On the day of the imperial summons, the heads of both the Wendis and Serade houses attended without fail.

The throne at the very top of the audience hall remained empty, and while nobles and ministers of various ranks lined up in order of merit and hierarchy below the throne, one noble whispered to another beside him.

“What a remarkable sight, seeing Hurion and Aselidia standing side by side.”

“Those bitter enemies, no less. Well, this summons is obviously because of those two, so there’s no helping it…”

“Shh, His Majesty approaches.”

Another noble cautioned the pair, and just after they fell silent, the Emperor entered through the entrance to the right of the throne.

Though aged, the still-vigorous Emperor walked with confident steps and took his seat on the throne atop the platform.

“Listen well.”

True to his nature of disliking lengthy speeches, he made his declaration immediately upon starting the audience.

“The discord and conflicts that have arisen among the nobility have escalated to friction. I have presented solutions in my name multiple times and encouraged reconciliation, but to no avail. Further conflict will only foster division and chaos within the Empire. Therefore, I intend to put an end to this matter. Duke Adrian Wendis of Hurion and Duke Luke Serade of Aselidia, hear me.”

During the Emperor’s brief silence, the audience hall fell so quiet that not even breathing could be heard.

“I will no longer question your crime of claiming the Corbin lands as your respective family territories and causing turmoil for over a decade. However, there is a preceding condition. The Wendis house has a daughter of marriageable age, and the head of Serade remains unmarried. Let these two marry, and let the child born of their union inherit Corbin.”

“Your Majesty!”

“I will not accept objections. The moment you dispute or defy this, consider my imperial favor at an end.”

The Emperor’s warning sent chills down everyone’s spine. Neither the Duke of Hurion nor the Duke of Aselidia could utter a word.

The meeting continued at length afterward, but everyone knew the Emperor had convened today’s session solely to announce this first matter.

“Must we really have that insolent brat for a son-in-law?”

Duchess Rachel of Hurion had already received news of the audience and flew into a rage the moment her husband returned home.

Duke Adrian of Hurion sighed deeply and shook his head.

“It’s His Majesty’s imperial command. What can we do?”

“Sigh… Karin is in an uproar. She’s locked herself in her room, crying and wailing about how she could possibly marry such a man. Shouldn’t you go talk to her?”

Already worn out from the audience and now being pestered at home, Adrian’s expression wasn’t pleasant. However, convincing Karin, the person directly involved, was his responsibility.

The Hurion Duke Wendis family and the Aselidia Duke Serade family both descended from founding merit families. They had once been houses that boasted very deep friendship.

However, as time passed, various problems arose, and through schemes to drive wedges between the overly close families, along with mutual competitive feelings, their relationship had become bitter enemies that could be called mortal foes.

Particularly, the Corbin land issue had completely twisted their relationship. 

Hurion claimed it was their land because Adrian’s great-grandmother had owned the property rights, while Aselidia produced evidence that their distant relative, the great-grandmother’s second son, had inherited that land.

The actual legal battle was more complex, but that was the gist. 

The Corbin territory that each claimed as their own had been so barren that no one had bothered with it before, but with the opening of western trade routes, it became valuable as a place where a port could be built to monopolize western continental trade.

For Adrian, this was a bitter outcome. Though Karin was Hurion’s legitimate heir, it was obvious what the relatives would say if Karin’s child carried Aselidia blood.

To prevent the merger of the houses, they would surely clamor that someone not of Adrian and Karin’s bloodline should become the next Duke of Hurion after Karin.

‘For now, we cannot disobey His Majesty’s command…’

If the person involved refused to marry, they would immediately be branded as an insolent family that defied imperial orders. Adrian went with Rachel to Karin’s room and knocked on the door.

“Karin, it’s Father. Let’s talk.”

No response came from inside the room. Adrian sighed, and Rachel knocked a bit more rapidly.

“Karin? I know you’re heartbroken, but we need to plan what to do next. You can’t just stay like this. Open the door.”

Again, silence.

The ducal couple looked at each other’s faces.

“Could the child be sleeping?”

“She might be exhausted from crying… She has such a passionate temperament.”

“Let’s give her some time to collect herself.”

Though Rachel looked thoroughly displeased, she agreed to give her time. The ducal couple withdrew together from in front of Rachel’s room and returned.

At that moment, Karin was dead inside her room, having tripped and fallen.

One month later.

The door opened cautiously as Rachel and Adrian entered.

No one was on the bed. The moment they confirmed this, both were startled and looked around the room, then hurried over when they spotted Karin’s silhouette on the window balcony.

“Child, what are you doing? The wind isn’t good for you. Come inside quickly.”

“Ah…”

The girl who turned to face them from the balcony had long brown hair that fluttered in the wind. Her golden eyes awkwardly took in the two people.

The bandages wrapped around her head and her awkward movements made her look even more like an invalid.

“Mother… Father.”

“Yes, yes. Come inside quickly.”

Rachel brought Karin inside, and Adrian hurriedly closed the balcony door.

Seated in the plush chair, Karin still had eyes that couldn’t quite distinguish her surroundings. More precisely, she seemed to fear something and feel confused, reluctant to approach.

“How’s your body? Your head?”

When Rachel asked with as much gentleness as possible, Karin nodded awkwardly.

“Yes. I’m fine. Thank you.”

“Your memory still hasn’t returned?”

“No. …Other than knowing I was a daughter of this house, I can’t really…”

“Sigh… No matter. You’ll get better gradually. At least there’s no major problem with your body, which is fortunate.”

Rachel sighed, and Adrian nodded heavily.

“Given this situation, I petitioned His Majesty to postpone or cancel the marriage, but it was rejected. He said since there’s nothing seriously wrong with the person involved, we should proceed with the marriage quickly and she can recuperate after the wedding…”

“How heartless of him!”

Rachel was indignant.

“The child can’t remember anything except her own name, and he wants us to marry her off! This is treating our Hurion…”

“Calm your excitement.”

When Adrian cautioned her while watching Karin, Rachel closed her mouth. However, her expression remained furious.

“Still, I managed to postpone the marriage, which was scheduled for next month, by two weeks.”

“Only two weeks? Will the child’s body fully recover in that time? This is going too far, even for His Majesty!”

“Sigh… For now, let’s focus on treatment. Karin, if even the smallest memory comes back, you must tell us. If you feel unwell, speak up immediately.”

“Yes. Um, Father, Mother.”

Karin called them that, then hesitated before opening her mouth.

“I… I’d like to meet the person I’m to marry, His Grace the Duke of Aselidia.”

“What?”

“Why?”

When both jumped up, Karin shrank back but still didn’t bend on her opinion.

“I want to know what kind of person he is, to have at least one conversation before marriage.”

“What conversation could you have with that despicable, cold-hearted wretch? There’s nothing to say or hear from such a person.”

“There’s no need to meet him. All necessary discussions can be handled in writing, so you don’t need to face that man before marriage…”

“Still, I really want to meet him.”

When Karin wouldn’t budge on her opinion, the two looked at each other with troubled expressions.

Normally they would have scolded Karin sternly, but the current Karin was a patient with a head injury. Moreover, she had lost all her memories due to that injury.

This was the first opinion Karin had expressed since regaining consciousness after her injury.

“Very well, I understand.”

“Darling!”

Rachel cried out in surprise at Adrian’s acceptance.

“I understand, so focus on recovering your health first. Once your injury is fully healed, I’ll arrange a meeting then.”

“Yes, thank you, Father.”

“Darling, this is…!”

“Let’s discuss this outside, Rachel. Rest well, Karin.”

Adrian left Karin’s room with Rachel. The moment Rachel stepped into the corridor and closed the door, she fiercely confronted Adrian.

“Why did you allow that?”

“Darling, I initially thought it was nonsensical too. But think about it carefully. How much our Karin hated the Duke of Aselidia.”

“What about it?”

“Perhaps meeting him might bring back her memories. She thought about it so intensely, after all. If Karin remembers something and insists she absolutely won’t marry, we could buy time by telling His Majesty that since the person involved is acting this way, we need more time.”

Adrian lowered his voice.

“And if the Corbin issue gets resolved during that time, we won’t have to go through with this marriage. They probably don’t want this marriage with us either.”

“…I see. I don’t like it much, but since Karin’s memory returning is our hope right now, we have no choice.”

Rachel reluctantly agreed. The two looked back at Karin’s door and sighed together.

“It would be good if her memory returned soon…”

“Indeed.”

Meanwhile, Karin had been about to tear at her hair, but stopped when her still-healing head began to throb, and instead pounded the cushions.

‘Ugh, what is this? How did I end up in this situation?!’

The claim about not remembering was a lie. In truth, Karin knew everything.

That is to say, she ‘knew’ but didn’t have ‘experienced memories.’ The current Karin possessed the mind of someone who had entered this body after Karin Wendis died.

She clearly remembered her identity. She had been someone who worked grueling days in Korea, finding solace in reading web novels from time to time.

She clearly remembered falling asleep while reading a novel. But when she woke up, she had become a character from the very novel she’d been reading.

And of all people, she had become Karin Wendis, the villainess who stood between the male lead Luke and the female lead Alicia!

‘What do I do now? And I didn’t even finish the book! I fell asleep before getting to the end!’