Chapter 52
[Chapter 3 - Section 7]
Readers get vicarious thrills from the novel's protagonist. Enough to spend their hard-earned, precious salary on it! That's why most romance fantasy protagonists are women—to let female readers immerse themselves more easily. In other words, "This can't be happening...!"
Anjilina Chimac had practically been dragged from Chimac County to the kingdom's capital. She tore at her beautiful hair, screaming in frustration.
Marriage to the prince?!
She didn't hate the prince. But for someone who craved the attention and love of countless handsome men like the original protagonist, this was the worst possible scenario.
If she'd wanted to marry the prince? She could've done it ages ago.
No, wait.
A young emperor was better than a prince who'd eventually grow old on the throne, right? And it was true—an emperor who granted her every whim would make a far more appealing husband.
But Anjilina Chimac had rejected even the emperor's proposal.
Why? "Too soon."
Her heart fluttered with every new handsome man of unique charm and appeal. And the thrill of watching them compete for her affection? Electric.
That was why she'd been obsessed with I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Count Family out of all those romance fantasies.
Of course, she couldn't give up that joy.
To keep it, I absolutely can't get married...!
Would a queen tolerate her husband keeping other men around? In a world without DNA tests, marriage would invite endless scandals over the true father of any child.
In short, marriage meant game over! She'd have to hand all those handsome men over to other women and spend her life as one man's woman.
"That bitch...!"
The woman Anjilina Chimac hated was her third sister, Anmirina Chimac.
By the novel author's design, the righteous and conscientious Count Chimac had harbored guilt over breaking the prenatal betrothal first because of his youngest daughter. But recently...
I'm the fiancée! So why her...!
The two families, fresh from war, had miraculously reconciled thanks to Anmirina Chimac's meeting with Somac Baron. That was the final blow.
With his moral dilemma resolved, Count Chimac agreed to marry off his youngest to the prince as demanded. Powerless to resist, she was confined to the prince's villa, awaiting the wedding.
"This sucks!"
Even her reliable, handsome guard knight—whom her father had ordered to protect her sister on her way to Somac Duchy to mend ties—had been taken from her.
Nothing was going her way.
Knock knock!
"Miss Anjilina. His Highness the prince is here."
"Tell him I don't want to see him right now!"
She snapped at the maid's voice from beyond the bedroom door.
Click—
But the door opened anyway, and the prince entered without permission.
"Lady Anjilina. I know the sudden progress is dizzying, but there's no need to be shy."
"Get out right now...!"
"This is my house, and this is where I belong. Where would I go?"
The prince closed the distance, soothing her with gentle words. She backed away in response.
"D-don't come closer."
"We're to be husband and wife soon. And we're alone here. No need to avoid me while watching out for other men's eyes, like before."
The balance was broken.
In the original novel, from volume 1 to 5, the handsome men checked each other so fiercely that none could force marriage on the protagonist. But she couldn't perfectly emulate 'Anjilina Chimac.'
No matter how devoted a fan, personal tastes meant not every part of the story clicked. Some hunks were better than others.
"Your Highness. I have no intention of marrying you."
If marriage was inevitable, she'd choose the emperor.
"......"
The smile slowly faded from the prince's lips.
Terror gripped her, but with nowhere left to retreat, Anjilina Chimac mustered her courage.
"The more you force this marriage, the further my heart will drift from you."
"Hm..."
"Stop this wedding and let me return to Chimac County with you. Don't you remember? Those happy days we all shared."
"...Anjilina."
"Yes. Let's go back quick—"
"You're under a grave misunderstanding."
"Pardon?"
A misunderstanding where?
"I've never once enjoyed my time in Chimac County."
"Wh-what do you...?"
"I only pretended to be calm. Every time you smiled at another man, my insides twisted."
"......"
She felt like she'd been struck in the head with a hammer.
"Lady Anjilina. I've known from the start that you don't love me."
"That's not true...!"
"Didn't you look at other men besides me?"
"I love all of them!"
"Haha! I love all the kingdom's people too. But the one I truly love is Anjilina Chimac—you and only you."
"Why...?"
Anjilina Chimac couldn't comprehend it. The prince's mindset of loving a woman who didn't love him back.
Of course she couldn't. It was beyond her.
"Love needs no reason. Even if you hate me, I'll love you to the end."
"Th-that's..."
That was the 'prince' character's setting for loving the protagonist. If she didn't like it, she should complain to the author.
Madness glinted in the prince's eyes.
"The empire's emperor threatened to make me hand you over. Said I'd better prepare for the kingdom's destruction if I refused."
"Ah!"
Anjilina Chimac glimpsed a ray of hope.
"So I refused."
"Are you insane?!"
Things were spiraling beyond her control.
"I've already won this war. Because you're by my side—the very prize the emperor covets."
"Ugh! It, it hurts!"
The prince seized her slender wrist. She struggled instinctively at the threat, but the strength gap was too vast.
"If I even get you pregnant, the emperor will despair."
"Pregnant?!"
His hand slid lower, draining the color from her face.
Knock knock!
"Your Highness."
"...What is it?"
"His Majesty urgently summons you."
"Understood."
Swoosh—
The prince released Anjilina Chimac and turned to leave.
"There's a ball in two days. A chance to proclaim I've vanquished all rivals and claimed you."
"......"
"I love you."
Thud.
Overwhelmed by the mental shock, Anjilina Chimac collapsed to the floor in sobs the moment he left.
"Help me..."
Someone, please help!
She couldn't endure this plot derailment.
Then,
"Shall I help you?"
A suspicious woman in a black conical hat pushed aside the curtains on the villa's third-floor terrace and stepped out.
Clack clack.
Her high-heeled black shoes echoed like thunder as she approached haughtily, slowly.
"Who...?"
"My identity doesn't matter. Don't you think?"
"...Can you really help me?"
"Of course. I desperately want your happiness."
The witch smiled.
* * *
I'd safely returned to the Somac Duke's mansion but couldn't rest even a day before heading straight to the tense port city.
"Oho! Baron Molrang! Welcome!"
"Thank you for the warm reception, Duke."
"Just as you said, the emperor's gone mad!"
"It seems so."
The Somac Duke, issuing orders from a watchtower overlooking the warships, broke into a beaming smile at the sight of me—like greeting a savior.
"It hasn't been officially announced yet, but the empire's declared war!"
"What's their pretext?"
"They claim we kidnapped their empress. Absurd, isn't it?"
"Indeed."
In the emperor's mind, the protagonist was already his wife.
What terrifying obsession!
I'd known, but seeing it play out was ridiculous.
"Baron. You look tired."
"Yes."
"Haha! Still, we must go at once! The battlefield awaits you!"
"The battlefield..."
What had to come, finally had.
"Scared?"
"Yes. Terrified."
My precious brain cells felt doomed.
"You'll get used to it soon enough."
"......"
I prayed the patient snapped out of it before the war escalated.
* * *
A sea the size of Europe's Mediterranean lay between the kingdom and empire. Geographically, Somac Duchy had been forced into the role of bulwark against the imperial navy since the kingdom's founding.
"It'll be a tough fight. The emperor's leading personally."
A young emperor with no heirs, not even bastards—if he died, the empire crumbled! He knew the risk, yet obsession over the protagonist's marriage news drove him to campaign in person.
"If we just crush his main fleet, we're golden."
"Exactly. Capturing him alive would be ideal, but killing him works too. An empire without an heir dives straight into civil war."
"That's our chance."
For House Somac to supplant the royal family, imperial civil war was essential.
"Don't worry too much. Count Pimaang—who dislikes the emperor—sent me a secret letter."
"What'd it say?"
"If we capture his worthless son sailing with the emperor, his fleet surrenders immediately."
"Perfect."
"It gave me chills, really. Your foresight, Baron Molrang."
"You're too kind."
Gazing proudly at the warships in harbor, the Somac Duke outlined detailed strategy.
Time to set sail—
"Your Grace! Urgent news!"
"What now?"
"Count Chimac's fourth daughter, Lady Anjilina Chimac—set for marriage soon—has vanished from the royal palace!"
"...When?"
"Two days ago!"
Time for news of the protagonist's disappearance from the capital to reach Somac Duchy. Even I was stunned.
Did she run away because she hates the marriage?
But could she evade the prince's watch?
"They'll find her soon. Maybe they already have."
"Probably. That girl's hobby seems to be causing trouble."
"Ha, ha..."
I could only laugh awkwardly, unable to badmouth the patient.
Then,
"Your Grace! Urgent news!"
"They found her, I bet."
The Somac Duke guessed the messenger's report, sounding bored.
"No!"
"Oho! Then a body turned up?"
"No!"
"......"
"Anjilina Chimac, missing from the palace, is in the empire!"
"The emperor, mad for marriage with her, finally lost it. Fabricating a fake, even."
The duke was right. Crossing from kingdom heartland to empire in two days? Impossible. The sea voyage alone took over two.
They need to make sense!
We dismissed the report as rumor.
But...
"Your Grace. Letter from Count Pimaang."
"Hand it over."
The mood turned grave.
"...Baron Molrang. Steel yourself."
"Pardon? Steel myself?"
"The emperor's returned to the capital with Anjilina Chimac in his arms."
"......"
No more strategy of capturing or killing the emperor to sow chaos.
"His son, Viscount Pimaang, confirmed it's real. The emperor's even hosting a welcome banquet. Ha!"
"Impossible..."
Physically impossible fantasy had occurred.
Anyway, I don't get why the patient fled the kingdom for the empire.
Her marriage partner just switched from prince to emperor, that's all.
"Baron. Arm yourself. The war's just begun."
"Isn't it over?"
The empire had lost its pretext of reclaiming a kidnapped empress.
"The exile begged the emperor to destroy her homeland."
"Huh?"
"Baron Molrang. Doesn't the world feel utterly insane?"
"It does."
Now it was all-or-nothing. Straight-up confrontation.