1.

Life is fleeting.

A life with a time limit is even more fleeting.

But that’s okay. Catherine had no attachment to life anyway.

It rained that day. Rainwater poured down fiercely, and the windows rattled.

‘I really have been abandoned.’

The cold gazes of her family were directed at Catherine. Her family had abandoned her, and Catherine was abandoned.

Catherine laughed self-deprecatingly and slowly raised her head. Her stepmother fluttered her fan and spoke.

“Catherine, isn’t it fortunate that there’s someone willing to take a dull and stupid woman like you as a bride?”

Tomorrow, Catherine would be thrown away as marriage merchandise to be sold off. Her family was busy mocking her.

She never expected familial love. They had always been like this from the beginning. Their family was like a carriage with a missing wheel, a household that could collapse at any moment without surprise.

“Even Count Cavin is too good a match for you, Catherine.”

As her stepmother’s sarcasm continued, her stepsister dabbed tears with her handkerchief and said,

“Still, I’m sad. Marriage is a sacred affair, but Catherine is still so young. But she will be fine.”

Her stepsister smiled slyly.

Yes. Laugh if you want to laugh. I can already clearly see how much you’re laughing at me inside.

Her heart gradually dried up. She hated everything now. All of it…… Expecting family love from family… how pointless.

‘It’s all pointless.’

Even the expression “family” was a luxury. Catherine’s family was dead. From the moment her father went missing, it was as if her last remaining family had departed.

With those final words, her stepmother closed her mouth.

And Catherine let go of her family. You’ve missed your chance to be forgiven. Because you abandoned me, I’ve abandoned you too.

—Thump thump

In the inexplicable atmosphere, heavy footsteps echoed.

“Madam! Madam!”

Everything happened in an instant.

The raindrops grew heavier, and the servant knelt before her stepmother. Then he reported solemnly.

“Count Cavin has died of old age.”

The day before the wedding, Count Cavin died of old age. He was a seventy-year-old man who had been living day to day. Full of self-interest, he kept concubines even at that age, and now he was dead.

“This marriage arrangement…… ends here, Mother.”

He seemed to have gone senile when he talked about bringing in a young woman of just over twenty as a concubine, but it turned out he was simply near death.

Catherine moved her empty gaze around the house. She was gradually getting tired of this situation too.

It was time for that person to come.

She slowly counted numbers in her mind. One, two, three….. She counted slowly, waiting for the moment.

The rain grew heavier, and thump, thump, thump— a heavy rumbling echoed. Thump, thump, thump— the rumbling continued at length. It wasn’t thunder. The heavy rumbling drew closer and closer, and knocked on the door of the residence.

‘He’s here.’

But Catherine was indifferent. She felt no sense of crisis. She waited for ‘him’ with a blank, carefree expression.

Thump, thump— someone knocked on the door again. It was quite late. Outside, rain was pouring down violently.

Her stepmother called a maid and nodded toward the door. The wooden door rattled weakly, bang, bang, bang.

“Hey, go see who it is.”

“……Who is it?”

The maid approached the door.

—Thump, thump, thump!

Open up!

The door shook violently with the knocking.

Thump, thump— with a rumbling sound, the door fell off. Through the gap, a figure wearing a black robe walked in.

They were knights in silver armor. A man walked in among them, casually surveying the residence. Then, frowning, he looked around the house.

“Is this the Milden viscountcy?”

“……”

“I’ll ask once more. Is this the Milden viscountcy?”

As the unfamiliar knight entered the house, her stepmother reluctantly asked.

“……Yes, it is, but who are you?”

Her stepmother and stepsister didn’t recognize ‘him,’ but Catherine did. With that face and that emblem, there could only be one such person in the Empire. Catherine raised her head and met the man’s eyes. Then, looking directly at him, she said,

“I am honored to meet Your Grace, Duke Helen.”

“……D-Duke Helen!”

He wore a robe over his silver armor. Laurel leaves fluttered on the robe. Everyone in the Empire would know that those laurel leaves were the symbol of House Helen.

Lorendis Helen.

Duke Helen.

Finally, the man’s gaze turned to Catherine. He frowned as if uncertain, then asked to confirm.

“Catherine Milden, is that you?”

Lorendis Helen. He was the master of House Helen and a war hero of the Empire.

“……I am Catherine Milden. It’s an honor to meet you, Lord Lorendis Helen.”

“I’m grateful you recognize me.”

Though this was their first meeting, Catherine knew this man very well.

“How could I not recognize a war hero of the Empire?”

Lorendis was a famous war hero throughout the Empire, and the Milden family had been vassals to House Helen. But that was all in the past.

The previous Duke Helen had gone missing on the battlefield long ago, and when Viscount Milden also disappeared on the battlefield, their relationship was severed. House Helen was inherited by a young successor, and the Milden viscountcy was left hanging in the air, becoming the world of her stepmother and stepsister.

The master-servant relationship between the two families was over 20 years old, but their connection had fizzled out.

“It’s good to see you.”

And today, the severed connection was restored.

“I am Lorendis Helen, who will become your guardian from now on.”

“……Guardian?”

“The previous Duke Helen, my father, and your father were close friends. As his daughter, you have deep ties with Helen as well.”

Catherine nodded indifferently to this contextless development.

‘So he’s my future husband.’

I knew this would happen. I knew it.

Everything flows according to plan. Everything has already been predetermined.

“Gu-Guardian, you say!”

Her stepmother asked, as if in a daze.

“I am that child’s mother, so why a guardian when I’m here…?”

You were never a parent. You gave up being a parent and gave up being a person. Catherine knew this best. Ignoring her dazed stepmother, Catherine asked Lorendis.

“By guardian, you mean…?”

“I mean I’ll be your guardian and become your husband.”

This was expected. Catherine already knew all this as well.

Where should this story begin? Should it start from the part where she glimpsed the future one day?

The entire story begins when the war hero, Lorendis, comes to a remote rural viscountcy. And today is that beginning.

Lorendis opened his mouth. A monotone voice flowed out gruffly.

“Helen will formally submit a marriage proposal to the viscountcy. Don’t consider it something as grand as marriage. It’s just that your protector will change to a husband.”

Lorendis hadn’t come to ask for permission. He had come to notify them. He made her stepmother and stepsister faint, approached indifferently, then explained briefly.

“They seemed like they would be in the way.”

“Are you… taking me out of here?”

“I’ll take you out. From this place.”

A gentle voice continued. An insensitive yet steady voice quietly echoed.

“My lady.”

Lorendis extended his hand.

“Take it.”

As Catherine trembled and lowered her head, his hand touched her nape. Catherine quietly looked down at that hand, then turned her head to look at her unconscious stepmother and stepsister. Their unsightly collapsed forms seemed fleeting and meaningless.

“Follow me.”

“……”

“I’ll get you out of here.”

Catherine blankly raised her head. This wasn’t a proposal, but a forceful command. His gentle voice was quiet, but an undeniable pressure surged around him. A rough energy swirled around Lorendis.

“……What happens if I follow you?”

“Those lost eyes of yours will find their way.”

Catherine raised her head blankly.

“Will things be different?”

“At least you won’t die in vain.”

“That’s not true.”

“What?”

“That’s not true……”

It’s not true, really not true.

Catherine’s life was in vain until the very end.

* * *