NTWBR 01

Chapter 01

Chirp chirp―

Chirp chirp chirp―

The sound of birdsong by my ear.

Sunlight breaking into fine fragments and falling beside my pillow.

A room decorated quite cozily.

Bedding that smelled soft and warm.

It was a morning far too peaceful.

But there was something that didn’t match this tranquility: Irene’s mood.

“Why do I feel so crappy?”

That was hardly a fitting remark for a princess of a nation to make.

“Oh my? Your Highness? Are you awake?”

“Huh? Oh… I’m awake.”

It was the nanny.

Seeing Irene sitting on the bed in a rather foul mood, the nanny immediately approached her.

There was no change in the nanny’s expression.

Just a seemingly kind face. That was all.

Irene was certain that the nanny had heard the words she had just muttered.

“Your Highness. Did you have a bad dream?”

“Ah, no.”

A bad dream?

If it was a dream, it must have been a bad one.

In her previous life, as soon as she came of age, Irene had been sold off in the name of marriage to the Crown Prince of the Mestia Empire.

It was Irene’s only nanny, Kate Shannon, who had pushed Irene onto the carriage back then.

She was now smiling at Irene with a gentle smile.

Irene wondered why she hadn’t realized it before.

That smile was never truly warm.

Irene looked at the nanny smiling at her and let out a faint laugh.

“You seem to be in a good mood, Your Highness.”

“Not really.”

“Oh my? You even say things like that. You’ll surprise this old nanny.”

Irene shuddered invisibly at that pretentious tone and voice.

Kate closed the window she had been opening and came over to Irene.

Kate’s caring and worried expression met Irene’s gaze as she looked at her.

“Are you feeling unwell somewhere, Your Highness?”

“No.”

“But why did you shiver a moment ago?”

“I don’t know. I guess I was a bit cold.”

Irene didn’t want to talk at length with the nanny.

Because she judged that there was nothing good to come from a long conversation.

As Irene deliberately averted her gaze and fell silent, Kate drew the bedroom curtains and opened the window.

A fairly cool breeze entered the room.

“The weather is nice, Your Highness.”

“It is.”

“Why is our Princess acting like this today?”

“What do you mean, Nanny?”

“Your Highness. Today is that day. The day your marriage match will be decided. Marriage proposals have come from several countries.”

Only then did her head, which had felt like it might shatter, feel clear.

The pounding headache she’d had since waking up seemed to have instantly healed.

‘So this was why my head hurt.’

A sardonic laugh escaped Irene’s lips. She couldn’t stop the continuous stream of laughter that followed.

Kate paid no attention to Irene, instead bustling about calling in maids to prepare Irene’s adornment.

“…Hahahaha!”

“Oh my, Your Highness?”

Eventually, laughter burst out. At Irene’s laughter, the gazes of the maids and Kate fixed on her.

Irene paid them no mind and continued laughing.

Only now did it feel real.

She had returned to the morning of the day when her marriage to the scoundrel Crown Prince of the neighboring empire, which had made Irene de Istana’s previous life a tragedy, was decided.

Irene, exhausted by the abuse of her husband, the Crown Prince, and the coldness of those around her, had taken poison herself and prayed to the gods.

Please, let me never weep again! Let me take revenge!

And when all the strength left her body and she was at death’s door, what Irene saw was a strange man in white clothes.

She thought she was dying, but here she was, back to a week before her sixteenth birthday!

The day that had turned her previous life into a nightmare!

She felt hollow.

But the hollowness was brief. Now that she truly felt alive, Irene couldn’t help but laugh, and the maids could only stare at her.

As if looking at someone who had lost their mind.

Irene could bear even those looks from the maids.

Because from now on, things would be different.

Having endured that pain, that suffering, and returned to the day the nightmare began, she intended to be a different Irene than before.

“Nanny.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Those clothes.”

“Yes?”

“Put them all away. I won’t be wearing those kinds of clothes anymore.”

“Your Highness?”

“Am I some kind of doll? There are too many laces, ribbons, and decorations on those clothes. Bring me the most plain clothes. And call the seamstress to have all the flashy decorations removed from those dresses.”

“Your Highness!”

Irene looked at Kate, steadily.

Kate met Irene’s gaze for a moment, then turned her head away.

To the nanny, the meaning of her current actions was irrelevant.

“What will people think of you, Your Highness? You should be adorning yourself lavishly to follow the latest fashions, not this!”

“Wouldn’t it be an insult to the Istana Royal Family if people looked down on me based on my attire?”

*‘Things will change now. I will no longer live a life like a doll!’*

Kate was silent.

Then, Serena, one of the maids who had served me for quite some time, looked at me, holding a fancy dress.

“Your Highness! What about our reputation? You have to think about our reputation too.”

“So I see that your reputation is determined by how I dress. Serena, if your reputation is that important to you, feel free to quit. I’ll find another maid.”

“……”

The mouths of the nanny and the maids snapped shut.

Irene was very satisfied with this situation.

*‘I’ve won the first round.’*

Moreover, thinking she had beaten her nanny, Kate, and the maids for the first time, she felt good.

She felt a bit of confidence building.

If her memory was correct, she would have to meet her father in a few hours.

And her father, the Emperor, would decide on her marriage in front of the ministers.

That’s how it had been in her previous life.

But this time would be different.

So Irene smiled as she looked in the mirror.

Irene’s beauty, which even plain clothes and simple makeup couldn’t hide, reflected in the mirror.

Irene smiled at herself in the mirror.

It was a greeting to herself, free of bruises for the first time in ten years.

*‘I’ll decide my own life from now on, Irene. So, nice to meet you.’*

While Irene was making this request to herself, the maids finished her grooming.

The expressions of the maids, who had finished preparing Irene, were full of discontent.

They were worried about what comments would reach their ears upon seeing Irene’s plain appearance, which was the opposite of the latest trends.

One fact that Irene had deliberately ignored until now came to mind.

That the maids’ evaluation was swayed by their master’s appearance.

But even if it was swayed, she felt like saying, “So what?”

“Why the long faces? Don’t you smile?”

“Your Highness.”

“I like it, though? I guess you don’t?”

“Your Highness?”

“Ah, never mind. I’m done with today’s makeup.”

Irene rose from her seat and immediately walked out of the room.

She didn’t care if the maids followed her or not.

If something was going to happen anyway, she just wanted to get it over with even a minute sooner.

So she hurriedly made her way to the audience chamber.

Irene’s steps towards the audience chamber grew faster and faster, until she was practically running.

By the time she arrived at the audience chamber, out of breath, there were several foreign envoys present.

Among them was the Crown Prince of the Mestia Empire, considered Irene’s most prominent marriage prospect.

Irene glanced at her ex-husband.

Crown Prince Franz, meeting Irene’s eyes, smiled very brightly.

It was a bright and beautiful smile that could make anyone who didn’t know him fall in love.

But for Irene, it wasn’t.

*‘Despicable bastard.’*

Whether I should call him my ex-husband or my marriage prospect, I didn’t know.

Franz, Crown Prince of the Mestia Empire, was handsome and had polished manners on the outside, but was a typical scoundrel on the inside.

Something I learned later, but after getting engaged to Irene, he had fathered five illegitimate children before the marriage.

Moreover, after marrying Irene, he treated her with coldness and violence while actively taking mistresses, and the illegitimate children kept coming.

In Mestia, it was also Irene’s role to manage all those mistresses and illegitimate children.

Irene, her face daily stained with tears and bruises, silently took care of them and their children.

She hoped that if she did so, Franz might look at her.

One day, while spending her time like that, a ray of light finally came to Irene.

Pregnancy.

It was the result of a single night spent together due to Franz’s whim.

Whether it was a son or a daughter didn’t matter. Irene was happy every day, filled with the joy of having a place in Mestia to give her heart to, a place that had always been cold to her.

And then, one day, a few months later, when her belly was quite swollen.

Irene, despite her swollen belly, pleaded with Franz, who wouldn’t even look at her, to spare her a single glance.

She told him that his child was inside her. So please, just look at me once.

But Franz just laughed at Irene.

Even that sneering face made Irene happy.

She thought he was finally looking at her. But it was a mistake.

Franz, who had been smiling, twisted his expression and slowly approached Irene. And he said.

*‘How do I know that child in your belly is mine? It’s probably some other man’s seed. Am I wrong?’*

With those words, Franz resorted to violence against Irene.

Irene hugged her belly to protect the child, but it was no use.

Franz, who was practically an expert at beating people, easily overpowered Irene and focused his kicks solely on her stomach.

How many times did he kick her? Only when a streak of blood showed between Irene’s legs did Franz stop his assault.

*‘You wench, sold off like a whore. Pfft!’*

That was Irene’s final memory of Franz.

After that day, Irene even stopped caring for Franz’s mistresses and their children.

In truth, Irene had only taken care of Franz’s mistresses and their children for one reason.

She thought that if she devotedly cared for them and their children, Franz might one day look at her, acknowledge her, at least once.

But Franz never did.

He had caused his own child, Irene’s baby, to miscarry with his own hands.

So, as an act of defiance against Franz, Irene stopped caring for Franz’s mistresses and their children.

Then, the meager living allowance Irene had been receiving was cut off.

Eventually, to survive, Irene had to sell off all her jewelry, furniture, and even her clothes.

And it didn’t end there. The coldness and blame directed at Irene only multiplied.

The grief of losing her child, and the endless coldness and blame.

All these memories flashed before her eyes in an instant.

That was why Irene could not smile at Crown Prince Franz Mestia, who was smiling brightly at her.

Clutching her bitter memories and looking only forward, she walked to the entrance of the audience chamber, where a servant recognized her first and approached.

“Tell them I’m here.”

“What shall I announce as your business?”

“Business, when I’m just a little early?”

The servant, cowed by Irene’s momentum, glanced at the ledger on the table and bowed his head.

Today, Irene was scheduled to have an official audience with the Emperor and Empress.

And all to decide Irene’s marriage.

“Ahem. His Majesty the Emperor, Her Majesty the Empress! Lady Peirelin requests an audience!”

As the servant’s announcement ended, the doors to the audience chamber opened.

The audience chamber was vast, its ceiling magnificently painted with the Empire’s Dawn, a symbol of the Istana Empire.

Irene walked a long way along the red carpet laid in the center of the audience chamber before finally reaching the feet of the Emperor and Empress.

“Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Majesty the Empress. Irene de Istana offers her greetings.”

“You are early, Lady Peirelin.”

“Yes. Rise.”

I hadn’t expected them to welcome me.

I had no expectations either. Irene raised her head and looked at the Emperor and Empress.

Irene straightened her back and shifted her gaze to the Emperor.

Her father, and the one who had pushed her into hell. Fern V.

“Your Majesty the Emperor.”

“Yes, Lady Peirelin. You are earlier than promised.”

“Yes.”

“If you came early, there must be a reason. What is it?”

It was a question from Fern V, not particularly affectionate.

It was exactly the same tone he used when speaking to envoys who brought him troublesome tasks.

Irene gripped her trembling hands tightly and looked straight at Fern V.

Fern V’s eyes sparkled with curiosity at his daughter’s unusual demeanor.

The moment their gazes met.

“Father.”

Irene’s lips parted, using a private address for Fern V.

At Irene’s breach of etiquette, the eyes of everyone in the audience chamber turned to her.

“Yes, Lady Peirelin. And daughter of Istana.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes. What is it?”

Irene looked at Fern V and swallowed dryly.

Her mouth felt bitter with the anticipation that from the moment she uttered these words, there would be checks against her.

However, a smile played on Irene’s lips.

“I will take care of my own marriage, Your Majesty.”