“It’s because of you, Mother.”

Elicity was stunned. The daughter before her was now blaming her for her impending death.

“You still don’t understand? The fact that I am dying now—it’s all your fault.”

“Your Majesty…”

“Do not call me that!”

Her sharp voice rang through the bedroom.

But it was soon followed by a fit of coughing. The voice of a dying patient, with death lurking behind it.

Elicity looked at her daughter. Her beloved child was like a crumbling sandcastle. The elegance and dignity she once carried like a queen were gone without a trace.

Her once-lustrous black hair had become brittle like dry thread, and the rosy hue of her cheeks had faded into a deathly pallor.

The lips that used to form a gentle curve were now cracked from years of illness, and the body that had once borne the weight of a queen’s duties now seemed exhausted by merely wearing two layers of clothing.

Most of all, the eyes that had shone with intelligence since childhood—the very eyes that had carried the same fire as her father’s—were now void of all light.

Her daughter’s illness was lung cancer.

“……”

Though she pitied her daughter, Elicity was simply bewildered.

Her daughter was the Queen of Salita, while Elicity was the Duchess of the neighboring kingdom of Madonia.

They had lived apart for nearly ten years. She could not have been the cause of her daughter’s lung cancer.

Elicity thought that the unbearable pain had driven her beloved daughter to madness.

“…Your Majesty, very well. You may blame me for anything. When one is in pain, they want to blame someone. If that helps, then yes, everything is your mother’s fault.”

At those words, the Queen of Salita gave a faint smile.

“Mother.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Who was I?”

Their gazes met at the unexpected question. The eyes she had thought to be empty were filled with deep resentment.

“Was I your daughter, Isabella? Or was I merely a beautiful ornament to glorify our family name?”

“W-what do you mean, Your Majesty? An ornament? To me, Your Majesty was my dearest treasure, my beloved daughter. That is why I did everything for you, and as a result, you have risen to this very position, have you not?”

“I never wanted this.”

“…What?”

“I told you clearly that I did not want it. Do you not remember?”

A memory suddenly flashed through Elicity’s mind—her young daughter from over ten years ago, sobbing as she clung to her feet.

—Mother, I love him. When I am with him, I need nothing else. I no longer wish to be a queen! If you truly love me, please do not send me to Salita!

But Elicity had refused her daughter’s plea.

She had scolded her harshly and locked her in her room. She had given the man her daughter loved a suitable sum of money and sent him far away.

It was the only natural thing to do.

The position of Queen of Salita—what kind of place was that?

A noble seat that no one could dare to covet!

It was the greatest gift she could give to her precious daughter, whom she cherished so dearly. Surely, one day, her daughter would be grateful to her.

Back then, Elicity had been certain of it.

“Your Majesty, did you not receive the admiration of the people as the Queen of Salita? Did you not enjoy everything within this Salita palace?”

“Even if that were true—!”

Her daughter abruptly turned away. Her eyes were brimming with tears.

“My husband ignored me and laughed in the company of lowly women! Though I had everything, I had to endure the crushing weight of my duties as queen! The suffocating dresses that reached up to my throat, the foreign etiquette that barely allowed me to breathe… Every single day, trapped in this cage of a palace, I endured and endured, feeling as if I were dying.”

Her agonized voice echoed through the bedroom, through Elicity’s heart.

Her daughter’s outcry continued.

“But you told me to endure, didn’t you, Mother? You scolded me, saying I should be the happiest woman alive in this position!”

“Your Majesty, I only wanted you to maintain your dignity…”

“Queen! Queen! I’m sick of it!”

Her daughter screamed.

“To become a queen, I had to eat no more than a bird’s portion, tighten my waist with a corset, and wear jewel necklaces as heavy as stones. I had to meet with countless tutors, and if I grew close to them, I could never see them again if my grades weren’t satisfactory. I had to choose my friends carefully, didn’t I? You always told me that servants were beneath me and that I should never smile at them!”

A single tear slid down Isabella’s cheek.

“And… I can’t even remember the last time someone called me Bella.”

Her trembling hand clutched the blanket. Elicity stared blankly at it. Had her daughter’s hands always been this thin and small?

“I lost my name. I lived only to become a queen—Isabella, the woman, ceased to exist.”

“I-Isabella…”

“……”

For someone mourning the loss of her own name, Isabella’s face was devoid of emotion.

Perhaps it was because the one who had called her name was the mother she resented.

As that thought crossed her mind, Elicity’s lips trembled as she began her feeble excuse.

“Bella. E-everything I did and said was for you.”

“……”

“Please believe me. I only wanted you to be the happiest person in the world. I wanted no one to look down on you. I… your mother… was unhappy.”

She had been born into a fallen noble family. That was why she had married her husband, who had also been the son of a fallen noble and a mere low-ranking knight at the time.

But then war had erupted, and thanks to his exceptional swordsmanship, he had climbed the ranks, securing a high position. Yet people’s gazes never changed.

—A fallen noble who got lucky with her husband. She became a duchess without lifting a finger.

Once a man rises in status, he naturally takes multiple women.

She had lived in constant fear—that he might take a concubine, that he might abandon her and marry a woman of higher standing.

And above all, Elicity had only one child—her daughter. After giving birth to Isabella, her health had deteriorated, and she had become barren.

Though her husband never abandoned her nor took a concubine, Elicity had always been anxious.

‘I don’t want a life like this.’

Not for my daughter.

I will never let my beloved child be ignored.

“Bella, I loved you. I wanted to make you the most noble woman on the continent, the Queen of Salita, so that you could be happy. Are you saying that was the wrong choice…?”

Even in her dazed state, Elicity somehow managed to mumble the words. Isabella looked at her mother with sorrow.

“I did not misunderstand your feelings. That’s why I tried to fulfill your dream and become queen. But Mother… no, Mom…”

“……”

“I was so exhausted and suffocated that I truly wanted to die. That must be why I got sick.”

Her frail daughter began to sob, her body wracked with dry, heaving cries.

“I’m sorry for blaming you, but I truly regret becoming queen. I hate you and Father for making me one.”

Her words, filled with tears and resentment, made her look as though she would die at any moment.

Elicity no longer cared about anything else. She grabbed her daughter’s hand desperately and endlessly begged for forgiveness.

But Isabella’s condition worsened rapidly. The royal physician rushed in, pried Elicity away, and gravely told her to prepare herself.

Only now did Elicity understand what it meant for the sky to collapse and the ground to crumble beneath her.

As she sank to the floor, Isabella spoke quietly.

“Mom, I want to see Dad one last time.”

“……!!”

There had never been anything Elicity wouldn’t do for her beloved daughter.

If Bella asked for her life at that very moment, she would have gladly torn open her own chest and handed over her heart.

But to see her father?

That was the one thing Elicity could never give her.

She didn’t even know where her husband was or what he was doing.

A crushing guilt overwhelmed her. She was so sorry for her daughter that she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

And then—

The bedroom door swung open, and someone rushed in like the wind, stopping right in front of the bed.

She didn’t need to look to know who it was.

The scent, unique to him, reached her immediately—the earthy fragrance of soil and wind.

Elicity instinctively raised her head.

It had been so long since she had seen her husband that he looked unfamiliar.

But he was still unmistakably the Duke of Zeroden. His eyes, like fire, were intimidating, and his broad shoulders and firm chest didn’t belong to a man in his middle years.

And yet, something about him seemed slightly disheveled.

Seeing him like that, Elicity’s vision blurred.

My love, I’m sorry.

My love, our daughter resents me.

My love, our daughter is about to die. What do I do? She is so pitiful.

There was so much she wanted to say that, in the end, she couldn’t say anything at all.

Her lips moved soundlessly, and she thought herself a fool as she slowly closed her eyes.

It didn’t matter what she said. Their relationship was beyond repair. He wouldn’t listen to her anyway.

But then, suddenly—

She felt a touch on her shoulder.

It was as if someone was comforting her.

Elicity’s eyes flew open.

But was it just her imagination?

Her husband was standing in front of their daughter.

“Isabella.”

“…Ah, Dad?”

“Yes.”

Tears welled up in their daughter’s voice.

“Where have you been all this time? I waited for you for so long…”

“……”

“Dad. Please take care of Mom. She lived only for me, so now she will be so lost and exhausted.”

Perhaps those were her final words.

After that, Elicity lost consciousness.

She only remembered praying over and over in the depths of darkness.

Oh, God.

Please take me back to the past.

To my young and beautiful daughter, to my daughter who resents me, to my beloved daughter—she is so pitiful.

I do not need to be reincarnated.

I will endure thousands of years in hell if I must.

I will accept being born again as a slave, lower than livestock.

So please, God, turn back time—

Take me back to when my daughter, my husband, and I were together, just as she wished…!!