“But, my lady. Did you have something to say to me? You were staring at me quite intently.”

On a hunch, I quickly reached out and grabbed her hand. A warm, living heat radiated from her touch. With Karla alone, it became certain that the person before me was not someone from a dream, and that I was a living person.

“A wedding…… a wedding, of all things. I thought it was a dream.”

I realized this situation was something I had lived through before.

This was the day of my wedding to Dertosse. I had taken far too long to realize it, and all I could do was let out a hollow laugh.

I had clearly died.

It had been too vivid to dismiss as a dream.

But how was I alive? And like this, of all things? This was a terrible dream. A dream that reflected, with brutal clarity, how desperately I had wanted to return to that day.

“You must have dozed off and had a dream from exhaustion.”

No. That couldn’t have been the dream.

That grueling year after marrying Dertosse, that agony that felt like every organ inside me was dissolving, there was no way that wasn’t real.

Unable to make sense of the situation, I simply shook my head from side to side. Because of that, Karla, who had been putting the finishing touches on my appearance, quickly stilled her hands.

“Sorry.”

“Not at all! Are you nervous? Shall I bring you some water?”

“Yes. Please, some water.”

Karla, who seemed quite startled by my reaction, held out a glass of water that had been sitting nearby. The moment the cool, smooth glass touched my hand, I flinched, and when the ice-cold water slid down my throat, I trembled, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

‘It’s so vivid. Even this….’

This was absurd. That all of this was real. Had God truly taken such pity on my death that He turned back time for me?

To let me take revenge?

I clenched my fist tight. If that was the case, I ought to drop to my knees and offer a prayer of thanks to God right now. A laugh burst out of me.

“You must be very nervous.”

Whether she found my reaction strange, Karla’s expression shifted moment to moment. She seemed deeply worried.

“A wedding. A wedding. How wonderful.”

“Of course. With the blessings of everyone around you, you’ll be the most beautiful bride in the world.”

No. I would be the most miserable bride in the world.

This time, I would never let it come to that. I had to let them know that the obedient daughter-in-law who would play dead if they said the word no longer existed.

The more my sense of reality returned, the more my desire for revenge blazed and roared.

Just then.

“May I come in, dear?”

My mother-in-law’s voice reached me, the kind that naturally summoned tension every time I heard it. My heart wanted nothing more than to drag her by the hair and take revenge on her right then and there, but it was not yet time.

It would end too easily like this…….

“Yes. Mother.”

I forced down the dry heave rising from within and made my voice sound warm. At that, my mother-in-law crossed to where I sat beyond the curtain in a single stride.

“My goodness. Dear, you’re beautiful. No wonder Dertosse fell for you the moment he saw you.”

The woman who had hurled curses at me was now busy showering me with praise, like a completely different person. The woman who had spat venom at me until my very last moment. That woman now stood before me, calling me beautiful.

“Mother, today is the wedding day, isn’t it?”

“Of course it is. Today is the day of your wedding to my son, Dertosse.”

I asked her again, just to be sure.

“How wonderful.”

God had placed me at the perfect moment to take my revenge.

I had traveled back in time.

Well. I had already entered a book, so there was no reason time couldn’t be reversed too. Having grasped the situation, I looked at the woman before me.

A woman who put on airs of nobility in front of others while carrying out all manner of wicked deeds behind closed doors. If I was going to run, now was the only chance.

‘After this, there may never be another opportunity.’

In a little while, everyone would step outside, leaving me alone, the bride and star of the day. If I didn’t want to go through with the wedding, I could tear my dress and hide somewhere the moment they left.

But I would not run.

I would destroy every last one of the people who had done this to me.

Even for the sake of my child who never got to live.

My expression hardened without effort.

“Dear. Why do you look like that? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

“Oh! No, not at all. More than that, Mother.”

“Yes?”

“You remind me so much of Elsa.”

“Elsa?”

An elegant psychopath.

From here on, I refuse to keep taking it lying down. I gripped her arm firmly.

The second act of my delightful life as a daughter-in-law had now begun.

“Elsa means an elegant and lovely mother.”

“Oh, you. I suppose I am, a little, aren’t I? Ho ho.”

That laugh of yours will be your last.

I ground my teeth as I watched her beam with happiness.

* * *

After a brief moment alone, the wedding ceremony began at once.

The first time I had gone through this wedding, I had not yet fully adjusted to this world, and I had nearly stumbled like a fool and given all the wrong answers at every turn.

But having done it once before, the wedding felt quite familiar.

Without a single mistake, I completed the ceremony perfectly.

“You seemed like a different person, Evian. I liked the usual you too, always flustered and fragile like a little bird, but I liked what you showed me today.”

“……”

“You have a different kind of charm. Keep it up and keep me entertained.”

I stared at Dertosse as he rambled on.

He would be the biggest problem of all.

“I’ll show you that different charm you want. You show me something different too, going forward.”

I lightly brought my hand to his cheek. And with the fine line between a caress and a strike, I pressed my palm firmly against it.

“Evian…?”

“You did well today.”

For not noticing how much I’ve changed. Well done.

I swallowed the words I could not say and turned away.

“Then I’ll be on my way.”

“Go change and wait for me in bed. I’ll come to you.”

But I gave him no answer. I would have to be out of my mind to spend the night with that man.

On the off chance another child came of it, that could never happen.

I was sorry to the child who never got to be born, but being born into misery from a union with him might be worse than never coming to be at all.

“Karla.”

I called for Karla deliberately, to put distance between him and me.

“Yes, my lady.”

“I’d like to go rest.”

Dertosse reached out and grabbed me, refusing to let my silence stand.

“Why is my lovely bride being so shy today, of all days?”

“Shy, you say.”

“And why so sharp on top of it?”

“My lady must be, must be exhausted!”

Seeing my expression darken, Karla quickly spoke up. Just like her, unchanged from before, Dertosse was exactly the same as he had always been.

“Who do you think you are, daring to b*tt in?”

“…I, I’m sorry.”

“Why speak to a maid like that? She read her mistress’s feelings well and said the right thing.”

“……”

“A very pleasing maid.”

“Is that so? Evian. If she pleases you that much, I’ll keep her by your side from now on.”

“I hope you keep that promise. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

But he was not the kind of person to let me go so easily. Dertosse lunged forward and pressed his filthy lips to my cheek. I instinctively tried to step back, but he was far faster.

“My bride is truly so bashful.”

“…From now on, please refrain from unwanted contact.”

“You don’t need to be embarrassed. We’re husband and wife.”

His large hand shot forward and groped my backside. I had no intention of letting it go this time. Under the guise of an accident, I stomped on his foot with every ounce of strength I had.

“Ugh… Evian!”

“My husband truly doesn’t listen. Please be more careful next time?”

At the same time, I turned and walked away quickly. Karla, who had been at a loss between the two of us, had no choice but to trot along behind me.

“My lady… the young master is angry.”

“It’s fine. Angry or not. I want to go wash up.”

“Oh! I’ll have everything ready right away.”

Karla, following close behind me, walked a half-step ahead without a moment’s hesitation.

The dress I had worn since morning felt unusually heavy. I had deliberately changed into the most extravagant dress before the ceremony. Even in the moment I shared a kiss with him, I had sought his lips more ardently than ever.

‘All of it for one person. To show her, the husband’s childhood friend who would steal my place, the woman who carried on an affair with a married man.’

The woman who had looked down at me with a smirk as I drew my last breath had, of course, attended our wedding and watched it all unfold.

With a look of considerable shock on her face.

My revenge had not even begun, yet the sight of that filled me with such satisfaction. The smile still had not left my face.

‘Getting shocked by something that small is a little disappointing to me.’

She had left me to die in such a horrible way, had caused my child to die in such a horrible way, and all it took to shock her was that?

“We’ve arrived.”

Karla, who had been walking ahead, came to a stop.

It was my room from the early days of my marriage. The room I had been driven out of after everyone learned that my husband Dertosse had deceived me about my status. Seeing the room again after so long, I fell briefly silent.

“Shall we go in?”

“Yes.”

The two maids standing at the door followed us inside.

The maids of the marquis’s household quickly began filling the bath. After such a long time, I undressed with someone’s help, and by the time I had removed everything, all the preparations were complete.

I lowered my bare body into the water, fragrant oil swirling through it. They began to wash me, attending to me the way one would attend to someone precious. It was treatment that would vanish within days, but I made no effort to refuse it.