Chapter 2 – The Princess’s Bridal Journey
“Everyone, thank you for everything up until now.”
On the day of my departure, I smiled as I bid farewell to everyone in the Sapphraine Holy Kingdom.
This was happening only one week after I had been informed of the marriage to the emperor back in that conference room.
The Emperor of the Zaldein Empire, who had instantly agreed to the marriage, seemed to be the type who hated wasting time on anything; he had given us only one week for the wedding preparations.
My older brother, the Crown Prince, was also among the crowd seeing me off, and I struggled to suppress my anger. But he, oblivious to my feelings, scanned the gathered people and proudly raised his voice.
“Katia! It’s thanks to me that you get to be the wife of the Zaldein Emperor! Don’t you ever forget that! You’d better be grateful!”
I somehow managed to keep a smile on my face, but I couldn’t control the violent rage storming inside my chest.
My brother was the entire reason we were in this touch-and-go situation with the Zaldein Empire in the first place. And yet, he wasn’t the least bit remorseful. To tell me I should be grateful to him for this marriage… his inability to read the room was staggering. Did he really think I wanted to be married off to the empire?
As simmering anger bubbled up inside me, I glanced at him. But he was still smirking, completely clueless, so I just grit my teeth and swallowed the complaints I wanted to scream.
Trying to change my mood, I looked around at the crowd and noticed Hubert standing among those who had come to see me off. Seeing my former fiancé’s composed expression, even at this final moment, brought a sarcastic smile to my lips.
—Hubert was always so calm.
I remembered his perfectly placid expression in the conference room when he was told about my engagement to the emperor.
When he erased all emotion from his face, it meant he had made a decision that left no room for sentiment. And once he made that face, Hubert would never, ever go back on his decision.
The choice was between sacrificing countless knights who would be sent to war… or sacrificing just me. Besides, it wasn’t as if I were going to die. I was just getting married to the emperor. It was a simple choice, one even a child could make. That’s why Hubert had, without hesitation, chosen the logical answer and demanded that I choose it as well. And since I had agreed to that choice, I had to be the one to come to terms with my own feelings of love and start walking down this new path.
I had been in love with Hubert for ten years, ever since I was six. It wasn’t easy, but I had to give him up. My lady-in-waiting, Sierra, knew how I felt. The day after my heart was broken, she’d kindly let me sleep as long as I wanted. Then, as she combed my hair, she had spoken to me with gentle words.
“Lady Katia, you are more beautiful than anyone. On top of that, you are a mage so powerful they call you the ‘Witch of Ruin.’ Your value is immeasurable. Duke Neuendorff is a wonderful man, it’s true, but I have always felt that you were far too good for him.”
“My, Sierra, that’s a bold thing to say.”
I’d suppressed the dull ache in my heart and forced myself to reply in a light tone. In response, Sierra had continued with words meant to give me hope for the future.
“Lady Katia, ever since you were little, you’ve always had those strange dreams, haven’t you? You’d dream again and again of someplace else, somewhere you’d never been. Perhaps your destiny doesn’t lie here. Perhaps it’s waiting for you in that other place.”
She’d said this, then smiled brightly, as if to blow away all the gloom.
“Lady Katia, the world is a vast place! You might even find a man far greater than Duke Neuendorff.”
Strangely enough, her words had stayed with me. Maybe that’s why, the next time I saw Hubert, I’d instinctively borrowed them.
I’d run into him in a palace hallway, and he’d had the nerve to thank me for agreeing to marry the emperor. It set me off. Why on earth should I be thanked by my ex-fiancé for marrying another man?
Not only that, but there was a brown-haired woman clinging to his arm with a triumphant look on her face. The sight made me so sick that I couldn’t stop myself from lashing out.
“I don’t see any reason for you to thank me. I’ve had a change of heart, you see. If I married you, I’d just be lowered to a commoner, wouldn’t I? I’ve decided it’s a much better deal to marry the emperor and enjoy the glory of being an empress.”
The person who responded wasn’t Hubert, but the woman clinging to his arm: Lady Cathy Starkey, a viscount’s daughter. She was a distant relative of his who had been chasing him around for ages.
“My, my! Just as expected of the famously ‘capable’ Princess Katia! The moment an emperor appears, you’re willing to toss aside even Duke Neuendorff, the greatest man in the kingdom! How calculating and ambitious of you! But you really shouldn’t overdo it. I hear you’re always trying to stand out in the Knight Order, much to the Crown Prince’s annoyance. Assertive women are so disliked, you know.”
…To think a mere viscount’s daughter would act so high and mighty just because she was with Hubert.
She’d been chasing him forever without him paying her any mind, so she was probably just giddy to finally be standing by his side. Not that I had any obligation to humor her. I completely ignored her and fixed my gaze on Hubert.
Hubert had never let any woman other than me get close to him, so he was probably only with Cathy out of concern for public opinion. He was trying to show the people that he, too, had a new romance, all to prevent me from being seen as the sole villain for ending our long engagement and rushing off to the empire. But I’d rather be bad-mouthed by everyone a hundred times over than have to see Hubert acting friendly with another woman.
And while he probably just picked the most convenient woman available, it was incredibly thoughtless of him to keep someone so openly besotted with him by his side, right in front of me.
Just looking at him still made my heart ache, but all he was thinking about was how to make things go smoothly.
Furious at his actions, I glared at him.
By thanking me for marrying the emperor, Hubert had shown that he’d already discarded his role as my fiancé and was thinking purely as a vassal of the state, doing what was best for the country. I was so angry at how quickly he’d moved on that I’d used Sierra’s words to throw the most stinging insult I could… and Hubert had just nodded, his expression unchanging.
“That is an admirable spirit, Your Highness. I am certain you will become the noblest woman on this continent.”
And then, he had caressed Cathy’s arm, which was still linked with his. Seeing that, I finally understood. To Hubert, I was already a closed case. So, I gave up…
I pulled myself back from the memory and tore my gaze away from Hubert. He really was calm and capable. In just one week, he had managed to dissolve our engagement and finalize my new one to the Emperor of Zaldein. And on top of that, despite being ridiculously busy, he had paraded Cathy around to all sorts of public places, spreading rumors of his ‘new romance.’
I put on a smile and spoke with the many people who had gathered to see me off. Attendants, court ladies, cooks… seeing so many familiar faces saying goodbye made my heart swell.
Just as I was about to step into the carriage, I realized Hubert was standing right in front of me. He was probably here to perform his final duty as the kingdom’s Prime Minister. Up close, I saw that his complexion was awful. He had spent the entire last week running himself ragged to arrange my bridal journey. He must have been exhausted.
How grateful I should be, I thought sarcastically, that he would work so hard to arrange a new marriage for his ex-fiancée. Just then, he held out a single flower he had pulled from his breast pocket.
I stared at it. It was the national flower of the Sapphraine Holy Kingdom. Not the special rose he’d given me when he proposed, nor the flowers we’d picked together as children, but the flower of the homeland I was about to leave.
Giving the national flower to me as I leave… How very like Hubert. It certainly made it crystal clear that he no longer had any personal feelings for me. A self-deprecating smile touched my lips. As I reached out to take the flower, I grabbed his hand along with it. He looked up, startled. I met his gaze and spoke quietly.
“I will do everything in my power to be accepted in the empire. From the day I arrive, the empire will be my country. I will face it with sincerity and love its people.”
What I’d really wanted to say after that was:
‘So, when I’ve become a great empress, and I can travel freely between our two countries… come and see me. And then, tell me I did a good job.’
I was heading off alone to marry into a nation of beastmen. I felt I needed some kind of support to hold onto. So, I’d wanted a simple reward to aim for. If I tried my best… you, the one I loved most, would praise me.
But I didn’t say it.
It was clear Hubert had no romantic feelings left for me. So, I decided to firmly cast away my own feelings, once and for all. And so—I would go to the empire with nothing. That would be my final scrap of pride.
“Duke Neuendorff, thank you for everything. —Goodbye.”
I smiled brightly, and without a backward glance, I climbed into the carriage. And then, all alone inside, I cried as hard as I possibly could.
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