Ariana felt as though she were trapped in a nightmare; one of those terrifying dreams where you can’t move a muscle.

The person she secretly loved had been shot.

Everything around her moved in slow motion, yet her senses were painfully acute. Her heart pounded so violently against her ribs that it felt as though it might burst.

The moment he collapsed, Ariana rushed to his side in a panic.

“Kenneth! Kenneth!”

Her desperate cry was cut off abruptly, as though her throat had been cut.

She stared at her palms, now stained a vivid red, and felt the world tilt.

What is this on my hands? This is…

“Ariana.”

It was then that Kenneth gripped her wrist roughly. But he was still alive.

His face was contorted with agony, but his teal eyes still clung fiercely to life, burning with a sharp, defiant light.

“Run…”

Click.

The chilling sound of a gun being cocked echoed just above her head.

Ariana slowly looked up at her assailant, her face a mask of disbelief.

She had never imagined that she would experience a moment like this. Her mind was completely blank.

‘Am I really going to die like this?’

‘I’m only eighteen…I haven’t even lived yet…’

But the man at the front, who seemed to be in charge, nodded curtly to his subordinate.

“Take the young lady with us.”

“Yes, sir!”

I said respectfully.

“Don’t try anything stupid.”

I couldn’t quite process their exchange.

They weren’t mocking her by calling her ‘young lady’; they spoke as though they were servants carrying out a formal order.

“L-Let go of me! Let go—!”

Ariana screamed and kicked as she was dragged away, but there was no way she could overpower grown men.

“Kenneth…!”

The velvet curtains of the opera box closed behind her, completely blocking the view.

Only then did she notice that her dress was soaked in crimson.

The blood of the man she had loved in silence.

As this fact sank in, she broke out in cold sweat and her limbs convulsed.

“Hh… ugh…”

One final, violent wave of nausea surged through her and she passed out.

From that day on, her peaceful days were over.

—for good.

***

The attack on Viscount Clifford’s heir became a tale whispered across Cremisa for years.

It was an armed assault carried out with guns in a venue popular with the upper class.

Most of his attendants were slaughtered.

The young lord escaped miraculously, only to vanish without a trace.

But what truly chilled people to the bone was the fact that…

Kenneth hadn’t been the only target that night.

The duke and duchess had been ambushed on their way to a social engagement.

The explosion was so violent that their bodies were torn apart, making a proper funeral impossible.

[The attack on the Clifford family is believed to have been carried out by anti-noble dissidents who were dissatisfied with the aristocracy.]

Those captured at the scene were executed by firing squad immediately.

However, the truth behind the assassination was far more sinister: the imperial family had orchestrated it out of jealousy towards the Clifford family.

The royal court faction that had participated in the plot remained untouched.

Among them, the name of House Aberdeen shone the brightest — proud and unashamed.

“Well done, Ariana. It was almost impossible to track down the young viscount’s schedule!”

Josephina beamed at Ariana, who sat frozen, her mind a void.

It had been so long since her mother had smiled at her with such kindness, yet everything felt surreal.

“To think you lured the young viscount in with your looks! Did they teach you tricks like that in finishing school?”

“M-Mother…”

“Thanks to you, our family has finally secured a proper seat at the table!”

It was only then that Ariana understood.

‘Kenneth’s location had been exposed… because of me.’

What if he hadn’t rearranged his schedule for her?

What if he hadn’t come to meet her?

He might not have got hurt.

But Ariana’s gaze slowly turned to someone who had been avoiding eye contact the whole time.

“Brother, did you know? Did you know about Kenneth? Weren’t the two of you close?”

“…”

“You were best friends, weren’t you? And now, thanks to him, our family—!”

“There was no other way for our family to grow stronger.”

“What…? How could you?”

Quentin had sold the Clifford family secrets —

—using the very company he and Kenneth had once run together.

The information that House Aberdeen handed over was like manna from heaven for those who had long envied the Clifford.

Their businesses were torn apart, piece by piece, and countless people lost their jobs.

But Quentin brushed it all off as ‘collateral damage’ and tried to convince Ariana to accept it.

“It’s not all bad news for you either, Ariana.”

“What do you mean? I had nothing to do with—!”

“His Highness the Crown Prince has taken a great interest in our contributions. He wants to make you his consort.”

“……!”

‘So just stay quiet. This is all for the good of our family.”

And for the next two years—

— House Aberdeen enjoyed wealth and prestige beyond their wildest dreams.

Together with their allies in the imperial faction, they believed this golden age would last forever.

Although the bloodied young viscount was never found, they were relieved to think that the Clifford were finished for good.

But Kenneth…

Kenneth survived.

With the help of a few loyal allies, he went into hiding.

Through businesses unknown to the imperial family, he quietly began preparing for his return.

Methodically, he eliminated everyone who had betrayed him.

The companies seized by the Crown went bankrupt.

Evidence of the assassination plot was also exposed.

All of this happened on the day of Ariana’s wedding to Crown Prince Andrew.

The empire erupted in fury as the horrifying truth about the tragedy that had befallen the once-revered duke’s family was revealed.

Panicking, Andrew fled before the ceremony could begin.

It was the Emperor who had to face Kenneth instead.

To contain the chaos, the Emperor took the simplest and most obvious course of action.

He made an example of House Aberdeen, sentencing its members to death.

Josephina and Quentin raged and resisted, but ultimately accepted their fate.

“We can’t die the same way as those lowborn wretches.”

The two of them hanged themselves on the bars of their prison cell, choosing to die on their own terms.

Left alone with her family’s corpses, Ariana was dragged outside in a daze.

Waiting for her was Kenneth.

“It’s been a while, Ariana Aberdeen.”

“Kenneth…”

The man standing before her wore a smile.

But his eyes were an abyss.

Behind him, the feet of a noble who had recently been executed still dangled in the air.

The man she had once loved was no saviour.

He had not come to save her.

He had come as a god of retribution, born from the ashes of her guilt.

Death incarnate gripped her chin tightly.

“Ariana! What’s wrong?”

“Hic… huuh…”

“You’re afraid to die, aren’t you?”

“Please… spare me.”

“Fine. Then let’s see if you’re still useful.”

At first, the imperial court felt a twinge of shame for having so easily cast aside their would-be daughter-in-law—but that hesitation quickly gave way to even more despicable schemes.

“We should leave that woman in the hands of Kenneth Clifford.”

“He’ll undoubtedly treat her badly. Once he has, we’ll be able to take the moral high ground. Then we’ll be able to turn public opinion around in our favour.”

Instead of clipping his wings, however, their scheme helped Kenneth to soar even higher.

He became the merciful victor, the man who took in the daughter of a traitor —a woman whom even the imperial family had rejected.

Ariana accepted the mockery and scandal that followed as nothing more than what she deserved.

‘But the baby died too.’

That thought alone—was the one that unraveled the final thread she’d clung to for life.

‘Now there’s truly nothing left… Please, let me rest.’

As she held the gun to her head, Ariana genuinely believed her life would end right then and there.

But, as with everything involving Kenneth Clifford, nothing ever went as expected.

***

“Milady!”

“Milady, please stop!”

The maids cried out in panic as they rushed after her.

No one had anticipated this.

She was always so quiet, like a ghost wandering the halls.

No one expected the broken woman, who hadn’t spoken in days, to suddenly run away from the estate without warning.

“Haah… haah…!”

Ariana burst into the garden barefoot, her breath coming in ragged, frantic gasps.

She was heading for the farthest edge of the grounds.

The Clifford family had always been buried in the family crypt.

However, those who did not live to see their first birthday were not given that right.

This was why Ariana’s baby had been laid to rest in a quiet corner of the blooming garden.

A small headstone marked the spot.

It was there that she had cried her heart out for the last time.

‘Gone.’

The headstone… was gone.

‘Beatrice…’

Still clinging to the desperate hope that this might be a dream, Ariana collapsed onto her knees and began to claw at the earth.

‘Bibi… My baby…’

She had once thought that the full name was too long for such a tiny child.

She had planned to call her ‘Bibi’ instead.

Was her precious little girl buried here?

Had there been a funeral?

Was there a coffin? Had they lowered it into the ground?

The servants who had followed her stood frozen behind her, whispering anxiously.

“She’s gone mad…Someone stop her!”

“Should we inform His Grace?”

But Ariana paid them no mind.

Even as her fingernails split and blood mingled with the dirt, the chatter around her meant nothing.

She couldn’t feel any of it. Pain was no longer a language she understood.

Only after she had dug a shallow hole did she finally stopped to catch her breath.

“…She’s not here.”

There was no baby. Because she hadn’t died. Because she had never been born.

“Ah… hah… aaah…”

Ariana covered her face with soil-streaked hands, a bitter sound of laughter and sobs escaping her lips.

‘This isn’t a dream.’

For some unknown reason, she had come back.

Back to a time before her daughter was born.

To a spring day, barely a year into her marriage.

Ariana was twenty-one again.