Chapter 1

The Kingdom of Nieta, where Liliana was born and raised as a princess, was utterly defeated in war.

While trading highly pure magic stones, unique to the Kingdom of Nieta, with the Carlo Empire, the kingdom dared to raise the prices drastically. Despite repeated warnings from the Carlo Empire to lower the prices, the King of Nieta refused to listen.

Thus, war broke out, and the Kingdom of Nieta, feeling the full force of the empire’s might, was helplessly defeated.

The Emperor of the Carlo Empire, Helio Carlo, sent a message through an envoy:

“I command the King of Nieta to give the kingdom’s princess. I will return to the empire with the princess.”

When the envoy finished speaking, the King of Nieta bowed and cried.

Becoming the Empress Consort of the empire was undoubtedly an honor. That is if it weren’t in the form of a hostage from a defeated nation.

There was no chance of receiving good treatment nor of living freely. Affection? That was out of the question.

The Carlo Empire constantly used the Empress Consort as leverage to put a yoke around the Kingdom of Nieta.

Thus, all five princesses of the Kingdom of Nieta were gathered in the audience chamber.

“Which of my precious daughters should I send?”

The King of Nieta looked at his most cherished first daughter, Princess Railey. She was his daughter who might become the next queen. Sending her was out of the question.

Then he looked at the second, third, and fourth princesses. He couldn’t bear to send any of them either. They were all precious daughters he loved dearly.

“Which of these four should I…?”

As the King lamented, his chamberlain whispered to him.

“Your Majesty, the last princess is still here.”

The fifth princess was Princess Liliana. Her pink hair was as fluffy as cotton candy, and her youthful cheeks were white and clear.

Her round, lovely pink eyes were filled with concern. Despite having come of age, she was petite and slender, looking like a teenage girl. Sadly, the King had entirely forgotten her.

“Yes!”

King’s tear-filled eyes sparkled. Everyone in the room turned to look at Liliana. Feeling all the eyes on her, Liliana swallowed hard.

“You, yes you. What was your name again?”

The princess born from the King’s one-night mistake had become so obscure that even her name was forgotten, Liliana muttered, devastated.

“Liliana, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, Liliana! You will be the hero who saves this kingdom!”

Liliana bowed her head sharply and collapsed as soon as she heard those words. The other princesses screamed, and the King shouted in a flustered voice.

“Wake her up quickly! Call all the doctors! If Princess Liliana cannot go as a hostage, you will all be punished!”

* * *

Liliana, who had become the hero to save the Kingdom of Nieta, woke up to six doctors looking at her. The doctors, with relieved faces, urged her to get up.

Standing beside Liliana, her maid Sophia cried and said,

“Congratulations, Princess Liliana. Your mother has been granted the title of Countess.”

Liliana’s mother had been a commoner and a maid in the royal palace. Now, in one night, she had become a countess. Such a rise in status was unprecedented. She had sold her daughter at the highest price.

However, her mother was unlikely to be pleased with this news. Although Sophia said congratulations, she was merely considering public opinion. Sophia’s voice was filled with despair.

“Alright, tell His Majesty that I am grateful.”

Liliana spoke with dark, sunken eyes.

“Are you alright?”

A doctor asked urgently, and Liliana nodded.

“I’m tired, so I’d like everyone to leave. I’ll call if I need anything.”

The doctors repeatedly and earnestly emphasized that she should call them if she felt unwell. It was probably because the King had threatened to kill them if they didn’t correctly treat Liliana.

Once everyone had left and the room had become quiet, Liliana bit her lower lip and stared into the empty space.

“I have to escape.”

Earlier, in the audience room, when everyone, including the King, was looking at her, Liliana suddenly realized something.

Hadn’t she heard somewhere the story of a princess abandoned by her country and taken as a hostage to become the Empress Consort of an empire?

This was the world of the romance fantasy novel “The Pink-Haired Princess is Not Abandoned,” which also had a child-rearing theme.

Just as the title suggested, the story was about the pink-haired heroine melting her father’s heart and turning the Emperor into a doting father. In her past life, Liliana thoroughly enjoyed reading that book.

However, she was not the main or supporting character who would find happiness with the heroine. She was the mother character destined to die giving birth to the heroine! It was indeed the worst.

If she obediently became the Empress Consort as a hostage, she would undoubtedly die in the future. Liliana started to pack all the jewelry in the empty room.

Even a barely known princess received a basic allowance, and she had saved up a considerable amount of money, fitting for a princess with a bleak future.

Liliana stuffed her pockets with jewels and waited until nightfall before tying a curtain into a rope and escaping through the window. She crawled into the stable, calmed a horse, and managed to lead it out, but…

“In our Kingdom of Nieta, we mix magic stones into the horse feed. That’s why the horses are so healthy… oh dear.”

The voice belonged to the chief steward. Just as she led the horse out of the stable, she encountered a familiar face.

“Princess Liliana! Are you running away?!”

The chief steward shouted, and Liliana, with a desperate face, quickly mounted the horse. She planned to escape the palace, but a tall man standing behind the chief steward suddenly grabbed the reins and leaped onto the running horse.

“What, what!”

Startled, Liliana pulled the reins hard, causing the horse to rear and neigh loudly. The commotion drew the guards on patrol to rush over.

“Princess Liliana!”

“Princess Liliana! Please come down!”

The guards all shouted. Liliana gripped the reins tightly, feeling frustrated.

They would watch her closely if she got caught now, making it impossible for her to escape. She blamed herself for not planning properly, and, above all, she hated the man behind her the most.

“Hey! You ruined everything!”

Liliana turned around and shouted at the man behind her. Then she heard the guards gasp in shock.

“P-Princess Liliana, that person is…”

Liliana glared at the chief steward. His old face was pale as a sheet, even in the dark. His stuttering words were very suspicious.

Liliana repeated, opening and closing her mouth before finally turning around again. Eyes that burned like blue flames stared back at her.

The man curled one corner of his mouth in disdain as if looking at something insignificant.

“My hostage was trying to escape.”

Even without the chief steward finishing his words, she knew.

This man was Helio, the Emperor of the Carlo Empire.

What could Liliana do against the Emperor of the Carlo Empire? She twisted her body, trying to get away from Helio as much as possible.

Helio, thinking she was trying to escape, grabbed her waist firmly. Then, before she could do anything, he jumped off the horse. She was startled and stammered,

“You, you’ll fall…!”

“I won’t fall.”

Helio whispered in her ear. The sound of his pleasant baritone voice made her feet tingle.

She felt a shiver run down her spine.

However, a slight sense of relief soon followed. Helio didn’t keep Liliana in his grip for long and placed her directly on the ground. Liliana tried to back away, wanting to escape from Helio’s grasp, but the large horse behind her blocked her path.

“Hic!”

The horse, seemingly tense with so many people around, snorted and breathed heavily, causing Liliana to start hiccupping intermittently. She covered her mouth but couldn’t stay that way forever.

Helio’s gaze was sharp but oddly amused. Thinking it was her imagination, Liliana composed herself and greeted him formally.

“…I greet Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Carlo Empire. Hic!”

Of course, the hiccups didn’t stop during her greeting. Liliana covered her mouth again. Helio looked at her, almost mocking, and asked,

“Princess Liliana?”

Still covering her mouth, Liliana nodded. Helio stroked his smooth, sharp chin, making a thoughtful sound. He observed Liliana’s pale face and muttered,

“My hostage, indeed. Attempting to flee in the middle of the night, you have some nerve.”

“It’s not an escape; I was just going for a walk,” Liliana tried one last defiance. But even as she spoke, she knew no emperor would be foolish enough to believe such a lie.

She heard a short laugh above her. When she looked up, Helio was smiling, showing his white teeth. Momentarily captivated by his handsome face, Liliana shook her head in denial.

Helio didn’t observe her for long before turning away.

“Your Majesty! Where are you going?” the chief steward asked urgently, chasing after him. Instead of answering, Helio glanced back at Liliana. Pointing his chin at her, he curtly said,

“Hostage, follow me.”

Then he resumed walking. Liliana, feeling both incredulous and relieved, suddenly stopped hiccupping.

‘How infuriating!’

She wanted to shout, but she couldn’t end her escape attempt, which was driven by her desire to live, with a foolish death. Liliana pressed her lips tightly and followed, feeling like a dog being dragged on a leash.