A cold wind stirred her heart.

“I…”

After a long silence, Derick’s tightly closed lips finally parted.

“What do I need to do?”

Elisia’s hair fluttered in the wind. Derick unconsciously reached out toward her.

But Elisia stepped back, as if unwilling to allow even a moment’s contact.

She tucked her windblown hair behind her ear. Watching her silently, Derick’s expression twisted in agony.

“I’ll give you anything you want.”

“…”

“Tell me. What do you want?”

Today, her beautiful silver hair seemed unusually cold to Derick’s eyes.

“What can I say, Your Grace.”

Her downcast eyes finally met Derick’s crimson gaze directly.

“I don’t want anything at all.”

The corners of Elisia’s lips curved upward in a perfect arc.

Derick bit his lip and clenched his fist.

Between her and him lay countless moments and innumerable days they could look back on.
But how had he been?

Days spent deliberately denying, ignoring, and only thinking of how to use her.

Not once had he truly seen her.

As a result—

“You promised me.”

An irreversible situation unfolded before his eyes.

“That if I found a way to terminate our contract, you would divorce me.”

Elisia murmured in a leisurely voice, then smiled brightly.

“So please divorce me. I’ve found what you wanted.”

The most beautiful Elisia smiled like dazzling spring sunshine. The moment she had been waiting for had arrived. Elisia felt relieved yet somehow bitter at the same time.

‘Why? Ah, yes. It’s because of that man.’

Derick’s expression was strange. He looked as if he might cry at any moment. Because of this,
her heart wavered.

“You should be happy to be free from the tiresome Elisia Adelheit.”

“You turned my world upside down, and now you think you can just walk away?”

Derick approached slowly, like a predator that had spotted its prey.

Then he firmly grasped the prey before him with both hands.

“No.”

His low, growling voice gripped my entire body.

“Elisia. You’re not going anywhere now.”

She never expected him to call her by name. Elisia’s eyes widened.

“Even in death, die by my side.”

The man who once said he couldn’t stand the sight of Elisia Adelheit was now obsessed, claiming he couldn’t live without her.

‘No. If this continues, my heart will waver.’

Suddenly, she recalled their first meeting, when Derick’s face had contorted with pain, his eyes reddened with anguish.

It was less than a year ago, the day she had just possessed the villainess. He had definitely looked at Elisia with hatred then.

When had it changed to this? Feeling a sudden wave of bitterness, Elisia closed her eyes.

***

On a warm, sunny day at 2 PM.

Once again, Elisia left her bedroom alone, leaving the maids who tried to follow behind.

Today, she headed for the library in the annex. She had already thoroughly searched the main mansion’s library. This small library was her only lifeline.

‘I need to make some progress today.’

For two whole weeks, she had been frantically buried in the library. Even for someone who loved the written word, it had been quite torturous.

Yet despite all her efforts, she couldn’t find the information she wanted.

“Haah…”

With heavy steps, she searched through the annex library. But even after searching for a long time, she couldn’t find any answers.

Frustrated, Elisia leaned against the window. Spring was fully arriving soon; the trees in the garden looked lush.

Just then, she spotted the familiar silhouette of a man walking through the garden.

‘He’s truly beautiful, almost otherworldly.’

Smooth white skin gleaming in the light, a face everyone praised as sculptural, jet-black hair like melted obsidian, ruby-red eyes, and firmly sealed crimson lips.

‘But…’

His appearance, almost surreal, also frightened her. One wrong move with someone of his appearance, and your life could easily be forfeit.

‘I don’t even want to make eye contact.’

Fearing those crimson eyes might see through her, she quickly turned her head away.

But it was already too late. His keen senses were faster.

He turned his head with frightening speed toward where he felt the gaze.

“…!”

Despite the considerable distance, their eyes met in midair.

“Tsk.”

Even from this distance, the sound of the man clicking his tongue was clearly audible.

Apparently, that man had forgotten that her demonic heritage gave her heightened senses. Or perhaps he knew but chose to ignore it.

‘As if I enjoy this either.’

Hiding her displeasure, Elisia deliberately smiled brightly at him as if nothing was wrong.

A moment later, the man abruptly turned away. Watching him walk away, she exhaled softly.

‘I was right to pretend I lost my memory.’

That man was the original male protagonist and the villainess’s husband in name only, Grand Duke Derick Elphias.

And she was the villainess who had stalked him out of obsession, Elisia Adelheit.

Exactly fourteen days ago, she had possessed this notorious villainess who had been unjustly killed by her own brother.

The day Yura possessed Elisia was the day Elisia had thrown herself into the lake to get Derick’s attention.

Completely confused about the situation, soaking wet and gasping for breath, Derick had coldly said to her:

“I hope you succeed in your next s*icide attempt.”

At that cold voice, she realized the reality of her situation.

Moreover, the contents of the original story flowed into her mind.

But she pretended to have lost her memory from the moment of possession until now.

That way, she could move freely and break the original plot.

“I want to leave this place quickly too.”

Rumors abounded that the Elisia she possessed was the daughter of Lilith, the Demon Queen. Her beautifully radiant appearance resembled Lilith’s.

Derick was the person in the empire who harbored the deepest hatred for demons. It was natural for him to find Elisia, known as Lilith’s daughter, repulsive.

However, Elisia was merely the daughter of Lilith’s dearest friend and a common half-demon.

‘Anyway, Elisia only had superior physical abilities. Otherwise, she was a weak woman.’

But no one cared about the villainess’s circumstances. Even her husband, Derick, treated her as Lilith’s daughter.

‘The problem is Elisia’s ending…’

In the original story, Elisia dies horribly when her heart bursts.

The one who burst her heart was none other than her husband, Derick.

That’s why she needed to escape this world by any means necessary to survive.

Elisia had even resorted to all sorts of dirty tactics to possess Derick. Her obsession was so severe that even Yura, while reading the original story, had frowned.

As a result, Derick currently hated Elisia enough to want to kill her.

‘Anyway, my goal isn’t to improve my relationship with Derick.’

Another day with zero progress.

Looking at text for so long had made her body stiff and her eyes sore. She would have to come back tomorrow.

As she left the annex library and stretched, she noticed the air becoming increasingly chaotic as she approached the main mansion.

“What’s going on?”
Elisia stopped and tilted her head. The beautiful silver waves coloring her hair rippled like the tide.

The mansion was terrifyingly quiet, befitting its owner Derick’s personality. But today, strangely, servants were gathered in small groups.

“What should we do? Shouldn’t someone try to stop him?”

“Who would dare? Windows are breaking and doors are flying everywhere.”

“What about Sir Leonard?”

“He happens to be away.”

Though the whispers were barely audible even to those nearby, Elisia could hear the servants’ conversation without difficulty.

She looked around at the chaotic garden, tilting her head in confusion.

‘Someone must be fighting? Windows breaking and doors flying. Everything’s a mess.’
Just then—

BANG! CRASH!

The sound of something breaking echoed. Startled, Elisia flinched and searched for the source of the noise.

“P-please spare me!”

“Kyaaah!”

Soon after, the screams of maids rang out. Moments later, maids fleeing from glass shards rushed out of the mansion.

Seeing their terrified expressions, Elisia approached the maids without hesitation.

“What’s happening?”