Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 2
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I sat in the glass-windowed carriage, blinking blankly at nothing in particular.
‘What? It’s being resolved this easily?’
It was a completely different carriage from the one I’d ridden in when arriving at the Empire.
The Northern Kingdom’s royal carriage had been an ornate prison. Gaudy to look at, and inside so lavishly appointed it hurt the eyes—it made me feel like a doll wrapped in cellophane.
‘A doll or a concubine. There’s hardly a difference.’
But the carriage bearing the seal of the Gonet Duchy was different. It had no eye-catching decorations, so it looked rather like a cargo wagon, though all the more solidly built for it.
And besides…….
The lock was on the inside, not the outside.
One I could open and close whenever I wished.
‘So even a wretch like me, even my pathetic life, can unfold like this……!’
By nature, a male protagonist is designed to survive no matter how desolate the world becomes.
And Sherukan was the type who kept his word with an almost conservative rigor, once he’d spoken it.
‘So this time I really am guaranteed safety!’
A strange wave of emotion washed over me, and I hastily wiped at my eyes.
“Psst! Hey, lady concubine!”
Just then, Erih’s eyes met mine through the window, and he came bounding over in a hurry.
I hadn’t yet closed the carriage window’s shutters.
I’d been hesitant to close it on my own, lest I offend Sherukan’s sensibilities.
I was being that cautious about even breathing.
He came trotting up and planted himself right in front of the open window, launching into a lecture.
“You’re not trying to pull some seduction scheme on the Grand Duke, are you?”
“……?”
“Goodness! There are so many women in high society who turn on the waterworks the moment they’re before him, and now you’re doing it even on the battlefield! This won’t work on our Grand Duke at all! So you’d better stop those tears right—gah!”
“Get lost.”
“Y-yes, at once!”
Sherukan kicked Erih away and fixed his gaze on me inside the carriage. His expression grew puzzled.
“Why are you crying? Frightened at being abducted by the Duchy?”
Sherukan had been wearing the heavy Silver Armor the whole time, and the traces of blood on his scabbard were still vivid.
I scrambled to collect myself and replied.
“Hardly, my lord. I’m grateful for your kindness. Grand Duke Sherukan.”
The flattery rolled off my tongue smoothly enough, but Sherukan countered unexpectedly.
“Not frightened? Why not?”
‘Why not?’
“Well……. There’s no war there, is there?”
“Ah, so that’s the reason. Then why are you crying?”
“Well, because I’m so grateful that you’ve honored your word, my lord…….”
“So much so you had to cry?”
……”
I was beginning to run out of answers.
Actually, come to think of it.
In the original, Sherukan was terribly taciturn—so why was he asking me so many questions now?
The faint glimmer of curiosity dwelling in those inherently cold eyes unsettled me even more.
Sherukan moved his jaw slightly.
“Lorelthiana?”
For a moment, doubting my ears, I answered in confusion.
“You know my name?”
“I wouldn’t have called you by it otherwise.”
“But how…….”
“Naive.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Is there a single commander who wouldn’t know that the Northern King sent his First Princess to the Pasa Empire instead of the Holy Saint’s daughter?”
……”
That word—abandoned—drove itself into my chest like a nail.
‘Damn it. Now I feel like I’m completely worthless.’
It wasn’t that he’d touched some reverse scale of mine, or anything like that. I’d never really believed I’d been wounded by being sent in Ayu’s stead in the first place.
‘I wasn’t wounded—I was wronged.’
So this feeling was…….
Shame.
Anyone would feel embarrassed if a complete stranger knew the sordid details of their family troubles.
It was like stepping out in socks with holes in them, then having to remove your shoes in front of strangers.
Just as I was about to speak.
“Your Highness! Grand Duke!”
Erih, who’d been sent tumbling across the ground by Sherukan’s blow, came sprinting over, breathing hard.
“Word just arrived from the Commander-in-Chief’s Office! They refuse to allow that concubine lady to be removed!”
“They refuse?”
Sherukan turned around.
“On what grounds?”
“Well, that is… I didn’t know either, but the message that just came said…”
Thud.
“While other concubines may be permitted to leave, that particular woman cannot simply be taken at will, Grand Duke. She is the half-sister of the Holy Mother’s daughter, after all.”
A heavy male voice cut sharply through Erih’s words, interrupting him.
A man of commanding stature, bearing the insignia of Commander-in-Chief of the allied forces on his chest.
He wore a sword as well—the only difference from Sherukan being that his scabbard gleamed spotless, unmarred by a single drop of blood.
“Duke Baetan.”
At Sherukan’s name for him, my ears perked up.
‘Duke Baetan?’
Ah, so it was because I was standing next to the male lead?
I was meeting Duke Baetan here, of all places?
That man—the very one who’d corrupted Ayu in the original work?
Sherukan asked coldly.
“What does it matter who her sister is?”
To all appearances, the two of them were not on good terms.
People gossiped that a lion and a tiger could not share the same mountain. Well, that was probably true enough.
‘But I, having read the entire original work, know better.’
The heroine Ayu had possessed several male supporting characters.
Whereas the male lead Sherukan appeared late in the story, the first man Ayu became entangled with was none other than Duke Baetan.
Duke Baetan was Ayu’s first love, possessed of a striking appearance and noble station.
But what did it matter?
He was fated to become merely a supporting character, never chosen by the heroine.
‘Of course the male lead and the secondary male character wouldn’t get along.’
So it stood to reason they’d grow to hate each other—
Destined to despise one another from birth—
Not that I could have said any of this aloud. I kept such thoughts locked away, for myself alone.
That was when it happened.
Duke Baetan’s gaze turned toward me. His eyes flashed with sharp hostility.
‘Oh no.’
I looked down immediately. I didn’t have the life force to stand up to a secondary character who so clearly bore me ill will.
I’m a sunfish. I die easily. Even in my past life, I was on borrowed time.
That was when his shadow fell over me. Sherukan’s back now blocked my view.
“Don’t stare at him.”
“Can’t you have the Holy Mother’s daughter, so now you’ll take her sister instead?”
“What’s it to you?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Unlike you, I’m not a married man already.”
“…What do you mean by that! Are you cursing me, suggesting I’d dally with other women while my wife remains at home?!”
‘Oh no.’
I was startled by Duke Baetan’s anger—and not in the way I’d expected.
‘He just prophesied his own future!’
That was it.
The reason Duke Baetan, despite his handsome face, his wealth, and the tremendous advantage of being Ayu’s first love, had failed to become the male lead.
It was because Duke Baetan was already married!
Ayu didn’t know this when she fell for him. Worse, his wife was a woman skilled in court intrigue who tormented Ayu relentlessly.
That was precisely where this novel had tipped into tragedy.
“Damn it, why am I even having this ridiculous argument! Don’t obscure the point!”
Duke Baetan’s face had gone crimson as he shouted.
“That Deposed Concubine has yet to undergo the Imperial First Night! Surely the Temple of Divine Ministers sent an Imperial Decree stating that if the Northern Kingdom’s First Princess has not yet undergone the Imperial First Night, she is to be sent to the Temple first!”
I felt a sudden jolt of panic.
The Temple sent such an Imperial Decree? But why?
Unlike Ayu, the daughter of the saint, I had no connection whatsoever to the Temple of Divine Ministers.
So why had someone been going on about my Imperial First Night, talking about sending me or not sending me?
Separate from my confusion, my heart hammered in my chest. I grew anxious at the thought of Sherukan agreeing and sending me to the Temple of Divine Ministers.
‘The priests don’t like me, after all…….’
They resented my mother for refusing to relinquish the position of queen.
They believed that because of Mother, the saint had been denied the throne.
So the priests had always regarded me, her daughter, as a thorn in their side.
If I went to the Temple of Divine Ministers, I wouldn’t be treated well—that much was certain.
“The Temple of Divine Ministers?”
A cold voice cut through my anxiety almost immediately after.
“I made it clear. That I would take a portion of the war prizes. I’ve already notified them that I’m taking this woman with me.”
“Surely you could send her to the Temple first and receive your share later! Why, are you afraid she might die in the interim?”
“Whether she dies isn’t the issue.”
At his indifferent tone, I felt a small wound bloom inside my chest.
I suppose you could call it disappointment.
Swallowing a sigh, I chided myself inwardly.
‘I’ve already been charmed by him just because he appeared like a savior. Of course Sherukan doesn’t care whether I live or die. We only just met today.’
Sherukan continued in his measured voice.
“I’ve never surrendered my war prizes. You know that as well as I do.”
“This isn’t just any war—it’s a war with the Pasa Empire itself! Follow the Imperial Decree! Send that Deposed Concubine to the Temple of Divine Ministers at once! That’s an order!”
“Ha…….”
Sherukan exhaled a sigh and turned to look at me.
“Lorelthiana. Do you want to go to the Temple of Divine Ministers?”
Startled as I was, my answer came immediately.
“No.”
I cleared my throat and spoke more firmly.
“I’m going to the Gonet Grand Duchy.”
The words came out quite solemnly, and Sherukan laughed properly for the first time.
“Good.”
I couldn’t tell why he was laughing. He turned away again immediately.
‘But was there such a scene in the original work? Then again, that wretched original only featured Ayu anyway.’
“Grand Duke of Gonet! Am I invisible? I am your superior!”
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty.”
The Aide, who had been suppressing his presence just as much as I had, spoke up quietly.
“We signed the Imperial Decree before this campaign began. If we were to simply take this concubine with us, then by Continental Law, the Gonet Knights cannot participate in any war for the next three years……. Surely that would be problematic for our domain’s situation?”
“Ah, that’s right. Three years.”
Sherukan tilted his chin at an angle and murmured.
“That definitely won’t do. The domain would go completely bankrupt.”
My heart leaped into my throat. Then Sherukan suddenly turned back to me.
“The problem is that you haven’t bedded the Emperor.”
…….
“Then if you had undergone the Imperial First Night, I could take you to the Grand Duchy?”
“I’m sorry?”
For a moment I doubted my own ears.
Surely he wasn’t suggesting we perform the Imperial First Night right here, right now…….
Sherukan gazed at my widened eyes, then reached out his hand. His long, straight fingers traced lightly across my cheek.
Unconsciously, tension seized my throat.
“I never thought I’d end up marrying a war prize in the middle of a campaign.”
The words fell like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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