Finally, the doors to the princess’s quarters swung open. 

“We are here to escort you.” 

The Imperial Knights, charged with leading the procession to the Grand Duchy, entered. When they saw Elliope, they stopped, their expressions changing subtly. 

“……” 

With her face painted to contrast with her dark gown, she looked less like a bride preparing for her wedding and more like a young, sultry widow. Had she worn the traditional black veil worn by widows in the Empire, the resemblance would have been undeniable. 

“Your Highness?” 

The knights hesitated, as if unsure of what they were seeing. 

Elliope nodded calmly. 

“Yes.” 

“Is this… how you have chosen to present yourself?” 

“Do you have a problem with it?” 

The knights exchanged uncomfortable looks. 

They knew little about women’s clothing, but even they could see that a black dress was far from appropriate for a bride-to-be. 

Still, this was not the kind of situation where they could voice their objections. 

The princess, who had always had a quiet and sombre demeanour, now wore an expression that left no room for argument. 

‘I won’t back down.’ 

Elliope was determined to enter the Grand Duchy of Ilmos in this dress, come what may. She had to see the look on her future husband Theodor’s face when he saw her. 

This was, in a small way, her act of defiance against Theodor of Ilmos. It was also her personal requiem for the wretched version of herself from her previous life. 

‘Going to him might as well be my death.’ 

Even if she tried to run now, her frail body wouldn’t get far before the knights caught up with her. 

Whatever happened, she would have to face it once she reached the Grand Duchy. 

The thought of the humiliation Theodor would feel when he saw her in this outfit made her smile uncontrollably. He might even fly into a rage, annul the marriage on the spot and lead his army against the Emperor. 

The thought gave her immense satisfaction. 

Seeing her smile, the knights flinched slightly, unsettled. 

“Why are you all just standing there?”

“Well, this is…” 

“Hurry up and come with me. Isn’t it time to leave for the Grand Duchy?” 

With a gentle yet commanding smile, she urged the knights forward. 

The smile on her lips, coming from a princess who had always been shy and quiet, was strikingly beautiful. 

“Yes, Your Highness. Right away.”

One of them replied, his ears reddening slightly. 

The knights quickly gathered themselves and helped her into the carriage, their movements respectful but visibly nervous. 

“We’re running late, so we have to hurry.”

One of the knights informed her. 

“All right.”

Elliope replied curtly. 

“If we pick up the pace, the carriage might shake a bit.”

“I understand.”

‘We’re definitely late.’ 

The party had originally planned to arrive at the Grand Castle in the morning and reach the Grand Ducal Residence by midday. However, their decision to change had delayed the schedule considerably. It was now almost noon, and even with a quick departure, they wouldn’t arrive until late afternoon. 

“I don’t want to go.” 

Really, all she wanted to do was lie down and cry and declare that she refused to go any further. 

‘Not that it would make any difference.’ 

The three years of humiliation Elliope had endured had taught her many things. Among them was the painful truth that there were some things she could never change, no matter how hard she tried. 

‘Even so.’ 

She couldn’t bear the thought of being dragged back to the Grand Duchy like a lamb to the slaughter, to marry her husband again and suffer the same indignities all over again. If that were to happen, there would be no point in having been given this second chance. 

Even if this life she had returned to was nothing more than a long dream after her death, it still didn’t matter. 

If this was an afterlife dream, it only made sense that things would be different this time. 

‘What should I do?’ 

Should she go mad the moment she entered the Grand Duchy? If she behaved as if she had lost her mind, the Grand Duke would surely abandon her. 

‘But then, I’d only end up being sent back to the Imperial Palace.’

Even if she were sent back to the Imperial Palace, she would only be discarded elsewhere, like a commodity to replace Léanne. 

‘…What should I do?’

The same question repeated in her mind like a broken record. Heat quickly rose to her forehead as her mind raced. 

As Elliope leaned against the window of the carriage, the cold air seeping through, and considered her next steps, the carriage suddenly came to a halt. 

“Whoa, whoa!” 

The steady ride was abruptly interrupted as a commotion erupted outside. 

‘What’s going on?’ 

“I’ll go and see.”

Emma sat opposite her as she quickly left to assess the situation. 

Elliope could hear faint voices from outside. The murmur of several people reached her ears, growing louder with tension. It was clear that something was wrong. 

‘Has this ever happened before?’ 

Elliope tried to remember her first trip to the Grand Duchy. What had it been like? 

‘We left much earlier that time.’ 

She hadn’t argued about her dress, and she had been so overwhelmingly nervous about meeting the Grand Duke that she had meekly obeyed everything the maids and knights had told her to do. 

She vaguely remembered being unable to control her nerves during the carriage ride, and ended up drinking the whisky and sleeping pills offered by one of the maids. She only woke up when she arrived at the Grand Castle. 

The sleeping pills had always been given to her regularly. The Emperor had ordered the maids to administer them in case she changed her mind or tried to escape. Some of the pills had even been tucked away in her inside pocket, as she occasionally took them to combat her insomnia. 

The carriage swayed suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts. 

There were more shouts from outside before the carriage door suddenly swung open. A blast of icy wind rushed in, chilling the interior. 

The cold winds of Ilmos, in the northern reaches of the Empire, were sharp enough to cut through flesh. The faint warmth that had lingered in the carriage shattered and vanished in an instant. 

“Ah…” 

Elliope shrank back instinctively, but then her eyes locked with a gaze as sharp and predatory as a beast’s. 

“…Sir.” 

Kallian Icerick. 

The illegitimate son of a northern noble and a maid, bearing the surname given to all bastards in the Ilmos domain. 

Her husband’s most loyal knight – and the man who had ravaged her like an animal in front of her husband’s corpse – stood staring at her. 

As her gaze met his cold blue eyes, the memory of their encounter – a moment that felt both distant and recent – flashed through Elliope’s mind. 

The image of the man exploring and touching her body like a beast, whispering lewd words in her ear. 

“……” 

The memory made her ears blush and Elliope fought to suppress the images that rose to her mind. 

‘Anyway… that was something we both did under the influence of the drug.’ 

Neither of them had been in their right mind at the time. It was something they would never have done sober. 

More importantly, Kallian couldn’t possibly remember that moment now, because it hadn’t happened yet in this timeline. And most importantly, she had no idea why Kallian was here in the first place. 

In the midst of her confusion, Kallian finally spoke, his voice calm and deliberate. 

“Are you the princess sent by the Imperial Family?” 

Though his words were polite, there was a subtle roughness to his tone that gave them an edge. 

Then, slowly, Kallian’s gaze swept over Elliope, taking her in from head to toe. 

“……” 

His eyes were cold, as if dissecting and analysing her. They seemed to want to peel away her outer layers and look inside. 

The look was slightly different from the cold eyes she had seen in her past life, and Elliope felt a sense of confusion. 

‘Why?’

Then, a moment later, she began to understand the meaning behind his gaze. 

‘He must have thought Léanne would be the one to arrive… just as my husband had expected.’

Like her husband before her, Kallian, his loyal servant, had probably assumed that the woman in the carriage was the Léanne he had been expecting. The entire Grand Duchy had thought so until Elliope’s arrival. 

But when the carriage door opened and she appeared… 

‘How absurd he must feel!’

Léanne’s extraordinary beauty and character had made her the subject of much gossip. Occasionally, commemorative coins were minted in her likeness, or works of art depicting her were widely circulated. In public, it was common for portraits of Léanne to be imitated and sold. As a result, few people in the Empire were unfamiliar with the appearance of Princess Léanne. 

Elliope, on the other hand, bore little resemblance to her, no matter how hard one tried to compare. Even the green eyes she had inherited from the Emperor were not as deep or clear as Léanne’s. 

‘I’m sure they’ll notice.’

Elliope fought back a bitter laugh that threatened to escape her lips. 

Though she thought she had grown accustomed to the scorn of the Grand Duchy of Ilmos, something about Kallian’s questioning made her heart ache all over again. 

‘ Just once. It happened when I wasn’t in my right mind.”

Had she unconsciously leaned on him? She felt both foolish and pitiful. 

But that kind of reproach or guilt was inevitable once she entered the Grand Castle. Elliope nodded her head slowly. 

“Yes, I am.” 

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but feel like prey in front of a hunter. Elliope just hoped her voice didn’t tremble too much. 

“I am the princess of the Imperial family. My name is…” 

At that moment, Kallian silently held out his hand. 

“…?” 

Elliope stared at his hand, her eyes trembling slightly. 

“The snow that accumulated yesterday could not bear its own weight and has now covered the road.”

Kallian asked no more questions. He simply began a short explanation. 

“You can’t use this road.” 

“I see.” 

Elliope slowly took in his words. Then, unexpectedly, Kallian spoke again. 

“Get out.” 

“Excuse me?” 

The road was blocked, but that didn’t mean the carriage couldn’t move. But Kallian didn’t move from the carriage entrance. He continued to stare at her, showing no intention of moving until she got out. 

Flustered, Elliope hesitated for a moment before getting up from her seat. She realised that if she stayed in the carriage, she would only continue to face Kallian.

As she slowly approached the entrance, Kallian casually extended his hand again. Although it was a natural gesture for a knight escorting a lady, Elliopé flinched slightly. The intense warmth that washed over her as she approached was incomparable to the cold inside the carriage.