Through the shaking carriage window, the scenery of the Princess Palace came into view.
Herdin's aide, Lus Penril—or Russ, as he was commonly called—gazed at the Princess Palace with displeasure and began muttering under his breath.
"His Majesty the Emperor is truly shameless. How could he even mention marriage? He was toasting when the del Mark family's fortunes were waning."
Over a dozen years ago.
After losing his parents and then his aunt, the Empress, young Herdin was left alone, and the del Mark Ducal family teetered like a candle in the wind.
But when Herdin achieved brilliant feats in war and was hailed as a hero, Emperor Ivan proposed marriage to his sister.
It was a proposal with the obvious intent to subtly absorb Herdin's rising power.
"Thanks to that, Her Imperial Highness is completely furious. Just sitting there, she's landed the Empire's finest groom as her husband."
Russ had never properly spoken with Blair and thus viewed her unfavorably.
With a mother and brother like hers, who could blame him? She was surely in league with them.
"See, what did I tell you? You should have quickly found a suitable lady and gotten married."
Unlike Russ, who grumbled incessantly, Herdin showed no emotion whatsoever about the situation and remained silent.
This only fueled Russ's frustration further.
"Aren't you angry, Your Excellency?"
"Russ."
Even amid Russ's tirade, Herdin, arms crossed and silent, cut him off simply by calling his name.
His gaze remained fixed outside the window.
At that moment, the carriage carrying the two passed through the main gate of the Princess Palace.
"From here on, it's the Princess Palace."
Though his voice held no emotion, Russ knew the implication and fell silent.
"...My apologies."
Soon, the carriage came to a stop.
The Princess Palace steward, who had been waiting for them, guided them to the reception room.
Herdin left Russ behind and entered alone.
"Her Imperial Highness will arrive shortly."
Once the steward left, Herdin was alone in the empty reception room.
As he lifted the teacup brought by a maid to wet his throat, the sound of a door opening came from behind him. To show respect to the princess, Herdin stood and turned around.
Through the open door entered a pitifully beautiful woman of slender build.
Blair Sonnet von Ardel.
The owner of this Princess Palace and, barring any unforeseen events, the woman he would marry.
The woman before him was as beautiful as if a doll played with by little girls had come to life.
Indeed, worthy of being called a great beauty like her grandmother, the Empress Dowager, but it stirred no emotion in Herdin.
No, rather...
'A horrific face that evokes the past would be a more fitting description.'
Hiding his twisted smile, Herdin kissed the back of Blair's hand.
"Greetings, Your Imperial Highness."
At that moment, Blair's enigmatic violet eyes, meeting his, twisted for an instant.
It seemed fleetingly sorrowful.
But when Herdin raised his head again, the emotion filling her eyes had vanished.
"Thank you for making time despite your busy schedule, Duke del Mark."
Blair naturally took the seat of honor.
Her elegant movements sent her soft platinum hair and the lace of her dress fluttering lightly.
Silence hung between the two facing each other. They merely lifted their teacups to wet their throats, saying nothing.
Usually, in such stiff encounters with near-strangers, the junior would break the ice with small talk about daily life.
But Herdin showed no inclination to do so.
In the end, it was Blair—who had been staring piercingly at his face while fiddling with the rim of her teacup—who spoke first.
"I'll get straight to the point."
Setting down her teacup, Blair continued.
"I have no intention of refusing the marriage my brother proposed."
This much Herdin had expected. Even she couldn't easily defy the Emperor's command.
But what followed was utterly unforeseen.
"One year."
At the abrupt, out-of-place word from Blair's lips, Herdin looked at her with puzzlement in his eyes.
"Maintain the marriage with me for exactly one year."
"...What do you mean?"
"After one year, I'll grant you a divorce for my fault. I won't cling to you if you change your mind, nor will I bother you with talk of love or anything like that."
Herdin's fine brows furrowed.
'A one-year contract marriage—what on earth is she scheming?'
As if reading his mind, Blair made an offer he couldn't refuse.
"The Empress's Palace fire ten years ago."
At the unexpected words from her lips, Herdin's eyes darkened coldly.
"If you accept my proposal, Duke, I'll fully cooperate in uncovering the truth of 'that day.'"
A cold scoff escaped Herdin's lips.
After keeping silent for a full ten years, what nerve did she have to bring it up now?
Herdin still vividly remembered the emotions from ten years ago.
When the Empress was named the culprit in the Empress's Palace incident, Herdin sent letter after letter to Blair, the sole witness, to clear his aunt's name.
But no reply came.
He heard her response only on the day of the trial for the Empress's Palace incident.
Too young to enter the courtroom, Herdin overheard Blair's voice through the slightly ajar door.
'I don't... remember anything.'
A lie.
You don't remember? It's all a lie, isn't it? In the end, you took your mother's side, didn't you?
That day's memory remained with Herdin even now, a searing sense of betrayal and resentment.
'But it's not a bad offer.'
He couldn't refuse the Emperor's command anyway. Or more precisely, he had no intention of doing so.
The Emperor had permitted expanding the ducal family's forces in exchange for him becoming part of the imperial family.
The del Mark forces were currently half what they had been in his father's time.
This was largely due to public opinion that the family posed a risk of rebellion, using Empress Esmeralda's treason as an excuse.
Even so, they possessed immense forces compared to other houses, but it was barely enough to guard the northern borders and subdue magic beasts.
Though Herdin was a great war hero and magic swordsman, he couldn't handle everything alone.
Even knowing it was the Emperor's trap, troop expansion was an offer he absolutely couldn't refuse.
And with it, the chance to uncover the truth of 'that day.'
He didn't know the princess's ulterior motive for proposing a contract marriage, but using her to reveal the truth and then cleanly divorcing would be the best outcome.
After gazing at Blair for a moment, he asked,
"Why would you want such a marriage?"
"Marriage is the only legal way for a princess to leave the Imperial Palace."
"In that case, wouldn't it be better to marry someone who cherishes and loves you, Your Highness?"
No matter her imperial blood, life as a divorcee wouldn't be easy.
There would be plenty who adored and loved her, the Emperor's sister and the Empress Dowager's granddaughter. If none pleased her, she could choose whoever she wanted.
Herdin couldn't understand why, with so many options, she chose him—a foe in hostile relations—with an end already predetermined.
Blair stared fixedly at Herdin without answering readily.
Her luminous violet eyes, capturing his image, blinked slowly, various emotions flickering through them.
Seemingly sad at a glance, resentful toward him for asking such a question.
"I don't believe in that."
"..."
"I prefer relationships that are clear-cut in their beginning and end over ones promising vain eternities. Relationships where you get exactly what you give."
Blair spoke firmly, gazing steadily at the man opposite her.
Once, like many young ladies, she had thrilled at that brilliant man's gaze. She had believed in love and eternity.
But that was now in the past.
"I think you can give me that."
Herdin didn't take his eyes off Blair's face as she said this. Over her pale features overlapped the image of the young Blair from the past.
'When I grow up, I want to leave the palace. I'll leave the Capital and travel the wide world!'
Recalling that face twisted his mood, but Herdin readily replied,
"I accept your proposal."
"Thank you."
"If you have nothing more to say, I'll take my leave."
Checking the clock, Herdin rose immediately upon her permission.
As she watched his back disappear beyond the door, resentment toward him that Blair had hidden surfaced in her eyes.
There was a question she couldn't ask.
A question the current him wouldn't answer.
Herdin.
Did you kill me?
* * *
The wedding preparations proceeded swiftly.
Time flew by, and soon it was the day before the ceremony.
Blair visited the Imperial Palace cemetery.
[Esmeralda del Mark]
The name of the late Empress was inscribed on the tombstone before her.
Her father had stripped her of her empress title and imperial surname, but in mercy, allowed her burial in the palace grounds.
Whether that was true mercy—her honor crushed into the dirt, unable even to return to her homeland—was debatable.
Blair placed a single flower, carefully wrapped from the greenhouse, at the base of the tombstone.
Katrina disapproved of Blair coming here.
From her perspective, visiting the grave of a woman who was her rival and had tried to kill her daughter was intolerable.
But Blair found it hard to believe.
'Blair.'
The warm embrace that had held her, always overlooked for her brother Ivan, couldn't all have been a lie. It would be terrifying if it were.
As a child, she hadn't tried to recover those memories.
She was simply afraid.
No matter which truth it was, she would lose a mother figure.
But on the day years later, at a banquet, she encountered Herdin again.
Blair resolved to confront the truth she had avoided.
She summoned a hypnotist to the Princess Palace and underwent hypnosis, but it only harmed her health with adverse effects.
Then, after marrying Herdin and falling in love with him, she buried those memories again.
Fearful of losing him, whatever the hidden truth.
Yet when she learned that the one she loved had hated her indifference for so long.
When she realized he had feigned love to extract the truth from her.
Even knowing his love was false, Blair wanted to give him everything he desired. To cling to his love that way.
Too late, she tried to reclaim her memories, but what returned was...
'Ha, after pretending not to know for ten years, now you feel guilty?'
'....'
'Don't do anything more. Just stay quiet, as you always have.'
Before his cold gaze, Blair completely crumbled.
If Esmeralda's guilt was false, Herdin would despise her indifference even more; if true, he would never love her.
Thus, Blair let go of all memories of that day. As her beloved husband wished.
That was the memory she had given up reclaiming in her previous life.
'But avoiding it changes nothing. In this life, I'll face the truth and move forward.'
No matter what the buried memory's truth was.
As Blair organized her future plans in her mind, urgent footsteps sounded from behind her.