Chapter 1 - PROLOGUE

Meriel’s chest, which was pressed up against Klaus’s, was pounding furiously. It was so loud that she couldn’t tell if it was her heartbeat or his. Tension crept up her body gradually.

She’s going to have her first night as a married woman. She considered this with trepidation.

Meriel had no intention of rejecting him, and she was confident that everything would be fine.

Her entire knowledge of men and women slipped into her head, and her useless good memory recounted every sexual act in every book she’d read.

It was insufficient. Her self-assurance had vanished, and her heart was pounding violently.

Her new husband’s name was Klaus.

He was surprisingly attentive to her.

Unlike his infamous title as the Monster Grand Duke, he had been excellent and considerate.

He was one of the few men who kept his virginity in this country, where the relationship between man and woman was open.

Of course, there was no expectation that Meriel would be virginal. That was the case prior to her marriage.

The only thing she had to do was keep her virginity until she married, which was an old-fashioned custom that needed to be buried and pondered.

She thought getting to know each other before getting married was a good idea.

But now, Meriel, a married woman who unintentionally got her first experience on the first night of her wedding—and a princess—had to put into practice something she had previously only been allowed to imagine.

‘I’m married to this man now, and we’re a couple, and…’

Meriel, contrary to popular belief, was always nervous, so she soothed her anxiety with excuses.

She had nothing against anyone in particular; if anything bothered her, it was a marriage without love, and if there was anything else that bothered her, it was Klaus, her husband, who was more shy than a girl due to his innocence.

“Hah!”

He clutched Meriel’s towering areas as his cheeks and ears reddened. He’d squeeze it with his rough hand to see if he’d ever felt anything so smooth. Meriel was terrified of the strings of logic more than she was of the first time.

“K-Klaus!”

She called him anxiously, surprised, but had to gasp because of his actions.

He was constantly tormenting her. He didn’t take off his tongue until he popped it out. He then pressed his lips against hers and smiled.

His title of ‘Monster Grand Duke’ was not a ruse. No matter how shy and pure he appeared on the outside, he was a monster in more ways than one.

“Huuuhh!”

Klaus’s blue pupil, which sank deep, flashed like a beast.

He pressed one hand against Meriel’s shoulder to keep her from moving.

Klaus, who had trapped Meriel beneath him, began to lavishly indulge her. It was she who first seduced him, but before she knew it, the tables had turned as Meriel moaned.

‘I should not have made fun of him.’

Even if she regretted it, it was already too late.

“Meriel.” he whispered.

As he called her name, his lips glistened with saliva. Meriel’s face flushed as she considered her naked body, which was probably sweating. She could sense his eagerness to have his way with her body right away.

“Humph!”

Embarrassment flooded her as her legs lost their strength.

“Meriel.”

He called her name once more, silently urging her not to reject him. It was a harsh voice that growled as if he couldn’t stop himself. His face, on the other hand, was surprisingly calm, in contrast to hers, which felt like it was about to burst.

“Please, Klaus, make love to me.”

She was told that if she was careful, it would hurt less, and that if she put in a lot of effort, it would hurt even more.

As a result, she encouraged him to initiate the first move.

However, it eventually made Klaus so agitated that he bit her lips, causing his body to become even more agitated.

‘I believe everything will be fine.I can now let it go.’

Meriel encircled his neck with her arm.

“Oh! Shit!”

A ferocious, swollen, and apathetic thing pierced her in an instant.

“Ahhhh!…”

The agony was excruciating; it felt as if her body was about to split in half.

She clung to his back and scratched his shoulder unknowingly. It was more painful than she had anticipated.
It felt like her insides were being ripped apart. But as soon as he entered the hot and narrow passage, he wanted to go crazy and inflict even more pain on Meriel.

However, for the first time in his life, he felt a strong desire to cuddle.

“… Sorry.”

He apologized with a husky growl. He was upset because he couldn’t control his movements.

He moved his waist and grabbed Meriel’s hips. Despite his lack of experience, his waist moved smoothly and rhythmically—like a brilliant dancer.

“Humph!”

A groan burst out through her lips. Her tears welled up from the pain.

An unbearable sound came from his lips. He buried his face over her shaking body.

“Meriel… Meriel…”

Klaus was unstoppable in his movements. He repeated her name as if he had been waiting for a long time.

She felt a tingling sensation in her toes at the end of the dizzying pain. Meriel gently wrapped her arms around his head.

He then flinched and quickened his slow waist movement.

“Oohh…!”

“Ahhh…!”

Klaus’s desire for Meriel’s body was intense, and she, too, rose with tingling ecstasy. Her mind eventually went blank, and she felt something bobbing at the same time.

His head shook over her face.

Both of them had been depleted of strength. The fact that his own body odor was irritating his nose made the current situation more real.

However, unlike some other men who took their first night, his innocent face was slightly distorted.

*Sigh*

“Ohh…”

Klaus’s lips made a harsh sound when he breathed. He gently caressed Meriel’s brow.

He kissed her, but both his harsh breathing and kisses were tinged with regret. With the lingering pain in her body, Meriel perceived in him more of a lust—fueled by thirst—rather than the fullness and satisfaction of their relationship.

‘I’m so tired and exhausted…Is he still not satisfied?’

Meriel, who had long eyelashes, surprise blinked.

Klaus’s eyes, which were like predator’s eyes, looked down at her face with a burning passion at that moment.

Meriel’s eyes slowly widens.

‘Ah… this man…!’

‘What a monster!’

***

The atmosphere at Dustin Estate was lively because a festive wedding was taking place. The interior and exterior of the Grand Duke’s palace were decorated and crowded with people in preparation for the so-called “Wedding of the Century.”

A woman in a white gown stood with a satisfied smirk in the Grand Duke’s quiet, beautiful garden.

Her figure was more lovely than the flowers blooming outside the raucous creation.

‘How many people would mock us? Even the cretins who passed by shouting that monsters and fools were marrying would have laughed, right?’

She had no idea how many people had laughed at the marriage of her, a princess, and the Monster Grand Duke.
It was obvious that those who accepted her wedding invitation would be people who were only there to make fun of her.

“Princess, are you here?”

She turned toward the one who had called her, dressed in a wedding gown embroidered with bright white lace.
Klaus tensed as a result of her stare.

Even though she was wearing a wedding gown he had seen before, he still blushed.

“Do I look pretty?”

Unlike her usual noble and elegant self, her youthful question drew his attention to her while also causing him to avoid her gaze.

“I’ve told you many times before. What is it that you keep asking?”

“I’d like to hear it a couple more times.”

“…you’re lovely.” he murmured softly.

He still can’t meet her gaze.

She muttered quietly, “He’s really so innocent and cute.”

Meriel had no regrets about her decision. She chose this person who blushes cutely in front of her.

She chose the Monster Grand Duke as her marriage partner, a monster that even the Emperor dreads.

‘It was fate that I survived and entered Meriel’s body. Perhaps it was fate that I met you, the so-called monster.
Yes, fate and salvation…’

What fate did she have as an intelligent woman trapped in the body of a stupid princess? Even as Doyeon in Korea, she does not have a particularly happy life.

Her life ended horribly, even if she didn’t like it.

Her body shrank and became impoverished as a result of the never-ending domestic violence that began with child abuse.
Her previous life had ended in a bizarre manner with the murder of her alcoholic father.

She then pretended to be a dumb princess.

‘I just wanted to live.’

‘I don’t want to be an atrophied individual. I desired to be content.’

‘Even if it means living as a fool with flowers in her head.’

It was when she turned 15 that she died. A princess said that she fell into the lake and her life was in danger. She barely survived and fell unconscious. No one was happy to see her alive, though.

In such a situation, Doyeon opened her eyes to the body of the Princess.

Doyeon, who had found a consciousness with the memory of Princess Meriel, quickly recognized the whole situation.

At the time, she thought her brilliant brain was quite useful in times like these, and she had to control the Princess’s fear of death caused by her father, the Emperor.

She spent a lot of time in bed, organizing her thoughts, in order to adapt to the new environment and survive.

Of course, she’s got her mouth slightly open, pretending to be dazed from the outside.

Fortunately, Meriel was treated as if she were a fool, and no one said anything to her no matter how many times she was in bed.

‘Pretending to be a fool is, indeed, ridiculous. But, at the very least, my life is safe.’

Even with that in mind, she was still unhappy.

She was gradually escaping the shocking death that had befallen her as Doyeon, she was completely transforming into Meriel.

She acted like a fool until she became an adult in order to survive in this life, to live happily ever after.

She was terrified of death and desperately clung to this new ‘life’.

She knew better than anyone that once she became an adult, she would be able to become independent, and that the moment she removed the mask of a fool, she would have power over herself.

And the person who knew it as well as she did was the current emperor, Draven.

He called Meriel with trepidation when she was close to adulthood.

Translator’s Note:

I just reedited this chapter. I corrected some mistakes. Sorry for that.