AFYD 05

 Chapter 05

A sky incomparably clear and blue.

Ines rested her hands on the windowsill and took in the scenery of the crisp spring day. It wasn’t that she was simply lost in appreciation, nor was she reluctant to leave.

On this day in the past, the day Ines left the imperial palace and set out for the north, had been overcast from dawn as if rain might pour down at any moment. She vividly remembered a raindrop falling on her cheek just as the travel gate was activated.

But now, far from rain, there wasn’t a single cloud to be found.

‘……Does the weather change too?’

Could the unbelievable power of regression have affected the weather as well? If that were the case, she hoped the days ahead would be as clear as that sky—just as clear as that.

Then came a neat knock.

“Come in.”

“Princess. I’m told everything is ready.”

The maid who stepped one foot inside announced it was time to leave.

“……I see.”

Ines answered briefly and slowly turned her body.

Barring any unusual events, this palace would burn down in about two years. Because that was what happened in the past. But it was fine even if it didn’t burn. As long as Ines remembered the future, things would not flow the same as before.

After taking one last look around the room, Ines left the palace.

In front of the princess’s palace, a splendid carriage engraved with the imperial family’s emblem was prepared. As she approached it, a knight who bowed his head with impeccable courtesy extended his hand.

“Please mount, Princess.”

For the past ten days, Ines had received the most extravagant treatment. All the servants of the princess’s palace had been replaced, and she had been given rare jewels and beautiful dresses.

The foolish Ines of her past life had taken delight in that. But now it was merely laughable. Because now she knew that at the end of all this, her loved ones and her own death were prepared.

“We will depart.”

Soon the carriage began to roll.

* * *

There were a total of three travel gates in the capital.

One was located in the center of the capital and could be used by anyone who paid the fee, another was situated on the outskirts of the capital for military use. The last one was near the north gate of the imperial palace. A travel gate that existed solely for the imperial family.

“Oh, Ines. You’ve come.”

The Emperor greeted Ines as she descended from the carriage.

It was unusual for the Emperor to wait for anyone. So in her past life, Ines had been deeply moved by such a trivial wait. Without knowing that all of it was merely the cornerstone for using her.

Ines skillfully swallowed the surging hatred and fashioned the face of an obedient daughter delighted by her father’s rare affection.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Father. I didn’t know you would come out for me…….”

“Not at all. Late, what do you mean late.”

The Emperor laughed heartily like a generous man.

“Now then, you have a long journey ahead—is there anywhere you’re unwell?”

“……Thanks to your care, everything is well, Father.”

“Haha. So you can say such things too, Ines.”

Throughout the entire climb up the stairs on the Emperor’s escort, Ines perfectly acted out the image he desired—an obedient, foolish daughter who was easy to use.

It wasn’t difficult at all. Because that was exactly what she had been like in her past life.

Fortunately, by the time they entered the chamber, all preparations for activating the travel gate were complete.

As the Emperor and Ines drew near the platform inscribed with the magic circle, a knight with navy blue hair clad in armor stepped forward.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes. Are all preparations complete?”

“Yes. As soon as the Princess boards the carriage, it can be activated.”

Having finished explaining to the Emperor, he turned and bowed his head to Ines.

Ines knew who he was.

This hastily prepared journey north had mobilized many people—the imperial army in charge of escort, maids to attend her, a high-ranking priest to officiate the wedding and his acolytes.

And that knight was the vice-commander of the Second Knight Order of the Imperial Army and the one in overall command of the northern escort.

“Randol, see the Princess safely escorted. If anything should happen, I will hold you responsible.”

“I, Randol Acov, receive the Emperor’s command.”

When the Emperor spoke sternly, Randol bent one knee and then rose again.

As he stepped back, the Emperor turned his gaze to Ines.

“Now that the time to send you off has come, I feel reluctant. It would have been nice to hold the wedding here.”

“……I feel reluctant too.”

“Do write often. No matter how far apart we are, you are my daughter, Ines.”

The Emperor wore a genuinely reluctant face as he stroked Ines’s cheek. Her fingertips twitched for an instant at that repulsive, disgusting touch, but fortunately her expression remained intact.

“I will keep it in mind, Father.”

‘Every time I recall how I rejoiced helplessly at those words in my past life, I want to kill myself.’

Having carefully concealed her raging inner thoughts, Ines offered a slight smile with stiffened lips and boarded the carriage.

The carriage door closed, and Ines quietly exhaled at the commotion coming from outside.

The news that the imperial family and Rupert—who had been subtly at odds for several generations—would be joined through marriage stirred up the world.

The imperial palace was no exception. Rather, the news that Ines, who had been openly called by the derogatory term “half-princess,” would become the Grand Duchess of Rupert caused more of an uproar inside than outside.

In truth, public opinion was more favorable toward Rupert than the imperial family.

The atrocities the imperial family had committed against Rupert—including the past seizure of the monopoly on horse spirit stones—were only one of many reasons, and the largest part was due to the duties Rupert willingly bore.

Unlike the indolent imperial family, Rupert had settled in the vast north and protected the continent from the Kendall Mountains, so it was only natural in a sense.

‘……I wish public opinion had remained firm.’

But in her past life, starting from the two’s marriage, public opinion gradually reversed. It was all the Emperor’s machination.

He returned to Rupert the rights that had originally been Rupert’s and cunningly appealed to the damage the empire would suffer as a result, and the wave suppression he schemed to fail was blamed as Rupert’s error.

The Emperor’s scheme succeeded.

As such attempts continued several times, people gradually got swept up. From some point on, people began to vomit all their resentment over their hardened lives toward Rupert.

The prices that rose along with the tax rates the imperial family raised after losing the northern resources—their money source—the casualties that occurred in the process of suppressing the waves that arose in the west, and even the responsibility for accidents caused by illegally circulated magic guns—all were blamed on Rupert.

It was all the power of the press wielded by the Emperor and the noble houses that joined him.

‘He laid the cornerstone with public opinion.’

When the public sentiment, made turbulent by continuous incitement, reached its peak, the Emperor defined Rupert as a traitor using an indictment written in Ines’s name as justification.

People who, just five years prior, had regarded Rupert as the guardian of the empire, turned their eyes and vomited coarse words at the word “treason.”

Afterward, a massive army rose, and astronomical funds were mobilized. Not for the subjugation of the Kendall Mountains, nor for continental unification—but simply to erase Rupert from the world.

Ines remembered Rupert Castle where crimson flames surged. The screams that filled her ears, the gradually dwindling number of knights, those who fell before her eyes. Ines remembered everything.

‘……This time, I will never let it be that way.’

Ines captured the Emperor’s face within her vision as it gradually blurred with the activation of the magic circle. Even in the blur, the satisfied upturned corners of his mouth were seared into her mind.

Ines gripped the hem of her dress as she stared at him beyond the carriage window.

‘I will never lose to you.’

Bones protruded over the back of her dry hand. Soon, everything before her eyes flashed.

* * *

To go from the capital to the Grand Duchy of Rupert, one had to pass through a total of seven travel gates.

Having rested a day each time she passed through a gate, Ines laid eyes on Rupert Grand Castle fifteen days after leaving the imperial palace.

And at the end of her gaze, one person caught her eye.

“……Killian.”

A man with black hair, standing tall before the castle gate she had passed through—so dearly missed.