“Tch!”

“…Don’t make me laugh!”

The saliva that struck him caused the picture-perfect smile on his face to stiffen. A cruel light surged within his eyes. Wiping the spit from his cheek, he let out a quiet sigh.

“It’s fine. I’ll forgive you, considering this your final struggle.”

Forgive?

Her entire body trembled with fury.

“You… don’t have the right.”

“Cordelia, this is your problem. If you were going to act like a fool, you should have gone all the way with it. Why make me the bad person?”

He discarded the mask of feigned gentleness as if it had never existed, his face instantly twisting into open contempt. Then, just as he always had, he began to throw sharp words at her—words that slowly devoured her from within.

Those soft, measured words that piled guilt upon guilt.

“My dear, we could have ended things without it turning ugly. Our marriage didn’t have to be ruined like this. The one who destroyed it… was you. You should know that.”

She could not bear to hear another word.

A scream tore out of her whole body.

Blood suddenly surged up her throat.

“That’s insane! Hngh—m-my, my younger sibling… you’re the one who killed them!”

“Ah.”

The indifferent expression that surfaced on her husband’s face tore her heart into thousands of pieces.

As if she were making a fuss over something utterly trivial, Julius merely shook his head with a weary sigh.

“What? You’re acting like this over something like that?”

‘Something like that.’

When she had learned the truth, the despair she had felt had been so immense it had nearly destroyed her.

The man only shrugged, speaking with casual indifference.

“I killed my own father. Did you really think your sibling meant anything to me?”

“What?”

A tremendous shock struck her.

As if amused by her reaction, he curled the corner of his lips and stepped closer.

“You think that’s all, my dear?”

Knowing it was the end, Julius continued confessing his crimes to the woman who was dying before him. Yet his lips curved upward with unmistakable delight.

The way his eyes bent when he smiled was beautiful—making the cruelty within them all the more vicious.

“All the poison you consumed over the years—that was my doing too. I did feel a little sorry for you when you cried about not being able to conceive… but it couldn’t be helped. If a child had come between us, it would have complicated things.”

“……”

“What else was there…? Ah… what a shame. There were so many that I can’t even remember them all. Why did I do it? Because you were smarter than I expected. I had to make sure that clever head of yours couldn’t think properly. Still, the fact that you made it this far means you weren’t completely oblivious. Too bad.”

“How… how could you do this to me…?”

“I told you already, Cordelia. It’s all your fault. You were greedy for something you never should have desired.”

His teeth—white and perfectly aligned—looked unbearably grotesque.

Julius grumbled calmly, as if discussing something trivial.

“You still don’t understand? If it hadn’t been for the position of Blue Rose, do you think I would have ever approached a woman like you?”

It was horrifying.

How had she failed to see it?

The man she had lived with as her husband for ten years was clearly not human.

“That’s strange. Why are you looking at me like I’m some kind of monster?”

“You’re insane. You’re completely insane. Don’t you dare—don’t you dare call yourself my husband!”

“A husband is still a husband, Cordelia. Of course, I’ve never loved you.”

A choked sob rose with the wave of disgust.

“You couldn’t divorce me.”

Julius moved his hand.

He drove the blade—already pushing Cordelia steadily toward death—deeper into her body.

“Ugh!”

Pain exploded through her.

“We are still husband and wife.”

“Hngh! Aah!”

“And soon, I will become the only one left bearing the Blue Rose name. What do you think? Isn’t it the perfect gift?”

“Aaaah!”

The pain spreading from the sword buried in her abdomen, and the whisper of death drawing closer—none of it frightened her.

“You gave it all to me yourself. You said you loved me.”

All that remained was bitterness.

She had just safely handed over the divorce papers.

She had been on the verge of exposing the crimes that the man before her had committed to the entire world.

Her revenge had been right within reach.

And yet—

it had all collapsed.

‘At the very least… I should have seen you destroyed before I died.’

Cordelia let out a hollow laugh.

By now,

Cordelia had already died countless times.

Even when she discovered that he had controlled her with drugs that clouded her mind.

Even when she realized he had toyed with her from the very beginning, keeping a mistress by his side while deceiving her from head to toe.

Even when that mistress had approached her pretending to be a devout and trustworthy person—only to reveal herself as Cordelia’s own close maid, the one to whom she had confided all her secrets.

“Dear.”

Julius suddenly laughed as he lowered his head until it nearly touched hers.

There was a cruelty in that smile—like someone about to tear apart the delicate wings of a dragonfly.

“Shall I tell you something even more unfair?”

What was he planning to say now?

Why was he so cruel?

Why?

“Dear, you know where this place is, don’t you? It’s somewhere not even a rat could reach. Ha ha… so think about it. Who do you suppose will ever know that you died here?”

He gently brushed aside Cordelia’s hair, which was soaked with blood and hopelessly disheveled.

Then, as though he truly pitied her, he whispered softly,

“No one will know about your death.”

“…!”

“I’ll make sure of it. Even in death, you won’t be mourned.”

Seeing Cordelia’s eyes widen in horror, Julius let out a bright, delighted laugh.

“And one day, everything that belongs to Blue Rose will become mine.”

Every word pierced deep into her lungs.

“Cordelia, all those things you said you gave me because you loved me. I’ll enjoy them with the woman I truly love. In a world where you no longer exist.”

Even the last fragment of her remaining life shattered.

“All of it was a gift you gave me. I’m truly grateful.”

Her husband’s voice, almost like a song, killed her again and again.

‘Ah… Father. Mother.’

‘My little sibling…’

‘It was my fault.’

The faces she longed to see filled her fading vision.

How many times had she repeated that thought?

‘If only time could turn back.’

If only she could change the foolish choice she had made.

If only she could return to the moment before she fell in love with the demon standing before her.

If that were possible—

she would give up anything.

“Thank you, my dear.”

Dark crimson blood surged up from her throat.

“Now die already.”

Her vision dimmed under the crushing weight of pain.

Darkness swallowed her soul.

Everything grew distant.

Even her rage and hatred began to disperse like smoke.

And in that moment—

just as everything faded away—

a faint voice echoed from somewhere.

「If you could choose…」

‘Am I… dead?’

「If you could go back and choose once more…」

Whose voice was that?

「Would you do it?」

All thought came to a halt.

‘I can start again?’

‘Please. Please!’

Her soul screamed.

They said she could choose again.

They said it was possible.

She began to beg, to plead, to desperately pray.

‘Please, God. If you would return me to the moment where everything can be undone, I will offer even my soul. It does not matter if you are not a god—even if you are a demon. Please return it. Turn it back!’

And then—

at some point—

Cordelia’s eyes flew open as she gasped, as if she had just burst out of deep water.

‘Ah!’

A crushing fatigue. The pain of escaping darkness only to be thrust into blinding light. Cold sweat soaked her entire body.

When she hurriedly gathered her senses and looked ahead, the first thing she saw were two women glaring at her.

‘……?’

For a moment, her mind stopped working.

‘What is going on?’

‘I died.’

But before she could even collect her thoughts, a sharp scolding rang out.

“Making that stupid face again!”

The voice belonged to the older of the two women standing before her.

The woman looked at Cordelia’s pale face as she struggled to breathe, then twisted her lips and snapped impatiently.

“Did you fall asleep at the table? Even if you mean to disrespect me, there should be limits! How dare you be so rude!”

Cordelia blinked slowly.

That woman—

“…Madam Dios?”

The woman’s face twisted viciously.

“You dare call me that again! Is this your way of refusing to acknowledge your family elder? Tsk! How many times must I tell you to call me Aunt before it finally sinks in?”

Her furious voice rang painfully in Cordelia’s head.

Yet Cordelia could only stare blankly at the woman who looked ready to devour her whole.

‘Giselle von Dios.’

The Baroness of Dios—her father’s half-sister, the younger sister of the previous Duke of Blue Rose.

A woman who had tormented Cordelia relentlessly.

Greedy to the core, yet never truly acknowledged by the family.

In Cordelia’s memories, she had clearly died several years ago.

Then why—

was that woman standing here, alive?

Her mind tangled in confusion, like a knot of twisted threads.