“Do you know, Consort?”

“Know… what?”

“That even a single breath of yours shatters every bit of peace inside me.”

Estelle felt as if she were drowning, unable to breathe.

“Then… would you find peace if I disappeared?”

Worn down by emotions she could never grow accustomed to, she spoke those defiant words—her first and last act of resistance.

Perhaps because Estelle, who always suppressed her feelings, was acting unlike herself, Kaian only stiffened and fell silent.

“Then that is good.”

“What?”

“For Your Majesty’s peace… I shall withdraw.”

“What do you—”

Before Kaian could finish, Estelle turned away.

It was the first time she had shown Kaian her back first.

On that harsh winter dawn, she gained one more reason to leave.

***

Exactly three months later—

On a day when cherry blossoms fell mournfully, a memorial service for Estelle was held at the Duchy of Astria.

《The Empire’s Star, Consort Estelle, Has Passed Into Eternal Rest.》

News of her death stirred the entire Empire. The newspapers were filled with related articles.

《Cause of death: drowning.》

The incident began when the imperial carriage, returning from a temple visit for the Founding Festival, was suddenly attacked by monsters.

The carriage plunged into the Oblia Gorge along with the creatures, and inside, Empress Christine and Consort Estelle barely managed to cling to the cliff’s edge.

The Emperor saved Empress Christine first, but he could not save Estelle. While rescuing the Empress, the consort fell into the ravine below.

The cliff itself was not especially high, but violent currents raged beneath it. Not even a strand of her hair could be found, making the search extremely difficult.

No matter how thoroughly elite knights combed the gorge, the consort was not discovered.

Three weeks into the disappearance—with even the navy deployed using underwater breathing artifacts—there was still no trace of her. Then, her shoe was found downstream.

《After a month and a half, the knight order of the Duchy of Astria discovered the body, concluding the search.》

So much time had passed that the body was difficult to recognize.

However, the dress wrapped around it perfectly matched what the consort had been wearing at the time of the accident, and around her neck hung the necklace she had cherished most in life.

At that point, no one could deny the consort’s death.

Aren — a small port town at the southernmost tip of the continent.

Atop a beautiful sea cliff stood a modest two-story coffee house.

《The Empire’s Star, Consort Estelle, Has Passed Into Eternal Rest.》

A woman sat on the terrace overlooking the ocean, carefully reading the front-page article of the newspaper. She had common black hair and dark eyes.

Yet even in plain attire, her innate elegance could not be concealed.

“The Duchy of Astria did not reveal the consort’s final appearance, as the body had been severely damaged, even during the funeral.”

“To think he even prepared a fake corpse. Truly the Duke’s handiwork.”

The woman murmured coldly — she was Estelle, disguised using a transformation mana stone to ensure her perfect escape.

Her once starlike silver hair and sapphire-blue eyes were now completely black.

“Duke of Astria. My life of obedience to you ends here.”

She no longer called him father.

He was a man who would not hesitate to place a fake body at his own daughter’s funeral for the sake of his house — unworthy of that title.

“I expected he would somehow conclude it as an accidental death, but…”

Five years earlier, on the night before Serena’s execution, Estelle had secretly tried to rescue her—only to be discovered by the Duke of Astria.

For attempting to betray the family and help a political enemy escape, the Duke cast several layers of forbidden curses upon her.

They were so meticulous and vicious that they revealed just how wary he had been of Serena and her son, Kaian, in the struggle over succession.

One of them was the Curse of Silence.

If she tried to speak or write the truth of that day—that the Shavennen Lake incident had been orchestrated by the Duchy of Astria—she would lose her life.

As if that were not enough, the Duke also cursed her so that the moment his own breath stopped, she would fall into an eternal sleep from which she would never awaken.

Because of that, she could not recklessly eliminate him either.

A forbidden curse was a grave crime that would lead to excommunication by the Central Temple if discovered.

Moreover, it was an ancient spell thought long extinct—no known records remained, and no casters were believed to exist.

No matter how hard Estelle tried to break it, she could find no clue.

“I merely pretended to defy the curse, yet it seems the Duke was quite unsettled, fearing something might be revealed.”

A man who valued his family’s honor and authority as his very life would never leave behind such an inconvenient risk. Knowing that well, Estelle used it to her advantage.

On the day of the fall, she used the underwater-breathing artifact and the heat-preserving stone she had hidden on her person. Thanks to that, she drifted downstream—where the current weakened—while still fully conscious.

Then she tore part of her dress and left behind traces as though she had tried to write the truth about the Shavennen Lake incident, before tossing it away at a suitable place—
making it appear as if her heart had stopped under the curse’s backlash while she was carried down the gorge.

Her plan had been to make the Duke, wary of the truth surfacing, disguise her death as an accident.

“How predictable, Duke, in matters so heartless.”

The writing she left behind was deliberately vague. But because she had spent the past weeks baiting him—threatening to reveal everything—the anxious Duke swallowed the bait.

The underground guild she had created long ago to protect Kaian also played a great role: in planning the escape, acquiring tools, and concealing her identity. It greatly aided the execution of her meticulous plan.

Of course, since the organization was structured in separate cells and each member received different orders, only a very few knew her identity.

Thanks to that, there was no fear of her identity or destination being exposed.

At the same time, with every base meticulously prepared in advance, she was able to perfectly disguise herself as a common woman, secure the mine as planned, and make her way to Aren.

“My baby… I’m sorry you had to go through something so dangerous.”

Estelle gently caressed her abdomen.

There was no visible sign of pregnancy over her clothes yet. But starting with her delayed cycle, the same symptoms from her first life had long begun to appear one by one.

The child had definitely returned.

“Thank you for enduring.”

She had not wanted to experience the same fall during early pregnancy as in her previous life. But this had been the only way to escape Kaian completely.

Fortunately, the child endured once again—just like before.

‘Kaian… you haven’t changed at all.’

In her past life, she had clung to the cliff desperately wishing for him to reach out his hand.

This time was different.

‘Waiting alone for someone who will never love me… once was more than enough.’

Her life, gained again, was far too precious to waste on someone who would never come.

“My baby, I will protect you. No matter what.”

Estelle whispered softly to the child.

Aeir had been the only hope that sustained her through her despairing life in the imperial palace. Protecting this child alone was reason enough for her to keep living.

“This time, I’ll show you a world far wider than the palace. Beyond the vast ocean filled with glittering waves… we’ll even visit the distant Rikaf Continent across the sea.”

It was the life Estelle had once dreamed of as a child—when she had wished to become the head of her ducal house despite being born a woman.

In her past life, she had remained at Kaian’s side because she loved him more than her long-held dream. But this time would be different, and she finally had the space to rediscover that forgotten dream.

“Mrs. Marian?”

As Estelle spoke gently to her child, a young boy addressed her.

Libeta Marian—
the new name Estelle had chosen to live quietly.

Disguised as a commoner, she was now called “Mrs. Marian” instead of the noble title “Lady.”

“Yes? It seems you have something to tell me.”

Estelle asked the boy in a gentle voice.
The boy then handed her a sealed envelope.

“Thank you.”

She said, giving him a silver coin.

“Um… the errand fee is only one rikel…”

The boy’s eyes widened in shock.

A single silver coin was enough to buy a month’s worth of food for a common household. In contrast, one rikel could barely purchase a single piece of hard bread. His reaction was only natural.

“You’re honest. Consider it the price of that trust.”

“Thank you very much, ma’am! I’ll do my very best next time! Just leave it to me!”

“Yes. I’ll see you again.”

After bowing politely, the boy left the coffee house with lively steps.

Estelle’s gaze as she watched him go was unusually gentle. Generous payment was one way to secure a reliable errand runner—but ever since giving birth to Aeir, every child in the world felt precious to her.

“My baby, grow strong as well.”

Caressing her stomach with earnest care, Estelle opened the envelope with resolute eyes.