1. The Crown Princess Who Killed the Crown Prince
On the first night as Crown Princess—before the fated night began.
There was no glory, no honor. It was nothing more than the beginning of a horrifying misfortune. The dagger in my hand was soaked red with my husband’s blood.
After the wedding, I waited for him in the Ruby Palace, our newlywed home. But he never appeared.
Still dressed in the heavy wedding garments, I grew tired of waiting. After drinking the wine handed to me by a maid, I dozed off—only to wake to a scream.
The Crown Prince lay dead.
His glassy eyes stared blankly, lifeless. The crimson blood spreading across the bed confirmed what his vacant pupils already told me.
Blood was dripping from the dagger still warm in my trembling hand. I dropped it in horror, my whole body shaking.
The pounding of my heart echoed in my ears like a drumbeat. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make sense of what had happened. I had no memory of it at all.
That’s how I became the bride who murdered her husband—the Crown Prince—on the very night of our wedding.
“The Crown Princess has killed His Highness! Seize her at once!”
The royal guards rushed at me.
“Let go! How dare you lay your hands on me?!”
I twisted and fought, screaming that I was innocent, but no one listened.
Dragged into the underground prison, I couldn’t understand why any of this was happening to me. The cold marble of the palace floor beneath my feet felt piercingly frigid.
What went wrong? What could have gone so wrong for me to be framed for the Crown Prince’s murder?
I barely knew him. He’d never shown me warmth, only cold, distant eyes.
For the past two years, he’d passed by without even acknowledging me, always indifferent, often deliberately keeping his distance.
I only began to see his face clearly a week before our wedding.
He had a stiff, cold way of speaking. I regretted becoming the fiancée of a man who looked at me with nothing but disdain.
But whenever I felt that regret, I reminded myself of my proud father and mother, my older brother. I told myself I didn’t need to seek the love of the Crown Prince—I only needed to be a Crown Princess loved by the people.
Still, despite two years of harsh royal education to become a member of the imperial family, all I received in return was a false accusation of murder.
Then what had my life been until now?
Had I really spent all that time learning the laws of the palace just to end up imprisoned in a lightless dungeon under false charges?
Even more despairing than the pitch-black prison, infested with only cockroaches, was the complete silence—no news of my family at all.
Breaking the silence was an old friend—or rather, someone I had believed to be a friend: Rosalie.
“They say they haven’t given you a single meal, poor Vanity. How did it come to this? I made this myself. Go on, eat.”
Wearing a pitiful expression, Rosalie then threw the sandwich at me.
“What… What are you doing?! Rosalie!”
“What am I doing? Do you know how sick I was of hearing you complain about not wanting to be the Crown Princess? You were lucky enough to land the spot I desperately wanted, and then you had the nerve to whine to me about how much you hated it?”
Her voice was laced with rage and hatred. She looked at me with eyes full of fury.
“Why didn’t you say something? You never showed it! You always comforted me and acted like you understood! Why are you doing this now?!”
“You still don’t get it? It’s because you’re stupid. It was hilarious watching you never catch on, even when I was pretending to understand and console you. How could someone so clueless about other people’s feelings be suited to be Crown Princess? Tsk. Isn’t it funny?”
My fists trembled with anger and betrayal. I had never imagined that Rosalie, who had never shown any sign of malice, was hiding such bitterness toward me.
“All that time… You stayed by my side just because of that? I thought all the time I spent becoming the Crown Princess was wasted… but now I see that the real waste was you. I used to envy your kindness, but now I see you were just a clown, hiding your jealousy behind a fake smile.”
Rosalie’s eyes sparkled wickedly. Like a beast provoked, she stared me down with terrifying intensity.
“What? A clown? You’re saying I wasted time? Ha! You really can’t see past your own nose, can you? You’ve lived as the Crown Prince’s fiancée—what would you know of the real world? I stuck around just to see this face of yours. The face of someone betrayed by the one they thought a friend, crying tears of blood!”
The hand I had been clenching for strength was now trembling uncontrollably. Her words made it clear—she knew. She knew the Crown Prince would die. She knew I’d be framed.
“What are you saying? You mean you know who killed him? You knew I’d be blamed?!”
I wanted to stay calm. I didn’t want to scream in desperation. But the sheer betrayal of knowing Rosalie was aware of everything overwhelmed me.
Rosalie widened her eyes, then burst into a laugh that echoed obscenely through the prison.
“You’ll be executed soon, Vanity. You’ll suffer in this cell, crying and going mad with despair until you die! Oh, and make sure you pick up that sandwich. Knowing your last meal was something I made already makes me feel satisfied.”
“W-Wait! My parents—what happened to my parents?!”
At my pleading, Rosalie stopped and turned her head. That cruel smile of hers made me want to spit in her face, but I was desperate to hear about my family.
“After committing such a crime, you really think your parents survived? Duke Lucro and his loyal retainers—all dead. Do you even understand how many people died because of you?! Just accept your crime and die! Only then will peace return!”
Everything I had tried to hold together shattered at the thought of my parents being gone.
No, maybe… maybe they were already dead.
The agony of that thought made even breathing unbearable. Betrayal and false accusations were nothing compared to the anguish of possibly losing my family because of me.
I don’t know how long I was trapped in that pitch-black abyss. But one day, the silence broke again with hurried footsteps and gasping breaths.
Emerging from the darkness, holding a lantern and something else in hand, was Princess Shilaina.
“Y-Your Highness…”
She nearly cried as she called out to me, placing the lantern down and kneeling so low her skirt swept across the floor.
“Your Highness… Your noble, beautiful face has grown so haggard. I tried to prove your innocence by deciphering the Crown Prince’s journal, but it wasn’t enough… I’m sorry. I don’t deserve to face you…”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“I’m fine, Princess. But I must know… what happened to my family?”
Unable to answer, the princess wiped her tears and held something out to me.
“Please take this, Your Highness.”
It looked like some kind of magical book, but I couldn’t read the symbols.
“What is this?”
“It’s a keepsake of the Crown Prince. Have you heard of the Witch’s Score?”
“That’s a legendary item from ancient myths…”
“This is the Witch’s Score. Please take it.”
The Witch’s Score—a song written by a man whose wife was falsely accused and executed as a witch. It was said to grant a chance to undo a life of injustice.
“Listen closely, Your Highness. You’ll be executed soon. When the time comes, hold this close and sing the witch’s song. Promise me. You must. If you do… you’ll be able to set everything right.”
I accepted the Witch’s Score and tucked it close to my chest. Could I really fix everything…?
“Your Highness… next time, please—set everything right. I know you can.”
The sound of approaching guards made the princess’s voice grow louder.
“The dethroned Crown Princess must come receive the royal decree!”
The jailers pushed past the princess and opened the cell door, attempting to gag me. The princess stepped in front of me and slapped one of them across the face.
“How dare you?! She is the Crown Princess! How dare you try to gag her, you madman?!”
“We were commanded to gag her. If she resists, we’ve permission to cut out her tongue, Princess.”
“You dare gag the Crown Princess?! Then gag me instead! You bastards!”
Princess Shilaina tried desperately to stop them. I gently grabbed her arm.
“Princess… it’s all right. I will accept the royal command. Please, no more.”
Tears filled the princess’s eyes. Clutching her chest, she sobbed in anguish.
