IRGS 01

“So, you’re saying that child is mine?”

“Yes.”

The man nodded with an impassive face.

Owen ta Glentino, eldest son of the Duke of Glentino family. Before my regression, the only connection we had was that he was my fiancé’s older brother. His casually brushed dark blond hair with a brown tint, his masculine yet devastatingly beautiful face, even the way he sat with his long legs crossed—everything about him seemed to glow so brilliantly it was almost hypnotic.

But that didn’t mean he could spout nonsense!

I, Sophia ta Bartoli. Unmarried. My fiancé is dead. I have never given birth. Therefore, there is absolutely no way I could have a child!

“That’s ridiculous. What makes you so certain?”

Despite my reaction, the man before me remained calm. As though he had expected this, he slipped a hand into his coat. His long fingers pulled out an envelope from the inner pocket.

“It arrived three days ago.”

The envelope was clean and stiff, as though it had been carefully preserved. He held it out to me without blinking, his gaze fixed on me the entire time.

Had anyone ever looked at me like this before? In my previous life, had anyone ever looked at me without sticky emotions, without anger or contempt—simply looking at me for who I was?

His eyes revealed little emotion. Yet somehow, they made people tense and strangely ticklish inside.

Still, if he thought I’d be intimidated, he was mistaken. I lifted my chin and accepted the envelope.

The first line of the letter read:

[Hello, Young Duke Glentino. This child is Sophia ta Bartoli’s child. If possible, please take care of him.]

I doubted my eyes.

“Sophia ta Bartoli” was my name! Just who would send such a ridiculous, tasteless prank letter—and to this man without even informing me?!

My eyes hurried to the bottom of the letter.

And the sender written at the very end was—

[Elouise ta Bartoli]

“Ha…”

They say when something is too absurd, words fail you. My hands trembled with betrayal.

“Elouise…!”

My youngest sister, the lunatic troublemaker who wandered across the continent claiming she wanted to become a traveling bard—what in the world had she done this time?!

After barely calming myself and steadying my breathing, I spoke.

“Whew… First of all, I apologize for her rudeness. She’s usually this kind of—”

I couldn’t even bring myself to say she wasn’t.

“Anyway, he really isn’t my child.”

“That child seems convinced that you are.”

I glanced out the window toward the small boy sitting at the tea table in the garden, staring up at the sky.

A tiny young boy.

Melancholy emerald eyes, pale skin, dark brown hair.

Yes, it was immediately obvious that if he grew up like this, he’d become a heartthrob capable of shaking the Empire. Just like the man in front of me.

But still—why did he think I was his mother?

I quickly lowered my head and gestured lightly toward the man, whispering:

“If you think about it, doesn’t he resemble you more? Couldn’t he be your child?”

“Then let’s say that’s the case.”

The man, whom I expected to deny it immediately, casually said something even more ridiculous.

“What?”

“You’re the mother and I’m the father. Then we can simply say he’s our child.”

“Wh—what?!”

The man calmly set down his empty teacup and said,

“Let’s get married.”

Me, Sophia.

The eldest daughter of the Bartoli family.

Ten minutes after regressing.

As I ate my favorite madeleines and drank black tea, I tried to process what was happening.

The Bartoli family had produced more empresses than any other family in the Kruiden Empire. Among the three sisters, both my younger sister and I had been raised to become empresses.

But the one who became empress was my younger sister, Leoni.

We fought like we wanted to kill each other. I sent assassins after her countless times, and she tried to poison me.

Without realizing it, I consumed poison for decades, becoming weak from chronic poisoning.

In one last desperate attempt, I tried to overthrow the imperial family through rebellion…

And in the end, I died by the sword of Leoni, who had become empress.

It had been a life filled with venom—and literal poison.

Yes, that was certainly how it had ended…

Yet the chest pains that had tormented me in spasms were completely gone.

With a young, healthy body, I now sat at the tea table in my favorite bedroom, holding a madeleine in my hand.

Well, since I’d already put it in my mouth, I ate it.

The rich madeleine, fragrant with subtle Earl Grey aroma, tasted so good I could have cried.

After becoming poisoned, my body had weakened so much that in my final years I could only eat herbs and watered-down porridge.

Tears really did start falling, and I paused chewing to wipe them away with my sleeve.

As I lifted my head again, I saw the mirror on the vanity.

I immediately ran toward it.

The eldest daughter of three sisters, forever compared to her siblings and consumed by inferiority—the ugly duckling of the Bartoli family.

Young Sophia ta Bartoli stood before the mirror.

When I raised my hand, the young woman in the reflection raised hers too. Our fingertips met through the cold glass.

This was real.

The first thing I noticed was my strawberry-blonde hair. Neither fully golden, brown, nor red. I had hated this ambiguous color so much that at some point I began dyeing it constantly. Because of that, my hair became damaged and fell out badly, until eventually I had to cover it with scarves.

“It’s so beautiful… Why did I hate it so much back then?”

I studied my face again.

The sky-blue eyes I inherited from my mother, the First Princess. They were my favorite feature.

After the poisoning, my eyes had gradually lost focus and vision. But now they sparkled a lovely ocean-blue as though nothing had ever happened.

Seeing those vividly shining eyes again, tears welled up on their own.

Even as tears dripped onto the vanity, I could only stare blankly at my reflection.

Then someone knocked on the door.

“Miss Sophia,”

I answered quickly.

“Yes, come in.”

The person who entered was Bessie—the maid who had stayed by my side until the very end of my previous life!

Bessie looked much younger and livelier than the last time I’d seen her.

“You’ll need to come downstairs for dinner soon, and—oh my goodness, Miss!”

Hm?

Her brown bob swaying, Bessie hurried over to me looking distressed.

“Oh dear heavens, Miss, you’ve been crying? Whatever shall we do… Everything will be alright.”

She fumbled through her apron pocket and handed me a handkerchief.

I laughed through my tears and wiped my face.

Ah, Bessie. Bessie, who had remained loyal to me until my death. I was so happy to see her again.

In a warm voice, she whispered:

“I understand everything, Miss. Lady Leoni suddenly came back, and everyone’s treating her like some honored guest… Family dinners are what you hate most…”

At her words, I jolted in surprise.

“What?! Leoni came back?”

“Huh? Yes, this morning. You saw her too, Miss.”

Bessie looked confused.

Ah. I finally understood what point in time this was.

It was less than a year after Leoni entered the imperial palace as the Crown Prince’s fiancée. Three days before my birthday, Leoni had suddenly appeared at our home.

She was the second daughter of the family and the future Crown Princess. Naturally, she was treated like an honored guest. At dinner that evening, the ingredients prepared for my birthday feast were used for her instead.

The chef hurriedly procured more ingredients afterward, but naturally it was impossible to gather the exact same quality within a single day. Because of that, my birthday celebration ended up far humbler than usual.

And Leoni herself didn’t even bother to show up on my actual birthday.

A schemer as clever as Leoni couldn’t possibly have failed to realize it.

She knew exactly how I would be treated if she suddenly appeared like that, and that the ingredients prepared for my birthday would all be used for her instead. And she also knew that every part of it would humiliate me terribly.

I think that was when I truly began to hate Leoni.

Not that we hadn’t already been sending assassins after each other by then.

“Come to think of it, I also ate madeleines before dinner that day. Family meals always upset my stomach, so I used to eat beforehand.”

Which meant—

I was currently just before my twenty-first birthday.

…Twenty-one?

If I had to regress, why now of all times?!

No. I quickly corrected myself.

Even now, it wasn’t too late.

What mattered was that I had returned. That I had been given another chance.

And I had absolutely no intention of repeating the previous life that was destined to end in death.

Besides, when I died by Leoni’s hand just before regressing, I had closed my eyes with relief, thinking at last it was all over.

Because I finally understood that the inferiority complex and desperate obsession that had driven my entire life—the goal of becoming empress—had all been meaningless.

I blinked slowly.

The woman in the mirror smiled faintly, as though blessing this new life.

I spun around lightly.

“Let’s go downstairs.”

“Y-Yes!”

I intended to make things clear to my sister.

Sophia ta Bartoli had been reborn.

And she no longer had any interest whatsoever in Leoni’s place as empress.