Chapter 1. Husband Wanted

Queen Charlotte, dishonorably divorced, spent the next 3 years desperately seeking a remarriage partner. And she was rejected at every turn.

Even infants would immediately stop crying at the threat, “If you don’t listen, I’ll marry you off to Queen Charlotte.” One could easily imagine how low the royal family’s dignity had fallen because of this shameless woman. 

Unable to bear it any longer, King Patrick III—her ex-husband—confined Charlotte to a shabby old castle in Polton, seemingly putting an end to her outrageous behavior.

No. That was absolutely not the case.

<Born 1826, height approximately 5.5 feet, many gray hairs but not an embarrassing appearance, not skilled in housework or various chores but full of willingness to become a good wife.>

A stone building that was once a lord’s castle hundreds of years ago.

Locked in a top-floor room that might have once held the most vicious criminals, Lottie was writing down words to sell herself as a clearance item in the marriage market.

Though she hated to admit it, she had reached the point where any man would do.

<I was married once but experienced divorce 3 years ago.

The parliament requires fault on the wife’s side to approve a divorce, but my petty and despicable ex-husband desperately wanted to divorce me, so he conspired with his lover and falsely accused me of adultery.

I emphasize clearly that this was a fabrication not worth a single word.

Throughout my marriage, I lived like a decorative artificial flower in my husband’s bedroom—what kind of crazy bee would fly to a fake flower with no fragrance?

My ex-husband approached me from the beginning knowing that my family had no son to inherit the family name.

After swallowing up my family through our marriage, all that remained was to get rid of me and bring in his lover as his new wife.>

She wanted to scrawl “our king is a bastard” with all her heart.

Ten years ago, the crown prince who had caused a storm in Matila’s social circles with his century’s romance with a noble lady was actually a fraud and a scoundrel.

He had approached her to swallow up the title and property of a family with only a daughter, to silence the noble council members who were thorns in his side, and to fatten his own belly.

<All I want is to reclaim the property unfairly taken from my ex-husband.

If you marry me and help me hire a lawyer, I swear I will live as the wife you desire until death.>

Matila was a country that did not recognize women’s property rights.

Without a husband, women couldn’t engage in economic activities or easily receive legal protection. Naturally, hiring a lawyer was also impossible.

Driven by her determination to reclaim what her ex-husband had taken, Lottie searched for a man to remarry every day, only to be rejected again and again, like a stone on the street.

And so, currently.

<I am 100 percent certain of winning the lawsuit once I can file it.

The recovered assets will become my dowry in their entirety, and the specific list includes 1 million acres of land in the Dempis region, mines, luxury mansions, hotels, and various businesses……>

As Lottie was writing down the splendid list of dowry items, her busy hand gradually came to a stop.

Dowry, my foot. Even after winning an annulment lawsuit and going through numerous legal battles, she’d be lucky to recover even half of the property listed here.

From the beginning, her claim of a 100 percent win rate was fiction. There was no lawyer in this country competent and gutsy enough to fight and win against the king.

But she knew that unless she pulled off this scam, no one in the world would take a beggar like her as a wife.

‘My life ended up like this ultimately because……’

Lottie pressed her lips together and bulged her sunken eyes. She furrowed her brow and breathed heavily through her nose several times, composing her emotions.

There was no time to rest if she wanted to send this public marriage proposal with an errand boy before sunset.

“Anna! The ink has hardened, so bring some warm water……”

Just as she loudly called the name of her only maid, a thunderous noise from outside cut off Lottie’s words.

Though distant, the sound was loud enough to make the stone building tremble slightly. It was clearly the sound of something exploding not far away.

Unable to look outside, Lottie repeatedly called Anna’s name toward the firmly closed door. But all she got in response were consecutive explosion sounds.

Growing anxious, Lottie roughly pushed the door that was always kept locked.

The door opened with ridiculous ease.

“Anna! Brandon! Tom!”

She hurried down the dim corridor, calling out the names of her few household members.

There was no answer. Only intermittent sounds of explosion.

She was so flustered that Lottie didn’t even realize she had been clutching the stack of public marriage proposals in her hand since leaving her room.

Only when she reached the first-floor entrance did Lottie realize that all her household members had abandoned the castle and fled.

“……!”

While Lottie stood in bewilderment, the sound of artillery fire came clearly from beyond the open entrance.

Behind a low mountain facing the castle, flames and black smoke were rising. It was in the direction of the city where numerous residents lived.

War had broken out. And it was right on her doorstep.

Hurriedly leaving the castle, Lottie quickly ran in the opposite direction of the rising smoke. But she stopped abruptly after a short distance. She had encountered two soldiers in navy blue uniforms.

“Have you finished the external search?”

A man on a brown horse asked a man with teal hair who wasn’t on horseback. They appeared to be superior and subordinate, and fortunately, they didn’t seem to have noticed Lottie.

Praying that she wouldn’t be discovered by them, Lottie pressed herself against a corner wall and held her breath.

“Yes. There are no signs of intrusion. I don’t think Patrick III’s family would have escaped here……”

“Search every inch of the castle. That man would hide even in the confined queen’s room to save his own life.”

‘Patrick’s family escaped? Saving his own life? What does all this mean……?’

The man who had cut off his subordinate’s words with a concise tone suddenly fell silent. Lottie squeezed her eyes shut. Please. Don’t come this way. Please……

“Open your eyes.”

An emotionless voice echoed in Lottie’s ear.

With all her senses numbed by fear, Lottie did as the man commanded. She lifted her trembling eyelids and turned her head creakingly toward the source of the voice.

There he was. A man on horseback wearing Matila’s navy blue uniform.

With that terribly cold baritone voice, a firm jaw and lips visible beneath his military cap. Two eyes looking down at her obliquely from under the brim of his hat……

“……!”

The moment she met those strangely glowing blue eyes, Lottie dredged up his name from the bottom of her memory.

‘Calyx Valdea.’

The patricide who killed the former king, the shame of the Matila royal family, the madman who was said to have beaten to death every wife he took.

Although she had only met him twice during her seven years as a member of the royal family, she recognized him immediately not just because of his surreal appearance.

The terrifying epithets associated with him, almost impossible to believe they referred to a single person, had clearly imprinted his existence throughout her time as Matila’s queen.

‘Why is a man who was confined long ago here……’

Her confusion didn’t last long. She spotted the golden epaulet symbolizing Matila’s king on Calyx’s left chest.

‘It’s a civil war.’

This wasn’t an air raid from a neighboring country.

It was a power struggle between Patrick III, who had lost the throne, and the new king, Calyx Valdea.

Innocent civilians were dying in a fight between blue bloods blinded by power.

“……”

As if their well-being was none of his concern, Calyx merely stared at Lottie while remaining mounted on his horse.

The brown horse that had galloped at full speed across the mountain was exhaling rough breaths.

The silence continued until those breaths became even.

Lottie felt something surge up in her chest.

Was it anger?

Though it was just a facade, she had once been Matila’s queen. She might well have been furious at the audacity of this man who, blinded by the throne, not only turned an innocent village into a wasteland but also searched her residence.

‘That’s a lie.’

Lottie whispered to herself and inwardly sneered. She knew that what was filling her inside right now was not anger stemming from a sense of justice.

The survival instinct of not wanting to die. That far outweighed her anger toward the mad king.

The hot feeling in her chest was self-loathing from that fact.

“I, I am…”

Lottie’s face gradually took on a servile look, driven by her determination to survive.

She was about to blurt out that she and he had once been in-laws, that she wanted to tear Patrick to pieces as much as he did, so weren’t they on the same side?

That although they had only met face to face a few times, couldn’t he spare her life for old times’ sake?

Just as these words were about to escape, another violent artillery sound echoed all around.

It was a thunderous noise that made it impossible to stand firmly on two feet, but Calyx remained composed.

“Sister-in-law.”

At this soft address, Lottie’s eyes filled with expectation. Good. He recognized me too, so if I plead well……

“After I let you go alive, what if you run to him and confess everything you’ve seen and heard?”

It wasn’t a question. The man, who refused to consider any answer other than the one he had already decided on, had already pointed his gun at her.

In that brief moment, Lottie thought of tens of thousands of ways to preserve her life. But when the bullet made a crisp sound as it was loaded, all those brilliant strategies became useless.

‘Bang!’

Feeling hot blood gushing from her chest, Lottie fell backward.

The public marriage proposals she had been holding in her hand scattered like snow in the air before gently settling on top of her.

On the writing she had scribbled on the back of flyers because she couldn’t afford paper, a lady’s illustration was clearly visible.

‘My life ended up like this ultimately…… because of me.’

Completing that statement she had desperately swallowed back while alive, Lottie’s life came to a miserable end.

* * *

“……ttie.”

I thought my life had…… ended?

As her black vision suddenly cleared, the first thing Lottie felt was the subtle scent of a dressmaker’s shop vibrating at the tip of her nose.

“Lottie! Why are you spacing out like that?”

A sharp voice like a winter-worn branch pierced Lottie’s ears.

Lottie only belatedly realized that she was standing with her arms spread wide when she saw her reflection in the mirror.

Needles stuck here and there on her torso for fitting gleamed as if about to stab her forearm.

“If you can’t focus on your posture even when fitting a dress, how careless will you be when spending time with gentlemen at social gatherings? Young girls these days are not modest at all……”

“What is this……”

“……?”

Lottie muttered with a dazed face.

It wasn’t hair that had turned white from extreme stress after divorce, but bright orange hair that covered her back, waving healthily.

And her skin. The skin that had roughened from all sorts of menial work after the divorce was white and clear. Additionally, her cheeks were tinged with a peach color.

Deep yet bright green eyes, a lively upturned nose, and vibrant lips. Unlike her pure appearance, she had long, slender arms and legs and a svelte body……

“Why…… why am I young? Why don’t I have white hair? Why…… why am I pretty? Why……! Ouch!”

After checking her reflection in the mirror several times, Lottie eventually screamed as she was pricked by a needle.

It hurt. The fact that it hurt enough to draw blood on her forearm was proof that this was certainly not a dream.

‘I…… came back? To before I got married?’

“This can’t be……”

Really…… this can’t be!

“……Madam, if I may be so bold, to successfully marry off your granddaughter, she’ll need to attend at least five balls.”

“Five balls? What nonsense. Even dancing until her legs break wouldn’t be enough.”

The seamstress and Isabelle, standing at a distance, spoke. They were referring to Lottie, who had started jumping around with needles stuck all over her body.

However, nothing could stop the shock and joy of someone who had returned from hell.

* * *

It was one year before Lottie would stamp the marriage contract that would plunge her life into the abyss.