Chapter 1

Some love begins at the end of life.

My love was like that.

***

The person I believed to be my love was the second prince. He was the most miserable man in this glorious capital.

His mother, who was a lowly dancer, was nothing more than a slave, and he grew up while getting all kinds of insults from the nobles.

“Rita, you’re the only one for me.”

I was deeply heartbroken by his daunting voice.

I devoted all my youth to make him the emperor, and I even married a man I did not love for him.

I loved him that much.

No, I thought I loved him.

I always believed my love for George was unrivaled until I met my little daughter, Yvonne.

The moment Yvonne’s little hand touched my finger.

I realized that my feeling for George was never love.

I did not hesitate to do all the dirty work in order to make George the emperor, but seeing his smiling face did not make me overjoyed with happiness.

It was a marriage and a child that I never wanted, but the child’s smile brought me happiness as if I was on top of the world.

Her toddling tiny steps, her innocent giggles, and her folded eyes. Yvonne had completely changed my life.

Yes, what I felt so far wasn’t love.

It was such an enlightening night.

“Yvonne, don’t come out no matter what.”

In order to flee from George, who became the emperor and wielded great power, I hid Yvonne in the secret passage of the Grand Duke’s residence, under the pretext of playing hide-and-seek.

“Madam! Madam!”

The Grand Duke’s maids were shouting.

“Run away, madam! Hurry!”

Yvonne’s nanny was running towards my bedroom, and the knight who yanked her hair, loudly raised his voice.

“Where’s the child!”

Those were the same people who always bowed their heads because I was the Emperor’s lover.

“What kind of misconduct is this!”

When I frowned at the man who released the nanny, Sir Robert, the Emperor’s personal knight, stepped forward.

He was the man I personally chose as the royal guard captain for George.

I knew that he was a man who was quick to turn his head after meticulously calculating the profit and loss.

What George, the son of a concubine, needed was not a loyal subordinate, but a cold-blooded man who lusts for power.

Sir Robert, who knew about the relationship between George and I, opened his mouth with a cold expression that I had never seen before.

“Oh my! You look surprised, Lady Cardinale. No, should I call you Lady Katan now?”

I felt a strange sense of deja vu from his cold attitude as he treated me like he had never seen me before.

“His Majesty ordered to take Yvonne Katan, so you’d better bring your daughter out.”

“…Why her? Why is George looking for Yvonne!”

Contrary to what people suspected, Yvonne was not George’s daughter.

She was the child I had with my husband, Joseph, who stood by my side for the past 7 years even though we were in a false relationship.

“There’s no reason for George to look for Yvonne!”

But Robert didn’t even pretend to hear me.

Abandoning the honor of a knight, Robert yelled at his colleagues to look for the child’s traces, even checking under the bed like a ruffian.

The blankets were thrown out carelessly and feathers scattered everywhere.

I began to scream frantically so that Yvonne’s breathing sound behind the wall wouldn’t be heard.

“Sir Robert! What kind of impudent behavior is this!”

“We have found the evidence that the Grand Duke has attempted treason! Watch your mouth if you don’t want to be taken as well!”

“…What?”

No way.

In order to put George on the throne, my father chose an abandoned crown prince, who was not interested in his succession, as my marriage partner.

‘He’s a man who ran away from the throne and locked himself up in Katan, so there’s no way he’d try to claim the throne now…’

“…What do you mean?”

The knights put his ears close to the wall as if they were trying to find a hidden space.

‘No….you can’t!’

“I heard breathing sounds here! Everybody, find the hidden door!”

Only then did I realize that I had told George the secret passage of Katan Castle.

“Stop!”

After struggling to escape from the knights’ hands, I ran to Robert and pushed him away, but his solid body did not budge.

“If you don’t stop, I will scribe my alchemy….!”

I threatened him and took out my alchemy chalk from my pocket.

‘I didn’t use it frequently because I hated to be called a Cardinale witch for being an alchemist.’

But in this emergency, I couldn’t help it either.

When I hastily took out my chalk, Robert only glanced at me and smirked.

“Go ahead, scribe.”

“Crepitus!”

I couldn’t put up with Robert’s provocation anymore and activated the alchemy.

‘….How on earth?’

Was it because I hadn’t used it in a long time?

‘Joseph, where is Joseph?’

When my attempt was futile, only then did I look for my husband, whose figure was nowhere to be seen.

If it’s Joseph…he could destroy these ruffians.

I forgot that I usually treated him like he didn’t exist, yet I shamelessly looked around to look for him.

“Ha! Here you are!”

But before I could find him, Robert destroyed the firmly locked wardrobe door and pulled Yvonne out.

The child’s light body was lifted in the air.

“Ahhh, mom! Mom!”

The scream spread from every direction.

I couldn’t tell whether it was my scream or the child’s cry.

“Sophie, bring His Highness Joseph here! Hurry!”

I looked back at Yvonne’s nanny in a hurry, but she, who was caught by Robert’s men, was already lifeless.

“Yvonne, no! Yvonne!”

I rushed and stretched out my arms toward the child who was being dragged by Robert.

“Mom, mom!”

The cry of the frightened child tore my heart to shreds.

“Let her go! Yvonne Katan can’t get away from attempting treason!”

That was absurd.

Yvonne was too young to be involved in the terrible crime of treason.

“Take me instead. Sir, please!”

Even though I was only an illegitimate child, my mother’s noble blue blood that flowed in my blood was my pride.

I was so arrogant that I had never kneeled before anyone, but I fell face down in front of Robert.

“Sir, I beg you. Please, let go of Yvonne…just Yvonne!”

“I said let go!”

“I will talk to George, I mean, His Majesty and…”

If I tearfully begged him, George might overlook it, right?

I was his best friend and lover who stayed by his side through thick and thin after all.

Even when he welcomed Ibelina as the Empress instead of me….

My erupted tears fell on my hands.

Robert only sighed when he saw me tremble in fear of losing Yvonne.

“Madam, you still don’t get it, do you?”

“….”

“His Majesty has abandoned you.”

“You… His Highness the Grand Duke will surely punish you for your sins.”

My husband was the only card I could show to threaten Robert.

However, as if such a threat was ridiculous, he twisted one corner of his mouth.

“Just why do you think you could hear me say that your daughter is a traitor? The Grand Duke is already dead.”

“…What?”

“For his disobedience to the Emperor’s order to bring Yvonne Katan and you.”

***

That day, Yvonne, who was taken to the palace, never returned to me.

So did my husband.

The only thing that returned to my arms was an unnamed box containing the ashes of my husband and child.

The sinner who committed treason could not hold a funeral, so I sprinkled my child’s ashes to a small river.

“…You said you’d protect me.”

“….”

“You didn’t ask me to protect your child and husband, did you?”

I stained my hands with so much blood in order to make George the emperor.

I cunningly disposed of Prince Carlo, framed him for deploying troops, and did not respect Joseph as my husband.

But my daughter did not do anything wrong.

No, she died before she could do anything.

“An oracle has come down for Yvonne, Rita.”

George, who came to me alone, caressed my cheek that was stained with tears with his disgusting hands.

“You’ve become so gaunt.”

He clicked his tongue as though he felt sorry for me.

“…What oracle?”

What kind of damn oracle declared a young child as a traitor?

“The oracle says that the half-king from the north will appear.”

“…Are you saying that was Yvonne?”

“She’s a girl, but she is the daughter of Joseph, who had Angelus’ blood in her vein…. You do know that I haven’t completely seized the throne yet.”

George seemed to be confident that I would understand him.

“I was originally trying to get rid of Joseph along with Carlo. But the Count pushed your marriage with him, so yeah, it was a little late.”

He smiled sweetly as if he was heartbroken at the sight of my crying face. As if he was trying to return to our old days.

“I’m so sorry.”

“….”

“But you can just have another child, right?”

Bullshit.

Even if he brought all the children into this world, they could never replace the child I lost.

“I’ll let you have my baby this time. She must be more lovely than Yvonne.”

George’s hot breath touched my neck.

At his creepy, insect-like touch, I pushed him away with all my might.

“Get lost. You son of a bitch.”

───────────────────────────────

Chapter 2

An oracle is granted to every aristocrat in Las Vecchia the moment they are born.

[Don’t be blinded by desire]

It was the oracle granted to me.

Was it the price I must pay for ignoring my oracle by thinking that it was just an old myth?

Was my struggle to escape the humiliation I got from being an illegitimate child led to my daughter’s death?

“His Majesty has sent troops to Katan.”

As I sat in the riverside while scattering the ashes of my child and husband, the butler came closer and muttered.

“Yes, I see.”

I only nodded indifferently at his words.

Yvonne was no longer by my side.

Now, I had no reason to live anymore, so I didn’t feel threatened by that.

“…His Highness Joseph has prepared an escape route. Katan’s knights will be blocking the troops, so please run away.”

“Escape route?”

Although I had no intention to run away, the butler’s words made me scowl.

“Did you know that His Highness Joseph rejected His Majesty’s order to bring Lady Yvonne?”

“…Are you saying George tried to kill Yvonne instead of Joseph from the start?”

I had no idea.

Since Joseph never told me about any danger moving towards Katan.

“His Majesty seems to have offered a promise to leave Katan alone in exchange for Lady Yvonne, but seeing that madam doesn’t know…”

The butler said with a bitter smile.

“I don’t think His Highness Joseph had any intention of handing over Lady Yvonne to His Majesty in the first place.”

“…I see.”

I never thought he cared for Yvonne this much because of his stiff personality.

I couldn’t even say sorry.

How dare I.

I was so anguished that I couldn’t lift my head and tears fell to my hands.

‘I’m sorry.’

I’m really, really sorry.

How I wish I could say that out loud, but only the sound of my wailing gushed out.

Joseph was the previous emperor’s legitimate son, and the older brother of Carlo, who was removed from the line of succession after falling into my scheme.

Although he got discrowned, Joseph, who once held the succession, was chosen as my partner in a political marriage to pressure Carlo.

‘He was no different than a hostage.’

Even if it was a loveless marriage, there was no way he wanted to take me as his wife. Because I was the one who tried to eliminate Carlo from the throne and help his lowborn half-brother, George, to ascend the throne.

Nevertheless, he wasn’t a bad husband.

He was blunt but respectful. He never blamed me, his wife, nor my father for using him as a hostage to pressure Prince Carlo.

Even so, I still hated Joseph.

I was afraid of his great commanding force that led the victory in the vicious war against the West, and I was disgusted each time I saw his large build, which was twice as big as mine.

Unlike George who could loosen up the mood, he was a taciturn man who rarely opened his mouth, so I used to avoid him because he always seemed to criticize me in his silence.

His neat and righteous gaze reminded me of those dirty bastards who were scornful toward George and I.

‘The battle for the throne is always a constant war.’

I only wanted to make the prince I chose to be the emperor, and I thought George had the ability to lead the country.

Just like a coward, I wanted to turn a blind eye on Joseph’s existence, which prickled my petty conscience.

‘Still, he made an escape route for Yvonne and I.’

He could’ve just run away with us, but the lord couldn’t abandon his land.

After smiling candidly at the butler’s worried eyes, I stood up and reached out to him.

“Butler.”

“Yes, madam.”

“…I’m sorry for everything.”

Since I was always waiting for the day George calls me to the palace, I always neglected Katan.

“I’ve been a horrible madam.”

“That’s not true.”

The butler answered my unexpected apology with his head down.

“I won’t let George trample on Katan.”

Although he didn’t express it because he was bad with words, I knew Joseph cared for Katan.

The land surrounded by a snowy mountain range was desolate and barren, yet he embraced Katan warmly in his arms.

‘It’s the only way I can make amends for Joseph.’

I walked over the ridge toward George’s troops that swarmed like ants.

“Sir.”

The man in the lead was the knight who dragged my daughter.

On top of the horse, he raised his hand high as he caught my eyes.

“Surrender. His Majesty has ordered us to catch you alive.”

“George? He wants me?”

Did he still think of me as useful?

I smiled sharply and raised one corner of my mouth at Robert.

“Don’t speak of His Majesty’s name carelessly with your mouth, madam. I’m warning you.”

“I shall give you a warning since you like it so much.”

“….”

“Sir, you’d better not step on that line.”

I clearly warned him, but Robert grunted and ignored my words.

“It seems you don’t realize that you’re no longer in a position to command me.”

As soon as he finished talking and took the reins of his horse-

Whaang!

Kaboom, bang!

The alchemy, which I began to scribe on the day Robert took Yvonne away, was activated.

‘George seems to have installed an artifact inside the Grand Duke’s castle to block alchemy…but this is an open space.’

“This witch is playing a wicked trick! Back off, everyone!”

The panicked Robert ordered the knights to retreat, but it was meaningless.

The alchemy, designed to prevent anyone from stepping on Katan land, began to destroy the ground that the troops had stepped on.

‘George used my alchemy to become the emperor.’

I didn’t have much time left anyway.

Alchemy wasn’t magic, and there was always a price to pay to get what one wanted.

It took quite a sacrifice to destroy the hard ground extensively.

I seized George’s troops in exchange for my remaining life.

Whoong! Boom!

‘No one will be able to lay their hands on Katan.’

Along with my oath, the alchemy began to create a protective barrier that covered the huge northern mountains.

As I felt my blood turn cold, I smiled satisfactorily when I watched Katan shining in a white glow.

***

Plak-!

Surprised by the sudden slap, I tried to get myself together, but someone pulled my hair violently.

“How dare you humiliate me in front of the Empress?!”

‘…Father?’

The voice of the man clasping my long black hair was familiar to me.

‘How does father know about Katan?’

No, I recently had sacrificed my life to hide the existence of Katan from the enemy.

‘Don’t tell me the alchemy failed?’

Being alive meant my final alchemy didn’t work properly.

“Ka-Katan…”

What happened to Katan?

While holding my throbbing head, I mumbled to my father.

He was familiar, but somehow his face looked younger than I last remembered.

‘Did you dye your hair?’

I looked around to figure out what was going on in the room.

‘Isn’t this the count’s basement?’

It looked like the count’s basement that I used as a laboratory to hone my alchemy.

‘Because I was often confined here.’

But I had never been here since I married Joseph.

Even if my father was the greatest lord of the south, he couldn’t keep his married children in custody.

“Yes, Katan! If you have a mouth, explain yourself!”

I didn’t know what explanation he wanted from me.

‘Did Katan eventually collapse?’

If George decided to mess with Katan without consulting with him, of course he would be furious.

Because my father was the one assembling the Chimera army using the monsters that fell into a deep slumber in the north.

“So you don’t want to talk, huh?”

His eyes glistened when I didn’t answer, and his hand landed on my cheek again.

Plak!

His powerful hit made me fly like a broken marionette and fall face down on the ground.

The rough basement floor made my knees bleed, but it didn’t hurt that much.

‘This is nothing compared to Yvonne’s pain.’

George, who had a great obsession with the throne, won’t give Yvonne an easy death.

My heart felt numb when I remembered the crying child who was dragged away.

So I couldn’t listen to my father who kept raising his voice.

“How dare you embarrass me in front of the Empress by saying that you won’t marry the Grand Duke of Katan!?”

Without giving me a chance to breathe, he kept punching and kicking my body, which laid helplessly on the floor.

“Didn’t I tell you that you’re just George’s lover? How dare a bastard child like you try to covet the empress seat!? Prince George will be the Emperor!”

I wasn’t my father’s biological daughter.

Since he was infertile, one day, he called out his subordinate to my mother’s chamber. He did that to conceal his weakness.

‘Because of that petty reason, he made my mother come off like a promiscuous woman and eventually killed her.’

However, his shameful actions were not important now.

“Even though I raised a bastard child like you as the daughter of the late Countess! Such an ungrateful wench….”

All the words that came from my father’s lips were strange.

Did he turn so old that his head got even crazier?

“Get ready to marry the Grand Duke of Katan! I don’t want to listen to your opinion!”

I gasped for breath as he viciously kicked me. Then he closed the basement door and left.

I only stared at the closed door and frowned.

‘What did he just say?’

Yvonne passed away at the age of six, and I had a baby the following year after I married Joseph.

That means I married Joseph seven years ago.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Chapter 3

“My lady, are you alright?”

“…Sabrina?”

I slumped down the floor without any intention of getting up, but a woman with a familiar face approached me.

“Why are you…?”

Sabrina was my maid in the past, and now, she lived in the Imperial Palace as George’s queen.

(T/L: Queen is an imperial wife/imperial concubine)

‘She’s that human trash’s wife, but she has it better than me.’

While George pretended to love me so he could take advantage of me, I think he genuinely cared for Sabrina.

He had been fooling me for fear that I would hurt her out of jealousy if I found out about his relationship with Sabrina.

‘My relationship with Sabrina? Rita, she’s just a lowly maid, the daughter of your nanny. Whereas you are the noble daughter of a noble count.’

George always gave out a lewd gaze to Sabrina, and when I questioned his true feelings, he brushed it off with laughter and said that it was only my imagination.

‘You’re my only love.’

But as soon as he became the Emperor, he secretly brought Sabrina into the palace.

“The count is too much. He’s still abusing his daughter who will get married soon….. He’s so mean.”

After my father, Sabrina began to say strange things as well.

I glanced down at her shining scalp and smirked as she supported me by the shoulders.

“What a shitty dream.”

The sneer was so dry and pointless that it left a bad taste in my mouth.

I couldn’t believe that I came back to my horrible, Cardinale days.

If I was going to dream about the past, it would have been better if I dreamed about Yvonne’s birth.

Katan was an awful place compared to the fertile Cardinale, but it was a comfortable land because it’s not tainted with greedy humans who fought over fortunes.

“…My Lady?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you alright? Did it hurt a lot?”

I wanted to scoff at Sabrina’s face as she pretended to be worried about me, but my dry mouth no longer moved as I wanted.

“No, not really.”

He just slapped and kicked me several times.

‘There were a lot of times when he hit my legs so bad until it broke, so this is nothing.’

I looked back at Sabrina with a casual nod.

“What are you doing here?”

Sabrina’s pretty face shone with curiosity at my question. She twirled her finely braided hair as she tilted her head.

“Why are you asking? Prince George will be visiting soon, so I’m here to help you prepare.”

I shook my head slowly at Sabrina’s words.

‘I don’t want to see that scumbag even in my dream.’

“I’m fine. Let me rest.”

“Then shall I convey your words to the prince?”

Sabrina’s mouth slightly lifted at my words.

‘You look happy to see George when I’m not around.’

The way she looked reminded me of the days when she and George secretly kissed in the county’s parlor during his visit.

‘Why didn’t I realize sooner when it was so obvious?’

Only after Sabrina became the Queen did I know about their passionate love. George wanted to hide it until the end, but Sabrina went all the way to Katan so she could tell me the truth directly.

“You can leave, Sabrina.”

After I returned to my room with her help, I fell flat on the bed.

‘I’m going to shatter this weird dream of mine.’

The haggard face of my dead daughter appeared in my darkened vision.

“Ugh, eugh.”

I put all my strength into my hands that grabbed the edge of the blanket.

‘Let’s hurry up and sleep.’

Yvonne, I wanted to dream about Yvonne.

***

In my dream, I saw a blue light covering the Katan Castle.

‘Alchemy….?’

Touching the floor with one hand, I stood up after checking the alchemy I made to protect Katan.

The blue light was overflowing on the floor.

A dream in a dream, it was very strange.

“Something seems to have changed.”

The alchemy, which was studded with complicated formulas around the pentagram, was drawn by me, but there seemed to be an unknown formula added to it.

‘Who altered my formation…?’

However, being an alchemist was a very rare job as it required talent and mathematical skills. There were not many alchemists in the Empire, and no alchemist in Katan could decipher my formation.

“And I’ve never seen such a formula.”

In alchemy, a formula was like a language. So I concentrated my ears to hear the words that occupied the wide floor.

It was so refined even though the mark was pierced sharply. This alchemist’s language was so outstanding compared to mine.

“This must be…”

When I was enraptured by the delicate formula, the blue light began to encircle me.

“Ah!”

The moment when the light from the alchemy began to twist around my ankle, I could understand the meaning of this delicately rectified formula.

‘This is the only way for me to protect Katan.’

When the hourglass was flipped over, the clock hands began to move backward. I turned back time using my life as collateral.

‘…Maybe I can save Yvonne.’

I might find a way to revive my dead daughter, as well as Katan, which was crushed by George.

As I held back my throbbing excitement, I began to familiarize myself with the alchemy.

‘I have to understand exactly what kind of alchemy it is.’

To do that, I had to know who messed with my formation first. As soon as I tried to move, the blue light surrounding me slowly faded and soon began to disperse.

“No!”

No, no!

I hadn’t found a way to protect Yvonne yet!

I wailed while trying to reach out for the diminishing formula, but there was no way to prevent the light from scattering.

***

An antique ceiling greeted me when I opened my eyes. The pillar engraved with Cardinale’s emblem, red roses, was the first thing I saw.

Back then, I tried to become someone worthy of that rose.

‘I need to know today’s date.’

If I really turned back in time, there were things that had to be corrected.

When I got up from my bed, I pulled the rope next to my bed, and a maid came in.

“You’ve called, miss?”

This simple-looking brown haired maid who came in was not Sabrina.

‘It was Sabrina who was in charge of me before I went to Katan.’

If my exclusive maid wasn’t present in my bedroom, obviously…

“Where’s Prince George?”

“He’s in the parlor. Sabrina went to tell him that you’re sick.”

“I feel better now.”

“A-Are you going down now?”

“Yes.”

The maid was so flustered by my words. I glanced at her as I bowed my head and put a robe over my body.

“Would you help me?”

“…Yes. My Lady.”

Maybe because I landed on the hard basement floor earlier, my twisted ankle throbbed. I leaned on the maid and began trudging to the parlor.

“M-My lady.”

Fortunately, the drawing room and my bedroom were quite close. The maid stopped me in a hurry when I reached the drawing room.

“Well, I, uh, the Count wanted to tell you something…”

My father couldn’t have said anything else after he beat me up in the basement. So I made eye contact with a maid who tried to stop me with a ridiculous excuse.

‘So you know what’s going on inside.’

“What’s your name?”

“It’s Rona, My Lady.”

“Rona.”

The maid’s eyes widened because she thought I was going to scold her.

‘Rona, so her name is Rona.’

Her freckled face was familiar, but I didn’t know her name.

‘As the only daughter of the Count, I thought I shouldn’t remember the servants’ name.’

Some of the Count’s servants used to feel sorry for me. That is because since I was very young, the Count used to lock me up in the basement, starving me to death. But I dismissed their compassion as cheap sympathy.

When I was officially registered as a Cardinale, I was so prideful that I ignored all the commoners who dared to sympathize with me.

‘…People who gave me a hint about George’s suspicious behavior, and people who tried to help me, there are servants like them.’

Eventually, Yvonne was taken away, but it was all thanks to servants like Rona that I could see my daughter’s face for a little longer.

“Thank you, Rona.”

After smiling at her, I put my hand on the door handle.

Kiik-!

“My Prince!”

Sabrina’s voice was mixed with the door creaking sound.

“My love, I missed you so much.”

Having spent my childhood with Sabrina, I could see that her sweet voice was very artificial.

“I missed you, too. Sabrina.”

George whispered disgustingly as he stroked Sabrina’s hair.

“Ahem.”

George and Sabrina, who noticed my presence only after I made a small sound, turned their heads at the same time.

Committing such an indecency in the parlor of another person’s house. Shamelessly.

When George became perplexed and opened his mouth, I raised my hand carelessly towards him.

“Long time no see.”

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────