Chapter 1

The Corbella Empire’s imperial palace was a place of stern austerity. Not only did the seat of the empire’s power serve as a curated archive of four hundred years of imperial history, but it was also an immense trove, an amalgamation of all the most beautiful things in the world.

Inside the walls of the palace complex, a young woman was running through the garden. Her light brown hair, nearly golden in hue, fluttered in the breeze. Her clear blue eyes sparkled with determination as she leaped effortlessly down the terraced garden’s stairs five steps at a time, moving lithely like a cat. Even the landscaped garden, meticulously tended to by the imperial gardener, was nothing more than a convenient shortcut in her eyes.

“Your Highness! Oh my... Your Highness, please!” the gardener desperately called out as she dashed by. She paid him no heed.

“Sorry!” She offered a brief apology before increasing her speed. I can’t afford to be late! They have some nerve, discussing the empire’s business without me!

The woman finally neared her destination, gasping for breath. The guard standing by the door let out a silent sigh as she came into view. After pausing to take several deep breaths, she approached him.

“Step aside nicely or be prepared to face the consequences!”

The imperial servants were all well aware of Melody Corbella’s notorious reputation. The guard summarily moved away from the door. He knew he was powerless to stop her.

With a mischievous grin, she swung the door open.

Inside the meeting hall, the emperor and his advisors were in the middle of a discussion. The emperor scowled as the door burst open, but the interruption was hardly a surprise. Over the past year, he had grown accustomed to Melody’s grand and uninvited entrances. Nowadays, it was a question of when, not if—and when he was interrupted, he preferred it to be sooner rather than later.

Everyone else in the room shared a similar sentiment. The advisors didn’t even bother to turn around to see who had burst into the meeting. There was only one person in the palace capable of such brashness, and they thanked the heavens that for the sake of the empire she didn’t have a twin.

“Honestly! Why do you always start without me? I’ve searched high and low for you all!” Melody’s voice was clear and cheerful, complimenting her striking beauty.

She strode into the meeting hall. The advisors sat in neat rows on either side of the long table. At the head of the table sat Emperor Urubasi, her father, and to his sides sat her brothers—Prince Nigel, Prince Deimos, and Prince Kaisan.

Prince Deimos, clearly irritated by Melody’s intrusion and the disruption she had brought with her, couldn’t contain himself. He abruptly rose from his seat. “Leave, Melody! This meeting isn’t for the likes of you!”

Despite his piercing voice Melody continued to casually stroll forward, even offering a nonchalant shrug. Ugh, seriously? It’s been a whole year, by now he ought to have invented a more creative way to get rid of me. But no, always the same old line. “You’re allowed to be here, parked in your comfy chair. What’s wrong with me joining in?”

“Do you believe us to be equals?”

“Aren’t we?” Melody’s teasing was accompanied by a playful smile. Just look at his face! He’s about to blow his top and cause a scene.

Just as she had anticipated, Deimos’ face turned bright red. He began to shout, completely forgetting where he was. “How dare you! You and I are hardly the same! You should be down on your knees, thanking your lucky stars that you were made a princess despite your concubine mother. Yet here you are, not knowing your place, arrogant as ever!”

Melody snuck a look at the emperor’s reaction. Deimos’ frequent angry outbursts seemed to irritate him more than Melody’s interruptions. And everyone but Deimos is aware of that fact.

Melody feigned a bewildered expression. “Dear brother...”

“I’m not your brother!”

“Dear sister, then.”

Deimos was flabbergasted, unable to come up with a rebuttal. A burst of amused laughter escaped from the high-ranking advisors.

Emperor Urubasi gazed at his daughter as she swept into the room with a feline grace. He looked as though he were suddenly experiencing a splitting headache.

Melody dragged a chair from the corner to the table. “Well, I’ll just sit here and watch,” she declared, never breaking eye contact with her brother.

“Your Majesty!” cried Deimos, turning to his father in exasperation.

He really is an intolerant jerk, Melody mused as she watched Deimos pant with anger. She clapped her fist onto her palm as if a thought had just occurred to her. I felt bad for you, Deimos, so I wasn’t going to take it this far... but it’s too late for that now. “Brother...”

He shot Melody a venomous glare. If looks could kill, it might have been enough to shatter her into a thousand pieces. Her crystalline blue eyes sparkled with more mischief, while her beautiful face continued to radiate a pure innocence. “I remember, I saw you last night!”

“What...?”

“I saw you sneak out of the palace and leave in a carriage!” Melody’s eyes narrowed, and her fingers danced in the air. “The crest on the carriage... It was golden, circular...”

“Wh-what? A carriage? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Let’s see... Then what happened...?”

Deimos went pale. He had indeed sneaked out the night before to visit the gambling house. He struggled to find the right words to push back against Melody’s remark.

“Were you gambling again?” Emperor Urubasi asked, sounding disconcerted.

His son desperately tried to come up with an excuse but faltered in the heat of the moment. The emperor turned away from Deimos coldly. In a weary voice, he said to Melody, “You may sit and watch. But that is all you will do.”

Melody flashed a bright smile and settled into her chair. “I swear I’ll behave myself, Your Majesty.”

The meeting with the advisors continued for quite a while. The discussion shifted to the growing influence of the Orsen Kingdom, located just across the eastern border of the Corbella Empire. The two nations had been engaging in occasional skirmishes. The Avive Mountains served as a natural barrier along the border, preventing conflicts from escalating, but there were concerns about frequent disturbances in Orsen’s neighboring kingdom of Vian.

“I can wipe out those bastards in one fell swoop! Your Majesty, if you grant me an army, I’ll bring you the head of the Orsen king!” Deimos declared triumphantly.

“What an imbecile,” Melody muttered under her breath, lowering her head.

Prince Nigel, seated beside her, quickly countered. “Orsen has formed a marriage alliance with the neighboring Zerocs Kingdom. If we attack them recklessly, Zerocs might retaliate. It’s a significant threat. We’re short on troops as it is, we can’t risk a war.”

Deimos cut in. “If we stick to moderate policies, we leave ourselves vulnerable to a surprise attack.”

Nigel was silent, finding his brother’s words unworthy of reply.

One advisor offered a solution. “If we’re speaking of marriage alliances, Your Majesty, perhaps we should discuss the proposal from the Izen Empire.”

A glimmer of excitement lit up Melody’s clear blue eyes. The moment she had been diligently working toward for an entire year had finally arrived. She swiftly turned to the emperor, her anticipation nearly palpable.

Emperor Urubasi was perplexed by his daughter’s enthusiastic gaze. He did his best to ignore her and continued. “Yes. The Emperor of Izen has suggested that one of our princesses—”

“I volunteer!” Melody’s hand shot up.

The meeting hall was plunged into a chilling silence. The emperor briefly lowered his head, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t prevent his beard from trembling. Wanting no more family turmoil in front of his advisors, he calmly addressed his daughter. “Melody...”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I, Melody Corbella, am happy to accept that marriage proposal.”

The advisors, momentarily forgetting their usual decorum, stared at her with their mouths agape. Her voice rang out clearly through the hall, echoing the vibrant determination in her eyes. The group gathered at the meeting table sat in utter bewilderment, though it was uncertain what exactly they should be upset about. Was Melody of sound mind? Did she even fully comprehend the meaning of a royal marriage?

The emperor’s expression fluctuated rapidly. He silently held his head in his hands as Deimos, who had never ceased being infuriated with Melody, jabbed his finger at her and shouted. “Your Majesty, you can’t possibly consider sending this lunatic to Izen!”

Melody’s eyes sparkled as she shot up from her chair. “Did you just call me a lunatic?”

“You expect me to believe you’re in your right mind?” He looked to his father. “I implore you to not entertain such a notion, Your Majesty! Offering up a madwoman like her would make us the laughingstock of the continent! Success of the marriage aside, imagine the enormous wedge it would drive between our empires. It would only sour relations, mark my words.”

Melody wasn’t about to back down either. She shouted at the emperor, “Your Majesty, if I’m to be married, I want a royal marriage! A royal marriage! If not with Izen, then send me to the Vladmir Kingdom. I’ve heard their king might keel over any day now. If I married him, I’d be living in the lap of luxury. Sure, his son is older than me, but I wouldn’t mind hearing him call me ‘Mother!’”

Deimos stared at her in shock. “Your Majesty, did you hear that? A princess shouldn’t be saying such things! It’s hardly appropriate!”

“Appropriate? Perhaps it’s you who needs to start behaving appropriately!” Melody countered.

“Excuse me?!”

The official meeting in front of the emperor had turned into a volley of words more childish than a playground squabble. The half-siblings continued to point fingers at one another, their shouting match growing more heated by the second. The emperor’s beard trembled so vigorously that the onlookers feared it might fall off at any moment.

Prince Nigel, unable to tolerate the chaos any longer, rose to speak. Before he could, Emperor Urubasi’s thunderous voice crashed through the noise. “Melody, Deimos! Be silent!”

The enraged outburst immediately silenced his children. His breath was heavy in his intense anger as he gave the table two forceful thumps. “You are making a mockery of the imperial court! I want you out of my sight, Deimos. You as well, Melody! Leave!”

Melody realized it was time to retreat. She watched Deimos storm out of the room, kicking the door open like an angry bull. She quietly turned to follow suit. The advisors’ eyes were all trained on her departure—all but one, Duke Heinbeste Bethel. Even amid the turmoil, Duke Bethel had maintained his usual composure.

Melody’s blue eyes briefly locked onto the duke as she left the meeting hall, trying to get a glimpse of his reaction. She then turned a final time to her father, who was clutching his head.

“Your Majesty! Remember, royal marriage!” Melody’s voice rang out cheerfully, in complete indifference to the solemn atmosphere.

Confident that she had accomplished what she set out to do, she scampered out of the room to evade another round of the emperor’s explosive wrath. His enraged voice echoed behind her as she dashed down the hall, grinning proudly.