DH 01

#1

Chapter 01. Divorce Is the Only Way Out

Blink.

I kept closing and opening my eyes.

Just a moment ago, I could barely make out what was in front of me, relying on a single candle burnt down to its base and the moonlight seeping through the window.

Now, the dazzling light from a brilliant chandelier stabbed at my eyes.

‘Where is this….’

I looked around. Countless people were staring at me.

‘A banquet hall?’

“Orpheas?”

Right then, a familiar voice from above called my name.

I slowly lifted my head to look at the speaker.

My husband, whose obituary was the only news I’d heard of him a month ago after his death, was standing tall right there.

I stared at him blankly.

His raven-black hair and deep blue eyes reminiscent of the abyss.

A handsome appearance as if meticulously sculpted by a god.

A massive physique capable of beating a man-eating lion and a three-headed serpent bare-handed.

It was Gert, the man I knew.

If it were the usual me, just standing next to him would have made me breathless and uncomfortable.

Despite his flawless, perfect exterior, the thick gloom and murderous aura enveloping his body rendered his good looks meaningless.

I didn’t know if this was a dream or reality, but at this very moment, I couldn’t have been happier to see him.

“Gert!”

I reached out and cupped his cheeks in my hands.

Perhaps caught off guard by my impulsive action, Gert’s body stiffened rigidly. It seemed my sudden touch was unpleasant to him.

But that was not my concern.

For me, I couldn’t bear this situation without confirming it was real.

Ignoring his discomfort, I rose onto my toes and kneaded his cheeks this way and that. Not satisfied, I even checked the pulse at his carotid artery.

The warmth of his cheeks against my palms. The throb of blood vessels beneath my fingertips.

The faint scent of olive blossoms carried on a sea breeze that barely reached my nose.

Yes. This was not a dream.

I screamed with joy inside.

‘I really came back!’

Only now could I believe it.

The fact that I, who had been confined to a room for a month, accused of killing my husband, had returned to the past.

My husband, Gert, was a hero among heroes and the sole Grand Duke of the Petalien Kingdom.

There was no end to listing the heroic tales he had established.

He could recount his achievements as effortlessly as pulling coins from a pocket, each one worthy of being considered a lifetime accomplishment for any ordinary hero.

An existence one could hardly believe was human, dare not approach.

The death of such a husband tore my entire life apart.

The comfortable, peaceful life I enjoyed as the Grand Duchess vanished without a trace, and I plummeted to the status of a criminal, imprisoned by Gert’s relatives.

The charges? Nothing less than bewitching Gert into an unsuitable marriage and, ultimately, not being satisfied with that alone, killing him!

“Forget the marriage for a moment, but me, killing Gert? Do you believe that? It’s utter nonsense!”

There must have been some misunderstanding.

I claimed my innocence, but no one listened.

Still, I had someone close in this family besides Gert.

“Eurych? Please, call Eurych!”

Eurych, who had been anxiously concerned for me, worried if I might feel uncomfortable adjusting to an unfamiliar estate. As a member of the same expedition party, I could trust him.

As Gert’s cousin with significant influence in the family, he would easily clear my false charges.

“How foolish. Can you still not grasp the situation?”

The scornful gaze, the tilted corner of the mouth.

Eurych face, which resembled Gert’s but with a slightly softer air, was distorted and shattered like broken glass.

Only then did I realize it wasn’t that Gert’s relatives had misunderstood something; they had framed me to expel me from the family lineage.

All because a commoner-born minstrel was deemed unworthy of the dignity befitting the Grand Duchess of Archduchess!

They had smiled in my face, saying commoner or noble didn’t matter, only to have harbored such thoughts behind my back.

Betrayal ripped through my chest.

Their goodwill towards me had only ever been an act, watching Gert’s reactions.

With Gert gone, I was ultimately treated worse than a stray dog.

On the day I was finally branded a criminal and sentenced to execution within the family.

The sharp gazes directed at me were still vivid in my memory.

“If she had known her place, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“This is what happens when you try to sit in a seat beyond your station. Did that woman really think she was worthy of the Archduchess Grand Ducal house?”

Everyone who had mocked and condemned me back then was here at this banquet.

If I could, I wanted to expose everything they had done.

‘…But nothing has happened yet.’

The reason I could travel back in time was because Mnemir, the God of Arts, pleased by the song I sang just before death, spared me.

At the time, I was on the verge of being pushed off a towering spire.

It wasn’t an ideal situation for singing, but I offered my song to the God of Arts as a final gamble, and the gamble succeeded.

“Your song, though incomplete, pleases me, Mnemir, God of Arts and Memory. But it is a pity. You are about to die like this….”

Mnemir appeared before me as I fell endlessly from the spire. Taking the form of a magnificent peacock with a hundred-eyed tail, a single beat of his wings halted my fall, my body suspended in the air, wrapped in light.

“Very well, with the aid of my wheel, I shall send you back one year.”

And when I came to my senses, it was this moment.

So now, one year before the moment of my death.

My 24th birthday banquet, without a doubt.

I met the eyes of Gert’s relatives, one by one.

Oblivious, they smiled amiably the instant our eyes met.

‘Hypocrites!’

Just looking at them made my blood boil. But in the grand scheme, they were all just small fry.

“Are you alright, Orpheus?”

This Eurych, who was speaking to me now, was the prime target of the vengeance I absolutely had to take.

“You were standing there lost in thought for a while…. It seems you’ve had too much to drink. Gert, you should have stopped her before it came to this.”

Eurych spoke with feigned concern. Just hearing his voice made me want to wash my ears.

My rage wasn’t solely because I had been closest to Eurych.

It was because Eurych crime was the worst.

“You ruined everything, Orpheus!”

The person who tried to push me off the spire to my death.

That was Eurych.

The sharp wind grazing my cheek. The helpless feeling of falling endlessly with nothing to hold onto….

Remembering it made my stomach churn.

As I felt nauseous and covered my mouth.

A sighing voice came from beside me.

“I don’t think she drank that much.”
“…I just felt suffocated because the air was stuffy. I’m fine now.”

I hastily made an excuse.

I had to admit my current state could be mistaken for drunkenness.

It was only natural for my feelings to seesaw, having just faced those who, until a moment ago, were shouting for my death, right after the joy of returning.

But I couldn’t afford to stand around dazed, brooding over past grievances forever.

If Gert, thinking I was drunk, decided to eject me from the banquet hall, that would be problematic.

I had something I needed to do immediately.

“By the way, Gert, I have something I want to say. Can you spare a moment?”

According to my memory, Gert definitely left during this birthday banquet. To hunt monsters.

It was always the case that Gert would leave on monster hunts at the drop of a hat.

But when Gert left like that, he wouldn’t return for months.

I couldn’t wait that long.

“Something to say? Say it now.”
“I can’t here. I want to talk somewhere we can be alone….”

As I shook my head in distress, Gert’s adjutant, Hylas, approached with an anxious look and discreetly spoke up.

“Lord Gert, I believe it’s about time to prepare for the hunt.”
“Has the time come already?”

Gert furrowed his brow and clicked his tongue. Then, turning to me, he spoke as if placating a child.

“Then, Orphea, don’t overdo it. If you’re tired, go in and rest early. As for the talk… if it’s not urgent, I’ll listen when I return from the hunt.”
“It is urgent!”
“…What on earth is it?”
“It’s, well, about my birthday present?”

I stammered, evading.

Calling it a birthday present was a bit odd, but technically, it was something Gert needed to do for me on my birthday, so it wasn’t entirely wrong.

I tried my best to phrase it indirectly, but Gert dismissed my words with disinterest.

“A present? When I asked a few days ago, you acted as if you weren’t interested. If there’s something you want, just tell Hylas as usual. Whatever you desire, I’ll get it for you.”

And with that, he turned on his heel to leave!

Whenever it was time to hunt, Gert’s patience grew remarkably short.

Under normal circumstances, he might have been more lenient, but right now, Gert had no intention of listening.

Even I knew detaining Gert with something like a birthday present was unreasonable. But my mind was in such disarray I couldn’t think of any other excuse.

Growing anxious, I cried out desperately.

“I—I want a divorce!”