Chapter 1
Robelletta awoke to a splitting headache. Not only was she hanging upside down, but her field of vision swayed at regular intervals.
She had lost consciousness after drinking the tea Edward gave her last night, and when she came to, this was the state she was in.
Edward was never meant to become emperor. Thanks to Robelletta’s dedication, Edward had become emperor by chance, but he shouldn’t be treating her like this.
When marriage talks with a princess from another country began, Robelletta had expected to be cast aside. Still, she never dreamed he would go so far as to target her life.
If you didn’t want to marry me, you should have just said we should break up. You piece of trash!
“Awake?”
A familiar voice came from behind.
“Ed. Why are you here…?”
Could it be that he still had lingering feelings, coming all the way to see the woman he himself had discarded?
But Edward’s gaze held none of the affection she might have hoped for.
“Are you really curious about that? You should be more curious about your companions here.”
“Companions?”
“You’ll soon become just like them. I’ve collected evidence of your crimes. Among them, there’s one child on a wooden horse I especially want to show you. So, Robelletta, I’ll leave you intact from head to toe. So that you can see your companions clearly.”
Edward fiddled with Robelletta’s cheek. A touch that once would have pleased her now felt utterly revolting.
“Just kill me.”
“Then there’d be no fun. Besides, you’re worth keeping!”
A chill ran down her spine. His attitude treated her not like a person, but like an object.
“I was thinking of letting you live a few more days, but I’ve changed my mind.”
Leaving Robelletta behind, Edward went to another room. From the sound of footsteps descending stairs, it seemed he had gone to another floor.
Robelletta tried to lift her head to see how she was hanging but gave up. Being upside down made her head spin, and all her strength had drained away.
Just as Robelletta had resigned herself and given up on everything—
“Robelletta Remington?”
She nearly screamed, but barely managed to cover her mouth.
The man who appeared was a familiar face.
With red hair and a large, fierce scar running across his face, it was Edward’s attack dog, Kallias.
The man who had been disposed of right after Edward became emperor.
“Why are you here?”
“That’s what I should be asking you. Serves you right.”
Kallias had operated as a living weapon for Edward. And the one who had set the trap and executed it to make him do so was Robelletta.
So she assumed he must be delighted to see her in this state.
“Do you want to live?”
But the words that came out of his mouth were completely different from what she expected.
“No. I want to die.”
At that, Kallias drew a knife and cut the rope suspending her.
Robelletta fell straight to the floor.
“I can’t just let you do as you please. Take me to where the child on the wooden horse is.”
“Why are you looking for him?”
“I’m going to bring that child back to life.”
Kallias clutched the long pendant hanging around his neck.
Robelletta recognized at once that the pendant was an ancient magical artifact.
With ancient magic, it was possible to revive the dead.
“You’ve managed to get your hands on an ancient magical artifact. I’m sorry, but I was dragged here too, so I don’t know where the child is.”
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t know. My goal is you.”
“What? What is that supposed to mean?”
No matter what Robelletta said, Kallias picked her up like a piece of luggage.
“What are you doing? Put me down!”
Kallias showed no intention of letting her go and didn’t put her down.
Carrying Robelletta, he continued his search and soon found the room containing the boy on the wooden horse.
Only then did Kallias set Robelletta down.
The room felt eerie the moment they stepped inside. The people displayed like dolls were all those Robelletta had ousted.
‘Are these the “companions” Ed mentioned?’
Robelletta shuddered. But among them, exactly one—the child on the wooden horse—was someone she didn’t recognize.
“Michael!”
The moment she called the child’s name, Robelletta suddenly realized.
Michael Alexandros. Kallias’s nephew, and the last direct descendant of the ruined Grand Ducal house of Alexandros.
The hostage she had singled out to control Kallias.
It had been five years since Kallias had been reduced to Edward’s dog because of that hostage. Time enough for a young child to have grown into a boy.
‘Edward killed the hostage from the very beginning.’
Robelletta had only ever advised Edward based on documents, so she had never actually seen Michael in person.
That was why she hadn’t recognized Michael’s face.
The one child she thought was not her sin—had been her original sin.
Robelletta felt devastated.
“Kallias, what are you doing?”
Kallias began clearing the area around Michael.
“Edward—the emperor—is here right now. Take the child and run. Do it once you’re outside!”
“If it breaks while moving, I can’t cast the spell. Stop standing there and draw the magic circle.”
Kallias handed Robelletta the pendant and a piece of paper with a magic circle drawn on it.
“Is this why you brought me here?”
“Anyway, you don’t like unconditional help either. After resurrecting Michael with magic, we’ll escape together.”
Robelletta found it absurd, but she silently took the pendant. Because she wanted to save the child.
With ancient magic, anyone could use it as long as they had the artifact, even without being a mage. Robelletta belonged to the few who knew how to draw a magic circle.
‘This doesn’t seem like a spell to revive the dead…?’
She had almost finished drawing the magic circle.
Suddenly, Kallias pushed Robelletta against the wall.
“Ugh!”
Kallias groaned low and collapsed.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
Kallias pretended to be fine. But a dagger was lodged in his leg.
“So the monster can endure after all.”
“Ed!”
Robelletta screamed.
“I wondered what trick you had pulled when you disappeared. So you’ve seduced that bastard bastard child.”
Edward sneered at Robelletta.
“But he can’t defy my orders.”
So saying, Edward reached out toward Kallias. The ring on his hand glowed blue.
Then Kallias faltered. Edward, with a triumphant expression, gestured with his chin.
At that moment, Kallias struck Edward down.
“No, that’s impossible!”
“Activate the magic circle!”
Robelletta picked up the pendant that had fallen to the floor and inscribed the final incantation.
‘Just as I thought—this is a spell that reverses time.’
The magic circle blazed brilliantly.
When Robelletta opened her eyes again, she was in her personal bedroom in the Marquis of Remington’s mansion.
‘Did the magic fail?’
If so, she should have been at the scene—so why had she returned to the Marquis of Remington’s mansion?
Or had it succeeded?
“Milady, you’re awake?”
A maid came to help her get ready. It was a morning no different from the peaceful past.
“These letters arrived today.”
At the very top of the stack of letters the maid brought, Robelletta saw the crest of the Grand Duchy of Alexandros.
Opening it, she found a death notice for the Grand Duke and Duchess of Alexandros.
‘I’ve returned to five years ago.’
It seemed the magic had taken her back to a point before the child died.
‘If this was going to happen, I wish I’d returned to when the parents were still alive.’
But now that the magic had been cast, there was no turning back.
As Robelletta looked through the other letters, she opened an invitation to the salon of the Marquise of Triang.
The Marquise of Triang was a lady-in-waiting favored by the empress.
‘So this was the first invitation.’
The Marquise had written the date ambiguously, making it hard to tell whether it was the 3rd or the 5th, saying she hoped Robelletta would attend her salon. In her previous life, Robelletta had prioritized attending the salon.
She vividly remembered going on the earlier date, being told she had come too soon, then going two days later and being treated like an illiterate fool who couldn’t even read letters properly, blaming herself for it.
Looking back now, the Marquise had intended to find fault whether Robelletta came early or late.
The empress had disapproved of Robelletta following Edward around.
If only she had given up on Edward back then, Robelletta’s life would have been completely different.
She placed the death notice and the invitation side by side.
Robelletta resolved to make a different choice than in her previous life.
Instead of trailing after Edward, she would take revenge.
“I need to go to the funeral parlor. Bring out a black dress.”
With her jet-black hair and now a black dress, Robelletta exuded a sorrowful beauty. The maid helping her change felt that Robelletta, who had already been mature and somewhat intimidating, had become even more unapproachable.
“Robelletta! What in the world are you doing in a black dress?”
