Chapter 6
“It was as if you knew I’d be coming, the way you ran. Madam.”
“T-That can’t be true.”
My voice scattered into the air like a candle’s flame about to go out.
“How did you know?”
The sharp tip of a sword suddenly pressed up under my chin, tilting my head upward.
Only then did my view clear, allowing me to take in my surroundings at a glance.
I was so startled that no words came out; I could only widen my eyes in vain.
‘This man is… the Grand Duke Shiraz?’
Shiraz Rudkayev was looking straight down at me.
The first thought that came to mind was that the emerald-green eyes, tinged with deep navy, were mysterious. Mysterious… yet dangerous.
Had I met him in another place, I might have stopped breathing for a completely different reason.
With platinum-blond hair that gleamed as though wet and a tall, well-built figure—
My goodness. Was it ever mentioned in the original story that the Grand Duke Shiraz was this handsome? How did I not know?
For a brief moment, I felt dazed, as if struck on the head.
Shiraz, as though scrutinizing me, turned my head with his sword to look from another angle.
“Answer me. Or do you want to die too?”
In his cold gaze was a hint of contempt directed at me.
“If I say I don’t want to die, will you spare me?”
What I had meant to keep in my head slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
Perhaps surprised by my retort, his eyes flickered faintly.
I stared straight back at him, thinking about what to do next.
No matter how I thought about it, the conclusion always led to death.
Perhaps I stared at him too intently, because the soldiers around us began murmuring quietly.
“I knew my husband sent a letter to General Marcus. That’s when I started thinking about running away.”
I decided to speak without lies.
‘If I die here, maybe I’ll return to my original life.’
That thought gave me a strange sort of reckless courage. And besides—
‘One way or another, he’s going to kill me anyway.’
The resignation almost made me calm.
“Get to the point. So I can understand it.”
At his warning, I swallowed dryly before continuing.
“A little while ago, I saw one of my husband’s vassals die. He told my husband he mustn’t betray the Grand Duke Shiraz. And then he died at my husband’s hands.”
The corner of Shiraz’s mouth lifted slightly—barely visible.
“So there was at least one smart man.”
“When I realized the letter my husband was sending contained betrayal against the Grand Duke, I decided to plan my escape.”
Only then did the Grand Duke lower his sword and leisurely cross his arms, his face showing curiosity about what more I might say.
I continued calmly.
“Since my husband had turned his back on the Grand Duke, I figured this castle was done for. I didn’t want to die alongside my foolish husband, so I waited for a chance on his birthday today to slip away.”
The Grand Duke’s vassals around us seemed to look at me with a hint of admiration, some stroking their chins thoughtfully.
“Why didn’t you think Marcus would arrive first? You could’ve died running away. What made you take that risk?”
Shiraz regarded me with suspicion still in his eyes.
“Marcus? Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped me, and his face cooled instantly.
I had no idea where this reckless boldness was coming from, but my mouth kept moving of its own accord.
“That man can barely keep himself afloat right now. Just because you gather people doesn’t make you stronger. It only makes things messier.”
A brief silence followed.
“Right now, the lords may be siding with him, but it’s all numbers. Their actual power doesn’t even compare to a single division of your army.”
That much was already known.
Early in the original story, when General Marcus raised the banner to punish the Emperor’s assassin, the lords who feared Shiraz all flocked to his side.
But then, disagreements between those self-important lords led to internal conflict, and Marcus, shaken from within, suffered repeated defeats against the Grand Duke.
I didn’t blurt out all the future events, but I made it clear how foolish it was to side with Marcus now.
Apparently, hearing such an answer from a mere provincial lord’s wife left an impression—there was a subtle change in the onlookers’ eyes.
Even Shiraz Rudkayev gave me a look as if to say, ‘Just what are you?’
Avoiding his gaze, I lowered my head.
Those icy teal eyes felt as though they could pierce straight into my mind; I couldn’t look at them directly.
‘Who are you, really? You can’t possibly be a lord’s wife. Where did you come from?’
It felt like those words could spill from his lips at any moment.
Instead, a low chuckle escaped him.
“Not bad. If Willinger had half your wits, he wouldn’t have ended up like that.”
He glanced at Willinger’s corpse as he spoke.
For some reason, in a better mood now, Shiraz slid his sword back into its sheath and walked straight out.
“Your Excellency!”
His unexpected reaction left his subordinates flustered, and Huey immediately followed him.
“Don’t kill that woman. She’s not stupid. Drag her along and put her to work, even if it’s just menial labor.”
Watching him and his soldiers leave, my mind went blank.
‘Drag me along? He’s taking me with him?’
This was a development I had never imagined.
Two soldiers entered shortly afterward, having received orders from outside, and moved to seize me.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, unlike in the original story, I was still alive. That in itself was a problem, given how precarious my life felt.
Still, I couldn’t believe I’d survived after mouthing off so recklessly in front of the Grand Duke Shiraz.
As I was taken prisoner by his army, I thought hard.
How had the Grand Duke arrived at the castle so quickly? At what point had the story diverged from the original?
I couldn’t find the answer, but I guessed it was some sort of butterfly effect.
Even though I had possessed Garnet Willinger and acted as she would, there were definitely moments where my own will had influenced events.
Those moments where my will seeped in might have changed small things, and all those small changes together could have shifted the original plot.
Speculation was endless, but one thing was certain—
By possessing her, I had kept Garnet, who should have died, alive. And now she was being taken away by the most powerful villain in this world.
The story had completely changed from the original, and I had no idea how it might change again.
“Phew… what a mess.”
A sigh escaped me.
‘Still, there’s no way the entire ending would change just because of one extra like me.’
Which meant, if I wanted to survive to the end, I had to escape from the Grand Duke’s camp.
If I didn’t want to die a pointless death alongside Shiraz, whose end was tragic, I had to get away.
‘After all the hell I went through in Lord Willinger’s castle… why is it my fate to just keep suffering? Honestly.’
I wiped away the tears that threatened to well up.
At least in the lord’s castle, there had been hope that effort could change things, but now the future seemed impossibly bleak.
‘I’m not up against some small fry like Willinger anymore. This is Shiraz—the Grand Duke Shiraz!’
Somehow, the scale of things had grown, and my situation had become more tangled.
After a brief moment of despair, I straightened my head.
‘Right. They say even in a tiger’s den, you’ll survive if you keep your wits. There’s got to be a way. Don’t lose heart before you’ve even tried.’
In life, there are times when you think you’re doomed, only for things to turn out well instead.
And it wasn’t like I couldn’t survive in this world.
If anything, since I knew the plot, I was arguably the strongest person here.
Pumping myself full of confidence, I began to look around.
The Grand Duke Shiraz, after all, was as much a main character in the original novel as the male lead, General Marcus. Which meant the people around him had also been portrayed prominently.
‘Let’s see who’s who.’
When I first saw the villain Shiraz, he had been so different from what I’d imagined that it was shocking—so now I was oddly eager to look over each person.
A small, middle-aged man with gray hair—looked exactly like a scholar. Seeing him follow closely behind Shiraz, I thought—
‘That’s right. That must be his close aide, Huey!’
The composed eyes and tightly closed lips showed his cautious nature right on his face.
‘Then that person…’
Scanning through the characters in my mind, I narrowed my eyes.
Dark reddish-brown hair that almost looked red, a lean yet sharp impression, and a large build. Everything about him screamed skilled knight.
‘Is that the knight commander, Mikhail? Or Count Aaron?’
I quickly shook my head.
‘No, Aaron had black hair. Then it’s Mikhail!’
The thrill of being right lasted only a moment before my eyes eagerly sought out others.
‘But where’s Aaron? I don’t see any young, black-haired, handsome man…’
No matter how I searched, I couldn’t find anyone who fit Aaron’s description, and I quickly lost interest.
‘They’re all people from the villain’s side anyway. In the end, they’ll all die with Shiraz.’
Thinking that, it seemed pointless to care. It wasn’t like I’d be keeping them company in hell.
‘By the way… where exactly are we going? What’s going to happen to me now?’
I calmly tried recalling the original plot.
Since Garnet Willinger died early on, it wasn’t clear where they were taking me now.
But I could at least infer that this was still the early stage of the story.
When news arrived that Lord Willinger’s head had been delivered to Marcus’s camp, the lords across the land were shocked and terrified.
Afraid that their own heads might be next, they became reluctant to march to Marcus’s side.
When even those who had sworn loyalty were merely watching from the sidelines, Shiraz regrouped his forces at Izar Castle, located in a wide plain.
He had many castles across the empire—in the capital where the imperial palace was, as well as strategic fortresses in the east, west, north, and south.
Izar was his western stronghold.
‘So… I guess I’m on my way to the western Izar Castle.’
