And when Kaian returned as a Swordmaster, she played the most decisive role in helping him ascend the throne over the First Prince, who was born of another consort.

“Your Grace, now that the Third Prince born of the late Empress has passed away, the only remaining candidates are the First and Second Princes. However, one of them has suddenly become a Swordmaster, making him the most likely—”

It was also Estelle who persuaded and guided the Duke into choosing Kaian.

Defeat in the struggle for succession meant death. Everything she did was to keep Kaian alive.
Even if no one ever recognized her efforts, she was grateful simply for protecting him.

And when Kaian finally ascended the throne, everyone naturally believed the Duke’s daughter, Estelle, would become Empress. Even the House of Astria had begun preparing for an imperial marriage.

“I think Lady Christine of the House of Count Joan will suit the position of my Empress.”

“Your Majesty, but if that happens, the Duchy of Astria—”

“Ah, yes. The duchy existed, didn’t it? The eldest daughter of Astria, Estelle, shall be taken as First Consort instead.”

However, Kaian overturned everyone’s expectations.

Estelle tried to understand him.

“You dare abandon Astria and take the hand of some mere count’s daughter? An ungrateful young emperor—snap that arrogant neck and be done with it!”

“Please calm yourself, Your Grace. I will become the consort. In exchange for yielding the Empress’s seat, secure the mining rights and prepare for the future.”

She endured even the Duke’s blows as she desperately persuaded him—all to remain at Kaian’s side and protect him.

Of course, the thought of sharing her long-cherished first love with another woman twisted her heart.

‘If only I hadn’t fallen into the Duke’s scheme…’

Unable to wash away her deep guilt over Serena’s death, Estelle believed this was a punishment she deserved.

Still, she thought that if she did her utmost to support Kaian by his side, one day her sincerity would reach him.

In the end, it was nothing more than her own arrogant illusion—
a desperate unrequited love.

Marriage to the first love who regarded her as an enemy was far crueler than she had ever prepared for.

To become the most detested person to the one she loved more than anyone in the world—
it was a reality she could scarcely accept.

Each day felt like falling deeper into the very bottom of h*ll.

Her only hope was Aeir, the son she had barely been able to have with Kaian.

Even on the day the news spread throughout the palace that the consort carried the Emperor’s first child, Kaian spent the night in the Empress’s palace—but she endured.

“My baby, His Majesty must have too many affairs of state to attend to today to visit.”

Steadying her wavering heart with the thought that a child resembling the man she loved was growing inside her, she held on.

The precious child was unbearably lovely even after coming into the world.

Clear blue eyes without a trace of impurity.
Brilliant curly golden hair resembling Kaian’s.
A harmless smile as though his mother were his entire world.

Every moment she looked at Aeir, she learned what it meant for her heart to ache with happiness.

For the sake of protecting her child, she felt she could do anything.

“My baby… please, just grow up healthy.”

However, even that small wish was shattered in less than four years.

A dreadful epidemic that claimed the lives of more than a tenth of the Empire’s people. The young prince, stricken with the Black Sea Plague, passed away before anything could be done.

For days on end, Estelle neither ate nor drank, losing all will to live as the light faded from her eyes.

“Are you the only mother on this continent who has lost a child to the Black Sea Plague?”

Only one night—when the absence of the consort began to hinder state affairs—did Kaian come to see her. It had already been a week since their child’s death.

“You are the mother of the Empire. Rise and fulfill your duties as consort. If you continue this indulgence, the nobles will begin discussing your deposition.”

Even at that moment, Kaian offered not a word of comfort, only drove a blade into her heart—
as though the pain of losing their child belonged to Estelle alone.

He remained composed, cold to a heartbreaking degree.

Already pregnant with their second child, Estelle could not endure the shock of losing Aeir and the despair of being left alone. She ultimately miscarried the baby as well.

With both children gone, nothing remained in the world for her to protect.

When she was eventually deposed, she felt nothing.

She only wished to sever her feelings for him—forever.

Weakened in both body and mind, Estelle soon breathed her last.

‘In that life, my greatest regret was loving you. If I’m ever born again, I will never keep you in my heart. Why did I only realize now that you would never love me?’

With that thought, her first life ended.

She lived again — this time in 21st-century South Korea.
For years she believed it was simply a new life, unrelated to the past.

Then, at the age of twenty-seven, everything changed.

While reading a popular romance-fantasy web novel, she came across a single line:

“Kaian was being tormented by the wicked spirit of the dead, deposed consort Estelle.”

In that instant, memories from her previous life came flooding back.

The novel was titled The Emperor’s Obsessive Last Love.

It told the story that unfolded two years after her death —
Kaian falling into a destined love with another woman.

“After reuniting with Diana six years later, Kaian found himself instinctively drawn to her and visited her every night.”

“With her pure divine power, she dispelled the malicious spirit of the fallen consort. To Kaian, Diana became salvation itself.”

‘A ghost? What did I even do!’

In the novel, Estelle was portrayed as the villain—the woman who ruined a wise emperor and turned him into a tyrant.

‘I cursed him before I died out of resentment? That’s ridiculous!’

The manipulation and fabrications felt unbearably unfair.

Yet aside from the malicious interpretation of her character, everything else matched her past life perfectly—the setting, the people, even the events.

How could the author possibly know the affairs of the Empire in such detail?

She tried every way she could to find the writer, but uncovered not a single clue.
All she could do was read the chapters released each day.

And so she read, day after day, the story of the man who had been cold only to her—her former husband—falling in love with another woman.

It became another kind of h*ll.

“Diana had a child she kept hidden. A child conceived during a single night with Kaian in the monster-subjugation war six years earlier.”

The moment she reached the passage revealing a secret son between Diana and Kaian, the last of her composure snapped.

If Aeir had lived, he would have been the same age.

“Kaian swore he would do anything for the child, holding the hand of the boy who resembled the woman he loved…”

It was nothing like how he had treated Aeir.

She could not continue reading any further.

Aeir had died without ever being held once in his father’s arms.
She wanted to demand how a man—how a father—could be like that, but no matter how furious she was, she could not step into the novel.

All she could do was sever the last lingering attachment.

Yet even if she could forget everything else, she could not let go of Aeir.

“My baby, no! You can’t go like this. Open your eyes… please!”

“Your Highness, you must let the prince go now. For the child in your womb as well, please calm yourself…”

“Sir Keron, how dare you say such a thing! Let the prince… let the prince go like this? I won’t! Do something—anything!”

“The prince is already… I am sorry, Your Highness.”

Every night she relived the nightmare of the day she lost her child.

Even in another life, the grief of losing him remained carved into her soul, painfully vivid. The knowledge that she could never see him again tormented her.

Then one day, an accident took her second life as well.

And when she opened her eyes again—it was this very morning.

She had returned to four years before the death of her first life.

Thanks to the diary she had written every single day, Estelle was able to recall her past memories with ease and pinpoint the moment of her regression.

“So… yesterday was that day.”

Based on her most recent entry and the memories of her previous life, last night was the night she conceived Aeir.

A sudden surge of longing and regret tightened her throat. With trembling hands and wavering eyes, she placed her hand over her abdomen.

“Aeir… will you come back to me again?”

Kaian visited the consort’s palace only once a month.
Estelle had waited every month for that single day—but to Kaian, it had only ever been a duty to produce an heir.

“My baby… please… trust your mother just once more and come back to me. In this life, no matter what happens, I will protect you.”

She gently caressed her stomach. Even if it had succeeded, life could not yet have properly taken root.

Yet the mere hope that her lost child might return filled her with a faint warmth.