Cecilia was the most famous woman in all of the continent.
Whether it be beauty or wealth, she possessed an immense amount.
And, furthermore, she had been married for a total of seven times.
❖ ❖ ❖
Cecilia’s biological mother had died just days after giving birth to her. The cause was a postpartum fever.
Her mother’s older brother, Grand Duke Jericho, took pity on his niece and thus decided to raise her.
Not only had her mother died after birthing her, she was also an illegitimate child. By any standard, the child’s situation was dire.
And while it was true that her uncle had become her guardian now, one would expect that she’d be treated as a burden.
However, Cecilia grew up innocent and carefree under the generous guardianship of the grand duke.
It was his strict decree— let there be no one who’d dare mistreat Cecilia.
To others, the grand duke seemed to care more for Cecilia than even his own children.
And then, when she turned twelve years old…
Grand Duke Jericho sold her.
The man who met her at the altar was Grand Duke Edmund.
Grand Duke Edmund, who was sixty years old, who had three sons who had since passed adulthood, and who had so many illegitimate children, you could hardly count them.
And worse, there was even a famous mistress who Grand Duke Edmund was deeply infatuated with.
Cecilia, barely reaching adolescence, did not know what her uncle might have received in exchange for this union.
At twelve, Ceclia did not know what it meant to be ‘married’.
Fortunately, there was a condition set regarding this marriage’s consummation: it would be done only after Cecilia had started menstruating.
But rather than an act of consideration towards her, this was likely some sort of strategy that Grand Duke Jericho had placed just so he could avoid criticism for selling his young niece.
Thus, Cecilia was a legally wedded wife, yet her life did not change.
She continued to grow up untroubled within the confines of the Jericho Grand Duchy.
One might ask— If they were wed, why hadn’t Grand Duke Edmund taken Cecilia with him?
Was it because he was averse to taking care of such a young bride, or was it due to some internal opposition to this marriage within his household?
Well, Cecilia did not know, for no one had told her.
During Cecilia’s fifteenth year, she began menstruating.
Promptly, Grand Duke Edmund sent for her.
And promptly, Cecilia must get ready to leave.
While preparing for her departure, the news arrived.
Grand Duke Edmund had perished.
Grand Duke Edmund, who was Cecilia’s husband of three years.
He died without ever meeting his young bride.
And more than that, he died without clearly appointing an heir.
He had been pitting his three sons against each other just so he could keep the power he held as the head of the household.
But now, with the dictator gone, chaos erupted within House Edmund.
And to the members of that family, Cecilia was a troublesome presence.
Legally, she was the grand duchess—the matriarch—and she had every right to influence the succession battle.
None of the members of House Edmund welcomed this situation.
Thus, House Edmund negotiated with Grand Duke Jericho.
The day before Grand Duke Edmund’s death was publicly announced, Cecilia became a divorcee.
In return, House Edmund was to provide her substantial wealth and assets as alimony.
And of course, these properties were managed by her guardian, Grand Duke Jericho.
Again, Cecilia was not involved in any way, and thus did not know anything.
To her, matters of power and clandestine transactions were no different to myths from a distant land.
Her life at the Jericho Grand Duchy remained, once again, unchanged.
When Cecilia turned seventeen, Grand Duke Jericho sold her once again.
What Grand Duke Jericho might have gained from this marriage, Cecilia did not know.
It was only much later that Cecilia would speculate that the negotiations must have been tense, given that there was nearly a year between her engagement and wedding.
Cecilia’s second groom was the eldest son of Grand Duke Ormos.
The grand duke’s eldest son, who was a widower, and who was twenty years older than the girl.
Like her first wedding, the ceremony was held within the walls of the Jericho Grand Duchy.
The splendid, lavish festivities lasted for three whole days.
And at the end of the last day’s banquet, the eldest son of Grand Duke Ormos was attacked.
It was a crime of passion.
The grand duke’s eldest son was a gay man, and his lover attacked him out of jealousy.
Though the eldest son survived, he had been castrated and rendered impotent.
Grand Duke Jericho was livid.
Whether his fury was genuine or an act for everyone to see, no one knew.
Nevertheless, the bride’s side had the perfect defense.
Immediately after the wedding, without even a day passing after the ceremony, Cecilia once again became an unwed woman.
※ hiya guys~ we’ve got a new novel here at pd, woohoo~ from the same author as ‘lucia’, ‘living as the villainess queen’ and ‘the great wish’, if you’re familiar with those!
and of course, it’s another difficult title to translate due to its brevity ^^;; with the original title being 도망친 곳이 낙원이었다, there’s no actual ‘i’ or subject there in general, which is typical of the korean grammar structure. still, it wouldn’t be wrong to interpret this as ‘[my] escape led to paradise’ given that the subject is most often implied in korean sentences, but i feel like the original title was kept short and vague for a reason.
‘escaping to paradise’ wouldn’t exactly work either because ‘escape (도망친)’ is not used as a verb here, but as an adjective to ‘place (곳)’. if we want to be literal, we’ll have ‘the place of escape was paradise’ (emphasis on ‘was’ due to this part: 이었다) or ‘the place [i] escaped to was paradise’. so with that, i focused on ‘escape(adj) place(noun)’ and settled on the word ‘refuge’ as its substitute.
the barebones title would be ‘refuge was paradise’, but in the end, i settled for ‘In Refuge, There Was Paradise’.
welp, that’s all the rambling you’ll get from me for the next couple of years lol
hope that works and hope you all enjoy~
p.s. just like apv, this novel’s chapters are half chapters, but they’re numbered normally to make things simple. translating involves a delicate process that requires a lot of effort, so the chapters have been divided to alleviate the workload on my part. still, moving forward, i will post updates as often as i can to compensate for the length. thank you for your understanding!
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