The sound of a sword being drawn from its scabbard rang out.

For a moment, I thought I was going to die. By human hands rather than the monster’s.

After the sound of the sword cutting through the air, my body suddenly lurched forward. Just as I was about to fall into the cold lake water, something firm wrapped around my waist. My falling body stopped with a jolt.

A thick, strong arm caught my waist, saving me from an ungraceful plunge into the lake. I was lifted up and unceremoniously slung over the man’s shoulder like a sack of goods.

“W-who are you?”

“…”

The man didn’t answer.

I was simply carried away with my face buried in his red cloak, not knowing who he was.

One thing was certain: this man couldn’t be from the duchy.

Everyone from the duchy wanted me dead. A sacrifice for their comfortable lives, that was what being a tribute meant to them.

The man didn’t say anything until we left the cold lake. He simply walked forward, ignoring how the lake water seemed to try to hold onto his steps, wrapping around them.

Once outside the lake, the man unceremoniously dropped me to the ground. I had to swallow a small groan at his rough handling.

I kept my head down submissively. What I could see were the man’s boots. The water on his black knight’s boots was freezing white.

“You’re not hurt.”

The man said carelessly after giving me a cursory look. It was hard to focus on his words. I could see the feet of the person who had saved me freezing.

I took out the leather pouch that had been forcibly given to me from inside my clothes. Fortunately, it still retained some warmth.

Should I place it on the man’s feet?

“What are you doing?”

The man said sharply, quickly withdrawing his foot.

“Your feet seem to be freezing because of me…”

I mumbled hesitantly when I saw the man avoiding my goodwill.

“…”

The man stopped walking. Then in a rough, indifferent voice, he bluntly spoke.

“You’re not in a position to worry about me, Princess.”

At his words, I tried to recall the man’s identity.

Someone who knew my name and title yet spoke informally. Red cloak, and long leather boots worn only by knights.

A knight from the Holy Empire, come to purge evil.

This person was the reason I became a sacrifice earlier than planned. I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or sad about it.

“You’ll soon be dragged away anyway.”

Was he saying I was a hostage? Using me against the duchy was quite a good idea.

They wouldn’t want to let the empire’s people take their sacrifice.

“So you…”

The man’s voice was drowned out by the loud sound of hoofbeats. He stood awkwardly, waiting for the noise to subside.

Around the time the ground’s trembling and dust settled, people dismounting from horses called out to the man who had saved me.

“Commander, it’s all done.”

The legs of the man in front of me turned around.

Where the man looked, at least twenty people were standing. They were all wearing the long boots of knights.

The difference between them and the man who saved me was that their boots had many dark red stains. Those were probably blood.

“Has everything been taken care of?”

“Yes, according to your instructions, we beheaded the Duke, Duchess, and their son, and displayed them at the city gate.”

My body stiffened at the knights’ words.

The royal family of Belial Duchy were all dead. All except me. I should be happy that these people had avenged me, but I couldn’t feel joy.

“Now only the princess remains.”

Instead of dying as a sacrifice, I would die as royalty of a fallen duchy. The bitterness of it caught in my throat.

“Is that woman the princess?”

“Yes.”

My body trembled. Not from fear.

It was from the welling up of sorrow. How could my fate be so cruel…

I raised my head that had been lowered all this time.

Then I saw the back of the man who had pulled me out of the lake. Broad shoulders perfectly complemented by a red cloak. And black hair…

The image of one person came to mind. Someone I missed and longed for. Someone I wanted to meet one last time before dying.

“Then according to His Imperial Majesty’s orders, we’ll kill this dark creature immediately and hang her alongside the others on the city wall.”

At his subordinate’s words, the man turned his head slightly.

Our eyes met when he looked down at me. In that moment, my eyes widened involuntarily.

He looks like him. How could even his eyes…

Unable to speak, I just stared at him in a daze. The man’s cold face turned forward again.

“No, we won’t kill her.”

“What do you mean? Didn’t we come on a holy mission to eliminate the dark clan?”

“This woman has unmixed blood and wasn’t formally adopted into the royal family. It means she wasn’t accepted as part of the dark clan.”

How did he know?

Officially, I was supposed to be an adopted, beloved daughter. I played the role of a cherished daughter who would suddenly die from illness.

They said that showing the duchy’s benevolence and gathering sympathy through a tragic ending was how I would repay the grace I received from the duchy.

But I could never become a real daughter.

“His Majesty said he could sufficiently push away any darkness that might remain in her body.”

“But what about the people who know her as royalty? Couldn’t the duchy’s citizens rally around the surviving royal member?”

“From what I saw of the person guarding this woman here, that doesn’t seem likely.”

The one called commander seemed to have realized I was a sacrifice. However, he didn’t reveal this fact to his subordinates.

I stared at his back, hiding my pounding heart. With a bit of hope…

“Besides, this woman is the spoils of war promised to me by His Imperial Majesty.”

Spoils of war? Something felt like it was crumbling in my heart. It seemed like a word that truly revealed my situation.

“So I will keep her alive and take her to the empire for all the duchy’s people to see. As my slave.”

With his final words, the little hope I had turned to despair.

He was not my savior.

* * *

“Get down.”

Lucifer Croisen, Commander of the First Knights of the Holy Empire of Cardamia, extended his hand to me sitting on the horse.

When I took his hand, he pulled me with force. At a glance, it might have looked like he was treating a lady. But the reality was different.

My wrists were bound with shackles and chains, marking me as a criminal.

“Everyone, we’ll stay here tonight.”

At Lucifer’s call, around a hundred knights moved in perfect unison. Setting up tents, lighting fires, hanging large pots for cooking.

Meanwhile, I remained chained to a tree. This was how I was treated whenever there was no one to guard me.

“Dinner.”

Lucifer always came to eat by my side, leaving his knights behind.

Thanks to that, the rope tying me to the tree was untied, but the shackles and chains on my wrists remained. He placed hard bread on my hands and thick tomato soup on the ground.

“You’re getting thinner by the day. Planning to starve yourself to death and join the Duke’s family?”

Lucifer said mockingly.

Without a mirror, I wasn’t sure how I looked, but I probably didn’t appear healthy.

Still, I had hoped that by no longer drinking the silver liquid, the speed at which I was racing toward death might have slowed, but apparently not.

“You keep silent. Why, is it because you hate the enemy who killed your family?”

At Lucifer’s words, I slowly opened my mouth.

“No, I’m grateful for that.”

Hearing my answer, Lucifer coldly sneered, finding it ridiculous.

With his laugh came a gust of wind. His black hair floated gently over his gray eyes. Seeing that made my heart ache.

‘No, even his name is different.’

Above all, he couldn’t possibly fail to recognize me. He wouldn’t treat me like such a miserable slave either.

Unable to look at Lucifer’s face, I turned away. And continued eating small pieces of bread in silence.

“You must have heard what the first thing to do is after we arrive in the empire.”

“Yes, His Imperial Majesty will purify me.”

The Emperor of the Holy Empire, said to possess holy power.

I was told I would be treated like a demon because I was tainted by darkness. Rumors said the purification ritual was painful.

“Yes. After that, you will stay with me in my house.”

“As Lord Croisen’s slave, right?”

The words came out somewhat sharply.

Lucifer looked at me with a strange expression. The gray eyes I thought resembled Carden’s contained no warmth. They were filled only with indifference and coldness.

That hurt me even more.

Suddenly, a loud bell rang from one side.

“Monster attack! Everyone battle positions!”

At the sentinel’s shout, Lucifer jumped to his feet. He drew the sword at his waist and immediately ran to where the battle was.

He seemed to have forgotten to tie me up again.

The same was true for all the knights in the camp. No one was paying attention to me.

This is my chance, a chance to escape.

I stood up abruptly. After carefully looking around, I ran in the opposite direction from where the battle was taking place.

“Huff, quickly, legs, please.”

In truth, there was no chance of the duchy’s people rallying around me, contrary to what the knights worried about. I would be lucky if they didn’t blame me for the duchy’s defeat. They would more likely push me back into the lake if given the opportunity.

So escaping within the duchy might not mean much.

“I need to keep my promise.”

If I’m dragged away like this, it’s over.

I still had only one year of life left. If I was destined to die anyway, I wanted to meet the person I missed and at least say goodbye.

Moreover, that boy had promised me.

—I’ll become the princess’s knight.—

If Carden was still waiting for me, he might be my true savior.

I hadn’t yet figured out how to break the chains or how to get to the orphanage in the empire. There was only one thought in my mind.

I can’t be a slave.

Because the fate of a woman who becomes a young knight’s slave was obvious.