In my past life, nobody could dodge that attack of mine. But he quickly raised his sword, blocking my extensive slash. Our swords intertwined in mid-air.

‘Stopped it?!’

We stood facing each other again, our swords clashing.

The Duke’s broad shoulders obscured my view as I struggled to block his sword. He pressed down on me with an overwhelming force. The moon in the sky was hidden behind his figure.

The Duke, this man, is strong.

He looked down at me and asked, “Is it true that you have regained your memories of your parents?”

“That’s a personal matter for me.”

Close enough to feel his heated breath, the Duke’s hot breath touched my face.

Does my breath also reach you?

I didn’t want him to see my sorrow filled with warmth.

I pushed the sword forward as if stabbing.

My sword narrowly grazed above his shoulder, slicing off a few strands of his hair, which fell onto my chest.

Does he want me to say that I faked my memories?

Do I have to confess to him that I am the real princess? So he can say, “Ah, that was it, you were hiding this,” and smile?

So he will become the warm and kind Duke again?

I hope you never find out.

If I become the real princess, can I stay by your side as a knight?

No, it’s an impossible thing.

I will have to go to the royal palace, and you will have to return to the Duke’s estate in the North.

Our days together will never come again.

‘The palace and the North are far apart. Do you think I can fend off Medea’s threats from the palace?’

Can I take revenge and set everything right in the palace without you?

Why won’t you just trust me?

He then said, “Did you deliberately not stab my shoulder? Just now, I was defenseless.”

“!”

Deliberately…?

I pushed him away with my hand.

But he turned around and attacked me again.

I easily dodged his attack and aimed for his neck. But he didn’t avoid it.

Shocked, I quickly withdrew my sword, losing my balance and falling backward. He grabbed my waist.

‘If I don’t let go of the sword, the Duke will get hurt.’

I threw the retracted attack to the ground. As I fell backward, the Duke also fell over me.

Startled, I calmed down and saw the Duke’s face above me as I lay on the ground.

One hand on my waist and the other on my shoulder, he looked down at me.

He was above me.

Through the Duke’s shoulder, the silver crescent moon was visible. The downward curved moon looked like a person’s smiling mouth. The moon seemed to mock me with a thin smile.

At that moment.

“Ugh.”

Foolishly.

Tears burst out unknowingly. Sorrow welled up.

‘I almost killed the Duke.’

It was unbearably sad.

Uncontrollable emotions flowed as tears. I couldn’t stop sobbing.

His words about being an assassin, questioning if I tried to kill him, calling me a liar, every word he said pierced my heart like cutting it out.

Then he apologized.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Esdel.”

I looked at him.

His blue eyes were sorrowfully distorted.

The Duke’s face slowly came down towards me. A cold wind blew, and something touched my eyes.

Something warm and soft brushed my tears.

Was it… lips?

The Duke looked at me with sad eyes.

I was motionless in his gaze.

Countless stars in the dark sky seemed to pour down on me.

I didn’t mean to push her this far.

But.

I couldn’t stop myself even as I watched her candle-like expression in the fierce wind.
‘Esdel. White Butterfly. You know nothing.’

I don’t understand why I’m so angry, and you wouldn’t know either.

The unbearable part is that I can’t honestly tell you why I’m angry.

‘Esdel, in my past life, I was the worst Duke.’

I hated myself, despised myself.

I should hate you, but I can’t hate myself for not being able to.

Why was that?

It was an emotion I couldn’t understand myself.

Even though I knew you killed Arcadia, I couldn’t let go of my compassion for you. Why was that?

Despite wanting to give up on life because of Arcadia’s death, the only ally I had left, I couldn’t hate you.

That’s why I found myself so terribly disgusting.

Wanting to hate you, the white figure wandering in the dark night, but unable to.

Seventeen, the first day I crossed swords with you. You, whom Rahert brought to me as a lowly servant from the South, shabby and unremarkable.

But why did my heart sink at your sight?

Was it because of your distorted face, or was it because of your sky-blue eyes peeking through the mask?

You, who should have only known despair, had a light of hope in your eyes behind the mask.

I ended up thinking you resembled me.

As time passed, I learned you were the assassin from the South, the White Butterfly.

The night Arcadia died, I saw you escaping from my friend’s room.

Yet, why?

I couldn’t forgive myself.

‘Because of an unknown attraction, I lost all my people but couldn’t hate you until the very end.’

I looked up at the darkened sky.

But in this life, you are helping me.

You turned that day from my previous life, which was humiliation and silence, into ‘red’ by scattering jasmine.