Chapter 01
The wedding of Helena Winston and Benjamin Ishpern was lavish and elegant enough to honor the names of two great noble houses.
Even if the truth behind the marriage was nothing like what it appeared to be.
The ceremony was held in Hodlin, the territory of the bride’s family.
Following long-standing tradition, Count Adrian Winston, Helena’s father, hosted a three-day celebration in honor of his daughter’s marriage.
The entire city was filled with the fragrance of orange blossoms, and young maidens in spotless white aprons danced in the plazas.
Though the festivities were lively and noisy, the wedding itself, held within the Winston estate, carried a far more solemn atmosphere.
A man with long black hair neatly brushed back stepped forward in formal wedding attire and began reciting the marriage vows.
“…Thus, as the lord of the Ishpern family, stewards of the great territory of Burwood, and as wise and faithful husband and wife, as companions united in both body and soul, we swear before God and our honorable houses to walk this path together.”
It was a bright afternoon, and the man stood within the beautifully decorated wedding hall as he read the vows.
Yet for some reason, he resembled a black beast lurking within a dark forest, patiently waiting for prey.
His deathly pale skin, blood-red eyes, and the powerful, predatory physique of a wild beast made him seem dangerously raw despite his beauty.
He was Benjamin Ishpern, the man who would become Helena’s husband after this ceremony.
After finishing the vows, Benjamin extended the document toward his bride with a hand so excessively formal and distant that it felt insulting rather than respectful.
“……”
But Helena did not take it.
With shimmering reddish-brown hair beneath a sparkling veil and dressed in the pure white gown symbolic of a bride, Helena did not possess even the tiniest desire to marry the man before her.
Raising emerald-green eyes that resembled polished jewels, she glared at Benjamin’s outstretched hand holding the vows.
This lunatic.
For some reason, she felt as though the scent of blood clung heavily to him, and she unconsciously wrinkled her nose.
At that moment, Benjamin spoke again.
“Helena.”
There was little emotion in his calm voice, yet it tightened around her throat all the same.
“Please take it.”
Helena inhaled deeply and glanced to the side.
Her family—the people of House Winston—were watching her with expressions mixed equally with worry and expectation.
Feeling their anxious gazes upon her skin, Helena took another steadying breath.
It’s too late to turn back now.
There was no other choice.
Slowly, Helena extended her hand.
She accepted the marriage vows from Benjamin as though taking hold of a handful of shattered glass.
Her lips trembled once before finally beginning to move.
“I, Helena Winston… accept you, Benjamin Ishpern… as my husband.”
The moment she read the first line of the vows, countless emotions surged through her.
Never once in her life had she thought herself especially fortunate.
But at this moment, she realized something.
Just how happy she had truly been until now.
Helena turned her gaze slightly toward her father, Adrian Winston.
She had always thought him too soft-hearted to be dependable.
Yet the instant she stepped beyond his protection, she understood that it had been her father’s warm love that made her who she was.
Her eyes then shifted toward her stepmother, Mia Winston.
Only yesterday they had been bickering endlessly, but now the thought that she would be traveling somewhere so distant that even such arguments would no longer be possible caused Helena’s chest to ache.
She and her stepmother had fought often, and hated each other just as often. But affection had accumulated through all those quarrels too.
Even now, among all the members of House Winston, Mia was the only one openly wiping away tears.
And what about her younger half-siblings, who clung to her no matter how much she pushed them away, insisting she hated it?
Would there ever again be people in her life who loved her with such blind devotion?
Even after she teased them mercilessly, smacked their heads until they cried, they would still come running moments later shouting “Big sister!” with runny noses staining the hem of her skirt.
Why had she never realized until now how precious that love truly was?
And then there were her friends, whom she might never see again.
When they were together, she enjoyed their company, yet had always assumed she could live just fine without them.
Only now did she realize how much of her life they occupied.
“…I am happy that the life I will spend with you from this day forward will be longer than the days I spent not knowing you.”
She had been immature.
Arrogant.
“I will always respect you… and become a loving wife.”
When Helena reached the word love, she bit down hard on the inside of her mouth.
Her fangs clamped down so fiercely on the tender flesh that a loud crack echoed out.
It wasn’t only the sound. Pain tore through the inside of her mouth, and the thick metallic taste of blood spread across her tongue.
Then Benjamin called her name again.
“Helena.”
Helena glared at him with burning eyes.
What do you want, you bastard?
Her gaze carried enough hatred to kill—or to wish for death itself.
Yet what appeared on Benjamin’s lips in response was a meaningful smile.
“Thank you.”
Then, slowly, he raised his hand and touched her cheek.
Like someone handling a priceless treasure, Benjamin gently stroked Helena’s cheek and jaw before whispering:
“I, too, will love only you for the rest of my life.”
At his sickeningly sweet whisper, Helena nearly slammed the enormous bouquet she was holding directly into his face.
As she breathed roughly, her eyes caught sight of Benjamin’s hand.
Bright red droplets of blood stained the white glove that had caressed her cheek and jaw.
The moment Benjamin noticed it, something strange flickered in his eyes.
Looking at the blood on his glove, he lightly licked his lips as though savoring the taste already.
It lasted only an instant, and the movement was so subtle that no one else could have noticed.
But Helena saw it.
That insane bastard.
And Benjamin knew she had seen it too.
His blood-red eyes gleamed like polished glass as they slowly traced over her.
Under that cold-blooded gaze devoid of even the shadow of emotion, chills spread violently across her entire body.
Get a hold of yourself, Helena.
She lowered her gaze back to the vows.
The wedding could no longer be undone anyway.
Benjamin Ishpern, right now you think everything will go exactly the way you want. But there’s one thing you don’t know. I’m Helena Winston. Fine then. Let’s see who wins.
Once she steeled herself, she felt as though she could read a hundred meaningless vows just like this without faltering.
Helena began reading the marriage vows with the fierce intensity of someone declaring war.
“Thus, as the lord of the Ishpern family, stewards of the great territory, and as wise and faithful husband and wife, as companions united in body and soul, we swear before God and our honorable houses to walk this path together.”
As her recitation ended, the priest finally spoke.
“By this, I proclaim before God that the two of you are now husband and wife.”
