While Annette was fighting the demons, those tasked with escorting her to the Alcan Empire’s Imperial Palace abandoned their duty and fled.
Whether they safely returned to the kingdom despite the unrelenting demons was uncertain…
Even Annette, now armed only with her bare hands after her arrow had shattered, was in a battered state, wounded on her back, left leg, and right arm, covered in the blood of the demons.
Fortunately, having killed all the demons and found a runaway horse, she was now galloping towards the capital of Alcan. But the fever boiling in her body and the increasing pain were almost unbearable, to the point she could not even scream.
‘It’s near the Demon’s Swamp, but… to be attacked by so many demons like this.’
Doubts arose in her mind, but due to the serious injuries, or perhaps the demon blood, her heart was beating so abnormally fast that she couldn’t focus on her thoughts.
In fact, Annette was completely unaware of the changes happening in her body.
She did not find it strange to be wearing a long dress and a heavy hood that she had ripped off the bottom, continually pushing back the hood that obscured her vision.
Since the Heyworth Kingdom and the Alcan Empire were adjacent, a two-day carriage ride was sufficient, and since she had already traveled for a day and then rode a horse, she expected to reach the Imperial Palace soon.
As expected, as day broke, the outer walls of the palace came into view.
Perhaps due to the relief of nearing her destination, her over-exerted body lost balance and she fell from the horse as soon as she arrived.
The gatekeepers, shocked, approached her as she produced the envelope she had never parted with since leaving the palace.
“Give this… to His Majesty the Emperor…”
It was her signed engagement contract.
“I am the Princess of Heyworth…”
Before Annette could fully reveal her identity, gasping for breath, she lost her strength and stopped speaking.
The document alone might not prove her identity, but she wasn’t worried.
Her crimson hair and eyes, which had shackled her since birth, would prove her identity.
For the first time, she found this fact fortunate as she lost consciousness.
“How could a demon’s offspring be born from the Queen’s body?”
24 years ago.
The King of Heyworth, upon seeing the newborn Annette, screamed in horror.
The reason was her hair and eyes were a very distinct, vivid, and ominously red color.
Traditionally, the southern Alcan Empire, Heyworth Kingdom, and the northern Bayendor were separated by a vast forest known as the ‘Demon’s Swamp.’
Demon blood was highly toxic to humans.
Those exposed to demon blood had to wash thoroughly and undergo purification in a temple within a month.
If not, most died, and the survivors often suffered severe after-effects, like their faces and bodies grotesquely twisting, eyes turning demon-like red, or suffering from madness.
No one on the continent was unaware of this. And the King of Heyworth was horrified to see his daughter born with eyes as red as a demon’s.
Moreover, red hair!
The Heyworth royal family had always been born with beautiful silver hair, and the King had always been proud of his and his eldest son Franz’s silver locks.
However, Annette’s hair color was a rare hue not found in her maternal Richel Ducal family’s lineage and was even rare across the continent.
“It’s a curse! Surely, a curse has befallen us!”
The King directed all his anger toward Annette when the beautiful and kind Queen died shortly after giving birth to a baby with red eyes and red hair.
Despite not finding any red-haired man around the Queen who could have been a secret lover, the King refused to acknowledge Annette as his child, denouncing her as a cursed seed of a demon.
This led to the horrific rumor that the Queen had copulated with a demon. The King, who had turned to alcohol and neglected his duties, eventually suppressed the rumors about the deceased Queen but never retracted his statement about Annette.
Aware of public perception, he acknowledged her as a princess but secluded her in a remote palace far from the main palace, as if he detested even the sight of her.
This remote palace was no place for an infant; it was more like being sent off to die.
Annette’s birth also impacted Franz, the legitimate heir born to the King and Queen.
Franz, who had been treated with great care until then, suddenly lost his mother and became a weak and neglected child, having to move from the Crown Prince’s palace to another residence.
Everyone in the palace knew that behind the King’s harsh treatment of his children was Queen Esther.
Esther, who had been a maid in the late Queen’s chamber, was the one who revived the grief-stricken King back to his duties.
The King, much older than Esther, doted on her, and quickly made her the Queen as soon as she gave birth to their first child, Bridget.
With a new mistress in the Queen’s palace and the King’s indifference to his first daughter, Annette became an object of neglect and ridicule, even by the palace maids.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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