TBKBS 01

Chapter : 1

On a pitch-black night, just as I was about to climb into the carriage that would take me to the Darkus Empire under cover of darkness, Father approached me.

“I’ll head to the Darkus Empire in time for your wedding.”

His voice was low and heavy as he pulled me into a tight embrace.

“Yes, please don’t worry too much, Father.”

I forced a bright smile as I answered.

“It’s time to leave now, Father.”

When my older brother Luke urged him from the side, Father—who seemed as though he would never let me go—finally released me.

I had also told Luke to come to the Darkus Empire for my wedding day, but he stubbornly insisted he had to protect me. In the end, he forced his way into our group.

So, in the carriage bound for the Darkus Empire on this midnight escape, there were four people: me, the coachman, one maid, and Luke.

Leaving my worried father behind, the carriage carrying us finally began racing toward the border of the Darkus Empire.

The carriage rattled more violently.

We must have left the paved roads of the capital, Everen, and entered an unpaved dirt road on the outskirts.

How long had we been traveling on that dirt road?

“Whoa!”

The coachman suddenly reined the horses to a stop, and the carriage came to an abrupt halt.

What’s going on?

A bad feeling crept over me.

“What is it?”

Luke asked through the window to the driver’s seat.

“There’s something up ahead, young master.”

“Something? What do you—”

Before Luke could finish his sentence—

Clunk!

The carriage door burst open.

!!!!!!

Standing there was a knight in full uniform. And I recognized him.

Rajif, vice-commander of the Crown Prince’s personal knights.

“What is the meaning of this!”

Luke shouted.

But then, looming behind Rajif, another intimidating figure appeared, and Luke fell silent.

Because it was Crown Prince Calix himself.

At that moment, silence fell inside our carriage.

The silence was broken by Calix’s overly calm voice.

“Kaelin, where are you going? Out on such a dark night?”

“Your Highness…”

Where else? I was running away from you.

But it seems that path has already been cut off.

The instant I saw Calix’s face framed in the open carriage doorway, I knew.

Our attempt to flee to the Darkus Empire had failed.

I was already caught.

“The Duke of Brockburg’s children—what could a young master and young lady be doing, rushing off into the night?”

Calix tilted his head with a sneer, as if he were genuinely curious.

Are you really asking because you don’t know? You already know everything. That’s why you’re here to catch me!

“We’re heading to the Darkus Empire for my sister’s marriage. Step aside.”

Luke spoke—fearlessly.

And indeed, on the surface, his words weren’t wrong.

I had simply departed earlier than planned for my marriage.

But knowing Calix—the male lead who would one day kill me out of obsession—I broke into a cold sweat at Luke’s boldness, fearing how Calix would respond.

Yet, contrary to my fears, Calix showed no particular change in expression.

He only muttered to himself, as if tasting the words.

“…Going to the Darkus Empire for marriage…”

But even with the same expression, his face now seemed distinctly colder.

The chill radiating from him was so sharp that I shivered involuntarily.

He asked his next question as casually as if he were deciding on a dinner menu.

“Lord Luke Ford, you must choose. Will you cross swords with me here and then hand Kaelin over, or will you hand her over quietly, peacefully?”

A sword…

My body trembled again.

What kind of choice is that? It’s a threat.

There was no choice now—I was already in his grasp.

But Luke rose from his seat without hesitation, left hand on his scabbard, right hand on the hilt of his sword.

Crazy!

Does he want to die?!

Watching the resolve in Luke’s eyes, then my horrified face, Calix spoke again, his tone almost languid—half persuasion, half mockery.

“Rather than drawing your sword here and showing your sister how her brother dies, wouldn’t it be better to hand Kaelin over gracefully? I don’t wish to kill you in front of her. If Kaelin were to faint from the shock, it would wound my heart terribly.”

Oh, so if I faint it’ll hurt your heart?

This from the man who will stab me to death with a sword?

And yet, absurdly enough, I knew he was sincere.

He truly didn’t want to kill my brother. He truly would feel pain if I fainted. And yet he truly could kill Luke anyway.

But Luke was not the kind of brother whose determination to protect his sister would falter simply because an overwhelmingly strong opponent threatened him.

“Your Highness! Kaelin is only leaving to marry the man she loves. You have no right to stop her! If you will not yield the road, then I shall carve a path with my sword!”

Luke, this is not the time for that kind of talk!

That man really will kill us all!

Before someone who had both the power and the will to kill, my brother’s gallant courage was nothing more than reckless bravado.

Sure enough, at Luke’s words, Calix’s eyes flared with a dangerous light.

“The man Kaelin loves?”

His voice, low with restrained fury, made my gaze snap to his clenched left fist.

As expected, veins bulged violently across his knuckles.

No!

We can’t provoke him!

Escaping to the Darkus Empire was already impossible anyway.

“Luke!”

I called out to my trembling brother.

But he continued glaring at Calix, refusing to budge.

“Please, don’t do this.”

I grabbed Luke’s hand, the one resting on his scabbard, and pleaded.

Still, he wouldn’t retreat.

Then Calix’s gaze shifted—to where my hand clasped Luke’s.

There was something chilling in his look, and I instinctively let go.

Only then did his eyes return to Luke’s face.

“My desire is Kaelin, not your life. Don’t be reckless, Luke.”

!!!!

Luke?

My eyes widened in shock—not because of what he said, but because of how he said it.

He called my brother Luke.

Not “Lord Luke Ford,” as he always had until now, but simply “Luke.”

Just as he had in their boyhood, when they used to play together.

Luke, too, seemed to flinch at hearing his old name on Calix’s lips.

I could see that the childhood memories evoked by that one word softened the fierce hostility that had driven Luke to risk his life.

Why did Calix call him “Luke” just now? Was it a calculated move to shake him, or did it slip out unconsciously? I couldn’t tell.

Whatever his intent, Luke’s wavering wasn’t a bad thing.

I seized the moment.

“Luke, I’m really fine. Please don’t fight His Highness. I don’t want you to. Please?”

Already unsettled by Calix’s familiar address, Luke finally relaxed, his readiness to charge at Calix ebbing away.

It seemed we had barely sidestepped disaster.

Forcing myself to remain calm, I turned to Calix.

“I’ll give up on going to the Darkus Empire. I’ll return to the ducal estate. So Your Highness may also return now. If you don’t trust me, you may watch until I arrive home.”

Calix fell silent, as though considering.

Beside me, Luke was still breathing hard, but he said nothing.

At last, Calix spoke again—loudly, for all his knights to hear.

“Kaelin Brockburg’s carriage will return to the Brockburg estate. From this moment, she will be escorted by the Crown Prince’s personal knights, for she shall become the Crown Princess of the Everetian Empire!”

!!!!!!

The Crown Princess of the Everetian Empire?

…Ha.

So this is how it turns out.

In the end, you’re obsessed with me after all.

Why now, when you didn’t before?

His sudden shift left me with a wave of despair.

But despair alone wouldn’t save me.

Because from now on, I had only about one year before I would die at the Crown Prince’s hand.

I had to start over.

I had to find a way to survive.

It was about a year ago that I transmigrated into the body of Kaelin Brockburg, daughter of the Everetian Empire’s prime minister.

There were two contenders for the throne.

Crown Prince Calix, son of the former empress.

And Grand Duke Leon, son of the current empress.

One would become emperor, while the other would be forced to preserve his life under his brother’s reign.

A typical romance-fantasy setup: half-brothers at odds.

Though Calix currently held the title of Crown Prince, the emperor had remained neutral for more than a decade since the new empress took her place.

Calix had personal strength and ability.

Leon had the backing of the empress’s family and the noble factions she drew in.

But Leon had one more decisive advantage.

Kaelin Brockburg, only daughter of the empire’s all-powerful duke and chancellor—wealthy, beautiful, and influential—was in love with him and supported him.

That was me.

Loved by both men, Kaelin unfortunately loved not the male lead Calix, but Grand Duke Leon.

And because of her devotion, she joined Leon in plotting rebellion against Calix.

But Calix was the male lead.

Of course he crushed the rebellion, killed the traitors, and ascended the throne.

After being captured, Kaelin cried out:

“Calix, I’d rather die than be your empress. Kill me!”

Kill me?

Wow, bold words. Revolutionary, even.

Who wrote this crap?

Oh right… me.

That ridiculous scene was the last thing I wrote before I got hit by a car. I had written Calix stabbing Kaelin to death—then walked out of a café, and that’s when I died.

And then I woke up… as Kaelin.

Why her, of all people?!

The only reason I could think of was this:

The names.

Kaelin’s nickname was Lin. My name was just Lin.

The same.

Because of my lazy habit of recycling real names for my characters, I had named her that.

I never imagined I’d become her. I never imagined I’d die at 24 and wake up as a heroine doomed to die at 24 as well.

Parallel theory, or what?

When I transmigrated, Kaelin was 22.

At least that gave me two years before the death I myself had written for her.

If I wanted to live, I had to change the story before then.