Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 3

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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 acting directly than issuing orders to others.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have thrown open the carriage door, swept me into his arms, and begun walking all in one breath.
The carriage door, left unlocked, swung open far too easily.
Erih trailed after him, talking without pause.
“Your Highness, Your Highness! You’re actually—really, truly—marrying this concubine lady, are you……?”
“I said I was. Stop your prattling and get out of my sight.”
“No, no, but—! Surely you ought to ask the lady’s own wishes before taking her as the Grand Duchess, shouldn’t you……?”
Sherkan stopped abruptly. He looked down at me and spoke.
“Do you hate it?”
“Pardon?”
Sherkan’s patience was short. His brow furrowed in displeasure almost at once.
“Your jaw’s hanging loose. If marrying a barbarian hybrid disgusts you, speak now.”
“No, that’s not—”
My voice wouldn’t come properly. I saw myself reflected in Sherkan’s eyes, so close they nearly touched my face. I couldn’t adjust to it.
“I’m simply too startled. It’s not disgust. It’s nothing like that at all…….”
Even so, I made sure to tell him exactly what was in my heart.
I didn’t want to earn the anger of Sherkan—the male lead—of all people.
I still had no idea how things had spiraled into this situation to begin with.
Sherkan, still staring at me, answered curtly.
“Then that’s settled.”
How long did we walk?
The place Sherkan brought me to was, by a twist of fate, the very Office Hall where we had first met.
Originally, this was one of the central offices primarily used by the Emperor.
The Pasa Empire was the sole empire on the continent, and the aging Emperor, devoted to luxury, had installed jeweled altars in every place he frequented.
Sherkan walked all the way to that altar before finally setting me down.
A sense of unreality clung to me.
To think I would be holding a wedding here of all places…….
On the way, not a few knights had seen us—all nobles bearing the rank of commander. They bustled about, murmuring among themselves.
“The Grand Duke is holding a wedding ceremony, with a Pasan concubine no less!”
“Is that so?”
“But with beauty like that, won’t he worry? What if she’s carrying the Pasan Emperor’s child?”
“She’s never undergone the Marriage Rite!”
“That’s the very thing that started this quarrel with the Commander-in-Chief…….”
Snap.
…….
In the same moment, a heavy weight settled on my head. Sherkan had draped the cloak he’d been wearing across one shoulder over my head, covering me entirely.
The cloak, fashioned from what looked like the pelt of some great beast, carried no foul stench whatsoever.
If anything, it smelled warm and comforting, like stepping into the nest of some enormous bird.
Before I could gather my wits, my hand was seized.
With the thick cloak blocking my vision, all I could see were the marble floor below and long legs—legs like those of a stallion.
“Grand Duke of Gonet!”
That was when it came: the furious voice of Duke Baetan.
“Will you truly go this far?! Does the Grand Duke hold not one shred of respect for the Commander-in-Chief?!”
“You wanted respect from a common mercenary? That’s news to me.”
To the scornful retort, Duke Baetan cried out in genuine outrage.
“There are priests present in this very hall! A wedding conducted without a priest is not recognized by the Holy Kingdom!”
“Is that so? Then perhaps the illustrious Commander-in-Chief should call one yourself.”
“Ha!”
Duke Baetan laughed, aghast—laughing so hard he clutched his belly. Then he fell silent, and his voice turned venomous as he issued a command.
“Let it be known that anyone who summons a priest shall be shot on sight for insubordination!”
Beneath the cloak that blocked my sight, I could see Sherkan’s feet shifting at an angle.
“How petty you’ve become. If your sword skills were at this level, even someone like me would have respected you. You ought to have spent that time honing your blade instead of wagging your tongue.”
“How dare you…….”
“Wouldn’t you say? How many times have I pulled the illustrious Commander-in-Chief back from death’s door?”
Duke Baetan seemed consumed by intense fury and shame.
“Sherkan Gonet, Grand Duke!”
“Commander! Please, compose yourself!”
Sherkan seemed to have lost all interest in Duke Baetan. He turned his back on the man entirely and looked toward me instead, his body angling in my direction.
“Lorel.”
Did he just call me by my familiar name?
“Look at me.”
Sherkan loosened my cloak slightly and drew something from within his garments—a small glass vial. The clear liquid inside caught the light as it shifted.
Soldiers bound for war always carry small vessels of Holy Water with them. When someone dies, a comrade pours that water over the corpse’s heart, praying the fallen returns safely to God’s embrace.
So that Holy Water was, well, yes, it was Holy Water, but…….
Patter.
Drip.
“……!”
A few drops of Holy Water fell upon my forehead.
Neither cold nor hot—only a clear, pure sensation touched my skin. Sherkan emptied the remaining water over his own head.
Then he pressed his lips lightly against mine.
Goosebumps rose across my entire body.
“Spread word that this Former Imperial Concubine is now the Grand Duchess of Gonet—no longer a war prize.”
Former Imperial Concubine.
With Pasa fallen, all of its countless beauties—regardless of rank—became “Former Imperial Concubines.”
Gasps of shock erupted from every direction.
“Sh-Sherkan Gonet……!”
“Don’t tell me he’s about to perform the Marriage Rite right here. He’d have to be mad.”
Seeing my face turn ashen, Sherkan pulled the hood of my cloak down over my eyes.
“Sleep. A lady of your station needn’t see such things.”
His voice remained casual.
“Cover your ears yourself.”
“…….”
I was loaded back into the carriage. The door shut with a click. But Sherkan did not board with me.
Would he ride in another carriage? Or follow on horseback?
A small bewilderment stirred in me, and I tilted my head just enough to peer out.
As though by coincidence, my gaze met a pair of scarlet eyes through the window. Sherkan tilted his chin slightly.
“Go on ahead. I have matters to settle—the price of your life, you might say.”
“…….”
“It won’t take long.”
“……Yes.”
Did male leads always read others’ expressions this well?
I lowered my gaze quietly. The cloak hood obscured my vision once more.
Sherkan’s voice penetrated my ears.
“Depart.”
The carriage began to roll forward.
Simultaneously, chaos erupted outside—the sound of a brawl.
I even heard the voice of a high priest, someone whose comings and goings in the Northern Kingdom had made him familiar to me.
“Miss Lorel! Please, halt for a moment!”
‘The high priest has come?’
Well, with Pasa’s gates breached and the empire itself fallen, nothing would be strange anymore.
Especially since they’d already struck some bizarre bargain amongst themselves—competing over who would take me, with their own peculiar conditions.
Why had the Temple of Priests wanted to take me in the first place?
And that stipulation they’d made—that they would only take me if I had never lain with the Emperor—I couldn’t fathom their intent at all.
“Miss Lorel! The High Priests 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. It felt as though a single bolt of cloth had changed the entire season.
Even so, doubt kept surfacing in my mind.
Really?
Do I truly survive this way?
My hands trembled slightly.
The commotion grew steadily more distant, then faded entirely.
‘I survived…….’
I folded my trembling hands together and pressed my cold, sweat-dampened face against them.
‘The male lead saved my life…….’
Tears threatened to spill. Relief flooded through me so completely I felt my body grow heavy, yet another thought emerged alongside it.
‘I owe him a debt.’
Sherkan fought the South for my sake, and brought me with him even by temporarily making me Grand Duchess of Gonet.
It was a debt to the Pasa Imperial Palace that couldn’t be brushed away with excuses.
“Wouldn’t it be troublesome to consider the circumstances of our territory?”
Erih’s words struck me like a blow.
He was right.
In fact, according to the original story, the Grand Duchy of Gonet even went bankrupt once.
‘First, I’ll prevent the bankruptcy. If I gather all the knowledge from the original work and the memories of my past life, it’s entirely possible.’
Then even if Sherkan later meets the heroine Ayu and falls into true love, he won’t forget my efforts—he’ll remember them.
Surely he’d give me a considerable sum of money?
‘Good. I can do this.’
I’ll stick by the male lead’s side and do my utmost.
Then I won’t die young in this life!

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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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