TSTRP 03

Chapter 3

The reason Mary had been rushing me since morning was because she wanted me to look beautiful at the wedding I had to attend anyway.

If I looked beautiful, Viscount Montrache, who was going to become my husband, might at least make a little more effort with me.

She was simply doing everything she could to make my future married life as peaceful as possible.

But what good is being beautiful?

Unlike Mary seemed to think, Viscount Montrache wasn’t the kind of man who would suddenly treat me kindly just because his new bride was beautiful.

And I absolutely hated this wedding.

When I was pushed outside, I saw the lavishly decorated wedding carriage waiting for me.

The sight made my breath catch.

Should I run away right now?

Perhaps sensing what I was thinking, my uncle grabbed my arm roughly.

I dug the heels of my shoes into the ground and tried to resist, but there was no way I could overcome my uncle’s strength.

I began to be dragged toward the carriage.

“Uncle, this isn’t right.”

“Shut up and get in the carriage, Solana.”

My uncle lowered his voice so Viscount Montrache wouldn’t hear and whispered threateningly.

But I couldn’t take it anymore and shouted.

“Let me go! I’m not getting married!”

“You’re saying this now?! I told you to get in the carriage immediately!”

“Why do I have to go through with this ridiculous marriage?! If you like that old man so much, why don’t you marry your daughter to him?!”

“You little brat! Shut your mouth!”

“I know you’re selling your niece because you’re blinded by money! Everyone here knows it!”

My uncle glared at me viciously and raised his hand.

But the hand that had shot upward suddenly stopped.

Perhaps he couldn’t bring himself to strike a bride on her way to her wedding ceremony.

He let out a deep sigh before turning toward the servants and shouting.

“Grab her and put her in the carriage immediately!”

The servants seized both of my arms.

No matter how much I struggled, there was no way I could fight off the strength of three or four grown people by myself.

My pristine white wedding dress was already torn and covered in mud, while my carefully styled hair had become completely disheveled.

Inside the carriage, Viscount Montrache’s face was twisted into a vicious expression.

He looked furious at the sight of his bride struggling to refuse the marriage.

Everything felt like a rapidly unfolding nightmare.

It was at the very moment I was shoved into the seat beside Viscount Montrache that—

Neighhh!

A horse’s cry rang out in the distance, cutting through the chaos.

Then came a shout.

“A-An imperial carriage!”

The fluttering flag on the approaching carriage immediately caught everyone’s attention.

Clearly engraved upon it was the figure of a dragon.

There was only one place in the empire that was permitted to use the dragon emblem.

The Imperial Palace.

Everyone there exchanged confused glances.

As though sensing that something was about to happen, my uncle was the first to ask anxiously,

“Why is an imperial carriage coming here?”

No one had an answer.

Before long, the imperial carriage came to a stop in front of the Albre residence.

The carved dragons and knights adorning the carriage gleamed brilliantly under the sunlight.

The carriage door opened, and a man dressed like an administrator from the Imperial Palace stepped outside.

He looked at the chaotic scene before him and glanced around in confusion for a moment before taking something out from inside his coat.

“Is Lady Solana Albre here?”

That was my name.

“Pardon? If you mean Solana Albre…”

The administrator followed my uncle’s gaze and looked at me.

“Are you Miss Solana Albre, the one who applied for a position as a secretary?”

“What? Oh, yes. That’s me.”

A few days ago, I had submitted a résumé to the Imperial Palace in a desperate attempt to escape my marriage.

But I had never actually believed it would help.

Why would the Imperial Palace hire someone like me, who had neither qualifications nor experience?

Why is he asking me this?

The tiny flame of hope that had been dying inside me began to flicker back to life.

Could it be…?

I was afraid of getting my hopes up only to be disappointed, so I pressed a hand against my chest.

Even so, I couldn’t take my eyes off the administrator.

After confirming my identity, the administrator unfolded a document and cleared his throat.

Then, in a deep, authoritative voice, he announced,

“Solana Albre is hereby appointed as a secretary of the Imperial Household.”

The entire world seemed to stop.

Everything around me fell silent.

An Imperial… secretary…?

All I could see clearly was the administrator holding the appointment document.

My mind was too dazed to fully comprehend everything he was saying, but his final words remained crystal clear in my ears.

“From this moment onward, Solana Albre shall possess all the authority granted to an Imperial secretary. Thus is the decree of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.”

I stood frozen in place, unable to move, like someone who had just witnessed something impossible.

What… on earth is happening?

“What the hell is going on?!”

For once, my uncle and I were thinking exactly the same thing.

The administrator seemed mildly displeased by the confusion surrounding him and frowned.

“I don’t know what exactly is happening here, but how dare you remain standing so arrogantly after hearing His Majesty’s decree! Solana Albre, kneel and receive your appointment document.”

“No, wait! Our Solana is being appointed as a secretary? There must be some mistake!”

My uncle stepped forward to object, but the administrator immediately shut him down.

“Even if there were some mistake, the appointment has already been issued. From this moment onward, Miss Solana Albre is an Imperial secretary.”

“This girl hasn’t even graduated from the academy, nor does she have a letter of recommendation. And, more importantly, she’s a woman! How could she possibly become an Imperial secretary…?”

My uncle rambled on in confusion before his eyes suddenly lit up.

“Wait! Could you have said Pablo Albre instead of Solana Albre? Please check again!”

Pablo was my uncle’s son and my cousin.

Being appointed an Imperial secretary was a tremendous honor, so if Pablo became one, it would have been the best possible outcome for my uncle.

Unfortunately, Pablo was barely managing to avoid failing at the academy his father had paid an enormous tuition fee to send him to.

There was absolutely no way the Imperial Palace would hire someone like him.

Sure enough, the administrator unfolded the appointment document and held it right in front of my uncle’s face.

The name was written clearly in bold letters.

[Solana Albre]

When I saw my own name written there, it finally sank in.

The résumé I had hastily sent out a few days ago had actually been accepted by the Imperial Palace.

I had been appointed to the honorable position of secretary, serving directly beside members of the imperial family.

Thump.

My heart pounded fiercely.

I had found a way out of this hell.

“There is one thing I would like to ask again. Miss Solana Albre, do you wish to withdraw your acceptance of the secretary position?”

The administrator spoke as though he had no desire whatsoever to concern himself with the shabby chaos unfolding in front of the Albre residence.

I instinctively knew this was his final question.

It was also my final chance.

“It seems there has been some sort of misunderstanding. As you can see, our Solana was just about to leave for the temple to get married, so unfortunately, the position of secretary—”

“I’ll do it!”

I shouted my answer before Uncle Torres could finish.

You think I’m going to let this opportunity slip away?

Uncle Torres belatedly clamped his thick hand over my mouth, but I desperately pulled it away and shouted again.

“I’ll definitely do it!”

At the same time, I tore off the wedding veil and flower crown that had been placed on my head and threw them aside.

The administrator glanced down at the veil and flower crown that had fallen in front of him.

Then, with his usual expressionless face, he announced,

“Solana Albre, kneel and receive your appointment document.”

What happened afterward was a complete mess.

Viscount Montrache became furious with my uncle and stormed off, while my uncle apparently suffered a spike in blood pressure and collapsed while clutching the back of his neck.

I was the only one at the Albre residence who had regained some semblance of calm.

I hurried back to my room, my cheeks flushed with excitement, and unfolded the appointment document the administrator had given me.

“This… This really happened.”

This is a miracle!

I still had no idea why I had been appointed secretary.

Wasn’t becoming an Imperial secretary something that required graduating at the top of the academy and obtaining five or six letters of recommendation?

By modern standards, it was like someone who hadn’t even graduated from college, had no certifications, and had absolutely no work experience somehow getting hired as a secretary at one of the most prestigious corporations in the world.

I giggled to myself as I read through the appointment document, my heart filled with excitement.

Then, once again, the door opened.

I flinched and turned around at the sudden opening of the door without even a knock.

A young-looking maid was staring at me with an insolent expression.

The servants who had once cherished me like a princess when my parents were alive were no longer here.

Everyone working in this residence had been newly hired by my uncle.

To them, I was a shameless woman who mooched off this household while still walking around with her head held high.

Even though I was the one who had lost everything.

“My lady Solana, Master has just woken up. He says you are to come immediately.”

The maid turned around coldly and walked away before I even had a chance to reprimand her for her rudeness.

As though she couldn’t stand to remain in this room for even another second.

My wonderful mood scattered like mist in an instant.

When my parents were alive, my uncle had certainly been greedy.

But he hadn’t been nearly as rotten as he was now—not to the point of selling off his own niece.

Perhaps that was why, despite my father clicking his tongue at my uncle’s behavior, he still regarded him as his brother.

Every year at the end of the year, my father would invite my uncle’s family over for dinner.

He also felt sorry for my cousins, who had to suffer because of their father’s childish behavior, and would occasionally help them.

Back then, my uncle hadn’t hated me the way he did now.

In fact, he had shown that he cared for me in his own way.

“Solana, my beautiful niece! Look what your uncle has prepared for you!”

It was the morning of my birthday.

Because my parents had insisted, I was dressed in an adorable little dress that children would love, while someone fixed my hair.

My uncle stood before me, waving a doll around and laughing heartily.

“Is that a doll?”

“That’s right! It was handmade, stitch by stitch, by a famous craftsman here in the Imperial Capital. It’s so popular that I had to go through all sorts of trouble just to get one. Happy birthday!”

“Thank you, Uncle!”

Although I had been reincarnated and therefore possessed emotions that weren’t quite those of an ordinary child, I wasn’t so unpleasant that I would disregard someone’s sincere effort.

And the doll really was beautiful.

Even with my high standards shaped by modern life, I couldn’t help but admire it.

Watching me, my parents laughed and shook their heads as though they couldn’t believe him.

“Good grief. You kept sending letters saying you had no money, so why did you buy something this expensive?”

“Oh, Brother! It’s my niece’s birthday! Surely I can do at least this much, can’t I? Don’t you agree, Sister-in-law?”

“It’s Solana’s birthday today, so both of you stop arguing and come downstairs to the dining room. Oh, Alice, you’re here too. Come along.”

At that moment, my eyes met Alice’s.

She bit her lip tightly, then abruptly turned her head away and left.

She was rude even back then.

“Solana, finish getting dressed like a little princess, then come downstairs. Your uncle even practiced a birthday song for you. You’ll be surprised when you hear it.”

Just as my uncle had promised, I was surprised.

Because it was absolutely terrible.

Even so, the Albre residence of that time, with his awful song echoing through its halls, was filled with warmth.

It was truly nothing like it was now.