Chapter 1: The Beginning
The winters in the Kingdom of Lahti, located in the north, are brutally cold, and foreign nations often call it the Kingdom of Forests.
Glacial lakes can be found all across the country, and during the summer, the sun never sets for days on end, while during the winter, there are days when the sun never rises at all.
And yet, despite living in what many would call a harsh environment, an astonishing number of people here feel satisfied with their lives.
Perhaps it is precisely because the environment is so severe that people have no choice but to support one another, and through that reliance, they form bonds far closer than those found elsewhere.
In the summer, since the sun never sets, the women stay outside late into the night chatting endlessly around the wells.
The men also bring tables and chairs outside, becoming absorbed in card games while slowly sipping strong alcohol, and although not to the same extent as the women, they too go around sharing the latest amusing stories they’ve heard.
In the winter, families and relatives gather together and live huddled close to one another.
Since no one can remain outside for long in the freezing darkness where the sun never appears, everyone gathers around the fireplace and passes the time with silly conversations.
“Speaking of which, this is something a friend told me?”
“Ah, right, this is a story I heard from my grandmother.”
“Yeah, my wife told me that one too.”
“But… was that actually true?”
After exchanging glances, the people would shrug lightly and say:
“Well, in the end, it’s something the nobles did.”
“Things ordinary commoners like us can’t even imagine probably happen all the time for them.”
Yes, truly.
Among the nobility, unimaginable things do occasionally happen.
But never did I think one of those things would happen to me personally.
This is the story of something that truly happened to me, Kastehelmi Karkoski, daughter of the Count Karkoski House.
If you happen to be terribly bored right now and are thinking, ‘I wonder if there’s any interesting story around,’ then feel free to listen for a while to pass the time.
Because what happened to me ended up growing far beyond anything I could ever have imagined.
The country we live in is located in the northern part of the continent, and despite how harsh it is to survive here, the Lahti Royal Family has ruled while always considering the wellbeing of its people.
Our royal family actively invited scholars and intellectuals from other nations and devoted themselves to developing new technologies suited to our country, where summers are short and winters are long, all in pursuit of greater efficiency and productivity.
Our nation is structured with the king at the top, followed by two ducal houses, three marquis houses, and then countless count, viscount, and baron houses beneath them, each making a living either by managing their territories or serving at the royal palace.
Recently, more and more nobles have begun launching businesses and making investments to increase their wealth, but if we’re talking about the hottest investment right now, then railway development would undoubtedly take first place.
Our neighboring country, the Kingdom of Luuleo, does not face the sea, so they relied on the ports of the Kingdom of Lahti for maritime transportation.
Up until now, goods had been transported by horse carriage, but naturally, that took quite a long time.
However, once the Ibrina Empire developed steam locomotives, the Kingdom of Lahti gained the rights to purchase them.
As I mentioned earlier, our royal family values efficiency, and because they regularly invite intellectuals from abroad, it seems they were frequently consulted during the Empire’s locomotive development.
In particular, the pistons used in the locomotives ended up being manufactured and exported by our country, which allowed us to easily secure purchasing rights for the completed locomotives.
But these locomotives were incredibly expensive.
And so, our royal family approached the inland Kingdom of Luuleo and proposed that the two countries undertake a railway project together.
After all, transporting more than twice the cargo at more than twice the speed was far too attractive for Luuleo to refuse.
Thus, the railway beginning in the Kingdom of Luuleo was planned to pass through our royal capital before heading toward the ports.
And as I mentioned earlier, our country has two ducal houses.
Both possess vast territories, and both own ports capable of accommodating large ships.
Since the royal capital is located somewhat inland, the railway would extend toward the ports from there.
And from our territory, which is also situated inland, the tracks would split into two branches.
If our territory is considered the center, then the port belonging to the House of Lautavaara lies to the right.
And the port belonging to the House of Valkeapa lies to the left.
For the time being, the royal family decided to first lay tracks toward the Lautavaara port, which was closer to the capital, and then gradually extend the railway toward the Valkeapa side afterward.
Since this would unquestionably become a massive national project, it was decided, for political reasons, that I, the daughter of Count Karkoski House, would marry into the family of Lord Olivier, second son of the House of Lautavaara.
The reason for that was apparently this:
I happened to be at the perfect age for marriage, and if I were to marry into a family under the Valkeapa faction instead — since the House of Valkeapa itself had no unmarried men available — then once they effectively absorbed our house as well, they might begin insisting that the railway should first be laid through their territory before being connected to the Lautavaara side afterward.
It’s impossible to know whether something like that truly would have happened, but there’s always the possibility of “just in case” in this world.
And since the railway project would span many years, it was also considered more convenient for our house and the House of Lautavaara, through whose territories the railway would pass, to maintain close relations.
And so, this marriage — political through and through.
Not officially a royal decree, yet effectively decided by one.
But despite being the man I was supposed to marry, Lord Olivier never once came to greet my family, nor did we ever meet face-to-face beforehand.
In fact, the very first time we saw one another was at the wedding ceremony itself.
And not only that, he glared at me with such hatred the moment he first saw me that it was as though I were the person who had murdered his parents.
Our first meeting took place right there before the altar where the priest stood, after I had walked down the aisle.
Naturally, my head was filled with question marks.
“Groom, Olivier Askam Lautavaara, do you swear eternal love to the bride?”
“I swear it.”
“Bride, Kastehelmi Skarga Karkoski, do you swear eternal love to the groom?”
“I swear it.”
In our country, after exchanging vows of eternal love during the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom seal the vow with a kiss.
However, after glaring down at me bitterly, Lord Olivier merely pretended to kiss me before ending the ceremony.
Anyone seated in the front row would have clearly noticed that we never actually kissed.
And seated closest in that front row were his relatives — in other words, the ducal family themselves.
Though, in truth, there was an extraordinarily beautiful young girl in the front row shedding endless tears as though overwhelmed with emotion, so the family seemed too busy comforting her to notice what had just happened over here.
But my own family, seated in that same front row, certainly noticed.
And likely the high-ranking nobles seated near the front did as well.
When I glanced toward Lord Olivier standing before me, I saw him directing a sorrowful gaze toward that beautiful girl as she wiped tears from her eyes with a handkerchief.
Inside my heart, I practically shouted, ‘Woooow!’
Well, can you blame me?
After all, I am known in high society as the very image of a perfect lady.
There’s no way I’d actually say “Woooow!” out loud!