In the office of the richest family in the Eden Empire, Duke of Agnes.

“You ungrateful girl!”

Slap!

Duke Nikan Agnes was unable to overcome the fiery anger rising from the bottom of his heart, so he raised his hand and slapped his foster daughter, Navia, on the cheek.

Navia, who was still at the tender age of 22-years old, was still a small and delicate young girl. She couldn’t withstand the strength behind Nikan’s slap with her fragile body, so she stumbled backward.

“…”

She didn’t respond to the slap and chose to keep her mouth shut.

Normally, she would’ve burst out in tears or trembled in fear when she was faced with Nikan’s violence, but today, Navia was unusually calm. She stood there as if nothing had happened.

She stood there with a straight back and a pair of unwavering eyes. Her hands were clasped calmly in front of her and her silver hair was scattered neatly behind her. Her unwavering gaze and straight posture exuded an unusual amount of elegance.

She appeared nobler than any of the aristocrats in the empire. Her manner and bearing had been personally taught by the Duke of Agnes himself.

However, Nikan was even more upset with Navia’s calm and graceful manners.

This was because the time and money he invested in Navia to make her become into an elegant and graceful lady had backfired.

“I gave you the best tutors and allowed you to enjoy the wealth that normal commoners could never dream of. Instead of repaying my generosity, you decided to hurt my daughter!”

Navia’s face sank as a cold sneer flickered across Navia’s red eyes before quickly disappearing.

Ah, he’s lecturing me again about the first-class tutors he hired for me and about the wealth that he had allowed me to experience…

She was thankful for him for adopting her from an orphanage in the countryside, but he merely did it out of interest rather than goodwill.

“If only Vivian wasn’t so sickly, then I wouldn’t have needed to foster a commoner’s orphan as a shabby stand-in… tch!”

Nikan needed another healthy and beautiful daughter to take the place of his daughter to marry the prince. He didn’t want his foster daughter to be an aristocrat from another noble or influential family. After all, he didn’t want to share the glory with another aristocratic family once his foster daughter became the queen in the future.

Nikan had killed off all the distant kinsmen and framed the incident as an accident, solely to disguise Navia as one of his daughters.

There was a fake portrait in the mansion of her and she had a fake background story. Even her family members and relatives were fake.

Everything that made her ‘Navia’, was fake.

So, she vowed to herself that she would become ‘real’.

She endured the strict training and education that Nikan pushed upon her. She sacrificed sleep and her health to become a real ‘Anges’. Even when she had a nosebleed, she would continue to work. No matter how tired or overworked she was, she preserved on.

What Navia wanted was very easy, but at the same time, it was also very difficult. She didn’t want to starve or sleep on the cold ground again.

In addition to that, she wanted to live in a real house with a real family. At first, living with her foster family was a dream come true. She was whisked away from the poverty-stricken orphanage and was given a soft bed to sleep in and delicious meals to eat. It was like she had stepped into a fairy tale world.

Family.

She thought she could include herself in that warm and beautiful word. It seemed like it was something almost within her reach.

It was all in her grasp until she reached adulthood. Vivian, Nikan’s real daughter was cured of her incurable disease. Nikan forcibly broke Navia’s engagement with the prince and then formed an engagement between the prince and his real daughter, Vivian. He told the others that he had broken Navia’s engagement off and removed her status as his successor because she was unsuitable.

Nikan didn’t care whether or not his words had ruined Navia’s reputation. He acted unreservedly and cruelly, all for the sake of Vivian.

Due to this, Nikan thought that Navia must have held a grudge and tried to poison Vivian.

“Everything I have given you belongs to the family. None of this belongs to you in the first place. Did you actually think that a commoner like you could actually become the queen?”

Chapter 2

Navia’s expression fell as she listened to her foster father reveal his true feelings in front of her. He didn’t hesitate to dash her dreams and pin the entire blame on her. He didn’t even care that Navia had become the laughing stock of the aristocratic society.

“Good job, my dearest daughter.”

Navia would’ve done anything for him if he had ever uttered those words toward her.

‘All I wanted from you was some trivial but warm words.’

But now, she understood everything. She realized that no matter how hard she tried, she was merely a substitute for Vivian. It was all too late.

Navia spoke with the last ounce of strength she had.

“I wasn’t trying to poison Vivian, Father.”

SLAP!

His palm slapped across her cheek as soon as she finished speaking. Navia couldn’t withstand the force behind the slap and fell backward on the floor.

“The poison was detected in the tea leaves you gifted Vivian! Are you still trying to deceive me till the very end?”

Vivian asked Navia for some rare tea leaves because she wanted to treat the guests with it. Navia, like a good sister, rushed to the rescue and procured some rare tea leaves for her. But soon poison was discovered in the tea leaves.

“The prince and I broke off the engagement a long time ago, so I have no reason to poison her!”

“Lies! You were jealous that Vivian became Prince Ares’ fianceé, so you tried to poison her!”

It would be a lie for her to say that she wasn’t disheartened that her foster father had abandoned her and broke off her engagement, but she never harbored any hatred towards Vivian.

She never loved Princes Ares or coveted the position of the future queen in the first place.

This incident was instigated by someone and she was framed for something she never did. If she pondered over the happenings of the incident, then there would be many strange points in the entire incident. In other words, Nikan hadn’t made the least effort to understand Navia’s point nor did he even care to investigate the matter more thoroughly.

“How could you try to harm the Prince’s fiancee? Hurting her is the same as instigating an imperial assassinationg!”

There was a tinge of sadness in Nikan’s voice. It was a pity that he had to kill his most useful pawn with his own hands.

Navia was no longer blinded by her desire for a family, so she knew why Nikan appeared somewhat sorrowful.

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“If I truly hated Vivian and wished to harm her, then I wouldn’t have planned something as obvious as poisoning the tea leaves I gave her.”

She knew better to do something so brainless and obvious since she was eight.

Nikan’s eyes instantly turned cold at her bold words. He immediately drew his sword from his waist.

“You dare!”

Just before Navia’s throat was cut, another man entered the office.

“Father.”

A low and husky voice echoed in the silent room. Navia turned to look at the man who had just entered the room.

The man had red hair that resembled Nikan. His name was Wood; he was the eldest son of the Duke.

“His Highness, Prince Ares is here.”

Nikan frowned at the news.

“What a disgrace to the imperial family!”

“Go, I will take care of this child.”

“Okay.”

The Duke left the office and handed the situation to Wood.

“Heh.”

A sharp sneer could be heard. Wood approached her and squatted down in front of her.

He was genuinely entertained and satisfied with Navia’s current appearance. Navia’s eyes flashed with anger.

ou’re a being that is more inferior than animals.”

“What?”

When Wood dropped his pretense, Navia’s blood ran cold.

“I know that you, my brother, was the one who poisoned the tea.”

“Ah, it seems like I got caught.”

Wood shrugged his shoulders lightly.

“If she had drank that tea, Vivian would have really died. Don’t you feel any bit of remorse for what you have done?”

“Vivian is lucky enough and didn’t die. What more do you need?”

Navia gripped the carpet in anger. She looked down at the floor and closed her eyes.

In the first place, it was impossible to find unbiased people in the aristocratic society. It was normal for aristocracts to look down on commoners. It’s more accurate that there was no choice but to think that way.

It was vicious to be treated like this just because he was trying to fight for the right to inherit the dukedom.

Chapter 3

Wood has always been vulgar and violent.

“You knew I hated you from the beginning, but do you know the reason behind it?”

Navia already knew what he was going to say.

“You’re a commoner that is worth less than dirt.”

Wood had a disgusted expression on his face as he stared back at Navia. Navia quietly rolled the word commoner in her mouth.

I thought that I was the daughter of a low-ranking noble, but it was only later that I discovered that I was merely an orphan of a commoner.

“Are you a commoner?”

Ah, was it when Wood was 20 years old?

She could still clearly remember the day that Wood asked whether she was a commoner.

“I don’t think an ugly bee like you should mingle in the aristocratic society because you’ll only muddy the water. However, father is stubborn and I cannot change his mind…”

Wood reached out and grabbed Navia’s chin and tilted her to look at him. He then swept her lips with his thumb. The fresh red blood stained his finger.

“A noble’s blood is blue; not like a vulgar red, like yours.”

He laughed heartily in satisfaction of what he said.

“Although I am the one who orchestrated everything, there was actually someone who asked me to do this. Do you know who it is?”

“It’s Her Highness, the Empress,” Navia answered calmly.

Wood stared at Navia as if she knew everything.

“…That’s right. So, why did you seduce Prince Ares and offend Her Highesss, the Empress?”

He took a small vial and threw it at Navia. It was a type of poison that could dissolve a person’s organs immediately after drinking it.

“Come on, drink it. Now is the only time you can live as a princess. Do you know why the prince came here today?”

“He wants to hold a slave trial for you and I’m sure his wishes will come true if you don’t drink this.”

Ares loved Navia because of her beauty and because of how ruthless she would act towards her enemies. He had loved her as a tool, not a person, which was no different from how Agnes viewed her.

Wood was nervous that Prince Ares would burst in and take Navia away, but he pretended to be calm and continued his bluff in front of her.

“Wouldn’t it be better to die now than to live as a slave?”

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If Navia didn’t drink the poison, she will still be forced to drink it.

The Empress had promised Wood that he could marry Princess Sarah Lucia for taking care of Navia. The Duke of Lucia was the Empress’s father and Sarah Lucia was her niece.

Navia stared down at the small vial of poison vial in front of her.

In the end, it turned out like this again.

She drank the poison in one gulp with no hesitation, Wood’s shoulder relaxed as he watched her. He was glad that she consumed the poison. He hated her and was completely fed up with her at this point.

“You’re pretending to be an elegant and graceful aristocrat till the very end. How disgusting.”

Navia vomited blood due to the poison. She laughed at her situation.

“Kkeuk… Hahaha…”

It didn’t matter whether she acted humbly or arrogantly. Her ending was always the same.

“How much more should I try?”

How much more effort should I put in to be accepted and loved? I did my best. Yes, I really did my very best.

Navia took off her blood-soaked gloves. There was a number on his right wrist. She was the only one who could see the number.

1

Looking down at the number, she confessed calmly.

“Brother, I have lived the same life seven times.”

“What?”

“Now, I only have one last chance to be reborn”

“Are you going crazy because you’re dying?” Wood’s face was scrunched up in confusion.

The poison took its final effect and Navia slowly lost the ability to see. The number on her wrist turned blurry.

“I thought we could be a family, I tried so hard…,” she continued speaking with great effort.

The smile on face turned chilly and the voice that came from her parted mouth was even colder.

“But now, I’m going to stop playing these games.”

Just before her sight went out, Navia stared directly at Wood. Under that eerie gaze, Wood froze like a prey in front of a beast. He couldn’t say anything under that spine-chilling moment.

“See you in the next life, Wood.”

I will never do anything for you again.

“You-!”

Wood belatedly opened his mouth and shouted something, but Navia couldn’t hear it. She went deaf.

And dark.

The number on the wrist changed.

0

Then it disappeared without a trace.