“Your Majesty… are you planning to send me to a convent to rot for a few years?”

Empress Clarissa chuckled quietly.

“I couldn’t possibly let someone as amusing as you rot away in a convent for years.”

Then she stopped laughing, fixed her beautiful blue eyes on Helena and said.

“There is a young and handsome Count in the south. Recently I’ve heard rumours that he’s been linked to a subversive group that threatens the stability of the Empire.”

At this unexpected piece of interesting news, Helena perked up her ears.

“I have been tracking this subversive group for a long time. But they’re a very secretive group, so I’ve had no luck in uncovering their connections. Until recently, I managed to find out that there is a connection between them and the Count.”

Helena’s eyes widened and she stared at Empress Clarissa.

She had come to the Empress for advice on her own situation, not to hear a tale of the Empire’s subversive forces and the Empress’s secret war against them.

But the Empress was not one to talk unnecessarily.

Helena soon realised that the Empress was offering her some kind of opportunity.

Helena spoke up.

“What Your Majesty wants is information about the count, isn’t it?”

The Empress replied in a low voice.

“He is a man who is as cautious as a small bird and as ferocious as a wild beast. He trusts no one and keeps everyone at arm’s length.”

Helena now understood why the Empress had summoned her.

“If he trusts no one, then to learn his secrets I would have to earn his trust.”

In other words, the Empress subtly hinted at the task ahead.

To put it simply, the Empress hoped that Helena would marry the southern count and reveal his secrets to her.

Helena pressed her lips together and fell into deep thought.

‘But do I really have to go this far? Even though the Emperor is a ruthless man who doesn’t think twice, he would not sentence a young count’s daughter to severe punishment just because she was caught in the company of the Crown Prince.’

The worst punishment Helena could face would be something like a period of seclusion in a convent.

On the other hand, the Empress’s proposal smacked of danger. According to the Empress, Helena should marry the wild man in her name and reveal his dangerous secrets.

But no matter how much Helena liked the Empress, she couldn’t risk something as important as marriage on a spy mission.

‘I must decline.’

With that thought, Helena opened her mouth to speak.

“I deeply wish to help Your Majesty, the Empress, but I fear my abilities are not up to the task…”

The Empress smiled and said.

“I will grant you a title and land.”

“…!”

“One day, when the truth is revealed and the subversive faction that threatens the security of the Empire is destroyed, every citizen of the Empire will know of your achievements. You will be celebrated as a woman braver than any knight, as one who has achieved feats beyond the reach of even the noblest of nobles.”

Helena’s heart began to race.

In a low voice, the Empress whispered.

“Helena, this is your chance to truly live as yourself.”

***

After much consideration, Helena decided to accept the Empress’s proposal. It wasn’t just the promised rewards that swayed her, but the words that followed – the assertion that this was her chance to live as herself.

Helena had met countless people and had her fair share of romantic experiences, but no man had ever made her feel like she wanted to marry him. Conversely, there were countless men she felt she couldn’t live with.

Even if the Emperor were to impose a relatively lenient punishment – such as a short period of penance in a monastery before returning to the capital – the situation wouldn’t change much. Dismissing unsuitable men in various ways might work a few times, but eventually Helena would have to marry someone in the near future.

‘But if I had my own land…’

Having a title and land would make marriage a choice, not a necessity. Moreover, while marriage would serve a purpose, it would mean that Helena would already be married. Perhaps she could free herself from the constraints of marriage altogether.

And as a bonus, the relieved expressions on the faces of Count Winston and his wife were priceless. With a calm smile, Count Winston remarked.

“Helena, I’m so glad. I thought I’d never see you in a white dress again.”

Countess Winston, overcome with emotion, even shed tears of joy.

“It really is a relief. Given the circumstances, the Empress could have set you up with someone absolutely horrible, but it’s a count! And besides, I hear the man is quite handsome.”

The countess whispered with a playful thumbs up.

“You do have a thing for good looks, and good bodies too.”

Count Winston cleared his throat.

“Ahem! Ahem! Ahem!”

Officially, Helena’s marriage was announced as the Empress finding a suitable match for Count Winston’s beloved daughter, to the approval of the entire Empire.

However, those aware of the scandal surrounding Crown Prince Rufus and Helena speculated otherwise.

They whispered that the Empress was sending Helena far away, beyond the Beast Forest, to the distant lands of the south, to remove an obstacle to the royal marriage.

Only Helena knew the truth.

‘Only the Empress and I know the true purpose of this marriage.’

Once Helena had made up her mind, the preparations for her marriage moved quickly. Her fiancé was a man called Count Ishpern. He was the overseer of the vast southern estate of Berwood and was reputed to be one of the five best knights in the realm.

What struck Helena as amusing, however, was how readily and without hesitation he accepted her proposal of marriage.

Given what Helena already knew about Count Ishpern from the Empress, his quick acceptance seemed suspiciously hasty.

‘Cautious as a little bird and wild as a beast, is that what they say about him? He trusts no one and keeps no one close to him, and yet he wants to marry?’

Moreover, his impulsiveness was astonishing. Not only did Count Ishpern accept the proposal of marriage, but he set a date for his visit to the capital to collect his bride – all on a whim – and wrote it down in a single letter.

His attitude wasn’t that of a man graciously accepting a proposal of marriage, but rather that of a loan shark impatient to collect a long overdue debt.

Helena herself wasn’t quite ready to marry him, but this was too much.

“Father, let me see the letter!”

Helena emptied the envelope to check the contents thoroughly, but there was nothing else inside.

“How could that be? Is he really not curious about anything about me?”

She was incredulous.

Helena couldn’t believe it. She held the letter up to the light, tapping the edges, checking meticulously to see if two sheets were somehow stuck together. But it was undeniably a single sheet.

Count Winston watched her with pity and finally spoke.

“Helena, I know you’re used to the lively social life of the capital, but out here it’s not uncommon for marriages to be arranged between virtual strangers. And honestly, wouldn’t it be better to go into a marriage with hope and curiosity, rather than knowing someone too well and realising you don’t want to spend your life with them?”

Helena put her hands on her hips and replied loudly.

“Stepmother, how could you say such a thing? You should have said that he’d want to marry me even more once he got to know me! That’s exactly what a stepmother would say…!”

Countess Winston sighed, stopping just short of exhaling.

“It won’t be long before I’m free of your endless, dizzying chatter.”

“Is that what makes you sad and heartbroken?”

“I think the term ‘overjoyed’ would be more accurate. Ah, the Winston household will finally have some peace and quiet.”

“Just as you would expect from a stepmother…!”

And so the marriage arrangement between the troublesome young lady of the Winston family and the enigmatic southern count was finalised.