Prologue

The untimely pouring rain beat against the trees that had dried out completely over the long winter. At an hour when everyone was asleep, Louise kicked off from the muddy ground and ran.

‘I escaped!’

Even though the fierce rain lashed painfully against her skin, Louise pressed steadily forward. Her honey-yellow blond hair was drenched through with rain and darkened deeply.

The road Louise was running along cut through a forest that, according to rumor, was haunted, so the villagers normally did not even dare come near it. They said a man who died unmarried had become a ghost, wearing a beautiful face, luring women in, and making them fall into the valley.

But Louise did not care. She had recently come to understand with painful clarity that people were more frightening than ghosts.

“Ah……!”

Louise’s foot caught on a dry tree stump, and with a short scream she fell forward. Slice, a sharp branch grazed her temple. It was close enough to her eye to send a chill down her spine.

“Ugh…….”

Her clothes became dull with caked mud all over them. Her palms and knees stung, probably scraped raw. Since she had been running blindly along the forest path without any proper light, it was almost a miracle that she had only fallen now, when she was nearly out of the woods.

“Find her, find her! If you can’t find her, you’re dead!”

“That d*mn wench! If I find her, I’ll kill her!”

From far away came the furious shouts of men. Along with them came the frenzied barking of hunting dogs.

If they catch me here, I’m really done for.

They probably would not actually kill her, but rather than marry her parents’ enemy, she would sooner die.

“The dogs are heading this way?”

“Follow them. They said a few injuries would be tolerated.”

Their voices were drawing closer and closer. Startled, Louise grabbed the tree that had tripped her and pulled herself upright. Hah, the moment she stood, such severe pain shot through her that she could hardly breathe, as if she had twisted her ankle. Biting her lips so hard they turned white, Louise forced herself to move. Even limping, the sight of her somehow managing to keep walking was enough to draw tears.

The forest was coming to an end. The Lord’s castle was right before her. Louise hurried on, using a thick branch soaked through with rainwater as a substitute cane. Fortunately, the voices of those searching for her were gradually growing fainter.

Tap, Louise stepped onto the neatly laid stone pavement. When she took another step, sticky mud smeared itself onto the gray stones where her shoes had landed. The closer she came to the castle, the harder her heart pounded. If escaping them had been the preliminary round, then what came after reaching the castle was the main event. True to that, the castle guard, seeing Louise in her ragged state, immediately grew wary and gripped the hilt of his sword. As if she had expected as much, Louise stopped about three steps away from him.

“I wish to see the Lord.”

“Visiting hours are over. If you have business, you must come back tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow will be too late. It is urgent, and it concerns the Lord.”

“Even so, you cannot enter now. Follow the proper procedure and visit officially.”

“I’m telling you, this is truly urgent! If you do not let me in, you will regret it!”

“Who exactly is going to regret it?”

It was a deep, low voice. Louise started, then quickly lifted her head and looked up. Perhaps their conversation had carried farther than expected, because a man was looking down at them from the castle wall two stories high. It was night and steeped in darkness, but now and then the torchlight briefly lit the man’s face. Instinctively, Louise could tell that he was the master of this castle.

“My Lord, what brings you out at this hour?”

“The rain is coming down too hard, so I came to make sure it hasn’t caused any trouble.”

“Without sending your underlings to do that for you.”

“I’m only having a quick look. It’s not difficult.”

At the man’s words, the gatekeeper clicked his tongue as if at a loss for words. Louise understood him. The man seemed the type who was difficult to speak to.

The man had the bearing of a born ruler. He was so tall that his upper body projected far above the high castle wall. His low-set brows and the tails of his eyes were sharply lifted, stiff as though starched. In contrast to hair that seemed submerged in darkness, his eyes shone a vivid blue even among the torchlight. His nose was arrogantly high, and his jaw looked imposing and strong, giving off an air that made him hard to approach.

Any ordinary child would probably burst into tears the moment they saw him. Finishing his exchange with the gatekeeper, the man turned his gaze back to Louise.

“I asked who is going to regret it.”

“Why, you are, of course, my Lord.”

At Louise’s words, the man crooked up one corner of his mouth.

“Hearing that from someone in such a state at this hour, it lacks persuasion.”

“I will show you proof.”

The man tilted his head slightly, as if amused.

“If you would have me sent up…….”

“No, speak from there.”

Louise bit her lip.

I knew it would not be easy anyway.

Hoo. After taking a deep breath, Louise rubbed her filthy hand, smeared with dirt and blood, hard against the cleanest part of her clothes. Then, with that hand cleaned as best she could, she began unfastening the buttons at her chest one by one. At Louise’s sudden action, the innocent country guard’s face turned bright red.

“W-what are you doing!”

“Just a moment.”

After undoing about three buttons, Louise slipped her hand inside her bodice and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper. As though she had treasured it dearly, the paper alone remained perfectly dry despite the heavy rain. Seeing that it had not gotten wet at all, Louise broke into a bright smile, revealing her even white teeth.

The guard stared blankly at Louise’s smile before snapping back to his senses. She was, somehow, a strange woman. It was odd enough that she had come here at such a late hour without even an umbrella, but even in her tattered condition she carried an unmistakable air of breeding. Though her face had gone pale blue from running and she still had not caught her breath, her straight posture had not collapsed. The same was true of her skin, pale and translucent enough to resemble a flower said to turn transparent when wet, and her fine, softly curling hair that gleamed like gold.

For a moment, the guard thought that while he might be cleaner at present, Louise’s true station might actually be higher than his. While the guard was trying to judge Louise’s status, Louise unfolded the crumpled paper toward the Lord and boldly cried out,

“Lord, you must exercise your right of the first night! Because that was the promise……!”