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Chapter 0:
Adel Azbahan, Grand Duke of the North and Sword Master of the Empire.
He launched a coup d'état to restore the standing of the North, which had long been subjected to quiet discrimination, and as countless troops crossed the frozen river, the Imperial Army crumbled helplessly.
As a result, nothing remained of the Imperial Palace but its name.
All real power within the Empire had fallen into the hands of the Northern forces.
Honestly, as someone who had undergone an Otherworld Reincarnation, I couldn't help but be completely swept up in the Northern Hype.
There had been so many iconic moments—the sight of the Northern knights, who looked like war demons, charging in like madmen, and Adel Azbahan's Solo Breakthrough as the Empire's one and only Sword Master.
And I watched all of it from a safe distance, far back from the battlefield.
....Anyway, the problem was.
That I was the youngest Imperial Prince of this Empire. The Fifth Imperial Prince.
"....Ed, time's up."
".....Oh, already?"
Nod—
Agnia von Rachel, the First Imperial Princess and also my sister, looked at me with eyes heavy with deep resignation.
".....Sorry, I'm sorry....truly, on behalf of the Imperial Palace.....hic...."
"....Why are you crying again?"
"....."
"You'll ruin that pretty face. You don't need to worry about me."
I am currently being sold off to the North.
More precisely, today's wedding ceremony is being held at the Imperial Palace, and the moment the banquet ends, I board a carriage straight to the North.
How many years I'll have to stay, whether I can return, whether I really have to live as a freeloader there—all of that is undecided.
'.....Haah, I'm so screwed.'
This wasn't my decision.
You could say the Imperial Palace, gripped by a sense of crisis, sold me off to the North.
But if I think of it as repayment for having eaten and slept in luxury all this time, it wasn't something I couldn't bear.
[Now, the groom—the Fifth Imperial Prince of the Empire. Agnia von Edward!]
Waaaaah—!!!
Countless flower petals swirled through the air as the groom made his entrance.
I forced a smile and waved to the people around me, but the whispers drifting up from below reached my ears with unmistakable clarity.
"....No matter how desperate the situation, marrying him off to a barbarian..."
"The Agnia Imperial Palace must have truly hit rock bottom. Better to pick the right side while we still can."
"Ed..."
'The mood here is, really....awful.'
Ariel Azbahan, the woman who was nominally to become my wife.
She had not attended the wedding ceremony.
One might ask what kind of wedding has no bride—but apparently, in the North, weddings aren't typically held separately.
The custom there is simply for a person of lower-ranking family to join the higher-ranking family and become a proxy husband.
The Imperial Palace had gone through with this groom-only wedding just to preserve whatever scraps of dignity it had left.
In other words, I was the only one getting screwed over.
But what could I do?
If I'd been living off the taxes of the Empire's people in comfort all this time, this much was something the Imperial family had to endure.
"She really didn't attend....even though she's the bride."
"That just shows how little confidence she has in her looks. There are all sorts of rumors about that Grand Duchess."
The wedding concluded anticlimactically with a brief blessing from the Pope.
Nobles and envoys from the Northern forces came to offer me simple gifts and words, but none of it really registered.
And for good reason—once this banquet was over, I had to board the north-bound airplane...no, carriage.
In a way, it looked less like a wedding and more like a sendoff to battle.
"Ed—!"
"....Oh, sis."
She had always been the one person in the chilly Imperial Palace with a truly human heart.
She was both an Imperial Princess of the Empire and a Court Mage, and she slipped an Amethyst Ring onto my finger.
"....It's a gift."
"Yeah, thanks."
"......"
Even at a glance, she looked like she had a lot more to say.
But the north-bound airplane ticket was already waiting for departure.
A maid with a pleasant-looking demeanor approached my side before I knew it.
Despite her cheerful face, she bore a vicious scar across it.
"Um, young master? I'm Narsha, assigned to escort you to the North!!"
"....Oh."
Was this how a prisoner must feel, standing before their own execution?
The Imperial Prince of a fallen nation, being sold off as a bride—no, a groom—to the territory of a barbarian tribe where one wrong impression could get your head lopped off on the spot.
It was a little funny, in a way, and I was also curious about who my soon-to-be wife was and what she looked like.
"Take care, sis."
"......"
Creak—
Agnia von Rachel's presence had grown noticeably sharp, it seemed, but there was nothing to be done.
Narsha, the maid assigned as my escort, led me down a forest path at the back of the banquet hall.
Seeing the carriage parked along the forest path, the reality that I had truly been sold off to the North sank in anew.
"Oh! We're here."
....But it seemed like someone was already inside the carriage.
"Excuse me....is someone inside?"
"Ah, yes! She didn't attend the wedding for the sake of the North's dignity, but she came out to greet the one who would become her husband?"
"......"
Oh. Shit.
Hold on.
'....I'm so screwed.'
Honestly, I had quite a bit of confidence in my looks.
I had once fallen into outright narcissism watching my own face grow as I lived in the body of the Fifth Imperial Prince, and there had been quite a few noble ladies who took a liking to me.
The problem was...the North's standards of beauty.
"Then, shall I open the carriage door? Princess Ariel! Lord Edward has arrived!"
"......"
"....I, I'll come in....?"
In the North, the ideal of a handsome man was one with hulking muscles—someone rugged, bearded, hairy, and thoroughly masculine.
Of course, I hadn't neglected my swordsmanship training, so my build wasn't bad, but it was still just ordinary...
Creak—
The carriage door swung open, and before me appeared The Witch of the North.
She who bore many titles—among them the Empire's first ever Female Knight Commander.
"......"
"H, hello?"
I didn't quite know what to say.
I had never in my life seen a beauty like this, and I froze on the spot.
Agnia von Rachel was also strikingly beautiful, but the label of biological older sister, imprinted into my very genes, kept me from feeling anything—
'Insane, she's unbelievably gorgeous.'
Silver hair that set off her blue eyes in stark contrast.
Even her cool, indifferent gaze only made her look more aloof and mysterious, enhanced by her striking appearance.
"....Uh, so. Even if it is a Political Marriage, we'll end up living together, so...."
....What am I saying?
Born an alpha male, this kind of experience had been a long time coming, and yet the woman before me was sending me back to the days when I was a hopeless, loveless outcast.
Princess Ariel leaned her head against the carriage door, staring at me blankly—
"....L, let's try to get....al—"
....Without waiting for me to finish.
She turned her head away.
"...."
"....."
.....Am I ugly?