At the end of damp stone stairs was an underground prison.

As the soldier handed over a silver candlestick and left, Arasila removed her robe hood.

Through the iron bars, she could see a woman in worn prison clothes sitting miserably with her eyes closed, looking disheveled.

“Sister, it’s me.”

“…Ari?”

Hearing the familiar voice, Iris opened her eyes and crawled towards the bars.

Arasila hurriedly put down the candlestick on the floor and knelt to meet her sister’s gaze.

“How did you get here…”

“Frederick helped me. I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner. I was delayed by various interrogations.”

“No, thank you for coming.”

The sisters grasped each other’s hands through the narrow iron bars. In the faint candlelight, Iris’s appearance became clearer.

Arasila’s expression twisted as she saw her sister’s disheveled hair, thin body covered in bruises, and pale, gaunt face.

“Oscar Vandermir, that bastard… Someone is tortured and in this state because of him, yet he takes the easy way out?”

“Arasila…”

“If that scumbag hadn’t committed treason, you wouldn’t have ended up like this!”

Arasila cried out with fierce anger and bit her lower lip. Blood droplets formed on her swollen lip from biting it too often.

Clear hatred appeared in her tear-filled eyes.

“This is all because of that bastard… No! It’s because of our family who married you to him!”

“Ari, calm down.”

Iris soothed her sister with a hoarse voice. Despite being dragged in for her husband’s treason and suffering brutal torture, she remained calm.

“My marriage was unavoidable. You know that.”

“Yes, I know! That it was a political marriage promised before the Emperor that had to be fulfilled. But it’s not like there was no way to cancel it.”

“There wasn’t, Ari… There really wasn’t…”

Iris smiled painfully with her chapped white lips. Her bony fingers patted the back of her sister’s hand.

“You probably didn’t know, but the previous Duke had asked His Majesty to grant the title and property to the grandchild who kept the marriage promise. So this marriage would have proceeded no matter what…”

Hearing this unknown truth, Arasila looked dumbfounded.

“Are they crazy? Why arbitrarily use another family’s precious granddaughter as a hostage for their family succession? If they were going to do that, they should have at least raised a decent grandson!”

Unable to contain her anger, Arasila slammed the iron bars. Then she paused and looked at her sister.

Iris also lowered her eyes with a regretful expression.

“If it weren’t for that, the person who inherited the Duke’s title would have been Lord Vandermir…”

“You mean the commander of the Red Hawk Knights who recently left for the north because of the Duke’s treason?”

“Yes, I found out after getting married. That my husband had fought with his brother over succession. So with me…”

Before finishing her sentence, Iris hurriedly covered her mouth and coughed. Arasila worriedly stroked her sister’s shoulder.

“Are you alright, sister? If I had known this would happen, I should have married instead. If it were me, I would have pulled out all that damn Duke’s hair and broken his neck so he couldn’t commit treason.”

She muttered as if sincerely regretting it.

Meanwhile, Iris’s green eyes, which had been like lush summer foliage, lost their light and rapidly became hazy.

“Ari… I have one last request…”

Hearing the voice that seemed about to fade at any moment, Arasila leaned towards her sister and listened closely.

“Tell Mother, Father, and Adrian that I’m sorry. And please take care of the family.”

“Sister, I…!”

“It’s time to leave now.”

Just then, a soldier who had entered opened the door and grabbed Arasila’s arm. Though she still had more to say and resisted, she was eventually dragged out by the strong grip.

A few days later, Iris was executed as the wife of a traitor. Holding the newspaper with her sister’s obituary, Arasila wailed.

“It’s unfair, my sister didn’t know anything. I should have been the one to marry…”

She repeated such words over and over.

Late at night, inside Duke Hugo’s residence.

“—Huh!”

Arasila opened her eyes wide, gasping for breath. Her whole body was damp with cold sweat.

She got up, clutching the blanket, and looked around. Even in the darkness, she could see the familiar scenery of her room.

‘What was that, I was just…’

Lying on the floor, mourning her sister’s death.

Her blue eyes were dazed under slowly fluttering eyelashes. Her heart was beating fast and irregularly.

Looking down at herself sitting on the bed in her usual nightgown, Arasila soon realized.

‘It was a dream.’

As far as she knew, Iris was not married and had no connection to the eldest son of the Vandermir ducal family.

The situation just now had not happened in reality.

However, Arasila’s body began to tremble as if feeling a chill. Cold sweat formed again on her round forehead.

Because she knew this was not just a dream.

‘I saw my sister’s future in a dream…’

She had a special ability to dream of future events.

From trivial things like seeing herself the next day, soaked from not knowing it would rain, to major events like a friend getting into a carriage accident months later.

The subjects of her dreams were not limited to herself but included those around her.

The downside was that she couldn’t dream at will.

Even today’s dream, if it was a premonition, would be the first in 5 years.

Seeing the future in dreams was random, and there was only one way to confirm if it was a premonition.

‘Seeing how my mana is churning, it must be a premonition.’

Placing her hand near her heart to check her internal mana state, Arasila was certain.

After having a premonitory dream, her mana always ran wild like this.

Arasila skillfully suppressed her mana and soon wore a serious expression.

‘But then that means sister will die in the near future?’

Both Iris and Arasila in the dream looked not much different from now.

It meant this would happen within a few years at most.

‘No, I have to stop sister from getting married.’

But how to prevent the political marriage with the Vandermir ducal family?

Arasila, who had lit all the candles in the room using magic, fell into thought.

First, dig up Oscar Vandermir’s weaknesses and blackmail him to cancel the political marriage.

‘…No, Vandermir has the power to suppress our opposition.’

If Vandermir’s succession was at stake in this political marriage, it was obvious it would be forced through despite any controversy.

Even the long-established and prestigious Hugo baronial family could not match the Vandermir ducal family, said to be the foremost of the three pillars supporting the empire.

Then second, Arasila Hugo marries Oscar Vandermir.

Although Arasila had been a confirmed bachelorette for quite some time, she could marry for her sister’s sake.

However,

‘I’m not confident about this.’

She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t punch and kill him on sight.

She briefly imagined what punishment she would receive for killing Oscar Vandermir.

Killing a noble carried a minimum 30-year sentence, and if the ducal family submitted a petition, the level of punishment would be even higher.

‘…Tsk, even with Frederick’s help, I won’t get acquitted, right?’

Then Arasila would have to rot in prison for over 30 years. This was too inconvenient a future for her, who had dreams she wanted to achieve.

Lastly, third, Arasila Hugo marries another Vandermir.

‘If it weren’t for that, the person who inherited the Duke’s title would have been Lord Vandermir…’

‘You mean the commander of the Red Hawk Knights who recently left for the north because of the Duke’s treason?’

Yes, the Lord Vandermir of the Red Hawk Knights mentioned here.

‘Marrying a knight isn’t exactly appealing, but…’

However, there were only two Vandermir brothers, so she had to choose between Oscar and Lord Vandermir.

After long deliberation on whether there was a better way, Arasila made her decision as dawn broke.

‘This is the best option. Let’s just do it with eyes wide shut.’

Having made up her mind, she declared when all family members gathered for breakfast.

“Mother, Father, Sister, Adrian. I want to get married. My partner is Lord Vandermir.”

To be precise, she announced it.

The peaceful breakfast table of the Hugo ducal family instantly fell into chaos.

“Our lovely Ari, you must not be fully awake yet.”

“Arasila, what trouble have you caused this time? Be honest with your mother.”

“Ari, are you feeling ill somewhere? Jackson, go call the doctor.”

“You can’t get married, sister! You’re still too young!”

After the family’s words of disbelief, worry, and scolding mixed together ended, Arasila calmly opened her mouth.

“Jackson, don’t call the doctor because I’m not sick. I’ve been awake since dawn so I’m not half-asleep. I didn’t cause any trouble either. And Adrian, twenty-one is plenty old enough to get married.”

At her serious rebuttal, the Duchess also put down her utensils and became equally serious.

“Then why so suddenly? Wasn’t it you who drove your parents crazy saying you’d never marry even if you died?”

“That Arasila Hugo is dead. The reborn me now is dying to get married.”

The Duchess saw an overlap with her second daughter’s appearance from three years ago as she spoke shamelessly without changing her expression.

‘Mother, Father, Sister. I’m not getting married. I’m going to dedicate my life to the magic tower, so keep that in mind.’

Even then, she had raised their blood pressure with a unilateral announcement, and how unchanged she remained despite the passing of time.

“Ari, but why Lord Vandermir of all people? Don’t you dislike knights as a magician?”

“That’s right! You even told me not to learn swordsmanship.”

While the Duchess drank water to calm her bubbling insides, the Duke and Adrian spoke up.

The Setron Empire was famous for the poor relationship between magicians and knights.

This was because the imperial family had nurtured the two forces alternately for generations, making them keep each other in check.

Periodically, incidents occurred that irritated both sides, making them very hostile, and they constantly competed to gain the upper hand over each other.

“I’m making an exception for Lord Vandermir.”

“Why…? Ari, don’t tell me you’ve been secretly meeting with the Lord…”

At Iris’s plausible suspicion, Arasila shook her head.

“No? I don’t even know his exact name, and I’ve never seen his face yet?”

“…”

A deep silence fell. The ducal family was collectively speechless, looking at Arasila with dumbfounded expressions.

Arasila, who had steadily swallowed her food, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and smiled brightly.

“There’s a promised political marriage between our family and the Vandermir ducal family, right?”

“Yes, how did you know about that…”

The Duke and Duchess’s eyes widened. They were surprised how their second daughter knew about this fact that even they were too troubled to mention yet.

“I’ll see Lord Vandermir’s face soon, so I’ll take on that political marriage.”

“…”

“Then, I’ll be going now.”

Leaving behind her dazed family, Arasila returned to her room with light steps.

Then she wrote a letter and handed it to her maid, Audrey.

“Send this to Lord Vandermir.”

Let’s see the face of my prospective husband.