WHCTA 03

Chapter: 03

I raised my hand and gently touched my burning right cheek.

“Ow…”

It still hurt.

Just as the confusion was beginning to give me a headache—

Knock, knock.

“Miss…”

May’s hesitant voice came from outside the door.

“May I come in?”

“Come in.”

After receiving my permission, May stepped inside and cautiously spoke.

“Um… what should we do about your appointment with the Second Prince tomorrow?”

“What?”

Her words snapped me awake as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over my head.

“Yes. We were supposed to go shopping for a dress today. You said you didn’t have anything to wear…”

At her words, I felt like screaming.

One after another, memories resurfaced of all the desperate efforts I’d made just to earn even a little more of that man’s affection.

“Miss…?”

Noticing that I’d suddenly fallen silent, May called out to me.

I looked up, forced a calm expression onto my face, and replied,

“Oh… right. I did have an appointment tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me.”

“Of course. But… are you really all right? You skipped dinner tonight too…”

I could feel her worried gaze scanning my face.

May had witnessed the commotion earlier as well. She had undoubtedly found it strange that I had suddenly broken down sobbing in the middle of the hallway.

“I’m fine now. I think I just had a nightmare.”

I casually brushed it off to reassure her, then used needing some sleep as an excuse to send her out of the room.

Once I was alone…

“So I really get to see that bastard’s face again.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding and collapsed onto the bed, muttering to myself.

The image of him abandoning me and running away replayed vividly before my eyes.

“How did I ever end up falling for someone like him…?”

I recalled my first meeting with him, though the memory had already become hazy.

It had begun when I was eleven.

At a banquet hosted by the Empress, Delos had approached me warmly.

That’s right… I had trouble fitting in with people back then, and I was grateful that Delos was the first one to come talk to me.

He had even been the one to confess his feelings first.

“They called us lovers.”

I let out a bitter laugh.

As time passed, he treated me worse than his own servants.

His constant disregard and mocking attitude became a part of everyday life, yet instead of breaking up with him, I spent all my time anxiously trying to keep him happy.

Before long, society began calling me “Delos’s puppet.”

They weren’t wrong.

I obeyed him completely. If he told me to crawl, I crawled. If he told me to beg, I begged.

Time passed, and after becoming Empress, all I could do was stand beside him and watch him make one foolish decision after another.

Eventually, the rebellion broke out.

The moment I remembered that night, the place where the sword had pierced my chest throbbed reflexively.

Along with that unfamiliar pain, one man’s face surfaced in my mind.

“…Evan Valeshtein.”

The moment I quietly whispered his name, the aching in my chest seemed to settle as though by magic.

“If I’m alive… then he must be alive too, right?”

I remembered the Duke as I’d last seen him.

Had the rebellion succeeded, he would have enjoyed greater honor and power than anyone else at the Grand Duke’s side after he became Emperor.

Yet he had thrown all of that away to come to me.

I wanted to ask him why.

Turning over in bed, I stared up at the night sky once more.

Whatever the reason, one thing was certain.

I’d been given another chance.

Closing my eyes tightly, I prayed silently.

I want to live my life properly this time.

Please… don’t let this be a dream.

Perhaps my desperate prayer had been answered.

I woke up once again in the body of my twenty-two-year-old self.

Without delay, I climbed into a carriage and left the estate.

At last, I arrived at our meeting place.

“Miss, we’ve arrived.”

“Thank you.”

Stepping out of the carriage, my heart began pounding as I looked at the building before me.

Taking a deep breath, I reached for the handle and pulled the door open.

Jingle.

This café, frequented by the nobility, had been one of Delos’s favorite places over the past few years.

There he is.

I spotted him immediately.

His dazzling blond hair stood out even from a distance.

Walking toward him at an unhurried pace, I finally called his name.

“Delos.”

“What took you so long? Isn’t showing up on time the most basic courtesy?”

The bastard—

No, Delos—furrowed his brows in irritation the instant he saw me.

I quietly took in his face.

It had been so long.

Yes.

He had always been this kind of man.

He could break promises as casually as eating a meal, but if I dared criticize him even a little, he’d say he was disappointed in me and threaten to break up without hesitation.

One year from now, thanks to the current Emperor’s final will, this man would become the next Emperor.

Many had questioned why the Emperor had chosen him over the First Prince, who had been considered the obvious successor.

But the Emperor’s dying wish was absolute.

And so Delos inherited the throne.

And in less than a year, he completely ruined the empire.

The war had barely ended before he declared another one against a neighboring kingdom.

Unable to tolerate it any longer, his older brother finally launched a rebellion.

After briefly sinking into those memories, I took a seat across from the man whose irritation was practically radiating off him.

“It takes time to get ready. Being a little late isn’t unusual. Anyone listening would think you’d spent the entire night waiting here.”

“…What?”

He frowned as though I’d just said something completely absurd.

“Anyway, sorry for being late. I made you wait all of five minutes.”

Delos stared silently at my calm expression for quite a while before speaking again.

“Aren’t you going to apologize?”

The apology he wanted wasn’t the one I’d just given.

He wanted me to desperately grab his hand, promise through tears that I’d never do it again, and beg for forgiveness.

Even though he himself had never once apologized despite constantly breaking our appointments.

The old me would already be panicking and apologizing over and over.

Now that I knew every effort I’d ever made had been meaningless, this entire situation felt unbearably dull.

“I already apologized. What more do you want?”

The moment I answered casually, I saw Delos’s face harden like stone.

Having spent years by his side, I knew his patience was about to run out.

“That’s disappointing. I don’t like women who make mistakes but can’t even apologize properly.”

Watching him deliver the exact line I’d expected, word for word, I nearly laughed.

The next thing he’d say was obvious.

“Let’s end things here.”

He always used breaking up as a weapon whenever something displeased him.

So his declaration wasn’t surprising.

If anything, it was welcome.

“Fine. Do whatever you want.”

Not wanting to look at him any longer, I turned my gaze toward the window and answered indifferently.

I wasn’t sure how long I spent staring outside.

Scrape.

At the sound of a chair being shoved back roughly, I turned around.

“I didn’t realize you wanted to break up with me this badly. Let me make one thing clear—you’re the one throwing away this opportunity. So don’t come crawling back to me later.”

“All right. It can’t be helped.”

I looked at him with an expressionless face, stripped of all emotion.

Normally, I would have been carefully watching his mood and lowering my head first.

Seeing me stand my ground seemed to catch Delos completely off guard.

“…I hope you don’t regret what you said today.”

With a sneer curling one corner of his mouth, Delos turned and walked out of the café.

Right now, he was probably convinced that within a few days I’d come running back, begging him to take me back.

“My goodness… are they really breaking up?”

“Lady Feldro came down pretty hard on him. Even I’m surprised.”

After Delos left, I quietly sipped my tea while the whispers from nearby tables reached my ears with perfect clarity.

No matter how much they pretended otherwise, everyone had always been interested in my relationship with Delos.

By tomorrow, the rumor would surely have spread throughout high society.

Which works even better for me.

After finishing my tea, I stood up to return home.

The moment I did, all the whispering around me stopped as if it had never existed.