CH 142

“This winter is exceptionally long.”

I sat by the window and wiped the cloudy glass with my palm.

A handful of snow was piled up in a pot hung outside the window.

The flower stalk trembled, perhaps because the weight of the pile of snow was too heavy.

Yulia opened the window slightly and thereafter wiped her eyes, made a fuss.

“I mean! I’ve never seen such a scene before, snow falling even though the sun is up.”

What Yulia said was not an exaggeration.

I closed the window tightly and looked down at the backyard of spring flowers.

Snow fell from the clear sky without a single cloud and piled up on colorful spring flowers.

The slowly splattering snowflakes looked closer to thousands of petals than cold pieces of ice.

‘Is it because the weather is very weird these days? I’m not surprised…’

Over the past four years, the barriers of the World Tree had become shockingly unstable.

On the Eastern Coast, which was famous for its tranquility, a tsunami occurred like a thief, and on the Western Continent, which was in the midst of reconstruction, oil-mixed black rain fell.

Some even joked that the subjugated evil spirits were shedding tears.

Therefore, it was not truly strange to see a lot of snow in spring when the whole empire was in chaos.

“I hope it won’t pile up to the waist again… will it?”

Yulia stomped around anxiously as she glanced out of the cloudy window.

“I don’t even know how many times there’s been heavy snow these few days. Not as much as today…”

“If it piles up a lot, I’ll ask the Crown Prince to melt it again, because he can suck all the snow here like sand…”

When I spoke lightly, Yulia suddenly lowered her voice.

“Umm… Will we not see you again this year? No matter how much the Crown Prince likes the Princess, as far as I know, the relationship with the imperial family since last year…”

“Last year, Benny and I had a reception, and our relationship with the imperial family became war-like. Are you still going to say that?”

Even though I spoke lightly, Yulia was shocked and looked around.

Indeed, even if the disharmony between the imperial family and the duchy was an open secret, they did not officially break the alliance, so she could have been blamed for insulting the duchy if other people heard it.

Fortunately for her, the doors of the bedroom were all tightly closed.

The larks’ cheerful song was heard from the door of the dressing room, but they would not have overheard the conversation between the two of us because they were not spirits with bright ears.

“I didn’t know Her Majesty would be this angry.”

Yulia lowered her head deeply. It seemed to be a shock to her that the alliance between the imperial family and the duchy was broken.

“The alliance hasn’t been broken yet, has it?”

Although all exchanges with the South Continent were cut off due to trade retaliation.

“But still… I actually thought Her Majesty would bless you. It’s not something that can hurt her pride, right? The person you chose instead of the Crown Prince is the war hero…”

‘She’s not angry even though he’s a war hero, it’s because he’s a hero.’

I swallowed the words back and shrugged my shoulders.

Contrary to Yulia’s speculation, this was a political issue, not pride.

If I married a horseman on the street, my relationship with the imperial family would not have been this unstable.

The emperor’s life was long, and there was also an option to marry my child to the imperial family instead of me.

But my partner was Benny. So it was a problem.

Benimus, a war hero who recaptured the Western Continent, has been supported so much that he could build his own small city four years ago.

And as an orphan, he had no family to honor.

In other words, whoever marries his daughter Benny could fully grasp his power.

‘As soon as there was a rumor that he was getting engaged, the imperial family opposed it a lot.’

The imperial family all opposed the union of Benny and I, including the majority who did not know that the emperor was using evil spirits.

This was because if he and I marry, Alan’s power would grow to the point of threatening the throne.

The imperial family’s tricks to separate lovers were all organized on my 17th birthday.

At this time of last year, when it was unusually warm, Alan held a reception and cemented the engagement between Benny and I.

Then, Benny and I vowed to love in front of the name of the God of Human.

The Human God is the God who protects marriage and family.

The engagement under his name was tantamount to promising all the priests of Great Temple, a neutral region.

In other words, our marriage had become an irreversible well-known fact.

The imperial family went on a rampage. The emperor, who let two useful demons slip away right in front of her, cut off all exchanges with the duchy.

As the relationship between the two largest families in the empire deteriorated, there was a tight tension as if walking on thin ice throughout the empire over the past year.

‘It’s good that they’re not paying attention to the Crown Prince’s power because of the relationship with our family… That mean bastard.’

Although the alliance was not broken, relations with the imperial family were beyond repair and the duchy joined the rebellion. In the end, Garou’s plan went as he desired.

I sighed deeply.

“He opened the reception too early. I didn’t want to do that.”

Yuria, reflected in the glass window, opened her eyes wide.

“You only held a reception three years after you got engaged… You didn’t have enough time to date?”

“Yes.”

“You’re passionate.”

“It’s not like that, something happened.”

“Princess, do you want me to comb your hair?”

As the story was about to get serious, Yulia changed her words.

She refused to know too much from the time the empire was in a shaky state.

‘Is she smart or clever?’

I nodded and looked out the window.

Yuria took rose water and a brush from the dressing table and carefully brushed my hair that grew to my waist.

“But I really liked the reception. A lot of members of the imperial family came too. Everyone was so kind to me…”

All the people who were invited at that time were rebels who decided to join Alan.

“It would be great if we could meet again.”

“You’re sad that things turned out like this before you managed to catch a man of the imperial family right?”

Yuria rolled her eyes as if she could not deny it.

At that time, the door to the dressing room suddenly opened.

“Princess, we’re ready for your wedding dress!”

The larks came together and shouted out loud.

Peering over their shoulders, I could see the wedding dresses that had been prepared all year round.

After more than two hours of decoration, I looked at myself in a full-body mirror.

Without realizing it, my eyes widened. The appearance of the princess, who turned 18-years-old this year, was surprisingly beautiful.

The rich and colorful dress consisted of two colors.

The upper half was clear white, turning red as it went down to the skirt, and delicate platinum threads were woven in each part of the color change, making it look like a rose sprinkled with glitter powder.

The larks dressed me in that dress and arranged my red hair in half a bundle like a waterfall.

Thanks to mixing silver thread while braiding the hair near my temple, I even felt the glow on my face.

I was amazed by my appearance, so I turned my body from side to side.

Then, the dress with different lengths on the front and back that were swollen like balloons and fell down.

The same rose pattern as my choker was engraved on the lace at the bottom that was visible whenever I moved.

“Kyaaa!”

“You’re so pretty, Princess!”

The larks jumped around with their hands linked together. Yulia, who was watching, was also excited.

Somehow, my cheeks heated up, probably from shyness.

“It’s a dress I’m going to wear tomorrow anyway, so do we need to bother with it like this…?”

“It’s very important to make sure the decoration is complete before the ceremony.”

Verney suddenly entered the dressing room.

As if she was very satisfied with me, her wrinkled eyes bent gently.

“Let’s change into the evening dress. I will attend to you.”

She came up behind me and loosened the waistband that was tied just minutes ago.

I calmly left myself in the hands of the head maid.

Unlike the people around me who were anticipating the next dress, I wasn’t particularly excited.

Today wasn’t as happy as they thought.

Dding, dding.

The bell of the chapel rang from afar.

It was a bell that announced my wedding.

***

“Congratulations on your marriage!”

“Glory to the princess!”

As soon as I got off the glass carriage, congratulations erupted from all sides.

Applause and cheers continued until I entered the hallway outside the chapel.

As I climbed the three-story building stairs and came out to the central terrace, I could see the whole view of the border village clearly.

The village was as beautiful as a fairy tale.

White snow was piled up on a row of arches and flowers decorated on all sides.

The people gathered in front of the chapel reached out looking up at me while exhaling cold breaths.

I took my hand out of the white ferret fur and waved at them.

As if it was a tremendous honor, the villagers were beaming with glee.

It was amazing. When I was an ant cave beggar, they never smiled.

“People might think we’re having a ceremony here.”

At that time, Michael came up the stairs, brushing the snowflakes scattered on his platinum blond hair.

I looked up at him, who grew up well, and then snapped.

“Straighten your face. Even if you don’t like it, think of it as working.”

“…Those are the guys who tormented you.”

Michael ‘tsk-ed’ at the people with a gruesome look.

It was as he said. This was the upper village of the ant cave where I lived.

Those who used neglect and violence, including the bakery man who hit me with a broom in the past, were now all smiling.

“But there’s no need to hate them, right?”

I spoke lightly and added.

“This village will soon disappear from the map anyway.”

This village was by the borders, and it would be the first place to be devastated in the event of a rebellion.

I wasn’t planning to harass the villagers with resentment from my childhood, but I didn’t intend to evacuate the villagers even knowing there would be danger.

I counted the seconds, and as soon as it was time to leave, I went down the stairs.

“Where’s the next village?”