Chapter 76
“By the way… why exactly do we have to hide like this?”
Winzerd frowned, looking utterly perplexed.
Erne clicked her tongue in disappointment, lamenting the absence of popcorn and soda.
“Because nothing is more entertaining than a love quarrel. Now shh—you’re going to get us caught, Winzerd. Crouch a little lower.”
When Erne demanded that he somehow shrink his towering height by half, Winzerd immediately shut his mouth and quietly squatted down.
Erne’s nostrils were flaring with uncontained excitement.
‘Who is that guy? From here, it looks serious…’
Or maybe… was that attendant confessing to Belli?
Since they were a fair distance away, she could only try to read their lips to guess the conversation.
Erne stared at the man’s face for a long moment, then her eyes widened.
“The attendant from before?”
The very same one who had wandered into the powder room she’d been resting in by mistake.
Recognizing the man’s familiar face, Erne perked up—only to hear a sharp crack behind her, the sound of something breaking.
Startled, she whipped her head around to see Winzerd shaking a tree branch as if nothing had happened.
“Careful not to step on anything. If we get caught, you’ll be the one responsible, Winzerd!”
Erne scolded him in a whisper. Winzerd couldn’t bring himself to admit he’d broken the branch on purpose, not by accident.
He just nodded meekly, looking sullen.
“I’m not leaving you. Not after all it took to find you, Belli.”
The sweet tone and romantic line made Erne smack Winzerd’s back in giddy excitement.
Then a strange sense of foreboding crept in.
If Belli already has a boyfriend… what happens to the original story’s romance with the male lead?
“My child died?”
“Yes. Because of you. I want to kill you, El. So please… don’t show up and make me relive that nightmare again. I don’t want to repeat it. I regret ever loving you—those days were the most foolish of my life.”
The man laughed—a short, bitter laugh.
But his face quickly chilled as he stepped toward Belli, menacingly.
‘What? What’s he saying? Why laugh all of a sudden? I can’t hear a thing!’
Erne clapped her hands over her mouth and shuffled closer in a crouch, trying to catch the words.
“You regret loving me? No, Belli. You still love me. I can see it in your face.”
In Erne’s memory, that attendant had looked simple, polite, and well-mannered.
It was hard to believe these words were coming from that same man.
From what she could piece together, only one conclusion made sense:
Belli dumped him, and now he was clinging to her pathetically.
“El. Don’t ever show up again. It’s too late for regrets.”
“I can’t just leave it like this. Tell me what I need to do to make this right.”
“I said it’s too late! We—”
“Belli. I’ll die without you.”
Gasp. Erne held her breath, shoving Winzerd’s head down every time he tried to peek. She let out a silent scream.
The way Belli called him El had felt ominous from the start, but she never thought her fears would be confirmed.
Because the moment she saw the pendant glinting on his neck, she had to accept the truth.
‘So that’s why his face seemed familiar…’
Erne had fought the thought, but now it was undeniable:
The man was the original male lead—Mikhail.
Why he had been disguised as an attendant at the palace that day, she didn’t know. But the pendant bore the symbol of his family: a stork.
And then came the words that shattered everything—
“Regret trope!”
“…Excuse me?”
Winzerd blinked at her sudden whisper, but Erne was too busy gawking at the drama unfolding.
“Don’t threaten me. You’ll do fine without me.”
“Belli, please. I can’t breathe without you… Or is there someone else now?”
“El.”
“Then you’d better end it quickly. Otherwise, I might just… help you with that. Don’t you think?”
“What do you mean, ‘end it’?”
“Maybe he won’t be in this world much longer. So make your choice—him or me.”
Erne muttered under her breath as she watched the still-ongoing showdown:
“He reminds me of someone…”
When her gaze slid to Winzerd, she found him nodding solemnly as if deeply impressed.
“I don’t know him, but our values seem remarkably aligned.”
This, from the same man who’d been grumbling about why they had to hide in the first place.
Erne shot him a withering look and added her own short review:
“Never judge by appearances.”
The original male lead’s setup was long gone. The kind, polite attendant image had vanished without a trace.
The fluffy romantic-comedy hero had morphed into something else entirely—
A regret-driven, obsessive man.
The way his eyes glinted sent chills down her spine.
Just then, a voice whispered behind them—
“Father. Mother. What are you doing here?”
“Whaaa!”
Erne screamed silently, jerking upright in shock. Behind them stood Schuchnen, cookie crumbs still clinging to his lips.
Their startled commotion drew Mikhail and Belli’s attention.
“Your Majesty? The Duke—and the young master?”
Belli frowned, clearly struggling to process what she was seeing.
Erne leapt up, waving her hands frantically.
“Well, this is… um… you see—”
“Oh! Were you playing hide-and-seek?”
“Huh? Oh, yes! That’s it! We were playing hide-and-seek, right, Winzerd? Haha!”
“…Yes.”
Schuchnen folded his arms, unimpressed.
So you left me out and played with Father all by yourself? He looked utterly sulky.
Desperate for a way out, Erne seized the excuse he’d handed her.
Thanks to him, the crisis passed without further questions.
But then Erne pointed to Mikhail and Belli.
“And what about you two?”
The air grew awkward.
Mikhail stared at Belli.
Belli turned away and said:
“We’re nothing.”
“We’re about to be married.”
Their answers clashed spectacularly.
Erne and Winzerd exchanged wide-eyed looks.
“Enough. Leave, El. You’re in the way.”
“…Belli.”
Watching a lovers’ quarrel is fun from a safe distance—not from the middle of it.
So Erne grabbed Winzerd and Schuchnen’s hands and bolted.
“Then we’ll just… go now!”
“Wait—”
Before Belli could say another word, Erne was already fleeing with the two men.
Partly because she didn’t want them to know they’d been spied on the whole time.
Only after putting some distance between them did a troubling question strike her:
If Belli had a child… was it Mikhail’s?
“Is this some cursed omen? Has ruin fallen on Nesheld?!”
Pashina snapped at Derick, her voice sharp with frustration.
“How should I know? Father said to lay low for now. No matter what happens, Babylon must not make a move.”
A total papa’s boy—he’d do anything his father said, even play dead if told.
Pashina clenched her teeth and sighed. Demián’s survival was terrible news for them.
Babylon had prepared everything to kill the Marquis. Now they could only worry about their involvement being exposed.
“You should’ve finished him off!”
“When we got there, the carriage had already gone over the cliff! There was no way he could’ve survived that!”
Pashina shut her ears to his excuses. Her jagged, broken nails betrayed the storm inside her.
She’d told Derick countless times that the queen was Erne, but just like Erne warned, he never believed her.
No matter how much they looked alike, he said, the beauty mark under the eye and the air they gave off were different. They might be similar, but not the same person.
He even mocked her obsession, saying it was practically an illness.
It drove Pashina mad.
What was the point of talking anymore?
Even if the queen herself said she was Erne, Derick wouldn’t buy it.
But fine. I’ll make him believe it.
And then it hit her—
The beauty mark!
Derick seemed convinced the mark proved they were different people.
But a fake beauty mark is easy enough to erase… isn’t it?
