The Loyalist is the Abandoned Princess - Chapter 2

Agnes Barbouquet.

The only daughter of Count Barbouquet.

A woman who married the third prince Caspian and became the princess of the empire.

Many envied her after her extravagant wedding.

And why wouldn’t they?

The third prince, Caspian, was the strongest candidate for the crown prince, not to mention his handsome looks and impeccable character. Compared to him, Agnes was known only for her beauty, with a personality that left much to be desired. After her debutante, people commented, “Is her temper as fiery as her red hair?”

Moreover, the Barbouquet family was a mere shadow of a proper noble house, just barely holding onto the title of count. The current head, Evan Barbouquet, was rumored to have attained his title by providing an enormous sum to Duke Cilius, a key figure in the empire. In short, they were nothing but nobles who bought their rank with money.

Thus, when a daughter from such a family suddenly became the wife of the highly sought-after third prince, many people were eager to see her fail.

And, just as they wished, Agnes did ruin her marriage—in a spectacular manner.

She fell in love with her husband’s half-brother, the second prince of the empire, Parsifal.

Parsifal was the son of the late empress. He, too, was a famous beauty in the empire, but unlike his brother Caspian. Caspian had dazzling golden hair and lake-blue eyes, while Parsifal had black hair, bronze skin, and golden eyes.

Their lives were just as different as their appearances.

Caspian had walked a smooth path of silk all his life, but Parsifal’s journey had been nothing but a thorny one.

When the emperor remarried and Caspian was born, Parsifal faced constant challenges—slander, political attacks, and even assassination attempts. It was a mystery he survived into adulthood at all. The reason he left the capital long ago to serve as the commander of the northern border was because he feared staying in the capital would mean death at the hands of the empress.

Perhaps because he had struggled to survive all his life, Parsifal was more of a soldier than a prince. He was stern, rugged, and impossibly blunt.

Honestly, I don’t know why Agnes fell in love with such a harsh man.

Just because I possessed her body doesn’t mean I could understand her thoughts.

Maybe it was curiosity—a fascination with someone completely unlike herself—or maybe it was because she desired something she could never have.

What mattered was that she couldn’t control her feelings and caused a massive uproar.

Whenever Caspian, who usually stayed at the northern border, visited the capital, Agnes openly flirted with Parsifal. And she was always, without exception, rejected.

“I heard you defeated the northern barbarians again! You’re amazing!”

“…Please leave, Your Highness.”

That alone was already humiliating enough. But she took it a step further, writing a twenty-page love letter to the northern border commander, which got intercepted at the imperial palace.

It was beyond embarrassing.

In the end, one year and six months into their marriage, Agnes received a one-sided notice of separation from her husband, a man whose hand she had never even held hands with.

In fact, being separated was an incredibly lenient punishment. Infidelity, even unfulfilled, was still infidelity. Normally, such behavior from a member of the imperial family would end with far more severe consequences than just separation or divorce.

But rather than being grateful for the leniency of the imperial decision, Agnes was indignant.

After receiving the notice, she spiraled even further out of control, refusing to regain her senses. Instead, she sank deeper into misery, wallowing in despair and lashing out at everyone.

Her tantrums were so intense that the head maid at the Barbouquet estate worked overtime just to process the resignation letters of other maids who had grown tired of Agnes’s behavior.

Even on the day before I woke up in her body, Agnes hadn’t changed. She had drunk herself to sleep, pulling out every bottle of liquor from the underground cellar.

***

Having suddenly recalled all of Agnes’s memories, I sat blankly on the bed.

“Agnes, are you okay? Should I call for a doctor?”

The man’s face was filled with concern as he looked at me.

Thanks to Agnes’s memories, he no longer felt like a stranger.

The man was Kayneth, the adopted son of Count Barbouquet and Agnes’s foster brother. He was the only person who genuinely cared for his foster sister, Agnes.

Kayneth’s hazel eyes wavered with anxiety and worry. To anyone else, it would seem like he was looking at a dying baby bird.

“I’m… I’m fine.”

In truth, I wasn’t fine at all, but his gaze was overwhelming, so I pretended to be okay.

“Really? Agnes, maybe—”

And then it happened.

Heavy footsteps echoed from the hallway, and a middle-aged man suddenly burst into the room.

As soon as I saw him, I knew he was Agnes’s father, Count Barbouquet.

The moment he laid eyes on me, he frowned as if he’d just seen something vile.

“Stop dawdling and get up! Agnes!”

“……”

“Tch. Still drunk and incoherent? Useless fool. It’s pitiful that I even bothered to take in someone like you as my daughter.”

Kayneth tried to placate his foster father in a soft tone. “Father, I think Agnes isn’t feeling well today. How about postponing the imperial palace visit?”

At Kayneth’s words, the count’s body shook with rage. “No! Absolutely not! Do you have any idea what might happen if we defy Her Majesty the Empress again? The divorce cannot be delayed another day.”

“I’m only worried about Agnes pushing herself too hard.”

Unlike the agitated count, Kayneth remained calm and composed. It was hard to tell whether he was being polite or excessively deferential.

The count snapped irritably at Kayneth. “You’ve always been too lenient with your sister. It’s because of your weak attitude that she’s grown up so undisciplined!”

The count thumped his chest as he vented his frustration.

Kayneth fell silent. He nodded in agreement with the count’s words.

“Yes, Father.”

‘He’s treating his father more like a master than a parent.’

The count now directed his ire at me.

“Enough. I don’t intend to waste time arguing here. Get dressed and be ready in thirty minutes, Agnes. If you’re even a second late, I’ll have you locked in the basement.”

With that, the count stormed out, leaving only Kayneth and me in the room.

Kayneth’s eyes, which had darkened for a moment, suddenly sparkled as he looked at me again.

“Agnes, are you really okay? If it’s too much, I can be by your side when you sign the divorce papers.”

“Hold on, brother.”

Kayneth froze when I called him ‘brother.’

“…Brother?”

His fox-like, almond-shaped eyes widened in disbelief.

‘Ah. Agnes never called Kayneth ‘brother.’’

That wasn’t the only problem. Agnes had always treated Kayneth like a servant. The one person in the estate who treated her well, and she couldn’t even show gratitude.

She called him ‘idiot’ or ‘my lackey,’ constantly bothering him with menial errands.

Of course, Kayneth always complied with her unreasonable demands with a smile, but who knows what he thought deep down?

The longer I stayed in Agnes’s body, the more I was chilled by her accumulated wrongdoings.

‘Why did I have to end up in the body of such a troublemaker…?’

Doing my best to mimic Agnes’s way of speaking, I replied to Kayneth, “No, it’s fine. I must’ve been out of it because of the hangover. But I’m not so unwell that I can’t go to the palace, so don’t worry. Oh, right. I need to get ready to leave, so could you step out for a bit?”

“Are you sure—”

“I said I’m fine, didn’t I? Are you going to keep nagging me?”

At that moment, Kayneth’s eyes sharpened.

He was definitely starting to suspect something. I bit down on the inside of my cheek.

I thought I was doing a decent job pretending to be Agnes…

‘Was it still awkward?’

Fortunately, the suspicion didn’t last long. Kayneth smiled gently and stepped back.

“Alright, Agnes, if you say so. Call me when you’re ready. I’ll be waiting outside.”

And with that, he obediently left the room.

‘Like a loyal dog.’