The Forgotten Betrothal
The plan to leave Anatolia for Odeliana’s sake was temporarily postponed. Not only had their travel arrangements fallen into disarray, but Blair’s schedule for returning to the main house had also been thrown into chaos.
The lord of Anatolia was treating Odeliana, who had suffered a great ordeal within his own fief, with the utmost care and attention. The stress was so severe that what little hair he had left seemed on the verge of being torn out entirely. More precisely, he was conscious of Blair as the son of the feudal lord, but regardless, the elderly man had developed a mild neurosis from the strain.
The butterfly effect of bringing Mathias along had become a storm that swept through Anatolia. Odeliana felt uneasy inside, wondering how much this incident would alter the future’s course. From the moment she decided to take Mathias ahead of schedule, she had essentially intervened in the future of her own accord, yet she desperately hoped the major currents would remain unchanged.
‘As a regressor, the only advantage I have is seven years. Can I truly overturn this hopeless life within those seven years?’
Mathias was currently learning the duties of a squire. In truth, he was mostly helping with menial tasks, but since mastering them would eventually benefit her as well, she did not object to his education.
However, she had not brought him merely to keep him as a squire by her side, so she could not afford to remain idle. If she intended to make him a knight and help him rise in the world, she needed to begin planning his future from now on.
Becoming a knight would not be difficult. With Mathias’s abilities, he would pass the knight examination with ease. In preparation for next year’s barbarian subjugation campaign, he needed to pass the examination by this summer at the latest, or by winter at the very latest, and become a squire knight to secure an affiliation.
Yet less than three months remained until summer, and the knight examinations in winter were highly prone to postponement or cancellation due to the bitter cold. Since the tests were often delayed indefinitely or outright canceled, aiming for this summer’s examination was the only realistic option.
The barbarian subjugation campaign was, in essence, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for advancement. Receiving a knighthood did not guarantee success, and a hero who wished to make a name for himself across the land required the stage of turbulent times. At present, however, opportunities for a knight to distinguish himself and build a reputation were exceedingly rare. In fact, they were almost nonexistent.
A hundred years had passed since Leveln absorbed its four neighboring nations and expanded to its current vast territory. A full century of peace without war had continued. Of course, kingdoms such as Larohelle and Erbaden still existed along Leveln’s borders, along with other smaller nations, but they were all effectively vassal states that had submitted to Leveln’s influence. Far from plotting rebellion, they were merely watching for opportunities.
Thus, the only stages left for knights to prove themselves were suppressing bandits, subjugating beasts, or being dispatched as mercenaries to military conflict zones in neighboring countries for pay. Even these occurrences were extremely rare.
Moreover, most of Leveln’s beast habitats had already been conquered, leaving only the extremely cold region around Solitude, known as the largest habitat. Due to the powerful anomalies caused by the Beast’s Curse, the area was nearly impossible to approach, and conquest had effectively been abandoned.
Therefore, the fastest path to success was undoubtedly war.
The barbarians, who had lived as wanderers belonging to no nation, had organized an army and, with support from neighboring countries, ignited the worst civil war. How many great contributors had emerged from that war! Mathias, born a commoner, had risen to become the prince’s knight, then the king’s knight, and eventually the commander of the knights. The illegitimate prince had seized the throne, surpassing the legitimate heir.
‘Joslyn, I will take everything you obtained in your past life by using Mathias. In this life, your coronation will never happen. Mathias will soar once more, accumulating the same brilliant achievements as before.’
Yes, she would never be taken advantage of so easily this time. Whether she found Lerusha’s original body or rotted away in this one for the rest of her life, she would never allow him to win again.
“Lerusha? Hmm, I’ve never heard that name before.”
When she asked Blair on the off chance whether he knew of any female knight by that name, the answer she received was that he did not.
“What about rumors of a female knight beside the Second Prince?”
“A female knight? That’s the first I’ve heard of it. The Second Prince’s side is guarded by Sir Aidas Rashua, commander of the Second Knights. I’ve never heard anything about him keeping a female knight. Of course, it’s possible I wouldn’t know since I’ve only just returned from studying abroad… but why are you asking about this all of a sudden?”
“……I just heard such a rumor. Could you look into it for me? Anything about a female mercenary who made a name for herself in the mercenary corps, or a female knight who stays by the Second Prince’s side.”
“First of all, there is no female knight. The royal knights are all male. If there had been a woman among them, it would have caused an uproar across the continent, and I wouldn’t have missed it.”
In her previous life, Lerusha had existed as Joslyn’s knight during this period. And she had been quite famous. She had been the first female knight in the royal knights, and the fact that the Second Prince had taken her as his sworn knight had been a topic of such discussion among the nobility that it became widely known.
‘……Does that mean I never existed in this era at all?’
Mathias existed, Joslyn existed, and even Lady Orldette existed, yet the one who did not was Lerusha from her past life and Odeliana in this one. Of course, Odeliana’s existence had never been revealed to the world in her previous life, so perhaps that was why she hadn’t known, but the situation was still strange.
“Are you interested in the Second Prince?”
“Of course I’m interested.”
How could she not be? Whenever she thought about what that piece of trash was doing right now, her insides twisted. She had been betrayed and killed—there was no way she could feel no resentment.
He was probably still eating well, living well, and enjoying himself. While she was desperately struggling to escape a second life that felt like that of an insect, the thought of him leisurely enjoying gambling and the like made her blood boil.
She wished he would suffer as much as she had— no, far more than she had.
“Odeliana, I’m saying this because there might be something wrong with your memory…… Have you forgotten that Orldette is engaged to Prince Joslyn?”
“……What?”
Faced with Odeliana’s startled expression, Blair gave an awkward smile.
“Oh dear…… Odeliana, you and Orldette were betrothed to the Second Prince when you were seven years old.”
Betrothed at seven?
“Ha!”
So he had already been promised in marriage to a noble lady. That damned Joslyn had hidden the existence of his fiancée while courting her, whispering words of love…… and deceiving her with his charm?
She was so shocked that she could not speak. She had already known he enjoyed a dissolute private life behind the scenes, but she had never imagined he would behave that way while already engaged. If Lady Orldette had been betrothed at seven, then Joslyn himself had not been much older.
“Did you perhaps have feelings for the Second Prince?”
“Of course not! Don’t say such horrifying things.”
“Then why? This is the first time I’ve seen you show this much interest in someone.”
“I was simply curious after hearing that he was a man of great popularity.”
“He is a good man. Handsome, and with a cheerful personality.”
Odeliana’s stomach churned at Blair’s generous assessment of Joslyn.
He had completely misjudged the man. Joslyn only pretended to be affable and dignified on the surface while living a dissolute life behind closed doors. Even his scholarship foundation, which supposedly supported talented individuals from poor backgrounds, had been nothing more than a means to gather people for his own use, and it was riddled with corruption and irregularities. Blair could only speak so favorably because he knew none of this.
‘I used to think he was that kind of person too. Upright…… a worthy candidate for king, someone worth staking my entire life on.’
She had been blinded by infatuation. The name Joslyn had become the worst stain on her life. She had thought there were no more emotions left to hit rock bottom, yet now she regretted the fact that every memory she shared with him had turned into something horrifying.
“Brother, how much longer do you plan to stay here?”
“Well, I think it’s about time I returned.”
“If you’re worried about my condition, don’t be. I’m really fine. Besides, Mathias is here now. We’ve already imposed on you for too long.”
If they stayed any longer, the lord might wither away from stress. And this was no time to be idling about. She needed to prepare for the knight examination as soon as possible.
“Are you really going to take that child with you?”
“I am.”
“Do you trust him?”
“I do.”
“Because he’s the benefactor who saved your life?”
“It’s the same reason I trust you, Brother. Mathias is someone I absolutely need by my side, just like you.”
Blair let out a deep sigh, as if he had no choice.
“Still, I’m worried about leaving a boy by your side. So I was thinking of finding someone to keep an eye on him.”
“Do as you like. Mathias would never do anything to fall out of your favor.”
“You don’t understand men.”
No, she understood that child far too well. Mathias was the safest man in the world.
Odeliana smiled inwardly with a smug expression. And she declared with certainty that the scenario Blair feared would never come to pass, even if the world collapsed and the sky fell.