The New Year’s banquet was a silent battlefield for the young noblewomen. And why wouldn’t it be? It was the perfect opportunity, perhaps the last, to become the radiant “flower” of the coming season. Becoming the flower of the banquet was the first step toward the crown princess seat, a step up an invisible staircase of social ascent. So the one thing on everyone’s mind was “the crown prince’s choice.”

“A flower will finally be chosen this year, don’t you think?”

In recent years, no flower was ever named at the banquet. The crown prince always chose his own sister, the princess, as his dance partner. But this year, there was no avoiding it.

“Of course. The princess, who served as his escape, is in a foreign country now. He’ll have to choose someone.”

As the court orchestra’s lively performance grew fuller and richer, the expressions on the women’s faces began to look the same. Anticipation and nerves at the thought that the crown prince might choose them pulled their lips into thin, barely-there smiles while their eyes darted anxiously around the room. But the face of the woman with pink hair was a little different.

“……”

She was watching only one person in the crowd. The one her gaze rested on was none other than… the noblewoman standing across the room, Hailey Hersen. The noblewoman wore a relaxed smile on her lips, her expression that of someone who already knew something.

Probably because she knows His Highness the Crown Prince is going to choose her. Wearing my face and having the nerve to look like that.

The pink-haired woman found the whole situation revolting. She had to keep looking at “her own” face, a face that now seemed downright sinister. She desperately wished it would stop making that expression.

“Oh my, he’s heading that way.”

“Well, my girl’s out of the running. Tsk.”

When the crown prince finally began to walk in earnest, the nobles started murmuring one by one. And though not quite to the same degree, the heart of the pink-haired woman was fluttering faintly too.

The noblewoman smiling that bright, oblivious smile had no idea. The crown prince would stride over on those long legs and stop in front of her. Not in front of that woman, but right in front of her. Just like right now.

“Lady Marianne, your dress is truly beautiful.”

Was it really all right to get tangled up with him like this?

She felt a flicker of fear, but the moment he closed the distance, the die was already cast. The instant the crown prince approached “Marianne” with her pink hair, people stepped back in a circle around them. At the center stood only her and the crown prince. As expected, he extended his hand and invited her to dance.

I’m the brilliant flower again this year. How is she going to take that?

Marianne bit down hard on her lip and barely, barely held back the laugh trying to escape.

“I am honored to meet you, Your Highness the Crown Prince. Blessings upon the Kingdom of Onyx.”

She glanced over at the noblewoman. Sure enough, the woman couldn’t even hide the color draining from her face as she glared at Marianne.

So this is what it feels like to be blindsided. Is it my turn now?

Making a show of it, Marianne lightly took the crown prince’s hand and glided forward. But perhaps she was paying too much attention.

“Stop trembling.”

When they reached the center of the banquet hall, the crown prince whispered. Her whole body was trembling faintly, just as he said. She pressed her lips together and lifted her gaze, and he gave a composed smile and a reassuring nod.

“It’s working. Damon is glaring at me like he wants to tear me apart.”

“…Is he really?”

“Yes. Now let’s enjoy this properly.”

* * *

Three years ago, Duke Damon Hoople and Lady Hailey Hersen were joined in marriage. Society clucked its tongue and called it little more than a political match, but the two of them were truly in love. That was true right up until the night of their third anniversary, when Damon came home a cold corpse.

“The decorations aren’t too much, are they?”

That day, following Damon’s wishes to hold a grand commemorative banquet, they invited many relatives and nobles. As she always did, Hailey asked Damon with a shy smile, and Damon laughed as though it were nothing and answered her.

“Not at all. Mother brought in far more fresh flowers than any of the decorations.”

Through every step of the preparations, Damon poured his love over Hailey, saying this was fine, that was fine. Always with that gentle smile, just like the face she saw before her now. Damon paused the dance they were deep into, pulled her close by the waist, and pressed his lips to her cheek.

“Damon, everyone is watching.”

“So what? You’re mine, Hailey.”

Damon tossed the teasing joke with that sly look of his, and Hailey rolled her eyes and gently pushed him away. He kept smiling anyway, and when the music reached its end, he spun her around in a full circle.

“Ohhh.”

A wave of cheers burst from the people filling the banquet hall. He knew better than anyone what it took to capture a crowd’s attention.

Hailey looked at him with a bewildered expression, not quite sure what just happened. Her hands were still resting on the back of his neck. Damon steadied her upright, then abruptly dropped to one knee.

“Damon?”

“Hailey, thank you for marrying me.”

In Damon’s hand was an open jewelry box, glowing blue.

“As I thought, even this diamond, rumored to be the most beautiful in the world, can’t hold a candle to you.”

The people who were cheering moments ago seemed deeply moved by Damon’s gesture. They were now holding their breath, watching the two of them. What he held was a precious diamond called “Greenery,” one of only three in existence in the world.

“I love you, Hailey.”

She was a noblewoman this happy.

“I love only you.”

…And yet, those words turned out to be his last.

“My lady! My lady! Please come out quickly! The, the Duke!”

Damon, who left for a night hunt with relatives, came home a cold corpse. It was not yet midnight.

At first Hailey couldn’t make it feel real, and not even tears came. But before long, emptiness and despair crashed over her in waves. She cried so much after that, her throat swelled and nothing came out but a hoarse rasp for a long while. When she finally stopped crying, she walked through the ducal castle with a pale face. The garden they walked together, the bedroom where they slept, the drawing room where they received guests, and the banquet hall… Everything connected to him refused to leave her mind.

“Mother.”

After a sleepless night and a cold morning, Hailey looked quietly up at her mother holding her gently.

“Yes, Hailey?”

“Do you remember the heirloom you gave me?”

“The heirloom?”

A faint smile crossed Hailey’s lips.

‘Why didn’t I think of that sooner?’

On the day she first visited her parents’ home after the grand wedding three years ago, her mother gave her a rare treasure of the Hersen ducal family. It was the golden, glowing Compass of Time. A sacred relic granted by the kingdom in honor of her father, who gave his life for the country.

“I have the compass.”

“The compass? The Compass of Time?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, Hailey… that’s only a symbolic object. It doesn’t actually work.”

“Didn’t you tell me it can’t go to the future, and that three years must pass after using it before it can be used again? You called it the instructions.”

“That’s what Mother was told too, but when I turned the needle, nothing happened.”

“Oh……”

Until now, there was never a reason to take out the compass. Damon was a flawless husband, and in all her contentment with married life, Hailey never once wanted to turn back time. So now that that perfect husband was dead, there was no better solution than this.

‘It’s too soon to give up without even trying.’

“Hailey!”

Leaving her mother’s voice behind, Hailey ran out of the bedroom and took out the compass she kept carefully hidden. It looked at a glance like a faded folding mirror, but when the lid was opened, a compass needle was visible inside, an unusual shape.

“My lady, are you all right?”

“Yes.”

She gave a small smile to the servant watching her with concern, slipped the compass behind her back, and nudged the servant out of the room. Only then did she begin counting through the air with her fingers. She had to calculate and recalculate how far to turn it. That was the only way to bring her husband back.

“Please.”

Please save Damon.

She pressed her palms together and prayed with her whole heart. When it was done, she finally touched the needle. The compass needle, glowing with a brilliant golden light, began to move, little by little.

* * *

“Marianne! Hey! Snap out of it!”

Someone shook her shoulders without mercy, and Hailey furrowed her brow, but the harder she frowned, the more forceful the shaking became.

“Mmgh……”

Did she lose consciousness while turning back time? Her head throbbed so badly it was hard to open her eyes.

“Why did you suddenly collapse like that?!”

“Rianne! Rianne!”

But the pain was brief. A high-pitched ringing rose and faded, and then the sound of murmuring voices grew steadily louder around her.