WHCTA 02

Chapter: 02

In the desperate situation, with soldiers chasing right behind us, it felt surreal—like a dream—that I was calmly being taught where to strike a person to kill them.

Perhaps noticing my state, the duke gently grasped my shoulders and met my eyes.

“It’s all right.”

As he slowly patted my shoulder, the trembling that had consumed me gradually subsided as if by magic.

Once I had calmed down a little, even the rigid expression on the duke’s face softened.

“Thank—”

Just as I was about to thank him—

“There they are! Capture them!”

The soldiers were charging toward us.

The man shoved me hard in the back once more.

“We can’t delay any longer. Just keep your eyes forward and run.”

His complexion had grown noticeably paler than before. Pulling the sword from his waist, he raised his voice.

I caught sight of his back, soaked and sticky with blood, and instinctively hesitated.

Seeing me frozen in place, he shouted again.

“Hurry!”

Forcing my unwilling legs to move, I started running.

“Sob…”

Tears streamed endlessly down my face.

By now, the duke was probably so poisoned that he could barely remain standing.

I didn’t know how long I ran while sobbing, but eventually I spotted an exit leading outside not far ahead.

Then, in the next instant—

Thrust.

“Urgh…!”

An agonizing pain, as if someone had pressed burning iron against the pit of my stomach, stole my breath.

Looking down, I saw blood slowly spreading around the sword that had pierced straight through my chest.

With great effort, I turned my head.

A man standing several steps behind me met my gaze.

“So he threw everything away… for a woman like you.”

The man glaring at me with open irritation was Grand Duke Aksif.

Is he… talking about the duke?

The Grand Duke clicked his tongue, looking down at my collapsed body as though I were nothing more than an insect.

I have to tell him…

Even now, if I could just tell the Grand Duke that the duke and I had absolutely no relationship, perhaps he could still be treated.

But as my consciousness faded, the only thing I could manage was moving my lips soundlessly.

Soon, darkness swallowed my vision completely.

I was certain I had died…

“Gasp!”

“Oh my! Lady Dahlia!”

As my body pitched forward, my palms scraped against the floor, sending a sharp stinging pain through them.

But if I was dead, how could I feel pain?

“Are you all right? Good heavens, you’re bleeding so much!”

The voice fussing beside me sounded strangely familiar.

I turned toward its owner—

“…May?”

My eyes widened in disbelief.

Why was May standing in front of me?

She had been my maid, but when I married Delos and entered the Imperial Palace, she retired, saying she needed to return home to care for her sick family.

There was no way May had died with me.

Completely bewildered, I hurriedly looked around.

The vivid sensation in my body.

The bedroom where I had lived before getting married.

And May standing before me.

“May… why are you here?”

Unable to contain my confusion, I asked her.

“What do you mean, why? You said we were going to look at dresses for His Second Imperial Highness’s birthday banquet in five days.”

“The banquet…?”

Was the “Second Prince” she mentioned that bastard who had abandoned me just a few hours ago?

“Which birthday is it?”

“…Pardon?”

May looked at me strangely.

“His twenty-second birthday celebration…?”

She stared at me as if wondering whether I was seriously asking.

“Twenty-second…?”

I had no attention to spare for her expression.

Delos and I were the same age.

And I had died at twenty-four.

The moment I reached that conclusion, I frantically shook my head and bolted out of the room.

“Lady Dahlia!”

I heard May calling after me, but I ignored her and hurried onward.

Even the hallway looked disturbingly familiar.

Did I die… and end up dreaming?

Lost in a daze, I wandered aimlessly through the corridors.

Then—

“What on earth are you doing, Dahlia?”

A voice called my name.

It sounded unfamiliar…

Yet achingly familiar.

“…Father.”

Turning around, I found my father standing there.

After I left home because he opposed my marriage to Delos, I had only seen him occasionally at official events.

Even that ended when he died in a carriage accident after my marriage.

That’s right…

This was around the time my relationship with my family truly began falling apart.

Because this was when Delos proposed to me.

I accepted his proposal without the slightest hesitation.

Watching me, my father had flown into a rage.

He had always disapproved of my relationship with the Second Prince, whose reputation had long been terrible.

“Ah…”

As I retraced the past, my face gradually paled.

I remembered the day I had a fierce argument with my father because he adamantly opposed my marriage to Delos.

“I will never stand by and watch my daughter marry the Second Prince!”

“Then I just won’t be your daughter anymore! Fine! I’ll leave this house today!”

When Father refused to give his blessing until the very end, I committed the insane act of cutting ties with my own family.

Remembering the hurt expression on his face that day made my eyes sting.

Dahlia… what have you done?

Watching those scenes replay before me like a panorama, I felt utterly helpless.

I stood there absentmindedly for quite some time before hearing a heavy sigh.

Looking up, I saw Father staring at me with a deep frown.

“Running barefoot through the halls… What in the world have you been thinking these days?”

His expression carried the weary look of someone who had endured this countless times.

And understandably so.

Back then, I had practically been out of my mind.

To oppose Father’s attempts to make me break up with Delos, I lashed out at everyone with endless hostility.

I looked at him with trembling eyes before slowly opening my mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

“…What?”

Father’s eyes widened in shock, as though he had just heard something impossible.

Lowering my head deeply, I spoke again.

“I’m truly sorry. This is all my fault…”

Before I could finish, tears overflowed.

They streamed endlessly from my eyes, falling one after another onto the floor.

As if I had any right…

If I was going to apologize, I should have done it long ago.

As I choked back sobs, Father hesitantly approached me.

“N-No… it wasn’t that terrible… Calm yourself.”

Despite his obvious confusion, concern for me was unmistakable in his eyes.

Seeing that only made the sadness inside me swell even more.

I didn’t know how long I cried while apologizing over and over.

“All right! I understand! So please stop crying!”

Apparently misunderstanding the reason for my tears, Father began comforting me in a much gentler tone.

Then he even said that I could continue walking around barefoot if I wanted.

The moment I heard those words, I completely broke down.

“Waaah…”

“W-What is this…?”

I could feel the stunned gazes of the servants around us, all wearing expressions of shock just like Father’s.

But I simply couldn’t stop crying.

Six hours later.

I stared blankly at the moon hanging in the night sky and muttered,

“So… it really wasn’t a dream…”

After crying my heart out earlier that day, I had begun to notice something strange.

No matter how much time passed, there wasn’t the slightest sign that I would wake up from this “dream.”

I pinched my cheeks.

I even punched myself in the head—actions that would have made anyone think I’d gone insane.

It made no difference.

As time passed, the only things that increased were the swelling in my cheeks and the throbbing pain.

“…Did I really come back to life?”

It was a story no one would ever believe, no matter who I told.