As the soldiers dismiss, a small, panicked voice cuts through the heavy air.

"Sister, why are you going?"

I turn around. Ayan is running toward me, his eyes wide and brimming with tears. Seeing him standing there alive, whole, and breathing makes my chest tighten with a painful, suffocating wave of emotion. In my past life, his throat was cut right in front of me. This time, I will do anything to keep him safe.

I kneel down, wrapping my hands around his small shoulders. "Ayan, listen to your sister."

"I'm going away from here, but you won't be alone. You've got backup," I tell him softly. "I asked His Majesty to send you to the Arcadia Academy."

Ayan looks completely puzzled. He is so young, but I know he has to become strong enough to lead this empire one day. I can't tell him what is really going on yet. I don't know who is truly with us and who is against us in this treacherous court, so it is safer to keep him in the dark for now.

I look deeply into his eyes, making sure every word sinks in. "Ayan, you just have to trust this sister of yours, and absolutely no one else in this empire. You have to become strong, Ayan. This sister of yours will protect you."

I stand up, wiping a stray tear from my face, and turn to my newly appointed commander.

"Calix, take care of him."

"Yes, Princess," Calix vows, stepping up to shield Ayan's small frame.

With a heavy heart, I turn away and climb into the royal carriage. The heavy wooden door shuts with a final click, and the carriage starts moving.

The carriage wheels rumble over the cobblestones, the rhythmic clack-clack doing nothing to soothe the frantic racing of my mind. I lean my head against the velvet cushions, staring out the window as the borders of Arcadia slowly fade into the distance.

I wonder how the Dawn Empire really is, I think to myself, my eyes tracing the unfamiliar horizon. In my past life, I just fought a brutal war with them. I faced their armies on the bloodiest battlefields, but I never got the chance to go deep into their empire. I only know them as fierce enemies. What kind of place am I truly walking into?

A lot of things have happened so quickly since my regression. My mind drifts back to the palace, a cold dread pooling in my stomach. Yesterday... why did the Empress call me to her palace?

She hadn't said much to me during that brief meeting. Her words were few, her smile perfectly polite, but her eyes were chillingly vacant. I couldn't read what she was thinking at all, and that terrifies me more than an open threat. I can only hope that my performance in the Imperial Assembly worked. I hope that now, believing my warrior spirit is entirely broken, she no longer thinks of me as a danger.

"Princess... Princess?"

A soft, anxious voice shatters my thoughts. I blink, pulling myself out of the dark memories, and look across the carriage.

"Ohh... what's wrong, Ava?" I ask, forcing my voice to soften.

Ava, my loyal maid who insisted on accompanying me into exile, looks at me with deep concern etched into her features.

"You look so tired, Princess," Ava says softly, her fingers nervously twisting her apron. "You should rest."

I offer her a small, reassuring smile, touched by her genuine care in a world so full of fake pleasantries. "Thanks, Ava, but I'm okay."

I turn my gaze back to the window. I can't rest yet. Every second brings me closer to the Dawn Empire and closer to a future I must rewrite with my own hands.

Meanwhile, deep within the imperial palace of the Dawn Empire, the atmosphere is heavy with frantic energy.

"After three days in the Dawn Empire, how are the preparations going?"

The deep, commanding voice echoes through the grand imperial study. The master of the palace stands by the massive window, his piercing gaze fixed on the distant horizon, his posture radiating a dangerous, suffocating intensity.

An aide bows so low his forehead nearly touches the polished marble floor. "Your Majesty, everything is going as planned. In two days, the Princess of Arcadia will reach the Dawn Empire."

Two days. To everyone else, it is a short, standard timeline. But to him, every single second feels like an agonizing eternity. He clenches his fists, his patience snapping completely.

"Ready my horse," he commands coldly, turning away from the window.

The aide, Rahert, gasps in sheer panic, his eyes widening. "Your Majesty! You can't go"

"Rahert, do what I said," the Emperor cuts him off, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low rumble that brooks no argument.

"But Your Majesty!" Rahert pleads, stepping forward in desperation, trying to appeal to his ruler's logic. "You can't leave your position like this! It is just two days. You can handle the remaining preparations by yourself right here. Besides, Your Majesty, when she arrives at the border gate of the Dawn Empire, she can simply use the imperial teleportation gate to come directly to the capital!"

There is absolutely no need for the ruler of an entire empire to ride out into the wilderness like a madman.

"No," the Emperor orders, his expression completely unyielding. "Prepare it."

Rahert lets out a defeated, utterly baffled sigh. "Huh... Okay, Your Majesty."

Within minutes, the heavy stable doors fly open. The Emperor mounts his black stallion, snapping the reins with a fierce, desperate urgency. He rides the horse out of the palace gates, kicking up a cloud of dust as he makes his way at full speed toward the one person he has been longing for across lifetimes.

Rahert stands at the palace gates, watching the dust trail left behind by his master. He shakes his head in absolute bewilderment, muttering to himself in the quiet wind.

Just who is she, Your Majesty...?

The carriage pushes forward, crossing the invisible boundary line between the two nations. The moment we pass the border markers, my breath catches in my throat. My  instincts instantly flare to life as a heavy, thick sensation fills the air.

As we are getting close to the Dawn Empire, I'm feeling a strange energy...

I press my hand against the glass window, watching the vibrant, glowing atmosphere outside. So, the rumors are true. The Dawn Empire is absolutely overflowing with raw mana energy. It vibrates through the soil, thick and heavy enough to make my skin tingle. But sadly, despite all this natural mana, they don't have a single magic stone mine to store it.

Yes, the Dawn Empire is full of magic, but they don't have magic stone mines.

On the other hand, my homeland, the Arcadia Empire, possesses most of the magic stone mines in the entire continent. Because of this, there was a historic, crucial agreement between Dawn and Arcadia. Arcadia would trade the raw magic stones, and in return, Dawn would provide highly advanced magical artifacts to Arcadia. It was a perfect, mutually beneficial balance.

But... why did Arcadia break the agreement in my past life?

A cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck as the realization hits me. Breaking that pact is what triggered the brutal war I fought in. If the agreement kept both empires prosperous, who benefited from tearing it apart? The Empress?

I lean back against the carriage cushions, a heavy sigh escaping my lips. I don't know a lot of things yet. There are so many hidden secrets, so many political traps buried beneath the surface of my past life.

"We're about to reach the gate, Princess."

Ava's voice pulls me out of my deep thoughts. I look out the window, my heart giving a nervous thud against my ribs. The towering, magically reinforced border walls of the Dawn Empire are finally looming in the distance.

Half a day later, we reached the gate.

The heavy pacing of our escort horses slows down to a crawl, and with a gentle, drawn-out groan of iron axles, our carriage stops completely at the gate. The sudden silence inside the carriage is deafening. I hold my breath, my hand instinctively twitching toward my hip where my sword used to rest.

Outside, a heavy, suffocating pressure suddenly fills the air. It isn't just the ambient mana anymore—it is the overwhelming aura of a true predator.

Through the carriage window, I watch as a man steps forward from a magnificent black stallion. He is towering, cloaked in imperial darkness, and carries an authority so absolute that it makes the air freeze. The moment his boots hit the dusty ground, every single knight, guard instantly drops to their knees.

Every man bows down his head in terrifying, synchronized reverence.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" their voices echo like thunder across the border plains.

My breath completely catches in my throat. I stare through the glass at the man standing right outside my door, his piercing eyes locked onto my carriage with an intense, burning longing that sends a shiver down my spine.

So... He is the man I'm going to marry.