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chapter 01
Prologue
Please Break Off Our Engagement, Duke I Don’t Want to Die
A low, buzzing sound rang in my ears. My vision was completely blurred, and my whole body felt heavy, like it was soaked through with water.
A terrible pain climbed up from beneath my tailbone, creeping along my spine. It was becoming incredibly difficult to stay conscious.
“Hazel, please—open your eyes!”
A desperate voice called out to me.
Instinctively, I turned toward it, and within my hazy vision, the vague outline of a person slowly came into focus.
“Please… don’t lose consciousness!”
Dante Romanov?
‘Why is he…?’
Why is this man crying like that?
He was always someone towering like a mountain, deep like the sea. He never lost his composure, always wearing that relaxed expression—so much so that sometimes it made me want to smack his shoulder out of sheer irritation.
‘Of course, I never actually did.’
But you… you could cry like a lost child?
“Hazel, please, open your eyes properly! Please!”
“Ha… ngh…”
I couldn’t breathe. The moment I realized that, a primal fear clawed its way up my throat.
Maybe that was why. Even though I had never been close to the man before me, I felt the urge to reach out to him. Fortunately—or unfortunately—my body refused to move.
As I sank into what felt like a thick, suffocating swamp, a sharp, urgent voice pierced through my ears like a scream.
“Your Grace, please keep talking to her! You must not let her lose consciousness!”
A physician, perhaps. His trembling voice was tangled with fear and despair.
Only then did I realize—
‘Ah… I’m dying.’
Once I understood, the fragmented pieces of memory that had been slipping away began to fall back into place.
The rising pain. The labored breathing. The metallic scent of blood. The ringing in my ears. The chills shaking my entire body.
‘And…’
I had just given birth.
Yes—the baby.
My baby, who came like a miracle after a single, awkward wedding night with Dante Romanov—a marriage filled with nothing but duty.
Even though it was conceived without love, I would cradle my swollen belly and whisper softly:
‘I’ll give you all the love I have.’
“The baby… what about the baby…?”
At my barely audible voice, Dante cupped my face with his large hands. His touch felt burning hot.
So your hands were this warm… I never once held them, so I’m only realizing it now.
“The baby is safe. If you want to meet your daughter, hold on! Nothing will happen to you—absolutely nothing!”
My baby was safe. That alone was enough.
Even if my breath were to stop, my promise—to give her all my love—would never change.
But why was this man crying so desperately?
It was far too intense to be mere comfort for someone about to die.
‘Besides… he was never a particularly warm person to begin with.’
Our relationship… had often been worse than strangers, hidden behind a hollow title.
And yet, the one standing before me at my death was none other than Dante Romanov.
“Hazel, please…”
Unfortunately, I could no longer speak. My throat burned as if lined with thorns. I couldn’t answer him at all.
With my breath caught in my chest, my final desire was simple—
I wanted to say goodbye to him.
My breathing grew heavier.
If God could hear me now… I wanted to ask—after this breath ends, is there any way I can still remain by your side, Dante?
Of course, it wasn’t because I loved you.
‘We were never that kind of relationship.’
But we have a child.
Even without me, you’ll take responsibility for her… you’ll raise her.
‘I want to see that.’
Even if I must become falling rain, drifting petals, or a fleeting breeze brushing your cheeks—
Tears filled my eyes, blurring his figure into two.
“Hazel, don’t go.”
“……”
“Please… don’t leave me.”
His sobbing voice, like a wail, began to fade, flickering in and out. Soon, all I could hear was a dull, underwater hum.
My life felt like a worn candle barely holding onto its flame. With one final breath, it would flicker out, leaving behind only a wisp of smoke.
‘Now… really, truly…’
I realized that what I saw now would be the final scene I’d ever remember.
With trembling eyelids, I forced my eyes open and looked at the man crying endlessly before me.
We were never close enough to wish each other happiness before…
But now, I hope you live a happy life.
I’ll pray for it with my last breath.
‘…Goodbye. Farewell.’
* * *
“Gasp…! Haa…!”
I woke up, barely managing to catch my breath. As I exhaled the air that had filled my lungs, pain lingered in every place it had touched.
For a while, I steadied my trembling body, tracing back the emotions and images from the dream.
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me.
Was that really just a dream?
“…No.”
Like a whirlpool, memories buried deep within surged forward all at once.
Only then did I realize—
The scene I saw in my dream was from a side story—a prequel episode from a novel I had read in my past life.
“What… is this?”
And in that instant, I understood.
I had been reincarnated into that novel.
