chapter 0. my lovely deceiver

“My lovely Louise, I’ve come to take you.”

Dark red droplets of blood splattered onto the pure white veil discarded on the floor.

The imperial nobles protected her from the man who approached, carrying the bodies of the Emperor and Empress who had clearly departed on a path of no return.

They acted determined not to let the princess meet her death by this man’s hands.

“Come now, Louise.”

The man showed his first smile since entering the wedding hall. He pressed his blood-stained sword against those lying on the floor with a sharp poke.

The living screamed in unison while shielding her.

When her now-forgotten groom pulled her into his embrace, the man’s face contorted in anger and he snatched her into his arms instead.

Her pure white shoes, now ruined with the blood of countless people, dangled briefly against the man’s chest before falling to the floor.

She couldn’t even hear the nobles’ pleading screams.

She couldn’t believe that he stood before her now, after disappearing without a trace since his escape from the underground prison three years ago.

That this man had just beheaded her parents before her eyes.

That he had ruined her wedding day, which should have been her happiest moment.

“Ron, Rondimio……”

She knew. She knew he was now no different from her enemy. Yet she could see herself overjoyed at his presence.

What was she doing?

“I missed you, Louise……”

The man smiled brightly while looking at her. Then he gently cupped her cheek and kissed her.

A silver thread stretched between their parted lips. The bloodstained hem of her wedding dress roughly rolled up in his hands.

She could finally breathe when he loosened the corset that had been constricting her body.

“Princess Louise, Your Highness!”

The nobles, thinking Rondimio meant to force himself on her, uniformly pointed their broken swords at him.

I’m sorry. I’ve been deceiving you all this time.

I was the one who secretly freed Rondimio. I couldn’t bear to watch His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress abuse him so cruelly.

He was just a young boy taken prisoner from another country. I pitied him, sympathized with him, and somewhere along the way, fell in love with him.

But I never… never knew Rondimio would kill my parents and use me to become emperor. Really….

The nobles who once smiled kindly at her gradually pointed fingers and hurled vulgar insults at her.

The imperial citizens who always called her their lovely princess and gave her fragrant flowers now threw rotten eggs and stones at her.

And each time they did, they fell to Rondimio’s cold blade.

The beloved princess who held all the empire’s love no longer existed. Only the greatest villainess remained—one who sold out her country for love.

‘Run away, Rondimio. I’ll give you the gift of freedom.’

She never once regretted secretly helping him escape when he was imprisoned and suffering cruel abuse in the cold dungeon of the Araceli Empire.

He was her first love, and he had loved her sincerely.

So, she had been confident she wouldn’t regret her choice….