Chapter 7
As the large crowd continued to gather among the ministers, suddenly a rumbling sound ca from outside the conference room.
“My Prince! No, my Prince!”
The door swung open and a familiar face walked in. It was my younger brother, Jenner, who was only twelve years old.
Diaquit stared at Jenner with a frown.
“What are you doing? This is no place for a boy like you to co in.”
Jenner stared at Diaquit with his red eyes as if he had been crying.
“Is it true that sister is going to marry the First Emperor?”
Diaquit replied stiffly.
“We were discussing it.”
I stood up and approached Jenner.
He was my youngest brother, eight years younger than . After my mother’s death, he was the one person who adored the most.
“Sister! Say sothing!”
Jenner looked like he was about to burst into tears. But before I could soothe him, Diaquit interrupted again.
“It’s a reasonable alliance plan.”
“Reasonable? What’s reasonable? What’s reasonable? Is it reasonable to sell your sister?”
“That madman, who would start a war if he wanted to, but he proposed an alliance to us first. And the terms are unbelievably favorable. It’s a unique opportunity.”
“What chance? Brother!”
Jenner threw away the courtesy in front of the ministers and shouted at Diaquit.
“Jenner, stop it!”
I hugged Jenner and tapped his shoulders lightly.
If I was being sold, I was glad that it was Kwanach who bought .
I looked atJenner, who was drenched with grief, and the news I heard when I was a ghost ca to mind.
[Tell the second battalion. It’s Jenner……!]
Jenner died on the battlefield at the age of 15.
I would never let the future be repeated.
I cald down, looked around at the audience, and spoke.
“The ministers are exaggerating when I, the party, say nothing.”
“Princess!”
“I’m fine. I am old enough to get married anyway. Please accept the agreent, Crown Prince.”
“Sister!”
Jenner suddenly grabbed my wrist. Then, one of the ministers said in a panicked tone instead.
“The princess does not need to be sacrificed in this way, we will try to find another way sohow……”
“What a sacrifice. It’s not a sacrifice. I want to marry him for real.”
Diaquit’s eyebrows arched up.
I laughed quietly. I ant what I said. It was a mont I’d been waiting for.
After more than a decade of waiting for my husband, who was with for only half a day, it was finally ti to et.
* * *
As I ca forward, the Official eting concluded to accept the alliance proposal.
As rumors began to spread throughout the kingdom that I was going to marry, or more accurately, sell to Kwanach, there was outcry everywhere.
There was a flurry of petitions from the peasants, and the captain of the border guards imdiately entered the royal palace in an effort to change my mind.
“Princess, this is outrageous. The princess is going to marry that lowly slave. This is an insult to our kingdom. I will fight. Even if this body is torn to pieces, I will stand up against the Radon Empire.”
“I’m really okay with it.”
I said seriously, but the captain of the guards didn’t seem to approve. It was the first ti I’d ever seen a tall, middle-aged man whimper in front of .
“It would be nice if we could avoid war.”
“But it’s ……!”
“A war with the Empire should never end lightly. It will rain blood. Even if we could gather the allied forces and win, this place will never be normal once the war is over. You know the longitude well. Where the war has passed, there is nothing left but ruins.”
Rationally, I didn’t have any rejection of this marriage alliance.
Others, however, seed to think that I was enduring a noble sacrifice. As the wedding date approached, the kingdom was filled with a somber and lancholy atmosphere, as if it was holding a funeral.
Then one day. Diaquit ca to visit .
“How do you feel about your upcoming marriage?”
Unlike in my previous life, Diaquit did not treat rudely. I wouldn’t have it anyway. Perhaps that’s why when he stood in front of , looked oddly put out and regretful.
“I feel fine. Please have a seat.”
Diaquit sat across from with his legs crossed.
“Hahaha. You’re fine? You’re trying to be strong, aren’t you?”
“I’m serious.”
“You’ll change your mind when you hear my story.”
Diaquit narrowed his eyes and smiled impishly.
“You know that there is a royal library that only the king has access to, don’t you?
“Yes.”
“When father was still in good health, and since I am the regent, I have the right to access those archives.”
What in the world was he trying to say? I put my hands on the hem of my dress and stared straight at the Diaquit.
“There was a secret docunt there for the Awakened of our clan.”
“…….”
“Oh, Goddess Fahar was an.”
Diaquit’s mouth quirked up in amusent.
“She didn’t want the power she had given them to protect the silver forests of this land to leak out.”
“What do you an?”
“The Awakeners cannot have children.”
Diaquit’s words made my head spin for a mont.
“It ans that an awakened person, male or female, can never have heirs. You can’t have children.”
“But in the genealogy…”
“Yes. There were children of awakeners. However, it was fabricated. It was to hide the fact that they were infertile. They let the awakened child among the children of their siblings enter and raise it as if it were their own.”
I clenched my trembling fingers together, trying to maintain my composure.
I understood now why it was a bit of a mystery after listening to Diaquit.
The magic that the forest descended from suddenly awakened around the age of ten. There were no signs of any kind at birth.
It was not inherited through the bloodline, but chosen at random by the forest, one per generation.
If what Diakito said was true, then I would not be able to have children. I was not sad about that fact. I’ve never had the fantasy of starting a family. But I was worried. What would happen if this fact becos known?
‘Will the alliance be broken as it was in my previous life?’
Because what Kwanach wanted was my bloodline.
Kwanach would not forgive , or my kingdom, if he found out that the price of the alliance was a lie from the beginning.
‘Will we end up in war again this ti, just as we are swept away by the current of ti?’
I composed my voice and finally opened my mouth.
“Are you sure?”
“Is there any reason for to lie to you?”
That said, there seed to be no reason for him to tell the truth either.
I stared at Diaquit.
“Why didn’t you tell this information before?”
The fact that I was infertile was a very difficult thing for the alliance to turn over.
It was a different situation than in my previous life. Diaquit’s behavior changed. I had to brace myself.
I cald my erratic heart.
“If this fact cos to light, the alliance will never happen.”
“It will. And those slaves will invade our land.”
“With our current power now….”
“We can’t deal with them. You know that too. That’s why your role is so important.”
Diaquit reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pendant.
“It’s a communication artifact that I acquired with difficulty. Take it.”
I held the artifact in my hand with caution.
“If you go to the Empire, I will be able to contact you imdiately. Don’t worry, unless it’s a wizard, no one will even know it’s an artifact.”
“Where did you get it from?”
“You don’t need to know.”
These days, the lifeblood of magic is dying out on the human continent. Disposable attack artifacts are now approaching the annual salary of a commoner. Moreover, these advanced communication artifacts must be given the value of a fortress.
Our kingdom was built on barren land, and we were not rich. Where did he get the money to secretly buy these artifacts without an official eting?
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Information.”
Diaquit smiled, then continued.
“I think it’s okay not to have children for a year or so. Just fake it. Avoid sleeping with him to the maximum extent possible.”
Diaquit purposely stared up and down .
“You’re the opposite of the Southern image of beauty, so maybe Kwanach won’t visit you.”
“…….”
“Buy yourself so ti and find out so information about the Empire and Kwanach and relay it to . When you leave this place, you will be nothing more than a little girl with not much to offer. Still, you can do this much, can’t you?”
Just as I was about to point out Diaquit’s attitude, a huge jolt of enlightennt hit in the head.
Don’t tell …
“Brother, did you intend to break the alliance from the beginning?”
“So you think I would honestly let that slave do what he wants? I was only going to take what I could get and discard it at the right ti.”
“There will be a war.”
“I’ve already spoken to other kingdoms in the North. We will form a league against the Randon Empire.”
The more I listened to Diaquit’s words, the clearer assumption ca to mind. He was thirsty for power.
“Originally we were going to hit Kwanach straight in the back of the head when they ca to sign the alliance. I think we’ll start the war here, where we have a slight geographical advantage. But while Usphere is playing the spy, there is an opinion that we should prepare a little more thoroughly. Well, because you’re still one head better.”
Suddenly a chill spread through my body. Diaquit had always intended to start a war.
It was strange to see in my previous life that as soon as I died, the Northern League was imdiately ford. It was not easy for so many kingdoms to co together in one place in an instant.
But the whole thing was preditated.
There was a difference that I didn’t know before, but this ti I did.
In Diaquit’s mind, I seed to be a little more useful. I guess that’s why he’s sharing his plans and trying to get into this political arena.
I rember the single arrow that drove to my death and triggered the war.
It was impossible for an ordinary arrow to co through an imperial carriage and pierce my heart. I had only guessed that it must have been an enchanted arrow.
And now, the artifact that Diaquit had given . It’s proof that a wizard who was on the verge of extinction on the human continent was helping him.
The situation ca to light.
In a mont of rage, my mind went cold. I resisted the urge to burst out laughing and stared at Diaquit.
‘It was you, wasn’t it? The one who killed .’
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