Chapter 3

The carriage rattled endlessly along the road.

Clatter, clatter.

Inside, Irenne gazed at the fortress of the Allied Kingdoms in the distance.

The place where purifiers and knights gathered to form contracts.

The place she had thought she would never return to for the rest of her life.

And yet I’ve come back here again.

Then Irenne let out a bitter smile.

“No, I haven’t returned.”

In this life, this was clearly her first visit.

After opening her eyes again, without understanding what had happened, Irenne first did exactly what she had done in the past.

She begged the Count.

She asked for six months.

She promised she would form a Pair and earn money.

Just as she remembered, the Count raged in anger before finally giving her a first and last chance.

Afterward, Irenne locked herself in her room for an entire day and thought.

People said that before death, one’s past flashed before their eyes.

But this was far beyond that.

She spent the entire day waiting for the dream to end, waiting for this illusion that supposedly appeared before death to disappear.

Yet just like before, the maids brought her meals as if they were throwing them at her.

The head butler tossed a bag into her room and told her to prepare for departure.

Watching their vivid mockery and contempt, Irenne finally realized something.

This was not an illusion.

She had truly returned to the past.

How?

She didn’t know the reason.

But she had a suspicion.

Could it be because of this?

Irenne pulled a black metal fragment from her pocket.

It looked as though it had once been part of something larger that had been broken in half.

It was the item she had obtained from the Reward Room inside that dungeon shortly before her death.

The place she had desperately fled into after being gravely wounded by monsters.

The Reward Room, located at the very end of a dungeon, was a place monsters could never enter.

There were mysterious chests there, boxes whose origins no one knew.

Inside were gold, jewels, and occasionally strange objects that did not seem to belong to this world.

Before dying, Irenne had opened a rotting wooden chest beside her.

Anyone could tell it was a low-grade reward chest.

Such chests usually contained useless junk.

Strange feathers.

Odd stones.

Things like that.

So when this strange half-piece of metal appeared, she hadn’t thought much of it.

I was holding this when I died.

And yet, after returning to the past, it was still in her hand.

After staring at it for a moment, Irenne put it back into her pocket.

Then she turned her attention to the papers resting on her lap.

They contained everything she remembered from the future.

The moment she realized she had truly returned to the past, she had frantically written down every memory she could recall.

Which dungeons had appeared in dangerous regions.

Which dungeons had produced incredible rewards.

What powers those rewards possessed.

And much more.

There was no way I could forget them.

Because she was always alone, Irenne often became bored sitting in her room.

So she spent her time reading every record she could find in the archives, from newly formed dungeons to ancient dungeon reports.

She was interested in dungeons themselves.

But she was even more interested in what came out of them.

A necklace that prevented all injuries from monsters.

A jewel that shone endlessly on its own.

A statue that remained unharmed even inside fire.

These mysterious items, known as Artifacts, were the most valuable rewards that could be obtained from dungeons.

One famous example was the necklace worn by the king of the Kingdom of Heren.

It possessed the power to slow aging.

Because of it, the eighty-year-old king supposedly still looked as though he were in his early thirties.

In any case, Artifacts were treasures valuable enough to completely change a person’s life.

They sold for unimaginable sums.

Sometimes something that incredible would appear in a low-rank dungeon, and the entire continent would be thrown into chaos.

People would lament that if they had known such an item was there, they would have done anything to obtain it.

And now, Irenne knew where those treasures would appear.

It wasn’t only the rewards she remembered.

She also remembered which types of monsters appeared in which dungeons, what they were strong against, and what their weaknesses were.

So if everything still follows the future I remember…

Even if she signed an unfavorable contract, she could still create favorable results for herself.

Results that would make the 100,000 gold she owed the Count seem insignificant.

Irenne remembered the Count slapping her.

In the past, he had seemed huge and terrifying.

But not anymore.

Even when he shouted about repaying her worth, she felt only contempt.

Not fear.

And it wasn’t only the Count.

The maids who mocked her.

The butlers who looked down on her.

She had feared them all before.

Now they seemed ridiculous.

After dying once, they all seem laughable.

Just then, the coachman shouted.

“Hey! We’re almost at the fortress! Get ready to get off!”

In the past, even that would have made her flinch.

Not anymore.

Calmly, Irenne placed the papers into her bag and set her luggage beside her.

As she adjusted her clothes, she raised her head.

My previous life was a failure.

And somehow, through a miracle, she had been given another chance.

So I can’t live like a fool again.

During the past week, she had discovered something.

The major events she remembered still happened exactly the same way.

But smaller things could change.

For example, when she asked the cook—who had only given her hard bread in her previous life—to provide proper food because she was going to the Night of Contracts, he hesitated before serving her warm soup and soft bread.

And although she had received little more than rags in her previous life, this time she had been given proper clothing under the excuse of attending the contract gathering.

Her choices could create different outcomes.

In that case…

As she looked at the fortress growing closer, she made a vow.

The very first mistake she needed to correct in this life.

That was…

I will not become Mikhail’s Pair.

Even now, she could clearly remember the way he had looked at her.

The shock and panic that spread across his face when he realized they had slept together.

The shame.

The despair.

She couldn’t blame him.

He had never hidden his disgust toward her.

And she couldn’t resent him for it.

Even if it had been done to save his life, his beliefs had been completely shattered.

If I had been a stronger purifier, he would never have ended up like that.

If Princess Cecilia, known as the strongest purifier of this era, had been Mikhail’s Pair, perhaps simply holding his hand would have been enough to save him.

If that had happened, he would never have been expelled from the Temple.

Irenne remembered the choice that had left nothing but wounds behind in her previous life.

I can’t repeat the same mistake.

So in this life, she would find someone else.

Someone other than Mikhail.

No matter what.

The fortress built before the dangerous regions where dungeons appeared was called a fortress.

But in reality, it was no different from a massive city.

The money earned from dungeons is enormous. Of course it became this way.

The gold, jewels, and Artifacts found in Reward Rooms.

Every kingdom desperately wanted them.

That was why they provided knights and purifiers entering dungeons with every possible convenience and luxury.

Though none of that applies to a lowest-rank purifier like me.

Standing quietly in a corner, Irenne watched the knights and purifiers already greeting one another and searching for Pairs.

A Pair referred to a knight and purifier who mutually agreed to a contract.

Once a Pair was formed, the purifier could only heal that knight.

Likewise, the knight could only receive treatment from their contracted purifier.

No one knew why, but healing became significantly more effective between contracted Pairs.

Of course, that didn’t make it look any better when unmarried people regularly shared beds together.

So the Allied Kingdoms gave the relationship the title of Pair and officially recognized it as a temporary marriage.

It was little more than a convenient label.

Apparently, they wanted to preserve appearances.

Unlike in her previous life, Irenne calmly observed the luxurious hall before turning her attention toward the knights.

It’s strange seeing people who already died once in my memories.

Then she chuckled.

After all, she herself had already died once.

Irenne touched the metal fragment in her pocket.

In this life, she would have to discover what it truly was.

Then a certain knight caught her eye.

He was laughing loudly with his fellow knights.

Despite appearances, he was quite skilled.

More importantly, he valued his own life greatly and avoided dungeons that seemed too dangerous.

He had also survived until the very end.

In the past, he had approached Irenne several times.

“Honestly, I regret it a little. Someone like you would’ve been worth giving up dungeon raids for a year just to enjoy life together.”

He had even said that if she hadn’t been Mikhail’s Pair, he would have gladly formed a Pair with her.

A man who loves women enough to accept even a lowest-rank purifier. Yet still competent enough to survive.

That was exactly the kind of Pair Irenne wanted.

And the man before her fit those conditions perfectly.

Honestly… anyone but Mikhail is fine.

Irenne walked toward the knight.

His eyes slowly swept over her body from head to toe before he licked his lips.

Strangely, his obvious desire made her feel relieved.

Someone whose intentions were so clear was easier to deal with.

They would simply exchange what they wanted.

Nothing more.

No feelings involved.

“Would you be willing to make a contract with me?”

“You are… if I remember correctly, a lowest-rank purifier.”

“Yes. That’s why I’m willing to be very flexible with the contract terms. You can keep all dungeon rewards. I only ask for one reward from a low-rank dungeon once a month.”

The knight’s eyes immediately lit up.

It was an extraordinary offer.

Normally, purifiers demanded a fifty-fifty split.

Knights disliked it, but they had little choice.

Without a purifier, they couldn’t even gain permission to enter a dungeon.

And upsetting a purifier could result in poor treatment.

Yet here she was, offering conditions that were practically free.

And low-rank dungeons are easy to clear. Most rewards from them are worthless anyway.

No matter how he looked at it, the deal benefited him.

“Really? That’s enough for you?”

“Yes. However, I’ll choose which dungeon reward I receive. Other than that, I have no additional conditions.”

“Hm.”

The knight quickly calculated the benefits.

She had been standing in a corner, but he had noticed her long ago.

Tall.

Slender.

Curves exactly where they should be.

And a calm, beautiful face that stirred a desire to see her cry.

If she hadn’t been lowest-rank, plenty of knights would have approached her already.

“Alright.”

The knight extended his hand.

“Then I’d like to receive purification immediately.”

The desire in his eyes was completely obvious.

Irenne quietly swallowed.

Suddenly, she remembered Mikhail.

The man who had never wanted anything from her.

And how that had only made her feel even more miserable.

This is better.

If everything was clear from the beginning, if both sides knew exactly what they were giving and receiving, then at least she wouldn’t have to live with the guilt of ruining someone’s life.

Just as Irenne reached out to take the knight’s hand—

BANG!

The doors of the banquet hall burst open.

A man drenched in bright red blood staggered inside.

Irenne’s eyes widened.

The man in that terrible state was…

Mikhail.