Chapter 2 – The Swapped Groom (Part 1)

Whether it should be considered fortunate or not, a temporary peace persisted between the Loden and Dveshi families after the engagement ceremony. This was possible because they ignored each other even when they happened to meet by chance.

Of course, the King, still anxious about the temporary peace that could end at any moment, set the wedding date for two weeks after the engagement ceremony.

With the wedding date set so quickly, without time to mentally prepare, Sophia couldn’t fully accept her situation and was plagued by nightmares afterward.

In her dreams, a man with the face of a devil approached her, demanding marriage and a child, and Sophia had to run away with all her might to escape him.

She woke up just as she was about to be caught by the devil.

“Gasp!”

She was drenched in sweat, her back soaked from how much cold sweat she had shed.

“Miss, are you alright?”

Hearing her scream, Emily burst into the room without knocking. To her, Sophia spoke with a tearful expression.

“Well, they say I have to marry the young master of the Loden family. What a terrible nightmare that is.”

“Miss, that’s not a dream; it’s reality.”

Emily looked at her with a sympathetic gaze.

“Is it true? If it’s true, what do I do! Are you telling me to marry that devil?”

“A devil? No matter how wicked the Loden family people are, they aren’t devils. So don’t be too sad.”

Emily tried to calm Sophia down, but Sophia couldn’t settle her heart.

“What if I grow horns on my backside after marrying someone from the Loden family?”

In the fairy tales her father used to read to her as a child, devils were often depicted as people from the Loden family.

There were many descriptions of growing horns on one’s backside or being killed if orders were disobeyed, and recently, those images had appeared in Sophia’s dreams, tormenting her.

“Miss, that’s quite a joke. Does that even make sense?”

Naturally, Emily laughed as if it were ridiculous.

“Is it really not true?”

“If it were true that they grew horns on their backsides, how would they attend the engagement ceremony looking so neat?”

“That’s true, but….”

Sophia knew the fairy tale wasn’t real, but her anxiety and unease persisted, making her fear that the fairy tale might become reality.

“Should I ask the doctor to prescribe you something to calm your mind?”

Seeing Sophia’s hand trembling as she clutched Emily’s sleeve, Emily suggested taking medication, thinking it was too much for Sophia to overcome the grim reality alone.

“I think I should.”

Sophia felt she needed to calm her mind, even if it meant relying on medication. Her once vibrant face had lost all its vitality, to the point where she wondered if this was what it meant for a person to wither away.

Once she received the prescription, Sophia’s condition improved slightly. She had fewer nightmares and almost no restless nights.

However, her mind was still unstable, so she avoided going out for fear of making a mistake. She avoided meeting others, fearing it would lead to more nightmares.

Still, there was a party she couldn’t miss. It was the banquet held on the day her second brother, Liam Dveshi, returned to the palace after ending the conflict with the Kingdom of Titani.

Upon deployment, the Royal Knights achieved great merit by beheading the enemy’s guard captain from the Kingdom of Titani. This proved the strength of the Kingdom of Lux, and the King, excited by the victory news, personally hosted the banquet.

Although Vice-Captain Liam played a significant role, the true protagonist of this banquet was Killian Loden, the third son of the Loden family.

He was the one who beheaded the enemy guard captain. Thanks to him, the conflict ended quickly, and he could be credited with all the achievements.

It would have been nice if her brother had achieved such a feat.

Although she wasn’t pleased that the protagonist of the banquet was from the Loden family, Sophia had no choice but to attend with her less-than-ideal fiancé.

However, an unexpected problem arose.

“Sir Clive is unwell today and won’t be able to attend the banquet.”

Clive had expressed his intention not to attend.

Since it was a banquet to celebrate Killian Loden’s achievements, it was only natural for Clive to attend. Even if he didn’t want to, attending the banquet together was a matter of etiquette.

But does it make sense to skip the banquet just because he’s unwell?

His actions were so absurd that she was at a loss for words. The servant from the Loden family who came to deliver the message also looked troubled.

Despite feeling displeased by Clive’s unreasonable behavior, Sophia held back. Getting angry wouldn’t change the situation.

“What kind of man is this? He was wandering around just fine until yesterday!”

But Duke Dveshi was different. Upon hearing Clive’s absence, his face twisted in anger. It seemed he had been secretly monitoring him, knowing what Clive had done the previous day.

“I should go drag him here right now! No, there’s no need to go to the Loden family for a man pretending to be sick.”

Duke Dveshi was about to storm out to protest to Duke Loden but stopped. He knew well that protesting about a discarded son’s behavior wouldn’t change anything.

Through her father’s words, Sophia could easily guess that Clive wasn’t missing the banquet because he was sick, but because he simply didn’t want to go.

A man with no consideration for others is to be my future husband….

“Sigh.”

The thought of attending the banquet alone without her fiancé’s escort was truly disheartening. Knowing she would likely be embarrassed, Sophia let out a deep sigh, and Raymond approached her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go with you instead of that rude guy!”

“Thank you, Brother Raymond.”

Feeling grateful to have family support in such times, Sophia smiled.

On the day of the banquet, the carriage heading to the palace stopped at the entrance of the banquet hall, and Sophia alighted with Raymond’s escort.

Since the King had paid special attention to this banquet, the entrance was extraordinary. The interior was decorated in gold, making it sparkle with the reflected light.

“Oh my!”

Having never seen such a splendid banquet before, Sophia couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration as soon as she entered.

Enthralled by the scenery, she looked around the banquet hall. By the time she finished her tour, the first thing that caught her eye was her second brother, Liam, whom she hadn’t seen in a while.

“Brother!”

Sophia approached Liam, who was surrounded by several people, and he excused himself to come to her.

“Beautiful Sophie! It’s been a while.”

Liam gave her a loving look and hugged her tightly. A month could be a short or long time, but having gone through so much recently, she felt even happier to see him.

“I heard you went through a lot while I was away?”

Liam gently patted her head with a compassionate look. It seemed he already knew about her engagement to Clive, as the rumors had spread.

“You’ve already heard?”

Since it wasn’t good news, Sophia had a sheepish expression.

“Everyone in the banquet hall is talking about you, so it’s impossible not to know.”

“Ah, I see.”

“With the wedding less than a week away, how do you feel?”

“Not good, of course.”

Seeing Sophia’s forlorn smile, Liam hugged his dispirited sister again.

“I should have helped somehow, but it’s unfortunate that such things happened while I was away.”

“Just hearing you say that is enough. Father couldn’t do anything either, so you don’t need to feel sorry.”

Sophia felt grateful to Liam for taking her side, even though she expected him to say there was no problem with getting married. Although he wasn’t usually hostile to the Loden family, he seemed worried seeing his sister forced into marriage.

“By the way, where’s Loden’s second son?”

After catching up, Liam finally looked around, searching for Clive.

“Ah… He sent word that he couldn’t attend the banquet today. So Brother Raymond escorted me.”

“What? How can he do that to you, Sophie? I should go to the captain right now and have that guy brought here.”

At that moment, an enraged Liam rolled up his sleeves, ready to go find Clive, so Sophia had to grab his arm to stop him.

“Sir Loden is the main guest of today’s banquet. So I think it would be best for you to hold back today, Brother. I’ll have a conversation with the young master of Loden next time. For now, please calm down and pretend not to know.”

Liam was usually kind and rational, but when he got angry, he would recklessly jump into situations. Sophia knew this well, so she had to calm him down.

“Shouldn’t you greet Father and Mother?”

“Yes, I should.”

As she quickly changed the subject, Liam, fortunately, calmed down and followed Sophia’s suggestion. Only after confirming that he was greeting the Dveshi couple did she let out a sigh of relief.