Chapter 3

[ T/N – Icard is his first name, for which Auster is his last name. Calling him Auster is a way of respect.

She most likely called him Icard after she knew she was married to him, or she only thought of him as Icard but called him Auster.

Also the length of the chapter is killing me, so I divided it into parts. (￣ ￣|||) ]

I swallowed a gulp, fixed my expression and stared at the Grand Duke of Auster, who was looking at me.

Even though I was a dragon, me going against Icard Auster, the Grand Duke and winning was questionable.

Even though I had the greatest innate strength, I was very clumsy in my attack because I skipped training.

I was going to have to coax this person somehow.

“How… are you?”

…This isn’t good. No matter how I looked at it, I shouldn’t have said that.

His eyebrows twitched at my ingenious greeting. I looked awkwardly at him, and I opened my mouth.

“Uh… I’m sorry about that. I… never meant to be liked that.”

The man contorted his face. Huh? Why would he? Didn’t he like my face?

“The looks at me felt intimidating and I was a little lightheaded.”

“It makes me feel bad. Are you scared of me?”

“Uh… no?”

“Then do what I say. You’re just a dead body except for that arrogance.”

“Y, yes.”

Did the dignity of a Princess matter anymore? Survival came first.

I quickly finished grasping the situation and chose the path to prolonging my life by sticking like a bedbug.

No matter what happened, I had to be alive to be able to work. In that sense, I was not going to hesitate at all.

If I knew this was going to happen, I would have trained in magic seriously. I didn’t know I would have a thousand regrets not listening to my sister.

I took a long breath and looked at the man. His and mine gaze met, and he suddenly raised a corner of his mouth.

“What the hell happened for seven years?”

Well, that was all I wanted to ask.

“What happened in seven years? And I wondered if you knew. Oh, I wonder.”

“Huh?”

“You’re arrogant. Did you think I was your husband?”

“H-Haven’t we done that?”

God, the me of the past was the enemy of the present. Ophelia, what have you done? Come to think of it, in the morning, the man was talking about politics.

I stuttered and smiled brightly. It might sound crazy, but life was precious nonetheless.

I stared at the man with a clear and pure smile on my face. The man who was the Grand Duke.

“When did… Auster receive the title of the Grand Duke?”

“I had it six years ago when I signed a peace treaty, and I vowed that if I recognized the end of the North East as mine and promised peace, we would no longer confront the dragon.”

“………”

“You’re proof of the agreement.”

Oh, I get it. It was a loveless marriage.

I nodded my head a feeling a little sour. In the morning, I acted out desperately, wondering on what a tearful love marriage I had done. But I found out that it was something like an arranged marriage.

The situation was roughly understandable. In the end, it was a compromise between the dragon and the cursed race.

Well, Icard may have made this choice after a long confrontation.

I nodded. It was okay. But he was my enemy, and he didn’t seem like he was going to harm me.

“So, when did we get married?”

I blinked at him, and as I saw him suddenly strain his face. From his expression on my question, I tilted my head.

“4 years ago.”

Oh, it had been a long time.

“For your information, yesterday was our first night.”

Eh?

What was with the time difference? I was taken aback. Wouldn’t the first night of the wedding usually be the first night of them together…?

“You refused me a little intensely.”

The man stood up, looking at my puzzled face, and then he leaned down slightly, from which he met my eyes.

“I was stupid, hoping a bit because I wanted to have a child.”

Oh…

“I waited four years, from the day I knew you.”

Um…

“And you lost your memory the next day, you’re a great woman, aren’t you?”

…I, I did wrong.

Silence fell in the room. I took a long breath and exhaled again. And then, as I took another breath, Icard laughed.

“Are you going to take all the oxygen in the room?”

“Sorry.”

I stopped breathing. His arrogance bothered me. But the most vivid of all was that—

“I’m sorry.”

I could not even make up for the humiliation I had spat, and I murmured timidly. Icard’s eyebrows twitched.

“Sorry?”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“Hey, I’m sorry I lost my memory. Uh, um, sorry for breaking the chandelier, and sorry for refusing to sleep with you.”

Somehow, the Grand Duke’s spouse had a duty to produce a heir. But I didn’t let him do that.

Apparently, I expressed my intention to have a successor for the first time last night. But today, I lost my memory.

Oh, God. What the hell have I done?

Icard looked at me with a expression as if he didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. I declared in anger,

“If there is a need for a successor, I will allow it, so it is okay to have a relationship with me. Even if I don’t remember, I will fulfil my duty as the Grand Duchess.”

“What?”

“If you are the Grand Duke, you will need a successor, so aren’t you so angry right now? For refusing to carry my duty…”

As I spoke in a fading voice, Icard’s face turned serious. Soon, he murmured in a voice full of anger,

“Are you treating me like a crazy bastard who is obsessed with breeding?”

“Oh, there’s no need to express it like that, is there? Isn’t it natural to need a heir?”

I blinked my eyes. As a dragon born and educated that passing on the dragon’s power was the greatest duty of a lifetime, I didn’t quite understand why breeding was a bad thing.

The blood of a dragon with power was precious, and it was my duty to pass on that power to prosper the imperial family.

In that sense, as soon as my coming-of-age ceremony was over, a lot of men came into my room.

Although, I only dated one person at a time.

Bianca and Easton also learned how to produce a heir as soon as their coming-of-age ceremony was over.

Wasn’t Auster like that?

I tilted my head. If it was so, there was no reason for this man to be angry. It was a marriage of political purposes and having no love.

But Icard showed a seriously angry face at me. I staggered back when I noticed the aura of hatred looming over his face.

“You.”

Then a low, enraged voice echoed through the room.