Isolet opened and closed her hand, recalling the day of her death.

“He had a happy face when I died.”

Theodore’s face was the first to come to mind.

It was an expression she could hardly forget. Could someone really make such a joyful face in front of another person’s death? She mocked herself inwardly.

With her entire body tightly bound, she was thrown before Theodore. And he was smiling brightly. In front of her, who was about to die.

Standing before her, unable to move with her limbs restrained, Theodore quietly looked down at her and then bent one knee to sit.

Still, their eyes didn’t meet. Isolet raised her head with all her might. She couldn’t believe his smiling face.

“What shall we do, Your Highness?”

He impudently lifted Isolet’s chin with a few fingers. Not only daring to touch the princess’s face but also doing so arrogantly.

‘How foolish you are.’

Theodore wore a haughty expression and sneered at her demonstratively.

‘I knew, but I didn’t realize you were this naive.’

At his mocking voice, Isolet regretted everything for the first time. This wasn’t what she had wanted.

‘If the princess dies so powerlessly, who do you think will be next?’

‘You, perhaps…’

Theodore wasn’t just trying to kill Isolet.

Come to think of it, she had heard that the Emperor’s influence had weakened considerably while she was distracted following him around. That there was some force trying to break the Emperor.

But she thought such matters weren’t her concern. There was nothing she, not even an Awakened, could do. But to think Theodore was related to that… It felt like the ground beneath her feet was crumbling.

Isolet finally faced the truth. It was too late a realization.

‘Eeek!’

She tried to struggle. But everything had already happened. There was nothing she could change. In an instant, all her emotions turned to hatred.

‘Your death will be just the beginning. Now this empire will belong to him.’

Theodore spoke freely, probably thinking Isolet was a dead woman walking.

‘You, how dare you!’

Isolet screamed. Her voice, cracking, was desperate.

‘You wanted to have me, didn’t you? Now that you’re about to die, I appear before Your Highness like this. Isn’t it a luxury to see my face on your final journey?’

He abruptly removed the hand that had been holding Isolet’s chin. Then he stood up and nodded his head. It was a silent order to take the next action.

To deliver death to her.

‘If I could turn back time!’

Even as she was being dragged away, Isolet cried out as if spitting blood. It was nonsensical raving. Just rage-filled resentment.

‘I will surely make you kneel before me! Aaagh!‘

She bit the arms of those trying to drag her away. She shouted toward Theodore with eyes full of venom.

‘I will make you regret it! Mmph!’

In an instant, her mouth was covered, and she was dragged out by strong men. That was the last moment. But…

“Did I really reverse time? Really?”

She looked at her current self once more.

She had definitely returned. As she became aware of reality, goosebumps rose on her skin. If she still liked Theodore after facing such truth, she would truly be a mad woman.

But Isolet no longer wanted to live as a mad woman, as a villainess.

She thought about what she could do.

‘If Your Highness had been born a man, you would have easily defeated this captain of the royal guard!’

‘If nothing else, Your Highness is the best at agile and delicate swordsmanship!’

Although swordsmanship wasn’t as revered as before due to the Awakened, Isolet was still an excellent swordswoman. That’s why she had decided in the past.

“So I tried to do what I could.”

To think she had Awakened. Moreover, the ability she had awakened wasn’t simply “power release.”

‘This is Word Command.’

A power that was said to exist only in legends.

‘The power where everything happens as you say.’

She realized that the power awakened within her was “Word Command.”

To think an ability she didn’t even know existed had awakened in her. It was unbelievable. So she slightly modified her plan.

‘First, I need to leave the palace and join the military.’

It wasn’t simply to avoid her future death.

‘There’s someone else behind Theodore anyway.’

If she couldn’t uncover that mastermind, the imperial family could be in danger again. That meant everyone, including herself, could die in vain.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

Isolet had someone she suspected as Theodore’s backer. To reach him, she absolutely had to join the military.

Having made this decision, Isolet slowly rose from her seat.

‘First, let me gauge the extent of my ability.’

She planned to hide the fact that she had Awakened for the time being and determine the extent of her ability and in what situations she could use it properly.

Since there was no one who could handle Word Command as an ability, she had to figure it out herself.

After experimenting several times, she found that sometimes she could use her ability properly, but sometimes she couldn’t.

So she didn’t want to reveal that she had Awakened until she was completely familiar with her ability.

Moreover, the ability “Word Command” was so unique that the other person had no idea she was using her ability. She estimated that no one except high-level Awakened would detect her ability.

She smiled and rose from her seat.

It was time to move.

Her tenacious connection with Theodore would soon be severed.

*

She walked to meet the Emperor.

The Emperor, who was also Isolet’s father, was quite fair in everything. And he had a fairly accurate eye for people. That’s why he disliked her following Theodore more than anyone else.

Before her regression, in the past, the Emperor always asked Isolet about other men.

‘Think about it. Although he has achieved merit, his status and position don’t suit you.’

It was partly true that he spoke of Theodore with low regard, mentioning status and position. Theodore had no other outstanding achievements besides his one-time merit in war.

Moreover, the Emperor probably wasn’t pleased to see his daughter being disrespected by a man.

He truly introduced notable men to Isolet, as he said.

‘I can bring you men with much better conditions.’

At that past memory, Isolet unconsciously let out a sneer. If she had met another man as the Emperor suggested, perhaps the outcome wouldn’t have been so tragic. But what’s done is done. Doesn’t she have another chance now?

Gathering her thoughts, she stood with a neat posture in front of the Emperor’s office.

“The Imperial Princess is here to see you.”

The head servant guarding the entrance noticed her and greeted her respectfully.

“It’s been a while, Huey.”

She warmly acknowledged his greeting with her eyes.

“Hello. You know my name.”

“Of course. How could I not?”

Huey looked somewhat surprised and puzzled. In the past, she had been so preoccupied with following Theodore that she showed no interest in anything else. There were often problems because she didn’t know the names of long-serving head servants or aides in the palace, apart from family. So it was understandable that Huey was surprised she remembered his name.

Seeing this, she barely managed to swallow a laugh that was about to burst out.

To be surprised just because she knew his name. It made her newly aware of how terrible her past had been.

Isolet opened her mouth again with a bitter smile.

“Would you inform His Majesty? Ask if I can see him for a moment.”

“Did you make an appointment in advance?”

Huey’s expression became quite sharp. Isolet quietly responded.

“I didn’t. But you can at least inform him, can’t you? I believe you have that much authority.”

At this, Huey’s eyes widened again, as if surprised.

It was true that one couldn’t meet the Emperor without making an appointment in advance, as he said.

But Huey, guarding the office, had special authority. He could assess the urgency of matters and allow people to meet the Emperor. Of course, this was possible because of the Emperor’s special order.

Huey would open the doors of the office for matters the Emperor needed to know about or urgent matters that couldn’t be delayed.

In the past, she only learned this fact when she was about to die, but now she was determined to make good use of everything she knew from now on.

“Is it that important a matter?”

To Huey’s serious question, Isolet opened her mouth.

“Yes, it is. So please inform him quickly.”

She spoke with emphasis. Infusing the energy of ‘Word Command’,