Honestly, same here. I thought that was the whole point. Waiting for someone to summarize it again, don't wanna re-read the whole thing again.
Let me try to answer this.
Apparently, the “sacrificial bride,” as the name suggest, is a shunned and unwanted position. This exist only to “appease” their god so that the so-called bizarre phenomena can be prevented to happen in the empire (not sure what’s not but most likely bad). For some reason, the oracle said that “house Gartt” must be the house to marry this sacrificial bride for the empire - almost like a requirement. Also, those who apply for it is just known to be only after the hefty reward that comes with the title. To start with, Valia, though a noblewoman, was just a country bumpkin who was raised by a mercenary - so not “noble enough.” But after many events, they got promoted to “duke/duchess” while her title was kept hidden for protection. So now that it was revealed, it shook them because of her “low breed” yet having the highest noble position just below the royalty.
Hope that helps. It’s beeeeen a while since I read this and there’s like a million and one other manga that almost has the same story.
Ty. ヾ(☆▽☆)
That makes more sense
Why are people shocked that the sacrificial bride became duchess? I thought it was well known that the Duke was marrying the sacrificial bride, and that's why the MC applied for the role...