Chapter 2: The Rotten Lifeline

Edelweiss’s eyelids fluttered open on reflex.

“…Haaah.”

Her lungs filled to their deepest depths with air.

Trying to steady her ragged breathing, she consciously exhaled—slow and measured.

“…Ah.”

Her voice came out clearly.

There was no ache in her chest.

She reached back to feel the spot on her head where blood had once poured.

Her palm came back clean.

‘But I—

I died. I heard Rosemary’s farewell as she pushed me… so how am I lying here, perfectly fine…?’

Startled, Edelweiss shot up.

She climbed out of bed and rushed to the mirror.

“My face…”

She reached up and touched her own cheek, stunned by the youthful face staring back at her.

Since the coming-of-age ceremony, I’ve always kept my hair short…

But now, the hair Rosemary had insisted she crop for years was long—flowing past her waist.

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

As she moved toward the mirror, she noticed something shocking.

Her right leg didn’t limp.

She stood straight.

Walked without pain.

A shiver ran through her entire body.

The ankle that once kept her up on sleepless, stormy nights… was fine.

It’s as if I’ve gone back in time.

Panicked, she dropped to her knees to check.

The long scar she’d gotten from that fateful injury—it was gone.

No pain… no scar… What on earth is happening?

Was she dreaming of the days she had missed after death?

“!”

It happened then.

A green butterfly fluttered its vivid wings and landed on her index finger.

‘I wasn’t mistaken, was I?’

Edelweiss pressed her hand against the spot over her heart where it beat out of sync, tickling.

Thump, thump, thump.

The sensation of her heart pounding came through vividly.

Then, two knocks sounded before the door opened.

“Good morning, my lady. Did you sleep well?”

Jane approached slowly with a gentle smile and soft voice.

“Lady Rosemary isn’t feeling well. It seems she caught the rain during yesterday’s outing and suffered a high fever all through the night.”

Jane took a glass jar filled with lily tea from the tea cabinet and steeped it strong in hot water.

Edelweiss nearly gagged at the scent of the lily tea, barely managing to suppress the nausea.

“Drink up and go see Lady Rosemary.”

The long hair, the unharmed ankle, the vanished knee scar, the subtle sense of familiarity against her skin.

She didn’t yet know exactly when she had returned to, but all those details pointed to one thing.

‘I’m not dead……’

She had returned to the past.

As she fully realized she had come back to life, tears welled up. Her vision blurred.

It was a complicated emotion that couldn’t be explained by the word overwhelming alone.

Edelweiss wiped her tears and stared quietly at Jane.

Unlike when she had only heard about it from Rosemary, facing Jane directly stirred a different kind of rage.

She wanted to knock away that shameless hand offering her lily tea and demand how she could dare to do such a thing.

It had been ten years ago, during a cold winter.

Edelweiss had paid the price and brought Jane to the Duke of Stern’s mansion after catching her getting beaten for stealing an apple.

Since then, Jane had often said she would repay the favor of being saved from freezing to death so miserably.

‘So this is how you repay favors?’

Looking back, Jane had only ever said she was doing things for Edelweiss. Her actions had always been far from that.

Edelweiss recalled the things Jane had done.

She had ruined the dress for her coming-of-age ceremony by spilling spoiled milk on it.

And on the days she forgot to drink the lily tea, Jane would always make sure to bring it.

Sometimes she’d fail to deliver invitations, causing Edelweiss to lose contact with certain noble families.

Only now did it all make sense.

It had all been intentional sabotage under Rosemary’s orders.

The years she’d been fooled by Rosemary now felt painfully foolish.

Even though she’d already been stabbed in the back by someone she trusted, betrayal never became easier to bear.

Jane had always seemed the kindest and most courteous on the outside, so even when she pretended her traps were accidents, Edelweiss believed her.

Maybe that’s why she never questioned how insistently Jane had pushed the lily tea on her.

“Oh my, my lady. Why are you trembling? I’ll add more firewood. We must make the room warmer.”

Her hands were still shaking.

Perhaps thinking she was cold, Jane turned around and bent over to add logs to the fireplace.

Edelweiss clutched the glass jar filled with lily tea.

The urge to hurl the jar at Jane and make her pay for the deceit she’d committed surged inside her.

What Jane had done was so infuriating it went beyond rage and into sorrow—utterly unforgivable.

But would removing Jane, Rosemary’s spy, from her sight now be to her advantage?

‘No, not yet.’

It wasn’t the right time.

It was better to use Jane to deceive Rosemary in return.

That way, when the truth was finally revealed, it would be all the more humiliating.

As Edelweiss called out to Jane, she simultaneously released the glass jar from her hand.

The jar plummeted to the floor and struck it with a crash.

Clang—

A sharp shattering sound split the air.

“Heavens! My lady, are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Jane, what do I do? My hand slipped and I dropped it… It was something my sister gave me with care… What should I do?”

For now, she had no choice but to play the part of the devoted younger sister who trusted her more than anyone.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Lady Rosemary will understand if you say it was an accident.”

“Thank you, Jane. You really are the only one I can count on.”

‘So, Jane.

Go ahead and hold tight to that rotten rope.

I’ll drag you down into ruin with your true master.’

“Jane, what’s the date today?”

“Hehe, it’s November 19th. Just one month until your coming-of-age ceremony, my lady.”

“A month until the ceremony… A month left until the coming-of-age ceremony, huh.”

It was the year 312 in the Imperial Calendar of Rejenoel.

‘I’ve returned to four years ago, in winter.’

Just one month before her coming-of-age ceremony.

It was also before she had met Adolf, before they became lovers.

‘God must have taken pity on me and given me this chance.’

Edelweiss pressed her heated eyes, overwhelmed by a surge of indescribable emotion.

Now that she knew Rosemary’s weakness—that she wasn’t the duke’s real daughter—

The most important thing was to find out who Rosemary’s birth father was.

‘Rosemary has violet eyes, so her biological father must carry the Stern bloodline.’

All the branch families were expected to attend the coming-of-age ceremony, so she planned to observe them carefully.

“What’s this?”

“It was an invitation that arrived three days ago. I forgot to deliver it. I’m so sorry.”

Edelweiss spotted the invitation lying on the table.

A beautifully pressed freesia bloom was embedded in the sealing wax.

‘Freesia… That’s the symbol of the Marquisate of Riche.’

[To Lady Edelweiss Stern,

Greetings. This is Chloe Riche, eldest daughter of the Marquis of Riche.

I hope this letter finds you in good health as winter draws near.

The greenhouse garden has been completed, and I will be hosting a tea party at noon three days from now.

It would be an honor if you could attend and grace us with your presence.

Looking forward to meeting you with a fluttering heart, I shall end the letter here.

—With affection, Chloe Riche]

It was a tea party invitation from Chloe Riche.

She remembered something had happened at that tea party. Edelweiss tried to recall.

Back then, Rosemary had wanted to come along, so they attended together.

But when Rosemary spilled tea on her dress, she became irritated and took it out on Chloe’s nanny—and was caught in the act.

‘Ah. I took Rosemary’s side, and it ruined my relationship with Chloe.’

Before meeting Rosemary, Edelweiss deliberately took the invitation. She wanted her to know she’d be attending Chloe Riche’s tea party again.

‘I’ll bring her along to the tea party again this time.’

This time, she intended to change her relationship with Chloe Riche—

And publicly humiliate Rosemary in the process.