My fiancé is dead.
To be precise, the man who was to become my husband has died.
“…They say it was an explosion. Nothing was left—no body, not even scraps of clothing.”
It happened in the middle of the night. I had just finished getting ready for bed when my father summoned me and broke the news.
It was a horrifying and bewildering shock. But what came next was even more jarring.
“But the Imperial Family has proposed marriage… to the second prince.”
“…What? Father, what are you saying?”
The news of my fiancé’s death alone had already left me too stunned for words.
So what was this my father was saying now? Speechless, I could only cover my mouth with trembling hands.
“It’s simple. Instead of marrying Crown Prince Izar, you’ll now be wed to Prince Khalid, the second son. Just think of it that way.”
“No, Father. How can you say that? They’re two completely different people!”
“They may differ in personality, but not in appearance. You know they’re twins, born on the same day, at the same hour.”
My father stood with his hands behind his back, silhouetted against the moonlight pouring in through the office window. After a pause, he turned and sighed.
“Surely you’re not going to complain now? You’re old enough to understand what’s at stake. Our family’s hopes rest on you.”
“…Yes, but still…”
“In any case, that’s how it is. Be prepared to visit the palace soon for the funeral.”
With that, he gestured for me to leave, citing the late hour. Reluctantly, I stepped into the corridor, my face etched with discomfort. Candles flickered in even intervals along the long hallway.
Yet everything seemed shrouded in darkness. Or perhaps it was just my mood coloring the world that way.
After all, I’d just been told my fiancé had died in battle.
Izar…
I murmured his name silently as I walked the empty corridor.
Unlike our family—labeled “fake nobility” ever since my grandfather bought our title—Izar had noble blood running pure in his veins.
But after generations of war, the Imperial treasury had been drained to a critical state.
Mountains of debt, small and large skirmishes constantly erupting throughout the empire.
Ten years ago, the Emperor, unable to bear the burden any longer, made a decision.
Though we had no true lineage, our family was immensely wealthy. And the Emperor needed that wealth.
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot. The Emperor swiftly proposed a marriage alliance with our house.
At the time, I was just ten years old—too young to understand a thing—when my father took me by the hand and brought me to the palace.
There, I was betrothed to Prince Izar, who was also only ten and equally clueless.
Ten years have passed since then.
Fortunately, Izar turned out to be the ideal fiancé. Handsome, graceful, never once causing a scandal.
Even when others whispered behind our backs, mocking us for not knowing our place, he never flinched. In fact, he once demanded an apology from someone who insulted me.
I graduated from Barkalia, the noble education institute, with both Izar and his twin brother, Prince Khalid. Izar, gentle and warm, was easy to get along with.
But Khalid… well.
We were awkward at best. Always at odds. Our personalities clashed, and he harbored a deep resentment—believing his brother was being “sold off” to me for money.
Not that he was wrong. But still…
If I’m honest, I wasn’t much different. I was also being “sold” to Izar—for power, not love.
Yet Khalid, whether he knew that or not, was always cold and unpleasant to me.
And now, with Izar gone, things have changed.
Now I’m expected to marry the one man I could never even stand to talk to.
The thought struck like a chill. My eyes burned. A deep, aching loneliness welled up inside me.
This is too cruel. Far too cruel. I stopped in the hallway and covered my face with both hands.
And in that darkness, Izar’s image came to mind—clear and vivid, like a fading dream.
“When I return… I’ll propose to you properly.”
Just before his deployment, he had taken me to the lilac garden, knowing how much I loved those flowers. He’d remembered an offhand comment I made years ago and filled the entire garden with lilacs just for me.
He said I could enjoy it every day once I became the Crown Princess.
I remember his silver hair swaying slightly in the breeze, his violet eyes—like amethyst—looking straight at me.
My heart raced like never before. After all our years together, it was in that moment I finally realized.
I loved him.
“Damn this war. Damn it all…”
Why did Izar have to be the one to die? Khalid went to war countless times and always came back unscathed.
Everything was happening around me, without me. No time to mourn, no space to grieve.
I couldn’t even say it to my father—that I didn’t want anyone but Izar.
But I knew. My opinion didn’t matter in this marriage arrangement. It never had.
Still… I hated this. I hated it so much. If it wasn’t Izar, I didn’t want it.
My eyes burned hot.
It was my life—so why didn’t I get a say in it?
I wiped my eyes, but the tears I’d been holding back since the study finally spilled over.
My feet, so heavy, dragged like lead.
At some point, I broke down in sobs.
Even if it were just for one day… I wanted to see Izar again. Just once more.
But reality is cruel. Cruel enough to force me to marry another man in his place.
“A life like a marionette’s.”
I whispered bitterly, brushing my tear-streaked cheeks.
Tomorrow was Izar’s funeral.
