than being treated as if she didn’t exist, as less than air, the two who loved each other so much should have at least run away together.

Of course, judging from what she heard before dying, Beatrice Lavalle wouldn’t have even thought of that. So only Peon was a fool. An incompetent idiot.

“Have you talked to Lady Lavalle?”

“Yes, I proposed.”

This was news to her. Kaella stared at Peon with wide eyes.

“I told His Majesty on the first day the Kerujan envoy arrived, but he only said it was time for me to marry, and then this happened.”

He had told the Emperor he would marry Beatrice, but received the answer to marry Kaella instead.

“And then?”

Peon looked at Kaella, who was panting and angry with reddened eyes. She didn’t even have the strength to receive guests. Worried she might collapse again, he examined the pale woman.

She was too thin and pale, and with her light platinum blonde hair and white muslin dress, she looked as if she might break if touched.

But she burned with intense anger, her eyes like icy skies set aflame.

He couldn’t tell her that he had been running around trying to stop this marriage the entire time she was collapsed. If he still hadn’t stopped it, that would just be a cowardly excuse.

“So, are you going to abandon Lady Lavalle and marry me as His Majesty orders? Your Grace will never, ever forget Lady Lavalle for the rest of your life.”

Kaella spoke as if she had seen the future. Before her regression, when the Emperor similarly ordered the marriage, she didn’t say anything and just followed orders, not getting angry at Peon like this.

Back then, the Emperor completely ignored Austain and attached Kaella, the rightful Austain heir, to Peon. To the Emperor, Lucenford was a garbage dump.

“I know well that it’s an absurd marriage for the princess.”

Though both Adeo and Peon were illegitimate children, their status was different. Adeo de Chasser was ‘the Emperor’s’ illegitimate child, recognized by the late Emperor as his own blood and given a separate surname and title.

Peon was the Empress’s illegitimate child, so it was natural for him to be despised. On top of that, he had a lover everyone assumed would become the Duchess of Lucenford someday, so he wasn’t qualified to be with Kaella.

But they had to marry. Astoundingly, that was the result after desperately trying to stop the marriage for three days.

“His Majesty thinks that Austain Duchy shouldn’t be inherited by Prince Elkanan’s eldest son.”

All noble marriages are calculations. This time, with the Duke of Austain still alive and the Empress collapsed, the Emperor who wanted to strengthen imperial unity even more had made new calculations.

“The Kerujan princess marrying the Crown Prince is to solidify the alliance.”

“And keeping Austain Duchy within the empire instead of going to Kerujan is also to the empire’s benefit.”

Kaella retorted, immediately understanding, and Peon nodded.

“Then what’s the benefit for me and Your Grace?”

She wanted to push this man off a cliff along with Beatrice. It was the first time in her life that Kaella, born and raised as a noble lady, felt such an intense violent impulse.

She clenched her fists, supporting her ailing body, and pushed him towards Beatrice, towards the woman who would ultimately become his downfall. She pushed him away this time, but why?

“Your Grace will be unhappy for the rest of your life.”

The same was true for Kaella. Still, Peon was better off than her in many ways. At least he was alive and well when she was dying.

“Every time you look at me, you’ll be reminded. You love her so deeply, don’t you? So go now. Even Her Majesty the Empress has collapsed, what use is all this? Go. You must fulfill that love.”

Kaella’s anger was so hot it became cold and chilling. Telling him to go to the woman he was so desperately in love with, her face showed madness as she spoke with wide eyes. Knowing the end would be destruction, she urged him on even more.

Beatrice wasn’t the problem. If Peon were to run away with Beatrice, the Emperor wouldn’t let him off. The Emperor hated nothing more than disobeying imperial orders and tarnishing the imperial honor.

Even for Kaella, who had done her best as a noble lady and the Duchess of Lucenford, there was still some broken and shattered self-esteem left.

She had done her best to fulfill her duties and devoted herself to Lucenford, but was always ignored by her husband, mocked by nobles of lower status than her, and the humiliation of being confined and starved to death was unspeakable.

“No matter how much you persist, His Majesty won’t acknowledge your efforts. See? You said you wanted to marry Lady Lavalle, and he immediately told you to marry me instead.”

She was already out of breath after saying a few words. Kaella knew this anger was only momentary.

It was anger that would flare up briefly and then cool down, giving up on everything. But until the last ember burned out, Kaella raged as she pleased. She just wanted to be angry.

“If things continue like this, you’ll lose everything. Hold onto at least one thing that’s certain.”

Go all the way with Beatrice, whom you love so foolishly. Kaella, who knew well what kind of person Beatrice was, was practically cursing him.

“I’ll help you. If it doesn’t work out, you should at least elope for love, what are you doing now?”

She lashed out recklessly until she was finally too out of breath and collapsed against the pillow, panting. Even then, her icy light eyes were aimed straight at Peon.

If Beatrice was so precious that he could ignore and disregard Kaella to that extent, he should be risking his life for her now!

Peon, who had been silently listening to the barrage of criticism, spoke heavily.

“I clearly understand that you absolutely want to avoid marrying me, Princess. I understand. I also know that you deserve to meet a better groom than me.”

“And?”

A sharp retort split the air towards Peon. Peon had nothing to say, but suddenly became curious.

Would Kaella, who had been pushed into marriage with him after losing her father, have been this averse to marriage, or is she now…, Kaella…, could it be.

“Don’t you intend to be with Lady Lavalle?”

Kaella, who had always come to him gently, never losing her manners and dignity, trying to persuade and communicate with him over and over, snapped back before he could answer.

“Then let me show you.”

Kaella, who was used to a husband who never responded no matter what she said, ran away from home that night.