Chapter 2

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 2

Chapter Title: Love Your Fate

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The train to Schwerin pulled into the platform right on schedule. It was just as the pale dawn mist was lifting and morning was beginning to break.

Erna, who had been standing ramrod straight like a stick, hesitantly approached the passenger car. The rural station, welcoming its first train of the day, was sparsely populated. Once the few passengers hurriedly boarded, Erna was the only one left on the platform.

"Hey, miss. You getting on or not?"

The stationmaster's gruff question snapped Erna out of her daze.

"Ah... Yes."

Erna turned her anxious, darting eyes to meet the stationmaster's. Her hands gripped the trunk tightly, beginning to tremble faintly.

By now, she must have found the letter.

Erna's gaze deepened as she glanced back at the station.

She hadn't been able to bring herself to tell her grandmother she was going to see her father. Baroness Baden would sooner end up penniless than ask for help from the son-in-law she despised like an enemy—Erna knew that all too well, given the old woman's stubborn nature. After much agonizing, Erna had chosen an unladylike path: leaving a single explanatory letter behind and slipping away in secret.

Father.

Repeating the unfamiliar word in her mind quickened her heartbeat. Their last meeting had been at her mother's funeral, making this an eleven-year reunion. She knew their bond was no different from strangers'—no, worse than that—but right now, he was Erna's last hope. She might even be turned away at the door.

Adjusting her grip on the trunk and steadying her breath, Erna lifted her head to face the train before her. The massive black iron beast gleamed menacingly in the morning sun.

"If you're not getting on..."

"Ah, no!"

Erna frantically shook her head and cried out. Her blue eyes sparkled with determination.

"I'm sorry. I'll get on. I am!"

Love your fate.

Recalling the motto that guided her life, Erna took a trembling step forward.

This world had no interest in one person's misfortune, so one had to shape their own life with their own strength. Indulging in self-pity and flailing about changed nothing, so it was better to love whatever fate came one's way. Love led to effort, and sincere effort was always better than resignation, no matter the outcome.

If clinging to even a sliver of hope was the fate handed to her, Erna resolved to love that fate too. After all, Viscount Hardy was Erna Hardy's father. A man duty-bound to care for his child. A man who had ignored that duty for years. A man who now owed it to her to fulfill it.

Leaving the scowling stationmaster behind, Erna hurriedly boarded the train. Her muslin dress with its delicate floral patterns rippled with her urgent movements. It had been fourteen years since she left her hometown hand-in-hand with her mother. The long journey home was beginning.

Biern slowly set down his teacup. The impeccably graceful motion only accentuated his slouched posture, one long leg crossed over the other.

"Are you even listening to me?"

The woman's incredulous voice shattered the serene quiet of the sunlit drawing room.

"Why? Don't want to answer? It can't be true about that princess, can it? Right?"

The woman's insistent tone rose even higher.

Biern ran a hand languidly over his still-sleepy face and picked up the teacup again. After sipping the perfectly cooled tea, his foggy mind cleared somewhat.

"Biern!"

Unable to contain her frustration, the woman shot up from her seat. A beam of sunlight streaming through the window illuminated her like a spotlight on a stage. For someone who had rushed from the capital to Schwerin before noon, her appearance was flawlessly put-together.

Now accustomed to the light, Biern lifted his eyes to her. His gray eyes, catching the sun, shimmered with an opalescent glow.

He had returned home at dawn and collapsed into bed only after a shower, well after morning had fully broken. To him, it might as well have been midnight. Hardly an ideal time to be roused like this.

Biern opened his heavy-lidded eyes and leaned back deeply into the chair. Beyond the river-facing window, the grunts of rowers beginning their practice echoed faintly.

What a damn fine morning.

Letting out a sigh laced with a chuckle, Biern casually picked up the newspaper the woman had flung down. Like the tabloid Leonit had brought recently, the front page was dominated by yet another article about him.

Exclusive: Ex-Crown Prince Couple Rumored to Reunite—Intimate Tips from Closest Aides.

Biern skimmed the bombastic headline and his large photo indifferently, then began reading the article with narrowed eyes.

According to anonymous sources close to the couple, the atmosphere between them was anything but ordinary. Forgiving such a shameless ex-husband was hardly wise, but the soft-hearted Princess Gladys seemed to be wavering. As a result, Leitzen's social scene was expected to heat up fiercely this summer. The page was filled with such meticulously penned nonsense. Clearly a rag with a knack for picking good photos and nothing else.

With a smirk, Biern set the paper aside nonchalantly. The woman's face, watching him with bated breath, flushed with barely concealed contempt.

"You have no intention of explaining yourself?"

Her eyes now rimmed red, she clenched her fists.

"Let's end this."

Her sharp voice rang out like a solemn declaration. Biern, a cigar between his lips, glanced up at her.

"I don't see a reason to continue this relationship. And I might even get engaged before spring ends."

Despite her triumphant tone, anxiety flickered unmistakably in her eyes. Biern regarded her steadily as he lit the cigar.

She had been a decent lover.

Moderately elegant, moderately vulgar, and above all, she understood the premise: a refreshing fling within bounds, after which they returned to their separate lives. Or at least, she had—until she burst in here, excited over Princess Gladys Hartford's name in some cheap daily.

"Congratulations on your engagement, Miss Peres."

Biern nodded amiably with a smile. His whisper, accompanied by white smoke, was low and soft.

"What?"

Blinking slowly, she shot back in disbelief.

"You selfish, rotten, cold-blooded bastard! How could you do this to me?"

"Well... You're the one who brought up breaking up."

A long finger idly traced the rim of his teacup.

"And I accepted."

Didn't I?

As if asking, Biern tilted his head slightly. Strands of his haphazardly swept-back hair fell loose. She bit her lip but offered no retort.

Leaving the flushed woman behind, Biern rose from the table. The smoke rising from the cigar he tossed into the ashtray dispersed on the breeze from the window.

"Wait!"

She called after him in a near-scream. Biern paused and glanced back over his shoulder by way of response.

"Is that all you have to say to me?"

The lady of House Peres now wore an expression bordering on tearful. Her face was still beautiful, but it stirred no emotion in him.

Turning slowly toward his former lover, Biern bowed with utmost courtesy and poise—elegant despite her disheveled gown clutched haphazardly around her.

"I wish you all the best in becoming an exemplary countess."

His lips curved in what seemed a gentle smile, gleaming red in the sunlight.

Leaving the half-dazed woman behind, Biern exited the drawing room. Mrs. Fitz, waiting like a shadow outside the door, followed him.

"I trust you're not planning to sing her a lullaby."

Biern's lips quirked softly at Mrs. Fitz, who had trailed him to his bedroom door.

"If His Highness desires it, I could certainly oblige—though unfortunately, now is not the time."

Mrs. Fitz retorted with her usual stern demeanor. As the former wet nurse to the crown prince, she now oversaw the household at Schwerin Palace. Even with her white hair, her upright nature remained unchanged.

"You must depart for the station soon."

"The station?"

"Her Majesty's arrival is imminent."

"Ah. So it's today."

Biern finally recalled the schedule. His mother, invited to a charity gala at the royal hospital, was visiting Schwerin. Escorting the queen was, of course, his duty.

"Yes."

Biern accepted the task with a light nod.

"Let's get ready."

As the train passed through several cities, it grew increasingly crowded with passengers. The compartment that had been Erna's alone was now packed to capacity.

Pressed close to the window, Erna watched the passing scenery with eyes full of curiosity and anxiety. Dense buildings interwoven with web-like streets teemed with countless pedestrians and carriages. Everything was so intricate and dazzling it made her head spin.

At least I know the address, so I can find it.

Suppressing her nerves, Erna tried to reassure herself. It was the city where she was born and raised, after all—no need to be overly frightened. Even if she hadn't lived there for nearly five years, home was home.

As Erna steeled herself once more, the train pulled into the final stop: Schwerin Central Station.

Erna hurriedly gathered her luggage and blended into the stream of passengers exiting the car. With each determined step, the ribbon of her hat—tied taut under her chin—and her neatly braided hair swayed. But her resolute demeanor didn't last long.

She barely remembered what happened after stepping into the corridor.

Pushed and shoved this way and that, she somehow disembarked. When she came to her senses, she was standing on the platform. The overwhelming crowd and deafening noise assaulted her senses in an instant. She struggled to escape, but the more she tried, the farther she was swept from the exit.

"Here she comes! She's coming!"

Someone shouted, and the platform full of people turned as one toward the source. Erna, nearly dropping her trunk, instinctively looked too.

She realized she was at the front of the gawking crowd just as she spotted the tall man approaching from afar.