Diana stopped at a distance where just a few steps backward would send her plummeting down the cliff.

“D-don’t come any closer! If you approach, I’ll jump off from here. If I die, you’ll all become murderers responsible for my death.”

The startled servants halted their steps and hesitated. They seemed to think she wouldn’t actually jump, but feared she might.

“Please, just catch her already!”

Clive appeared, emerging from the villa. He walked slowly with a servant’s support, but his injury must have been deep because he limped noticeably.

Seeing the furious Clive, the servants appeared to hesitate momentarily. They continued looking back and forth between Diana and him.

“You fools, move quickly! Hurry!”

The hesitant servants finally began to step forward, unable to resist Clive’s urging. Diana also took steps backward until she stopped right at the edge of the cliff.

A small pebble tumbled down the sheer cliff. Even just a glimpse sent a wave of bottomless fear through her.

Her body wobbled momentarily. The servants’ eyes widened in shock at Diana’s unsteady stance.

“Whoa! That’s dangerous!”

She tensed her legs to maintain balance. Though she hadn’t fallen off the cliff yet, the situation remained precarious.

“One step back and you’ll fall. It’s dangerous. Come this way!”

Unable to approach further, the servants shouted with desperate expressions. They apparently hadn’t believed Diana would actually fall off the cliff.

“You think she will jump on her own will? Go catch her now. If you fail, you’ll all die!”

Clive continued shouting at the fearful servants. He didn’t seem to believe Diana would willingly throw herself off the cliff.

Rather than being defiled, death would be preferable. She had no intention of letting them capture her.

“If you value your lives, listen to me, not that man. If you seize him instead of me, I’ll spare your lives.”

Diana made one last attempt to persuade the servants. At this point, she could only hope their hearts wouldn’t change.

“She won’t jump! So catch her immediately!”

The servants, who had been looking back and forth between Diana and Clive, ultimately chose Clive. They must have concluded Diana couldn’t jump off the cliff.

Perhaps changing the future truly was impossible.

Realizing she could no longer persuade them, Diana had only one choice left.

A river flowed fiercely below the cliff. With luck, she might survive, but the odds were fifty-fifty.

‘Was I destined to die after all? No matter how I try to avoid it, can I not escape that fate?’ Diana couldn’t help but despair at her situation.

In a way, she considered it fortunate. Her father and mother were safe, so she had succeeded halfway, hadn’t she?

Though her attempt to change her previous life had shortened her current one, she had no regrets. In her last life, she had been foolishly victimized by Clive, but this time was different.

She had become engaged to the man she had loved unrequitedly her whole life, and even shared her body with him. And this time, rather than being murdered, she would jump herself.

Though shorter than her previous life, this one had been more fulfilling, so she had no regrets.

However, she had no intention of dying alone. She planned to take that bastard down with her somehow.

Earlier, when Clive was raging, Diana had torn her dress while avoiding people’s gazes. Then she had written a message in blood on the fabric.

The culprit is Clive Orkney.

She had wrapped the torn cloth tightly in her pocket, so even if she fell into the river, the bloodstains wouldn’t completely disappear. Once they confirmed her handwriting and her blood, it would become irrefutable evidence.

If she jumped herself, they wouldn’t search for Diana’s body. They would simply report her missing and pretend not to know anything.

In that case, the Imperial Guard would most likely discover Diana’s body. Diana hoped they would find the note deeply hidden inside her dress and resolve her unjust death.

As the servants approached closer, Diana stepped one foot backward. Nothing met her foot. Her foot merely floated in empty air.

“N-no! Don’t!”

Seeing the servants rushing toward her urgently, Diana lifted her other foot from the ground as well.

In her previous life, she had closed her eyes, but not this time. Diana looked at Clive. With a gaze full of hatred.

She even smiled faintly. Clive’s face contorted at her composed attitude.

“When I die, you’ll become the prime suspect in my murder. Just wait and see. I welcome you making an enemy of the Winchester family.”

Leaving these final words, Diana’s body fell rapidly down the cliff. Once again, her past life flashed through her mind like a panorama.

‘Please, live happily with the woman you love. And father, mother. I’m sorry.’

Just as she was about to close her eyes while leaving these final thoughts for Edwin and her parents…

“AAAAGH!”

Suddenly, Clive’s scream rang out. Following that, the shrill screams of men filled the air.

‘Could allies have arrived? Who could it be?’

When she opened her eyes, she saw Lady Queensberry looking down at her from the cliff with a concerned expression. One of her hands gripped Clive’s collar, while the other held a sword.

Lady Queensberry looked not like a noble lady but like a gallant knight.

‘Did she come to help me? How did she know?’

Diana couldn’t comprehend the scene unfolding before her eyes. But she had no time to ponder it. She lost consciousness before her body hit the ground.

* * *

“Search primarily downstream.”

The knights were thoroughly searching around the river with its strong currents. Edwin’s expression, as he directed them, was filled with anxiety.

‘Please. Let her be safe.’

Edwin searched everywhere like a madman. If God took pity on Diana, he prayed she would be returned safely to his arms. His heart was desperate.

As the search time grew longer, Edwin’s face showed clear signs of anxiety. Despair swelled up, but he tried to forcibly suppress negative thoughts.

That’s when it happened. The urgent voice of a knight was heard.

“Captain, we’ve found Lady Winchester.”

“Where?”

“Downstream, as you said.”

“Let’s go immediately.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t far from where Edwin was, so he could reach the downstream location with quick steps.

There, he saw knights surrounding Diana. Seeing their restless behavior made his heart sink.

Though ominous thoughts crossed his mind, Edwin maintained composure and asked:

“How is her condition?”

“She doesn’t seem to be breathing.”

As Edwin approached, the knights moved aside. Diana’s face, collapsed on the ground, was completely pale, and her lips were blue.

Edwin immediately placed his finger under Diana’s nose to check if she was breathing. As the knights had said, not even the faintest breath could be felt.

When he slightly lifted her arm, she went limp. Her fragile body made a dull sound, like that of a dead person.

‘D*mn it! Am I too late again?’

The Duke and Duchess of Winchester had survived, hadn’t they? So why did Diana have to suffer like this?

Why was she the only one who couldn’t change her predetermined fate?

She hadn’t done anything to deserve God’s abandonment—she had only been harmed by evil people. God wouldn’t impose such a harsh trial on her alone.

So why wasn’t she breathing? Why wouldn’t she open her eyes?

With a face sunk in despair, Edwin embraced Diana. He couldn’t let her go like this. He had to save her somehow. Please.

He tried desperately to revive her. With a desperate heart, Edwin opened her mouth and breathed into it. The sensation of her cold lips felt unfamiliar.

Until recently, he had felt her warm breath there—how could it be so cold now?

He breathed into her again and again. Not satisfied with that, he pressed on her chest, compressing her thorax.

Despite repeating this continuously, Diana showed no signs of waking.

“I cannot let you die. Not this time!”

Edwin’s desperate voice cut through the air. 

‘Please, wake up, Diana. I cannot let you go like this.’

He knew there wouldn’t be a second chance. He had to save her somehow.

As Edwin continued compressing her chest, he felt Diana’s hand move slightly.

“Diana!”

He continued pressing her chest with a desperate heart.

* * *

Cough!

Diana coughed up the river water filling her airway. When she faintly opened her eyes, her gaze caught the blurry figure of a man.

‘Edwin?’

Hadn’t she fallen off the cliff? Was she dead or alive? Or had she returned to the past again?

How had he come here? Hadn’t Marie told no one, meaning no one knew she was missing?

Had she perhaps arrived in heaven? But her physical condition was too terrible for this to be heaven.

She felt a chilling sensation, and her lungs were so full of water that even breathing was difficult.

‘Could I have survived?’

The first person who came to mind was Clive. What had happened to him? Unable to speak properly, Diana managed to squeeze out a question.

“W-what about Young Master Orkney?”

“Young Master Orkney has been arrested on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder.”

‘Ah. That’s a relief. He’ll pay for his crimes.’

Diana felt relieved that, unlike in her previous life, Clive would be punished. Perhaps because this tension was released, her strength suddenly drained away.

“Diana!”

She heard Edwin calling her name from a distance, but she couldn’t possibly answer. Her eyes slowly began to close.

“Diana, please! After everything I’ve done to save you! You can’t die twice!”

Edwin’s anguished voice reached her.

He misunderstood that Diana was dying when she was merely losing consciousness because her tension had eased. She wanted to tell him she was fine, but no voice came out.

As her consciousness faded, a question suddenly arose.

Die twice? It sounded like Edwin knew about Diana’s miserable death in her previous life.

She wanted to ask what he meant, but she couldn’t because she lost consciousness.