The Hilda that Dana Rowen remembered from her past life had died trying to physically block the Heinz knights from entering the castle. Despite her husband fleeing the capital with other nobles, she had stayed behind for Dana. She was the person Dana trusted most among those who remained by her side in the capital.

On her seventeenth birthday, as Dana prepared for the evening banquet, Hilda had spoken to her. With her brown hair cascading down and eyes of the same hue shining, she wore a dress as warm as her smile. In her usual tone full of faith, she assured Dana that she would do well.

Dana couldn’t quite remember how she had responded in her past life. To be honest, the details were hazy. Back then, she had been too nervous. Would she be able to play the instruments well at the banquet? Could she summon the divine beast during the climax of the event? Would she be able to make a contract with the divine beast?

She had been so tense that she barely remembered what she had said or how she had managed the birthday banquet. But now, experiencing it for the second time, she felt different. Her mind was calm. In fact, it felt almost unreal.

On the morning of her birthday, Dana sensed the worried gazes of the maids as they watched her, surprised by the princess who had suddenly burst into tears upon waking. Seeing the concerned faces around her only made her cry more. Just as a newborn cries when experiencing the world for the first time, Dana was overwhelmed by her return to this world and cried and cried.

She had turned back time and returned to the past, while the people around her remained frozen in that time. It was as if nothing had happened, as if all the terrible events had never occurred.

The decision to stand and prepare herself without repeating the actions of her past life allowed her to pull herself together before she was completely exhausted. However, her behavior throughout the day had already caused concern among those around her.

Like the other maids, Hilda’s face was filled with tension and concern. The real seventeen-year-old Dana couldn’t manage it, but the Dana of now smiled at her maids. With a bright smile that dimpled her cheeks, she looked at them.

“It’s okay. Let’s go.”

Hilda smiled with relief and let out a sigh.

Dana led the way out of the room, followed by her maids and knights. The maids trailing behind her held her skirt. Dana walked slowly down the lit corridor.

‘To walk this path again.’

The corridor of the castle. Dana could hardly believe she was walking it on her own feet. In her memory, she had been dragged down this path by the knights. The reality of it was only now beginning to sink in.

She had truly returned. Past the disastrous wedding, through the swamp of war, she had come back to being seventeen-year-old Dana Rowen.

Today was her seventeenth birthday. The very day she would contract with the divine beast at the temple where her birthday banquet was being held.

On that day in the past, she had contracted with the divine beast Yentamien and had been overwhelmed with emotion.

‘I contracted with Yentamien! I really did!’

She had shouted in surprise, and everyone had cheered. Yentamien! It was one of the highest-ranking divine beasts, the most mysterious and least known. Everyone was shocked, cheered, and congratulated her.

In the midst of the pouring cheers, the excited seventeen-year-old Dana hadn’t realized what expression her brother was wearing or what feelings he was harboring as he watched her.

“The princess of Rowen, one of the lights of Vican, Dana Rowen, arrives―!”

A knight announced the princess’s arrival. Standing at the open doors of the outdoor banquet hall, Dana surveyed the expansive venue.

Dana’s birthday fell at the end of the first month of spring, dedicated to the goddess Yurhemia, marking the beginning of spring. The banquet hall was filled with flowers that had just bloomed beautifully to welcome the season. Flowers adorned the white pillars, and trees filled the space behind them. The banquet hall was brightly decorated, proving that Rowen was a country under the protection of the goddess Yurhemia.

The outdoor banquet hall was packed with nobles who had been waiting for this day. The lights illuminated the banquet hall amid the darkness of the garden, the nobles dressed in colorful clothes, the musicians holding instruments, and the tables laden with food and drink. At the highest point stood a white keyboard instrument. Everything was prepared for Princess Dana Rowen’s seventeenth birthday.

Dana walked along the path of the banquet hall, a red carpet laid over the white stone path. With a face that couldn’t quite smile, she took slow, deliberate steps. People standing around clapped as they watched her.

In the past, she hadn’t seen any of their faces. She couldn’t remember how she had smiled or responded. Now, she had the leisure to look at each of their faces.

‘Many of these people.’

They were the ones who had surrendered to the Heinz knights and abandoned the kingdom.

‘Could they be among them now?’

The person who had conspired with the Crown Prince of Heinz in the death of her fiancé, Prince Ergart, and brought ruin to this kingdom. Could they be among the smiling, applauding nobles?

She couldn’t know. In her terrible past life, Dana hadn’t learned which Rowen noble was involved in Prince Ergart’s poisoning.

‘I should have known that.’

Her mouth tasted bitter. Even though she had turned back time, there was nothing she could do immediately. In the past, she had lived with her eyes closed, her ears shut, and her back turned to important matters to avoid getting involved.

“Dana Rowen.”

Her brother, Taras, called her from the head seat of the banquet hall. Dana looked at Taras from the end of the path.

Taras wore a gold crown on his brown hair, which only looked golden in the light. He hadn’t inherited the Rowen family’s characteristic blonde hair, but he had the same eye color, with green eyes like spring leaves.

Sitting on the golden throne symbolizing the king, he wore a dark green cloak lined with sable fur on his shoulders. Queen Bridget, who was sitting next to him, had her black hair styled up and wore a dress of a similar color to Taras’s, draped with a cloak of the same shade.

In the past, she hadn’t been able to see Taras’s face clearly. She had been too nervous. Now, she could see his face well. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were tense. The green eyes, unique to the Rowen royal family, couldn’t quite manage a smile as they looked at his sister.

In the past, she hadn’t been able to read his emotions, but now she could. He was afraid. Afraid that his younger sister would contract with a divine beast more powerful than his.

At seventeen, she hadn’t known, and afterward, she had pretended not to notice, living as if she knew nothing of her brother’s jealousy.

Until then, in Rowen, the firstborn among the royal family had always contracted with a powerful divine beast and ascended to the throne. There was even a joke that the spring goddess Yurhemia, the first of the four seasonal gods, preferred the firstborn.

However, Taras had only managed to contract with a lower-level divine beast. Although he had ascended to the throne, he couldn’t help but be aware that the gaze directed at him was filled with worry and disappointment. He couldn’t be free from the burden of the divine beast.

So she thought his frustration and anger were understandable and kept quiet, hoping that one day her brother’s heart would soften.

But even when the kingdom was in danger, what mattered most to Taras was…

‘Do you dare to boast in front of me just because you have a decent divine beast? You insolent thing!’

That fact must have always felt like a thorn in his side.

The king approached his sister and offered her words of congratulations and a gift. Dana received a necklace adorned with sapphires, just as she remembered. After the king’s congratulatory remarks, the nobles applauded. The king stepped back, and Queen Bridget, who had walked forward, also presented Dana with a gift. It was a sapphire bracelet that matched the sapphire necklace given by the king.

Seeing it, Dana couldn’t help but smile inwardly. The queen didn’t know that Dana had always worn an aquamarine bracelet since childhood and never wore any other bracelet. The king probably didn’t know either, as he had no interest in Dana.

That aquamarine bracelet was a keepsake from Dana and Taras’s mother, the late queen. It matched Dana’s sky-blue eyes, which she had inherited from her mother.

Next came Priest Gailos. He was currently the highest-ranking priest in Rowen. Wearing the white priestly robes that indicated his high rank, he stood before Dana, raised one hand to show his palm, and drew the circular holy mark of the Vican religion in front of his chest.

“To the princess of Rowen, one of the lights of Vican, protected by the breath of the spring goddess Yurhemia, I, a servant of Vican, offer this.”

Dana mirrored his gesture, drawing the holy mark.

The priest’s gift was a religious book of the Vican faith, its sleek black leather cover lavishly decorated with jewels and golden patterns. Inside, it was filled with elaborate illustrations and writings painstakingly transcribed and decorated by monks.

As the maids took the priest’s gift, the king and queen stepped aside. The attendants quickly cleared away the chairs they had been sitting on.