Instead of Escape, I Prepare Your Downfall

Despite the bitterly cold winter weather, visitors flocked to the Empire’s New Year’s Festival from early morning onwards.

“Come take a look! A specialty found only in Tere!”

“Oh, you’re from Seidler? Then how about these tea leaves? They must be rare in your region.”

“Step right up! Today only—half the usual price!”

Merchants lined the long rows of stalls, eagerly shouting to attract customers, while street musicians performed in the center of the square. Artists displayed their sculptures and called out bids, while nobles from faraway lands could not take their eyes off the works before them.

There was even a family burdened with enormous packs who had clearly travelled from far away solely to witness the festival.

Everyone wore bright smiles and reveled in the celebration.

Then, all at once, the lively clamor fell silent as the gates of the Imperial Palace opened and the Commander of the Imperial Knights appeared.

“Oh! Look!”

Someone gasped and pointed towards the palace entrance, and countless pairs of eyes followed their gaze.

As the Emperor and Empress emerged onto the street, accompanied by the Order of Knights, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause.

The Empress met the gaze of the assembled visitors with a gentle, benevolent smile, and awe spread across their faces.

Even Breni’s shimmering yellow dress paled in comparison to the Empress’s attire.

Her soft, rose-pink gown shone more brilliantly than her rose-colored, gem-like eyes. Pearl hair ornaments framed her head, radiating imperial dignity, and elegant white gloves inlaid with fine jewels completed the ensemble.

The crowd murmured in awe — she was, without question, the very image of the Empire’s Empress.

‘I, too, had eagerly awaited the festival and commissioned a dress from the empire’s finest artisan.’

In her previous life, she had worn this very dress and gone out too late, only to see the same woman standing confidently by the emperor’s side once again. She turned back immediately and retreated to the palace.

She still remembered seizing a pair of scissors and shredding the dress beyond recognition that night.

Ailie lifted the corners of her lips, which threatened to droop, and stole a sideways glance at Emperor Benate beside her.

It was unexpected that the woman was not at his side today. Then again, as Ailie had not confronted the Empress Dowager the previous day, it was likely that her chance to accompany them had passed.

‘Does His Majesty not feel the cold at all, with a heart of ice?’

Ailie withdrew her gaze from Benate and let that thought settle. The cold was harsh enough to make one’s shoulders curl inward, yet the emperor’s ears were not even reddened by the chill.

Was he so cold-blooded that he didn’t feel winter at all?

Ailie was in the middle of that cynical thought when—

“Wait.”

Benate called out to the knight commander leading the procession.

“What is it, Your Majesty?”

“I was concerned, but the temperature dropped too sharply this morning. It would be better to shorten the morning schedule and walk the streets continuously from the afternoon until sunset.”

…Apparently, even a cold-blooded man found this level of chill hard to endure.

“The empress should be fine, right?”

At the belated question, Ailie simply nodded lightly in agreement. His pale blue eyes stayed fixed on her.

‘What? If you have something to say, say it.’

Unable to voice her thoughts out loud, she held them in her gaze, looking steadily into those blue eyes with a faint smile.

Only then did his unyielding stare finally fall away.

But truly…

‘How strange.’

He had actually met her gaze.

Throughout their marriage, Benate had never shown her so much as a hint of affection. He rarely spoke to her unless it was necessary, and he had only looked her in the eye a handful of times.

Sometimes he had even glared at her as though she were his enemy, but never more than that.

So why was he acting this way now?

The eyes resting on Ailie held no anger, resentment or displeasure. It was strange — unbelievably so.

Having spent years gazing only at the emperor’s profile, worn down by indifference until she herself had become indifferent, Ailie had never looked him in the eye.

Always from the side, because he never looked back.

She had secretly memorized those pale blue eyes, keeping them to herself. And every time she did so, their clear, water-like beauty only made her feel more wretched.

Before her regression, Ailie had been certain that the emperor did not even know the color of her eyes.

“Then, we’ll appear in the western district this afternoon. Enjoy the capital at your leisure.”

When the emperor declared this after they finished circling the plaza, the visitors expressed regret but still broke into loud cheers and applause.

As they began returning toward the palace, Ailie’s steps followed Benate’s—when suddenly…

‘That woman…’

She spotted a familiar face in the crowd.

His black hair refused to dull, even in the sunlight. Golden eyes that did not waver as they fixed themselves on Ailie.

It was her.

The emperor’s mistress — the same woman she had seen in her own bedchamber that night.

‘Found her.’

Her mind cooled rapidly.

She could not leave that woman alone. However, as the Empress, she could not storm forward and confront her over a mere mistress at a public festival. She would not tarnish her dignity for someone like that.

Instead, Ailie quickly gestured to Breni, who was following behind her.

“Breni, lend me your ear for a moment.”

***

Breni returned to the empress’s chamber not long after.

Ailie leaned back in her chair, waiting for the report with a glance.

Her quick return meant one of two things: either she had failed to tail the woman, or the woman was far bolder than expected.

“Your Majesty, I delivered the message.”

“I see. And what did she say?”

“She said she will answer your summons.”

Ailie clicked her tongue softly.

Brazen woman!

Before her regression, Ailie had never sought out the mistress. She didn’t know her name, where she lived or where she was from. She didn’t seem to be a commoner, but she didn’t belong to high society either.

Ailie could not bring herself to ask Benate about the woman’s identity.

Above all, Ailie never wanted to see that woman again. Thinking of her only dredged up the memory of the moment the Emperor first betrayed her.

Even if she confronted the mistress, Ailie didn’t believe it would resolve anything. It was better not to reopen the wound; she should simply divorce him and leave the palace.

Looking back now, she could see how foolish that had been.

In fact, it was so foolish and pitiful that it was almost laughable.

“But, Your Majesty… why are you summoning that woman…?”

Although Breni obeyed the order, she spoke cautiously; she was still unable to grasp the Empress’s intentions.

Until now, Ailie had always seemed calm and unemotional around Breni. No matter how chaotic matters became, she never wavered. She had always prioritized the welfare of the Tere Empire over her own desires.

Not only to her maid, but to everyone — as though she had never had any personal desires. That had always been her way.

Therefore, the empress’s recent actions, which were so difficult to understand, must have felt unfamiliar to Breni.

That was how the original Ailie had lived. She believed that she had to follow that path if she wanted a ‘happy ending’.

But she should have acted this way from the very beginning.

Once her life had been ruined, neither the empire nor the imperial family held any value for her.

“There’s still something I haven’t heard. Where is she waiting right now?”

Ailie cut through Breni’s timid question without hesitation.

She knew that Breni would never believe her, even if she told her that she had seen the woman with her own eyes and that she was the emperor’s mistress.

It was something she had learned the hard way before her regression.

‘I won’t seek trust so easily.’’
I’ won’t beg for it so miserably.

She simply used Breni’s hands and feet to stop her betraying her again. The moment she showed emotion or relied on someone, things would spiral out of control, just like on the night of the Imperial New Year banquet.

“…She said she would wait at a tavern on the city’s outskirts. On the second-floor terrace.”

The moment Ailie heard it, she rose from her seat without a trace of hesitation.

The room, dim with the curtains drawn, reflected the sharp glint of her pale rose eyes as she stared coldly at Breni.

“Take me there. Quickly—there isn’t much time.”

She had roughly two hours.

If she wanted to finish what needed to be done, return to the palace and greet Benate as though nothing had happened, she would have to move quickly.

Ailie slipped out of the palace, pulling a white robe over her head.

Stunned and slow to react, Breni hurried after her in small, anxious steps.

Guided by Breni through a maze of narrow, winding alleyways, Ailie soon spotted a tavern tucked away in a secluded corner.

Inside, it was nearly empty. During the height of the festival, few people would choose such an old, musty tavern.

Without hesitating at all in these unfamiliar surroundings, Ailie headed straight for the second floor.

There were several vacant tables upstairs and the door to the terrace had been left open.

‘I should have done this from the beginning.’

Exhaling resolutely, she started walking towards the terrace. A biting winter wind seeped through the open doorway and sank deep into her lungs. The cold cleared her mind almost instantly.

Ailie had not come here for emotional revenge. She had come to remember what had gone wrong in her first life and why she had died the way she did.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Your Majesty. I am Donata Seidler.”

“……”

“Your Majesty?”

—she realized she needed to cut out the cause at its root.

Before the tangled threads could knot themselves further—before someone dared even to imagine stepping into the empress’s place.

Crack!

The resounding smack shattered the silence, leaving her palm burning. She lowered her gaze to the bright red swelling on her hand, then lifted her head to look at the woman covering her flushed cheek with both hands.

Her black hair was disheveled, falling across half of her pale face. Her golden eyes glared at Ailie.

The woman’s pitiful appearance made Ailie let out a hollow laugh.

It was because of Donata Seidler that her former self had been ruined: pathetic and miserable.

“What is the meaning of this, Your Majesty?”

“You’re not foolish enough to forget what happened two days ago. You thought you could look down on me?”

“I never meant to—”

“You thought I would just endure it, that nothing would happen to you, didn’t you?”

Ailie shook her head with a radiant smile.

“Do not ever set foot near the palace again. If your face appears there even once more, your family—your entire house—will not remain unharmed.”

Donata lowered her venomous gaze and bowed her head, silent.

Good. She must have understood.

Ailie turned sharply, without hesitation—