FTMR 15

Chapter 15

“It Means I Wanted Only You as My Bride”

“Haah… what on earth are you talking about now?”

Just when Kardin thought he’d already been shocked enough by everything Anette had said, he was struck from behind once again. Letting out a deep sigh, he continued,

“Why would I— seriously… whew.”

Unable to hide his disbelief and irritation, Kardin asked sharply,

“I clearly requested, in the proposal sent to Hayworth, a royal princess of noble blood as my bride. When the reply accepting the proposal came back with the princess’s name written on it, I was relieved—thinking that no matter how dull the king might be, he wasn’t so hopeless as to completely misunderstand. …Don’t tell me that wasn’t the case?”

At those merciless words, Anette’s mind went completely blank.

Didn’t that sound as though, from the very beginning, he had wanted Anette, not Bridget, as his marriage partner?

No—this wasn’t something that merely sounded that way. That was exactly what it meant. Which was why he was now openly radiating irritation and anger even behind a mask.

Her stomach churned strangely.

“I’m sorry. Still… it is Her Highness’s homeland, and the king is her blood-related father.”

Kardin, seeming to have calmed down a little, apologized.

“It’s—it’s fine.”

Anette answered quickly. Truthfully, she didn’t care at all about Kardin questioning the intelligence of the King of Hayworth.

But it seemed the king wasn’t the only one who had failed to understand what was being said.

‘Did… did he really mean me when he said “noble bloodline”?’

Of course, the late queen had come from a venerable noble family of Hayworth, while the current Queen Esther was a commoner—but even so…

“Princess.”

“Yes—yes?”

“Do you still not understand?”

“I’m not sure what you mean…”

“I’m saying that from the very beginning, I wanted only you, Anette Hayworth, as my bride.”

“……!”

Anette froze, her breath caught in her throat.

Her thoughts tangled into chaos, and a wave of dizziness washed over her.

“You’re not… mistaking me for someone else, are you? No…?”

The words that finally escaped her stiff tongue sounded painfully foolish.

“Then… it’s not that you don’t really know me well…?”

At the thought that there might still be some mistake, she asked again. Kardin let out a light laugh and shook his head.

“Princess. I probably know far more about you than you think. Do you know how much effort I put into making sure Hayworth wouldn’t let you go all this time?”

Anette could only blink, unable to understand his words, as Kardin leaned forward and whispered as if confiding a secret.

“Even when I sent the proposal. My brother said that, given my bad reputation, it would be enough to simply state that I wished to marry a royal princess. There was a widespread rumor that the King of Hayworth was too foolish to recognize a true gem, doting instead on cheap imitations.”

Though the King of Hayworth was now being called outright stupid, Anette didn’t react—she was completely focused on Kardin.

Clearly pleased, Kardin continued,

“Still, just in case, I added a condition.”

It was a bit of spite—meant to immediately repay any misunderstanding or greedy overreach with humiliation, should the king fail to understand or dare to reach beyond his station.

He had never imagined that this spite would end up causing a misunderstanding for the precious princess herself.

“So then… Your Highness meant that—”

Kardin quietly watched Anette, whose voice had shrunk to almost nothing as she asked,

“Did you truly think I was… noble?”

And for once, rare for someone as arrogant as he was, Kardin admitted it plainly.

He had been short-sighted.

To Kardin, Anette was precious—so much so that she was almost sacred. The condition had been added naturally, without a second thought.

And rationally speaking, the late Queen of Hayworth was undeniably from a distinguished noble lineage. He believed that anyone with half a mind in Hayworth would not misunderstand.

Even his meticulous older brother hadn’t questioned the added condition when he read the proposal.

‘I should have anticipated that the environment she grew up in was harsher than I imagined—and that the people around her were far more shameless.’

Realizing this too late, Kardin felt a heavy bitterness settle in his chest as he pictured what kind of resolve Anette must have had to accept this political marriage and come all the way to the Empire.

To say she would live like the dead with a man who didn’t want her… even that she would tolerate mistresses and illegitimate children.

Kardin bit down on his trembling lips behind the mask before finally speaking.

“I think… you are far too good for me.”

“……”

Anette’s expression grew even more complicated.

She looked unsure how to respond—perhaps unable to understand at all.

“You don’t believe me at all, do you?”

Kardin gave a bitter smile.

And indeed, Anette couldn’t believe him.

It felt as though the world she knew—everything she considered common sense—was collapsing.

“Why… do you think of me that way…?”

Was she asking why he thought her noble?

Or how he knew her?

Or… why he wanted her at all?

There were too many questions she wanted to ask, yet none would come out. She bit her lip in frustration, and as if to lift the heavy mood, Kardin spoke in a teasing tone.

“Shall I tell you a secret?”

“…?”

“To be honest, I didn’t expect such a frank conversation from our very first meeting, so I was a bit taken aback… but I have quite a lot I want to tell you, too.”

Fiddling with his mask, Kardin stood and moved closer to Anette’s side.

“I wasn’t trying to deceive you. I planned to tell you everything once we reached the Grand Duchy… but for now, I’ll tell you just one thing.”

Gulp.

Whether it was curiosity about the secret he was about to share, or—

‘…Does he smell nice?’

—she wasn’t sure, but startled by the sudden closeness and the faint scent, Anette nervously swallowed as she glanced around and watched Kardin sit beside her on the sofa.

Then Kardin leaned close and whispered the secret softly into her ear.

And a moment later—

“…Pardon?”

Anette blinked repeatedly before tilting her head in confusion.

The sight was so cute that Kardin’s lips curved upward.

Wearing a mask really was convenient—he didn’t need to manage his expression.

After all, revealing such a shocking secret while wearing the wrong expression would ruin its credibility.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but I think I may have misunderstood what you said…”

“If you understood that I’m an illegitimate child, then you heard me correctly.”

Kardin whispered once more into Anette’s stunned ear.

Her ruby-like eyes, which had been trying to avoid his gaze at every opportunity, trembled and quickly scanned his hair and eyes.

Golden hair bearing the legitimacy of the Alkan imperial family, and piercing blue eyes as cold as the current emperor’s—everything about him testified to his birth.

“As far as I know, Your Highness is clearly the Empress Dowager’s—”

“Oh, that? A lie.”

Kardin spoke lightly, recalling the unprecedented deception played upon the Empire and the entire continent.

“With how precious imperial blood is, the late Emperor made a small mistake while indulging himself as usual. He never imagined that a woman he spent just one night with would end up pregnant. But they couldn’t stain the imperial family with scandal… nor could they kill imperial blood.”

More precisely, they had coveted the power the child would be born with.

“So my mother took the burden upon herself.”

At the time, the Empress Dowager desperately wanted a second child after giving birth to the Crown Prince. When news spread that she was pregnant, the nobles and citizens—knowing nothing—celebrated, believing her wish had finally come true.

“It would’ve been even better if I’d been a girl. My mother truly wanted a daughter.”

“Ah…”

Anette looked completely at a loss for words.

Honestly, it was hard to believe. How could the Empress of such a vast empire like Alkan pretend to be pregnant for nearly a year to cover up her husband’s infidelity—and then present an illegitimate child as her own?

“Amazing, isn’t she?”

Kardin asked in a bright voice.

Still stunned, Anette slowly nodded as she looked at him.

Though his face was hidden by the mask, his tone, voice, and overall presence made it clear he wasn’t pretending to be fine.

“My mother raised me as her own child. I naturally think of her as my real mother. If I didn’t, I’d be a terrible person. Despite her appearance, she’s terrifyingly devoted to her children—so much so that even her natal family—”

Like a child proudly boasting, Kardin spoke at length about the Empress Dowager before trailing off and changing the subject.

“Anyway, I grew up very happily, with a good mother and good siblings. I was truly fortunate.”

“…That’s a relief.”

Though Anette knew she had no right to say such a thing, the words slipped out.

When Kardin confessed he was the Emperor’s illegitimate son, the faces of the Empress Dowager—known as his biological mother—and the Emperor, who was said to cherish his younger brother deeply, had flashed through her mind one after another.

She’d worried that their close sibling bond might all be an act—but now she felt relieved that it wasn’t.

Seeing her like this, Kardin chuckled softly.

“You’re very kind, Princess.”

“What? N-no…”

Anette’s face flushed instantly.

Her world had been filled with people like Queen Esther and her children, so it was true that she’d worried Kardin’s circumstances might have been as painful as her own.

But more honestly, what reassured her most was the realization that the kindness and warmth shown by the Alkan imperial family she’d met so far weren’t lies.