"Right? I knew it! The lady didn't show it either, but she likes it, right? What do you think of the experience gained from my maid career? Lady, straighten your waist!"
Eun-woo coughed as if she had been choked. The maid seemed to have taken it in a different sense, but anyway, it seemed that she too disapproved of the marriage.
"Even though the Duke's family is in a high-ranking family, the current owner is rumored to be… terribly bad. He is a man who has been labeled as a war ogre since he went out on his first expedition at the age of 16."
It was a nickname for the Duke that Eun-Woo knew well.
The public called him a war hero, but it was just a well-packed, nominal tribute. Eun-woo knew well how, throughout the novel, the same nobles viewed the duke.
"Honestly, I don't think it's a good idea for Marquis Diego to hang out with him often. When I stand in front of him, I get numb. How on earth do those two have such different personalities and how are they still friends? I've never seen the Marquis smile."
The maid shook her head as if she had seen a ghost in the middle of the day, perhaps recalling his expression she had encountered one day.
"He has that cold expression on his face that can easily kill a person… ! You can tell just by looking at the faces of the servants in the house. Everyone had a bluish face as if they couldn't even get a piece of bread… I want my young lady to marry someone who is friendly even if he has a low status."
Anit put her in a beautiful blue dress and turned her around. Then she gently caressed her soft cheeks, as if she was doing it to her own child.
At the young age of 10, she lost both of her parents and grew up alone in a large castle with her brother. Anit treated Eleanor like her own child. Anit patted her cheek and asked teasingly.
"But it's our Lady that will be getting married, so let's talk about it. What kind of man do you want? A domestic man? A man who is smart? You've never mentioned this before… What kind of man is your ideal type?"
"Uh…"
Eleanor's face turned serious instantly. Eventually, the young lady Anit served opened her mouth with a serious expression on her face.
"A man who does not die by being decapitated by a guillotine."
The maid Anit was speechless.
•••
"Welcome, Lady Miller. I've been waiting."
The white-haired royal prince's servant led her to the garden as if she already knew of her visit.
Originally, even if the Imperial Order entered, the relatives of the knights could not come to meet them at the imperial palace. It was a matter of course. This was the imperial palace where the Hellasium royal family lived.
However, Eleanor Miller was a little special. Eun-woo didn't know, but the chief servant, who had been in charge of the Royal Palace for a long time and welcomed guests from the royal family, was well aware of the special friendship between Prince Ikshid and the siblings of Family Miller.
As if familiar with the imperial court's favor towards Eleanor, the chaplain took her directly to the royal palace's reception room.
When she arrived at the reception room near the back garden, she could smell a fragrant flower from somewhere. It was from the rose garden. It was a spectacular view where the royal family's symbols, cyclamen and red roses, had bloomed to the fullest.
Dressed in a white dress with blue trims, she sat down at a table at the edge of the garden, guided by the waitress.
"Kindly wait for Marquis Miller's appearance, during that period please have these refreshments."
Small pieces of waffles with marmalade syrup, whipped cream, raspberry jam, and pudding topped with petals, were lightly placed on a tea cup and plate with gold frames containing chamomile tea.
However, she did not quickly touch the prepared refreshments. While looking around, Eun-woo reached out to a rose bush and picked up a rose and held it in her hand. She rolled the stem gently to avoid the thorns and was lost in thought.
As a result of reflection on the sudden information to the point of overloading her head, she was able to draw quite reliable conclusions.
Now she was living in the early part of the novel. In other words, it was still the time before the male protagonist Ikshid and the female protagonist Selena had met.
In other words, Eleanor Miller was also an unmarried young girl before marrying the villain Tashian Verk.
I couldn't help but be fortunate during my misfortune. Wouldn't it be possible to avoid the man you'll be married to before marriage?
The question was to what extent the relationship between the two has progressed.
In the novel, Tashian Verk had never been mentioned to be with his wife, Eleanor Miller. She was an extra through and through. The weak wife of a duke who rarely showed her face. That was all the description for her.
'How did such a woman like this end up marrying such a villain…?'
They were a couple that didn't get along like water and oil. A man who was a war hero who led the continent, and a woman who was like a flower in a greenhouse never having left her castle.
Eun-woo was even surprised that the villain Tashian Verk had a wife in the first place. To think there was actually a woman who was driven with love towards this man who seemed as if blue blood would spread when a blade sliced across his throat.
Eun-woo sighed after remembering the sky blue haired woman staring at her in the mirror.
Her thin limbs were white and soft like fresh snow. It was a body that would not want to have a single drop of water on her hand, let alone a small scratch in her life.
Eun-woo recalled her body in the other reality.
Ugly body covered with wounds caused by domestic violence here and there. A belt-hit mark, a torn wound caused by a broken bottle, and a bruise mark that had swelled red and blue. It was a memory she didn't really want to recall.
Her friend Ye-jin was a ray of light in her lonely and needy life. Maybe, really, maybe this was the second opportunity in her life. Her second life, her friend gave her.
She wanted to live properly. She doesn't want it to be ruined by anyone's hands.
I will never let Eleanor marry the villain. She would not live a life where her husband would disappear at the dew of the guillotine.
Along with that firm determination, emotions that could be called new hope sprang up in her.
Eun-woo smiled lightly.
Her thoughts naturally passed to Marquis Diego Miller, Eleanor's brother, whom she would soon meet.
What kind of Viscount was he?
She remembered that he was not an ordinary person. In the scene where he appeared, explosions always occurred, infants and girls fainted in the middle of the ball, or there were civic uprisings. At first glance, he was not an easy opponent.
He was currently the most important figure for Eun-woo. If Tashian Verk was the number one person to avoid, Marquis Diego Miller was the main figure who could be the most deeply involved in her marriage.
Eun-woo seriously pondered while engraving wrinkles between her eyebrows.
'How would I coax Eleanor's Oppa…?'
(TN: Oppa; a term for older brother. It can also mean, Baby, and such as an endearment for one's boyfriend, but it would depend on the context.)
As she was wandering around the rose garden and concentrating on planning her life plan, she could feel a strange gaze concentrating on the back of her head. Was Marquis Miller finally back?
Eun-woo hurriedly turned toward the entrance of the rose garden.
"Ah…"
However, her expectations were shattered as soon as she saw the man's black hair that was tangled by wind.
It wasn't the face that looked like her, nor the soft honey-colored hair that greeted her.
Eun-woo's eyes widened staring at the large body that came in. A tall, black-haired man stood at the entrance of the garden with an eerily cold expression on his face. The man who had just returned to the Imperial Castle had a helmet in his hand. It must have been that he had come in a hurry, and his dark-colored hair was tangled as if it was blown away by the wind.
The man's black eyes, which met her indigo one, held a strong light in them for a moment.
Eun-woo was trapped in the gaze of the man who seemed to be staring at her and couldn't move.
The man's eyes were carefully scrutinized, as if trying to feel something inside her. It was as if his gaze was obsessively caressing the surface of her skin. Like it was checking something.
At one point, her head became blank and she got goosebumps.
Eun-woo unknowingly stepped back.
The appearance of a man's hard, overwhelming body surrounded by fragile flowers was shockingly heterogeneous. At the same time, Eun-woo was mesmerized by the suffocating beauty of the man.
Wearing armor the size of his body, he boasted a size that would not be incompatible at all even if he was called a giant. He had a head that seemed to be bigger than hers.
The man's body, which appeared to be between heavy iron armored clothes, was clearly outlined enough to give an idea of how muscular and how trained he was.
Just walking out of the shadow of the rose garden wall, he stood in the middle of a confrontation between bright light and shadows, and he was no longer approaching her as if someone had drawn a line.
Black hair, black eyes, a dignified body that anyone can call a perfect Knight's body, sharp gaze as if it could kill the opponent at any moment, and those cool and cold eyes contained a line of cruelty today that made her forget even his handsome face.
There was nothing more to think about.
The Duke of Tashian Verk.
In the novel, he was the man to be her husband.
Surprised by the appearance of the man, Eun-woo hurriedly turned around, shaking like a rabbit trapped in a trap.
"Ouch…!"
She let out a scream and dropped the rose in her hand on the floor. Dark red blood had formed on thin and white fingers. Her finger had been pricked by a thorn. It hurt quite a bit, perhaps because she was stabbed hard.
As she hurriedly wrapped her injured finger, she heard iron clumping into each other. The duke, who had already approached her, stood in front of her with a surprised look. Then, with an inaccessible force, he snatched her hand in an instant.
He smelled of a rough man that was indescribable. It smells like grass and mud. For some reason, it was a strong scent.
Eun-woo said loudly in embarrassment.
"Your Highness…"
"Stay still!"
And with his shocking actions that followed, Eun-woo held her breath as if she couldn't believe the sight in front of her.
The man bent his tall height and bit her little white finger in his mouth.
The hot, squishy man's mouth felt unfamiliar to her fingers. The man bit her wound and washed it hard in his mouth.
Eun-woo was terrified by the feeling of his lips sucking on her fingers, making her twist her whole body and as she tried to escape.
"Du- Duke… What are you doing…?!"
Regardless of her strong resistance, he removed her finger from his lips and spat out red blood once to the ground. Then, once again, he kept the finger in his mouth and sucked the blood out.
Eun-woo bowed her reddened head and grabbed the steel forearm, which was holding the hand held by the other arm.
Her whole body had been trembling and as if it were given an electric shock. It looked like it could turn into a mess.
It wasn't long before the Duke, who repeated the action a couple of times, took his lips off her fingers. He shouted in a furious tone.
"What are you doing?! Have you forgotten that the striped thorny roses that grow in the Imperial Palace's gardens are feeble but poisonous? It usually ends with a fever, but if done wrong, it can even lead to amputation of your finger! How could you…?!"
The man who had been shouting with a vicious force, saw the woman's tired face and quickly shut his mouth. Her clear, glassy blue eyes were clouded with terror.
She didn't know. How could she know that the rose of the imperial palace had thorns?
She has been in this world for only a few hours.
He closed his eyes tightly, opened them, and wrapped his arms around the woman's shoulders who had a weak expression on her face.
"… .You're always like this! You weren't even careful for a bit that I couldn't take my eyes off of you."
Eun-woo gasped because of the sudden incident.
If the man had not supported her with strong strength, the body of the fragile marquis Eleanor Miller might have plummeted to the ground.
"I'm, I'm sorry. I must have forgotten for a moment…"
Eun-woo hurriedly made an excuse. The man's expression quickly loosened.
"…I didn't shout to get your apology. I… d**n, you're so careless! You get hurt every time. I just don't like it."
He helped her and put her on a nearby bench. He knelt down on the bare floor in front of her, threw off the gauntlet, and touched her forehead with her bare hands. Then he began to massage her cold fingertips with his big hands.
Eun-woo was surprised and refused him, fiddling with her fingers in the hot hands of the man which were sticking together. But the man persistently massaged her fingertips.
"I-it's okay! I'm really okay now."
"Those who just fainted and woke up will be less pale than you. If you don't want to faint again and see many people die, please stay still. If I could, I would wrap you up right away and take you to the royal court."
When Eun-woo heard that, she had no choice but to keep her mouth shut.
Her hand was tossed around by the man's rough, and callused hand. Compared to her white and soft hands, the man's hands were coarse and thick, like the bark of a tree.
When her hands finally took some of his warmth, he fell onto the ground as quickly as he had approached her for the first time.
Eun-woo was shocked to think that he might be a little disappointed to even drop his body so quickly. Then he hurriedly twisted his body diagonally from her like any noble lady who was calm and coy.