“My lady, would you believe what you just said if you were in my position?”

“I know it’s hard to believe.”

Even Lydia herself had been dazed when she first came back to life, so she understood why Arsen found it difficult to accept.

“But if you don’t listen to my story first, I won’t answer any of your questions.”

Lydia turned her head sharply to demonstrate her resolute determination.

She immediately regretted it as dizziness washed over her.

“……Fine.”

Arsen took a step back first. He decided to hear what nonsense she was going to spout.

After all, even nonsense is spoken with some purpose in mind.

“As I said earlier, I remember my past life. In that life, I will die five years from now.”

Lydia, who was dragged to the eastern labor camp, met Byron, Nella, and Maria there, who became her spiritual pillars for five years.

If they didn’t meet their quota in the magic stone mine, they wouldn’t get fed, and Lydia, unaccustomed to labor, consistently failed to meet her quota.

Byron, who had been a priest, gave his meals to Lydia, while Nella and Maria mined more magic stones than their quotas required and shared with her.

Maria did this despite being pregnant.

Maria gave birth to a beautiful baby girl eight months after Lydia received her labor sentence.

Lydia became the child’s godmother and named her Violet.

They couldn’t raise Violet in the labor camp. From then on, they began planning their escape.

Even though each day was grueling, they endured by thinking about escaping the camp and living together warmly somewhere.

Four long years passed. Their plan was complete and only needed execution when that winter, a terrible plague broke out.

Everyone started dying. Nella, Maria, and eventually Byron—they all died one by one, leaving Lydia behind.

Bodies infected with the plague were thrown into a large pit dug for that purpose.

Unable to leave their remains like that, Lydia dug the frozen ground with her bare hands and buried each of them.

It was the night Byron finally lost his battle with the plague and Lydia was burying his body.

“That’s when you appeared. Looking for Byron and Nella.”

When she mentioned those names, a subtle disturbance flickered in Arsen’s eyes.

“Priest Byron was your writing teacher, and Nella was your nanny, right?”

After spending five years together, it was natural to share the circumstances that brought them to the labor camp.

Byron and Nella had been arrested for helping the Duchess of Bayern and her son escape during the Bayern ducal family’s treason incident.

“They believed you were alive. They said they would look for you after escaping the labor camp, but honestly, I didn’t believe them.”

Lydia was well aware of the Bayern family treason incident.

Everyone had died, they said.

The Duchess and her son had fled but were reportedly found dead.

Lydia hadn’t wanted to crush their hopes, so she deliberately kept that information to herself.

But then the Bayern heir himself came all the way to the eastern labor camp to find them.

Under the name Edis, not Bayern.

Lydia, frantically digging the ground with her bare hands, had wondered why Arsen was crying over Byron’s body.

But soon after hearing him murmur “Master,” she realized that Arsen was the last remaining heir of the Bayern family.

And that day, Arsen took Lydia and Violet with him, though there was no need to do so.

While moving from the labor camp to a shabby inn, Lydia lived for only one more week.

But she was glad that at least Violet had escaped that hellish place and would grow up elsewhere. Thanks to that, Lydia could close her eyes without regret.

She hadn’t expected to open them again like this.

“I remembered my past life while having tea with Giselle at the imperial palace.”

“Ha.”

Arsen let out a disbelieving groan.

“It sounds ridiculous to you too, right? Suddenly remembering a past life while drinking tea.”

“Yes. Everything you’re saying is ridiculous. Did you really think I would believe this story?”

Did I stay up all night just to hear this? Is she mocking me?

Arsen didn’t want to harm Lydia, but if she continued to be this uncooperative, he couldn’t predict what might happen.

He had many other important things to protect.

“It’s true. Why would I lie to you?”

Seeing Arsen’s eyes grow intense, Lydia nervously chewed on her dry lips.

This man doesn’t believe a word I’m saying.

“For one thing, I haven’t told anyone about your secret.”

“How am I supposed to believe that?”

“If I had told Richard or Devon your secret, they wouldn’t have left you alone by now, would they? They would have already blackmailed you or something.”

Arsen recalled the recent demeanor of the Emperor and Devon.

Nothing particularly bothered him. Their main interest was ‘what kind of relationship Arsen had with Lydia.’

If they had known Arsen’s secret, they wouldn’t have been distracted by such matters.

“Send someone to the eastern labor camp. Then you’ll know my words are true.”

“There is no labor camp in the east.”

“Ah.”

As an important fact she had forgotten came to mind, Lydia let out a short exclamation.

“There’s an unknown mana stone mine in Count Brastelma’s territory. It’s a place where they buy criminals cheaply from labor camps to mine mana stones and sell them on the black market.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a ‘labor camp.’ Even Lydia only learned that the mine was an illegal labor camp after working there for three months, so it was natural that Arsen didn’t know of its existence.

The reason it took Arsen so long to find Byron and Nella in her previous life was also because he didn’t know about the mine in Count Brastelma’s territory.

“It was a small mine to begin with, but I heard the Count carefully calculated the amount of mana stones to release into the black market.”

Thanks to restraining his greed and slowly releasing small amounts of mana stones, the Count was able to accumulate wealth without revealing his mine or paying a single penny in taxes.

“Send someone to check. You’ll find out my words are true. If Byron and Nella are there, will you rescue them?”

Arsen didn’t answer, but Lydia read his silence as affirmation.

“Could you possibly rescue Maria as well?”

Again, Arsen gave no answer. Unable to read this silence as affirmation, Lydia bit her lip.

Thinking of Maria and Violet who might be in her womb, her heart tightened with urgency to bring them back quickly.

“If you can’t trust me that much, take me with you. As long as I can be of help to you, Sir, it won’t be a loss.”

“You can’t even properly support your own body, and yet you say such things?”

Arsen’s voice sharpened.

His head was complicated, and he unknowingly became sharp-tongued.

Seeing Lydia flinch in fear, he felt his thoughts becoming complicated in another way.

Just then, from outside came a knock and a maid’s voice calling, “Miss.”

Arsen softened his demeanor.

“I will visit you again. Until then, I hope you won’t run your mouth carelessly, my lady.”

“Don’t worry, Sir. Do you think I would do anything good for Richard and Devon? I’ll stay bedridden until you return.”

Arsen found it frustrating that he had no choice but to believe her words.

“Um, Sir Arsen.”

Lydia grabbed Arsen’s sleeve as he stood up without warning.

“Won’t you have breakfast with me before you go?”

“Thanks to someone, I have a lot to do, so I can’t.”

A sudden breakfast invitation? Was this the time to leisurely have breakfast?

Arsen coldly refused and turned away.

As Arsen left the Marquis’s mansion without even greeting Devon, he realized why Lydia had asked him to have breakfast before leaving.

Yesterday, she had been completely neglected.

She doubted whether Devon, who hadn’t even given her a sip of water, would provide her with a meal.

If Arsen had breakfast with her, she would definitely get to eat, which was why she had raised her weak hand to hold him back.

Was she hungry? Well, she must be starving after lying in bed for days.

The image of that pale, small hand clutching his sleeve kept flickering in his mind.

It wasn’t enough to make Arsen turn back, but it succeeded in constantly pricking at his nerves.

That woman, Lydia, who spouted that preposterous claim about dying and coming back to life.

She bothered him. Damn it all.

* * *

A week passed since Arsen’s visit.

Contrary to Lydia’s worry that Devon might lock her up again and starve her, she was able to live as the Marquis’s daughter like before.

Meals came on time, a maid would come when she pulled the bell cord, and a physician visited daily to check on her.

Her body improved day by day, but there was no contact from Arsen.

Lydia spent all day looking out the window, waiting for Arsen to come.

She wanted to wait patiently, but thinking about those suffering in the labor camp made her increasingly anxious.

Lydia tried to go out to meet Arsen herself, but the butler informed her that going outside was forbidden.

Yes, she expected as much.

Lydia, undiscouraged, barged into Devon’s study.

“Devon.”

“Where did you leave the title ‘Brother,’ my sister? Still, I’m glad to see you looking so well.”

She opened the door without knocking, and what came back wasn’t irritation but sarcasm.

This meant Devon was in a very bad mood.

“Someone came from the imperial family.”

“Was Richard curious if I was dead?”

“No, His Majesty has graciously forgiven you. In that spirit, he’s personally arranging your marriage.”

Devon tossed a letter bearing the imperial seal in front of Lydia.

Lydia read through the letter and trembled with rising anger.

The groom recommended by the Emperor was Count Monde, who already had two children who had completed their debutante and was almost 20 years older than Lydia.

“Count Monde may be old, but his character is decent, isn’t it?”

“Are you joking?”

Lydia threw the letter away.

Devon looked at the crumpled letter on the floor and then turned his gaze to Lydia.

Uneasiness sprouted under Devon’s cold stare.

“If you don’t secure Arsen firmly, I’ll marry you off to this old man, so behave yourself.”

What did he mean by ‘if you don’t secure Arsen firmly’?