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chapter 01
Click.
Countless scenes replayed in my mind like a fast rewind. Long stretches of time collapsed in an instant.
The moment I gasped the breath I had been holding—
“Hah!”
Suddenly, my perspective had changed.
“Ha… ha…”
A luxurious dining hall, a table full of food. Maids rushing over, startled at my sudden fit.
“Miss Vania! Are you alright?”
“Oh my, what has happened!”
There was no pain.
I was just shocked by experiencing this regression for the first time.
“…I’m fine.”
This place was—
‘Windsor Castle?’
The castle where my father gathered and raised his illegitimate children.
The place where I had spent my childhood.
‘I look so much younger than I expected. How many years have I gone back?’
Guessing but unsure, I grabbed the hand of a familiar maid.
“…Maria?”
“Yes, Miss. Are you alright?”
“Yes. But when can I see Father?”
This question wouldn’t seem strange. I had been endlessly curious about it at this age.
As expected, Maria answered without suspicion, with only a look of sympathy.
“If you awaken your abilities, you could see the Duke even now.”
“And if I can’t?”
In my family, if a child fails to manifest their abilities by age twelve, they are deemed ‘powerless’ and expelled.
So, to see my father, I either had to awaken my abilities—or be deemed powerless and meet him for the first and last time at age twelve. One of the two.
“…Birthday party?”
Maria seemed at a loss for words, pitying me, before finally replying.
“After celebrating your birthday two more times, the Duke will come to see you.”
“I see.”
Even if I couldn’t awaken my abilities, after two more birthdays, I could see my father.
‘So… I’m ten now.’
I looked at my hands. Even though they were mine, they were so small, unfamiliar.
‘I’ve gone back ten years.’
Ten years.
Just moments ago, facing death, I had regressed ten years.
The House of von Vassenberg.
A family so powerful that even the Emperor of the Empire bowed his head.
Vania was the cherished daughter of such a house.
Her father, the Duke of Vassenberg, treasured her above all and she was also the heir to the family’s wealth.
Because she possessed unprecedented abilities.
“Vania, we have to run.”
But the family she thought eternal collapsed in an instant. One day, her father and siblings were all killed.
That horrifying dawn—
By a single hand.
“He will kill you too.”
Her lover grabbed Vania’s hand and ran desperately. As she fled, Vania saw bodies scattered throughout the mansion.
Her half-brothers.
The first, the second…
Her older sisters, and… even her father.
It was unbelievable.
Those who were stronger than anyone else, with abilities far beyond ordinary people—how had they been slaughtered so easily?
“Are you Vania Vassenberg?”
Eventually, Vania came face to face with—
A man who had been expelled from the family as powerless. Yet he had orchestrated this massacre.
Ryan Vassenberg.
“Wh-what is this, Prince? If we’re not dying together, let go of her hand and step back.”
Ryan waved at her lover lazily.
“Killing the innocent together gives nightmares, you know.”
“Please spare her life.”
Her lover immediately pleaded for Vania’s life.
“She didn’t know. She’s too young, she’s innocent…”
“Puhahaha! Really?”
Ryan laughed, then his eyes glinted ominously.
“Really didn’t know? That she’s the Princess of Vassenberg? Until she turned twenty?”
“……”
“All the things you’ve eaten, worn, enjoyed… did you really not know you were standing on such dirty power?”
She couldn’t not know.
Vania knew perfectly well.
Strength equates to power.
It was natural for the Vassenbergs—the only family producing ability users—to dominate.
And for unchecked, absolute power to become corrupt… it was a perfectly natural process.
“Please spare her life. She could not escape the Duke nor defy him. Please.”
Her lover pleaded again for her, as Vania could not even speak in her own defense.
“Listen, Prince. I didn’t come here to judge who’s guilty or innocent. I can’t even believe it, nor is it my place.”
But the slayer was merciless.
“I will count to ten. After that, you’ll also bear a crime in the eyes of the Prince—for protecting her.”
“……”
“Consider it adding a charge to avoid nightmares—understood?”
Vania swallowed in fear.
She tried to let go, but her lover held her tighter.
“If you value your life, let go and step back within ten… nine…”
Her mind went blank.
What should she do?
Vania was an ability user. She could respond in some way.
But now, she didn’t know what Ryan’s ability was, so she couldn’t act recklessly.
Her father and siblings were all dead.
What hidden power did Ryan, the so-called powerless one, possess?
How had he massacred all the ability-user siblings—those who could burn, summon lightning, and conjure storms—in such a short time?
“If we’re not dying together, let go of her hand.”
“If you value your life, let go and step back within ten.”
Ryan didn’t seem to want her lover’s life. That was why he kept ordering Vania to step back.
‘If I stay close, I’ll die too. Then it must be an area-of-effect ability.’
Vania thought calmly.
She recalled her father’s and siblings’ corpses.
Untouched, pristine.
Not stabbed, not pierced… dead with their eyes open, without even a hint of resistance.
“Ah.”
In that moment, Vania realized.
And with realization came despair.
‘I’m going to die.’
If Ryan’s ability was what she suspected, there was no way to survive.
“Six… five…”
At that moment, her lover, as if saying a final goodbye, gently held Vania’s cheek and met her eyes.
“Listen carefully.”
But what he whispered was not a farewell.
“When you go back, stop that man from taking revenge, Vania.”
“……!”
Vania was shocked. She understood what her lover intended.
“No… if I do that…”
He smiled, pressing his forehead gently against hers through tears.
“And… don’t look for me. I’ll only… ruin you again.”
“……”
“Let’s never meet again.”
Vania could not respond to such a pitiful plea. Tears ran down her cheeks.
“Three… two!”
The slayer’s voice mockingly counting down.
Her lover laughed sadly.
“Let’s never love each other.”
“Miss?”
“Ah.”
“Don’t you have an appetite?”
I held the fork, staring blankly.
“It seems your body isn’t well. Shall I call a physician?”
“No, really, I’m fine.”
I shook my head and thought of someone.
Ryan Vassenberg.
The first time I met him, facing death, my half-brother.
He was the legitimate heir, my father’s fifth son, but had been deemed powerless.
At twelve, he was expelled from the family, and his father falsely labeled him a murderer, sending him to the imperial prison.
All of this had happened before I was even born.
‘As expected… it must be revenge.’
Ryan would have held a grudge against the father who abandoned him and tarnished his name.
“Ha.”
I quietly set down my utensils.
“Miss?”
“Sorry. I have no appetite. I’ll eat later if I’m hungry.”
At this point, Ryan was imprisoned under false charges.
No one knew his actions after release, so if I wanted to find him, immediately after his release would be the last chance.
‘He must have received the harshest sentence at age twelve.’
Calculating the time, I immediately ran out of the dining hall.
‘Two years until his release.’
There was no time to waste. I was the only one who knew the disaster Ryan would unleash ten years later.
