⁕⁕⁕

As soon as Rozenne made her decision, events moved quickly.

Harrieus swiftly prepared gifts to send to Wolfhard and recruited volunteers to join the delegation.

Naturally, few people volunteered, but thanks to the enormous rewards offered, several lower nobles and those close to Harrieus stepped forward.

After hastily assembling this meager but adequate delegation, Harrieus brought a pretty young woman before the dazed Rozenne.

“Allow me to introduce you. This is Cynthia Hartport, a maid from the Queen’s Palace who was supposed to serve you after your entry to court. Cynthia, this is your mistress whom you will serve from now on.”

“I am Cynthia, Your Highness.”

The woman introduced as a maid curtsied respectfully, but instead of the black and white maid uniform, she wore a dress suitable for a young lady.

Why this girl suddenly……? With a puzzled expression, Rozenne looked at Harrieus, who led her a short distance away from Cynthia and whispered discreetly.

“We don’t know what the King of Wolfhard might demand of you.”

At those words, Rozenne suddenly lifted her head as if realizing something.

In Sohara, where s*xual matters were strictly regulated, a woman’s—especially a noblewoman’s—chastity was considered paramount. For a noble lady, losing her virginity or fidelity was equivalent to losing her life. This virtue was demanded of her more than anyone else as the king’s fiancée.

“I could still love you no matter what happens to you, even if you spend the night with the King of Wolfhard. However.”

However?

Rozenne looked at Harrieus with anxious eyes.

“However, for you to become my queen again, you must return with a body that no one can object to.”

As expected, Harrieus was talking about her chastity.

But if that barbaric man were to desire my body…… If the people of Sohara found out, and I couldn’t return to Harrieus because of it……

At this terrible thought, Rozenne squeezed her eyes shut. Her tightly clenched fists trembled.

As if understanding her fear, Harrieus gently wrapped his hands around her trembling fists and continued.

“Switch bodies with Cynthia.”

At those words, Rozenne opened her eyes.

“Cynthia is the most suitable person. She was the only one who accepted this role that no one else volunteered for. She despises poverty, so when I promised her appropriate compensation, she agreed to be your stand-in. She’s trustworthy.”

“……”

“Rozenne, I don’t want to lose you. No matter what happens, we’ll be together. So we need to think about what comes after we meet again.”

“……I understand.”

Agreeing with his words, Rozenne nodded slightly with a stern face. Relieved, Harrieus smiled and brought Rozenne back to Cynthia.

Face to face with Cynthia, Rozenne relaxed her rigid expression and spoke.

“Cynthia. It’s nice to meet you. I heard you made a difficult decision for my sake. Thank you.”

To these stiff, awkward words, Cynthia merely responded with a slight smile.

The unnecessary and awkward pleasantries ended there.

Soon, the court magician summoned by Harrieus arrived, and Harrieus ordered him to switch the appearances of Rozenne and Cynthia.

Following the command, the magician immediately uttered the incantation.

A circular magic formation began to spread beneath the feet of Rozenne and Cynthia as they faced each other.

Moments later, smoke of the same color rose from the magic circle and swirled around Rozenne and Cynthia like a whirlwind.

Rozenne closed her eyes against the strong wind.

Before long, the violent fluttering of her hair and dress hem ceased.

In the sudden stillness, Rozenne opened her eyes.

Nothing had changed. Except that another version of herself stood before her.

“Uh……?”

A bewildered voice flowed from the lips of the woman with her face.

‘Is that really what my voice sounds like?’

The voice the woman produced was definitely her own.

But hearing that voice come from someone else’s mouth gave her an eerie sense of dissonance.

Rozenne looked down at her hands.

Unlike Rozenne’s own white, delicate hands that had never done hard labor, she saw rough, cracked hands with calluses.

So this is how it is.

Without needing to check further, it was obvious whose appearance she now wore.

Though her head spun and her stomach churned at the suddenness of everything, Rozenne suppressed her breath.

“You should change clothes,” Harrieus said.

At his words, Rozenne looked back and forth between her dress and Cynthia’s dress.

She was wearing a white silk chiffon dress interwoven with gold thread—clearly the attire of a bride about to be married today.

“I’ll be—”

Suddenly, Rozenne covered her mouth.

This is my voice now? Even knowing it would be different, she couldn’t get used to the voice coming from her throat.

But Rozenne quickly hid her agitation and said:

“I’ll be right back.”

Even while changing clothes, she had to suppress the urge to vomit several times.

In just a moment, she would be leaving as if being sold to a barbaric and uncivilized country.

And for that purpose, she had even changed her appearance.

These two facts drove her to the brink of madness.

It was too much for her to accept, given how quickly everything had happened.

Nevertheless, Rozenne finished her preparations and went outside.

Outside, people who had completed their preparations for departure were lined up.

Actually, to be honest, there didn’t seem to be much to prepare.

The crowd sending off the delegation was pitifully small.

While she was bewildered at how few people had come to bid farewell to someone heading into danger, Harrieus approached and whispered in her ear.

“The fact that you and Cynthia have switched is a top secret known only to us. I thought it best to minimize the number of people involved.”

Ah…… Rozenne let out a hollow exclamation, her mouth hanging open blankly.

It wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

With jerky movements, Rozenne nodded and slowly examined the people standing before her.

Laborers with gloomy expressions, nobles looking nearly dead beside several luggage carriages.

In front of them stood the Duke and Duchess of Dyer.

They were saying goodbye to Cynthia, who now bore Rozenne’s appearance.

Her beloved mother kept dabbing at her tears with a handkerchief, while her father patted Cynthia’s shoulder, trying hard to hide his sad emotions.

The sight was so shocking that there was no room to feel emptiness.

What’s more, Cynthia showed no signs of sadness or heartache, merely wearing an indifferent, blank expression.

Rozenne unconsciously clenched her fists.

Just then, Harrieus walked ahead toward the carriage and said:

“Let’s go. We need to hurry.”

Leaving her behind, Harrieus went to Cynthia and the Dyer couple, opened the carriage door, and escorted Cynthia as if it were the most natural thing.

An unpleasant feeling suddenly welled up inside her.

‘Of course that’s natural. Right now, I’m just Cynthia.’

Though she understood this rationally, the strange feeling was unavoidable.

Dragging her feet like a cow being led to sl*ughter, Rozenne walked to the carriage and climbed in, taking the arm offered not by Harrieus but by his attendant.

Harrieus.

Rozenne stared intently into his eyes one last time. But the carriage door slammed shut, blocking her view. Harrieus stepped back to stand beside the Dyer couple.

Shortly after, with a rattling sound, the carriage slowly began to move.

Unable to bear the sight, Duchess Dyer buried herself in her husband’s embrace and began to cry.

Rozenne pressed herself against the window, watching her loved ones.

But Harrieus was greeting the delegation procession behind her carriage, and her mother’s face was hidden behind a handkerchief.

Harrieus, look at me. Please look at me.

Desperately crying out inside, Rozenne fixed her gaze on Harrieus’s eyes.

But Harrieus never turned to look at her.

Not until they became tiny dots and disappeared from view.

⁕⁕⁕

“Aren’t you nervous?”

Inside the swaying carriage, Rozenne gazed quietly at Cynthia.

Seemingly unaware that she would be spoken to, Cynthia opened her eyes wide.

“Ah, yes…… I’m fine.”

Cynthia appeared remarkably calm.

Despite the fact that her role as a stand-in might lead to her death or place her in unwanted situations, she showed no concern about such possibilities.

In some ways, perhaps she has stronger resolve than me.

Rozenne gave a self-deprecating smile.

But that was brief, as Rozenne’s eyes caught sight of Cynthia’s necklace.

“That is……”

Rozenne pointed at Cynthia’s necklace.

“Oh.”

Unlike a moment ago, Cynthia visibly panicked and hastily grabbed the necklace with her hand to hide it.

‘It’s exactly the same as Harrieus’s necklace.’

If she wasn’t mistaken, that was Harrieus’s necklace.

A yellow crystal ball on a gold chain. Moreover, the engraved inscription on the frame surrounding the crystal.

This was no mistake.

Harrieus always wore it like a part of his body, so she couldn’t fail to recognize it.

Yet he had given that precious item to this girl?

While he hadn’t left even one token of affection for her. Not only that, he hadn’t even made eye contact with her at the very end.

“Why, why are you looking like that? Is something wrong……?”

Cynthia asked in a slightly tense but innocent tone.

Instead of asking if she had received the necklace from Harrieus, Rozenne looked into Cynthia’s eyes, trying to read her mind.

But Cynthia seemed to have only the simplest thought: she didn’t understand what the problem was.

She didn’t even seem to know what the necklace meant or how important it was to Harrieus.

“It’s nothing.”

Rozenne turned her gaze away from Cynthia and fixed it on the swaying window outside.

Yes, she’s going to Wolfhard as my stand-in, so there must have been some compensation.

It would have been unreasonable to demand unconditional sacrifice from Cynthia, with whom she had built no bond.

Cynthia had been selected purely because of her low status.

If she were sent to Wolfhard without any benefit, she would have felt much injustice.

Who would willingly accept such orders without something to offset that resentment?

But even so, the necklace……

Somehow it felt strange.

That necklace was extremely important to Harrieus.

Even when she had asked what it was, he wouldn’t answer, merely saying it was a precious heirloom passed down through his family.

‘And yet that……’

Had Cynthia demanded it, or had Harrieus voluntarily given it up?

About to be consumed by these mounting questions, Rozenne shook her head slightly.

All these thoughts were useless now.

This was no time to be childishly sulky.

Cynthia was currently the only person she could rely on.

Moreover, she was a compatriot who shared her secret and had even exchanged appearances with her.

So she needed to cooperate and trust her.

Rozenne took a deep breath, trying hard to shake off the thoughts in her mind.

⁕⁕⁕