Chapter 6.1 – A Tumultuous Entrance Ceremony

Carnier blinked blankly. Her eyes were open, but she couldn’t see anything clearly.  

‘What just happened…?’  

Her mind was foggy, as if it were filled with a dense mist. While she struggled to gather her thoughts, her hearing returned before her vision, and sharp voices pierced through the haze.  

“…Ugh, shut up! Stop whining already! You’re older than me, for goodness’ sake!”  

“B-but, Kati… If we waste too much time here, the pursuers will surely…”  

“I told you it’ll be fine, didn’t I? How many times do I have to say it?”  

Familiar and unfamiliar voices overlapped.  

The woman’s voice, in particular, was so loud and grating that it gave her a headache before she could even fully regain her senses.  

‘What was I doing…? Oh, right. I got into the carriage…’  

The imperial carriage had come to fetch her from the Duke’s estate. Her brother, who was not only a Duke but also the Vice-Commander of the Imperial Knights, was already at the palace waiting for her.  

She had boarded the carriage with excitement, dressed in her wedding gown. She had even seen Aisha, the Duchess, boarding the Duke’s carriage right behind hers. Everything had seemed fine when they departed…  

‘…Yes, that’s right.’  

At some point, she realized it was a trap.  

Through the window, she noticed that the carriage wasn’t taking the usual route to the palace. Immediately after, something was sprayed into the carriage from the coachman’s window, and she lost consciousness.  

It must have been a substance similar to a sleeping agent.  

Carnier waited patiently for her vision to clear and used the voices she heard to piece together her situation.  

“The Imperial Family won’t openly search for her, anyway. A bride disappearing on her wedding day? Nothing could be more humiliating for the Imperial Family. The more discreetly they move, the slower they’ll be to find her…”  

The woman speaking so casually turned to look at Carnier. Her lips, painted a deep red, curved into a long smile.  

“By the time they find you, it’ll all be over. Won’t it?”  

“…”  

Carnier lowered her gaze, glancing at the confident Katrina Eseth and the man standing next to her. She was bound to an old, creaking chair, her upper body tied with rope.  

The delicate pearl embellishments of her wedding dress, which she had carefully prepared and cherished, were scattered and missing in places. Dust and stains marred the white skirt, and though she couldn’t see it, she was certain her intricately styled hair was now a mess.  

Seeing Carnier examine her own disheveled appearance, Katrina’s smile deepened. Clicking her heels, she approached Carnier.  

“How does it feel to have your dream wedding ruined?”  

“…Where am I?”  

“Who knows? But it’s definitely not where you were supposed to be today.”  

Katrina laughed loudly.  

“Did you think you were the only one allowed to ride in an imperial carriage? You didn’t even bother to check properly before hopping in. How does it feel to be the fool when you always looked down on others?”  

Ah, so that’s how it happened.

Carnier bit the inside of her lip.  

The imperial crest was like a master key that could open any locked door. Neither the Duke’s people nor Carnier herself had doubted the imperial carriage that had entered the Duke’s estate.  

Looking back, the faces of the knights escorting her had seemed unfamiliar. But since they were all dressed in the uniforms of the Imperial Knights, she hadn’t paid it much mind. She had assumed they were aides and knights assigned to the Crown Prince.  

‘In hindsight, His Highness wouldn’t have sent only unfamiliar faces to me.’  

Surely, he would have included at least one trusted subordinate.  

But in her excitement and nervousness about the wedding, she had overlooked everything.  

‘I let my guard down.’  

Carnier admitted her mistake. She had been too carefree, her mind too preoccupied with joy.  

“A Grand Duchess doesn’t have immunity to use imperial carriages as she pleases. How do you plan to deal with the consequences of this reckless act?”  

“Oh my, listen to her. Do you even realize your situation right now?”  

Katrina suddenly grabbed a handful of Carnier’s hair.  

“Ugh…!”  

“Instead of worrying about me, you should be worrying about your own future. Do you understand? Your life ends today. I’ll make sure of it…!”  

Carnier’s head was yanked back and forth as Katrina vented her anger. Her scalp stung from the rough pulling and the sharp scratches of Katrina’s nails.  

Watching Carnier grimace and groan, Katrina smirked in satisfaction.  

Behind her, Bartolio, who had been pacing nervously, spoke up.  

“Kati—uh, Lady Katrina. She’s Duke Raymore’s sister. If you’re too rough with her…”  

“Ha! Don’t make me laugh. A woman who ruined a royal marriage and broke off her engagement to the Imperial Family won’t be able to hold her head high anymore. She’ll become the disgrace of her family. I know because I’ve been there.”  

Katrina threw Carnier’s head aside with force. The chair wobbled precariously before steadying itself. Katrina brushed a few strands of Carnier’s hair off her fingers and sneered.  

“She knows it too. She’s the one who looked down on me the most, after all.”  

“I never looked down on you.”  

“Ha! Now you’re making excuses because you’re desperate…”  

But Katrina faltered. Carnier, despite her disheveled appearance, wasn’t showing any fear. Her hair was a mess, but her deep blue eyes were calm.  

They looked exactly as they had when she had glanced at Katrina during a tea party at the Marquis’s household, seated at the far end of the table.  

“I never had enough interest in you to look down on you.”  

“Wh-what…”  

“Surely, you know what it’s like to have once lived a life of luxury, don’t you?”  

Carnier’s eyes curved softly as she smiled.  

“Did you ever notice the ants crawling on the ground?”  

Smack!  

The sharp sound echoed as Carnier’s head snapped to the side. “Kati!” Bartolio exclaimed, trying to stop her, but Katrina shook off his hand.  

“Who are you calling an ant, you miserable wench?!”  

Barbaric.  

Carnier straightened her head and naturally began surveying her surroundings.  

The dusty room had only one entrance. Judging by the clear sky visible through the closed window, they seemed to be in a fairly high place.  

No matter how foolish Katrina was, she wouldn’t have dared to pull such a stunt in the Grand Duke’s estate or her own family’s mansion, the Eseth estate. This must be some abandoned house.  

‘If Aisha had seen my carriage veer off course, she would’ve ordered a pursuit immediately. She would have sent word to my brother as well.’  

Carnier didn’t doubt that her brother, the Duke of Raymore, and Servante would find her. But annoyingly, Katrina had been right about one thing.  

‘The Imperial Family would never let this kind of scandal happen in front of foreign envoys. They’ll avoid drawing attention and discreetly deploy knights, which will take time.’  

Servante might act differently, but the Emperor would undoubtedly give such orders.  

Although her fiancé had been entrusted with most of the authority, he wasn’t the Emperor yet. The most critical military powers still rested in the Emperor’s hands, and the Imperial Knights prioritized the Emperor’s commands above all else.  

Carnier licked her dry lips and smiled serenely at the furious Katrina.  

‘I need to buy time.’  

It was possible to recover from having one’s hair pulled or being slapped across the face. Those injuries could be hidden or dealt with later. However, permanent scars or disfigurement would be a different story. The conservative and traditional Asherit Imperial Family would never accept a woman with blemishes on her body.  

Thus, even if she were rescued, if she were gravely injured, the engagement would automatically be annulled.  

‘That can’t happen!’  

She had long waited for this marriage. Carnier suppressed her growing anxiety and spoke calmly.  

“So, you’re doing all of this just to ruin my life? My life might end with this, but yours won’t, will it? Aren’t you worried about your family?”  

“What, family? Those people who treat their only daughter and sister like pawns in their money games?”  

Katrina shook off Bartolio’s hand and approached Carnier again, growling fiercely.  

“They took the compensation money from my broken engagement and immediately gambled it away or used it for their business ventures. Why should I care about people like that?”  

“What? Kati? You said this wouldn’t harm the family…”  

“Oh, shut up! When did I ever say it wouldn’t harm them?”  

Katrina sneered at her brother, whose voice was loud but whose actions were far from bold.  

“Sure, they’re still family, even if they’re like that. But you don’t need to worry about them. This time, they’ll just settle for another hefty compensation payout.”  

“…Compensation?”  

“Yes, compensation.”  

As if she had been waiting for this moment, Katrina’s eyes gleamed.  

“You know, for all your pretense of being noble, you’re really no different from me, are you?”  

“…?”  

“I saw it. The Crown Prince’s mistress.”  

Katrina looked at Carnier with a face full of anticipation.  

“That’s the real reason your wedding was delayed, isn’t it?”  

“…What?”  

“Oh my, don’t tell me you didn’t know? How pitiful. And to think you’re the esteemed Young Lady of a Duke’s household. How tragic. Bartolio, tell her.”  

Laughing as though it were all a big joke, Katrina nudged Bartolio in the side.  

“Tell her about the woman you saw meeting the Crown Prince in secret at the theater last time. Describe her. Surely the poor fiancée is curious.”  

“Well, um…”  

“Didn’t you say she was a stunning beauty with luxurious blonde hair and a voluptuous figure?”  

Even though she had asked him to speak, Katrina ended up blurting it out herself. Bartolio looked at her with disbelief, but Katrina was too focused on Carnier’s reaction to notice.  

“Did you hear that? The Crown Prince you’ve admired for so long already has another woman. That’s the real reason for the delay in your marriage!”  

“…?”  

“Pfft, look at that stupid expression! Are you so shocked you can’t even speak?”  

“…?”  

She was shocked, but not for the reason Katrina thought.  

Carnier slowly turned her head to look at Bartolio. He coughed awkwardly and avoided her gaze. But as she studied his foolish face more closely, she realized it looked familiar.  

‘He’s the man who threw a check at me back then.’  

This was the same man who had mistaken her for a courtesan and tried to drag her away. He had been scared off when Servante appeared and had quickly backed down.  

She had momentarily forgotten about him due to everything else that had happened afterward. Back then, Servante had called him something like… oh yes, Eseth.

‘So Eseth was a person? And that woman’s brother, no less?’

That meant he was a direct heir of the Eseth family. And what did that imply?

‘The Earl of Eseth… I heard he’s a brilliant businessman, but it seems he completely failed at raising his children.’