1. The Fallen Princess, Luciella

“Hahaha! How pathetic, Princess. No, there’s no need to call you Princess anymore, is there?”

“A livestock b*tch who’ll be sold off to become nobles’ plaything—what kind of princess is that.”

A large, bulky man said this while giggling. The man who had been laughing nastily suddenly grabbed Luciella’s br*asts hard without warning.

“Ugh……”

His touch was so rough that a moan reflexively escaped from Luciella’s lips. Her emaciated body couldn’t resist the man’s strength and staggered, swaying.

Seeing Luciella’s reaction, the man’s sadistic impulses grew stronger, and he licked his lips while his eyes gleamed with excitement.

Her body instinctively stiffened at the gaze filled with filthy lust. Goosebumps rose on her arms.

The man didn’t stop and scanned Luciella even more blatantly. His sticky gaze moved slowly up and down. Every time the man’s eyes touched her, Luciella had to forcibly swallow down the nausea that surged up from unbearable disgust.

Luciella’s soft br*asts were grabbed and squeezed roughly as if they were toys. The man’s low, vulgar laughter settled in her ears.

‘……Disgusting.’

Luciella couldn’t bear it and squeezed her eyes shut. Even though nothing would change by doing so, this was the only resistance she could manage right now.

“Wow, is it because they’re a princess’s br*asts? They’re not that big, but they seem to feel better to touch than other women’s?”

Her plump br*asts were ravaged carelessly. Just when the man was about to reach inside Luciella’s clothes without stopping—

“That’s enough, isn’t it? If we want to get even one more penny, it’s better if she’s touched by men’s hands as little as possible.”

“Right, it’ll be troublesome if the client changes their mind after we mess with her unnecessarily.”

“Tsk, it’s not like I was going to f*ck her p*ssy, but they’re being so sensitive.”

The man who had been stopped clicked his tongue regretfully and withdrew his hands. However, he didn’t stop his harassment.

The man made a hole with his thumb and index finger right in front of Luciella’s face, then pretended to insert another finger into it.

There was no need to ask what intention lay behind such an act.

Luciella’s brow furrowed sharply at the vulgar gesture.

“Consider yourself lucky. If you weren’t a princess, you would have already taken each of these bastards’ c*cks once and been sold to some cheap brothel with your loose hole.”

The man showed a truly regretful expression and giggled lewdly. Even faced with this string of insulting words, Luciella couldn’t even respond. She just silently hung her head toward the floor.

Thick rope bound Luciella’s body over her tattered dress. Soon she was thrown onto the carriage floor like a piece of luggage.

Luciella, sprawled on the hard floor, lowered her eyelids as if completely resigned.

Should she be happy about this situation, or should she be sad?

Whatever the case, one thing was certain—Luciella should be grateful for the fact that she was alive and breathing.

* * *

All misfortune began with her father’s death.

Luciella’s father, Rublo, who had been praised as a wise king, unfortunately couldn’t avoid the sudden death that came to him and had to leave this world without even sharing a proper final farewell.

With his sudden death, the vacant throne naturally went to Luciella’s older brother, Rudvil.

Rudvil, who had spent his youth in debauchery, trusting only his father whom he thought was still in good health, had to ascend the throne overnight without proper preparation.

This was nothing short of a disaster for everyone—for Luciella, for the people, and perhaps for Rudvil as well.

Rudvil had no interest in state affairs whatsoever. His only interest was women.

Every other day, he summoned countless courtesans and noble ladies to the palace. Not only that, but whenever he traveled to distant provinces, he would scatter his seed among women from all corners of the land.

Diplomacy, economy, the people’s lives—everything was heading toward ruin, yet Rudvil paid no attention to such matters.

“I really don’t understand…… why potato prices have risen so much.”

“Oh, is it just potatoes that have gone up? Carrots, onions—everything’s gone up. We haven’t even seen meat in ages.”

Famine increased exponentially throughout the kingdom, and people began to starve, so public order also deteriorated rapidly.

“Brother, starving people are overflowing throughout the kingdom. The rains haven’t come, so all the crops have failed. We cannot just sit and watch this……”

“Tsk, how rude. Luciella, what do you plan to do if you can’t just sit and watch?”

“Br-Brother. What I mean is……”

“Don’t think of interfering beyond your station. All you need to do as a woman is marry into a suitable family for the kingdom’s sake.”

When she couldn’t bear to watch and tried to step forward to somehow fix things, Rudvil would act sensitive. He thought Luciella was trying to steal his power.

“Even though I exist openly, Luciella, you grow more greedy and climb higher each day.”

“Brother! How can this look like my greed to you?”

“I must find a marriage arrangement for the Princess soon. Since you’ll be married before long, it would be good to start organizing the Princess’s palace as well.”

Even at Luciella’s outcry, Rudvil didn’t even pretend to listen to her words.

“Right, since you’re now no different from an outsider, you should move your residence to the separate palace.”

“Brother!”

“Luciella, don’t feel too hurt. No matter what, I have no intention of giving my sister an unsuitable match. Hahaha!”

Due to Rudvil’s interference, Luciella eventually became confined to the separate palace, and her fate was to be driven from the palace once a marriage arrangement was found.

While spending her days like the dead, waiting only for a marriage arrangement, an incident occurred.

“Advance to the royal palace!”

“Advance! Advance!”

The loud voices of countless people could be heard beyond the high palace walls. It was essentially the desperate struggle of cornered rats, like screams.

Even the knight order guarding the royal palace had completely turned their backs.

In a situation where the country had deteriorated this much, it would be stranger if a rebellion didn’t occur.

‘It’s finally happened……’

Amid the pouring jeers, Luciella didn’t run away. She just sat like a criminal in the expected situation, waiting for her turn.

The people’s rebellion succeeded with pathetic speed.

Rudvil, born into royalty, believed that everything he enjoyed would be maintained forever without any particular effort. Therefore, he never even thought he would be led to the guillotine by the people.

The screams turned into cheers.

Luciella could instinctively realize it—her brother had been captured.

Now it was her turn next. For the sake of the next king, the bloodline of the Bert royal family had to be cut off here.

Having given up everything, Luciella sat quietly in her bedroom, kneeling as she waited for the revolutionaries who would come bursting in.

“Found her!”

However, it wasn’t them who burst into Luciella’s separate palace.

“It’s the Princess! The Princess is here!”

The ones who appeared beyond the suddenly opened door were strangely different from what one would expect of rebel forces. Even Luciella, who had been resigned, could tell that something was wrong.

“I heard she was pretty…… but she’s much better than the portrait, isn’t she?”

“Haha, see? Wasn’t it good that we came as I said.”

“I was worried it might be false information, but this is more than enough to fetch a good price.”

Luciella’s expression stiffened at the men’s conversation.

Their speech, accent, appearance—they definitely weren’t people of the Bert Kingdom.

‘This pronunciation is…… they’re imperial citizens.’

They seemed to be a group of Empire mercenaries who had infiltrated the palace during the kingdom’s chaos.

Luciella, who belatedly grasped the situation, tried to escape, but it was impossible.

“Haha, why don’t you just get caught obediently?”

It only became a source of mockery.

“Right, stay still like that.”

Her body was tightly bound with thick rope, and Luciella thought:

Should she consider it fortunate that she avoided execution?

Whatever the case, it was a desperate situation for her.

Thus, Luciella was instantly captured by strangers.

* * *

The carriage carrying Luciella ran without rest.

She was rolling helplessly on the carriage floor, tightly bound. This made her feel nauseous. Acid rose in her mouth as if she might vomit at any moment. However, since she hadn’t eaten anything, there was nothing to throw up.

Whether this should be considered fortunate in misfortune.

“Ugh……”

From the carriage running without rest along mountain paths, Luciella’s entire body ached as if she had been beaten.

Every time she gasped for breath, the dust scattered on the carriage floor rushed deep into her lungs.

“Cough, cough……”

Her appearance was a mess.

Her hair, which had shone and sparkled like the moon in the night sky, had become a dusty mess, and her pale skin was also covered with dark smudges. The dress made of fine fabric had become rags and could no longer be called a dress.

It was a ridiculous sight for a princess.

Suddenly, looking at her ruined dress hem, Luciella smiled bitterly.

‘Right, such things aren’t what’s important to me now……’

She didn’t know where she was heading or what fate awaited her.

She only vaguely expected that she would be dragged to the Empire and sold at an illegal auction house.

Luciella knew all too well that compared to what would happen to her in the future, merely rolling around on the carriage floor was nothing.

She might painfully long for this moment of rolling on the carriage floor.

* * *

The carriage that had been running without rest suddenly stopped. Then the door opened wide.

“Hey, get out!”

A rough voice was directed at Luciella, who couldn’t move at all because her body was tightly bound with rope. The man roughly grabbed her ankle and pulled.

Unlike inside the dark carriage, outside was flooded with bright sunlight. Luciella squinted and blinked to adjust to the suddenly brightened view.

“I brought the Princess as promised!”

Promise……?

Her puzzlement at the man’s shout was brief.

“Haha, how is she? Much better than what we saw in the portrait, isn’t she?”

“Certainly so.”

“Fifty million gold. No more, no less—hand her over for exactly fifty million gold.”

“Well, the promise was definitely thirty million gold.”