IRTRHP 01

Episode 1. A Miserable Life

No moonlight shone that night — only darkness cloaked the mountain as someone, trembling yet desperate, ran into it.
Clutching her skirt — so ill-suited for climbing — the woman looked back again and again, fear and anxiety filling her pale face.

“Huff…”

A branch she couldn’t dodge grazed her cheek, leaving a shallow cut. Aileen wiped the blood away with the back of her hand, but it only smeared, the wound on her hand splitting open to let more blood trickle down.

“Ah…”

A sharp sting shot through the sole of her foot. At some point, she’d lost her shoe — she must’ve stepped on something sharp. She wanted to keep going, but her legs had grown weak.

Leaning against a tree to steady herself, Aileen caught her breath in ragged gasps. As her heartbeat slowed a little, she bent over to look at her throbbing foot. A necklace slipped out from her dress, its thin chain glinting faintly in the darkness.

The pendant swung restlessly — just like her.

“Where did it all go wrong?”

Gripping the necklace — her late brother Ethan’s keepsake — Aileen traced back the chain of misfortunes that had led her here.

It had all begun when Ethan married the Grand Duke.

Ethan, a dominant Omega, had been chosen for a political marriage with the dominant Alpha Grand Duke. Yet before even a year passed, he returned home as a cold corpse.

At first, no one could believe a healthy man had died so suddenly. But once Aileen learned what had happened to him, there was no room for doubt.

Her brother had never been loved.
Tormented by the unbearable heat of his rut, Ethan had sought relief in the arms of others — and, consumed by shame and despair, ended his own life.

Aileen only understood how much he must have suffered when she herself manifested as an Omega.

She learned how agonizing it was when an Alpha’s pheromones ignited the body’s instincts. How hopeless it felt to crave the touch of someone who turned away.

She lived through the same hell — clawing at the hems of others like an animal, begging for relief, trapped in a marriage filled with unwanted touches and the violent onslaught of pheromones.

Her soul was slowly breaking apart.

“Aileen!”

A voice boomed through the mountain, loud enough to make her heart stop.

Gritting her teeth, she forced her aching feet to move. Her body, pushed to its limits, was starting to go numb.

She wanted to rest — but more than that, she wanted to escape her husband. So she dragged herself forward, step by desperate step. But then — she froze.
She wasn’t alone.

Patrick.

Her husband had caught up.

“H-how did you—?”

It didn’t matter how he’d found her. Aileen instinctively backed away from him, but something felt off. A sudden gust of wind swept past her feet — and when she looked down, she saw only the black void of a cliff below.

Patrick emerged from behind her, smiling a cruel, taunting smile.

“Aileen,” he said softly.

“D-don’t come any closer.”

“Alright,” he said — but his tone was mocking, his eyes glinting like a cat toying with a cornered mouse.

“Nowhere left to run.”

Aileen bit her lip hard, clutching the necklace tight in trembling hands.

“You came this far, Aileen. Why not just come quietly to me?”

His voice was gentle, completely at odds with the situation. But even in the darkness, his glossy eyes gleamed — and Aileen instinctively took another step back.

Patrick stopped when he saw her sway.

“Aileen, careful. You’ll fall. Come here.”

“No — stay where you are. Please, just let me go.”

Aileen’s plea was filled with desperation.

She couldn’t live with him anymore.
Every day was agony.
Each hour was filled with screams — until she’d forgotten what it meant to feel alive.

But Patrick ignored her words. His gaze slithered over her, lingering on her pale skin.

“Think, Aileen,” he said coldly. “Who else do you have? Your parents? Dead. Your brother? Dead. I’m all you have left. So stop fighting it.”

Each word struck her heart like a thorn.

“You know,” he added with a mocking lilt, “I could tell you something interesting. About your family.”

Aileen’s heart pounded painfully. She didn’t want to hear, but she couldn’t stop listening.

“W-what do you mean?”

“The Grand Duchy of Lihast,” Patrick sneered. “They wanted something from your family. Your brother, your parents — the Grand Duke had them killed.”

Aileen’s body trembled violently.

“If you hadn’t run from me, I would’ve kept it from you forever. Why’d you have to make things difficult? Now come here—wait! Careful!”

“Ah—!”

Her exhausted body lost balance. As she fell backward, she locked eyes with Patrick — his face twisted in shock.

A faint, bitter smile spread across her lips.

Finally — she was free.

She hadn’t expected her life to end like this, but there was peace in knowing her misery was over.

Still… something in her heart lingered.

She wished she could go back.
Back to when her family was still alive.

Aileen blinked.

“Where… am I?”

She was breathing. She could feel the soft wind, her thoughts sharp and alive. A dream? No — the dead couldn’t dream.

The sensation of falling off the cliff was still vivid. Everything that had happened had been too real to dismiss as a dream.

She touched her neck — the familiar pendant was there. Just feeling it calmed her heart a little.

“Alright… let’s think.”

The room around her — it was hers, from before her marriage.
And the girl in the mirror…

“W-what…”

She wasn’t just alive — she was back before she’d even manifested as an Omega.

“This can’t be… I came back?”

“Aileen! How long are you going to sleep?”

A knock came at the door — and a beloved voice followed. Aileen turned toward it, disbelief flooding her face.

“…Brother?”

The door opened, and a man with golden hair peeked in. Ethan.

His radiant hair gleamed under the morning light, framing the handsome features she had missed so much.

Aileen stared, her throat tight. Could this really be happening? Her heart swelled with fragile hope.

“Brother…”

“Still being lazy, I see.”

Ethan walked in and took her hand, gently tugging her out of bed. Her bare feet touched the soft rug — not the sharp stones of the mountain.

“You said you had a lot to do today. You can’t stay in bed all morning.”

“Today?”

“Yeah.”

Ethan tousled her hair playfully. The touch made her close her eyes, savoring it.

“You said you needed to finish one last check, remember? Don’t panic later — Mr. Cage will be here soon.”

At the mention of that name, Aileen’s eyes flew open.

Mr. Cage — the merchant who dealt in medicinal goods. If he was coming today, that meant…

Her heart raced. She remembered exactly what day it was.

Grabbing Ethan’s wrist, she looked at the clock — then, panic rising, she pulled him toward the door.

“Come with me!”

“Where are we going?”

Ethan chuckled softly, thinking it was one of her whims. But Aileen’s grip only tightened, her urgency startling him.

As they climbed the stairs, she nearly tripped, and Ethan steadied her. “Careful,” he murmured. But she ignored him, dragging him up to the attic.

“This is the attic,” Ethan said, ducking under the low ceiling. His golden hair shimmered even in the dim light.

Snapping back to her senses, Aileen flung open the small wooden door.

“Brother — get in. And don’t come out, no matter what.”

“What, are we playing hide-and-seek?”

He laughed softly — twenty years old, too old for games, but humoring his younger sister anyway.

That gentle voice wrapped around her like warmth.

“If only it were a game…” she whispered.

Because the man who would come to take him away… was already on his way.