Chapter 1
***
An oracle was given.
You might ask what kind of oracle was this in an age when railroads had replaced dirt roads, automobiles had replaced horses, and telephone lines were everywhere, but it was.
There was no doubt about it, as several of the best priests delivered it to the imperial palace in one day.
<Claude von Killiatzman, hero of the Empire and proud son of the Emperor, must marry or die. And the woman who marries him will go blind.>
If you wish to save him, sacrifice the woman who will be blind.
The oracle was short and concise.
Unlike the aftermath it would have.
In a time of turmoil, tragedy befell a hero who defended the empire, and the people were outraged.
It wasn't until a week later that the imperial court, which had remained silent despite the clamor for an immediate solution, announced the marriage.
It was, of course, Claude von Killiatzman's wedding, but the bride was a woman no one had expected.
When the bride's name was revealed, everyone was stunned.
The crippled only daughter of a fallen noble family.
A lowly courtesan who capitalized on her nobility.
Elise von Winterdell. For she was.
***
The Empire was always harsh this time of year.
Even the richest country on the continent had always been diminished by the harshness of the season.
This winter seems especially bitter, Elise thought to herself.
A cold breeze that seemed to have come in from nowhere ruffled her wedding gown.
Elise stood in front of the massive doors of the ceremony hall.
Her wintry eyes lingered on the engravings.
Noticing every detail was a new habit she'd developed over the past week.
She wondered what it would be like to be blind forever.
A family that she had never thought about since birth lingered in her mind.
To never see the world again. To slowly forget the shape of everything she remembered. To be left alone in the dark.
"Have you been waiting?"
Elise's body jerked backward at the gravelly voice that rang in her ears.
Her platinum hair glistened in the sunlight streaming through the window.
The stranger who had kept his bride waiting hadn't changed his expression.
A head taller than most grown men, he was the man with whom she had made the deal of her life not long ago.
It was an ordinary day.
She'd just finished sweeping and scrubbing every inch of her ramshackle three-room house and was mending a broken bridge to support her father and herself when this man came to her door.
Claude von Killiatzman.
A hero of the nation, known to children as young as three.
He cut straight to the chase, rudely and abruptly.
"I don't think it's a lose deal."
As you knew from the papers, an oracle was given.
That a marriage must be arranged as soon as possible, and that the imperial family had chosen Lady Elise for that purpose, so he had come to propose a marriage contract.
There was no expression on the man's face as he spoke the words of a marriage contract.
Elise didn't need to ask why it was her.
She didn't think it would make any difference if he added a blind defect to the already crippled woman.
"Do you mean sell myself for money?"
"I wouldn't be different if I told you otherwise, it wouldn't change the essence."
His attitude was blatant.
She wondered if he was treating her this way because he knew her father, the Count of Winterdell, who would slit his throat if the imperial family demanded it.
Shame rose to the top of her head.
But even worse than the rude man, she hated herself for sizing up his offer.
Winterdell was a noble family with ties to the imperial family.
The fact that she had even the faintest trace of imperial blood in her veins was no shield against the turbulent tides of the times.
Money.
It was the measure of a new age, and it could make the difference between owning the finest townhouse in the capital or living from house to house like a beggar of noble blood.
One only had to look at the rich wives Elise was tutoring for money to see that.
"...Give me time to think."
She managed to salvage a few days of sanity, but in hindsight, it was pointless. It no longer mattered whose fault it was.
In the end, she was here to be the bride of a hero, and she would soon lose her light.
That was all that mattered.
"Are you nervous?"
"No. Not really."
With that short answer, Elise tore her gaze away from her soon-to-be husband and looked out the window.
Tiny birds fluttering in and out of the snow-covered branches caught her eye.
Heading to the bookstore the day she signed the contract was an impulsive act.
Elise, who had never owned a book in her life, bought a memoir of a poet who was slowly losing his sight.
The poet said that as he lost his light, he tried to capture as much of what he loved in his eyes as possible. To remember one more thing.
To love.
Elise rolled the unfamiliar word on the tip of her tongue.
There had been things in her childhood that she could call dear.
A grandfather who was both stern and kind. A pretty dress. The sound of her mother's piano. The sight of a well-tended garden.
But she had none of those things now.
..................Maybe it was spring.
Elise loved the season when new life was born, embracing what had shrunk from the cold.
New leaves swaying in the breeze, colors shimmering in the warm sunlight.
She could see all that beauty in her mind's eye, but all she could see was a frozen landscape.
Though she was disappointed that she couldn't capture the one thing she held dear to her heart one last time, Elise didn't turn her gaze away from the landscape outside.
She knew that one day she would miss it.
She gazed at the white landscape as if it were a painting.
"Do you regret it?"
A hand grabbed her chin and turned her around.
Their gazes locked for an instant.
A vivid green filled her vision.
The color she'd been longing to see was in his eyes.
Suddenly, she was glad she could remember the colors of spring.
"I told you the other day, I don't think it's a lose deal."
His voice was simmering, as if he was holding something back.
From the way she hadn't made eye contact the entire time, he must have concluded that Elise rejected the marriage.
"I’ve saved your failing family, provided for your paralyzed father, and given you noble status. Where do you think you could go and sell for more than that?"
Claude shot back in the same tone as the day before.
He sounded sarcastic, but there was no point in arguing with the truth of it all.
"Defective. Flawed woman. A disgrace to Winterdell. I don't expect you to be unaware of the labels that precede your name, and if you're willing to sell yourself for a highest price, it's a windfall."
"If it were me, I'd say yes without hesitation. Not many fools would pay that much for a defective product, no matter how beautiful."
His eyes flashed with a coldness that belied their warm color.
"Answer me. Lady Elise."
The man demanded.
Elise laughed softly inwardly, as if he wanted to take her away from this place right now. It couldn't be ideal for this man to be forced to marry a woman who was practically a beggar in order to survive.
"I don't think so either."
"..."
"To answer your question, no. I don't regret it."
Because if she did, she wouldn't be standing here.
Having said that, Elise turned and faced forward.
She could feel the warmth of his gaze on the side of her face, but she didn't bother to turn around.
"It will begin shortly, so please prepare."
The servant announced the start of the ceremony.
For a moment, Elise's breath caught in her throat at the misfortune that was about to befall her, but then she steeled herself.
Winterdell.
As her grandfather taught her to uphold the honor of her family.
It was her choice, her responsibility, after all.
Elise smoothed out her dress and straightened her back.
Like a proud Lady, not a limping defect.
As she straightened her posture, the doors to the ceremony opened.
The man grabbed her hand as if to snatch it away, and she suddenly realized it was uncannily hot. Elise took a step forward, holding the hand of the man who had bought her.
It was the beginning of an irreversible step.
At the end of the flowing ceremony, the archbishop raised his hands.
As the Holy Matrimony was proclaimed in the name of God, Elise lost her light.
And never again would she truly open her eyes.
***
Thud!
The sound of a cane being thrown roughly to the floor echoed through the glass greenhouse.
"Princess. What are you doing, why don't you sit down? I've prepared a place for you."
The Empress’s mocking voice sailed toward Elise, whose cane was helplessly snatched away from her.
***
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