To clear her falsely accused parents, she first uses her beauty to charm Christoph, then ensnares the Second Prince and finally the First Prince, the crown prince himself. In the end, she pits the princes against each other, dragging the royal family’s prestige into the ground.
Do your best, heroine.
I’ll fade out of the picture, but I’ll quietly cheer on your ambitions.
23 hours remain.
In the novel, 23 hours from now, I will be kidnapped by Lyzectus and die.
Having been unloved by anyone, I confess my love to Lyzectus, and we run away—an abduction that’s almost like elopement. But as we’re chased, our horse falls off a cliff, and—held in Lyzectus’ arms—I smile blissfully in the novel.
Wrapped in love for the first time in my life, the novel’s version of me was happy until the very moment of her death.
In a way, it was a happy ending for the novel’s Elise. But for me, the real Elise, it’s no happy ending at all. Lyzectus dying is unacceptable.
Peering through the rattling carriage window, I caught sight of Lyzectus riding alongside us on horseback, his expression severe. In the novel, he was concerned about me, heartbroken after the engagement’s annulment. Soon, he would kidnap me to prevent my forced marriage to the neighboring country.
After all, Lyzectus has loved me for sixteen years.
At first, it was guilt and concern—perhaps born from his conscience. Somewhere along the way, though, that worry deepened into a love that no one else knew of.
Lyzectus was once a novice priest.
His fate changed on a night when, at the age of thirteen, he was assigned to guard the temple. That night, my mother’s coffin was being kept there for her funeral the next day. Unfortunately, mice appeared. While trying to drive them away, Lyzectus accidentally shifted the coffin lid and saw my mother’s body.
Although he quickly replaced the lid, Lyzectus chose silence. The cause of death he had heard didn’t align with the state of her body.
What could a thirteen-year-old priest-in-training from a merchant family possibly say to the king’s brother? He could easily drag his own family into peril.
The following year, Lyzectus lost his family to a plague. At rock bottom, he overheard rumors of me being scorned as a “mother-killer.”
And so Lyzectus made me the reason he lived.
He abandoned everything for my sake.
Leaving the temple, he entered a strict school of swordsmanship where no weakness or compromise was allowed, and he mastered the art of combat.
Once fully licensed, he could serve in any noble household. That’s how Lyzectus became my guard.
“Lyzectus, I want to stop by the royal merchant’s shop.”
Lyzectus instructed the coachman to change course.
Nobles usually summon merchants to their estates, but I sometimes visited their shops for a change of pace. My father didn’t love me, but he still ensured I received a royal education and ample financial support.
“This is a pleasure, Lady Elise,” said the elderly merchant as he courteously led me to an elegant reception room reserved for nobles.
“I came today with a request. I would like to buy sleeping beads.”
The merchant’s brow twitched.
Sleeping beads were expensive and on the verge of being classified as contraband.
“I’ve been feeling some unease lately… As you know, my father doesn’t, well, favor me. It’s hard to ask him for something like this…”
Although I was a royal daughter, Lyzectus was my only guard. His presence alone spoke volumes about my cold treatment.
“I’d like to carry them for self-defense. Would you sell them to me?”
The merchant glanced at Lyzectus, standing silently behind me, then gave a heavy nod of understanding.
“Indeed, Lady Elise, you may have need of them. You there—fetch the sleeping beads from the back of the vault.”
He ordered his servants to retrieve the beads.
The sleeping beads were small black spheres, about five centimeters in diameter, covered in a protective membrane. When struck or thrown, the membrane would rupture, releasing a powerful sleeping agent as fine powder.
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