Whoosh-.

It was a cool dawn with moonlight in the sky.

The platinum-colored royal palace was engulfed in flames, burning red.

‘The Kingdom of Crianet.’

The historic palace was burning high like a torch illuminating the dark night.

It was the price of losing the war against the great empire of Newton.

“Sa-save… Save me please…”

In the hot flames, there was only one person. A living girl.

[Your name is Sharti, right? Sixteen years old. Listen well.]

Unable to move an inch, the girl named ‘Sharti’ curled up.

[I am Princess Arisbyan of the Kingdom of Crianet. And you and I are half-sisters.]

Sitting in the middle of the palace where the flames had not yet reached, Sharti was a mess.

Disheveled hair and chains binding her wrists and ankles. Tied up like a criminal, hallucinations swirled around Sharti’s ears.

[You seem surprised. Although we’ve never met, blood of the Crianet royal family flows through your body, just like mine.]

Sharti wore an expensive but loose-fitting dress, and her shoes that didn’t fit had fallen off somewhere, leaving her barefoot. Her light wheat-colored hair was getting dirty with ash blown by the wind.

[As royalty, you have duties from birth. The same goes for you, Sharti.]

The sound of the relentless fire devouring everything around mixed with the hallucinations, echoing bizarrely.

Her crimson eyes were becoming stained with moisture.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

If the flames spread further, it would be dangerous.

Sharti tried to stand up, putting strength in her legs, but they easily buckled.

“…Haa, haa…”

It felt like her throat was burning up. The heat distorted Sharti’s crimson eyes with pain.

[Your mother with common blood dared to seduce the king of Crianet, so you must also bear the duties of royalty, Sharti. It has to be this way. That’s why I found you. So it’s best if you quietly follow my words.]

Creak. The girl’s nails scratching at the chains turn red.

She slammed the shackles on her wrists to the ground with all her might to try and break them, but it was no use.

‘Soon the flames, the flames will…’

The corpses strewn about and the blood-soaked carpet disappear into the flames.

[The Kingdom of Crianet has fallen, but as a princess, I absolutely cannot let the royal bloodline end. But the barbaric Empire of Newton demands compensation for the defeated country, so what choice do we have?]

“Hic… Save, save me please…”

Sharti’s thin body crawled on the floor.

Soon those flames would devour her too.

[Fortunately, there’s not much age difference between us, and my half-sister resembles me… You will become me, Princess Arisbyan, the last surviving member of the Crianet royal family, to face the war demon of the Newton Empire for just this one day.]

Her eyes stung as tears fell.

Her throat was parched, making her increasingly thirsty.

Her throat had long since burned up with anxiety and fear.

[Don’t be so frightened. If the empire’s war demon is someone who can take pity on a princess of a defeated country, you’ll survive tonight, won’t you? If you want to live, beg or plead all you want. I’ll allow that much for someone acting as me, Princess Arisbyan.]

A spark blown by the wind fell on the delicate girl’s foot.

“…Ack!”

More and more sparks began to stick to Sharti’s dress, turning it to rags.

“Hic, save me… Sa-, cough, cough…!”

Why did she have to face this situation, in this state, in this place?

It was frustrating and despairing.

[The princess of Crianet.]

Another hallucination. This time a cold, low voice was heard.

The girl’s small body trembled unconsciously.

[The royalty of Crianet who were so arrogant when declaring war, now begging for their lives at my feet. What a different mindset from the royalty of the Newton Empire.]

It was midnight, with only the cool night air swirling around the platinum palace, when she met the owner of the voice in the hallucination. Sharti, trapped alone in the palace, was brought before the man and trembled while lying face down.

All she remembered was someone’s military boots.

A man who exuded such an oppressive aura that she didn’t dare raise her face stood before her.

[We’ve confirmed Princess Arisbyan’s tear mole. She’s the last one now.]

The Grand Duke’s subordinate who had dragged her here and forced her to kneel mistook her for the real princess just because of a tear mole.

That damn tear mole, which could be easily drawn with ink.

But Sharti couldn’t argue back.

[What should we do, Your Grace?]

The man before her was such a distant and enormous presence that she didn’t dare raise her head to look at him.

Sharti silently shed tears as she realized.

Everyone had fled. Only one person. They had locked Sharti in the palace as a sacrificial lamb.

A chilling premonition of death crept up her spine.

[We should make sure. Hey. Are you really the princess of Crianet?]

The man called the Grand Duke asked again.

It was because Princess Arisbyan, said to be eighteen this year, had such a small and thin build.

The girl knew that was her last chance.

However, the foolish girl could not lie.

[I, I… have inherited the blood of the Crianet royal family…]

She couldn’t start with a lie to someone asking for the truth.

Hadn’t the princess, her half-sister whom she met for the first time, said it over and over before the Newton Empire’s soldiers burst in?

Even if only half, Crianet royal blood flowed through her veins.

[My, my name is…]

There was just one fact she needed to correct.

Even if she had to die, she didn’t want to die with a lie.

Sharti desperately tried to overcome her trembling body and planted her hands on the floor.

[Arisbyan…] [I see.]

In the face of the fear of death, Sharti summoned her courage one last time, but the man called the Grand Duke of the empire did not listen to what came after.

As if he was done, he turned away without any lingering attachment, and his voice echoed through the blood-stained palace.

[Then let her fulfill the last rites of Crianet royalty. Begin.]

The empire’s soldiers who responded vigorously immediately brought torches.

[Wa-wait…!]

The moment Sharti belatedly raised her head, the soldiers threw torches all over the palace.

Whoosh-! The fire began to spread to everything – the garden, furniture, palace walls, carpets.

[Your Grace. His Majesty the Emperor ordered us to bring the heads of the Crianet royalty, didn’t he?]

Sharti flinched and curled up again at the voice heard through the flames.

Because of this, the gaze of the man called the Grand Duke of the empire once again fell on her bent back.

[Isn’t becoming ashes along with the palace the best trophy we can get from a defeated country, rather than a severed head?]

Creak-. Bang-!

“…Ah.”

The hallucination of the empire’s soldiers sealing all exits overlapped with the real sound of the palace walls collapsing and hitting the gates.

The flames that had stretched to right in front of her flickered before Sharti’s eyes.

Hot tears flowed down her dry cheeks.

“I, I’m, cough! Cough, cough…”

I’m not Princess Arisbyan.

“I’m Sharti… I’m Sharti…”

I’m just the illegitimate daughter of the Crianet king, a half-princess brought in by the real Princess Arisbyan to act as her double for a day.

Her cracking voice scraped her throat.

Crash-!!

“…Ugh!!”

Her leg was crushed under the debris of a collapsed pillar.

The chains binding her ankles broke, but at the same time, hot flames engulfed Sharti’s legs.

“Save me… hic…”

She couldn’t breathe. The hot, acrid smoke choked her fragile airways.

“Aagh…!!”

Her throat tore as she screamed.

The flames finally consumed even Sharti’s hands.

As all strength left her body, Sharti thought of her half-sister.

[Sharti Crianet. Ah, my half-sister. Why did you have to catch my eye?]

She truly was a beautiful princess.

To think that someone hailed as a noble princess was her half-sister.

[Don’t resent me too much for driving you to your death. I simply gave my pitiful half-sister a chance to live as a noble princess.]

“Kuk, kek, keheuk…!”

It was family she had met for the first time.

Family worse than strangers.

[Your worthless life will save mine, so today must be the most valuable day of your life.]

From the moment she was kidnapped and brought here without knowing why, she couldn’t maintain her sanity.

The coaxing voice was so chilling.

Those trying to save the princess forced her to choose with one voice.

[Come on, you must answer? My half-sister.]

The fear of the ruler that she had never felt in her life seeped into her tender skin, and she couldn’t move.

“Sa… save, ple… save me… please…”

Her vision was becoming blurry.

Everything in her blurry vision was red.

Was the fire consuming even her consciousness?

“…Ah, …ah…”

But maybe it’s okay to fall asleep like this.

Wasn’t it always just a repetition of unremarkable, ordinary days? Struggling for money, suffering from hunger and cold day after day.

‘There’s no one waiting for me anyway.’

The grandmother she had recently met came to mind, but only for a moment.

Her skin hurt. The hot flames kept touching her, as if trying to wake her fading consciousness.

‘…But still…’

Still, she didn’t want to end like this.

She didn’t want to die tied up and imprisoned like a criminal when she hadn’t committed any crime.

She didn’t want to disappear along with this unfamiliar place called a palace that she was visiting for the first time.

“I, I…”

Sharti’s lips moved slightly.

Her vision alternated between becoming clear and blurry.

The last thing she saw was the collapsing ceiling of the palace.

Crash! Thud-!

The once beautiful platinum palace burned in flames along with the duty borne by the princess of Crianet until the end of dawn.

Thus, Crianet, hailed as a kingdom with a deep history, became a defeated nation and ended its chapter in history.

* * *

Five years.

That was how long it took for the great empire of Newton to wage large-scale wars, starting with the Kingdom of Crianet, and expand its surrounding territories.

The imperial capital was in a festive mood day after day. It was because of the news that the hero who led the Newton Empire to victory was returning. Many imperial citizens flocked to the capital to see the homecoming ceremony.

“It’s been nothing but articles about the homecoming ceremony for days now.”

“I know. And the ceremony is tomorrow.”

Thanks to the extensive promotion, the news reached even the remote mountainous areas far from the capital.

The hero in the promotions was Leodelt Gwendhill, the Grand Duke of the Newton Empire.

The imperial citizens both praised and feared him.

-Did you hear? About Grand Duke Gwendhill, they say he’s a Sword Master or something?

-Is that all? They say magic doesn’t work on him either.

Grand Duke Gwendhill, perfect in both strength and constitution, had no weaknesses to speak of. That’s why he was able to lead many wars to victory.

“Celebrating the return of a war demon said to be addicted to blood. Tch, sheesh!”

The small village in the mountainous area was buzzing with rumors again today.

“…”

Someone quietly left the store, avoiding the noisy people.

It was a woman with her face hidden under a hooded robe.

Ding-. There were too many people in the store, so she failed to make a purchase again today.

‘Sigh…’

Rubbing her stinging throat, the woman glanced around cautiously.

Crimson eyes briefly visible under the hooded robe. And wheat-colored hair hidden away.

It was Sharti, who should have ended her life with the Crianet palace.