Louisa twirled her champagne glass with elegant ease. The pale golden liquid bubbled gently, the rising fizz looking like a miniature fireworks display.

A toast, perhaps, to terrifying that insufferable woman out of her mind.

‘Tch. You really shouldn’t have gone along with the masquerade, Countess.’

Alicia, who had leaked the information, and Louisa, who had devised the plan—both had much to gain but also needed to avoid any scandal.

Of course, it was true that the Duquesne estate conducted strict checks on anyone entering. But with a mask on, and with enough back-and-forth traffic, sneaking one person past the security staff wasn’t impossible.

‘We’re just offering up someone Lucas already has his eye on. Tch.’

That’s why she gently pushed Langdon towards Cordelia at the last university gathering, wasn’t it? Hadn’t his family already lost everything?

Now, with the fear of ending up groveling in Hells Realm gnawing at him, that classmate of hers was clearly out of his mind.

“We’re classmates, Langdon. That’s why I have to help you.”

“Louisa…!”

“It’s all that woman Hadrian’s fault, isn’t it? She seduced you and then denied it. She’s the one who called Lucas over at just the right moment. Of course she did.”

Ah, men. The moment they’re in heat, they forget it was their own doing—only to leap at the opportunity to blame someone else once they’re given a convenient target.

Louisa smirked, feeling confident about her ability to turn things to her advantage.

“Don’t you think it’s time for a little payback? She made a fool of you.”

‘”…Yeah. You’re right. But how—”

“I heard your family has a fine horse?”

“A… horse? We do, but—”

“Why not give the lady a surprise at the party? It’s not like it’ll bite, right?”

“…!”

“Wouldn’t it be perfect to show everyone how fast she bolts when she’s absolutely terrified?”

There were still mounted officers patrolling the lakeside park, so sneaking in a horse under the pretense of police duty wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

To hand such a flawless plan to such a foolish man—perhaps Louisa truly was destined for charity work.

Well then, let’s see how it all plays out.

And since Louisa only ever took her steak rare, she had no objections to an ending soaked in blood.

***

A four-legged beast was charging straight toward her and it knew exactly where she was.

The moment Cordelia saw its eyes gleaming in the darkness, she let out a silent scream.

“……!”

Ever since her beloved horse died a miserable death because of her, she had been unable to bear being near such creatures.

Her body finally moved, breaking free of its frozen state, but her legs could not keep up with her desperation. Her clinging dress restricted her movement, and her limbs felt as heavy as lead. Nevertheless, she ran, stumbling and gasping, towards the rest house.

Wait—hadn’t she heard that if you turn your back on a beast, it will see you as prey?

But this knowledge had vanished the moment panic consumed her. All her instincts for danger had evaporated, leaving only raw terror.

“Haa… Haah!”

Had she wandered too far while chasing the fireflies? In the grip of fear, her field of vision narrowed, and she was now crashing blindly through unfamiliar thickets.

Even worse, the beginnings of an attack crept in—her lungs seizing up as though drained of all air. She was suffocating, paralyzed.

Perhaps that was why—

Even though her eyes were fixed on the rest house, flickering in and out of sight like a mirage, her mind was seeing something else entirely.

The dark roads near the Hastings estate and her younger self, running in sheer desperation through the night.

Back then, too, men on horseback had been searching for her.

‘When was this?’

“Stop, Cordelia! Stop right now!”

Her eighteen-year-old self was gasping as she ran. Someone behind her had shouted, voice raised in fury.

‘Who was that, shouting like that…?’

‘Right. That voice—it was Mother’s.’

The Countess of Hastings, who squandered the entire family fortune before escaping through suicide.

Before others—servants, guests, strangers—she always presented Cordelia as her precious little doll.

But when no one was looking, she threw Cordelia’s belongings away like garbage.

The globe, the world map—everything was broken. Even the horse Cordelia had loved so dearly, her Mother had it killed.

“A woman should be content with a trip to a southern resort in the Hadrian Empire! That should be enough!”

She would scold Cordelia, telling her that, once she married the Duke of Berkeley, he would decide where she went. But why was she always so curious about the world?

Even so, her mother had never shouted with such rage before. Not like that.

“Agh…!”

Cordelia tripped over a loose stone she couldn’t see, crashing hard to the ground. A sharp pebble tore into the skin of her palm.

Trembling, she turned her head—only to find the beast’s yellow eyes gleaming like a demon’s in the dark.

“Hhkk…!”

Staring up at the horse from such close range made Cordelia feel disoriented. One moment she was eighteen again, in the aftermath of that horrific accident; the next, she was Cordelia Duquesne once more, aged twenty-four.

But whose name did she want to call out for help?

“…Lu…”

The horse let out a vicious cry and reared up on its hind legs. At that moment, the silence around them began to break. The sound of a man shouting and a woman screaming nearby startled the animal, causing it to hesitate.

Acting on pure instinct, Cordelia rolled her fallen body to the side to escape. However, she failed to notice the slope behind the bushes. Before she could realise what was happening, she began to tumble.

“Aahh—!”

After what felt like endless seconds of freefall, her body slammed into the hard dirt below. A sharp, aching pain spread across her limbs like bruises blooming all at once.

“My lady? My lady! Where are you?”

Still in that humiliating, dirt-covered state, she slowly raised her head.

Why was it Joshua Reginold’s face that she saw first, looking down at her from the slope above?

Dazed, Cordelia blinked before gathering enough of her senses to cry out with all her might.

“H-Here! I’m here!”

“Are you hurt, my lady?”

“My lady!”

Chiara’s voice joined his. The two of them came running down the slope, raising a soft cloud of dust even in the darkness. Cordelia wobbled to her feet with great effort.

“Cough… M-Mr. Reginold… haah… Chiara… how did—Agh!”

She let out a sharp cry as pain shot through the sole of her foot. Her ankle wasn’t twisted, but—when had her shoes disappeared?

Joshua hastily pulled out his handkerchief and dropped to one knee in front of her.

“Forgive me, but please—let me see where you’re hurt, my lady.”

“Th-thank you… But how did you know I was here…?”

“My sister and I arrived earlier to greet you—but you were nowhere to be found…”

Joshua turned his head toward Chiara, who was standing nearby with a tearful expression, pulling emergency supplies from the pocket of her apron.

“This maid had also been searching for you, my lady. She seemed unfamiliar with the area…”

“Ah…”

Of course—this was Chiara’s first time in the lakeside park. When her mistress hadn’t returned, she must’ve wanted to look for her but ended up wandering aimlessly in the dark, trapped in what must have felt like a maze.

“And then we heard you scream.”

“…I see. Thank you.”

Cordelia replied blankly as Joshua gently draped his jacket over her shoulders. They took the longer, gentler path back to the rest house instead of climbing the steep hill, and she followed him and Chiara.

Joshua glanced at her with concern. Chiara’s face was scrunched up with concern. As they neared the building, her attendants rushed over, their faces etched with confusion and alarm.

But Lucas, who should have been the most familiar face to her, was nowhere to be found.

Was he still speaking with Roderick? He had seemed like an important contact.

Nevertheless, he was her husband — or rather, he was supposed to be — even though they were now worse than strangers.

Shouldn’t he have come to find her by now?

She had been gone long enough for anyone to notice. Shouldn’t he have been the first to look for her?

Before she realised it, Cordelia found herself clutching Joshua’s jacket tightly, a hollow laugh escaping her lips.

“Ha…”

Ah, what a foolish heart.

Even though her mind had long since come to terms with the disappointment—even begun to look down on him with scorn…

In that utterly hopeless moment, she had still wished for him to appear. Just like the day they first met, when she wore that absurd pale green dress and hadn’t yet become the second wife of a lecher old enough to be her father.

Just like that day—she had wanted to be saved. But he hadn’t come. Instead, it was Joshua who caught her as she stumbled, gently taking her hand and holding her up with quiet, steady care.

“My lady, are you alright?”

“…Yes. Y-Yes…”

Her voice was thick with emotion and sounded raspy and faint. A strange sense of relief washed over her, yet her shoulders slumped as though they were weighed down.

Perhaps her nerves had been honed to survive until now, but with the danger past, the fear was finally thundering in like war drums.

“Hh… Hic—!”

“My lady? Lady Duquesne!”

Her vision dimmed at the edges, narrowing to a pinhole. People shouted around her — Joshua and others — their voices growing more urgent. Even as everything blurred, Cordelia smiled bitterly to herself.

How laughable. At least she had managed to faint after the horse had passed.

This time, at least, she wouldn’t be chased down and trampled like she had been when she was eighteen, collapsing while fleeing riders on horseback.

‘Ah… the memories…’

Forgotten memories surged like black waves through her mind—and then, Cordelia lost consciousness.