After the Wicked Wife Leaves

Translated by: Sienna

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

1. The Raven’s Sun

 

Many girls dream of becoming princesses.

 

In fairy tales, princesses are loved without doing anything, receiving the favor of their father, the king, and living happily ever after with a handsome prince.

 

I was born as the imperial princess, the superior counterpart of a princess.

 

But I was never loved.

 

“It’s all because of you!”

 

My mother, the Empress, would blame me for everything. The reason was…

 

“It’s bad enough that you’re not a son, but being a defective daughter makes it even worse. Now everyone looks down on me because of you!”

 

Siegfried, the emperor who founded the Schwanhild empire, had violet eyes, and his companion, the lake spirit Odette Loenheim, had platinum hair like moonlight and golden eyes.

 

Children born between them had platinum hair and purple eyes, symbolizing royalty.

 

People called the women of the imperial family “swans” for their moon-bright platinum hair.

 

It was because of the legend that Roenheim often took on the form of a swan.

 

Unfortunately, my hair was not like my mother’s silver hair or my father’s platinum hair; it was black.

 

Black, a humble hair color common among the northern barbarians, was frowned upon in the Empire.

 

But my eyes were violet, so my father, the emperor, acknowledged me as his flawed daughter and named me Cornelia.

 

However, my mother found that name shameful.

 

“Cornelia. His Majesty surely considers you a failure!”

 

The reason why my mother was so upset about that name.

 

Cornelia meant ‘wisdom’, but it also meant ‘horned crow’.

 

“I want you to behave yourself. Do you hear me?”

 

My mother tried to control my every move, scolding me harshly and using physical punishment and verbal abuse if I fell short of her standards.

 

Her torment stopped when I was six years old, when my younger brother was born.

 

He was a son with platinum hair, not a defective product like me.

 

My mother no longer used physical punishment or verbal abuse on me, but she also did not show any interest in me.

 

“Mother, look. I’ve mastered imperial etiquette this time.”

 

“Mother, Lord Taylor says I have talent with the sword.”

 

“Mother, look, this time I…”

 

I clung to my mother in a pathetic manner, like a beggar on the street, craving even a bit of her affection.

 

But she looked at me with eyes full of disgust.

 

“What are you doing? Get that thing out of my sight!”

 

It was my nanny who grabbed me—the one who usually bullied me in secret.

 

Her grip on my arm was so strong that I screamed.

 

“It hurts, Mother!”

 

I looked at my mother as if asking for help, but she just closed the door to the room.

 

The triumphant nanny grabbed my numb wrist tightly and whispered softly.

 

“You didn’t listen to me today, so you’ll have to be punished.”

 

If I were dragged along like this, I would be locked in a dark closet for hours.

 

Terrified, I looked around. But there was no one to help me, not even my mother.

 

“There’s no one around to protect me. So…”

 

I bit the nanny’s arm.

 

“Ahh!”

 

Snap!

 

Shattering the vase on the small table, I grabbed a shard and thrust it toward the nanny.

 

“If you touch me, I’ll kill you all!”

 

“Oh, I understand. Please put it down now! You might get hurt!”

 

With just a small shard, they were all cowering away from me.

 

“Stop it. If the princess gets hurt, it’s our responsibility…”

 

“But what if she gets stabbed while doing that?”

 

Though I was young, I was perceptive.

 

Only when my mother’s authority was present could they treat me disrespectfully.

 

Therefore, they couldn’t touch me now as I acted unexpectedly, and they were also afraid.

 

‘I have to push harder here.’

 

I didn’t hesitate and tightened my grip on the shard in my hand.

 

Tak. Tak.

 

As red drops of blood fell onto the white marble, I cried at the top of my lungs.

 

In any case, I am royalty. Once blood was shed from my body, they couldn’t downplay the situation.

 

“Your highness, how did you get hurt like this?”

 

The imperial physician asked, and I pointed to my nanny.

 

“The nanny told me to clean up the broken vase.”

 

“When did I ever do that? Don’t lie!”

 

The nanny protested as if feeling unjust, but her behavior wasn’t appropriate for someone of her status.

 

And it was unlikely that my mother would care so much about a mere maid.

 

Some time later, the nanny was whipped and expelled from the palace.

 

Afterward, as I watched the maids who became polite to me, I reminded myself of the lesson.

 

‘I must not appear weak. The moment I do, they will look down on me.’

 

I must protect myself. It’s better to appear intimidating than to be underestimated.

 

And I must make good use of my position as a princess.

 

Realizing this at just ten years old, I began adorning myself lavishly with expensive items to avoid being ignored and started to act rebelliously.

 

Five years passed like that.

 

“I’m sure I told you clearly; stay out of my way!”

 

A hollow laughter escaped me at the words of my mother, the empress.

 

No matter how well I listened, she never showed any interest, but whenever I made a mistake like this, she would talk to me.

 

That’s how I became a troublemaker.

 

“What are you laughing at as if you did something right? Do you know who you’ve offended?”

 

“Well, I’ve touched so many things; I can’t remember them all.”

 

Slap!

 

My mother, who had slapped my cheek, stared at me fiercely. I opened my mouth, looking at her.

 

“Aren’t you curious why I slapped that girl’s cheek? What insulting words did she say behind my back?”

 

“If you were like Medeline, would you have been insulted?”

 

The disparagement towards me begins with a comparison to my maternal cousin.

 

It’s something I’ve heard all the time, so I thought I could take it in stride.

 

But my instincts warned me. Get out of the room quickly; don’t listen to what follows.

 

Soon, my mother looked at me with hatred and opened her mouth.

 

“You useless thing. You should’ve just died in my belly. Why do you try to block the way for me and your brother?”

 

I thought I had become accustomed to her verbal abuse over the past five years—no, since birth—and had grown numb to it.

 

Yet, hearing those words denying my existence from someone I longed to be loved by felt like my heart was being torn apart.

 

However, my voice remained indifferent.

 

“If all you’re going to do is preach, I’ll take my leave.”

 

Even though I could hear my mother’s verbal abuse behind me, I walked away without turning back.

 

I knew that if I shed a tear here, I would be ridiculed and ignored by those below me.

 

Following me out of the room was the slave I had brought by giving up my year’s worth of allowance.

 

“Don’t bother following me; get lost.”

 

Even that was just a superficial master-servant relationship that would fall apart at my single word. It was no different than having no one by my side.

 

‘If I had shown vulnerability from the beginning, they would have ignored me too.’

 

The abandoned garden of the ruined palace in the corner of the imperial palace was left deserted due to ominous reasons, so there was no one to ridicule me even if I cried.

 

Even in that place, I went to an inconspicuous spot.

 

“Why did you hit her? That damn woman… said I was a bastard born out of your affair.”

 

I didn’t want you to be insulted more than me.

 

Though I may be a failure, I loved and admired your beauty and elegance, and I considered you my pride.

 

At some point, I found myself sobbing.

 

“I hate myself too.”

 

I wanted to be loved, too.

 

I wanted to be your proud daughter.

 

I wanted to be called a swan instead of a raven and treated like a princess.

 

But I was well aware of the reality.

 

“Everyone hates me. I’m a defective product.”

 

At that moment of self-pity and self-deprecation.

 

Rustle!

 

At the sound coming from nearby, it felt like all the blood had drained from my body.

 

Quickly wiping away tears, I shouted.

 

“Come out now!”

 

Soon, someone appeared. It was a blond boy who looked a little older than me.

 

‘He seems like a nobleman of some prestigious family.’

 

Although not flashy, his elegant attire and dignified stride towards me hinted at his status.

 

But it was his appearance that caught my attention most of all.

 

His golden hair, visible even in the shadows, and eyes as blue as a lake, like an angel in a painting. When our eyes met, I felt a strange sense of familiarity.

 

‘Weird. I can’t possibly forget a face like that…’

 

As I was searching my memory, he bowed his head towards me.

 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

 

I immediately realized a certain fact and felt a sense of panic.

 

‘He heard everything?’

 

The princess lamented about herself being defective.

 

If that boy mocked me, I would undoubtedly be ridiculed and ignored again.

 

I sternly warned him.

 

“If you reveal what happened here…”

 

Just then, he held something out to me.

 

‘A handkerchief embroidered with a golden dragon… Wait, this is…!’

 

When I realized who he was, I was stunned, and he looked me straight in the eye and said,

 

“But please don’t think of yourself as defective. To me, Your Highness is… the noblest person in the world.”

 

Normally, I would have mocked someone who offered such words without a hint of irony. But this was different.

 

My heart was pounding wildly, my face was burning, and I had never felt someone so beautiful.

 

I was so mesmerized that I forgot to warn him.

 

At that moment, he looked at me, smiled gently, and spoke.

 

“I won’t tell anyone about what happened here, so don’t worry, Your Highness.”

 

Hearing those words, a strange mixture of anticipation and confusion rushed through me.

 

As I watched him walk away, I fidgeted with the handkerchief.

 

‘Don’t get your hopes up. That will only lead to greater disappointment.’

 

That was my first encounter with my husband, Erich Lennon Blant.

 

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

 

Since the day I met Erich Lennon Blant, I have kept the handkerchief clean and stored it carefully.

 

But honestly, it was nothing but a thorn in my side.

 

‘Erich Lennon Blant, Medeline Arzen’s childhood friend?’

 

Medeline Arzen. She was my cousin, the same age as me, and always the subject of comparison whenever my mother berated me.

 

She has always boasted in front of me about her connections with nobles, among whom the Blant family was prominent.

 

‘Yes, a friend of Medeline’s… must be a ploy to make fun of me.’

 

If you don’t expect anything in the first place, you won’t be disappointed.

 

I realized this when I noticed that the scruffy boy who used to hand me flowers at every founding celebration had stopped coming around.

 

‘If he was Medelin’s friend, then… it must be a trick to make fun of me!’

 

At the moment, I was about to throw the handkerchief into the fireplace.

 

<To me, Your Highness is… the noblest person in the world.>

 

I remembered the blue eyes that looked at me while saying those words, and my heart started to flutter painfully.

 

Gradually, the image of someone emerged in my mind.

 

<Thank you, Your Highness.>

 

A thin, frail body and messy brown hair so dirty that the face was barely visible.

 

Though clearly different from Erich Lennon Blant, the boy who used to hand me flowers somehow came to mind.

 

I couldn’t bring myself to burn the handkerchief, so I put it in the drawer.

 

 

𝑺𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝑲𝒐-𝒇𝒊