Episode 3
Her heart was pounding fast. A faint scent of lilac drifted in.
When she realized that the solid, smooth thing under her fingertips was Cedric’s upper body, heat rushed straight to her face.
Soft moonlight slowly lit up Cedric.
The moment she met his red, vivid eyes beneath his pitch-black hair, it felt like her heart would stop.
Her mind went completely blank.
It wasn’t even the first time—but it felt like the very first.
In the Empire, if a marriage isn’t consummated, it’s considered invalid.
So back then, she had gone along with it out of duty.
The physician had said she was terminally ill and wouldn’t be able to have children, so Cedric probably thought of it as nothing more than fulfilling marital obligations.
‘But for something like that… he was surprisingly gentle, and then slowly became passionate…’
Just remembering that night made her face burn.
Calm down. You’re way too aware of him right now.’
But once she became conscious of it, tension crept down to her toes.
The more she looked at Cedric’s profile, the more impossible it was not to be aware of him.
Then the memory of the day he died flashed through her mind.
She couldn’t control the emotions surging up inside her.
She just… missed him.
Arne slowly cupped Cedric’s face and tilted her head.
Her trembling lips brushed against his skin.
In that instant, Cedric’s dilated pupils quivered.
In the cool night air, the spot where their skin touched felt like it was burning.
Then suddenly, everything flipped.
In the blink of an eye, Arne, who had been on top of Cedric, was thrown onto the bed.
Cedric’s body pressed down on her, one hand gripping her throat, pinning her lower abdomen.
His movements were smooth and precise, like flowing water.
His other hand pressed down on the mana core between her breasts.
A low, simmering voice followed.
“Who are you? I thought I was dreaming.”
Cedric’s red eyes clashed with Arne’s red eyes.
“An assassin?”
As the pressure increased on her mana core, a faint crack formed along an already damaged spot.
“Still not going to talk?”
More force.
The crack spread.
A groan escaped Arne in pain.
If a mana core breaks, a mage dies.
Even a crack was fatal.
What is he talking about? An assassin?’
As the grip on her throat tightened, Arne instinctively grabbed his wrist.
Breathing became difficult.
Her lungs felt like they were burning.
Between gasps, she barely managed to speak.
“Cedric.”
It clearly wasn’t the voice he expected.
Cedric’s arm twitched.
As the moonlight shifted and slowly lit up Arne’s face, all the strength drained from his hand.
“…Lady Ronia?”
Cedric froze, not even blinking.
“Why is the young lady here…?”
He stared at her in disbelief.
But it wasn’t an illusion.
The woman groaning beneath him really was Laniarne Freya de Ronia.
How could he not recognize her?
It hadn’t even been four days since he arrived in the capital on his grandfather’s orders, but he had already studied the family lines and portraits of all high-ranking nobles.
And among them, she stood out the most.
Silver hair nearly as white as snow, and red eyes that seized attention instantly.
They reminded him of someone.
Not to mention the rumors about her that had spread all the way to the north.
An orphan who might’ve been a lowly war slave, becoming a noble lady. A disgrace to high society. Uneducated, violent, the Empire’s worst villainess.’
Cedric’s cold gaze slowly dropped over Arne, sharp and threatening, like a predator inspecting its prey.
Arne’s breathing was uneven and painful. Tears welled in her eyes.
But Cedric’s eyes remained cold.
From her reddened eyes, to her slender neck in his grip, to the faint violet glow of her mana core, to the black ribbon barely holding together over her chest—his gaze lingered.
She was wearing a thin evening dress.
Far too thin for a noble lady.
It clung dangerously to her curves, made of such poor material that her skin showed under candlelight.
No buttons bearing her family crest.
Just one ribbon at her chest, one at her waist—pull either, and it would fall apart.
Cheap.
But effective, if the goal was seduction and creating even a brief opening.
How many assassins and spies had already entered Cedric’s bedchamber like this?
There had even been a mad young lady who claimed she fell in love at first sight and charged straight into his room.
Cedric let out a tired sneer.
“Not sure why Lady Ronia wants to assassinate me, but I’ll give you credit. This was fairly successful. You’re quite… alluring.”
Still gripping her throat, Cedric slowly dragged his thumb along her neck.
Her pale skin flushed red under the pressure, twisting his lips slightly.
Did they even tailor this to my taste? The Ronia family even using their adopted daughter as an assassin?’
It was disgusting.
He had seen assassins too many times to be shaken by something like this.
As his gaze grew colder, Arne barely managed to speak.
“What are you even talking about? Assassin? I would never try to kill you. Today is… we…”
She glanced aside.
The calendar.
Everything was the same.
The habits.
The placement.
The date, cleanly torn away.
Even the month at the top.
The day they got married.
Their first night.
At Arne’s wronged look, Cedric let out a quiet laugh.
“Today is? If you’ve got any last words, I’ll hear them.”
“Today is the Imperial Year 3026— night.”
Her hoarse voice spilled out unfairly as his grip tightened again.
Pretending to be wronged.
And lying on top of it.
Cedric pressed down harder.
“Then you’re not worth listening to anymore. If you’re going to lie, at least do it properly. Today is 3025, my lady.”
His emotionless voice made Arne feel like she stopped breathing.
“3025?”
She looked genuinely shocked.
Cedric narrowed his eyes.
Her gaze darted around the room, over his face, his body, and finally stopped at his waist—smooth, unscarred.
“3025…”
Arne muttered blankly.
If it were 3025, not 3026.
That meant she had regressed to one year before the wedding.
Back when she and Cedric hadn’t even met.
It hadn’t been long since the great monster war ended.
Cedric was constantly under assassination threats back then.
He had told her during their first night.
An assassin attack about a year before the wedding had left a scar near his hip.
“There isn’t one.”
Staring at his smooth hip bone, Arne let out a hollow breath.
Now she understood his reaction.
Waking up to a stranger kissing him.
‘Like you said—either an assassin, or a crazy woman. Or both.’
A bitter laugh escaped her.
She hadn’t meant to trust the demon.
“I’m… not an assassin…”
Cedric stared at her coldly.
Distrust.
Suspicion.
A familiar look.
Maybe this version of Cedric was more like him.
Life was cruelly ironic.
In my last life, you tried to save me until the very end. In this one, you try to kill me the moment we meet.’
Facing his icy gaze, that final day felt like a dream.
Like something she imagined.
‘I really don’t understand you. Why did you save me? Did you even try to save me? Or was it all just my misunderstanding?’
He never sent a single letter.
Always looking at her with eyes like this.
Why not?
Arne bit her lip.
“Why would I kill you? I wasn’t here to assassinate you.”
“A normal young lady sneaking into the grand duke’s estate, into Cedric Spendha de Renigrad’s bedroom, in the middle of the night?
Does that sound sane to you?”
Cedric’s eyes felt like a towering wall of ice.
For a brief moment, his gentle final 모습 felt like a lie.
The man before her burned with hostility and anger.
‘This man… saved me.’
Seeing Arne’s expression twist, Cedric raised an eyebrow.
His fingers slowly rubbed over her reddened neck.
“Or did you come here because you’re in love with me?”
Arne gave a faint, empty smile.
She didn’t have the luxury to hope for something like that.
“…No.”
Cedric frowned slightly as he studied her expression.
But Arne couldn’t look away.
In his face, she saw Vivian’s final moments.
‘I can’t give up Vivian. I’ll never forgive the Ronia family. In this life, I’ll take back everything that was shattered.’
So she would marry him again.
Become family again.
But first..
She had to erase his suspicion completely.
Arne slowly blinked, looking into Cedric’s red eyes—the same as Vivian’s.
‘How can I make you believe me?’
Still holding only the hand around her throat, Arne slowly reached up and wrapped her arms around Cedric’s neck.
She whispered.
In that moment, Cedric’s entire body stiffened.
His cold pupils trembled.
The pressure around her throat loosened.
“Cedric… the reason I’m here is.”
