Prologue: The Villainess’s Repentance

Asterope was tightly bound to a long pole, her hands tied behind her back. She wore a white dress that easily caught fire, akin to a burial shroud, with ropes made of highly flammable straw.

“The criminal may speak their final words.”

Asterope had been tortured until her lips were split and no bone in her body remained unbroken. As the wife of a traitor, she was destined to die. Lowering her head with a bitter smile, Asterope then raised it and screamed.

“Villish Numa! You bastard! I’ll curse you even in hell!”

Villish Numa was the name of the newly crowned Emperor. He was also the man watching her from the highest tower of the square, standing beside the Empress as the execution unfolded.

Villish waved a red flag, signaling the execution to proceed. Oil was poured around Asterope. A mage drew a magic circle after dousing the dry firewood with oil. The spell ensured that the fire would not extinguish until Asterope’s soul burned to ashes.

Tears fell from Asterope’s eyes.

“If only the Grand Duke were alive, if only the Grand Duke were alive…”

The mage chuckled faintly. Asterope spat in defiance.

“You dare mock me, you, a mage? I am Asterope Lunette Onyx, the Grand Duchess!”

“It’s amusing to hear such words from someone who killed the Grand Duke herself.”

Asterope’s expression faltered.

“How do you know that?”

The mage smirked mockingly.

“You should save your spit. Soon, even a single drop of it will feel precious…”

The mage, cloaked and with a wart-covered nose, stepped back and continued.

“Farewell in this life.”

He retreated beyond the magic circle. At that moment, flames erupted. Asterope let out a groan as the heat surged from her feet, spreading rapidly. The fire was so intense it seemed as though it would consume her heart in an instant. The crowd in the square pelted her with stones, celebrating the death of the so-called villainess.

The villainess.

Yes, that was the truth.

Asterope Lunette Onyx was indeed the most wicked woman. She had betrayed her lord, the living god of war, Kallion Onyx, and poisoned him to death right after he seized the throne.

But no one ever asked why she had done it.

No one knew that she and Villish Numa, the then Crown Prince, had been passionately in love.

Asterope was thoroughly used and discarded by Villish. Just as she had used and killed Kallion, who loved her.  

Karma. Asterope thought, as she felt the sensation of burning from the tips of her hair to her scalp all at once. If only she hadn’t killed him. If only she hadn’t committed adultery with Villish Numa… none of this would have happened.  

If, even once, she could turn back time, she would set everything right. She would live without betraying the Grand Duke, without being deceived by the sweet and cunning whispers of Villish Numa.  

But her burning body could not be revived. Nor could the Grand Duke, whom she had killed with her own hands, return to life. Asterope shed a single tear.  

“Kallion…”  

At the moment of her death, she uttered the name of the man she had betrayed—not Villish Numa. Along with the searing guilt that she had not felt so intensely when she killed him.  

* * *  

A knock sounded in the dark room. Knock, knock. The polite, clipped sound resembled the owner of that hand perfectly.  

“Madame.”  

A low, serious voice. Asterope, drenched in water, opened the door for him.  

“Were you in the water again?”  

Asterope silently gazed into his gray-blue eyes. He was expressionless, but Asterope knew. She now understood that this was the extent of his expression of concern for her. Something she hadn’t realized in her previous life, not even until her death.  

Kallion Onyx removed his thick coat and draped it over Asterope. A man who didn’t know how to care for a woman didn’t think to dry her with a well-dried cloth. He simply took off the warmest, thickest thing he was wearing and gave it to her.  

Asterope stood still, draped in his heavy coat. Water dripped from her.  

“This won’t do. Let’s move to the warm fireplace.”  

“No!”  

Asterope shouted. She hated fire. Even a small candle was a disaster to her, let alone a fireplace.  

Shivering, she said, 

“I’m fine, so please leave, Grand Duke.”  

“No, you are not fine. Not at all. You’ve been soaked in water for a week now. And today, even your voice doesn’t sound right…”  

“I said I’m fine!”  

“…”  

“Please… just leave. It’s hard for me to look at your face, Your Grace.”  

Kallion silently gazed at Asterope before turning on his heels. The sound of the door slamming shut echoed louder than usual. 

Asterope dropped the Grand Duke’s coat on the spot and moved toward the window, where the curtains were drawn. She slightly opened them.  

An endlessly vast territory stretched before her. Snow piled high, and a fierce snowstorm raged. This was Serpiewood, the northern territory of the northern Grand Duke, Kallion Onyx, located north of the capital.  

Serpiewood, the abandoned land. The Emperor had granted this land as a territory to test him. The King trusted Kallion more than his own son. He believed that if Kallion could cultivate this barren land, he could win the hearts of the people.  

And Kallion succeeded.  

Kallion discovered a mine in Serpiewood where minerals could be extracted, and he trained all the men so they could easily hunt low-level monsters. Minerals, monster meat, and leather—these were rare commodities in other places.  

Five years after Kallion began governing Serpiewood, the standard of living in the entire region had become as prosperous as that of the capital.  

Then, the Emperor arranged a bride for Kallion. It was Asterope Lunette, who had once been expected to become the Crown Prince’s fiancée. With her snow-white skin, thick black hair, and hazel eyes, she was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman in the Lenirune Empire.  

She was a woman who had been raised to become the Empress from a young age. Giving her to Kallion was practically a declaration that the Emperor considered him as an heir.  

However, the Imperial Knights were not pleased with her, knowing she had almost become the fiancée of the Crown Prince, Kallion’s rival.  

‘Their instincts were right. I was the Crown Prince’s spy…’  

Asterope thought as she gazed at the cold snowstorm. That was in her past life. Asterope had undoubtedly met her end in the middle of the largest square in the capital. She had died under the curse of a mage—a fire that burned fiercely and would not extinguish until her soul was completely consumed.  

But when she opened her eyes again, Asterope found herself back in Serpiewood, in the past. It was one year into her marriage.  

She had returned. Three years into the past.  

Kallion would rebel three years from now. On the very first day of his successful rebellion, he would drink poisoned tea and die.  

It was Asterope who incited the rebellion, and it was also Asterope who poisoned the tea.  

She thought she would become the Empress. Not as the wife of the Grand Duke, but as the wife of Villish Numa. However, what awaited her was nothing but the disgrace of being labeled a traitor’s wife.  

Soon after the Grand Duke’s death, Villish Numa invaded with hundreds of soldiers. It was during the chaos when the entire knight order was in disarray over the Grand Duke’s death.  

Asterope smiled as she watched the knights fall. However, the moment the soldiers restrained her, the smile vanished from her lips. She sought Villish. She believed he would understand her innocence. But Villish had already been having an affair with Hayes Quartz, a noble young lady.  

While Asterope had been confined to Serpiewood for four years, Villish had been passionately in love with Hayes.  

Recalling those memories vividly, Asterope slammed her fist against the wall. She was neither naive nor foolish. From the moment she was born, she had lived to become the Empress. She had been born with a sharp intuition and wisdom, but all of that had been rendered useless in the face of love.  

She had moved like a puppet to the words of the Crown Prince she loved. In front of the Grand Duke, she pretended to be kind and innocent, but it was all an act.  

At first, she only pretended to be innocent, but by the end, she felt as if she had truly become innocent—seeing the world in a positive light, trusting without doubt.  

She shouldn’t have done that.  

Love was a futile thing. Even at the moment of her death, Asterope vividly remembered Villish standing far away in the castle, embracing Hayes. And conversely, she also remembered the sorrowful smile of Kallion Onyx as he died while looking at her.  

Asterope bit her lip. In this life, Kallion Onyx would not die. He would become the Emperor. He would eliminate Villish Numa, who harbored dark ambitions to kill his own father, and proudly ascend as the rightful heir.  

That was the direction Asterope had chosen for her second life.  

Love, to Asterope, was like a flower that bloomed for a single season. It blossomed as if it were eternal beauty, only to wither away all too quickly—a fleeting beauty of a moment.  

Asterope would no longer trust anyone. She would focus solely on her ambitions and repaying the karma of her past life.  

For that, she needed Kallion Onyx. That was the only way she could sever the heads of Villish Numa and Hayes Quartz. If she failed to do so, she would once again have to witness her family members dying one by one.  

Asterope clenched her fists tightly. From her tightly clenched fists, water droplets fell like tears.  

No matter how much water she drank or soaked her body, it felt as if the flames that had once burned her still lingered. That was how vivid the shock had been. As Asterope tied her damp hair into one bundle, she opened her mouth.  

“Villish Numa, you bastard. In this life, I’ll make sure to end your life properly.”  

All that remained within Asterope was heat. The blazing fire in her heart aligned perfectly with the word “vengeance.” She had no intention of living a life where she would be swayed like before.  

She would kill Villish Numa no matter what. And she would place Kallion Onyx on the Emperor’s throne. She would restore all the destinies that had been twisted because of her in the past life.  

Asterope’s gaze shone coldly, like the fierce snowstorm of Serpiewood.