“Princess!”

Her purple-black hair scattered in waves through the air. A startled hand reached out urgently. His large hand firmly supported her back.

His gaze naturally fell on her collapsed face and neck.

Her nightgown dress was stained red, soaked with blood from the nosebleed and the long gash on her neck.

The scent of blood filled the air, leaving a fishy taste in his mouth.

“Princess…”

His breath caught in his throat. The thought that the woman might die made his whole body feel cold.

The woman in his arms was so frail that she seemed like she would disappear if he squeezed her with one hand.

“Sister!”

The child’s scream-like cry snapped him back to his senses.

“Kid, heal her right now.”

“Hic, I can’t! Not now. We need to get out of the forest.”

Rodrick’s face crumpled mercilessly. He laid Diana down and called for his aide.

“Daren!”

“Yes, Commander.”

Noel, unable to stay still, used his sleeve to stop the still-flowing nosebleed.

“First aid kit. Bring the medical supplies.”

The vice-commander’s body was in a mess from Rodrick’s attack. Despite the deeply embedded wounds in his shattered armor, he was still alive.

If it weren’t for Diana, everyone here would have died.

Feeling deep relief and gratitude, he brought out the supplies with his injured body.

“I’ll do it.”

“I’ll do it myself.”

It was the first time Rodrick had become so emotional. Daren looked at his lord with unfamiliarity.

Stopping the bleeding, wrapping the bandages. Rodrick did all the treatment himself. Although the bleeding had stopped, she lay with her eyes closed as if dead.

[This is the timeline separator]

After coming down from the tree, Pelice blankly watched as Noel broke free from his arms and ran forward.

Beep- A ringing sound echoed in his ears.

Pelice slumped down and reached for his bag.

The stones that had been glowing and emitting light were now colorless and shattered.

Quickly grasping the correlation with the current situation, Pelice clenched his trembling hands.

‘I… I almost killed my brother.’

He had only wanted to break the curse, to research it. The realization that he had nearly lost everything due to his mistake made his body shake uncontrollably.

Who would be most panicked by Diana’s collapse?

Though he appeared the most composed on the outside, Rodrick’s condition was far from normal.

“Commander.”

“Take care of the child and follow immediately.”

“Pardon?”

“We’re leaving first.”

Rodrick carefully wrapped Diana in a robe and blanket, then gently lifted her into his arms.

“I want to go too!”

“You’ll be in the way.”

“Me too! I want to go with sister!”

“Brother, I’ll tidy up here and bring him.”

Pelice tightly gripped Noel’s small hand. Pelice’s expression was dark, but no one paid attention.

“Alright.”

Watching Diana being taken away, Pelice made an unspoken farewell. He gritted his teeth, feeling like he might burst into tears.

“Thank you. For saving my brother. Thank you.”

Pelice vowed to repay this debt no matter what.

While Pelice was lost in his thoughts, Noel was staring at the trail of blood Diana had left with angry eyes.

“I won’t let this slide. If anything happens to sister, I won’t let it go.”

As the knights slowly got up and tended to their injured bodies, Noel muttered, but no one heard his ominous words.

[This is the timeline separator]

“We apologize, Commander.”

“Are you trying to cover up your incompetence with apologies?”

The fierce voice cut like a blade. The priests trembled but continued to move their lips diligently.

“We’ve treated the wound on her neck and the internal injuries, but we don’t know why she’s not waking up…”

Rodrick roughly pushed back the hair falling in front of his face.

He couldn’t remember how he had managed to break through the Black Forest.

They had met up with the waiting attendants outside the Black Forest and arrived at the village closest to the forest.

The priests he had called first were in this state. Incompetent humans who couldn’t even recognize a curse.

“Get out.”

He tossed a heavy pouch of gold coins without even looking at it. His gaze was fixed on Diana.

“Is there anything else we can do to help…”

A priest who had seen the money blurted out nonsense. The attendant nearby cautioned them not to upset his master’s mood.

“Come now, if you’ve finished your work, would you please leave? The Schwartz family will be making a large donation to the temple soon. So please leave now.”

The attendant closed the door after pushing the priests out.

The attendant cautiously observed his master’s condition. Usually, his emotions were so unreadable, but now he seemed extremely unstable.

Is he going to get angry? In the precarious silence, Rodrick opened his mouth.

“The carriage?”

“It takes too long to bring one from the north, so we’re requisitioning one nearby. It will be here soon.”

“Leave.”

At that brief command, the attendant, who had been bowing his head, couldn’t help but open his mouth out of curiosity.

“Who is that young lady?”

Oops. He had spoken without thinking again. He remembered his grandfather’s curse that he wouldn’t live out his natural life because of that curiosity.

Contrary to the expectation of a thunderbolt falling, Rodrick’s voice was only calm.

“Diana Beatus.”

Diana. Beatus? Gasp. The attendant inhaled sharply. The Beatus family was one of the top three most powerful families in central politics.

“D-did you kidnap her?!”

“…”

“No, you went to find Young Master Pelice, but you came out with a bloodied central noble! It’s strange, isn’t it? The young lady’s condition looks serious too. Has your madness flared up again?!”

“One more word.”

“Yes?”

“One more word and you’ll live the rest of your life with your mouth torn.”

“Hup. I-I’m sorry.”

“Get out.”

The attendant, pale-faced, bowed deeply and quickly left the room.

It was a shabby inn room with poor soundproofing. Various noises of busy movement seeped through the gaps in the door.

Rodrick and Diana. Only the air surrounding the two seemed to flow slowly, as if stagnant.

Cleaned thoroughly by a maid, she lay in fresh clothes, her skin fair and unblemished.

He removed his black leather gloves and extended his finger to her nose.

Her breathing as she slept soundly was so faint it seemed it might stop at any moment.

That thin breath made him uneasy. He couldn’t understand why this fragile breath was choking him.

Rodrick stared at her peacefully sleeping face for a long time.

“Diana Beatus.”

Even at his low voice, her eyelids didn’t move.

“Diana.”

He remembered how sulky she had been when he wouldn’t call her name.

Diana. Diana Beatus. He rolled her name around in his mouth.

Diana. Just calling her name made him feel closer to her.

‘Can’t you hug me tightly before we part?’

‘Let’s say I fell for you at first sight.’

‘Do you know how hard it was for me to escape! Sob. If you die, it’s all for nothing! I need you!’

Her voice, yearning for life, sparkled. She always gave her all.

This small, fragile woman was relentless in her pursuit of life.

Rodrick quietly took her hand. The coolness of her bloodless skin was felt in his palm. He missed her warmth.

“Why…”

He didn’t know. The unidentifiable emotion churning in his empty chest was both unpleasant and unfamiliar.

He couldn’t define it.

He just thought that he wanted this woman to live. That’s what Rodrick thought.

“Wake up. You said you wanted to live.”

I’ll make it happen. Wake up.

He didn’t realize that his own voice had softened.

Diana’s presence was gradually growing and settling in his heart, but no one knew. How far its influence would reach.

[This is the timeline separator]

She was aware that it was a dream. Because there was no pain and no one was visible.

Floating in the black space, she grabbed a book that was drifting with her.

What caught her eye as she read one book was the story of a villainess.

Villainess, by dictionary definition, meant a woman who was vicious and cruel in nature.

However, typically, the villainess in stories was stupidly obsessed with men and blamed the other party for the man’s infidelity.

She thought everything was because of the female lead and sought revenge.

But why? Didn’t it occur to her that the man was at fault?

The one who cheats without even ending the relationship is the most wrong, isn’t it?

Yet you still want him? What do you see in that man? What is he that’s so great?

Please. Please, have a broader perspective.

Sister!

As if being sucked into the book, the letters changed into images, then into reality, and the scene before her eyes changed.

What was burning in the bright red flames was the imperial palace, boasting overwhelming majesty.

Against the backdrop of the partially collapsed and crumbling main palace, the crown prince and the villainess stood in opposition.

“If you can’t be mine…”

The villainess, shining brilliantly, smiled radiantly like a rose full of poison.

“You’ll have to go with me, Your Highness.”

Her hand, covered in the emperor’s blood, tried to grab the crown prince’s neck. But the crown prince’s hand was faster.

Before the poison on her sharp nails could touch his neck, a long sword pierced the villainess’s heart.

The villainess, thoroughly rejected in the love play between the crown prince and the saint in the novel. Vanessa Beatus, the eldest daughter of the Beatus family, dies like that.

Everything stopped. Everything collapsed.

She, whose heart was pierced by her loved one.

She, who had gone as far as assassinating the emperor.

She, who had been nothing more than the crown prince’s dog, perished,

And along with her, everything else.

Was consumed by darkness.

The villainess’s world crumbled.

Finding that sight pitiful, Diana, now embracing the villainess who had become her own flesh and blood, shed tears profusely in her dream.

[This is the timeline separator]

Was she having a nightmare?

Tears overflowed and fell from under her trembling eyelids.

Rodrick wiped her cheeks with his bare hand, without even wearing gloves, as tears flowed endlessly.

The servants who knew Rodrick well were so surprised by this attentive gesture that they were at a loss for words.

It had already been five days since they arrived in the north.

Quite a long time had passed since Diana hadn’t woken up.

“Um, I need to change the water bowl…”

Pelice, standing at the wide-open doorway, flashed a smile at the maid and raised his index finger. It meant to be quiet and leave.

Sometimes people came to see Diana’s face out of curiosity, and this young maid seemed to be one of them.

How dare they. Many had started to disobey the master’s orders properly.

Pelice’s expression hardened instantly after closing the door.

Pelice, who always greeted people with a smile, had started to change after running away and returning.