Chapter 2

He was a man with a strong physique, dressed in a white shirt. He was sitting on an extra bed in the corner of the barracks, his presence filling the room with a sense of pressure. His slightly tangled dark hair was swept casually over his forehead, revealing dark eyebrows and piercing horizontal eyes.

He was loosening the collar of his shirt, a predator who had stumbled upon an unexpected prey. His eyes seemed to quietly overpower Elise, who was frozen in place as if she were pinned to the spot.

I know that man, she thought to herself as a small whisper escaped her lips. “Kyr…stan.”

Archduke Kyrstan. The half-brother of Emperor Van Yela and the owner of Rotiara, one of the few blessed lands in the north. Elise couldn’t believe she was in the presence of the man she had only ever seen once.

Elise had only caught a glimpse of him from a distance, but the Archduke Kyrstan was a presence that was hard to forget. His dark hair and piercing blue eyes were already the stuff of legend across the continent.

Rumor had it that Kyrstan was the illegitimate child of the missing lover of Emperor Van Yela, a vagabond. Technically, he had no royal blood at all, but the fifth prince of the imperial family had welcomed him as a brother.

Six years later, when the fifth prince revolted and took control of the imperial family, Kyrstan was at the center of the chaos. The new emperor immediately made him the Archduke and granted him the fertile Rotiara Territory.

Under the emperor’s aggressive expansionist policies, Kyrstan gained a reputation as a war ogre across the continent. His military prowess and ruthless tactics were feared by all.

A suffocating silence hung in the air as Elise struggled to find her voice. She couldn’t help but wonder if the Archduke would remember her. Despite being the princess of Argan, her face and name were not well-known on the continent. Andrei, her twin brother and the Emperor of Argan, had kept her hidden and prevented her from attending imperial ceremonies.

All the public knew of her was that she was the sickly twin sister of the Emperor. Rumors circulated that she couldn’t tolerate being in the sun for long and that she was unmarried because of her poor health. Some even whispered that she was a half-beast, not well-behaved enough for marriage. There were even rumors of inappropriate relationships between her and her brother.

Desperate to clear her brother’s name and put an end to the rumors, Elise had begged Andrei to allow her to attend his birthday banquet. She hoped that by appearing in public, the scandal would finally die down. That was the only time Elizabeth had ever been seen by the world, and it would be the last.

The banquet that day had been attended by envoys from all over the continent to celebrate the birthday of Emperor Argan. It was then that Elise had first laid eyes on the Archduke Kyrstan, the War Ogre of Van Yela.

If only he had seen her that day. If he remembered her. If he discovered her true identity now, it would be much harder for Elise to escape safely from this place. To Kyrstan, she was a princess of an enemy country, a captive to be captured and killed without mercy. And now she had killed one of Van Yela’s knights and fled, making her situation even more dire.

Tears welled up in Elise’s eyes as she realized the gravity of her situation. Why did she have to meet Kyrstan now, of all times? He was most likely the commander-in-chief of the entire camp, and her life or death rested on his decisions.

The Archduke looked at Elise without saying a word, his expression unreadable. She couldn’t tell if he knew her true identity or not, but either way, her fate was in his hands.

An urgent voice came from behind the door again. “Sir Kyrstan! Are you inside?”

This time, Kyrstan responded to the call. His low, resonant voice was tinged with a hint of frustration. “What’s going on?”

“Sir Roderick has been assassinated! It looks like an intruder is hiding. Come on, give me instructions!”

Kyrstan’s pale blue eyes scanned Elise, taking in the sight of her blood-soaked hands and the torn top that barely covered her body. His gaze lingered on the hem of her skirt, also soaked in blood.

Elise’s heart was pounding in her chest. One word from Kyrstan and her life would be over. Desperate, she scratched at the magic circle tattooed on the back of her ankle.

This magic circle was a last resort, something that Andrei had instructed her to use only in the worst case. It was a spell that would blow up the body of the person whose magic circle was engraved. By simply pressing the emblem and calling her brother’s name, Elise could disappear from this world without leaving any trace behind.

Kyrstan’s gaze returned to Elise’s face, and he abruptly stood up from his seat. His steps fell heavily as he approached her, closing the distance between them in just a few strides.

As he loomed over her, Elise contorted her face in acceptance of her fate. It was over. She couldn’t escape now. All she could hope for was a clean death, at least as a princess, as the pride of Argan. Andrei was still out there, waiting for her beyond death. So she wasn’t afraid.

“Andrei,” she whispered, pressing the magic circle on her ankle and calling out her brother’s name.

But then something unexpected happened. “I see you, Your Majesty, the Princess of Argan,” Kyrstan said, kneeling down on one knee in front of her.

Elise was speechless, her lips parted in shock. For a moment, she was confused about where she was. This was Van Yela’s camp, wasn’t it? And this man, wasn’t he the so-called dog of Emperor Van Yela?

“Commander, may I come in…” a voice called out from the door.

“No, don’t come in,” Kyrstan replied, his voice still steady and emotionless. He looked into Elise’s bewildered eyes, not breaking their gaze for a moment.

Kyrstan’s gaze was intense, trapping Elise in its hold. “Can you excuse me for a moment, Your Majesty, the Princess?” he asked.

It was clear that he remembered her at once, and it dawned on Elise that the courtesy he was showing her was the kind reserved for the imperial family. No one on the continent dared to look down on the royal family of Argan, the great empire. It was a tradition that had been practiced for over a thousand years, ever since Argan ruled over Grandel.

But now that Argan was destroyed, it was nothing more than an old-fashioned custom. There was no reason to give the empress of the defeated country the title of “Your Majesty.”

Was Kyrstan making fun of her?

“It’s not good to see you in that outfit,” he said, his expression and voice revealing nothing. He didn’t ridicule her, didn’t sympathize with her, didn’t show her any hostility. He was simply indifferent, as if her appearance was an obvious fact but meant nothing to him.

Elise bit her lip as the sounds of restless footsteps outside the barracks grew louder. Finally, she nodded her head.

“Okay,” she said.

As soon as she gave her permission, Kyrstan stood up and retrieved a clean linen cloth from the desk. He immersed it in a bowl of water and brought it over to Elise. Gently, he wiped the blood from her hands, arms, and hair, and draped a cloak around her shoulders.

“Can I touch your body?” he asked, lowering himself in front of her.

This time, Elise had no choice but to nod reluctantly. As soon as she gave her permission, Kyrstan grabbed her wrists with his large hands and lifted them up. He wiped the blood from her hands with a wet towel, leaving a thin stream of pink on the hem of her skirt and his own thigh.

Elise stared blankly at Kyrstan as he cleaned her hands, arms, and hair, then draped a cloak around her shoulders. She didn’t know whose cloak it was.

Kyrstan’s black hair was damp, as if he had recently washed it. His thin double eyelids framed his long, straight eyes, and his straight nose bridge and mouth gave him a handsome, cool, and shrewd appearance.

“Anyone who dares to touch Her Majesty’s body without permission, the princess, will be punished accordingly,” Kyrstan said. Elise couldn’t understand his intentions. His subordinate had died, and he must have already guessed that she was responsible. Why was he treating her like this?

But soon Elise realized that this was just his nature. He values principles and beliefs, like Andrei. But unlike Andrei, there was no warmth in Kyrstan’s eyes when he looked at her. It was not an act of goodwill. He was simply upholding the respect due to the royal family of a country.

Kyrstan, who had fixed Elise’s dress, clenched his fist. He walked away from her and called out, “Come in, Sir Ruben.”

“Yes!”

The door to the barracks was thrown open, and Kyrstan declared in a low voice, “This is Her Majesty the Princess.”

“Yes? What did you just say…”

“She is the last member of the Argan Empire. The last one to go, and you will have to treat her with respect,” Kyrstan said, his blue eyes still cold as they looked at Elise.