I’ve Become a S*ave Bride - Chapter 12

“Miss… there’s another letter.”

“Tear it up.”

Lenette didn’t even open the door. Her voice, thick with rage, came through clearly.

“But—”

“I said tear it up.”

“……”

The one sending the invitations was Ophelia. That traitor had been requesting to meet again and again without pause.

“…Yes, understood.”

Once Maren stepped away, Lenette—seated in front of the mirror—gritted her teeth.

An offer to make peace?

“What a joke.”

Ever since ‘that day’—the day the Crown Prince’s guards came and took Ophelia—everything had changed drastically.

Lenette’s engagement to the Crown Prince had been broken off for all to see, and shortly after, the prince’s wedding was held.

Naturally, the woman who walked in wearing a radiant flower crown at that grand ceremony wasn’t Lenette—it was Ophelia.

Everyone tried to keep quiet about it, but there wasn’t a soul who didn’t know what had happened between Lenette, Ophelia, and the Crown Prince.

Still, everyone pretended otherwise. As if nothing had ever happened, they feigned ignorance and celebrated the birth of the new royal couple.

Yes. In this story, the only one left miserable was Lenette.

Honestly, after Ophelia left, she had spent months drowning in betrayal and emptiness, crying like someone who had lost her mind.

But the Crown Prince’s wedding had come too quickly for her to keep denying reality, and the signs of Ophelia’s betrayal had been far too obvious to ignore.

Thanks to all that, Lenette had already shed all the tears she could.

Now, all that remained in her was bitterness and hatred.

“Disgusting creatures.”

She wanted to storm over to Ophelia right that instant and slap her across the face as hard as she could—demand to know how she could do this to her.

She wanted to grab Daws by the collar and scream at him—did he really think his throne would stay safe after this?

But unfortunately, she couldn’t.

At those so-called peace meetings Ophelia kept proposing, members of the royal family, including the king himself, would surely be present as witnesses.

Those gatherings would be nothing more than one-sided excuses and nonsense she’d be forced to accept.

“I’ll never let this go.”

The fury rose in her again. It felt like molten lava had been poured down her throat, burning her chest, and her hands started to tremble.

Just then—

“Miss!”

It was Maren, the maid who had just returned from being turned away, now urgently knocking at the door.

“You need to come see this—right now!”

There was surprise in the maid’s voice.

“…No way.”

As foolish as it was, a glimmer of false hope began to form in Lenette before she could even stop it.

“Could it be…”

Had Ophelia finally been overwhelmed by guilt and stepped down from her position as Crown Princess? Or maybe she had come to apologize in person?

Or… could it be that the Crown Prince regretted everything and had called off the engagement?

Caught in those pointless fantasies, Lenette quickly came to her senses.

Smack!

She slapped her cheek hard enough to sting.

“Get it together. If they were going to do that, they would’ve done it long ago.”

As if to chase out those cruel, persistent demons, Lenette flung the door open.

“What’s with the fuss?”

“Miss, you won’t believe it! A marriage proposal has arrived for you!”

Lenette’s fierce expression vanished in an instant, her face slackening in shock.

“…What?”

Could it be… the Crown Prince, again?

But the name that came from Maren’s lips wasn’t the one Lenette had been hoping for.

“Prince Acel has proposed to you!”

“…Acel?”

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

“…Acel?”

Still half-trapped in a dream filled with echoes of the past, Lenette mumbled the name in a daze.

Beside her, Kazen—who had been quietly watching—frowned slightly with one eye.

“Acel?”

A low voice carried gently through the air. It wasn’t familiar. It wasn’t Asel’s voice.

“Is that your lover’s name?”

Lenette blinked in response. The once-clear image of Asel’s face blurred in her mind.

“Or your husband?”

That languid voice spoke again.

As it became clearer to her, so did the sharp, hunter-like eyes and the cold, chiseled jawline that came into view—like those of a hound poised to strike.

‘That dark skin…’

Still clinging to her groggy thoughts, Lenette squeezed her eyes shut. With a soft chuckle, the large shadow looming over her disappeared.

“After all that sleep, you’re trying to doze off again?”

‘Ah.’

Everything that had happened over the past year rushed through her mind.

A friend’s betrayal.

A broken engagement.

Asel’s proposal.

Revenge—and a false accusation of treason.

And… the fall of her family.

‘That man…’

He is her “master” now, isn’t he?

She was ‘the beast’s bride.’

Yes. ‘This’ was her “present.” What she saw earlier had just been a dream.

‘Why did that dream feel so vivid…’

Only then did Lenette fully remember her situation. She shut her eyes tightly, then opened them again.

‘Haa…’

It would’ve been better to keep struggling in that nightmare.

She couldn’t stay in a dream forever, but at least—until ‘he’ left the room—she could’ve avoided this reality…

‘Wait… left the room?’

A jolt of realization shot through her body, and Lenette sprang up like a spring.

“Ugh!”

A wave of pain hit her all at once—but that wasn’t what mattered.

As her thoughts began flowing clearly, she realized something critical—she was in bed with the man from the third floor!’

Startled, Lenette yanked the blanket around herself.

“Why are you here?!”

Even in her panic, her voice came out clear and precise.

Kazen raised an eyebrow slightly, surprised by her composure, then lowered it. His gaze fell to her bare feet—unmarked, pale, and soft.

“You’re definitely not just some ordinary slave. You’ve got your wits about you, even in a situation like this.”

Muttering to himself, he then pulled the blanket she had taken back toward himself.

At the absurd gesture, Lenette let out a dry laugh, but Kazen just shrugged.

“Desert nights are pretty cold. You should know, since you caught a cold.”

With that, he lay down beside her without hesitation, pulling the blanket over himself.

So he was just going to keep it all to himself.

“What? Want to share the blanket?”

“……”

Where was she even supposed to begin pointing things out?

Should she question why someone who claimed to be cold was lying there with his entire upper body exposed?

Or ask why, on this freezing night, he hadn’t just returned to his own bedroom and instead chose to climb into ‘her’ bed?

‘…No.’

He was a man bearing the Tazetra name.

In other words, within this mansion, nearly everything belonged to him—it’d be quicker to count the things that ‘didn’t.’

So technically, even stealing the blanket or climbing into her bed wasn’t something she could really object to.

“……”

Lenette bit her lip hard and turned her head away, trying to get out of the bed.

But as she forced herself to stay calm, her eyes landed on something strange.

“…Where are we?”

This wasn’t the “bride’s room” she had stayed in for the past few days.

“Our room.”

“‘Our’ room?”

She furrowed her brow and glanced down at the man lying beside her so shamelessly. Still foggy from sleep, her brain wasn’t keeping up.

Placing a hand to her forehead, Lenette slowly spoke.

“…We haven’t even had the wedding yet.”

“That’s what you’re concerned about? Huh. That’s unexpected.”

“……”

This man… he was really something else. Really strange.

As she lowered her hand and turned to face him again, he spoke once more.

“It’s not so strange for a married couple to be together, is it?”

‘…Married?’

What kind of absurd thing was he saying now?

‘Wait—is he actually talking about doing something… marital with me?’

Whether he sensed the turmoil running through her or simply read her expression, he asked casually,

“Do you not want to?”

Of course she didn’t—how could she? All she could think about was escaping this place.

“…I was just caught off guard. I didn’t have time to think about whether I liked it or not.”

That’s what she said, but her head was pounding.

This situation had gone far beyond what she’d calculated—and the speed at which he acted made it hard to keep her mind straight.

“Phew…”

Lenette let out a small sigh and turned to get out of bed. She needed to clear her head.

“Where are you going?”

The moment her left foot touched the floor, he suddenly pulled her right ankle ‘not her wrist, but her ankle.

“…What country considers that polite?”

“And do you think you’re in any position to talk about manners?”

The playful glint in his eyes faded, replaced with a lazy stare that swept over her body. His expression said it all: ‘Remember your place. You’re a slave.’

“……”

She’d heard that in this empire, slaves were treated as less than livestock.

But Lenette didn’t intend to survive here as some domesticated animal.

“…Didn’t you say you needed my background?”

“Well, that came out of nowhere.”

Still, something about it seemed to catch his interest. The corner of his mouth, previously indifferent, lifted slightly.

“Go on. I’m listening.”

“If you want to make a deal with me, then treat me like a human being.”

“A human, huh? Coming from someone who was sold by a slave merchant—that’s a pretty bold demand, don’t you think?”

Lenette shot back sharply.

“Didn’t you reveal yourself to me—despite rarely ever showing your face—because you desperately needed my background?”

The man tilted his head slightly.

His pitch-black hair, untouched by even a hint of brown, slipped down over his forehead.

“You really are interesting.”

Brushing the strands back from his eyes, he let out a soft laugh.

“You’re scared, but you’re pretending you’re not. It’s impressive how well you’re holding it together.”

With that quiet remark, Kazen released her ankle—only to grab her wrist and pull her toward him.

“…!”

Caught off guard, Lenette stumbled forward, flustered and struggling to break free.

“W-What are you doing?”

Unlike her earlier firm tone, her voice now trembled with tension. Her cheeks and ears flushed red.

Kazen, looking down at her, asked with mild surprise,

“Don’t tell me… is this your first time with a man?”

At the end of that slightly astonished sentence, Lenette froze mid-struggle.

Her face, already red, went blank for a moment—then suddenly twisted in embarrassment and anger.

“Just because someone’s a slave doesn’t mean they’re a prostitute…!”

“I wasn’t asking if you sold your body. I was asking if you’ve ever ‘been’ with a man.”

When Lenette shot him a sharp glare, Kazen laughed softly and pulled her away from his chest.

“Guess not.”