TDBWMHB 1

🌸Chapter 1🌸

“I love you, Herina. Thank you for deciding to marry me.”

Herina smiled happily in the arms of Ares, the man who would become her husband in two days.

More than his broad, warm arms, she was excited about the wealth, honor, and comfortable life that this Duke would give her.

“Ares, you are the only one for me. You are my salvation and my life. Thank you for choosing me.”

Her words were not completely fake.

Herina Obelia’s family was suddenly facing destruction. The only way she could survive was by seducing the Duke of Habinent, one of the Empire’s five Sacred Families.

The process had been painful, but she had succeeded.

And in just two days, everything this man gave her would become hers.

“I love you, Ares.”

I love everything you will give me.

Whether I love you or the things you have, isn’t the result the same?

This was the satisfying ending created by Kang Ye-ri, the woman who had possessed Herina’s body.

No.

She was Herina now.

Herina opened her eyes with a satisfied smile.

Bright sunlight touched her face.

It felt as if the whole world was blessing her future.

“Ahh, what? Huh?”

She tried to stretch comfortably, but her arms would not move.

Still confused, Herina looked around.

“You finally woke up. Who sent you?”

“Ares?”

Only a few hours ago, her husband had looked at her lovingly and gently touched her hair.

But now, he had pulled a sword from the wall and was walking toward her.

“Ares? What are you doing? Untie me right now!”

Her arms and legs were tied to the bed. She struggled like a fish that had just been pulled from the water.

But before she could even feel embarrassed, the tip of a sword touched her neck.

“Tell me who you are. Who sent you to sneak into the Duke’s bedroom?”

Ha!

Herina could not believe what she was hearing.

She let out a laugh.

“Are you joking with me? Who else would I be? I’m the woman who will become your wife tomorrow! Did you drink poison instead of stew yesterday?”

Ares frowned as if he were listening to complete nonsense.

“Can’t you make your lie sound a little more believable? Marriage? Who is getting married? Me? To you?”

That annoying face.

It was the expression he often had when they first met, before he fell for her.

Seeing that face again after such a long time made Herina furious.

“Of course it’s you! If this is a joke, you’ll regret it very badly. We could even cancel the—”

Herina quickly stopped herself.

No matter how angry she was, she still had to marry him.

That had been her goal ever since she woke up in this world.

She could not let the marriage be canceled.

“Anyway! If you’re joking, stop now. I’m giving you one last chance.”

Ares gave a small laugh and picked up the sword again.

“I am the one giving the last chance. If you don’t tell me the truth now, your useless head will be cut off. So you’d better answer properly.”

After looking at Ares’s face, Herina finally realized that he was not joking.

She swallowed in fear.

At this rate, my head might be cut off in my honeymoon bed instead of on the executioner’s platform.

“Ares! First, put that sword down! I thought it was just decoration! Why is it so sharp?!”

Even though she begged him, Ares remained expressionless, keeping the sword near her neck.

“No, I’m serious! I don’t know why you’re suddenly acting like this! Look at my hand! Don’t you see it? The ring on your left ring finger! It’s the same as mine! And look at my neck! Look here!”

She twisted her body and pulled the necklace out from under her nightdress.

For the first time, Ares’s expression changed.

“You said this was given to you by your late mother. If I were really a suspicious person, how could I have something your mother gave me? You put this necklace on me yourself!”

Ares lowered his sword and quickly took the necklace from her to examine it.

“Your late mother? How dare you say such things about the Duchess’s life or death?”

Only then did Herina realize that something was very strange.

The Duchess had died more than five years ago.

So why was Ares talking as if she were still alive?

Knock, knock.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

“Your Grace, are you awake? This is the Captain of the Knights.”

Ares looked relieved when he heard the voice of the Knight Captain, someone he trusted with his life.

“There is an intruder in the Duke’s room! Call the knights at once!”

Hearing Ares’s shout, the Knight Captain opened the door without waiting.

“Are you all right, Your Grace? Bring the knights here!”

The hallway quickly became noisy.

“‘Your Grace’…?”

The Knight Captain’s words confused Ares.

“What’s wrong, Your Grace?”

This was not the Knight Captain Ares knew.

Even the way the man addressed him felt strange.

Ares tightened his grip on the sword.

“Who are you?! Are you working with her too?”

Only then did Herina realize that something was seriously wrong.

She ignored her embarrassment and quickly spoke.“It’s role-playing! We’re role-playing! It’s something married couples do!”

Ares stared at the strange man who claimed to be the Knight Captain and the woman tied up on his bed.

He could not believe either of them.

While Ares stood speechless, Herina wriggled closer to him and whispered:

“Which do you think is more dangerous? Me, with my hands and feet tied, or that man with a sword? Let’s send one of us out first, okay?”

Ares looked at the necklace from his late mother and then at the Knight Captain holding his sword.

After a moment, he told the Knight Captain to leave.

The confused Knight Captain looked behind the curtains before awkwardly leaving the room.

Only then did Ares lower his sword.

“Now tell me. What are you?”

“I already told you. I’m the woman who will become your wife. What are you talking about?”

Ares asked again.

“Let’s go back to what you said earlier. You said the Duchess died? You mean my mother?”

Herina nodded, looking confused.

“The Duchess died, and one year later, the former Duke also died because he couldn’t overcome his grief. That’s why you inherited the title of Duke. Don’t you remember? You don’t remember the Knight Captain who just came in either?”

Ares’s confused face looked strange to her.

Now that she looked carefully, he seemed about a head shorter than he had been yesterday.

His muscular body also looked much slimmer.

These were small changes that only someone who shared his bed every day would notice.

But there was no doubt.

He was different from yesterday.

“Ares…”

“My mother died? I’m the Duke? You mean my father is gone too?”

Herina had been too shocked and angry to look closely before.

But now that Ares was showing his emotions, his face looked strangely young.

“Ares, how old are you right now?”

No.

It can’t be.

Even if this was a fantasy world…

Even if she had been transported into a novel and succeeded in seducing the male lead…

She had never heard of the main character suddenly becoming younger!

And their wedding was tomorrow!

In a normal novel, this should have been the final page of the happy ending.

But then Ares delivered the final blow.

“I turned seventeen a few months ago. Why are you suddenly asking?”

Ding… ding… ding…

Herina could only smile.

They say people laugh when they are pushed into an extreme situation.

That was exactly what was happening to her.

Some people said they heard church bells during their first kiss.

But the bells ringing in Herina’s ears sounded more like the bells announcing the end of her life.

“Seventeen… Wow… My husband, who is supposed to marry me tomorrow, has become a seventeen-year-old brat…”

Even though Ares was looking at her suspiciously, Herina could not react.

The last tiny bit of hope she had been desperately holding onto was about to break.

“This can’t be happening!!! This isn’t right! How can the world do this to me?!”

Herina threw herself onto the bed and screamed.

“Are you crazy?”

Herina opened her eyes and shouted back.

“Yes! That’s right! I’m crazy! I’ve completely lost my mind!”

It was twenty hours before the wedding of Herina Obelia and Ares Habinent.