Have I really returned to the past? Everything was like a memory. The white wedding dress she was wearing, the rich hydrangea boquet, and even the picture frame hanging on the wall of her bridal waiting room.
Leticia, who hurriedly rolled up her sleeve and examined the inside of her own arm, held her breath. Red scars on the inside of her wrist.
It was made by her mother two days before the wedding. When she told her mother that she could never marry a man who hated her, her mother poured hot tea.
It was a very painful memory for her in the past. But unlike before, tears of joy flowed from her eyes as she looked down at her wounds.
“Thank you, Goddess.”
She knelt down and prayed to the Goddess.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to save him.”
***
Leticia’s mother, Josephina, was the only Saintess in the Holy Empire. She is the daughter of the Goddess who raised a crumbling empire and saved countless people. Josephina was everyone’s savior.
There was only one exception, Leticia.
From a long time ago that she couldn’t even remember, her mother had been abusing Leticia. For some reason, after Leticia was born, her divine power gradually decreased, and she vented her anger on her.
The abuse was done very secretly. Until her first brother noticed it.
But in the end, her brother also turned away from her. At one time, she resented him so much, but she didn’t now.
Because thanks to her brother, she met the person she loved.
Dietrian. He was her husband before she died and now her soon-to-be husband.
Her mother’s hatred for Leticia only grew with the passing of time. It was to the point of blaming Leticia for all her evil deeds.
No matter how long she waited, the lost divine power did not return. Her brother said to her mother, who was becoming increasingly hysterical because of her anxiety.
[You’d better put it away. How about marriage?]
[She can’t get married! To see that bitch happy? I can’t!]
[Then choose a man worthy of hating Leticia. Prince Dietrian. How about getting her to marry him?]
When she heard that conversation, her eyes went dark.
Prince Dietrian of the Principality of Xenos.
Seven years ago, her mother exterminated his family.
[He regards the Empire as his enemy. If you order him to marry Leticia, he will definitely take out his anger on that child. Maybe he’ll even kill Leticia.]
[Then I can use that excuse to punish him as well!]
Her mother had always regarded Dietrian as a thorn in her eye. She was very much in love with her brother’s plan to destroy the two people she hated at once.
While their marriage went off the rails, her mother created another safeguard for herself.
[I dare not let you live comfortably outside of my eyes.]
A secret curse was carved into Leticia’s body.
[Kill Dietrian within half a year. If you don’t, you’ll be torn to pieces alive.]
Her mother’s curse still gripped her heart.
Leticia smiled faintly as she placed a hand on where her hand was beating.
In her previous life, the curse was just terrible, but now she felt like it’s a blessing.
In this life, I will definitely protect him.
***
After the marriage proposal from the Empire arrived, the Principality was turned upside down.
“To marry the daughter of the Saintess!”
The Chancellor could not hold back his anger and hit the desk with a bang.
“Your Highness’ family died because of whom, so how could they propose something like this!”
“Besides, it’s that Leticia! Does it make sense to welcome such a devil at the public’s expense!”
Leticia, the daughter of the Saintess of the Holy Empire.
She was nicknamed the Blood-Crazed Killer. With a cruel temper, she killed the nanny who raised her and was known for making her maids-in-waiting run away within a week.
Even the people of her Empire pointed fingers at her. Her misdeeds also damaged the Principality.
A year ago, ten boys from the Principality who were studying abroad in the Empire were brutally murdered.
When asked about the reason for the traces of the severe beating left on the corpses, a plain answer came back.
[They were punished for committing a crime against Lady Leticia.]
And that wasn’t all. For the past thirty years, the Empire has been constantly harrassing the Principality.
Even so, the Principality could not fight against them properly. Because the difference in power between the Empire and the Principality was overwhelming.
Unlike the Empire, where the power of the Goddess remained, the Principality lost the ‘Dragon’s Blessing’ a long time ago.
Then, in the end, things happened.
Seven years ago, Crown Prince Julios, who was the head of the delegation, was executed.
The charge was blasphemy. The Saintess herself killed Julios and hung his body on the wall for seven days.
The King, who ran to the Empire to save his son, collapsed in shock when he saw it. In the end, the King became seriously ill and died in the field without being able to return to his homeland.
The tragedy didn’t end there.
[I will not return the traitorous prince’s remains! I will publicize his crimes by displaying those insignificant bone fragments in front of everyone!]
A declaration that even the remains of his dead son will not be returned.
The Queen, who had barely endured the deaths of her son and her husband, finally lost her sanity.
In a harsh reality where his older brother was murdered, his father died, and his mother had gone mad. Only Dietrian, a young boy of sixteen, survived.
Seven full years passed just like that.
[I request the marriage of the Saintess’s daughter, Leticia, with the Prince, Dietrian.]
Dietrian stared down at the marriage proposal. The black eyes sunk deeply. His neat fingers ran across the paper for a moment, then stopped.
Everyone said he should decline the marriage proposal. But he couldn’t. If the marriage proposal was rejected, the Empire would not leave the Principality alone.
The innocent people would become victims of the blade. So there’s only one answer left.
Hearing the thunder, Dietrian slowly rose from his seat. Swirling emotions pressed deep into his heart.
“Your opinions have been heard.”
The meeting room was instantly quiet at the low voice.
“But I will accept the national marriage.”
“Your Majesty! What do you mean!”
The vassals who came to their senses vehemently opposed it.
“It’s better to wage war than to take such a fiend for the public!”
“Your Majesty! Please reconsider!”
Among them, there were even those who could not overcome the bitterness and cried on their knees. Looking at them like that, Dietrian remembered the seven years of hell.
He lost his family overnight.
It’s been a long time, but he still had nightmares from that time. When he barely woke up, he would struggle alone until dawn.
He couldn’t stand it anymore, so he jumped at dawn and grabbed the reins.
If he rushed into the temple alone, decapitate the Saintess, and kill all her children. Then he wondered if the anger in his heart would soften a little bit.
But in the end, he’d turn around. He is a King, and he has people to protect.
Dietrian closed his eyes.
Leticia.
Will I be able to put up with that woman? The woman who killed my people, the daughter of my enemy…
But he had to.
Dietrian slowly opened his eyes. Raising the prostate vassals, he firmly said.
“My intention would not change.”
“Your Majesty!”
“If I refuse, the Empire won’t let us go. We cannot take that risk.”
“But Your Majesty!”
Dietrian smiled faintly and shook his head.
“I am fine.”
They say that if I sacrifice myself, I can save everyone, but what if it’s not enough?
“Then I will send a letter of consent to the Empire.”
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