Chapter 2. The Grand Duchess to be Sacrificed

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Theo changed into a white shirt after finishing his shower.

It was a thin material that subtly revealed his curved silhouette.

After briefly drying his hair with a towel, he trudged to the office connected to the bedroom.

There was a half-empty bottle of whiskey in the office cabinet.

He opened the cabinet, took out the whiskey, and downed it in one go.

The tangy and musty oak aroma filled his mouth.

“Yuelina.”

He muttered Yuelina’s name softly.

She was said to be from an island that was unheard of.

To say it nicely, he was a foreigner, but to put it bluntly, she was no different from a barbarian.

That barbarian-like woman had a strange floral scent.

It was a soft, tickling, cozy fragrance.

In the cold north, flowers were grown using magic stones. So most flowers didn’t have much scent at all.

Such a rich and vivid fragrance was truly rare.

For a moment, he almost said he’d be back after washing up, so wait quietly.

He wanted to smell Yuelina’s scent more, but couldn’t feel that floral fragrance well because of the smell of his own bloody.

Theo’s brow gradually furrowed.

Was that woman’s hair white?

He should have looked at Yuelina’s face properly when she got out of the carriage.

But she kept her head down, so he couldn’t see properly.

Afterwards, his vision blurred as he wiped his blood-covered face vigorously.

In the end, Theo couldn’t see Yuelina’s face. He only caught a glimpse of her silhouette through his hazy vision.

She was a woman two, no, three times smaller than his own build.

Her bones were so thin that it felt like they would break if he gripped her hand just a little harder.

The northern winter is harsh, how long would such a weakling last.

Well, it didn’t matter anyway.

Whether she was a foreigner, a barbarian, or what her face looked like…

She was a woman to be sacrificed.

Yuelina probably doesn’t know her situation.

No one would willingly follow along knowing they were going to die.

Moreover, originally, Theo shouldn’t have known this fact either.

Theo put the bottle down on the desk and opened the drawer.

In the drawer was a letter engraved with the Bios Imperial crest.

Theo unfolded the letter on top.

[We have found the Saint. The red dot on her ear also matches the prophecy. We will proceed with the marriage. You can offer her as a sacrifice after one year.]

Was it luck that this letter came into his hands two months ago?

Theo tapped the desk with his index finger for a moment.

The handwriting belonged to Delkan. It was Delkan’s son who tried to send the letter to the Bios Empire.

Although they were clearly a family of traitors, there was no need to be alarmed.

He had long suspected that Delkan’s family was a pawn planted by the Emperor of Bios.

But it wasn’t surveillance out of concern that the principality’s power might grow.

It was to protect Theo’s body, which needed to be imprinted on the sacrifice.

The imprint of the imperial family.

More precisely, it was the soul vow of a couple to be together forever.

Once souls were bound, the connection formed couldn’t be severed while alive.

That’s why the imprint could only be made once, exactly one year after marriage.

It had to be decided with that much caution.

The Book of Prophecy mentioning the imprint was revealed five years ago.

It contained the way for humans to possess the power of the Saintess.

People probably don’t know about the Saintess. Even Theo only found out about it this time.

The Saintess was a figure that appeared in a forbidden book only allowed to high-ranking priests.

The Saintess, who could use the power of the goddess Daphne, acts as a messenger.

The Saintess’s power was like that of the divine race, a power that humans couldn’t obtain.

However, things changed if there was an ‘imprint’ of the imperial family.

The imperial family’s imprint, which binds each other’s souls, also affects the power of the Saintess, who is of the divine race.

The Saintess’s soul bound with a human soul was as good as cracked.

By exploiting that gap, even humans could usurp the Saintess’s power.

A complete power that could rival the gods.

Theo had heard until his ears were numb that the greed of the Emperor of Bios reached the sky.

The Emperor was also the younger brother of Theo’s mother.

Theo could vividly imagine how much the Emperor must have coveted the interpreted Book of Prophecy.

But the Emperor already had an Empress with whom he had made an imprint.

So the Emperor must have needed Theo.

Among the imperial family, Theo was the only human who wasn’t married, or rather, hadn’t made an imprint.

War demon. Murderer.

Theo had been called that since he was fifteen.

He spent more time beheading others on the battlefield than in the principality.

How could such a person have time to get married and even make an imprint?

Moreover, whenever he was about to hold a wedding ceremony late in life, unable to resist his secretary’s nagging, he was suddenly called to the battlefield.

The first and second wives ran away as soon as Theo left for war.

He didn’t even see the face of the third wife.

She had escaped from the carriage on the way to the principality and thrown herself into the sea.

A man obsessed with war.

A man more terrifying than a ghost.

People who trembled just by making eye contact with him.

It was natural that no one wanted to marry him.

To the extent of desperately running away from him, or just dying because they found him so repulsive.

After the third wife left, Theo declared that he would not go to war anymore.

But he didn’t try to proceed with any more marriages either.

Even if he had retired, the titles of Murderer and War Demon wouldn’t be removed.

There was no woman who would live her whole life beside him as his wife, who was like a monster.

Theo decided to just let the rest of his life pass by.

He lived with alcohol constantly on his lips and showed no interest in anything.

The doctor called by his secretary, worried about his condition, diagnosed Theo as suffering from severe lethargy and depression.

Theo, who had already half given up his will, didn’t want treatment.

He just spent time tediously.

But then he discovered a letter that Delkan was secretly sending to the Empire.

That he shouldn’t take a wife other than the Saintess because he was the one who needed to imprint on the sacrifice.

[The fortunate thing is that there is no bride who wants the Grand Duke. Everyone said they would run away.]

Theo stared blankly at the content written in another letter.

The secretary said after seeing this letter that it was all because of Delkan.

That it was because of Delkan that his marriage partners thought of running away.

So they should send away that woman they’re trying to marry him to.

However, Theo’s thoughts were different.

Love was a word that was unfamiliar to the point of not existing in his life from the beginning.

The only difference with the wife he was welcoming this time was that she was a sacrifice.

A sacrifice that would become the Emperor’s power, who must die after making an imprint in one year.

Therefore, she would be the first wife that no one would try to drive away or plot to kill.

Let’s just get married, why not.

Theo decided.

It was the Empire that wanted him to marry Yuelina. So he intends to live as they wish for the rest of his life.

However, he will not touch a hair on that woman’s head and will keep her by his side forever.

Yuelina will live as the Grand Duchess without an imprint or a vow of love.

She will die as the first and last Grand Duchess of Phaenyx, thoroughly confined within this principality.

If by any chance she tries to escape, he will lock her in a room, and if she tries to take her own life, he will tie up her limbs.

To hell with the soul vow promising eternity.

When he keeps her bound forever without giving her an imprint, how will the Empire react?

At that moment, a polite knock was heard, and Theo’s secretary, Ulysse, appeared.

Ulysse frowned as he watched Theo gulp down his drink.

He still seemed to smell blood on him.

“You didn’t have to cover yourself in blood. Still, Her Highness the Grand Duchess must have been quite surprised.”

“In the end, when she finds out my true nature, she’ll tremble, so it’s better for her to know in advance.”

Theo covered himself in blood to match the time Yuelina would arrive.

It was the blood of livestock, gathered to set a trap when intentionally calling wild animals.

It was a kind of warning to Yuelina. That there would be no such thing as a loving married life in the future.

A warning to live as a Grand Duchess whom people occasionally forget even exists.

Having firmly stated there would be no wedding with a blood-soaked, haggard appearance, Yuelina was probably afraid of him.

The more afraid she was, the better.

The more she was, the more Delkan would be anxious.

Because the signs that Theo, who had to imprint Yuelina, was distancing himself from her would not be good.

“Did you convey all my words?”

“Yes. I said that for the next year, she and Your Highness the Grand Duke would use separate rooms and not to let anyone into the room.”

Theo imagined the distorted faces of Delkan and the Emperor.

The Emperor might kill Theo, who, even a year later, did not imprint and kept Yuelina by his side.

Theo smiled bitterly and looked at Ulysse.

“Did you show her the room?”

“Yes.”

Theo looked out the window. Beyond the fourth-floor window, a black tower could be seen.

The tower was a six-story fortress built in preparation for war. Each floor had a spacious area suitable for evacuation.

The top floor of the tower, under the arched roof, had no windows, so fierce winds howled through it.

If you went up half a floor from there, you would find a hidden attic.

It was a secret space designed for the noble ladies of the house to hide.

Theo sent Yuelina to the attic.

It was a space completely isolated without any people coming in and out, connected only to Theo’s office.

Going out to the office terrace, a sturdy bridge connected to the tower was laid.

It was made so that the owner of the mansion could evacuate immediately if war broke out.

Of course, there was no way a war would break out in the principality where Theo was the master of.

So it was even more of a desolate space. No one managed the interior of the tower separately.

Yuelina would probably greatly regret coming here.

She was told to stay in an old and eerie attic, leaving aside the many large and empty rooms of the mansion.

It was a stern and harsh treatment for Yuelina, but Theo’s firmly resolved mind was not going to change easily.

Still. If she cries too much, she might collapse from exhaustion…

He was a little concerned.

If she started thinking about escaping already, bringing her back would be troublesome.

“By any chance, did the Grand Duchess cry when she saw the room?”

“Pardon?”

“If she cries all night, she could collapse. Shouldn’t we call a physician?”

“No. Her Highness the Grand Duchess smiled.”

Theo paused.

“What?”

“She said it was so cozy and warm, she liked it very much. She also asked to convey her thanks.”

Oh?

Did I hear wrong?