IDRID | CH 02

Episode 2

“Ah!”

Eleanore screamed and sat up in bed.

Her heart was pounding hard, and cold sweat ran down her back like rain.

“I… I definitely… died.”

She muttered like a crazy person, touching her face and body.

“How am I alive?”

She didn’t understand.

The feeling of the axe blade touching her neck and the world turning upside down before her death were still too real.

Her whole body trembled.

Eleanore slowly raised her shaking hand and touched her neck with her eyes tightly closed.

“Ah… haah…”

When she realized her head was still attached, she gasped for air.

“I’m alive… I’m really alive…”

Then she quickly pulled her hand away, afraid her head might actually fall off if she kept touching it.

As she sat there mumbling like a madwoman—

Clink, clink.

The sound of a teacup hitting its saucer came from beside her.

“Who’s there!”

“Ah! F-forgive me, my lady!”

Eleanore turned sharply and saw a maid standing by her bed, trembling in fear.

The clinking sound came from the tray the maid was holding—her hands were shaking too much.

“Please forgive me, my lady…”

“What am I forgiving you for? What did you do?”

Eleanore asked in confusion, and the maid squeezed her eyes shut.

“I-I don’t know, but I must have upset you somehow…”

“I just came back from the dead, and you’re talking about tea cups? That’s not what matters right now!”

“Ah! I-I’m sorry!”

The maid flinched, terrified, staring at Eleanore like she had gone insane.

“I have to figure out what’s going on.”

Eleanore pushed off her blanket and tried to stand, but her legs were still weak from the shock of dying. She stumbled badly.

“Kyaa! My lady!”

“Ah!”

The maid rushed forward to catch her—but in her panic, she dropped the tray, spilling tea all over Eleanore.

Luckily, the tea was lukewarm, so she wasn’t burned—but it was still extremely unpleasant.

“You! What were you thinking! Are you crazy—”

Right then—

[NG!]

[You must not yell loudly at someone for an accident they didn’t mean to cause!]

Large red letters flashed in front of Eleanora’s eyes.

[Rehabilitation Project Restarting.]

And then—pain.

An unbearable pain crushed her, and her vision went completely dark.

***

“Ah!!”

Eleanore opened her eyes again—to the same familiar ceiling.

“Ow… that hurts…”

She curled up on the bed.

The pain from the “restart” still lingered in her body like a bruise.

“What… is going on—!”

She was about to shout again, but stopped herself.

The warning message about “not yelling” flashed in her mind.

‘I never want to feel that pain again.’

Eleanore slowly sat up.

Clink, clink.

The same sound again.

When she turned, the same maid stood beside her, holding the tray and trembling just like before.

“You— you spilled tea on me—”

She stopped mid-sentence.

The tray and teacup were still perfectly fine, not spilled at all.

‘Wait… was I unconscious for a long time? But then why is this maid still here—and why is everything exactly the same?’

She frowned. Something was very wrong.

‘This isn’t a dream. I did die. And yet… everything’s repeating?’

Then she remembered the word “Restart.”

Her eyes widened.

‘Wait—did my life just start over?’

Eleanore looked around.

There was a purple carpet embroidered with golden mythical beasts—the one she had brought as part of her dowry during her engagement period.

‘That means… this is before I married that terrible man, Walter!’

The maid also called her “young lady,” not “madam.”

That confirmed it—this was before the marriage.

‘Time really went backward. I’m back before everything went wrong.’

Her body trembled with realization.

‘But then… why did it restart twice? Once at the execution, and again when the maid spilled tea…’

She tried to think back, but her body still ached too much.

‘Anyway, this is my second chance. I’ll live better this time.’

Eleanore clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and carefully placed her feet on the floor.

‘Good. My legs are steady now.’

“Y-young lady, where are you going?”

The maid hurried after her.

“I’m going to see the Duke.”

“W-what? But…!”

“No buts. Just tell me where he is.”

The maid flinched.

“T-the Duke… isn’t in the castle right now.”

“What? Then where is he?”

“H-he went to the Ors Mountains to subdue a group of monsters.”

Eleanore frowned.

“What? He left his fiancée alone to go monster hunting—ah.”

Then she suddenly remembered.

‘Right… Walter did spend the entire engagement pretending to be busy hunting monsters so he wouldn’t have to see me.’

She only saw him twice during that whole period—once when she first arrived at his castle, and again right before the wedding.

‘That man… I’ll deal with him properly this time.’

In her past life, when she was truly twenty, she couldn’t say a word against him.

Walter always ignored her, staying cold and distant.

But now things were different.

After four years of living in the same castle as him, she knew exactly how to handle him.

“When will he return?”

“I-it’s hard to say. Monster hunts can take a long time…”

“I know that. But if it’s the Ors Mountains, there must be an estimate.”

The maid blinked in surprise.

‘How does she know about the Ors Mountain expeditions? She just arrived at the Duke’s estate!’

“W-well, usually it takes up to ten days… so maybe three more days before he returns.”

“That’s enough.”

Eleanore nodded.

‘So I have about three days to survive here alone.’

The faces of her cruel mother-in-law and sister-in-law flashed in her mind.

‘Three days until they start tormenting me again.’