Chapter 1
“I should have realized it the moment the Viscount started coddling her.” “A mere maid daring to give birth to the Viscount’s child.”
Selena was born the ‘illegitimate daughter’ between Viscount Cerius and a maid. Because of this, she was the target of many people’s disdain and glares.
The Viscountess, in particular, didn’t just dislike Selena and her mother; she loathed them. Yet, it was the Viscount himself who had forcibly taken the maid, who had begged him to stop.
The flames of his fleeting desire soon extinguished. Instead of caring for the mother and daughter, the Viscount abandoned them, relegating the powerless pair to an attic where they remained unseen by the public eye.
Even so, she never expected that as soon as her mother passed away—that man, hardly worthy of being called a father—would immediately marry her off to the ‘Monster Grand Duke.’
Or, could she truly say she didn’t expect it?
Selena had always known that her father would sell her off eventually. It had simply happened sooner than she had anticipated. Therefore, she found her current situation—being sold off—far better than remaining in that suffocating mansion.
Whether it was a blessing or a curse, Selena possessed a stunning appearance, and as the days passed, her beauty only deepened. With hair like honey-glazed gold and clear, sky-blue eyes that contrasted against her fair, delicate skin, she looked exactly like a sugar doll.
The Viscount, having calculated the worth of his daughter, once took Selena to an imperial banquet unannounced, after dressing her up meticulously. She was only thirteen, while her mother was still alive.
“This is my daughter, Selena Cerius.”
With a beauty reminiscent of a blossoming flower, she caught the eyes of everyone from young noblemen who had yet to reach their coming-of-age to old, viper-like aristocrats.
“She is truly beautiful.” “She looks just like a living doll.”
Selena wanted to escape the scene at any moment. But there was no way the Viscount, determined to sell his daughter at a high price, would ever consider her feelings. Even at her young age, Selena had to endure the blatant, lecherous gazes that raked over her body.
Immediately after the banquet, the Viscount called Selena into his office and said: “Selena, shouldn’t you repay this father who gave birth to and raised you? Greet her. She will be your teacher.”
A teacher?
At the unfamiliar word, Selena, who had been looking at the floor, lifted her head. A woman she had never seen before stood beside the Viscount. The woman, wearing a dress that revealed her chest and shoulders, swept a glance over Selena before speaking to the Viscount.
“Is this the child I must teach? She certainly is pretty.”
Sweat began to soak Selena’s palms. The distressing memories of the banquet hall were coming back to her.
“V-Viscount?”
Selena called out to him in a flustered voice. Ever since the Viscountess had slapped her for calling him ‘Father,’ Selena had been calling him ‘Viscount.’
Of course, the Viscount didn’t care what Selena called him, or whether she was abused by his wife. He was simply pleased that he could sell off a daughter born of a momentary, childish impulse at a high price.
“Shh, it’s alright. You are learning how to please men. You will thank me later for this.”
How to please men?
What on earth was this man talking about? Men at least a dozen years her senior would lick their lips while looking at her. That wasn’t all; whenever she tried to step away even for a moment, they would cling to her with sickening persistence.
“I-I don’t want to. I don’t want to do things like that. I don’t want to learn how to please men.”
At that, the Viscount did not strike Selena, but instead rained violence upon her mother. In the end, weeping, Selena accepted the woman who reeked of heavy perfume as her teacher.
If she had been mere dust before, she was now treated as a complete commodity.
Seven years passed.
The Viscount’s son, Ellen Cerius, who had been studying abroad, returned.
One midnight, Selena, having left her room due to thirst, encountered Ellen, whose hair was a lighter shade of gold than her own, in the hallway. Selena was so startled she nearly dropped the lamp in her hand. Recognizing his face, which was an exact likeness of the Viscount’s, she knew immediately that he was the Viscount’s son.
He looked at Selena and grinned from ear to ear.
“So, you’re the illegitimate child?”
At the sound of his voice, thick with curiosity, Selena instinctively clamped her mouth shut.
“…”
In the Cerius estate, the main building and the annex were separated. The reason this man—the legitimate son and the heir to the Viscountcy, who should have been in the main building—was in the distant annex was all too clear.
“You’re prettier than I imagined.”
At his blatantly intentional remark, Selena glared at him in silence. He continued, still wearing that mocking smile.
“I hear you’ve learned some incredible techniques?”
Ellen stared at Selena, his long legs covering the distance between them in a stride. His heavy gaze slid down her face to the thin slip she was wearing. Selena read carnal desire in the man’s eyes as they caught the light.
She let out a dry, bitter laugh. It was truly horrific that the same blood flowing through his veins flowed through hers.
“The Viscount will be furious if he finds out you are harassing me.” “The Viscount? Ah, we share the same father, but you call him ‘Viscount,’ do you?”
He cackled with laughter.
“Why have you come to the annex at this hour?” “I just wanted to see you once before you’re sold off to the North tomorrow.”
The North?
Selena’s eyes widened at the unexpected news, and Ellen tutted, shaking his head.
“How can you not even know about your own marriage? Especially when you’re being sold to the Monster Grand Duke.” “…What did you say?” “Did you really not know? In exchange for handing you over to the Monster Grand Duke, he’s paying off the entirety of the family’s debts.” “…” “That man must be desperate for a marriage. To take an illegitimate child as his legal wife—and to pay for her, at that.”
So, he sold me off in the end.
An utterly nauseating father to the very end.
However, Selena did not harbor hatred toward the Grand Duke who had bought her. On second thought, now that her mother was gone, she had nowhere else to rely on anyway.
She had nothing left to lose. She had lived her whole life without having anything to begin with.
Inside the carriage heading toward the North, Selena quietly closed her eyes and thought of the man who would become her husband.
Kalix Elixion.
A war hero who had ended an imperial war that had lasted for thirty years in just one year.
According to rumors, he was nearly two meters tall and looked incredibly terrifying. They said his body and face were covered in scars from the battlefield, leaving not an inch of him unscathed. They even said his skin was pale as if it lacked all pigment, and that he had lost an eye. There was even an absurd rumor that if you stared at him for more than three seconds, you would die of a heart attack out of sheer terror.
Perhaps because of such frightening rumors, she had heard that even though he was a war hero and the ruler of the Northern Territory, not a single person had ever submitted a marriage proposal to him.
Well, that must have been why the Viscount sold her to the ‘Monster Grand Duke.’
Regardless, it didn’t matter to Selena what her husband looked like. Even if he were truly a monster as the rumors suggested, she was confident she could fulfill her duties as a wife without issue. Though she was being sold, it was better than being locked away in that wretched Viscount’s estate for the rest of her life.
Having learned to resign herself quickly due to the environment in which she was raised, Selena stared out the frost-covered window, her hands folded neatly on her lap.
The carriage, which had been traveling day and night, finally stopped at sunset.
“We have arrived.”
As she opened her eyes, she saw a massive castle with gray spires rising into the sky.
As soon as she stepped out of the carriage, maids swarmed out from the castle and immediately led Selena to the bathroom. The maids submerged her in warm water, applied jasmine-scented oil to her hair, and meticulously scrubbed every inch of her body with soap.
She had come with no expectations, having been sold for money, yet she was bewildered by the care with which they treated her—as if she were a piece of fine, glazed porcelain.
“Where is the Grand Duke?”
In this unfamiliar situation, Selena found herself searching for the husband she had yet to see.
“He is waiting in the bedroom. Your Grace, please feel free to speak to us, your servants, with ease.”
After the maids finished carefully drying her off and dressing her in clean formal attire, they said, “We shall guide you.”
Guided by the maid, Selena entered the bedroom where the Grand Duke was said to be.
The room felt just like a dark, gloomy cave. There was not a single light in the pitch-black room, and black blackout curtains hung heavily over the windows where light should have been streaming in. Through the faint light coming from the door gap, she realized there were no wardrobes or vanity tables. There was only a large, tall bed.
Selena looked around the room, only noticing belatedly that someone was sitting on the bed. They were so large that she had initially mistaken them for a shadow rather than a person.
The moment her eyes met the man’s on the bed, the open door closed without warning. Total darkness followed, and then a heavy silence settled over the room.
How long had she been standing still in the dark?
“Do you intend to just stand there?”
At the man’s voice—deep, resonant, and sounding as if it were emanating from the depths of a cave, fitting for this darkness—Selena was jolted back to her senses.
However, in a room without a single ray of light, she could see nothing. Selena waved her hands through the air to find her way to him, but she tripped over the hem of her dress. Just before she fell, a thick, muscular arm wrapped around her waist.
“Not used to the darkness, I see?”
A subtle scent of musk wafted from the man speaking while holding her waist. For some reason, it suited his voice perfectly.
“I apologize.”
Selena apologized. What if he decides he doesn’t like me and sends me back?
Growing anxious, Selena bowed her head toward the man who was still holding her and added, “I apologize for being a nuisance.”
“…”
Despite her repeated apologies, the man remained silent for a long while. A moment later, he merely spat out a short, clipped remark.
“Indeed.”
Selena debated whether or not she should try to pull away from the man’s embrace. She was worried that if she carelessly tried to leave his arms, he might be offended, yet she felt it might be rude to continue staying like this.
Her hesitation did not last long. The man lifted Selena up effortlessly with both arms. With one hand supporting her slender legs and the other her thin back, he began to walk in silence.
Perhaps it was the warmth radiating from him, or perhaps it was the reassurance she felt from his calm tone, but Selena hesitated for a moment before tentatively wrapping her arms around the man’s neck.
At her action, the man paused for a beat before continuing his stride. His gait was so long that, despite taking only a few steps, he reached the bed in no time.
The man laid Selena down on the bed with care and pulled the quilt up to her chin.
Just then, a bright light flashed, engulfing her face. The man had turned on the lamp placed at the head of the bed without any warning.
As she squeezed her eyes shut against the sudden light and blinked them open, the man’s face was directly in front of hers.
Forgetting every vow she had made to herself, Selena froze the moment she laid eyes on her husband’s face for the first time.
