The first to discover their affair was Empress Dalian.
History has seen empresses who did not intervene in the emperor’s infidelity.
But Dalian was different.
She genuinely loved Emperor Bertic.
The affair was a great shock to Dalian.
When their relationship became publicly known, Dalian could do nothing.
With Bertic’s infidelity, Dalian’s resentment only grew stronger.
It was natural for her hatred to turn towards Sephia.
Dalian had a justification for her cruelty towards Sephia.
‘If you want to be the future empress, you should endure this much.’
The mental and physical torment under the guise of “empress lessons.”
Young Sephia was trapped within the palace, slowly breaking down.
Still, she could meet her father once a month.
When facing Duke Arte, Sephia clung to his legs, pleading.
‘Father, I want to go home.’
But the Duke simply ignored his tearful daughter.
Assuring her that once she becomes the Empress, she could do anything she wanted.
The day was filled with abusive lessons.
The night, with curses like whispers.
Just as Sephia was about to break mentally, Demios, the crown prince of the beast-kin empire, arrived in Hyuron.
At the tender age of ten.
To Sephia, the boy was salvation.
Demios’s presence kept her from going mad.
Five years later, even after he left, the empress lessons continued.
But when Sephia turned 17, Empress Dalian announced another lady as the crown prince’s fiancée, not Sephia.
It wasn’t disappointing.
She had long anticipated that she would not become the Empress.
Rather, there was hope.
She thought she could return to the duke’s estate and wait for Demios there.
But it was a short-lived dream.
Sephia couldn’t return home.
Duke Socio did not retrieve his broken daughter nor visit her anymore.
Left completely alone, Empress Dalian took great pleasure in Sephia’s abandonment.
“See? No one desires your existence. And you, of all people, ascend to the seat of the Empress? Impossible.”
Empress Dalian did not let Sephia go.
She used Sephia as a tool to embarrass her and elevate the crown prince’s fiancée during their lessons together.
It was blatant discrimination.
The nobles of Hyuron also avoided Sephia.
Before long, Sephia became a being shunned by everyone.
Occasionally, she had the chance to face her mother.
Duchess Baluntie pitied her daughter but never extended a helping hand.
However, once the crown prince’s fiancée was decided, even her mother treated her as if she did not exist.
All along, the Duchess had used Sephia as a shield to deflect the Empress’s wrath.
Every moment was abandonment and pain.
Yet, she had to endure.
Her last hope was waiting for a message from Demios.
One year. Two years.
Even when Sephia turned 19 and despite hearing that Demios had ascended the throne, no letter came.
She finally realized.
“He’s forgotten me.”
That was the moment of utter despair.
But the misfortune was not yet over.
Tired of tormenting Sephia, the Empress declared she would cast her out to a distant desert nation.
Having been confined to the royal palace her entire life, now she faced exile.
Moreover, it was a position where even her life could not be guaranteed.
That night, Sephia wrote a letter.
She had promised Demios. She would wait until he contacted her first.
But…
“He was the first to forget me.”
Despite his promise to come and get her.
Sephia bit her lower lip and moved her pen.
The letter, filled with their childhood memories, was desperate and earnest.
‘If he’s forgotten, I’ll make him remember.’
Even if it was just a sliver of Demios’s memory.
Even a mere sympathy vote would have been enough if all the feelings from back then had completely vanished.
Half a year passed since sending the letter, and winter arrived.
In the meantime, the delegation to send Sephia to the desert was completed.
Three days before her departure to the desert.
Sephia gave up on everything.
Until the proposal from the beast-kin empire arrived.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
