Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 17

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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 3
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What in the world was happening?
Sherkan seemed more accustomed to moving directly than issuing commands to others.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have thrown open the carriage door, lifted me into his arms, and started walking in a single fluid motion.
The carriage door, unlocked, swung open far too easily.
Erih trailed behind, speaking without pause.
“Your Highness, Your Highness! Are you really, truly, actually going to m-marry this concubine, a m-marriage to…….”
“I said we are. Stop your prattling and get out of the way.”
“No, no, but——! Surely the lady’s own wishes matter, given that she’ll be serving as your duchess……?”
Sherkan stopped abruptly. He looked down at me and spoke.
“Do you dislike it?”
“Pardon?”
Sherkan’s patience was short. He quickly furrowed his brow in displeasure.
“Your jaw’s going to hit the floor. If marrying a half-barbarian disgusts you, speak now.”
“No, no. That’s not it…….”
My voice wouldn’t come properly. In Sherkan’s eyes, so close they nearly touched mine, I could see my own reflection. I couldn’t adjust to it.
“I’m just shocked. It’s not disgust. It’s absolutely not that…….”
Even in my panic, I made sure to convey my feelings to him clearly.
I didn’t want to earn the male lead’s anger.
Though I still couldn’t begin to understand how the situation had spiraled to this point.
Sherkan, who had been studying my face intently, answered curtly.
“Fine, then.”
How far had we walked?
The place Sherkan had brought me was, by sheer coincidence, the very office where we had first met.
It was originally one of the central offices that the Emperor primarily used.
The Pasa Empire was the continent’s sole empire, and the aging Emperor, who enjoyed extravagance, had gem-encrusted altars installed in every place he frequented.
Sherkan walked as far as that altar before setting me down.
The dreamlike feeling wouldn’t fade.
To think I’d be holding a wedding ceremony here of all places…….
On the way here, no small number of knights had seen us. All of them nobles bearing the rank of commander, and they were busy murmuring amongst themselves.
“The Grand Duke is to be married, they say, to that Pasan concubine!”
“Truly?”
“But with such striking beauty, doesn’t it worry you? What if there’s seed from the Pasan Emperor in her womb?”
“She’s never had consummation!”
“In fact, it’s because of that very matter the Commander-in-Chief and he came to blows…….”
Click.
…….
At the same moment, weight pressed down on my head. Sherkan had pulled the cloak from across his shoulder and draped it over my entire head.
The cloak, which seemed to have been stripped whole from some great beast’s hide, carried no stench whatsoever.
Instead, it smelled warm and comforting, like stepping into a great bird’s nest.
Before I could regain my bearings, my hand was seized.
With the massive cloak blocking my sight entirely, all I could see were marble floors and legs long as a stallion’s.
“Grand Duke!”
That was when it came——the angry voice of Baetan, the Commander-in-Chief.
“Will you truly go this far?! Does the Grand Duke hold no respect whatsoever for the Commander-in-Chief?!”
“You expected respect for some mere sellsword? How naive of me.”
At the contempt-laden riposte, Baetan truly lost his composure and shouted.
“There is a priest present! A marriage conducted without a priest carries no sanction from the Holy Nation!”
“Is that so? Then by all means, let the accomplished Commander-in-Chief summon one.”
“Ha!”
Baetan laughed as though thunderstruck, his belly shaking with it. When at last his laughter ceased, his voice turned vicious with malice as he issued a command.
“Whoever summons a priest shall be executed on the spot for disobedience!”
Beneath the cloak that blocked my vision, I could see Sherkan’s feet shift at an odd angle.
“How petty you are. If your sword arm matched your scheming, you’d have earned even my respect. Perhaps you should spend less time with your tongue and more time with your blade.”
“How dare you…….”
“Or have you forgotten? How many times have I pulled you back from the brink of death?”
Baetan appeared consumed by fury and humiliation in equal measure.
“Sherkan, Grand Duke of Gonnet!”
“Commander! Please control yourself!”
Sherkan seemed to have lost all interest in Baetan. He’d turned his back to the duke entirely and was looking at me instead, his feet already angled in my direction.
“Lorel.”
Did he just use my given name?
“Look at me.”
Sherkan loosened my cloak slightly and drew something from his breast. A small glass vial. The clear liquid inside sloshed softly.
Soldiers heading to war carried vials of holy water as a matter of course. When one fell, his comrades would pour the water over the corpse’s chest—a prayer that the dead would return safely to God’s embrace.
So that holy water was, well, yes, it was holy water, but…….
Tap.
Patter.
“……!”
A few drops fell on my forehead.
Neither cold nor warm—only the crystalline sensation of liquid touching skin. Sherkan emptied the rest over his own head.
Then he pressed his lips lightly against mine.
Goosebumps scattered across my entire body.
“Tell them this former concubine is no longer a war prize, but the Duchess of Gonnet.”
Former concubine.
With the Pasa Empire fallen, all its countless beauties—regardless of rank—had become “former concubines.”
A ripple of gasps spread through the crowd.
“Sh-Sherkan, Duke of Gonnet……!”
“You’re not asking him to consummate the marriage right here, are you? That would be madness.”
Seeing my face go white, Sherkan pulled the cloak’s hood down hard over my eyes, shielding my vision.
“Get some sleep. A refined lady’s eyes shouldn’t have to see much more than this.”
His voice was matter-of-fact as he continued.
“Cover your ears yourself.”
“…….”
I was bundled back into the carriage. The door shut with a firm click. But Sherkan didn’t climb in beside me.
Was he riding in another carriage? Or perhaps on horseback, following behind?
A small flutter of curiosity made me crane my neck toward the window.
As if by design, my gaze collided with a pair of crimson eyes beyond the glass. Sherkan tilted his chin slightly.
“Go on ahead. I have some matters to settle—payment for your life, you might say.”
“…….”
“It won’t take long.”
“……Yes.”
Did male leads of his caliber always read others’ expressions so effortlessly?
I lowered my gaze quietly. The hood fell back over my face.
Sherkan’s voice carved into my ears.
“Move out.”
The carriage began to roll.
Behind us, a commotion erupted—like dogs fighting.
I even heard the voice of a high priest, someone I’d grown familiar with from his frequent visits to the Northern Kingdom.
“Lady Lorelti! Please wait just a moment!”
‘A high priest came all the way here?’
Well, the Pasa Empire’s gates had been breached and the empire itself destroyed, so nothing would surprise me at this point.
Especially after they’d haggled over such bizarre conditions to decide who would take me, making their pact right there in the dust.
Why did the Temple of Ministers want to take me in the first place?
And their insistence on only taking me if I hadn’t lain with the emperor—I couldn’t fathom their reasoning at all.
“Lady Lorelti! The High Ministers absolutely must……!”
I didn’t want to hear more.
I curled my body inward and covered my ears.
The fur cloak wrapped around me was warm and thick. A single bolt of cloth seemed to have changed the very season around me.
Even so, doubt kept rising unbidden.
Really?
Is this really how I survive?
My hands trembled faintly.
The noise grew steadily more distant until it faded away entirely.
‘I survived…….’
I clasped my trembling hands together and pressed my cold, sweat-dampened face against them.
‘The male lead saved my life…….’
Tears threatened to spill. Relief washed over me so completely that my body went heavy, but another thought rose alongside it.
‘I have to repay him.’
Sherkan had taken me with him even while fighting the Southern Kingdom, elevating me to the rank of Grand Duke’s wife—temporary though it was.
It was a debt that could not be brushed aside with a mere word from the Pasa Imperial Palace.
“Wouldn’t it be troublesome, considering the circumstances of our territory?”
Erih’s words had struck something in me.
He was right.
In the original story, the Gonnet Duchy even went bankrupt once.
‘First, I’ll prevent that bankruptcy. If I scrape together all the knowledge from the original narrative and memories from my past life, it’s entirely possible.’
Then, even if Sherkan later meets the true heroine Ayu and falls into genuine love, he won’t forget my efforts—he’ll remember them.
Surely he’ll place no small fortune in my hands?
‘All right. I can do this.’
I’ll cling to the male lead’s side and give it everything I have.
Then in this life, I won’t die young.

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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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