The moment she opened her eyes, a terrible pain struck her entire body. It was a pain so vicious she wondered if she died again.

“…Ah.”

Adela let out a m*an in a hoarse voice and laughed hollowly, unable even to push herself up. The more vivid the pain, the more real it felt that she returned.

Thinking back on the heat of the night before, her cheeks flushed on their own.

It really was a mad thing to do.

She threw herself forward without a second thought, driven by nothing but the single desire to save Leon.

But she had no regrets.

Because now, at last, she knew what he was hiding.

In her past life, the Emperor wanted her head.

Whether it was his intention to wipe out the Valent royal bloodline, or resentment from a rejected proposition one night, she could not say.

Leon, who faced that blade without knowing the truth, simply shielded Adela behind his back on instinct. At the cost of his own life.

‘This time, I won’t leave him to fight alone.’

Her role was clear.

She had to be a refuge for Leon, and appear to the Empire as a woman full of weaknesses.

In the process, she had to cut out the spies blinding Leon’s eyes and ears, one by one.

If things followed her past life, Ingram Kasvah, who was in love with Leon, would arrive here before long. The thought of Ingram sent a chill down her spine, but Adela straightened her back.

“I won’t let them do to me what they did before.”

Just as she reached for the bell pull to call a maid, the bedroom door flew open with hurried footsteps.

“Miss!”

Taking in the state of the disordered bedroom, Sofia swallowed a scream and sank to the floor.

She could not take her eyes off Adela’s tangled hair and the red bruises visible through her chemise.

“No, this can’t……”

She was the nanny who stayed by Adela’s side until the very end in her past life too. Watching the wretched despair pooling in Sofia’s eyes, Adela bit her lip.

‘I’m sorry, Sofia. But right now, these terrible marks are the only shield that will keep me alive.’

Even if it meant being pointed at and judged, there was no better way to protect Leon.

If a moment of humiliation could protect Leon, it was worth bearing.

“That ungrateful beast! We saved him when he was half dead, and he dares bite the hand of his own master!”

Sofia wept and shrieked at the top of her lungs in fury.

Adela startled and had to clap a hand over Sofia’s mouth. The Emperor’s ears were still lurking in every corner of the castle.

“Sofia, shh. I really am fine. All right?”

“Oh, my poor girl, what are we to do? To have been put through something this terrible……”

Sofia came toward her, sobbing freely, her eyes full of guilt for failing to protect her. But Adela could not tell her the whole truth. No one would believe she died and came back.

Adela cleared her throat and patted the back of Sofia’s rough hand lightly.

“I’m terribly thirsty. Could you bring me some cool water?”

“Goodness, what was I thinking!”

Only then realizing she forgot her duties, Sofia scrambled to fetch a glass of water and held it out to Adela. Adela drank it gratefully, and only then looked squarely at the state of the wrecked bedroom.

“…Ah.”

The scene before her looked like a storm swept through the night before.

Decorations lay scattered all over the floor. The savagely torn bed sheets were a cruel testament to the violent passion of the night before.

Watching Sofia struggle to hold back her tears, Adela bit her lip.

‘Sofia is my only family.’

She was far more of a parent than the parents who tried to sell her off to an old man.

The memory of Sofia’s end, cut down by spear and blade while trying to protect her at the close of her past life, surfaced, and a dull ache settled in one corner of her chest.

“Sofia, listen carefully.”

“Yes, miss.”

“The Valent Kingdom has already fallen under the Urcheka Empire. The Empire’s forces are so overwhelmingly superior that no one can help us right now.”

“What about Duke Tilbury, who was in talks to marry you, miss? If we send him a secret message, he might be able to get you out of here.”

Sofia’s words brought a forgotten memory rising to the surface.

In her past life, she too sent him a plea for rescue, clutching at any straw she could find.

But what came of it?

Nothing but bitter betrayal. Duke Tilbury mocked her letter begging for salvation and handed it straight to Leon, and in return, cold chains were locked around Adela’s ankles.

Leon’s fury at her attempt to escape was beyond any words to describe.

“Sofia, I don’t want to put innocent people in danger because of us.”

“Then what do you intend to do, miss?”

“I’m going to become Leon’s concubine.”

“…Pardon?”

The eyes of Sofia, who devoted herself to Adela from the moment she was born, went wide enough to fall out. It was a natural reaction.

She was the esteemed princess of the Valent Kingdom.

Adela, of marriageable age, was of a rank fine enough to wed into any imperial family.

Even if Count Fershtein’s power was on the rise, declaring she would become not his wife but his concubine was something no one could understand.

But all of that belonged to the past.

“The Valent Kingdom is gone. I am no longer a princess, Sofia. That means there is no longer any fence anywhere to protect us.”

“B, but how could someone as noble as Your Highness take such a lowly position……”

“Sofia, do you trust me?”

“Of course. I am always on your side, miss.”

Sofia was the one person in this bleak castle who called her miss and meant it with her whole heart. Watching her, Adela firmed her resolve.

“For now, it’s best to stay in Leon’s good graces. Both of us.”

“With that beast of a man?”

“Watch what you say. If someone hears, your life could be in danger. I don’t want to lose you, Sofia.”

Sofia studied Adela’s cool gaze, then nodded with a frightened look and held back her tears.

“…Because I promised I would look after the little one you bring into the world, miss.”

“That’s right. So never forget what I’ve asked of you.”

“I will keep it in mind, miss.”

She could not tell what Adela was trying to do, but Sofia resolved to follow her in silence.

“Then please call some people now.”

As Sofia turned to pull the bell pull, Adela’s eyes narrowed watching her retreating figure.

Now it was time to begin the show.

The master of Valent Castle changed, and all those who filled it were replaced with Fershtein’s subordinates.

The moment the maids who entered the bedroom confirmed it was Adela, they went pale and drew sharp breaths.

Across Adela’s delicate skin, the bruises the Count left were branded like marks, and the oppressive heat of the night before still hung in the bedroom.

Watching the maids’ eyes fill with shock and pity, Adela smiled coldly to herself.

Before long, a rumor spread through the castle like wildfire that Count Fershtein ravaged the fallen kingdom’s princess through the night.

‘I hear the Count requested her as a war prize because he wanted to make a plaything of the princess.’

‘This is a real secret, but they say when the Count lost his memory and lived as a slave, Princess Adela subjected him to terrible *buse. So this time he took her with the intention of taking revenge.’

* * *

The rumors spread by those who loved to gossip crossed the borders of Valent and reached the Urcheka Empire itself.

Ingram, the only daughter of Duke Kasvah, heard the rumors and set off for Valent without hesitation. She was once Leon Fershtein’s fiancée.

A family crisis kept them apart for a long time, but Ingram never forgot him for a single moment, not since she fell for him at first sight.

“I won’t believe it until I see it with my own eyes.”

Inside the rattling carriage, she clawed irritably at her flame-red hair.

Leon, when they reunited two years ago, was far colder than before.

He drew a line and said the engagement was meaningless now that her family fell, but what Ingram craved was not the Fershtein name and power. It was Leon himself. A face sculpted seemingly by the gods, and a body so perfect it was almost cruel. To her, Leon was irreplaceable.

“He was mine from the beginning. And now some princess of a fallen kingdom dares?”