Episode 7. Forget What Happened Last Night
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a bare room with only a few expensive-looking pieces of furniture.
The sorcerer was nowhere to be seen.
This wasn’t my bedroom, but I knew exactly where I was.
Everything here was familiar—unforgettable, even though I had only been here once before.
Because in this place, something happened that I could never forget.
At that moment, pale light of dawn shone through the window.
When I listened closely, I could hear someone else breathing.
I turned to look at the man lying in the same bed as me.
The dark blue light coming through the window fell across his face.
The sharp contrast between light and shadow made him look even more striking.
His long lashes cast shadows under his nose.
He was a beautiful man—someone who looked like he could never do anything cruel or wicked.
But I knew the sins this man had committed.
The moment I remembered them, a wave of nausea and anger surged inside me.
The face that looked so beautiful just seconds ago now appeared ugly.
I turned my gaze away and looked at the calendar on the wall.
It was showing a date from exactly seven years ago.
A shaky breath slipped through my lips.
I did it.
“I really… came back.”
I ran my hands over my face as if washing it.
The sorcerer wasn’t confident, but he had sent me back to the exact day I wished for.
I silently thanked him in my heart.
Now, I was in the past—no, the present—seven years earlier. The day after I had spent my first night with Henderson.
In other words, it was the day after I conceived Eddie.
The man sleeping like an angel beside me was Henderson.
Quietly, I picked up the clothes I had taken off last night.
Even when I opened the door, Henderson didn’t wake up.
Just before closing the door behind me, I looked back at him one last time.
“Henderson. Forget what happened last night. You and I will never meet again.”
This time, I had no intention of marrying the man I had spent the night with.
I hurried down the endless hallway as if running away.
This hallway too was familiar.
It was the ducal mansion’s hallway—the one I had called home for years.
I chose the less-used corridors, heading straight for the back door.
Because it was still dawn, I didn’t encounter anyone.
Or maybe everyone was still asleep after last night’s grand masquerade ball, drunk and exhausted.
That was fortunate for me.
The masquerade ball—the very event where Eddie’s story began.
It was at that ball, celebrating Henderson’s first year as duke, that we met.
We fell in love quickly, and when I found out I was pregnant with Eddie, we decided to marry.
Memories of the past began to surface, but I shook my head.
No time for that now.
I just needed to leave the mansion as quickly as possible.
At the back door, a few guards were standing watch.
I lowered my head slightly and walked past them naturally.
They didn’t stop me.
And I knew they wouldn’t.
After all, dozens of nobles had attended the masquerade, and it wasn’t strange for people to leave at dawn.
Once outside, I caught a carriage and finally allowed myself to breathe.
“Ha…”
Through the window, the morning sun was rising.
The sky was already bright.
The sunlight hurt my eyes, but I stared straight into it anyway.
I felt as if I had been reborn.
Tears I couldn’t understand began to fall.
Before I realized it, I was back at the imperial palace.
Back in the room I had used before marriage.
Only then did I manage to calm my breathing.
“…Your Highness? Are you alright?”
I turned toward the voice. A familiar face.
“Matilda?”
She had always been by my side, even after I married into the duke’s house.
There was no one I trusted more.
Seeing her again now made me so happy.
“Yes, Your Highness. Did something happen to you?”
She was calling me Your Highness again, not “My Lady.”
That small detail sent chills through me.
I stared at her.
Though she was ten years older than me, her small build and youthful looks often made her seem my age.
Now, she looked even younger than I remembered.
“How old are you this year?” I asked.
The Matilda I knew had been thirty-seven.
Holding my breath, I waited for her answer.
Without hesitation, she said, “I turned thirty this year.”
Her words confirmed it—I had really gone back seven years.
I staggered to the mirror on my vanity table.
And froze.
The woman reflected there was beautiful.
The pale, exhausted face I had grown used to was gone.
In her place was a dazzling young woman with soft pink hair, bright green eyes, and lips red and full.
It was me.
The real me.
The me I had forgotten.
Hot tears fell again.
Yes… I was always this bright. Why did I let myself be so miserable? I could have been happy with Eddie, just the two of us.
I wiped my tears roughly. This time, I would protect my child and live happily.
Never again would I suffer because of a man who changed his mind.
“…Your Highness, are you truly alright?”
Of course, Matilda didn’t know I had returned to the past, so my behavior must have looked strange.
I gave her a smile.
“I’m fine.”
Sitting down, I asked again, “Matilda, you’re thirty, and I’m twenty, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“And I’m unmarried, living here in the palace, right?”
“…Yes, that’s correct.”
Her face went pale, as if she’d seen a ghost.
I asked her one final question:
“Am I dreaming right now?”
This time, she shook her head.
“No, Your Highness. This is not a dream. This is reality.”
I repeated her words softly to myself.
Not a dream… but reality.
And for the first time in years, that felt beautiful.
When Matilda left, I walked slowly around my room, recalling what had happened seven years ago.
Most memories had grown blurry with time.
But I still remembered clearly the moment at the masquerade when I first saw Henderson.
The man in the swan mask stood alone, speaking to no one.
Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off him from the moment he appeared.
His black hair, his pale skin—they made my heart race, as if I had loved someone like him before.
