Chapter 6

As Kallieon moved his kisses from her cheek to the corner of her lips, he spoke in a low voice.  

“Can I truly… dare to have such feelings for you?”  

Asterope slowly opened her eyes. Before her, she saw Kallieon, his large frame bent and kneeling before her. With her small hand, she gently caressed his cheek and spoke.  

“If not the treasure of this frostbitten northern land, the Grand Duke Onyx of Serpiewood…”

“……”  

“No one else can have such feelings for me.”  

It was still too soon to say she loved him. But she was entirely his. In the vivid memory of her moment of annihilation, the name she had called out was his. She harbored feelings for him that were deeper and more certain than love. Feelings of gratitude she owed him, and vengeance she would claim in his name.  

‘If you gave me your life in the last one, then I will stake my entire life in this one on you.’  

With that thought, Asterope pressed a brief kiss to the sharp bridge of his nose. Kallieon couldn’t bear the small hand caressing his cheek or the short kiss that landed on his nose. He lifted her into his arms. Reflexively, Asterope wrapped her arms around his neck.

Her soft dress cascaded beautifully as he buried his face in her pale neck, whispering her name. 

“Rope, my Grand Duchess.”  

The man’s voice, unable to suppress the love rising to the tip of his throat, was heated. It wasn’t the searing, painful heat of flames but the kind that shook his heart with vivid vitality. It was the feeling of being alive, the clear sensation of a beating pulse and flowing blood.  

Asterope’s dark, voluminous hair spread across the white bed. She reached out toward Kallieon, who loomed over her like a large shadow, swallowing her whole.  

‘Prove to me that I’m alive. Show me, more clearly, that my blood flows and my heart beats, Kallieon Onyx.’  

She ran her hand over his shoulder, pouring into the gesture the desire she couldn’t bring herself to voice. Asterope wrapped her small arms tightly around him as he poured his love onto her. At that moment, as the man before her revealed his love for her without reservation, she felt more alive than ever.  

Right now, she and Kallieon Onyx were alive. Not as the names of traitors or infamous villains, but as the rightful rulers of Serpiewood. Asterope closed her eyes. A cold tear slid down the corner of her eye.  

* * *  

When she opened her eyes, Asterope was alone. She noticed the message Kallieon had left on the bedside table. His handwriting was neat and orderly.  

[I must attend the afternoon council meeting, so forgive me for leaving you alone. No matter how many times I see you sleeping, you always look so lovely.]  

Even without the flamboyant words of someone like Villish Numa, his sincerity was evident. Asterope could now distinguish them clearly—the insidious intent behind the Crown Prince Villish’s empty praises and the genuine feelings contained in Grand Duke Kallieon’s simple phrases. She lingered over the short note he had left.  

She still couldn’t say she loved him. She didn’t dare.  

‘Kallieon doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t know how I killed him, how miserably I did it, how he met his futile end standing on the blood and corpses of his cherished subordinates…’  

If he ever learned of the sins she had committed, he wouldn’t be able to love her as he did now. He wouldn’t forgive her. That’s why this life couldn’t unfold in that direction. Above all else, if that path were taken, the Lunette family would face annihilation.

Asterope frowned at the terrible memory. The sensation was still vivid when her parents and two elder brothers lost everything because of her. They couldn’t even preserve their lives, and even in death, their corpses became the subject of ridicule in the central square of Lenirune.

The moment the honorable Lunette family was reduced to street filth in an instant remained a searing pain in Asterope’s heart. Holding the letter from Kallieon, she headed to her room. She carefully stored the letter he gave her in the bottom drawer and unfolded a blank piece of stationery.

Her conservative family members never recognized Kallieon as a son-in-law. They only treated him as the Grand Duke of Serpiewood, a vast northern territory. Especially her two brothers, who cherished Asterope, were furious at the thought of their sister, who should have become the Empress, being married off to the abandoned lands of the North. And they, too, were used by Villish, the Crown Prince.

It was all because they fell for his sweet lies, as though Asterope would one day return and ascend to the Empress’s throne.

‘Yes, Kallieon was always an outsider in our family. My brothers never hesitated to show their hostility toward him. As if they were ready to draw their swords at any moment.’

In this life, such things must not happen. After all, the blade eventually turned against her brothers. She had to ensure that her family became unconditionally favorable toward the Onyx household. 

Should I bring them to Serpiewood? Or should I go to Sodel, the capital of Lenirune?

After deliberating, Asterope gently moved her pen.

[To my beloved brother, Berlo.]

The recipient of the letter was her eldest brother and an outstanding knight, Berlo Lunette.

Without hesitation, Asterope began to write. She explained how she had been suffering from a high fever for the past few days and how that experience had changed her perspective on Serpiewood. She made an effort to describe how Grand Duke Kallieon had tenderly cared for her and demonstrated his steadfast love.

“I wish I could talk about the beauty of Serpiewood…”

Unfortunately, Asterope knew little about Serpiewood. She neither knew its beauty nor its filth. Previously, she had neither the need nor the desire to know. She wasn’t curious about how the people here lived or what hardships they endured.

As the Grand Duchess, she had been too busy abandoning her duties, instead devoting herself to gathering luxury items that could enhance her beauty. Dresses and jewels that were said to be in vogue in Sodel, the capital of Lenirune, had to be hers for her to feel satisfied.

Asterope, even here in this distant place, Serpiewood, did not want to fall behind in the trends of high society. She wanted to remain at the pinnacle of beauty, never stepping down from that position. She believed that only then would she be worthy of becoming the Empress.

Kallieon, though indifferent to such things, would procure and grant her anything she desired. However, the current Asterope found that time laughable. In the end, when everything reaches its conclusion, such things become utterly meaningless.

When one’s status and honor are reduced to dust, they are nothing more than items to be confiscated or burned. To the present Asterope, a single piece of bread to put in her mouth was far more precious than glittering jewels.

Asterope paused midway through writing her letter, holding the pen in her mouth. This alone wasn’t sufficient to summon them to Serpiewood. It wasn’t a good idea for her to go to Sodel either. At this time, Villish was busy trying to win her favor. He would surely find a way to arrange a secret meeting and whisper sweet words to her and her brothers.

‘I must call them to Serpiewood. To the place where I can maintain my position, where Kallieon is.’

The central square of Sodel was also a space of trauma for Asterope. It was where she had died. She recalled the face of the mage who had looked at her and called her foolish.

“Arrogant, wicked thing! If we meet again, I’ll twist your limbs apart!”

Asterope’s personality hadn’t transformed into that of an angel descended from the heavens simply because she had been reincarnated. She was still greedy and competitive by nature. She had an insatiable desire for power and honor. She always wanted to shine, like an eternal, unsetting sun.

Back then, she had wanted to do so as the Empress of Lenirune. Now, she simply wanted to do so as the Grand Duchess of Serpiewood. And she never wanted to taste the bitterness of failure again.

‘I will surely place Villish Numa’s severed head beneath my feet. I will make his blood bloom like flowers on that white snowfield.’

She wanted to make sure no one could ever call Serpiewood a forsaken land. She wanted it to be reborn as a blessed territory, one that even the Empire of Lenirune would fear and envy.

Asterope rose from her seat. The fact that the Lunette family members would visit this place first could already be considered a proper starting point. However, the letter she was writing wasn’t enough. 

What could I offer that would be enticing enough to make my brothers willingly come here?

Asterope stepped out of the room. She walked down the long corridor and went out onto the large terrace. A biting wind blew against her.

“Ugh…”

The cold of Serpiewood was something she could never quite get used to. Asterope pulled her coat tighter around her. Anne, her maid, approached her and bowed her head.

“Grand Duchess, it is cold. Please come inside.”

“It’s suffocating.”

“Shall I bring you a thicker coat?”

“Yes, that would be good.”