Chapter 1

Inerea Mertiel.

If I had to sum up my life in a single phrase, it would be this:

A never-ending chain of hardships.

Comfort was something I could never even dream of. From the day I was born, misfortune followed me without pause.

It was almost laughable, considering I had been born with noble blood.

And meeting him…

That happened when my life had sunk to its absolute lowest.

It was the night my mother died of illness.

The woman who had never once stepped outside her room after giving birth to me.

To conceal her disgraceful death, my father took her body into the mountains to bury it in secret. I followed him there.

Even now, I can vividly remember the sensation of damp earth beneath my feet as I climbed the steep mountain trail in the dead of night, when the entire world lay asleep.

The scent of rain-soaked grass.

The sting of branches scraping against my skin.

Every detail remained painfully clear, too vivid to ever forget.

Simply because dying of illness at a young age was considered the greatest disgrace a noble could suffer, my father dug.

And dug.

And dug even deeper.

He intended to erase that shame forever.

That was why my mother—whom I had practically met for the first time as an adult—was laid to rest in a place that could hardly even be called a grave.

I barely remembered the walk back down the mountain.

Perhaps it was because of the smell of wet earth and grass…

Or perhaps because of the thick scent of blood hanging in the air like dense fog.

The overpowering stench of alcohol that always clung to my father had long since disappeared.

When I turned my head, I saw him.

He had slipped near the edge of the cliff and was hanging there by only a few fingers.

“……”

I crouched down and looked at him as he dangled over an abyss so deep its bottom couldn’t even be seen.

The breeze gently lifted my hair, and I tucked it behind my ear.

I kindly waited until the strength finally left his hand.

Then I stood up…

And quietly walked away.

I simply continued down the dangerous mountain path.

I fell several times along the way.

But strangely…

It didn’t hurt.

The entire world was dyed crimson.

I should return to the castle.

What would everyone think when both the Duke and Duchess suddenly disappeared?

Could the ducal estate remain peaceful after its lord and lady vanished overnight?

Yet none of those worries seemed important.

Perhaps it was because of the raw wounds covering my scraped hands.

Instead, I simply wrapped my arms tightly around my body, shivering beneath the icy wind that cut through the thin nightgown I wore.

Let’s go back.

I have to sneak inside before sunrise… before anyone wakes up.

But that tiny hope was shattered halfway down the mountain.

With a body so exhausted that I’d lost count of how many times I’d fallen, there was no way I could make it back to the castle safely.

Ahead…

A small campfire flickered in the darkness.

Someone was camping there.

The moment they sensed my presence, several men—knights, judging by their armor—immediately drew their swords.

There was nothing I could do.

I merely clutched the hem of my dress and gasped for breath.

The men looked at me with obvious suspicion.

Who wouldn’t?

My white nightgown was stained with blood from countless falls.

One shoe was missing.

I was barefoot.

Covered in dirt and soaked in the smell of mud and grass.

Wandering alone through the mountains in the middle of the night.

“Who goes there? State your identity!”

I slowly opened my eyes.

There were roughly fifteen of them.

As if that weren’t enough, every knight stood fully armored with drawn blades.

The instant I turned my back, those swords would surely cut me down.

Without saying a word, I repeatedly tightened and loosened my grip on my dress.

I looked over each face.

But they were little more than blurry silhouettes.

The knights had extinguished the campfire the moment I appeared, leaving only the moonlight to illuminate us.

“If you refuse to answer…”

“We’ll cut you down.”

Just as I opened my mouth—

A man stepped through the ranks of the knights.

Not one of them dared oppose him.

They silently moved aside, clearing a path.

His face remained hidden by darkness.

But I immediately recognized the scent surrounding him.

The rich aroma of cigars that had always clung to my father.

And beneath it…

The unmistakable smell of death.

The man spoke.

“You…”

He was so tall that even after tilting my head back as far as I could, my gaze barely reached his jaw.

“…You look familiar.”

His low, slightly sleepy voice murmured with quiet curiosity.

A chill ran down my spine.

I bit my lip hard.

Forcing strength into my trembling legs, I struggled to remain standing.

I chewed the inside of my mouth until I finally managed to whisper,

“I don’t know you.”

“Hmm…”

He let out a thoughtful hum before glancing toward the path I’d just descended.

His blue eyes shimmered beneath the moonlight.

“Really?”

It felt as though I were a child hiding candy beneath my tongue while telling an obvious lie.

He could clearly see through it.

Yet I still stood there, desperately hoping he’d pretend not to.

“Then…”

“Should I just let you go?”

The moment those words left his mouth, the knights immediately stepped aside.

A path opened before me.

Carefully reading the atmosphere, I quietly walked through.

Even though I stumbled repeatedly in the darkness, barely able to see the road ahead…

I wished for only one thing.

Please… let me reach the castle before dawn.

That had happened only a short time before I met him again.

At the same time…

It had also been the first day after my return.

As for the past…

No.

As for the life before my regression…

That is a much longer story.

Smack!

My head snapped violently to the side.

“Saying ‘no’ is a luxury someone like you cannot afford. Inerea… be grateful that you can still be of some use to me this way.”

The voice was low.

Calm.

Utterly devoid of emotion.

A voice I loathed.

Holding my stinging cheek, I turned to look at the man who had struck me.

My neck creaked painfully as I moved.

I ignored it.

My voice shook.

My entire body trembled like a leaf.

It always did whenever I stood before him.

“Father… I’m an adult now. I can give you the son you’ve always wanted. So please…”

If only he had permitted it…

I would have fallen to my knees before him.

I would have begged until my hands bled.

“If you bore me a son, it would still be less beneficial than having you shoulder this crime for me—and for our family.”

Our family?

What family?

He had never acknowledged me as his child simply because I wasn’t the son he wanted.

Yet now he suddenly spoke of family?

“Father, please think carefully! If not me, then who will continue our bloodline? Who else can bear the heir to inherit the Mertiel family? Without me, the collateral branches will surely seize the title!”

It was enough to drive anyone insane.

The crushing despair hollowed me out from within.

It felt as though one wrong step would send me plunging off a cliff.

How could I ever describe that terror?

“Please reconsider. There has to be another way. I don’t have to take the blame. Please… Father…”

He slowly stroked his chin before glancing sideways at me.

The look in his eyes was horrifying.

Like staring into the eyes of a beast.

I felt as though I would stop breathing.

“No.”

“Right now, there is no better solution than making you the criminal.”

I wanted to scream that he was lying.

But after fearing my father for so many years…

My body refused to move.

“The Imperial Family has already named you as the culprit.”

His words were so absurd I nearly laughed.

“Become the criminal.”

“For my sake.”

I remembered that night perfectly.

The night he secretly buried my mother in the mountains after she died alone from illness because no one even knew she was dying behind the closed doors of her room.

Had her body never been discovered…

He probably would have continued living as though nothing had happened.

“At last…”

“I can finally rid myself of the burden I carried because you were born wrong.”

What a miserable ending.

My mother’s death came to light because my father’s desperate cover-up had been imperfect.

And…

I became the murderer who had killed her.

I had spent my entire life desperately trying to satisfy his ambitions.

“Inerea…”

“Go ahead and join your mother.”

Patricide and matricide were unforgivable sins.

Yet the only daughter of Duke Mertiel had somehow become the woman accused of murdering her own mother.

The Duke had already declared me guilty.

From that moment onward…

There was no turning back.

Clang!

The door burst open as armed knights flooded into the room.

Among the Mertiel household knights stood Imperial Knights as well.

A neatly dressed man stepped forward and spoke with practiced formality.

“Inerea Mertiel.”

“From this moment forth, you are stripped of the Mertiel name.”

“By the authority vested in me as an Imperial Magistrate…”

“I hereby place you under arrest.”