Chapter 01. The Crown Princess Has Fainted

“Hic, ngh… sniff.”

A middle-aged woman, bound to the bedposts with a gag in her mouth, looked upward and cried. Because of the gag, her sobs escaped only as faint, pitiful whimpers.

She lowered her gaze and curled into herself. It was fear, her body moved on instinct to protect itself.

And the one looking down at her was.

Mercedes.

The Crown Princess of this kingdom, and the cherished youngest daughter of Count Cromwell.

A woman of radiant beauty and graceful bearing, always composed and elegant.

“…Ah.”

But today, Mercedes wore only a nightgown, her long hair flowing freely. Even so, she still looked like someone of noble birth.

Without hesitation, she turned on her heel and left the room. There was only one thing she needed to bring.

How much time had passed? This all began during dinner… so was the palace still bustling?

If it was, she would need to wait. But luckily, the hallway was quiet. It was already past midnight.

“It’s not dinner time, after all…”

She murmured and walked on. Lately, she hadn’t been able to feel the passage of time properly.

Mercedes, Mercedes, Mercedes.

As she walked down the silent corridor, countless voices echoed in her ears, burrowing into her mind.

Why were they always so desperate to call her name? They had shoved her into a dark corner, treated her like a worthless ornament and yet they called her again and again.

Mercedes couldn’t understand it.

If they hated the sight of her, they could’ve driven her out.

If she annoyed them, they could’ve turned away.

They could’ve just killed her.

Why did they keep seeking her out, hitting her, hurling abuse?

Why did they keep her by their side?

Only now did she realize the reason.

The reason she had to live a lifetime with those who tormented her.

“To die with me. That must’ve been it.”

Mercedes murmured blankly and kept walking. Her destination was clear.

Late at night, with all the lights out and sleep blanketing the palace.

Mercedes stepped forward with a beautiful gait, as if dancing with grace.

Somehow, her body felt light.

She walked the dark corridor. The moon outside the window was bright.

The corridor was silent. Though she looked a bit disheveled, she seemed like a crown princess simply out for a stroll on a sleepless night.

If not for the dagger in her hand.

A dagger engraved with mistletoe flowers made her look instantly insane.

Her eyes looked only ahead, her steps moved with a strange joy.

Was this what it felt like to dance with abandon?

She turned the corridor into her own private ballroom as she made her way to her destination.

“Yes, all of this…”

I lived just for this.

She quickly reached her husband’s room and knocked on the door.

Then she smiled and murmured,

“Your lady, Mercedes, has come.”

At last.

It was time to kill her husband.

Chapter 01. The Crown Princess Has Fainted

Mercedes, Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Shame, collapsed from shortness of breath due to an overly tightened corset at the second anniversary celebration of her royal marriage.

At first, it was nothing serious.

It wasn’t uncommon for women who wanted to follow fashion trends and tightened their corsets too much to faint. Of course, they were sometimes mocked for being foolish, just to make their waists look slimmer.

But who would dare say such a thing to the Crown Princess?

So it should have ended as nothing more than a minor incident.

However, things began to take a strange turn.

The next day, and the day after that… strange rumors began to circulate within high society.

Isn’t it odd? The foremost virtue of a woman who becomes Crown Princess is her health. And yet she faints just from a corset? Is it truly alright for someone that frail to hold the position of Crown Princess? I’m worried about the future of our kingdom.

Indeed. Maybe the reason there’s been no news of a pregnancy in the past two years is because of the Crown Princess’s health.

My goodness. Then does that mean she can’t bear a proper heir?

Hmm. Seeing how she collapsed like that, there’s definitely something wrong with her health. After all, the Crown Princess is awfully slim, isn’t she?

If that’s the case, isn’t it possible that Count Cromwell, the Crown Princess’s father, committed fraud against the royal family by offering her as a bride?

My goodness. Then this really is a serious matter.

What started as a small spark spread with alarming speed. Unusually fast, and exceedingly rude.

Under normal circumstances, if Mercedes had truly been a respected Crown Princess, such rumors wouldn’t have even dared to surface.

Yes, if she had truly been a respected Crown Princess.

There was no way rumors spreading through high society wouldn’t reach the Crown Princess herself. Mercedes had to endure nightmares every night of being stabbed to death by words shaped like blades.

“…The weather is nice.”

Mercedes sat in front of the tea set laid out on the terrace and stared blankly up at the sky. Her head felt a little dizzy.

“Nanny. Would you fetch me the newspaper?”

Mercedes had always read the newspaper every day. So, of course, she made the same request today.

Then Gertrude, her nanny and the head lady-in-waiting who was sitting across from her enjoying teatime, answered with a strained face, trying to hide her unease.

“Your Highness. Perhaps… it would be better not to read the paper today.”

Judging from Gertrude’s reply, it seemed the rumors hadn’t stayed within high society.

Mercedes let out a sigh, feeling a faint dizziness.

“It’s alright. Bring it to me.”

No one could disobey the command of the Crown Princess. Gertrude had no choice but to raise her hand and instruct a maid to bring the newspaper that had been prepared in advance.

The newspaper, placed on a silver tray, was handed to Gertrude.

Only after she opened the tray cover and confirmed that there was nothing sharp inside the paper and that no one had tampered with it did she finally pass it to Mercedes.

Mercedes reached out her slender hand with grace and picked up the newspaper from the tray.

With skin pale and translucent, a long and elegant figure, soft wheat-colored hair catching the sunlight, and green eyes, the Crown Princess looked like a painting come to life.

“Is the Crown Princess’s health truly alright?”

A gentle, clear voice like the wind recited the article’s headline. Her clear eyes swiftly scanned the article.

The more she read, the more the letters seemed to fall apart. Pressing both hands against her throbbing temples, Mercedes held back a sigh.

It was the familiar headache that came as always.

“A headache? Perhaps you should rest a little. I’ll call for the royal physician.”

Gertrude quickly offered. Mercedes set the newspaper down and exhaled deeply.

“No, it’s fine… So this is how it turns out.”

Gertrude watched her silently, then sighed and spoke.

“I’ve heard His Highness the Crown Prince is going about his days as usual.”

“…Of course he is.”

Mercedes let out a bitter laugh.

Someone was clearly fanning the flames of the rumors and adding fuel to the fire.

Insults toward the Crown Princess could be seen as defamation of the royal family, so most people would be cautious with their words.

And yet, for such talk to go beyond whispers and appear in the newspapers, it meant someone higher than the Crown Princess was orchestrating everything.

And Mercedes knew exactly who that someone was.

‘It will be fine with time.’

She repeated the words to herself.

Just as she always had. If she kept her mouth shut, covered her ears, and closed her eyes, time would pass, and eventually, everyone would forget she even existed.

Mercedes believed in people’s forgetfulness.

She dared to believe.

Because, in the end, that was all she could do.

Even if she tried to speak up and fight back, the outcome was already clear, she would lose.

***

“How could you behave so disgracefully that an article like this comes out! I can’t even show my face in public anymore!”

Her father, Count Cromwell, shouted as he violently threw the newspaper. As if it were expected, the paper struck Mercedes in the face and landed on her lap.

Mercedes quietly stared at the opened newspaper.

[Is the Crown Princess Truly Qualified?]

[Crown Princess Previously Diagnosed as Infertile… Confession from Former Palace Physician]

In just a week, the slander had escalated severely.

Mercedes continued to gaze blankly at the paper. In front of her, the count went on yelling.

“I gave you such a good position! And not only can you not even seduce your husband, you go and faint too? This is how you repay kindness with betrayal!”

The loud, echoing voice intensified her headache. Gradually, she began to feel detached from the world. Slowly, Mercedes lifted her head.

The old count, face red with rage, looked excessively healthy.

‘Father still… has so much strength.’

While Mercedes was wasting away.

She looked at her wrist, which had thinned noticeably in just a few days, and let out a faint laugh.

“You… You’re laughing? So now you don’t even listen to your father?”

It was as if the count didn’t even see his daughter’s emaciated appearance. And of course, his thick hand slapped Mercedes across the face.

The pain was enough to make her vision shake.

She thought this would definitely leave a swollen bruise. Calmly, she spoke to the count as he raised his hand again.

“Father. If the Crown Princess’s cheek is swollen, it won’t look good in public.”

“Ah. That’s right. It’s become a habit, damn annoying.”

The count spat out a curse and, as always, called for the healer he had prepared in advance.

‘After all, I’m not really his daughter.’

It might have been natural to be treated like a possession.

She had been born as the count’s illegitimate child and was secretly registered into the Cromwell family.

Her mother, it seemed, had been the youngest maid working in the count’s household. There was a significant age gap between her and the count.

After becoming pregnant with his child, she fled to the neighboring Lum Empire and lived in hiding. Fearing that the existence of the illegitimate child might be revealed and bring trouble in the future, the count deliberately had the child brought back.

He left the mother behind, and only took the child.

The count brought her back because she was his blood, but then neglected her, and the countess, naturally, despised and abused Mercedes for being illegitimate.

Because the countess abused her so openly, Mercedes soon became everyone’s target for venting frustration in the household.

She was hit only in places that couldn’t be seen by others, and subjected to harsh verbal abuse.

Just once, the second son had kicked her in the head, and ever since then, a strange headache had followed her constantly. It was hard to say if it was phantom pain or trauma, but it was a persistent, inexplicable pain.

She wondered where her mother, who had lived as a wanderer, had gone.

She must have… passed away. It didn’t seem like she was still in this world. It didn’t take long for Mercedes to come to that conclusion.

After all those years, Mercedes learned how to let words slip through one ear and out the other, how to kill her emotions, and eventually, how to keep any expression from showing on her face.

And so, on the day Mercedes made her debut into society.

Since she was publicly recognized as the daughter of the count, she couldn’t be hidden forever, and the count reluctantly decided to “present” her.

The count said, even a worthless girl could at least bring in a dowry. He told her to flatter some old noblemen and earn money by becoming a second wife.

But that day, the person Mercedes met was none other than Elmond, the former Crown Prince.

Elmond, known for both his good reputation inside and outside the palace and his handsome appearance, fell in love with Mercedes at first sight.

And he immediately sent a marriage proposal to the Cromwell household.

Since there was no lack in his status for her to become Crown Princess, the engagement proceeded without delay.

The count rejoiced, saying even someone like her had proven useful. Then, in a rush, he summoned a healer to remove the scars that covered her body.

None of this process considered her wishes.

At the time, Mercedes was fourteen years old.

Fourteen, still far too young to marry. In the Kingdom of Shame, marriages were usually arranged around the age of eighteen to twenty.

Even at that age, Mercedes accepted everything without expression.

“If you weren’t part of the Cromwell family, do you think you could have even dreamed of the position of Crown Princess? You should be grateful.”

Strictly speaking, it was more thanks to her beauty than to the count, but such things meant nothing to him.

“…I’m sorry.”

Mercedes only bowed her head again and again before the count, who couldn’t control his fury.

“I’m doing everything I can to put a lid on these rumors. You must do everything you can to bear the Crown Prince’s child. This time, make sure of it!”

The count grabbed her arm tightly and whispered as if he would devour her.

And, as always, Mercedes nodded.