It was a hand so cold it sent a shiver down her spine.

Selenia’s gaze fixed on her own unfamiliar hand, clasped tightly in the man’s. Even the damp sea breeze failed to dilute the awkwardness of the moment. The man smiled broadly, waving at the people outside the cruise ship.

He tugged Selenia closer.

“Smile.”

The man murmured the command in an arrogant tone, then pressed a kiss to Selenia’s cheek.

“Wooo!”

Someone who saw it let out a cheer, and the people who had come to see them off burst into applause. The clear autumn sky seemed to weigh especially heavily on Selenia’s shoulders.

She felt like she was going to vomit.

The overpowering stench of the man’s perfume. The massive cruise ship beneath her feet. Everything that made up Selenia at this very moment.

It was all revolting.

The corners of her lips trembled, as though they might collapse at any second. Perhaps he noticed. The man brought his lips close to her ear.

“I said smile.”

His voice was sharp with irritation.

“Are you going to keep advertising the fact that you were sold?”

The words dripped with mockery.

Selenia forced a doll-like smile. The man’s arm—smooth and sinuous like a snake—wrapped around her waist. Through the fabric, she could feel his five fingers gripping her, stiff and unyielding, binding her in place.

In that instant, the strain overwhelmed her, and Selenia grabbed the railing. The chill of the cold metal cleared her mind with brutal sharpness. She swallowed a hollow breath. It felt as though her chest might burst from suffocation. Tears welled up to her throat, only to be forced back down, swallowed painfully instead of falling.

A bride who was sold.

Was there a phrase that described Selenia more precisely than that?

The man was right. She had been thrown onto the engagement market, and he had paid the highest price to purchase Selenia—along with her title. Selenia squeezed her eyes shut. All of this was the price she had to pay for the owner who had bought her.

She was done deluding herself.

Selenia had no right to resist this man. No right to condemn him. Her footing wavered precariously. There was nothing holding her up anymore.

It felt no different from standing at the edge of a cliff.

If someone were to tap her lightly on the back, she thought she could leap without hesitation.

***

The man Selenia became engaged to today was named Rosend Bernarde.

Rosend was the second son of Count Bernarde, the lord of Ranfield in the south. There was even a saying that every bottle of wine in the Hudson Empire was produced in Ranfield—so unless a sudden prohibition were declared, there was little chance the Bernarde family would ever fall into ruin.

Still, no matter how powerful the Bernardes were, granting a title to a second son was no easy matter.

For a child who was not the heir to obtain a title, there were only two options: to earn great merit and receive one from the emperor, or to marry someone who already possessed a title. For the sake of his pitiable second son, Count Bernarde chose to buy one.

More precisely, he chose to buy a woman who held a title.

That was the reason Selenia was able to become Rosend’s bride.

Selenia, though her title was little more than a shell, did possess one. Rosend, meanwhile, had money. Their interests aligned. Or rather, the will of Count Bernarde, who wanted to place a title in his son’s hands, aligned perfectly with that of Count Marco, who was desperate to repay his debts—even if it meant selling his daughter.

“Still, he’s a rich man. Selenia, from now on, you’ll only have happiness ahead of you.”

“Love isn’t everything. Sometimes money fills that role just as well.”

That was the usual reaction.

But was it really true?

Rosend Bernarde was not a man who could be measured by such ordinary standards. His filthy s*xual appetites were infamous in high society. No—was it only high society? Even street children hawking yellow gossip sheets knew the name Rosend Bernarde.

“They say this time, three women warmed the Bernarde second son’s bed at once. At the same time!”

Count Marco sold his daughter despite knowing full well the rumors surrounding Rosend.

So all the hardship and humiliation Selenia was enduring now—
they were only fitting.

Staggering, Selenia stumbled out of Rosend’s bedchamber. She shut the door behind her and leaned back against it.

“Mmnh….”

A deep moan spilled out into the corridor beyond the bedchamber.

The sticky sounds of a woman’s cries turned Selenia’s mind to mush.

‘Keep your eyes open, Selenia. This will be you soon enough. You need to know what I like—wouldn’t that make things easier for you, too?’

The look in that beastlike man’s eyes, as he coaxed and fondled another woman’s bare br*asts, refused to fade. It felt as though her heart were being crushed inward. All she could manage was to barely suppress the nausea clawing up her throat.

For a noble young lady raised in a great house—one who scarcely knew anything about her own body—it was far too violent a stimulus.

‘You b*stard.’

Selenia hurled every curse she knew at him in her mind. Just how deep did Rosend’s depravity run? She had never imagined he would bring his mistress along on their engagement trip.

Her face drained of all color, Selenia fled back to her own bedchamber.

When she bolted for the bathroom, the maid Fiona hurried in after her. Fiona patted Selenia’s back, her voice trembling with tears.

“Mnngh… my lady….”

“It’s all right, it’s all ri— ugh!!”

Selenia retched dryly, though she had eaten nothing. Only yellowish stomach bile dripped into the water below. After gagging like that for a long while, she finally forced herself upright. She had emptied everything inside her, yet the revulsion still clung to her.

What was even more sickening was the fact that there was nowhere to run on this massive ship. One step off the cruise, and she would plunge straight into the abyss of the deep sea.

“I should… at least take a walk.”

With a deathly pale face, Selenia picked up her shawl. She felt like she needed to face the harsh sea wind just to clear her head. Fiona sprang up, trying to follow her, but Selenia stopped her.

“I want to be alone, Fiona.”

Fiona burst into tears, repeatedly dabbing at her reddened eyes with a handkerchief. Leaving her behind, Selenia slipped out of the room.

When she stepped out onto the deck, the banquet was in full swing.