“Huk! Heo-eok……”

As her fading consciousness suddenly returned, Blair’s eyes snapped open.

Her blurry vision gradually cleared, revealing an unfamiliar ceiling.

‘No, no. That pattern is….’

Staring blankly at the ceiling pattern, Blair remembered that it was the ceiling of the imperial palace where she had stayed before her marriage.

‘Why am I in the imperial palace?’

Her last memory was of being attacked by an assailant at a villa in Holstein, far from the capital.

If she hadn’t died, she should have been receiving treatment there, but for some reason, she was in the imperial palace.

Though she didn’t know what had happened, there was only one thought in Blair’s mind right now.

‘Asiel!’

Our baby, he must have looked for his mother as soon as he woke up.

Blair hurriedly got out of bed and approached the door.

At that moment, the door opened from outside.

“Ah. You’re awake, Your Highness? I was just about to wake you up.”

It was Lina, Blair’s personal maid.

Lina, who had served Blair in the Imperial Princess’s Palace since childhood, had earned her trust and followed her to the Delmark Duchy after her marriage.

To Blair, she was sometimes like a sister, sometimes like a friend, a trusted confidant.

“Lina, where’s Asiel?”

“Asiel?”

“Yes, Asiel. Where is he?”

“Who is that?”

Lina tilted her head, then let out a small exclamation as if she had just remembered something.

“Ah, is Asiel the name of that cat that’s been lurking in the backyard lately?”

Blair, in her highly sensitive state, furrowed her brow.

“Lina, I’m not in the mood for jokes right now. Asiel, where is my son?”

“Eh? Son?”

Lina blinked in confusion.

“How could Your Highness, who isn’t even married yet, have a son?”

“…What?”

Blair finally realized that Lina was addressing her as ‘Your Highness’.

‘Could it be….’

Blinking her confused eyes, Blair asked Lina.

“Lina, how old am I?”

Lina found it strange that Blair had suddenly forgotten her own age, but it wasn’t a difficult question, so she answered promptly.

“You turned twenty this year. You came of age two months ago.”

This can’t be.

Hearing her age, Blair had no choice but to accept that an impossible assumption had become reality.

‘I’ve come back three years.’

Before Asiel was born, before she married Herdin.

* * *

Blair attended a hastily arranged luncheon without time to gather her thoughts.

It was a weekly family meal attended by her brother Ivan, who was the Emperor, and her mother, Katrina.

Seven years had passed since the death of the previous emperor who had created this family tradition, but the tradition was being maintained as if continuing his will.

However, Blair’s mind was completely preoccupied elsewhere.

‘I thought I had died, but to come back to the past… Am I dreaming because I’m dead? Or was what I believed to be the future just a dream?’

As she chewed her food without tasting it, Blair reflected on her memories and came to a conclusion.

‘No, that wasn’t a dream.’

She couldn’t explain it in words, but it wasn’t a simple dream.

‘Asiel’s voice calling for me, the warmth of his embrace, his face… It’s all so vivid.’

Making this moment all the more empty.

‘My baby…’

Although she had miraculously returned to the past, this reality without Asiel felt like hell to Blair.

Her hope, her life, truly her everything had vanished into a trick of time in an instant.

As Blair was immersed in emptiness.

“Your Highness.”

Lina, who had been waiting behind her, called out in a low voice and touched her shoulder.

“…Ah.”

Only then did Blair snap back to reality.

“Blair, His Majesty is calling you.”

Katrina was looking at Blair with a slightly irritated expression.

To her, her son who had become Emperor was a trophy she had obtained by dedicating her entire life.

Ignoring that trophy was tantamount to denying her entire life’s work.

“You’ve been completely out of it. Did something happen this morning?”

“I’m sorry. I had an unsettling dream last night… What were you saying?”

“Nothing much, just make sure you prepare well for the marriage to Duke Delmark.”

Ivan spoke casually about the marriage, which he hadn’t even discussed with Blair.

Blair’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I’ve already finished the negotiations. I’ve given him a suitable bait, so he shouldn’t refuse.”

It was an engagement that had proceeded without a single word to Blair, the person concerned.

Judging Blair’s surprised expression as showing reluctance towards this marriage, Ivan quickly added.

“I trust you won’t say anything childish like you don’t want a political marriage.”

“It’s quite a good, no, the best match. There are women all over the empire who would love to dance with Duke Delmark even once. His Majesty has put a lot of thought into your marriage partner.”

“Your marriage is not simply a union between a man and a woman. It’s for improving relations between families, so as an imperial princess, you should have a sense of responsibility…”

Ivan and Katrina preemptively struck, worried that Blair might express opposition to this engagement.

Seeing their reactions, Blair finally recalled her past memories.

‘I’m sorry to both of you, but I don’t want this marriage.’

Before her regression, in the same situation, Blair had refused to marry Herdin.

It was the first act of rebellion from Blair, who had always been obedient to Ivan and Katrina’s words.

It wasn’t because she disliked Herdin. Blair found him uncomfortable and frightening. Ever since that day ten years ago when the fire incident occurred in the Empress’s Palace.

But…

“I’ll do it.”

This life’s Blair showed a different reaction from her past life. Obeying Ivan’s order as she always had before her regression.

“It’s only right that I follow Your Majesty’s will.”

However, her eyes had changed from before.

In this life, she had a reason why she absolutely had to marry Herdin.

* * *

After finishing the luncheon and returning to the Imperial Princess’s Palace, Lina secretly observed Blair’s mood.

‘She seems different from usual today… Did something happen?’

But as her closest maid, there was nothing about Blair’s every move that she didn’t know.

Until last night, everything had been as usual.

She had just slept quietly in her room and woken up, nothing could have happened in between.

If anything, the news of the marriage to Herdin that she heard at today’s luncheon might have been shocking.

However, Blair seemed unaffected by that news.

‘No, rather… she seems to be in a better mood than this morning.’

Lina tilted her head.

Although it was before she had entered the imperial palace, she knew that the relationship between the Delmark duchy and the imperial family was not good.

And that the fire incident at the Empress’s Palace had sealed that ill fate.

‘Her mood seems to have improved after learning of a sudden marriage arrangement with a politically opposed family.’

Blair’s father, the previous emperor, had two women.

The legitimate empress, Esmeralda, and the imperial consort, Katrina.

However, the empress had no children for several years, and for that reason, Katrina was brought in as a concubine.

At the time of her entry into the palace, Katrina, of gypsy origin, had no power or influence, but when she gave birth to a son, Ivan, those seeking to attach themselves to power quickly emerged.

As the power struggle between the two women intensified, political opposition centered around Esmeralda and Katrina developed.

Nevertheless, the empress loved Blair, the daughter of her political rival, as if she were her own daughter.

At least, that’s how it appeared on the surface. Until ‘that incident’ occurred.

A fire broke out in the Empress’s Palace, killing the empress and severely injuring Blair, who was with her.

The shock caused Blair to lose her memories of that time.

The emperor, vowing to uncover who had hurt his daughter, investigated thoroughly, and all circumstances pointed to Empress Esmeralda.

The Delmark duchy, Esmeralda’s family, denied the results, claiming it couldn’t be true, but in the end, the empress was buried with the status of a traitor.

Her only nephew was none other than Herdin.

‘Their Majesties are also inconsiderate. No matter how much it’s for improving relations…’

An unwanted marriage, especially to Blair who was the direct victim of the incident, couldn’t be welcome.

Worried, Lina was about to speak as she received Blair’s outer garment, but Blair spoke first.

“Lina.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Please send someone to the Delmark duchy. Tell them I want to meet tomorrow. If they’re busy, ask them to let me know a suitable date.”

Surprised by Blair’s order, Lina’s eyes widened.

“You want to meet Duke Delmark?”

“Why are you so surprised?”

Well, it was because Blair had been avoiding him even at the harvest festival a few months ago.

‘Well, Her Highness must have her reasons.’

Thinking this, Lina replied.

“Ah, it’s nothing. I’ll send someone right away.”

After Lina left the room, Blair, left alone, looked out the window.

Soon, she saw an attendant leaving the Imperial Princess’s Palace in a carriage.

Blair thought of the owner of the duchy where the carriage would arrive. And also of the lovely child who looked just like him.

Remembering that face, Blair placed her hand on her stomach that had once carried that child.

‘I’ll do anything to meet Asiel again.’

Even if that ‘anything’ meant repeating the terribly lonely married life with him.

If so, there was only one thing she needed to do now.

‘Successfully marry Herdin again.’

If this was the predicted future and she had indeed returned to the past, things would flow as predetermined even without her intention.

But Blair didn’t want to leave any possibility that he might not become her husband.

‘I will definitely meet my baby again.’

Her eyes, which had lost their light, began to sparkle again.