Inside the envelope was a ledger recording the amount of mana stones mined over the past month from the Hildern Mine in the southern mountains.

“This much already, even in the early stages of development… better than expected. Just how much did the Duke skim off in my previous life?”

In her past life, Estelle had been the first to discover the mine as well, but it had been taken by the Duke as the price of negotiations for Kaian’s sake.

This time was different.

She poured nearly all the money she obtained from secretly selling valuables she had brought out of the palace into developing the mine.

Investing with knowledge of the future proved an overwhelming success. Even a small portion of the profits was enough to secure a home and living expenses for herself and her child.

‘Duke of Astria… how bitter would you feel if you knew the source of wealth that once belonged to you is now mine?’

A cold smile briefly lingered on Estelle’s lips. In this life, she intended to give up nothing.

“At this rate, I’ll soon have enough funding for the cure’s development.”

Now it was time to find the person who would create that medicine—Sordan.

‘Once the child is born, it’ll be difficult to move around for a while. I need to settle as much as possible before then.’

While preparing the foundation for a merchant company and research into the cure, Estelle also steadily made preparations for childbirth.

An ordinary noble lady might have struggled to live alone without a husband or guardian, but thanks to her experience from her second life, she adapted quickly.

Thus time flew by, and four years passed since her regression.

***

“When is His Majesty coming?!”

“Your Highness, forgive us… His Majesty is still at the temple—”

“Ha! Our son has been at death’s door for four days, and he is still there?!”

Estelle shouted at the Emperor’s attendants outside the young prince’s chamber.

The elegant composure of the perfect consort was gone.
Her hair was dry and tangled, and her swollen eyes were stained with tears.

“If the Emperor will not come, then let me go inside!”

“You mustn’t, Your Highness! You are with child! For the baby in your womb, please hold yourself together!”

“Aeir… how terrified he must be! That tiny child, all alone without his mother or father—how could he possibly endure this…!”

Just as Estelle begged the chamberlain guarding the door—

“Your Highness, the Prince!”

“Your Highness—!”

A dreadful cry erupted from inside the room.

“Why… why are they crying like that? Illness can be cured… there’s no reason to cry like that…”

Estelle was perceptive and intelligent enough to understand exactly what those cries meant.

She simply refused to accept it.

The door that had felt as though it would never open finally did.

From inside stepped Keron, the prince’s physician, his head bowed low.

“Your Highness… I am sorry.”

He knelt at Estelle’s feet as he spoke.

“No. There is no reason for you to apologize. You will cure Aeir, won’t you? Yes? Answer me. Tell me you’ve found a way to treat the prince!”

Through the narrow gap of the open door, she saw Aeir lying on the bed.

The child looked so small and fragile, his face pale, his body limp—as if he might open his eyes at any moment and call for his mother.

Then a white cloth was drawn over his face.

Thud.

It felt as if Estelle’s heart had fallen off a cliff. The blood in her body turned cold.

Slowly, she sank into a dark, suffocating abyss where she could no longer breathe.

***

“—Gasp!”

In the middle of the night, swallowed by darkness, Estelle jolted awake from the nightmare with a harsh breath. Despite the freezing February air, cold sweat covered her forehead.

Aeir… my baby!

Without even gathering herself, she lit the lamp and rushed to check Aeir’s bed.

And in that moment, her heart dropped.

“Aeir!”

The bed where the child should have been was empty.

“Mom?”

At that moment, a small voice came from behind her. Aeir stood awkwardly by the doorway, his eyes heavy with sleep—apparently returning from the bathroom.

Ah… it was just a dream. Thank goodness.

Relief washed over her as she pulled him into her arms, warmth spreading through her chest.

“Mom, what happened?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Our Aeir’s grown so much—did you go to the bathroom by yourself?”

“Yes!! I have to be able to do it alone if I’m moving up to the older class!”

“That’s impressive, my son.”

“Hehe. But Mom… can Aeir sleep a little more?”

“Of course. I’ll tuck you in.”

Estelle laid Aeir back on the bed and gently patted his shoulder. Her hands still trembled from the lingering shock, yet the child quickly drifted back to sleep.

She gazed endlessly at his sleeping face with tender eyes.

That autumn, the year she left Kaian, Estelle had miraculously been reunited with Aeir. It was the first time she had ever been grateful that the past life was repeating.

But with that relief came fear—the dread that the Black Sea Plague, which had taken his life before, would come again.

Her anxiety about the future never faded, and the moment she lost him in her previous life often returned as nightmares.

She knew he was old enough to sleep alone, yet she could not bring herself to do it. Every night she woke from a nightmare, she had to make sure he was safe.

Three months until the first outbreak of the plague. Less than half a year before it spreads across the continent… and I still haven’t found even the smallest clue about  Sordan.

Her impatience was only natural. If she could, she would develop the cure immediately and uproot the source of those nightmares. If she resolved everything before the plague reached the south, Aeir would never have to suffer from the illness.

She poured most of the funds secured from the mana-stone mine into the search, combing not only Aren but the entire continent. Yet she found only people with the same name—never the Sordan described in the novel.

Her urgency only worsened her nightmares.

If I were still the consort… would it have been easier to find clues?

Had the choices she made in this life placed Aeir in even greater danger? Estelle agonized over it dozens of times a day.

If he were still the Emperor’s son—

At that moment—

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

Kaian’s thorned voice flashed through her mind.

“Rise. Eat something. Protecting the heir in your womb is also your duty as consort—and as the mother of the Empire.”

“…The mother of the Empire, you say.”

“……”

“You’re cruel. The soil covering Aeir hasn’t even dried yet. And you tell me to become the Empire’s mother when I couldn’t even protect my own child? Then what is the Empress doing that you speak only of my duty!”

To Kaian, had Aeir only ever been the Empire’s heir?

“And you call yourself Emperor? A man who couldn’t protect his own son dares to call himself the father of the Empire?”

“Consort, calm yourself. You still carry a child who must be protected—”

“So the heir matters to you even after losing a child?! If producing an heir is the consort’s duty, then you, the Emperor, should have protected that child!”

“Consort! Continue this tantrum and the nobles will begin discussing your deposition!”

“Enough! I will no longer obey the duties Your Majesty forces upon me. If you wish it, then depose me.”

It was the moment the last thread of reason Estelle had clung to while holding her child’s funeral finally snapped.

“You would declare yourself a fallen consort? Do you realize how arrogant that sounds with so many ears in the palace?”

“I am the one who carries the blood of Astria—the blood you despise so deeply. Isn’t my deposition exactly what you’ve always wanted!”

“I cannot send a consort carrying the heir outside the palace. If you wish to stay with the child, then you must remain here as well.”

What Kaian wanted was only an heir—
one who could be replaced at any time. Whether that child was Aeir or not did not matter to him.

In two years, he would learn of the son born to the woman he truly loved, Diana.

They said he cherished her child dearly—calling every physician in the palace at the slightest cough and tending to the boy himself.

When she first read that passage, she could hardly believe it was the same person.

Growing up feeling deprived beside a brother with the same father… once was enough for me.

No matter how hard she had tried, she had never received a father’s warmth. She refused to pass that pain on to Aeir.

Better no father at all than one who would see his child’s death merely as the loss of an heir.

“My baby… I will protect you.”

Estelle steadied her resolve once more.

Even if she had to stand alone, in this life she would protect her child—no matter what.