I was no longer able to suppress my anger.

“My reputation will be ruined?” I chuckled. It was strangely loud in the silent carriage. “Griffin, you think far too highly of yourself. My reputation is none of your concern. You’re a coward who hides behind a woman.”

Griffin’s expression darkened drastically. He was instantly enraged.

“What did you just call me?”

As a celebrated warrior, he was being publicly called a coward by his betrothed. That hurt him even more than death itself.

“Griffin, please don’t be angry...”

Without me noticing, Joan had already approached us. She stumbled before throwing herself into Griffin’s arms. She held the infant in one hand and held onto his sleeve with the other.

“Her Grace was just angry. She didn’t mean it. It’s all my fault! I’ll leave right away. I won’t make things hard for you, Griffin.”

Even though she said she would leave, her feet remained rooted in place. Her tearful eyes were filled with both grievance and reluctance.

As expected, the moment Griffin saw how pitiful she looked, he flew into a blind rage.

“Isolde, don’t push your luck!”

He did not even bother calling me by my honorific title anymore. He called me by my name directly.

“For me to marry you is more honor than you deserve. Do you really think that you’re still that little princess the late king coddled? The new king has taken the throne. You’re nothing but an orphan, just the ghost of a dead reign. You have a title and nothing more.”

Everyone present gasped and fell into dead silence. No one had expected Griffin to speak the unsaid truth so publicly. Wilma, standing nearby, did not stop him. Instead, she revealed a satisfied, cold smile.

Clearly, she was also thinking the same thing.

To them, I had lost my patron and my power. I could only let the Quenell family do whatever they wanted with me.

“Griffin is right,” said Wilma.

She struck the ground with her cane again and continued smugly, “Your Grace, I advise you to see things as they are. Once you’re part of the Quenell family, you’ll have to obey my household’s rules. As for Joan, you will accept her whether you want to or not.”

The moment she said that, the Quenell household guards took a synchronized step forward. The scrape of steel leaving scabbards cut sharply through the air. Those several hundred soldiers in heavy armor surrounded my carriage.

It was clear that I could not leave unless I agreed to the marriage.

The scar-faced lieutenant and the other soldiers that Griffin led fixed the coachman with a menacing glare.

Nothing but a slight move from the coachman would trigger their swords.

“Your Grace, please step down from the carriage.”

Griffin smoothed his wedding tunic that Joan had wrinkled and stood tall again in his lofty, condescending posture.

“It’s getting late. Don’t keep the guests waiting.”

The atmosphere was heavy with pressure. The household guards of the Quenell family completely blocked my path. The coachman trembled with fear. He gripped his whip tightly in his hands. He did not even dare to breathe loudly.

This was Cathor’s great noble house. This was the so-called worthy man whom my late father, the king, had chosen after seeing a thousand potential grooms for me.

I looked at those bright, gleaming blades outside the carriage window.

It was an absurd scene.

“Griffin,” I said in a clear and calm voice, “Do you truly believe that a few hundred household guards can hold me prisoner?”

Griffin frowned. He seemed annoyed that I still spoke boldly, given my dire situation.

“Your Grace, I am doing this for your own good.”

He sighed and pretended to be reasonable.

####CHAPTER-NAME:

“All you have to do is step down from this carriage and walk in with Joan while holding her hand. I promise that from now on, in this household, you’ll still be the exalted first wife. Joan is very sensible. She will never try to overstep you.”

Joan immediately lowered her head as if in agreement, revealing her pale nape.

“Your Grace, don’t worry. I will serve you day and night from now on. I will treat you like my own elder sister. I only ask that my baby be given a legitimate place in this family.”

As she spoke, her eyes shimmered as they welled up with tears again. With that meek and yielding manner, any onlooker would think that I was the wicked mistress breaking apart another’s family.

The common folk present started murmuring again.

“This princess is completely unreasonable. That other woman has already been through so much.”

“Exactly. General Griffin has risked his life for Cathor. What is the harm in taking an extra wife?”

“I think she just looks down on us common folks. Arrogance is in her blood.”

Everyone started taking Griffin’s side.

Seeing this, Wilma became more confident.

She knew well that in a place like the capital, tongues of people cut deeper than any blade. If she could make people label me as “jealous” and “unreasonable,” even my royal title would never be able to save me.

“Your Grace, I’m going to ask you one last time.” Wilma’s murky eyes bore into the carriage. Her voice carried an ultimatum. “Please step down from the carriage.”

I did not answer her. Instead, I turned my gaze toward the scar-faced lieutenant.

“What’s your name?”

The scar-faced lieutenant was startled. He clearly had not expected me to ask his name at such a moment.

Boldened by Griffin, he answered in a rough, loud voice, “Leo Zinke!”

I nodded and said calmly, “Very well.”

“Leo, do you know what happens to those who surround a princess with armed soldiers?”

Leo threw his head back and laughed heartily. He looked as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

He said arrogantly, “Your Grace, I am a crude man. I only know that the general’s words are absolute! While he fought enemies at the border, you were admiring flowers and playing under the moon in the capital. Even if the king himself came today, I would still demand justice for the general!”

His treason was plain to see.

Griffin did not stop him. Instead, he showed a look of approval. These borderland soldiers had long been brainwashed by him into becoming the Quenell family’s private army. To him, this was his greatest bargaining chip to control me.

“His words are absolute, huh?”

I nodded as my fingertip gently brushed against the folded parchment hidden beneath my sleeve.

“Griffin, the soldiers you trained are certainly very loyal to you.”

“Of course they are!”

Griffin puffed out his chest with pride. He looked as if he had already won.

“So, Your Grace, stop your useless struggling. Get down from the carriage now, and we can still go through with this wedding with dignity. No one will benefit if this turns ugly.”

As he spoke, he reached out his hand and swept aside the curtain of the carriage. That large, rough hand grabbed my wrist without hesitation with undeniable force.

“Be a good princess and come down.”

He no longer tried to hide the arrogance and contempt in his gaze.

It was as if I were nothing more than a helpless prisoner at his mercy. Joan stood behind him. She could barely hide her triumphant smile. Wilma proudly stroked her lion-headed cane. She was simply waiting to see me walk out of the carriage in a dishevelled and humiliated state.

####CHAPTER-NAME:

At this critical moment, I did not dodge.

I simply watched as Griffin’s hand drew near.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch my sleeve, a long, dark gold whip appeared from nowhere and struck hard across the back of his hand.

“Ahh!” Griffin let out a shrill scream as he yanked his hand back.

On that once-arrogant hand lay a bloody gash so deep that the bone was visible. Blood poured from the wound.

“Who dares to wound our general?!”

Leo flew into a rage. He drew his blade from his waist as his eyes widened with fury. He looked toward the direction from which the whip had come.

Several hundred household guards of the Quenell family fell into formation in an instant.

Spears bristled on all sides as the air turned into a deadly stillness.

Joan let out a shriek. She clutched her infant tightly and hid behind Wilma. Wilma was also startled, but she quickly regained her composure with anger flashing in her eyes.

“Who is so bold as to cause trouble before the gates of the general of the northern frontier? Do you have a death wish?”

From the far end of the long street came the thunder of hooves in perfect unison. Each beat shook every heart that heard it. The hoofbeats brought with them a deadly chill. The air grew sharply colder.

The crowd parted into a wide passage.

A troop of cavalrymen clad in black heavy armor emerged. They looked like demons walking out from the depths of hell. Every horse was a tall steed. Every rider wore a black iron mask. Only their eyes were exposed.

Their murderous gazes were cold and ruthless.

The faces of the arrogant household guards of the Quenell family instantly turned pale the moment they saw this cavalry. Leo was so terrified that he could barely hold his sword steady, and his legs started trembling uncontrollably.

“T-The Black Guard...” he stammered through quivering lips. It was as if he had seen some ghosts.

Where the Black Guard passed, the very earth turned barren. Griffin clutched his bleeding hand as he stared at the cavalry with shock and uncertainty. He could not understand why the Black Guards had been summoned. He was merely taking in a second wife!

The cavalry halted ten paces in front of the carriage.

The formation split in the middle and made way for a magnificent black Ferghana horse.

On the horse’s back sat a young man.

He had extremely handsome features. However, they carried an air of unshakeable gloominess and arrogance.

His eyes glanced coldly at the crowd as if they were corpses.

“Which yapping jackal tried to pressure Isolde into doing something she refused to do?”

His voice was calm, but to Griffin and Wilma, it landed like a blow to their chest.

He was Jasper Xiberras, the youngest marquess of the kingdom. The new king was still a child. As regent, Jasper held all the power of the royal court. He had a violent and cruel nature. He made decisions with resolute action.

He was known throughout the capital as the Living Devil.

Wilma’s body went limp. She collapsed into her maid’s arms, and her lion-headed cane fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Griffin’s face turned pale. He endured the sharp pain on the back of his hand and lowered himself to one knee.

“My lord Marquess,” he gritted through his teeth as cold sweat dripped down his forehead.

Jasper did not spare him a single glance. He dismounted his horse in one swift motion.

He stepped on the red-carpeted stairs and strode to the front of my carriage before casually tossing the long, dark gold whips still wet with Griffin’s blood to the guards behind him.

Then, he parted the curtain and extended his slender hand toward me.

The sinister and bloodthirsty gaze became tender with care as he said, “Isolde, I have come to take you home.”