Chapter 6: TBTW

After returning to my room, I dismissed the maids and threw myself onto the bed.

The moment the soft bedding touched my body, all the tension drained away.

‘I can’t leave without giving Father confidence. He’ll worry.’

I had already been unfilial enough by acting recklessly and causing him endless concern.

Of course, what I planned to do in the imperial palace from now on wasn’t solely for the sake of earning Father’s trust.

‘If I want to change the flow of the original story, I’ll need at least a minimum amount of power myself.’

I stretched out my hand and pulled paper and a pen onto the bed.

First, I planned to organize the major settings of The Abandoned World that I still remembered.

‘The North developed slowly because transportation is difficult, and Grand Duke Prause is always overworked dealing with endless undead monsters using only a small amount of divine power.’

If I wanted the Grand Duke to tolerate marrying me, then all I had to do was become useful to him.

Fortunately, having regained the memories of my previous life, I already knew how to solve both problems.

‘If I hadn’t played the game in my past life, negotiating with the Grand Duke would’ve been impossible.’

Good job, me.

It was a moment that made all those hours relieving stress through gaming feel worthwhile.

‘After persuading Father…’

Next, I needed to make the Grand Duke recognize that I could be of help to him.

I had to make him think I was someone worth entering a contract marriage with.

If I managed that, even the fact that he had ignored every marriage proposal he’d ever received because of his aversion to romance wouldn’t matter.

‘All I have to do is promise him a divorce in a few years. I’ll keep it a secret from Father.’

From Grand Duke Prause’s perspective, enduring a few years of a fake marriage in exchange for breaking free from the shackles of absolute obedience rights was hardly a loss.

After all, he was the kind of character who recoiled at the mere mention of love or marriage because of childhood trauma.

‘He’s probably never even considered that marriage could be used like this.’

I was just about to think about how I would solidify my position once I successfully became the Grand Duchess when my eyelids suddenly grew heavy.

‘The curse really did damage my body badly.’

Unlike Mother, I hadn’t died, but my stamina seemed far worse than before.

You shouldn’t overexert yourself right before something important.

I placed the pen and papers into a locked drawer and secured it.

I had an important schedule tomorrow, so I needed to sleep here for today.

The next morning, Frey leisurely prepared to go out and spoke to her maid.

“Send word to the High Priest and arrange an appointment.”

The maid, Emma, froze for a moment.

Had the princess ever personally visited the temple before?

Surely she must have misheard because she’d been thinking it was about time the princess went shopping to cope with her grief.

“Princess… what did you just say?”

Seeing Emma’s trembling eyes, Frey swallowed her awkwardness.

‘It’s true I’ve lived far from a devout life until now. But do I really deserve that much shock?’

She had only barely shown her face at official imperial religious ceremonies.

From the time she was born in the imperial palace until adulthood, she had personally spoken with the High Priest exactly once.

[“High Priest, may I ask the name of the brilliant jewel decorating your staff?”]

The veins on the High Priest’s forehead had bulged despite the benevolent smile he always wore before others, but she hadn’t cared in the slightest.

‘He won’t exactly welcome me because of my track record, but even if it’s only in name, I’m still an imperial princess. He can’t just ignore my request.’

Since divine power was inherited through the emperor’s bloodline, the temple had always been the emperor’s closest ally.

If she contacted them beforehand, they wouldn’t be able to refuse the meeting outright.

“You heard correctly. Please arrange it.”

Instead of explaining herself in detail, Frey simply shrugged.

If she kept looking at Emma’s wide eyes, she felt she’d end up explaining exactly why she’d suddenly had this idea.

‘Besides, everyone will find out why I visited the temple soon enough. There’s no reason to drag this out.’

That afternoon.

Frey was greeted by the High Priest, who reacted exactly the same way Emma had.

“Princess Frey. What brings you here…?”

The High Priest asked in a noticeably tense voice.

The Frey he knew from his visits to the imperial palace had never been the type to approach powerful figures first.

Whenever someone tried approaching her, she would retreat first, as if afraid the Empress might become suspicious.

‘If she needed something from me, she could have secretly summoned me to the palace or sent a letter through a messenger.’

Princess Frey, of all people, knew better than anyone that the Empress’s faction would never fail to notice her openly visiting the temple.

So if she had gone so far as to make an appointment and publicly appear here—

“Could it be that you intend to use one of the temple’s instruments?”

“That’s right. The tool I need can only be found here.”

Her casual answer caused murmurs to ripple through the surroundings.

“The tool you mean… surely not the one I’m thinking of…”

The High Priest couldn’t bring himself to say the words divine power tester aloud and instead cautiously watched Frey’s reaction.

‘Princess Frey hasn’t undergone a divine power assessment since she was seven.’

Normally, if a child of the imperial family was determined to have no divine power at birth, they would continue to undergo yearly examinations until the age of twenty-five.

That was because divine power condensed within the body could manifest anytime before then.

But Frey had only been tested until age seven, and afterward she showed no interest in divine power whatsoever.

Everyone present knew why.

‘With His Highness the Crown Prince—the legitimate heir—having no divine power, it would look rather suspicious if the princess suddenly sought testing…’

‘It would make it seem like she’s aiming for the throne. The Empress’s side would be extremely sensitive about it.’

‘But why is Princess Frey suddenly doing this?’

Ignoring all the questioning gazes around her, Frey stepped forward lightly.

“I think the divine power tester was in that room.”

“!”

The moment she accurately pronounced the words divine power tester, the atmosphere froze.

Rumors had spread that Frey had changed after her mother’s death, but no one expected her to do something this bold.

‘What is she planning to do if Her Majesty the Empress finds out?’

‘Should we stop her?’

But Frey paid no attention to them and opened the door.

“Then I was right. I’ll be using it for a bit, so don’t let anyone enter.”

She had no intention of wasting any more effort on what was effectively a declaration of war against the Empress, the Crown Prince, and the noble faction.

Click—

Once she locked the door from the inside, even the priests who had rushed after her could do nothing.

Taking a light breath, Frey approached the stone pillar standing in the center of the room.

‘So this is what it looked like.’

Until just a week ago, she had thought she would never come near this place.

She believed that even a half-blooded princess stepping foot in the temple would irritate the Empress.

Even if she accidentally discovered one day that she possessed divine power, she had resolved countless times to keep silent about it forever.

As the Empress had wished, her final divine power assessment at age seven had shown no trace of divine power in her body.

‘If I hadn’t regained the memories of my past life, I would’ve lived forever believing I had no divine power.’

But now it was time to face the truth about herself.

[Frey Obelir]

[Trait – Divine Power (Potential)]

[Divine power awakened upon her sixteenth birthday, but remains dormant due to never being tested.]

Recalling the information she had seen in the game, she placed her hand atop the divine power tester.

Meanwhile, the Prause Grand Ducal Castle in the North was in just as much chaos as the temple in the capital.

The informants dispatched to the capital to observe political developments had returned with unbelievable news.

[Frey Obelir openly showed interest in Grand Duke Prause during Lady Roselia’s funeral.]

The news was so shocking that the castle employees spent the entire day gossiping about it.

“What? That delinquent princess is interested in our Grand Duke?”

“She lost her mother and now she’s acting even more recklessly than before. At least she used to fear the noble faction.”

“Still, a fallen princess is a bit… His Grace would probably reject even the Count Bliette’s daughter.”

The employees clicked their tongues and frowned.

Just the thought of their benevolent lord becoming entangled with the infamous princess disgusted them.

“There’s no chance the princess and our lord will become further involved, so everyone return to work.”

Luke Divine, a knight of the Grand Ducal Castle, raked a hand through his unruly red hair and snapped at them.

The lord he had served since before he ever picked up a sword was suddenly being linked to some shopping-addicted woman from the capital.

‘What kind of damned situation is this?’

“Your Grace, Luke Divine reporting.”

Creak—

Luke entered the office.

Blinding sunlight poured through the large windows.

And seated in the middle of it was Daniel Prause, looking almost like a sacred sculpture.

Silver hair tinged with blue, calm violet eyes, and posture so straight it bordered on perfection.

The retainers who had arrived before Luke were practically entranced by the long fingers moving elegantly as the Grand Duke held his pen.

‘With a face like that, it’s believable even if Princess Frey had been secretly in love with him.’

Inwardly, Luke blamed his lord’s unnecessarily beautiful appearance.

Once he confirmed everyone had gathered, Daniel set down his pen and spoke.

“Luke, I believe you were summoned first, yet you arrived last.”

“My apologies, Your Grace. The incident was so shocking that my movements slowed.”

“A proper knight wouldn’t waste time fooling around with women.”

“Well, I did spend the night chatting with beautiful ladies, but… Your Grace never leaves the office, so how did such a disaster happen to you?”

At Luke’s words, everyone—including Daniel—let out shallow sighs.

With relations between the Emperor and Crown Prince already terrible, taking in a princess who was practically the Emperor’s illegitimate child as Grand Duchess would—

‘Basically mean openly becoming enemies with the Crown Prince.’

‘How did the traditionally neutral House Prause end up in this mess…’

‘His Grace should’ve just agreed to marry Count Bliette’s daughter instead.’

Still, none of the retainers spoke carelessly.

They all knew how unpleasant this matter must be for the Grand Duke, whose parents had been destroyed by love.

“We can stop this.”

“……”

The retainers exchanged uneasy glances.

It was rare for the Grand Duke’s voice to sink that low.

“No matter what it takes, stop it. I have no intention of involving myself with love or marriage.”

“……”

“Even if His Majesty uses the right of absolute obedience, create a reason for the princess herself to refuse.”

Every syllable he spoke carried crushing pressure.

Now that the Grand Duke had taken such a firm stance, they had to find a way to separate him from the princess for certain.

‘But how?’

‘They say Frey Obelir always gets whatever she decides she wants…’

The retainers’ eyes wavered anxiously.

Like the others, Luke had lowered his head in thought, but suddenly he looked up.

“Then what about this method?”