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I had been sitting in the same position on the bed for a couple of hours with my hands around my knees. In my mind, I still couldn\'t fully comprehend what was happening.

Rachel Cassius was the mother of the second protagonist I\'d broken up with a couple of years ago. She was now the new ruler of this country. And, even more surprisingly, I didn\'t know anything about it until now.

All rumors of a change of power in the kingdom of Azeroth had been put to rest at the very beginning of the coup. Thus, only the inhabitants of the country knew the truth. Abroad, it was believed that the empire was still ruled by the Blanche dynasty.

It turned out to be a clever trap set by Rachel, and everyone fell into it without exception. When I volunteered to come here, I was just as stupid as everyone else.

Because once I got caught in the net, it was too late to escape.

Rachel had committed a coup d\'état. That thought was still hard to wrap my head around. So was why she had done it in the first place. Wasn\'t the rest of her life supposed to go according to the original plot? So why the hell is all this happening…?!

And, the biggest question that bothered me the most.

Why did Rachel need me?

Was this some elaborate way to avenge past wrongs? Rachel had liked me, but had rejected her rather harshly during my high school years. Could that be the reason all this was happening to me now?

I\'d forgotten I\'d hooked up with a Cassius heiress. They never forgave their enemies.

I was locked up in that room the moment I came into the palace. And then they told me we were to be married in three months… Is this a joke? I highly doubt it.

As it turned out, the first law Rachel passed in her new status was official permission to have two women on the throne. In other words, a second queen instead of a regular king. This came as a real shock to the public.

Many ministers and the common people were left outraged at such a brazen violation of the traditions of the empire, and asked that the law be reconsidered. But Rachel did not care for the opinion of those around her, and she simply declared that all opponents of the new government would be severely punished.

A couple of public executions in the town square was enough to put a stop to all this talk. Now, no one dared to say a word against the queen\'s decision.

Was I astonished at such news when I first heard of it…? Not at all. Even in the past-a girl who had never cared about the law.

I was much more concerned about something else entirely. I was locked up here and not allowed to leave the palace.

Or rather, I was only allowed to do so when escorted by an entire battalion of guards-who always guarded my chambers outside. Such a fate was like becoming an animal under constant surveillance.

A bird in a cage. That\'s what I unwittingly became when I was here.

These chambers were the most luxurious I\'d ever lived in. The servants treated me like a precious rose, and the cooks cooked the best food in the empire. It seemed as if such a life was like an unfulfilled paradise.

But… None of this made me happy at all.

I didn\'t want to be queen, much less wife to Rachel. After all, somewhere out there Elsa was still waiting for me, and I didn\'t believe I was betraying her like this.

«I don\'t want to get married…!»

I screamed into my pillow and cried, but no one listened to me. No one cared about my feelings in this place.

Rachel came to my chambers almost every day, but when I asked her to call off the engagement, she seemed to let it pass her lips.

— Next week is the wedding dress fitting,» she informed me one last time, «You want to be the prettiest bride in the empire, don\'t you? I have the best dressmaker for you.»

— But I don\'t want to! — I sobbed. Please, call it off.

— Fortunately, you\'ll have to be my wife one way or another.

— But I already have a girlfriend…! — I declared for the umpteenth time.

— Well… I guess you\'ll have to forget about her.

The moment I started to cry about it, Rachel mockingly wiped away my tears with a handkerchief.

— Well, well… Your makeup will be the best, too. You don\'t want to ruin it, do you?

In the end, all my conversations went nowhere. When I left, I was locked back in here, where I stayed until the next day.

I didn\'t want to get some fresh air or walk through the palace corridors. As the guards behind me constantly reminded me of my confinement. Indeed. It was like being a dog on the run…

I buried my face in my lap, as I had no strength left to cry. For the first time in my life I felt such desolation in my chest when I could do nothing.

Elsa…

My only dream was to escape from here, and start a new life with her somewhere outside the empire. Even if Rachel would haunt me for the rest of my life afterward, it was still better than that.

At least I would get to see her again.

In fact, I deeply regretted my past actions. If I had just ignored Rachel back then, and not become someone meaningful in her life, could things have turned out differently…? That damn contract had ruined everything, and there was nothing I could do about it now.

My hopes for a happy future with Elsa were somewhere behind me. Now it\'s just me, the emptiness, and this cold palace.

So what am I supposed to do? Do I really have to marry Rachel…?

Sitting in the huge chambers with the glass silence, I could spend my days like this. Perhaps the only tiny ray of light in the situation was the maid who had been assigned to me.

Melinda had previously worked in the Duchy of Cassius, but after the coup she moved to the palace. As soon as I got here and met her, I was glad to see at least someone I knew.

For a brief period of time, when I visited the Cassius family on vacation, Melinda was my personal maid. And now we found ourselves in a similar relationship again. I didn\'t know this girl much, but I was sure she was a good person.

Melinda brightened up my gray days in this place a bit, and I even smiled sometimes. I was glad I had someone I could pour my heart out to.

The girl reassured me that everything would be fine, and that I would soon get used to this life. But I didn\'t want to believe it. Forget about my past with Elsa, and get into a relationship I didn\'t agree to?

Melinda was saying this because she had never loved anyone, and she didn\'t know what it was like. But the storm had been brewing in my soul for weeks.

When I once again thought about bad things, I decided to chase those thoughts away with sleep. While I was here, I hardly ever got out of bed. Maybe hoping that one day I would wake up and find that all I\'d ever dreamed before was a long nightmare…

But before I could close my eyes, there was a sudden knock on the door of my room.

— Your Highness, are you awake?

Melinda\'s voice came from outside.

— Not yet,» I was a little surprised as I lifted my head from the pillow, «What is it, Melinda?»

— You have a visitor.

— «A visitor?» Who is it?

— It\'s… His Grace the Archduke Ashford.

— What?!

The next second the door swung open and tears came to my eyes in an instant.

I threw myself on his neck, not believing it was really real.

— Daddy!