Chapter 1 (Part 5)

“My lady! Are you awake?!”  

“…Yuria?”  

“Sniff… I’m so relieved. I was so worried—what if you never opened your eyes again…”  

As Reinis regained consciousness, her vision was filled with Yuria, who was tightly gripping her hand and letting large teardrops fall like chicken droppings.  

At that moment, she felt an unfamiliar yet soft and cozy sensation. She suddenly recalled that there had almost been a carriage accident just moments ago and sat up.  

Looking around, she saw an unfamiliar scene unfold before her eyes. It was a room far larger and more luxurious than her own, incomparable in scale or elegance.  

“Where is this…?”  

“Ah, well, when you lost consciousness, there was no other choice… The knights had to bring you here. They said the Duke’s manor was closer than the Martin household.”  

It was a phrase she had never heard before.  

Hearing the words “Duke’s manor,” Reinis tilted her head.

“The Duke’s manor?”

“Oh, yes. It turns out the people who saved us were knights from the Duke’s household! From the rumors, I thought they’d be terrifying and monstrous, but they were unexpectedly kind. And oh, how handsome they all were…”

“Yuria?”

“Oh… I’m sorry. I should have been checking on you first…”

At Yuria’s apology, Reinis shook her head and once again glanced around the room.

‘No matter how you look at it, this is far too nice a room to give to a guest…’

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a knock at the door.

“May I come in?”

The polite voice of a middle-aged woman seeking permission prompted Reinis to instinctively sit up straight.

“Yes, please come in.”

Unlike the tense Reinis, Yuria replied casually, as if this were a familiar situation. Surprised by Yuria’s composure, Reinis glanced at her with a startled expression.  

The middle-aged woman, dressed neatly, entered the room. Upon seeing Reinis, she smiled kindly and said,  

“Ah, so the young lady has regained consciousness. I’ll summon the physician right away.”  

Shortly after, the physician arrived and swiftly completed the examination.  

Reinis, who had been so overwhelmed by the unfamiliar situation that she hadn’t even felt pain, finally realized that she had injured her leg. From her ankle to her calf, there were fairly deep wounds.  

“It seems you were scratched by broken debris when you jumped from the carriage. Since the wounds are quite deep, you should avoid excessive movement for the time being. Otherwise, you might end up with scars.”  

“Ah…”  

Yuria let out a short sigh and looked at Reinis with a face full of worry. However, contrary to Yuria’s concern, a faint smile appeared on Reinis’s face.  

For a woman, having scars on her body often made marriage more difficult.  

‘If the Earl finds out that I have scars on my body, he won’t propose.’  

Unaware of Reinis’s thoughts, Yuria, with a serious expression, looked at the physician and said,  

“A smile in this situation… Doctor, could it be that our young lady has injured her head as well?”  

The physician furrowed his brows at those words and examined Reinis’s condition a little more closely.  

At this, the physician furrowed his brows and examined Reinis more closely.

Meanwhile, news of Reinis’s awakening reached Theodore, who immediately abandoned his work and headed straight to her room.

“It seems, fortunately, that her head wasn’t injured. We’ll just need to make sure no scars remain on her legs.”  

“Scars, you say?”  

As soon as the physician, having finished his treatment, stood up and spoke, Theodore entered the room with a frightening expression and asked.  

At his sudden appearance, everyone in the room turned their attention to Theodore.  

With jet-black hair that seemed to mirror the night sky and crimson eyes that sparkled as if embedded with the finest rubies, Theodore’s presence was striking. For a moment, Reinis felt as though his image overlapped with that of the boy from her memories.  

‘Fool, there’s no way he could be that boy.’  

Shaking her head vigorously, Reinis whispered softly to Yuria.  

“Who is that man?”  

“Oh, I heard he is the commander of the Duke’s knights.” 

Yuria replied.  

At those words, Reinis, rendered speechless, looked at Theodore with a surprised expression.  

She recalled the uproar that had occurred before her death when the veiled identity of the Duke was revealed.  

Even Reinis, who had been unable to leave the Earl’s manor, had heard the rumors, so it was no exaggeration to say that the entire empire had been abuzz.  

The Duke, who had inherited his title at a young age, had gone to war after war and secured victory after victory. Even before inheriting the dukedom, he had never shown himself in public, and after becoming Duke, he had devoted himself entirely to the battlefield, earning him the nickname of a blood-soaked killer.  

Because of this, it was said that he always sent the commander of his knights to attend official functions in his stead. However, the real reason for the uproar was something else.  

The knight commander, who had been subtly dismissed as ‘a man of unknown origin,’ turned out to be none other than the Duke himself, Theodore Grace.  

Although she was quite shocked to learn that the man standing before her was the Duke himself, this was still a fact unknown to the public.  

Quickly regaining her composure, she smiled and said,  

“I heard that the knights of the Duke’s manor saved us. I don’t know how to properly express my gratitude…”  

“It’s all right. Since we were partly responsible for the accident, it was only natural for us to do so.”  

“Pardon?”  

“I will take responsibility.”  

Reinis, unable to understand his words, asked again, but he simply nodded as a form of farewell before turning his attention to the physician.  

“I’d like to hear more details about the lady’s condition. Follow me.”  

With those words, Theodore left the room.  

The physician, who had been staring at the place where he exited, wiped the cold sweat from his brow and let out a deep sigh before hastily following him.  

Once the two had gone outside, one of the servants from the Duke’s manor approached Reinis.  

“My name is Emma. I’ve been told that you will be staying as a guest of the Duke’s manor for some time. During your stay, I will be attending to you, so please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything.”  

“Oh, I see… thank you.”  

Reinis, who had no idea what had happened while she was unconscious, replied in an awkward voice.  

At that moment, Theodore, who had gone to speak with the physician, returned to the room. Striding toward her, Theodore suddenly bent his waist in a deep bow.  

“My apologies.”  

Startled by his sudden action, Reinis hastily tried to sit up.  

“You mustn’t move!”  

The physician, who had belatedly followed Theodore into the room, shouted urgently, panting heavily.  

Startled by his outburst, Reinis briefly froze. Then, recalling the physician’s earlier comment about the possibility of scars, she nodded and leaned back into the bed.  

Theodore, looking at her with eyes filled with genuine remorse and concern, spoke.  

“To ensure no scars remain, it would be best for you to focus on your recovery here at the Duke’s manor. I will personally send a letter and a message to the Martin family on behalf of the Duke. Please do not worry about that matter.”  

The physician, Emma, and other servants of the Duke’s manor left the room to focus on treating her injuries.  

After reporting to the Duke and confirming that the handwritten letter and message had been sent, Theodore excused himself, giving Reinis a brief moment of solitude.  

Left alone in the room, she still couldn’t believe what was happening.  

The carriage accident, staying at the Duke’s manor—none of this had occurred in the future she had already experienced.  

“What on earth is going on…?”  

Muttering to herself, she gazed out the window. The wide-open garden, visible through the large window, made it impossible to deny that this was reality.  

‘The only thing that changed was the delayed departure of the carriage… Could something as small as that really alter the future so drastically?’  

As she pondered deeply, faint memories of that day surfaced in her mind.  

‘Now that I think about it, I remember hearing about a carriage accident on the way back from buying a dress. They said a merchant’s carriage overturned, leaving the road in chaos. And there were people in black knight uniforms controlling the scene…!’

As vivid memories began to resurface one by one, something she had forgotten passed through her mind.  

‘The black knight uniforms—they’re from the Duke’s knight order. So, even back then, the Duke’s knights had come to handle the aftermath of the carriage accident!’  

Originally, Reinis was supposed to pass through the area just before the merchant guild’s carriage accident occurred. However, because she had been lazy, her departure was delayed, and by the time she arrived, the merchant guild’s carriage had already overturned, leaving the road in chaos.  

While the Duke’s knights were coming to clean up the mess, her own carriage became involved in an accident.  

“Ah… So that’s why they said they were responsible.”  

As the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, she nodded naturally. What was even more surprising was how such a significant change had occurred because of such a small difference in timing.  

As she lay quietly in bed, lost in thought, drowsiness soon overtook her. Eventually, Reinis fell asleep.  

In the meantime, the physician, Theodore, and several servants returned to her room to continue her treatment.  

“This is bad; we need to apply the medicine quickly…”  

At the physician’s words, Theodore approached her. Staring quietly at her face, deeply asleep and breathing softly, he spoke.  

“Should we treat her immediately?”  

“She’s only had first aid so far, so I think it would be best to proceed as soon as possible.”  

“Then it would be wise to call for the lady’s maid.”  

At that moment, Reinis shifted slightly in her sleep, letting out a soft hum. 

Was she dreaming of something pleasant?  

A smile spread across her sleeping face.  

“Handkerchief… I still… have it…”  

Startled by her sleep-talking, Theodore unconsciously moved closer to her.  

‘Could she have remembered that day?’  

He had thought she wouldn’t recognize him, as his physique and demeanor had changed significantly since then.