🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 11
“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop…”
In front of her stood a boy about the same age as Liriana, with black hair.
Liriana felt both embarrassed and angry, but as the boy said, there was no real reason for him to have intentionally listened to her prayer.
Even if she wanted to scold him, she had no right to — she herself had been secretly praying in the temple when she wasn’t supposed to.
“Is it true… that if you ask the Sun God, you can talk to someone who’s died?”
Zighart didn’t want to admit that he had overheard her prayer, but knowing whether that was true was far more important.
If there was even a chance he could speak to his late father again, things like manners or propriety meant nothing.
Liriana wanted to snap at him for mentioning her private prayer, but the sadness in the boy’s red eyes stopped her.
She realized that what he was feeling now was the same pain she had once felt at her lowest point.
“…Maybe?”
Liriana forced a bright tone into her voice.
She didn’t want to lie to a boy drowning in grief and say “yes” outright.
Maybe.
It wasn’t certain, but even that faint hope was enough reason for her to keep praying.
“Still, when I say it out loud like that, I miss my mother a little less.”
“I see…”
Zighart found her calm, honest comfort strangely soothing.
He brought his hands together, then paused, realizing there was a girl beside him.
No matter how much he missed his father, it wasn’t something he wanted a stranger to see him praying about.
Sensing that, Liriana stood up, ready to give him space to pray.
“My name is Zighart.”
“I’m Liriana. Liriana Emeldia.”
Finally, they exchanged names.
Who could’ve imagined that the boy who had come to pray that day would turn out to be Zighart, heir to the Grand Duchy of Lebradian?
The next day, when Liriana attended the funeral of the Grand Duke of Lebradian at the Imperial Capital with her father, she nearly screamed when she saw Zighart there.
To think she had been so informal with someone destined to be the next Grand Duke…
While Liriana kept her head lowered, too intimidated by the solemn atmosphere of the royal funeral to look up, Zighart had called out to her as if they were old friends.
Her stay in Rephia had been short, but during that time, Zighart and Liriana had been inseparable.
Every afternoon, in the empty temple, after their prayers, the boy and girl would talk endlessly.
The boy said he wanted to become a swordsman to protect people, and the girl said she wanted everyone to be happy.
When the day came for Zighart to return to the Lebradian estate, Liriana had planned to see him off.
But her father suddenly collapsed that day, and she couldn’t make it in time.
By the time she ran to the port where they’d promised to meet, the Lebradian ship was already vanishing into the golden horizon.
Liriana waved her hand high toward the distant ship, saying her farewell alone.
Later, when Zighart became the Grand Duke, his mother, the Grand Duchess, moved to the capital Rephia to act on behalf of the late empress.
Though Liriana visited the city several times to see her own mother and even stopped by the temple, she never saw Zighart again.
She’d heard rumors that the Emeldia family had fallen on hard times — that she had a new stepmother, and that her father had passed away.
It wasn’t until eight years later that Liriana and Zighart met again.
After hearing Liriana’s story, Helene was astonished.
To think that she and Zighart shared such a past!
The original Helene in the novel hadn’t known this, and the story Perfect Lady Angelina never mentioned anything like it.
In fact, even Liriana’s name was barely brought up in the original.
But more than that—
The role Liriana had played, comforting a guilt-ridden Zighart after his father’s death, was strikingly similar to Angelina’s.
Angelina, too, had lost both her parents in an accident. And yet, the way she had sincerely comforted Zighart had made him think of her as an angel descended from heaven.
“It’s such a trivial story, really…”
Though no one said anything, Liriana’s face flushed red, and she fanned herself in embarrassment as she rushed to end the story.
There was no doubt about it — Liriana truly liked the Grand Duke.
But the Grand Duke wasn’t just any male lead candidate; he and the Crown Prince were the two most likely leads of the entire story.
And by this point, Zighart had already fallen deeply for Angelina.
Even so, Helene couldn’t bring herself to crush Liriana’s innocent feelings.
The romantic in her — the same Han Yena who had once devoured romance novels in her past life — stirred within her chest.
Helene gripped Liriana’s shoulders and declared before she could change her mind,
“Liriana, I’ll make you the Grand Duchess of Lebradian!”
✦✦✦
Morning at Herbiant Castle.
Inside a canopy bed framed by white lace curtains, a girl stretched and rubbed her eyes.
How could anyone not love her?
With hair that shone like sunlight, eyes blue as a summer lake, and cheeks as fresh as newly bloomed roses — one glance at Angelina was enough to understand why people called her the Angel of the Empire, the Angel Who Lost Her Wings.
Even other women couldn’t help but fall in love with her beauty.
Marisol, the maid, found herself dazed just looking at her, before quickly remembering to hand her two envelopes.
The seals told her where they came from — one from the Crown Prince of the Hersen Empire, and the other from the Grand Duke of Lebradian.
It had only been a month since the two men had returned to the capital, Rephia, after completing their studies abroad at Herbiant.
The Grand Duke’s letter was neat and full of daily reflections, written with earnest care, while the Crown Prince’s was full of messy handwriting and playful humor.
Different as they were, both letters shared the same message:
They wanted to host Angelina’s eighteenth birthday and debutante ball at the Imperial Palace that summer.
Angelina was the most beloved young lady in Herbiant, but many worried that a debutante ball held without her parents would feel too lonely.
Somehow, the two men — who usually clashed like cats and dogs — had joined forces to persuade her together.
After neatly folding both letters, Angelina smiled brightly and called for Marisol.
“Let’s prepare to leave for Rephia.”
The story of Perfect Lady Angelina was now entering its middle act.
✦✦✦
Helene hated hiking.
In this life and her past one, she had never understood people who climbed mountains for fun.
Her life was already an uphill struggle — why would anyone voluntarily climb another mountain?
And yet here she was, climbing one.
A vast, wild, breathtaking mountain.
Since no trails had ever been carved in this world’s wilderness, the path was brutally rough.
Wild beasts could appear at any moment — or worse, monsters.
For someone like Helene, who had no special abilities, this was incredibly dangerous.
But she had to find “it.”
Who knew how long she’d been climbing?
In a forest this thick, she wouldn’t have been surprised to find a hundred-year-old ginseng instead.
She’d heard that the sun set quickly here. She needed to find it and get down as soon as possible.
Then —
Rustle…
The sound of something moving through the bushes.
It was getting louder — and heading straight toward her.
“Please don’t be a beast… or a monster…”
After all the effort she’d put into living a better life this time around, dying from a monster bite would be too unfair to bear.
Helene swallowed hard and stared at the shadow emerging from the brush.
It looked eerily familiar.
“Jaina?”
Jaina wore simpler clothes than usual, a fox-fur scarf that could hide her face at any time, and a crossbow slung over her shoulder.
Helene knew from the original story that after her death, the Emeldia family had collapsed and the second sister, Jaina, had become a hunter in the mountains.
But she hadn’t expected her to already be working as one at seventeen.
For a noble girl — and from such a respected family — to make hunting her occupation rather than her hobby would surely destroy her reputation.
“Jaina…?”
Even as Helene called out, Jaina didn’t blink.
She stood frozen, as if holding her breath — then slowly drew back the bowstring of her crossbow, eyes as cold and emotionless as if staring down prey.
Only then did Helene remember the thought that had been haunting her all along.
In the original story, Helene had been a terrible mother.
Without her permission, her daughters couldn’t do anything. Because of her, they lost their wealth, their family, and even each other.
Was there truly no way for the three Emeldia sisters to escape Helene?
If Helene were gone… everything would be solved.
Had they — even once — wished for that themselves?
Jaina released the string.
The arrow flew straight toward Helene.
