Such A Loving Paradise

Lanthe didn't want to become the wife of Gevimonde the Slaughterer. She didn't want to become the wife of a mad king who destroyed her homeland and massacred her adoptive mother and neighbors. She survived, but a life lived like a doll, wrapped in glittering jewels and dresses, was not happiness. She missed the wild roots and hard bread she used to dig up and eat in the peaceful forest village. She wanted to go back. She wanted to escape. Even if it meant risking death.

"...Angel." Even with a faithless prayer. "A daughter of the paradise you protect calls upon you."

Having summoned something, she threw herself into the arms of a being she couldn't tell was an angel or a monster. And when she came to her senses again.

"Vigo?"

Somehow, the boy who had gone missing 10 years ago had become a grown man and had supposedly saved her. The testimony of the children who said they saw him being taken away by an evil witch was still vivid.

"Are you really Vigo...?"

It was definitely that child. Her beloved childhood friend. Her small, lovable little friend.

"Save your thanks for your fiancé. He said he'd give me 20,000 krone for rescuing you, to thank me."

But he had changed into someone completely different. He had grown into a large, strong body, held the high position of lord of a grand estate, and...

"He's not my fiancé! He's a madman who killed my mother and destroyed our homeland!"

"So what?"

Cold eyes and tone.

"What he killed was just 'someone else's mother,' not his own family, right? He's not a scumbag who killed his own family. I hear he treats his woman well. That makes him a decent groom."

Vigo seemed to have changed completely, not just in appearance but his inner self as well.

"You don't like him because he's a killer? Looking for a clean man? If you're too picky here, it's hard to survive, Lanthe."