It was when she was sitting at the dressing table.

The maid was chattering while brushing her hair. “His Majesty the Prince Consort has come to the vicinity. He’s handsome and young, you must be so happy to marry such a person, Your Highness.”

Unlike her impertinent tongue, her hands moved quite delicately. Through this, Ophelia realized that she had to meet someone.

She had no desire to deduce who it might be. Ophelia tilted her head slightly. Though she had stopped tormenting herself, her mind was foggy from not properly taking care of meals or sleep.

The maid straightened her head. Nagging followed. “You shouldn’t do this, Your Highness. It’s messing up your hairstyle.”

And the girl, a year or two younger than her, took out flowers from the basket on the dressing table.

Ophelia looked at the mirror in front of her. The maid was placing faint and soft flowers in her hair.

Looking into the mirror, Ophelia realized that one corner of the room was brightly lit.

She turned her head to check the source of the light. The girl doing her hair mumbled something, but it didn’t register.

The light illuminating the floor of the room was coming from beyond the glass doors of the balcony. Realizing it was sunlight, Ophelia slowly rose from her seat. She opened the balcony door as if entranced by something.

Soon, unfiltered light poured in.

The white and bright sunlight, almost blinding, was like deep water. It mesmerized those who faced it.

Swaying slightly in it, Ophelia sat on the balcony railing. From somewhere behind, the maid shouted something. She waved her hand to silence the girl. She wanted to enjoy the sunlight in silence for a moment.

The girl in the shadows glared at her for a moment before going out. Soon after, soldiers entered the room. They too said something, which wasn’t clearly audible but was annoying nonetheless. Ophelia muttered, “Keep your mouths shut. You’re making me want to jump.”

The soldiers seemed to do as told. The light shining down was so warm that Ophelia couldn’t see if they had really closed their mouths. From where she was, the opposite side only looked dark and shimmering.

But regardless of their silence, the noise didn’t disappear. To shake off all the sounds ringing in her ears, Ophelia raised her head. The sky came into view.

For a moment, her ears felt muffled as if she had dunked her head underwater. After staying like that for a while with her head tilted back, she threw herself backwards.

Surely that’s what happened…

Sitting on the bed in the princess’s room, Ophelia frowned, touching her forehead.

Now she was listening to Idren Sigrashil’s nagging. Words like “Are you crazy? Why did you jump from there—” rang above her head.

So noisy. How can a person be so noisy?

Ignoring his narrowed brows, pale face, and quick, sharp words, she thought. Was he always such a talkative man?

The man who had been her husband, but was no longer her husband now, seemed to have too much to say.

It was then that one sentence struck her ear as she waited for him to close his mouth.

“If you hated getting married this much, you should have said so earlier. How did you endure the disgust all this time?”

At those words, dripping with sarcasm, Ophelia sharply raised her head. Eyes flickering with anger were looking down at her.

Ophelia twisted her lips.

“You’re saying I should have said so earlier?”

Idren hesitated at the woman’s glare suddenly directed at him. It was the first time Ophelia had glared at him like this.

But isn’t this much okay to say? Idren looked down at the small woman in front of him, arms crossed. Wearing only a thin dress, Ophelia looked more shabby than he had ever seen her.

That’s not even considered clothing for a woman like her.

Something surged up inside him. Idren clenched his jaw. How dare they dress her in such a thing. After receiving such a bride price, to dress the bride like this…

After thinking that far, he realized he was viewing the situation partially. That appearance was also a form of adornment in its own way.

Although it seemed to reflect more the intentions of those serving her than Ophelia’s own will, the flowing dress and flower petals were certainly a dressed-up appearance.

Nevertheless, the reason Ophelia looked shabby was because she was too thin.

When he caught the woman falling from the balcony, Idren’s heart literally dropped.

Ophelia was so light she barely felt like a person. Seeing her with her eyes closed like a corpse, he felt a terrible fear, and Idren realized he was in reality.

Without time to examine how such a thing was possible, he had taken her to the princess’s room. He couldn’t even hold her tightly, afraid he might hurt her if he gripped wrong.

Her maid opened the door with an almost crying face.

“I’m sorry, the princess has been depressed lately…”

What kind of excuse is that.

But even a servant who doesn’t know how to properly serve their master had some helpful aspects.

After leaving Ophelia with the doctor, Idren asked her maid a few things. The maid hesitated to answer, averting her eyes, but when he mentioned the crime of deceiving royalty, she finally spilled something.

“The princess has been like this for a month…”

Through those words, Idren could understand that Ophelia’s condition was due to their marriage. It was exactly around the time when the marriage was confirmed and the bride price started to be exchanged.

How his chest boiled when he realized that.

Idren had to restrain himself from rushing into her room to question her. All sorts of questions rose to the tip of his tongue. Do you hate marrying me so much that you’d jump from a balcony? How could you do that? What exactly are you dissatisfied with?

Wasn’t once enough to take your own life?

Although they hadn’t had any conversation about that fact yet, Idren could tell that Ophelia, like him, knew about the future.

In the past, Ophelia had been perfectly fine without a single injury until she married him. If she had jumped from the balcony, she wouldn’t have had such a body.

So Ophelia, who had never married him, at least didn’t try to harm herself in this way.

Knowing that fact had made his anger rise to the top of his head.

But this much sarcasm is nothing.

I didn’t misspeak. Firming his thoughts, Idren looked straight at the woman glaring at him.

It was then that Ophelia suddenly stood up. She grabbed his wrist tightly.

Though her hand was as thin as a dry branch, Idren couldn’t shake it off in time. It was the first time Ophelia had expressed her will by touching his body.

While he was dumbfounded, Ophelia opened the door and dragged him beyond it.

Just before the room door closed, Idren saw eyes glowing blue through the gap. Glaring at him terrifyingly, Ophelia said coldly.

“How could you send a marriage proposal to my father instead of me, and then ask me how I could refuse?”

Bang, the door closed.

Only then realizing he had been kicked out, Idren blinked.

After closing the door, Ophelia leaned against it and caught her breath. Her head throbbed.

She took a deep breath to suppress the rising irritation and slowly moved away from the door. The balcony, now blocked with wooden boards, came into view.

Glaring at the window firmly nailed shut from the outside, Ophelia sat down on the bed.

The man’s sarcastic voice seemed to ring in her ears.

“If you hated getting married this much, you should have said so earlier. How did you endure the disgust all this time?”

There’s something Idren Sigrashil doesn’t know.

In the past, she had refused to marry him many times. As much as she could, to the best of her ability.

Recalling how all those efforts ended, Ophelia roughly rubbed her face. Her eyes felt dry after suddenly getting heated.

After rubbing her face for a moment, she pulled out the flower branches stuck in her hair and threw them on the floor. Every sensation seemed to come alive, her whole body aching.

Damn Idren Sigrashil.

She had never felt such strong emotions towards that man before, but all sorts of anger rose from within. Trembling, Ophelia got into bed and covered her face.

Blabbering without knowing anything.

She was the one who wanted this marriage least of all. She had a fiancé she had promised to marry, not the Prince Consort of the North.

Curling up into a ball and wrapping herself, Ophelia closed her eyes. Transparent green eyes and hazelnut-colored hair shimmered in the darkness.

She slowly added vividness to it. An autumn wheat field-like smile, warm hands, and a gentle voice were added.

After drawing the most fresh moment of the beautiful young man, Ophelia quietly called out his name. Haslen. Her cracked voice echoed softly in the room.

Haslen Lacmata was the only son of the Lacmata family.

Ophelia was engaged to him when she was ten years old.

At that time, the Lacmata family was the most powerful family in Leden. Their family wasn’t as old as the royal family, but they had a long history and were wealthy from trading with inland kingdoms.

Her father, King Dares Mevasa of Leden, had his eye on the Lacmata family’s wealth. Leden’s treasury was too small to support his vanity and greed.

As the king was racking his brain on how to steal the Lacmata family’s wealth, he remembered that his daughter, the princess, was around the same age as the Lacmata’s only son.

And so he engaged the princess to the Lacmata heir. It was an act purely based on greed, intending to exploit Leden’s custom where a bride price must be paid to take a bride.

Thus, the King of Leden calculated the profits he could gain from selling his daughter in various ways, but he didn’t consider the impact this engagement would have on his daughter.

Thanks to this, the engagement became a salvation for the unhappy princess.

Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.