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Park Jandi had never ridden a train before in her life.

Then again, neither had she been married before. Apparently, today was just chock full of new experiences.

Staring out the window as the world went whipping by at a dizzying speed, Jandi didn’t know whether she was supposed to feel excited or terrified. A little bit of both perhaps, if her roiling stomach was anything to go by, although that could just be a physical reaction to the churning motion of the train. Feeling the cold metal rattle beneath her, she watched the glowing greenery of her old home blur by. Was this real? Was she dreaming? Was she truly leaving behind all she had ever known for a husband she had never met before?

“He’ll be a kind man, Jandi,” her mother had told her, brushing away tears with worn, calloused hands. “It’s a good family you’ll be entering. We made sure of that before agreeing to it when you were born. Even if this is a political marriage, you will live comfortably for the rest of your days.”

Jandi couldn’t help but sigh when she thought of her parents. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t resent them right now; how could she not when they had signed her life away the day she was born? She didn’t even have the right to divorce her husband, according to the legally binding contract they had signed twenty years ago exchanging her hand in marriage for enough money to sustain their starving family. Not to mention, the contract had prevented them from telling her about the arranged marriage until two days ago, when the Do family’s servants had appeared out of the blue to bring her to the Capital. Really, this was more of a slave contract than a marriage for all the dignity and autonomy Jandi was allowed.

In retrospect, it was clear her family had been hiding something from her all her life. In their impoverished village, the Parks had always been strangely well off; they weren’t wealthy by any means, but excepting a period of extreme poverty right before Jandi was born, there was always enough food, shelter, and clothing to go around for all five children, and Jandi had received an education at the small private school nearby, which was far more than most children had. Jandi had never once questioned where the money came from, perhaps out of some subconscious desire not to know.

Even her name should have raised red flags. In birth order, the children of the Park family were named Park One, Park Jandi, Park Two, Park Three, and Park Four. Granted, Jandi’s name meant ‘grass,’ which wasn’t much more beautiful than a number, but it was still odd, as if her parents had been anticipating her departure from the family all along.

Of course, they had been, Jandi reminded herself bitterly.

“Young Mistress?”

Jandi didn’t react at first, but when a hand landed lightly on her shoulder, she flinched. That title was definitely going to take some getting used to. She needed to learn to expect it, though, considering she was now a member of one of the most powerful families in the empire.

The servant sent her an apologetic glance. “We will arrive in a few hours. If you’d like, you can turn on the television to entertain yourself.”

Deciding anything would be better than wallowing in bitter thoughts, she nodded and accepted the proffered remote control. In an ironic twist of fate, the first face that flashed onto the screen was that of her new husband, Do Kyungsoo.

“Insiders report that young politician Do Kyungsoo’s new wife will be arriving in the Capital later today,” said the disembodied voice of a reporter. “If the rumors are true, then she will be the latest in a recent string of top politicians’ wives hailing from the farming villages of the countryside. Notably, the newest addition to the Do family is from Geumdo, the farming village with the largest influence on elections due to its location and demographics. As the primaries are drawing closer for the Cabinet election, this may prove to merely be a strategy by Do to gain votes from the rural population.”

Jandi’s stomach churned. Indeed, she was only a political pawn, but somehow, it felt worse hearing this from an empire-wide broadcast on television. It made it real that her life was nothing but a massive political maneuver planned twenty years in advance.

“According to the Do family’s official spokesperson, however, this is not a political strategy, but the next chapter of a long and sincere love story.”

A scoff made its way out of before she could control it. If paying off a starving farmer to give up his newborn daughter as the token rural wife for a politician counted as a “long and sincere love story,” then Jandi didn’t want to know what was considered an average love story in the Capital.

“Either way, it will be interesting to see the effect this announcement has on Do’s position in the primaries,” the reporter continued. “While unprecedentedly young, Do is a favorite candidate for many, including the Empress Dowager herself, according to undisclosed sources. Also of interest, his father is Do Mansoo, one of the late Emperor’s closest advisors.”

Jandi shook her head and turned off the television. There was no point in listening to this drivel anymore. Unfounded speculation and manipulation from the central government was all it was. Information given by undisclosed sources was useless in this day and age. Having gone to school, unlike her parents, she knew that much of the accessible information in the Capital was never released to channels that aired in the countryside; what exactly she was missing out on, she didn’t know, but media censorship was a fact of life.

Resting her head against the window, Jandi resorted to entertaining herself with all kinds of useless questions in her mind. What was her new husband like? Was he truly the charming and polite young man plastered all over campaign advertisements and television broadcasts? Would he greet her when she arrived with genuine enthusiasm and kindness? Was he just as nervous and shocked about this marriage as she was? Or was he a snake inside, cruel and corrupt?

According to her younger brother, Three, Do Kyungsoo had to be a snake, because only a snake could rip his favorite sister away from him so easily. Just the thought of Three made Jandi smile, although the sentiment was bittersweet. As much as she was Three’s favorite sister, Three was her favorite brother.

At five years old, Three didn’t understand the concept of an arranged marriage. All he knew was that a man he had never met before was the reason his sister, who snuck him sweets before dinner and instigated tickle fights to cheer him up after spankings, had to move to the Capital. Three didn’t like that one bit. He’d cried for such a long time, his throat had been rubbed half-raw, and their mother had barely been able to pry him off Jandi when she left early this morning.

Jandi bit down on her lip, drawing blood. She didn’t want to cry right now. She couldn’t. If she started, she wouldn’t be able to stop, and as silly and vain as it seemed, she didn’t want to meet her new husband for the first time with puffy eyes. She touched the marriage contract in front of her, running her fingers over the signature she had been forced to scrawl earlier that day confirming the end of her unmarri