She wanted to check how much longer it would take with the maid but held back.

Instead, Charlotte stood in front of the mirror.

A woman with brown eyes watched Charlotte from beyond the mirror.

Reaching out in the same way, blinking her eyes in the same way.

“I will end this life happily.”

Charlotte recalled the day she had died and regressed.

A faint afterimage overlapped beyond the mirror.

She died and regressed in her previous life, and there was a nineteenyearold child who seemed about to die.

Having experienced her biological mother’s death, had to keep quiet even though she knew about the existence of the mistress and the illegitimate child,

The ‘child’ who just lived like that without protection due to her father’s absence

“I was a child back then too.”

Charlotte bowed her head.

“Have I changed a little?”

The previously precarious child had learned to resign, to stand alone.

And she learned how to ride on people’s hands at an appropriate distance and to adapt to that.

Her hair, now longer than before, reached her hips when left down.

Whether it was because of the trimming ends and being cared for with fragrant oil, it exuded a rich yet elegant atmosphere.

Charlotte went to the bed and lay down.

Maybe I should rest my eyes a bit. The palace’s glamorous patterns caught her eye everywhere.

Charlotte lay on the quilt and closed her eyes.

The unique tension of an unfamiliar space gradually faded away.

In her slowly fading consciousness, Charlotte thought she heard someone’s voice.

‘How are you now? Was your day comfortable?’

Was it her mother’s voice?

Charlotte answered softly. I’m trying to do that.

(This is a time divider.)

“You’re late.”

Benjamin Visennov dismissed the servants and moved on.

‘His Majesty told me he would be late today, but it seems Your Highness insisted on waiting.’

He also thought that at this time, he should have gone back. Benjamin looked up at the sky and stopped.

The evening sun had set.

The sky, where the twilight had been, quickly darkened, and it was already pitch black when he came out of his office.

‘You’re still here.’

In the place he thought would be empty, Charlotte was lying down.

“Your Highness fell asleep just a little while ago.”

Her dark red hair was scattered on the bed, and she was turned away from the door.

“Your Majesty… I will wake Your Highness.”

“No, don’t follow me in, stay outside.”

He turned his back on the entrance and closed the door. In the space with just the two of them, her unique body scent wafted.

Thump― Her footsteps resounded, but Charlotte remained silent.

“Charl.”

He stopped walking.

“It feels like I’ve touched something I shouldn’t have.”

As he reached out, it seemed as if a strong smell of blood wafted to him. His fingertips were sticky with blood.

Benjamin pulled his arm back. His hands were clean except for a few calluses.

He brushed his short hair irritably, and she turned back to lie down.

“Hmm.”

What dream are you having, your face is distantly locked away.

He reached out to her long eyelashes.

Her cheek crinkled at the ticklish touch of his fingertips. Her soft skin felt different from his.

“Charl.”

Her name lingered in his mouth.

“Charlotte.”

Charlotte opened her eyes slightly. Her dazed eyes looked up at him.

“You’re still sleepy.”

“…….”

“Do you want to sleep some more?”

Benjamin bent down and whispered. Their eyes met. An intimate gaze was exchanged.

Her drowsy eyes followed him.
Benjamin bowed his head and leaned in.

Charlotte glanced down at the hand that touched her cheek and fumbled to cover it.

Then, a slender arm embraced him.

“Charlotte.”

And then, their lips met.

Hot breath burst forth.

She gasped for breath within it.

(This is a time separator.)

Her throat was blocked. Her esophagus stiffened, and as time went on, her breath became more and more faint.

A feeling of emptiness as if dying settled in.

Despairing that my voice does not reach anywhere,

The cry of my lungs stiffening and screaming in agony turned into a silent scream.

Everything stiffens.

This breath too. This body too.

At the end of this death, is it rest? Or is it misery?

Then I felt a little miserable. All this is a dream.

It’s an illusion, a past that’s gone by, a conclusion that ended once before.

“Is it a dream?”

“……Maybe not.”

“It doesn’t seem so.”

“You have bad sleeping habits.”

Charlotte struggled to open her eyes.

You are before my eyes.

I woke from sleep to the voice that repeated over and over.

Charlotte reached out, wrapping his neck, filling the lacking breath.

She breathed into the depths of her lungs.

“I can’t breathe.”

“You have to breathe.”

“You do it.”

“Really…….”

“Breathe in for me.”

Their lips met again, as if filling the insufficient breath, something slowly rose.

His scent permeated deep into her lungs.

It was hot and rough, soft yet firm.

His hand clasped around her neck.

“Is it a dream?”

“…….”

“It seems like I’m doing something terrible.”

It was when his hand slowly fell. Her delicate fingertips touched the back of his hand.

It was a thin and delicate hand. There was not a scratch on the skin, and the neatly trimmed nails were soft.

Even with such a gesture, that expression was as discordant as possible.

“……Don’t go.”

Her faint voice trembled.

“Don’t leave me alone.”

“……”

“Please, don’t leave me alone.”

It might have been the true feelings that came out in her sleep.

“I’m right here.”

Her breathing ceased at the soft whisper.

“I didn’t go anywhere.”

Benjamin brought his body closer, and the bed creaked.

He touched her slowly yet intimately. His black eyes became persistent, as if examining every detail.