ESBE 03

Chapter 3

Aiden’s efforts bore fruit.

Theodora Ruen Hedesson did not miss the opportunity he had given her and seized first place.

As the representative of the graduating class, she smiled brightly, looking genuinely delighted.

That dazzling smile filled Aiden’s heart.

Just seeing her so happy made him happy too, and he found himself grinning unusually foolishly.

Now all that remained was for her to return proudly to her hometown, tell her father her wish, and then for Aiden to go find Theodora and confess his feelings.

But there was one thing bothering him.

By now, they would probably each have a fiancé or fiancée.

In the Elliot Empire, while their children were attending the academy, noble families arranged political marriages with one another.

Because of this, it was common for nobles not to know who their own fiancé or fiancée was until they graduated from the academy and returned home.

That was simply the Empire’s custom unless an engagement had been arranged when they were very young.

‘As soon as I return home, I’ll break off my engagement with my fiancée and formally propose to the House of Hedesson.’

With the influence of House Wolverlake, he could easily notify his fiancée of the broken engagement and send a proposal to Theodora.

Although Duke Hedesson was said to be stubborn, surely even he couldn’t refuse a proposal from House Wolverlake.

‘Still… what if Duke Hedesson stubbornly refuses?’

After pondering for a moment, Aiden felt the cruel darkness he had suppressed deep within himself slowly raise its head.

‘Even if he does?’

At the same time, he found his answer.

One corner of his mouth curled upward.

‘I could simply eliminate Theodora’s fiancé without anyone knowing.’

With his heart fluttering in anticipation, Aiden arrived at Wolverlake Grand Ducal Castle.

“I’m home. Mother, Father.”

Aiden’s elegant parents welcomed him, each carrying a travel bag.

“Welcome home, Aiden.”

“Welcome home, my son. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Aiden’s parents were fairly advanced in age.

Yet in appearance, they were still a handsome young man and beautiful woman who looked to be in their thirties.

Seeing his parents after so long, along with the travel bags in their hands, Aiden gave them a strained smile.

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“Your mother wants to return to her hometown as soon as possible.”

At his father’s words, his mother smiled, her captivating eyes curving like crescent moons.

“You know how long it’s been since I’ve been back home, don’t you? Just imagining spending the rest of my life in my hometown feels like a dream.”

“Therefore, starting today, you are the Grand Duke of Wolverlake. And this is the document concerning your fiancée.”

His father immediately continued and patted Aiden on the shoulder.

“I gave it a great deal of thought. I hope you like her.”

“I’ve been wondering which family’s young lady she would be from…”

Aiden immediately checked the contents of the document.

His lips pressed tightly together.

As his violet eyes grew serious and darkened, his parents also became slightly tense.

“What’s wrong, Aiden? Don’t tell me you don’t like your fiancée?”

Aiden calmly and quietly continued speaking.

“There is a young lady I already have feelings for, so I was planning to ask you to send notice of the broken engagement as soon as I returned home…”

“Ahem!”

Aiden’s father cleared his throat.

He tried to take the document from Aiden’s hand.

“Breaking off an arranged marriage that has already been decided would make an enemy of that family, but since you’re the one who will have to deal with it anyway, it shouldn’t be a major problem. I’ll send the notice of the broken engagement.”

Aiden quickly hid the document against his chest before his father could take it.

“No.”

Aiden spoke the name of the fiancée written on the document in elegant handwriting.

“Theodora Ruen Hedesson.”

It was only her name, yet how sweet it felt on the tip of his tongue.

Aiden couldn’t hide his satisfied smile.

With the option of secretly eliminating Theodora’s fiancé now gone, the darkness that had fallen over his heart disappeared completely.

“Thank you for making such an excellent choice, Father, Mother. I’ll see you again at the wedding.”

His parents casually handed the title over to Aiden as though passing him a baton in a relay race.

They even left him with the declaration that they wouldn’t return unless there was a family event such as a wedding, funeral, or other major occasion.

The moment they saw their son’s face, they had placed all the responsibilities on him and promptly left.

But Aiden didn’t mind.

If anything, he thought it was fortunate that he had inherited the title of Grand Duke so quickly.

If his parents, who had returned to their hometown after leaving him as head of the family, never came back, there would be no adults around to interfere with Theodora.

Now that Aiden felt completely unburdened, only one concern remained.

‘When should we hold the wedding? One month from now? Two months?’

As far as he was concerned, even immediately would be fine.

However, when Aiden ordered that preparations be made for a grand wedding, the young chief steward lowered his head.

“Your Grace. I completely understand your desire to welcome the esteemed future Grand Duchess as soon as possible, but there are procedures that must be followed.”

“What procedures?”

“First, we need to prepare the documents required for the marriage and seek an audience with His Majesty the Emperor.”

“And then?”

“After that…”

The chief steward began precisely reciting the long, complicated series of procedures.

Once preparations for their new home and other wedding necessities were completed and a date was set, the earliest possible wedding would be six months from now.

The chief steward smiled with satisfaction, apparently pleased that he had explained everything adequately.

Aiden, however, continued to frown.

“Was my explanation insufficient?”

“No. I simply don’t like the procedures.”

“For high-ranking nobles of the Elliot Empire, there are many mandatory procedures. It cannot be helped.”

“Regardless, can’t we just do it next month?”

“We need Imperial approval.”

“…Can’t we just ignore the Imperial Family?”

Aiden said it because he possessed enough power to do so, but the chief steward gave a nervous smile at his unreasonable attitude.

“Your Grace may be able to do that, but I doubt Duke Hedesson would be able to.”

“……”

“Although House Hedesson is considered politically moderate, if one had to place them somewhere, they would be closer to the Emperor’s faction.”

“……”

“Besides, wouldn’t Lady Hedesson prefer a husband who respects her family’s position?”

The chief steward’s words did have some merit.

Aiden decided to follow every formal procedure required for the marriage.

“Then prepare the documents required for the marriage as quickly as possible.”

After giving his orders, Aiden thoroughly inspected Wolverlake Castle, which would soon become their newlywed home.

Built more than five hundred years ago by an architect of his era, Wolverlake Castle stood in the northern mountain range, where icy winds raged for half the year.

Because of that, the castle could become somewhat chilly from time to time.

Still, it had been maintained well enough for people to live there comfortably.

‘But this won’t do. My fiancée is a woman from the warm southern plains.’

Even if a place was hidden from sight, if it looked gloomy or showed even the slightest signs of age, Aiden ordered renovations immediately.

“We should improve the insulation as well. Chief Steward, bring more volcanic magic stones.”

“Volcanic magic stones? The means of obtaining those are…”

“If I tell you to bring them, then bring them. Why are you making so much fuss?”

Soon, the castle became warmer and more comfortable.

And Aiden’s peaceful dream became perfect.

As he watched Wolverlake Castle transform until it looked almost brand-new, Aiden imagined the future he would share with Theodora and decided what they would do together.

During the short spring, summer, and autumn, he would enjoy the breathtaking natural scenery with Theodora and whisper about all the things they hadn’t been able to talk about before.

He would also confess that, without even realizing it, he had carried feelings for her in his heart for three years.

He also knew that there was no such thing as a snowy wilderness in the southern plains where Theodora lived.

So when winter came, he wanted to show her the magnificent beauty unique to the northern mountains.

Aiden became curious about Theodora’s reaction as she stood in the middle of a world of pure white.

She would probably smile brightly.

That conclusion alone made Aiden smile just like the Theodora in his imagination.

But his imagination and hopes didn’t stop there.

When darkness descended and the wind began blowing like a blade, he would gently take Theodora’s hand, brush the snow from her hair and shoulders, and lead her into their bedroom.

They would have time alone together, embracing each other warmly, stroking her orange hair, kissing softly, and sharing passionate and blissful love.

Every day.

Every single day.

He didn’t want to miss even one of the countless nights they would have together.

And as time passed, children carrying the blood of both of them would someday run noisily through the castle.

Regardless of their gender, they would be children who would find it harder to lose first place than to win it if they ever attended the academy.

His imagination continued to spiral onward, and his heart swelled with anticipation.

“Theodora.”

Aiden was incredibly happy.

At least, he was—

until he saw the notice of his broken engagement from Duke Hedesson arrive at the Grand Ducal Castle one month after graduation.

At first, he happily opened the letter.

But as his violet eyes moved across the contents of the notice, the smile lingering at the corners of his lips gradually faded.

Aiden had already heard that Duke Hedesson had promised to grant Theodora’s wish if she graduated from the academy in first place.

But he couldn’t understand why that wish was to break off their engagement.

He desperately tried to deny what he was seeing.

“That can’t be right, can it? Is it really possible that there’s a woman who would reject Aiden van Wolverlake?”

It made absolutely no sense.

He sat there like a stone statue, reading the notice over and over again.

Yet no matter how many times he carefully reread it, the meaning of the notice that wounded his pride did not change.

It stated that his daughter’s determination to break off the engagement was as straight and unyielding as a pine tree, and that even though her fiancé was Aiden van Wolverlake, they could not stop her.

The notice included an apology and a massive sum of compensation.

“…An apology? Is that supposed to make everything all right?”

In the end, once he accepted reality, Aiden’s lips pressed firmly together.

‘After I respected the conservative culture of the southern plains and discreetly kept our night together a secret, this is all I get in return?’

Heavy silence descended upon the study in broad daylight.

The violet eyes visible between his narrowed eyelids gradually darkened with suspicion.

“Could it be… that Lady Hedesson used me as a one-night toy?”

How much time had passed?

By the time darkness settled over the unlit study, a sinister aura of darkness began to emanate from Aiden.

“Heh. Freedom? Traveling? Deciding her own marriage?”

A cold laugh slipped through his twisted lips.

“Does she even know who she spent her first night with…? And now she thinks she can run away? Who said she could?”

Aiden’s eyes began to gleam with a quiet darkness and obsession.

“I didn’t give up first place for this.”

One day, I opened my eyes to find that I had possessed the body of a baby girl from a ducal family.

The baby girl’s name was Theodora Ruen Hedesson.

She was an extra in a romance-fantasy novel titled Kidnapped by the Demon King and Married to the Crown Prince, a story in which the Crown Prince rescued the heroine after she was kidnapped by the Demon King and eventually found love with her.

The daughter of Duke Hedesson wasn’t good at studying, but she was kind. At the academy, she appeared as the heroine’s close friend, warmly looking after the female protagonist, Lady Ophla Ratinel.

Then, when she turned twenty-five, she was the first person to die while trying to prevent the Queen of the Demon Realm from kidnapping Ophla.

It was a sad scene, but no matter how I looked at it, her death was utterly pointless.

The death of the duke’s daughter didn’t even prevent Ophla’s kidnapping, let alone delay it.

Of course, the heroine was sad when she died.

[The flower that had bloomed for twenty-five years had fallen. Ophla swallowed her tears as she mourned the death of her friend.]

Two sentences.

That was all.

And Crown Prince Havelon, who had lost his fiancée, the Duke of Hedesson’s daughter, revealed the passionate feelings he had been hiding for Ophla like a storm.

Since the novel itself focused on the love between the protagonists, the scene was described as incredibly beautiful.

But from the perspective of House Hedesson?

Honestly, it was almost absurd.

[“I can no longer hide it! I love Lady Ophla Ratinel!”]

Blinded by love, Crown Prince Havelon displayed the audacity to mount a white horse and ride off before his own fiancée’s funeral had even begun.

[“I cannot delay even for a moment!”]

The Crown Prince traveled to the neutral territory of the treacherous northern mountain range and fought his way through millions of demons stationed there to rescue Ophla.

When this previously unrevealed setting finally came to light, readers had two reactions.

Dido: Ah, so that’s why the Demon King kidnapped Ophla. I always thought it was weird that the Demon King picked a viscount’s daughter from the start.

Bongs^ᅟᅮᆫ: What?! The Duke of Hedesson’s daughter was the Crown Prince’s fiancée?

The sudden, out-of-nowhere revelation was absurd, but it wasn’t a big deal.

An extra had died, after all.

And so, the Duke of Hedesson’s daughter was completely forgotten.

But now, things were different.

Because I had become the Duke of Hedesson’s daughter, this was a serious problem.