What was absurd was that the people who had come to the villa with her were those who had worked at the estate for a long time. That’s why Diana hadn’t suspected anything.

Their hearts must have changed after her parents passed away. They had definitely betrayed Diana while welcoming Clive as their new master.

“This can’t be…”

‘How about going to the villa for a while to recover?’

Since her husband Clive had recommended that Diana, who was shocked by her parents’ death, go to the villa, she had followed his advice and was recuperating there.

But all the people who came with her were on Clive’s side? Did this make any sense?

If she had been in her right mind, she might have been somewhat suspicious. But Diana’s current state was different from usual.

After losing her parents and sending away her child, she was withering away. It wasn’t a situation where she could look around or be suspicious. So even when she sensed something strange, she had no time to pay attention to it.

Where had things gone wrong? As she thought about the past days, an ominous thought suddenly crossed her mind. Diana stared at Charlotte with intense focus.

“Don’t tell me my parents’ death was also…?”

“You’re not completely clueless. It was Duke Winchester’s doing.”

She had asked just in case, but it was actually true. Having heard this unbelievable story, Diana was so shocked she couldn’t continue speaking.

There was no need to commit such a cruel act! She couldn’t understand the current situation at all. Barely opening her mouth, Diana shouted.

“How could he do that to me? He was going to become the head of the ducal family anyway, so why did he do such a thing!”

“Why? To quickly take over the Winchester family, of course.”

In the Empire, only men could become family heads, so Diana’s husband was scheduled to inherit the family instead of her.

So Clive had been receiving heir training ever since marrying Diana. Diana knew that Clive was struggling with this process. Her father’s lessons were quite strict.

Even knowing that the two men had some trouble over this matter, Diana had taken her father’s side rather than Clive’s.

Since it was a position that required responsibility, Diana thought that much was natural. But Clive didn’t think so.

It seemed to be around that time when he became close to the Second Prince. Even knowing that her parents supported the Crown Prince, she had been disappointed by his attitude of associating with the Second Prince, but only now did she realize the reason.

The Duke and Duchess of Winchester couldn’t be harmed carelessly. Even disguising it as an accident wouldn’t be easy. All of this would only be possible with the backing of the Second Prince.

When she thought that he might have already planned this from the time he became close to the Second Prince, goosebumps rose all over her body.

Now she couldn’t tell what kind of person her husband was. Who would have known that the man who was always affectionate and kind would stab her in the back like this?

Even though she had someone she loved, hadn’t she chosen a loveless marriage? Since it was a loveless marriage anyway, she had married a man who would lead the family well, but it had failed.

Trusting her husband in the first place had been wrong. She hadn’t thought he would harm her parents to completely take over the Winchester family, and not having any suspicions had been her mistake.

Since her trust had been great, her sense of betrayal boiled up, so Clive’s behavior was enough to arouse Diana’s anger.

‘I’m going to be murdered today by those who betrayed me? I don’t want to die.’

How much had she suffered in pain every night? Even though her heart was full of wanting to die, hadn’t she tried to overcome it?

Just when she was trying to regain her will to live, she was going to die. By none other than her husband. Did this make sense?

There had been somewhat suspicious signs, but perhaps pretending not to notice had been the root of the problem. If she hadn’t, would her parents not have died?

Various thoughts were tangled, but it was useless to regret belatedly now.

“Do you think I’ll die easily like this?”

“You don’t want to live anyway. You don’t have anyone on your side, so what’s the point of resolving to live every night? You wanted to die so much, so I’ll grant that wish.”

Charlotte looked at Diana with eyes that said she couldn’t understand. It seemed she was sincere about granting her wish.

‘Why should I die? Why should I have an unwanted marriage and meet a miserable death?’

Though her heart was full of injustice and resentment, there was nothing Diana could do. She could only hope that someone from the Winchester family would discover their conspiracy and come looking for her, though belatedly.

She knew it was a futile hope. But she needed to buy some time. Diana shouted at Charlotte in an urgent voice.

“If I suddenly die, won’t people be suspicious?”

“A duchess who fell into depression from the grief of losing her parents. If we say she took her own life after giving birth to a child at the villa due to postpartum depression, no one will suspect anything.”

“…”

“And the child in my womb now will be disguised as your child. If it’s a son, he’ll inherit the ducal family. Just imagining it is exciting.”

Only a very few people knew that Diana had miscarried. Others only knew about the pregnancy.

So Charlotte seemed to plan to disguise her child as Diana’s and stay close to the ducal family under the pretext of raising the child. Then after some time passed, she would become the duchess.

The more Diana conversed with Charlotte, the more she felt like she was falling into an abyss of despair beyond helplessness.

For a moment, Diana’s eyes met Charlotte’s, and the madness emanating from her gaze made all the hair on Diana’s body stand on end.

When Charlotte waved the knife in her hand, the blue-steel blade gleamed menacingly. There was no time to avoid the sharp blade that pierced her chest. There was no chance to resist.

Indescribable pain penetrated deep into her lungs. When Charlotte gave a signal, the servant beside her lifted Diana up.

They carried Diana outside the villa where rain was pouring down relentlessly.

So that’s why he had recommended this particular villa among so many. They planned to drop her off a cliff to damage the corpse. They must have stabbed her with the knife thinking of the possibility she might survive.

A river flowed fiercely at the bottom of the cliff. So not only would finding the body be delayed, but it would be severely damaged.

Cruel bastards.

When the rainwater touched the wound on her chest, she felt burning pain.

“Ugh!”

Even so, Diana struggled desperately to escape from the servant’s arms.

She felt wronged to die like this. Knowing that those people would live prosperously after her death, how could she die quietly?

She tried to resist by squeezing out every ounce of strength she had. But it was only futile resistance.

Even when she glared at the servant with sharp eyes, no expression of wavering could be felt on their faces.

Ah, no!

Her last struggle was useless. They finally dropped Diana off the cliff. As her body fell rapidly toward the ground, her life passed by like a panorama.

Her father and mother who had always loved her.

Her personal maid Marie and the other maids who had always been on her side.

The knights and noble friends who had always been good to her.

And her first love that she couldn’t fulfill.

If she had known this would happen, would it have been better to marry him by force? Even knowing that regretting now was useless, she couldn’t control her regretful feelings.

Diana, who was falling into the endless cliff, lost consciousness before her body even hit the ground. There was no time to feel that death was approaching.

* * *

“Gasp!”

Diana’s eyes snapped open as she struggled desperately to survive. Her entire body was drenched in sweat.

Leaving the damp feeling behind, Diana blinked her eyes continuously. The first thing that came into view was a clean ceiling with white wallpaper.

She had definitely fallen off a cliff, but she was in a room? Was this a final illusion she was seeing before death? Or had she come to heaven?

The shock of death was so great that Diana stared blankly at the ceiling, unable to distinguish whether this was reality or the afterlife. The ceiling pattern looked familiar. Wait, this place is?

“Miss, are you alright?”

Marie’s voice?

When she heard a familiar voice along with the familiar scenery, color began to return to Diana’s face, which had turned pale with fear.

She turned her head to look around. A clean room filled her vision, with white wallpaper and luxurious furniture.

Was this her room? After looking around continuously and realizing it was her bedroom, Diana let out a sigh of relief.

When had she been moved here from the villa?

Feeling relieved, a smile naturally formed on her lips, but her personal maid Marie wasn’t smiling. She looked at Diana with worried eyes.

“My goodness, look at this cold sweat. What kind of nightmare did you have to sweat this much?”

“Well, you see…”