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Chapter 3
As I gently placed my palm over the scar, I felt the steady thump of my heartbeat beneath it.
Lifting my trembling lashes, I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
The person standing here was Inerea Mertiel, nineteen years old.
Not the twenty-two-year-old Inerea Mertiel.
Perhaps God had taken pity on me.
I didn’t know why this had happened.
I didn’t know why I had been brought back here.
But there was one thing I knew for certain.
“One lifetime of regrets is enough.”
I would carve this scar—the remnant of my death—deep into my heart.
And with this life I had been given once again…
I would live without regrets.
I would obtain everything I had once wished for.
For my own sake.
✦ ✦ ✦
Unable to make sense of everything that had happened, I pulled my hood low over my face and slipped out of the castle.
“The temple.”
It was the only place that might be able to give me answers.
Summoning all my strength, I climbed over the castle wall and began running.
The barrier that only permitted authorized people to leave…
Allowed me to pass without resistance.
As though it had never intended to stop me in the first place.
“Haha…”
For the first time in my life, I ran freely beyond the castle walls.
Not as a fugitive.
Just as an ordinary person.
Laughing all the while.
I ran until the skin on my feet split open.
Until the icy wind tore through my lungs.
Without stopping once.
Only then…
Did I finally arrive.
“Haa… haa…”
The temple.
Even in the darkness of night, the magnificent white sanctuary shone with a sacred radiance.
I had never once set foot there before.
Standing before its towering entrance, I hesitated for only a moment before clenching my fists.
There’s no point hesitating now.
I stepped inside.
The anxiety and fear that had followed me the entire journey vanished the instant I entered the immaculate white halls.
“So quiet…”
Perhaps because it was night…
There wasn’t a single person in sight.
Then something strange occurred to me.
I don’t know much about the temple, but…
A maze?
Why does this place feel like a maze?
No matter how long I walked…
My destination never appeared.
Instead, it felt as though I was endlessly walking the same corridors.
I even retraced my steps.
Yet somehow…
I found myself on the same path again.
“Magic?”
“Did they enchant the temple to keep intruders out?”
…Let’s keep going.
I had no idea how long I’d been wandering.
Just as my exhausted legs tangled beneath me and I thought I was about to collapse—
“Ugh…”
Ow…
That hurts…
A voice echoed through the vast chamber, resonating beneath the impossibly high ceiling.
“Welcome.”
I spun around instinctively.
Standing there…
Was a woman dressed entirely in white.
She seemed like the only pure existence in an otherwise tainted world.
“I am Iris.”
“The representative of God.”
The woman with snow-white eyes smiled gently.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Iris.
The Pope.
The Saintess.
A woman blessed by God and adored by the entire world.
“Inerea.”
“You don’t need to explain anything.”
With movements as graceful as an angel descending from heaven, Iris took a seat across from me.
“Because there is nothing I do not know.”
People said she was even more difficult to meet than the Emperor himself.
Never had I imagined I would meet her so easily.
“You… know everything?”
“Then you already know why I came here.”
Gently brushing a hand beneath her chin, Iris leaned forward until she was at eye level with me.
Then she spoke.
“You turned back time.”
“To the day you regretted most.”
Seeing the astonishment on my face, she smiled.
“It happens from time to time.”
“…Something like this happens often?”
“Like the Ademin Flower that blooms only once every several centuries…”
“For the sake of noble souls whose destinies have been irreparably broken…”
“We sometimes borrow the power of God.”
Her explanation was so abstract that I almost frowned.
“Noble soul…”
“That’s hardly a phrase that suits someone like me.”
“Is that so?”
“…”
“I think it suits you perfectly.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
I didn’t know what she had seen in me to say such a thing.
Nor did I wish to dwell on it.
I slowly shook my head.
“So…”
“Does that mean I simply live this new life I’ve been given?”
Her voice remained calm and devoid of emotion.
“This world was created to fulfill your wish.”
Every word she spoke sent a strange sensation coursing through my body.
“If your wish is fulfilled…”
“This world will remain yours.”
I instinctively held my breath.
“But if your wish is not fulfilled…”
“Everything will return to how it originally was.”
Return…
To how it originally was?
Then…
Would I go back to the world before my regression?
I shot to my feet.
No.
That couldn’t happen.
There was nothing waiting for me there…
Except death.
There was no way to escape those final moments.
A sharp pain erupted from my chest.
My heart throbbed violently.
All the strength suddenly drained from my body.
As I staggered, Iris gently caught me before easing me back into my seat.
Looking down at me, she remained silent for a moment before speaking.
“The wish you made just before you died…”
“Fulfill it.”
“That wish is what turned back your time.”
Her words awakened memories I hadn’t realized I’d buried.
At least that man…
I wanted to drag him into hell with my own hands.
I want power.
Power so that no one can ever trample over me again.
The desperate wishes I had whispered moments before death.
“If things become difficult…”
“Come see me.”
“I can at least listen.”
So…
If I want to survive…
I have to make those wishes come true.
Reality crashed over me like an enormous wave.
✦ ✦ ✦
If I wanted to stay alive, there were two things I had to accomplish.
First…
Send my father into ruin.
Second…
Gain power.
The first one…
I could already consider complete.
Which meant only one goal remained.
Power…
“Hmm…”
“Your Grace and the Duchess have been missing for two whole months!”
“We can’t keep hiding this from His Majesty the Emperor any longer!”
“This is a matter of grave importance! This isn’t the time to sit around doing nothing!”
The commotion outside made it impossible to think.
Resting my chin on one hand, I glared at my bedroom door as the voices grew louder.
“Then what are we supposed to do, Head Butler?!”
“And asking me will somehow produce an answer? Damn it!”
Two months had already passed since Mother’s death.
Two months since my regression.
Just as expected from this dysfunctional family…
The household had finally begun falling apart.
Everyone was running around in circles and fighting amongst themselves.
“They’ve finally come all the way to my room.”
For the record…
I hadn’t said a single word about either Father or Mother.
After all, no one ever bothered asking me where they were.
I had always lived in this house as quietly as a mouse.
“But today…”
“That changes.”
Judging from the noise outside my room…
Something was about to happen.
Knock. Knock.
“…?”
Without waiting for permission—
Bang!
The heavy doors were thrown open.
Startled, I could only alternate my gaze between the wide-open doors…
And the man who had barged inside.
“Lady Inerea.”
“It’s been quite some time.”
A stout man with a bulging belly strode confidently into my room.
…I hate this.
Behind him, several knights and attendants lingered awkwardly.
The man stroked his beard and laughed heartily.
Standing beside him was a young man around my age who looked strikingly similar to him.
It was Rublion.
One of the nobles from a collateral branch of House Mertiel.
He had constantly tormented me with remarks like—
“The Duke should adopt an heir.”
“The Lady’s body isn’t suited to bearing children.”
“You’d better decide on a successor before it’s too late.”
“You’ve grown quite a bit.”
So…
He had been watching the Duke’s household closely all this time.
The moment he noticed something had happened…
He came rushing over.
“Stop.”
I halted him before he could take another step into my room.
At my command—
His body froze.
“…Lady?”
The collateral nobles knew perfectly well how I had been raised.
They knew exactly how I had been treated.
And they believed they knew exactly what kind of person I was.
“What a shame.”
In the past…
As long as Father was around, I had never dared voice my dissatisfaction.
No matter how much resentment I felt…
I always kept it to myself.
But today…
I intended to repay all of it.
“It seems…”
“You were never taught the proper etiquette expected of a noble.”
“What?”
“Lady, what are you saying?!”
Rublion’s eyes widened in shock as he instinctively took a step back.
