Chapter 1
0. Prologue
Translator: Rae
***
"Hello, Asili.”
Asili was in a daze for a moment.
It wasn’t because of the large bouquet of roses filling her vision, nor the suffocatingly intense scent of roses.
It was because of the handsome, tall man standing before her, smiling warmly.
“Not going to accept it? I put quite a bit of thought into it.”
Small exclamations erupted here and there, snapping Asili back to her senses as she accepted the bouquet he held out.
The bouquet, made entirely of red roses, which must have been so expensive it might cost more than half her monthly salary, was heavier than she had expected.
“Your Highness the Grand Duke, what brings you all the way here…”
"Your Highness?”
The man’s vivid blue eyes curved gently—yet mischievously.
Placing his hands behind his back, he tilted his head slightly toward Asili and whispered softly.
“Isn’t there any need to hide it anymore? There’s probably no one in the Kingdom of Eupendea who doesn’t know about us.”
“Ah…”
Indeed. Over the past few days, their scandal had stirred the entire kingdom into an uproar.
Unlike Jude Carlisle, the Grand Duke, who was already a famous figure, Asili, who merely worked as an ordinary doctor, found the ever-growing scandal too much to bear.
Now that he had appeared publicly like this, it would probably get her into a more troublesome situation.
However, this was something Asili had agreed to as well, and it was her burden to carry from now on.
Clutching the bouquet like a lifeline, Asili lifted her head and smiled brightly.
"Jude.”
“Much better.”
With a satisfied smile, he gently stroked a rose that stuck out from the bouquet.
Then his eyes met those of Asili’s fellow doctors and nurses, and Jude spoke with an awkward expression.
“More importantly, I’d like to talk somewhere quiet, just the two of us.”
“Pardon?”
“No matter how used I am to public attention, proposing in front of everyone is still embarrassing.”
Before he could even finish speaking, small gasps erupted around them. Though no one dared approach, a middle-aged doctor quickly pointed to one side.
“Doctor Asili, please take him there quickly.”
“Yes, how about the consultation room? I’ll make sure no one comes in.”
After giving them a faint smile of gratitude, Jude casually grabbed her wrist and headed toward the consultation room.
"Ah…”
As the bulky bouquet—too much for Asili to handle with one arm—tilted precariously, Jude naturally took it back.
"Was it too much?”
"A little.”
“Sorry. I was just so happy I could finally make it public, I didn’t realize.”
He winked playfully with a mischievous smile forming on his lips.
But the moment they entered the consultation room and closed the door, Jude casually tossed the bouquet—once held so carefully—onto the desk.
A few crushed petals from the roses at the bottom fell down in a red cascade.
Watching them fall with a blank gaze, Asili came back to reality.
His kindness was nothing more than part of an agreed-upon act.
“If you’re going to refuse, now’s your last chance.”
Asili turned to him, only to meet his cold, indifferent blue gaze.
And once again, she realized it.
Her situation was probably no different from those roses.
Someday, she might also be crushed under the weight of this relationship as well as the guilt underlying it.
Even so, Asili had already decided she would bear that weight willingly.
“I’ll do it.”
"Why?”
His voice turned cold as he pressed for confirmation.
His piercing blue gaze swept over her, urging an answer as the air between them grew even colder.
However, Asili understood his reaction.
Because of her, his reputation had been dragged through the mud, and even knowing marriage was the only solution, he must not have wanted to be entangled with her again, given their bitter past.
“For me…”
Her voice trembled faintly, and she paused for a moment to steady her breathing.
She had to remain composed—brazen, if possible.
“It’s an opportunity too good to pass up. There’s no reason to refuse.”
“...”
“Since Your Highness has proposed, I will accept.”
Fortunately, as she continued speaking, her voice settled into calmness. But enduring his cold, piercing gaze was still difficult. Clasping her trembling hands, she barely managed to meet his eyes.
"Is that so?”
The brief look of contempt vanished, and he grabbed Asili’s hand, pulling her roughly toward him.
Too close. The moment she felt that, Asili’s body and expression stiffened.
But without a care, he slipped a ring onto the fourth finger of her hand.
It was a dazzling ring, set with a large diamond that reflected the sunlight beautifully.
Even if she worked her entire life, she could never afford such a ring, yet she had no time to feel moved.
Right in front of her stood a man so cold it managed to sent chill down her spine, and she had to endure it by maintaining a calm, shameless expression.
Even if that weren’t the case, she wouldn’t have been able to feel pure joy. The ring on her finger felt unbearably heavy and suffocating—
like a shackle that would constantly remind her of a debt she must repay, a price she had to pay.
“Then smile, Asili. From now on, you and I are lovers deeply in love.”
“...”
“By now, reporters must be swarming in. So act happier than anyone else, Asili.”
Ah… right. Of course. She had to.
Right now, she was someone who had just been proposed to by the lover she had dramatically reunited with on a battlefield and fallen in love with again.
And so, Asili smiled with all her might.
In the cost of becoming a happy woman who had just been proposed to by the man she loved, this was the price Asili had to pay for the man she once loved, and still loves.
- The man she wanted to avoid.
The sky over the battlefield was always murky. Even when blue sky occasionally broke through the acrid gray smoke, it never felt pleasant. Because beneath that sky, someone was always being wounded, always dying.
"Phew.”
Her small sigh turned into a white puff of breath and vanished into the air. Winter—especially a battlefield covered in snow—was every bit as grueling as summer. Not only for the soldiers, but for the military doctors as well.
Wearing a white doctor’s coat, Asili had just come out after submitting an application to be sent to the frontline field hospital.
Doctor Hibicus, the head of the medical team, had asked why she had volunteered for the front lines, which was technically the place everyone else desperately avoid, but she had answered only with a quiet smile.
Of course, she was afraid too. How could a place where death lurked at every moment not be terrifying?
But she was more afraid that she might run into a man.
“Asili.”
Whenever she closed her eyes, a fragment of the past still unfolded vividly before her. The lively, gentle voice lingering in her ears, the platinum blond hair dazzling in the sunlight filtering through thick branches, and the warmth of his embrace.
“Doctor Asili!”
“Ah.”
Pulled out of the past by the voice calling her name, Asili turned around with both hands tucked into the pockets of her white coat.
Running toward her was Jenny, a fellow nurse and the colleague who had been assigned here with her on the same day.
For a moment Asili wondered if there was an emergency patient, but Jenny’s furious expression made that seem unlikely.
“Is it true? You volunteered for the frontline field hospital?”
Sure enough, the moment she saw Asili, Jenny started shouting.
“Yes. It’s true.”
“Why? Why would you do that on purpose? Do you know how dangerous the front line is!?”
“Jenny, calm down first…”
“You must be out of your mind. The war’s almost over, and if you just stay here, your chances of getting back alive are so much better. You weren’t even ordered to transfer, and you’re going there of your own accord? Are you serious?”
Jenny fired the words at her without giving her even a chance to answer. Then she seized Asili by the arm and dragged her along.
“Come on, come with me right now!”
"Where?”
“Where else? We’re going to withdraw your application!”
“I’m sorry, Jenny. I’ve already made up my mind.”
“Then I’ll go say it myself. That you haven’t been in your right mind because there are too many patients lately, and you just did it in a moment of anger.”
Jenny was adamant. And from her point of view, Asili’s volunteering was sheer madness.
At the tail end of the war, the frontline was where they were pouring out all their remaining firepower—so why would anyone walk into that place of their own will?
One has to be desperate to die.
Jenny, huffing with anger as she tried to drag along the resisting Asili, came to a halt when she saw soldiers rushing out in droves.
"What's going on?”
Still gripping Asili, Jenny narrowed her eyes. Beside her, Asili too stared at the soldiers hurriedly forming ranks with a puzzled expression.
Between the long rows of soldiers lined up on either side of the main gate, a black car came into view.
Behind the black automobile that passed through the gate first, military vehicles came in one after another.
“Wow, I guess we hit the jackpot!”
"What?”
“You know what, the rumor about His Highness the Grand Duke moving the temporary headquarters. My goodness, I can’t believe I’m going to see him with my own eyes. Doctor, let’s go closer and watch.”
Looking more excited than she had in days, Jenny tugged at Asili. But Asili would not budge, as though she had taken root to the spot.
“Doctor Asili?”
Jenny shook her arm in confusion, but Asili’s eyes remained fixed blankly on the car.
Or rather, on the man who stepped out of it a moment later.
Jude Carlisle, commander of the armies of the Kingdom of Eupendea and the Allied Forces, as well as the Grand Duke of Eupendea.
That was the reason Asili had volunteered for the field hospital.
***
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