Episode 1
Asterophe was tightly tied to a long wooden pole, her hands bound behind her back.
She was wrapped in ropes made of dry straw that burned easily, and she wore a white dress that caught fire quickly, like burial clothes prepared for death.
“Criminal, speak your final words.”
Her lips were torn from torture, and not a single joint in her body was unharmed.
As the wife of a traitor, Asterophe was fated to die like this.
She had been lowering her head and laughing quietly.
Then suddenly, she lifted her head and screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Billish Numa! You bastard! I will curse you forever, even in hell!”
Billish Numa was the name of the man who had just ascended the throne.
He was also the man standing beside the empress, looking down at her from the tallest castle overlooking the execution square.
Billish waved a red flag, signaling that the execution should proceed.
Oil was poured around Asterophe.
More oil soaked into the dry firewood beneath her, and a mage drew a magic circle around the pole.
It was a spell designed to keep the fire burning until even her soul was destroyed.
Tears slid down Asterophe’s face.
“If only the Grand Duke were alive… if only he were alive…”
The mage let out a short laugh.
Asterophe spat toward him.
“A mage dares mock me? I am Grand Duchess Asterophe Lunet Onyx!”
“It’s funny,” the mage replied calmly, “because you killed the Grand Duke with your own hands.”
Asterophe’s eyes shook violently.
“How do you know that?”
The mage smiled mockingly.
“You should save your spit. Soon, you’ll be desperate even for a single drop of moisture.”
Wrapped in a cloak, his face covered with ugly warts, the mage stepped backward.
“This life ends here.”
The moment he stepped outside the magic circle, flames surged upward.
Asterophe screamed as the heat rushed up from her feet, spreading instantly through her body.
The fire was so intense it felt like it would burn her heart in a single moment.
The people in the square threw stones, shouting that the greatest villainess was finally dying.
The greatest villainess.
Yes. That was correct.
Asterophe Lunet Onyx was the greatest villainess.
She had seduced the living God of War, Kallian Onyx, made him betray his lord, helped him seize the throne, and then poisoned him the very night the rebellion succeeded.
But no one asked why she had done it.
No one knew that she and Crown Prince Billish Numa had been passionately in love.
Asterophe had been thoroughly used and abandoned by Billish, just as she had used and killed Kallian, who truly loved her.
Karma.
As she felt her hair and scalp burn away, she thought bitterly.
If she hadn’t killed him.
If she hadn’t committed adultery with Billish Numa.
None of this would have happened.
If she could turn back time even once, she would fix everything properly.
She would never betray the Grand Duke for Billish’s sweet and deceitful whispers.
But a body already burning to death could not return to life.
And the Grand Duke she had killed with her own hands could never come back.
A single tear slipped from her eye.
“Kallian…”
At the moment of her death, she spoke the name of the man she betrayed, not Billish Numa.
A burning guilt, stronger than the flames, consumed her.
Knock. Knock.
The sound echoed through a dark room.
The knock was polite and steady, exactly like its owner.
“Madam.”
A low, calm voice.
Asterophe opened the door, her body soaked with water.
“You were in the water again?”
She stared blankly into his blue-gray eyes.
His face was expressionless, but she knew now.
This was the most concern he was capable of showing.
She had not known that in her past life.
She only realized it now.
Kallian Onyx removed the thick coat he was wearing and placed it over her shoulders.
He didn’t know how to comfort a woman.
He didn’t think to dry her with a towel.
He simply gave her the warmest and thickest thing he had.
Water dripped from her hair and clothes onto the floor.
“This won’t do. Let’s go sit by the fireplace.”
“No!”
Asterophe shouted.
She hated fire.
She couldn’t even light a small candle anymore.
A fireplace felt like a disaster waiting to happen.
“I’m fine, so please leave, Grand Duke.”
“No, you’re not fine. Not at all. You’ve been soaking in water for a whole week. Your voice sounds bad today too.”
“I said I’m fine!”
“Please… I can’t stand looking at your face.”
Kallian stared at her silently, then turned away.
The door slammed shut loudly.
Asterophe let his coat fall to the floor and walked toward the curtained window.
She pulled it open slightly.
Endless land stretched before her.
White snow piled high, and fierce snowstorms raged.
This was Serpwood, the northern territory ruled by Grand Duke Kallian Onyx.
An abandoned land.
The emperor had granted him this territory as a test.
He trusted Kallian more than his own son.
If Kallian could develop this harsh land, he believed the people’s hearts would follow.
And Kallian succeeded.
He discovered mines, trained every man in combat, and made it possible to defeat low-level monsters with ease.
Minerals, monster meat, and hides became valuable resources.
After five years, Serpwood’s standard of living rivaled the capital.
That was when the emperor arranged a bride for him.
Asterophe Lunet.
The woman once expected to become the crown prince’s fiancée.
Snow-white skin, thick black hair, brown eyes.
Without question, she was the most beautiful woman in the Renirun Empire.
She had been raised her entire life to become empress.
Giving her to Kallian meant acknowledging him as a future heir.
However, the knight order disliked her.
She had nearly been engaged to the crown prince.
Their instincts were right.
She was the crown prince’s spy.
Watching the falling snow, memories surged back.
She had died in the capital’s largest square.
Burned alive by cursed flames that consumed even the soul.
And now, she had awakened in the past.
Back in Serpwood.
One year after her marriage.
She had regressed.
Three years into the past.
Three years later, Kallian would start a rebellion.
On the very first day of victory, he would die from poisoned tea.
She had encouraged the rebellion.
She had poisoned the tea.
She believed she would become empress.
Not as the Grand Duke’s wife, but as Billish Numa’s wife.
Instead, she became known only as a traitor’s wife.
Soon after Kallian’s death, Billish invaded with hundreds of soldiers.
The knight order fell into chaos.
Asterophe smiled as knights fell.
But the moment soldiers bound her, her smile vanished.
She searched for Billish.
She believed he would prove her innocence.
Instead, he had already taken another woman.
Hayes Quartz, a noble lady.
While Asterophe was trapped in Serpwood for four years, they had been sharing a passionate love.
The memory returned vividly, and Asterophe slammed her fist into the wall.
She was not foolish.
She was not naive.
She had lived her entire life to become empress.
She had sharp instincts and wisdom.
But love made all of that useless.
She obeyed the crown prince like a puppet.
She pretended to be innocent and kind before the Grand Duke.
At first, it was just an act.
But somewhere along the way, she truly became naive.
She trusted too easily.
She doubted nothing.
She should not have done that.
Love was meaningless.
She clearly remembered Billish standing far away in the castle, holding Hayes as she burned.
And she remembered Kallian Onyx, dying with a sad smile as he looked at her.
Asterophe bit her lip.
In this life, Kallian Onyx would not die.
He would become emperor.
He would execute Billish Numa, who planned to kill his own father, and rightfully claim the throne.
That was the path Asterophe chose for her second life.
Love was like a short-lived flower to her.
It bloomed beautifully, then withered quickly.
From now on, she would trust no one.
She would focus only on ambition and paying for the sins of her past life.
To do that, she needed Kallian Onyx.
It was the only way to cut down Billish Numa and Hayes Quartz.
Otherwise, she would once again watch her family die one by one.
Asterophe clenched her fist.
Water dripped from it like tears.
No matter how much she soaked herself, the burning sensation remained in her body.
The trauma was that vivid.
She tied her wet hair back and spoke.
“Billish Numa, you bastard. In this life, I will properly end you.”
Only heat remained in her heart.
A blazing fire named revenge.
She would never live a life controlled by others again.
She would kill Billish Numa without fail.
She would place Kallian Onyx on the imperial throne.
She would correct every fate that had gone wrong because of her.
Asterophe’s eyes shone coldly, like the fierce blizzard of Serpwood.
