After that, the Rachmata family, having lost their heir, left Leden. It was an unavoidable choice, as the entire family could have been accused of treason if they weren’t careful.

Ophelia heard the news while confined to the princess’s room. Around that time, Mahanas had locked her in the room because she was acting like a madwoman.

While imprisoned, Ophelia lived without caring what went into her mouth or what was draped over her body. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw flashes of the execution ground she had witnessed from the tower.

Being awake didn’t change anything. If the night was a repetition of her fiancé’s death, the day was already a world where he was dead.

Then one day, a marriage proposal came for her.

It was less than a year after her fiancé’s death.

Late one afternoon, Mahanas entered her room. He was drunk as he had been before, but unlike previous times, he seemed to be in a very good mood.

Although Ophelia knew her brother had entered, she didn’t turn to look at him. Instead, she curled up in bed and pulled the covers over herself.

Previously, she would have been wary of provoking him unnecessarily.

However, after losing her fiancé, Ophelia had lost the will to protect herself. It was as if the function that made her make safe choices had broken.

“Ophelia.”

When Mahanas called her name as he approached the bed, Ophelia thought he might grab her by the hair.

But he didn’t, and instead sat on the edge of the bed. As one side of the bed sank, the scent of the tea he always drank mixed with the smell of alcohol wafted over. It made her nauseous.

Ophelia curled up even more, as everything about her brother and what he wore disgusted her. Mahanas placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Sister.”

That gentle voice made her feel like she was going to vomit. Lying on her side, Ophelia stubbornly stared ahead. A thick glass vase glinted in the sunlight coming through the window.

Mahanas began to spew words like rotten fruit.

“I’ve brought you a new marriage prospect.”

Even hearing those words, Ophelia still didn’t take her eyes off the vase. The vase gleamed golden, had small jewels embedded in it, and above all, looked very solid and heavy…

Mahanas continued speaking.

“He’s a much finer man than that worm, incomparable even. He’s none other than the Grand Prince of Aglante…”

When she came to her senses, the vase was shattered, and her brother, with blood on his face, was glaring at her with a red face.

That day, Ophelia was slapped twice. Mahanas, who would have kicked her several times if he followed his temperament, didn’t lay a hand on her beyond that.

Knowing it was because he couldn’t damage the goods he had to sell to the Grand Prince, Ophelia didn’t feel the least bit grateful for it.

After that, she made every effort she could to refuse the marriage.

However, since the one person who had respected her was already dead, things proceeded regardless of her wishes.

Finally, on the day she was to cross the Leden border for the marriage, countless people came out to watch the princess’s wedding procession.

Ophelia took in every single person who was throwing flowers and paper and rejoicing. They were the same people who had thrown stones at the only son of Rachmata two years ago.

The Grand Prince of Aglante was decent enough for someone Mahanas was satisfied with.

Her husband didn’t raise his hand against her, nor did he make unreasonable demands.

Though he handled all internal affairs himself, perhaps not trusting his foreign wife.

She wasn’t dissatisfied. Although her husband didn’t entrust her with the affairs of the country, he gave her a piece of land she could manage freely. Even if it wasn’t very large compared to all of Aglante, it was incomparably richer than Leden.

If she hadn’t had that wealth, it would have been much more troublesome to drive Leden into decline.

The gold coins from the land her husband gave her were very useful in strangling the neck of her brother who deserved to die. Mahanas, who had tried to profit by handing her over to the Grand Prince, ended up being ruined because of it.

When Leden’s national debt had grown unmanageable due to the prince’s successive investment failures, Mahanas came to her.

Unlike before, Ophelia pretended to be kind to her brother who was now watching her every move. She already held in her hands the noose to completely strangle his neck.

“This is the last time I’ll help you. It’s difficult for me to do more than this.”

If it were her, she wouldn’t have believed the words of someone who had tried to smash her head with a vase before, but her brother did exactly as he was told.

After confirming that he couldn’t escape no matter what he did, Ophelia finally tightened the rope. The slow strangulation was pleasurably smooth.

After even the royal family’s treasures were all mortgaged to her, Mahanas came to her again.

Ophelia deliberately ignored him. She knew that the despair at the end of waiting was more bitter.

When she met her brother again, he was almost dying from anxiety.

Mahanas, who had a complexion so pale it would have been unimaginable before, begged as soon as he saw her face.

“Ophelia, my sister. Help me one more time.”

How futile those words were.

Ophelia showed her brother, who still hadn’t grasped the situation, how worthless the knees of a prince with nothing were.

Finally realizing that it was his past self who had orchestrated his current predicament, Mahanas tried to lunge at her, screaming like a madman.

Ophelia mocked him and drove him out without giving him anything.

Despite being thrown out like a street beggar, Mahanas eventually came back to her. The debt was heavy enough to kill his anger.

Ophelia never met her brother again.

Not long after, she was able to hear news of his death. It was said that he died after getting involved in a disturbance while drinking in a tavern in the marketplace, hiding his identity.

Upon hearing this secretly delivered news, Ophelia seized the assets of the Leden royal family. Because she had taken everything without leaving a single coin, the dead prince would be buried without even a coffin. It was more than he deserved for his vulgar nature.

On the night she heard of Mahanas’s death, Ophelia fell asleep with a smile. The fruit of long patience was sweet.

But because rest would be sweeter than that, she chose the latter.

Drinking one of the deadly poisons she had possessed for a long time, Ophelia closed her eyes.

Everything seemed to end like that.

Until she opened her eyes in the princess’s room in Leden.

Now Ophelia could no longer ignore the situation she was in.

For some reason, she had returned to the past. And to the most terrible time, just before her marriage.

Ophelia couldn’t understand why this had happened to her. Until now, she had been skeptical about the existence of God. It was the same when dealing with miracles or fairy tales.

But why.

She wanted to shout at the sky, but she didn’t have the energy. Hating someone with all her might kept her from forgetting her revenge, but it also ate away at everything.

She still cursed Leden and Mahanas, but Ophelia didn’t want to start that long and tedious life again.

She curled up with her eyes closed. A crimson sunset leaked through the firmly nailed window.

Standing in front of the door made of carved white wood, Idren thought about why he was here.

He was now standing in front of the room he had been driven out of the day before.

After being thrown out of Ophelia’s bedroom by her hand yesterday, Idren kept thinking about Ophelia. The bright blue eyes that had glared at him through the crack in the door kept flickering in his mind.

Although he wasn’t on intimate terms with Ophelia, Idren had never seen her make such a hostile expression before.

Feeling that it was somehow his fault, he felt guilty and at the same time ashamed.

It was natural. In this relationship, the one who had done wrong was Ophelia, who had treated him worse than a stranger for over three years and then suddenly took her own life one day.

Yet, it was abnormal for anyone to see him suffering from guilt.

Nevertheless, Idren couldn’t help but conclude that he should apologize to her. It was inevitable since Ophelia would never admit her own faults.

He wasn’t without disgust at his own frivolous attitude. But Idren was already used to disappointing himself. It was because he had thrown away his pride many times doing the most pitiful kind of love.

Once he made a decision, it was better for his mental health to act on it without further deliberation, so Idren decided to apologize to her at breakfast the next day.

However, Ophelia did not come to breakfast. What he faced instead was the King of Leden, who looked nothing like his daughter, and the prince who resembled his father.

There were quite a few things he wanted to ask them, but Idren put that aside for now. He had to resolve the issue with Ophelia first.

As soon as breakfast was over, he went to the princess’s room. He wanted to check if anything had happened to her overnight, and since he had to apologize anyway, he might as well do it early.

But when he actually arrived at his destination, he hesitated again.

He should have brought flowers or something. Belatedly regretting his empty hands, Idren took a deep breath.

He knocked on the door.