Chapter 02
In her previous life, Shairin was someone who strove for the destined throne.
The next king had a duty to uphold an era of peace and prosperity, and because she was merely mediocre, she had to work even harder.
It was difficult, but it was okay. She thought of it as a mountain she had to cross.
But everything changed when Relina was born.
That small child threatened Shairin by tearing down everything she had built through effort.
The small crack that formed in her heart began to eat away at her.
And in the end—
“Sister… why…?”
“You coveted what you should not have.”
Falling for someone else’s deception, she handed a potent poison to a beautiful, innocent child with a bright future ahead of her, and killed her.
Afterward, all she felt was the thought that she had removed an obstacle.
Looking back later, it was a truly baseless, artificial hatred.
Though she had felt threatened by Relina’s abilities, she had never intended to kill her.
So why did she do it?
The image of Relina coughing up blood from the hole in her throat remained vivid in her eyes and memory—even now, after dying and being reborn.
After that, her stepmother collapsed from the shock, took to her bed, and eventually passed away. Her father followed a few years later.
Only after her parents had passed into eternal rest did Shairin come to her senses.
She wanted to fulfill her duties as king even then, but she couldn’t.
“Your Majesty, we have plans for everything. If you just trust us, it will all be over.”
“You’re still using the incense, aren’t you? There’s nothing better for calming the mind and body… It will help greatly in settling Your Majesty’s troubled thoughts.”
“We will take care of everything, so Your Majesty need only protect the throne going forward.”
Curses and brainwashing gnawed away at her mind.
“Your Majesty, it would be best not to listen to that man. He’s clearly holding a grudge over his recent conflict with our house! You must trust the words of us loyal subjects…!”
“Indeed. Was he not the one who has frequently voiced dissatisfaction with Your Majesty’s policies? Moreover, he was well known as a supporter of Princess Relina…! Eliminate the treacherous sprouts, Your Majesty.”
The kingdom fell into chaos due to the manipulations of corrupt ministers.
Sometimes the brainwashing would lift, but it would quickly take hold again.
In the meantime, the kingdom, having lost all its loyal subjects, set foot on the path to ruin.
It was a time when survival was already difficult due to the unidentified force called “Erosion,” which had swallowed not only the kingdom but the entire continent, and various natural disasters.
As the country fell into chaos, the people died, and the nobles seized the opportunity to rebel.
Leading that rebellion was, ironically, her fiancé…
“Run. I will handle them.”
The one who stayed by her side was the strongest shield protecting the kingdom.
The loyal subject she herself had cast out, and the only person she ever loved—Erand Pejis, the Grand Duke.
“I don’t want to be king. My dream is to be a bum, a total bum! Doing nothing and living off others as a royal—that’s my dream!”
Shairin’s declaration a few days ago—that she wanted to be a bum—spread like wildfire among the court servants.
Perhaps it was because the princess, still in her pajamas, had run all over the palace, burst into tears, and suddenly declared she would not inherit the throne she had craved since childhood—it was shocking in many ways.
Wherever she went, people whispered about this topic, but Shairin didn’t care.
She had long since grown immune to gossip, having been the subject of it for decades.
More importantly—
‘I need to get a firm answer from Father as soon as possible.’
Perhaps because her sudden declaration had been so absurd, the king had taken no particular action.
He had only said, “Let’s talk properly later.”
She decided to hold on to that hope.
‘I need to highlight that Relina has the proper qualities of a king. I must persuade Father to make a decision as soon as possible…’
And in truth, this was the biggest reason.
Having already tasted failure once, she didn’t want to work herself to the bone for a hundred years.
The hell of royal duties was terrible.
It even appeared in her dreams sometimes!
Moreover—
“The kingdom was full of corrupt ministers. I need to weed them all out this time so they don’t become obstacles to Relina.”
The main causes of the kingdom’s ruin before her regression.
This time, she would make sure they couldn’t run rampant.
She repays kindness and resentment a hundredfold.
That had been Shairin’s creed even before her regression.
“First, I’ll start with an audience.”
She picked at a hangnail and stood up from her chair.
Seeing her desk completely empty—not a single book or paper—filled her with satisfaction.
The servants would probably deny reality for a while and pile books, documents, and all sorts of things back onto the desk, but she planned to keep throwing them away.
Eventually, they would understand.
That every word she spoke was true.
“Once I show them through action, they’ll stop talking nonsense.”
She knew. The servants were the ones who had witnessed her efforts, her aspirations, her desires up close.
So there might be some who wouldn’t believe her no matter what she showed them…
But so what? The most important thing to her was changing the past before her regression.
‘I’m anxious because I don’t know exactly when I’ve returned to.’
It had been decades ago, and her memories from when she was brainwashed were hazy—it kept bothering her.
‘Still, I know when I killed her.’
Shairin had harmed her sister when the child was twelve years old—and that year was this very year.
That was the only fortunate thing.
“…Yes. It’s fortunate.”
She planned to leave the palace without regret once she had taken care of everything that needed to be resolved.
She had no intention of lingering and becoming a threat to Relina, nor did she want to be targeted by the nobles.
‘Haah, it’s such a bother and a headache…’
It was merely a ‘possibility’ that could happen. Still, it gave her a headache.
She wanted to do nothing, lie in bed, and roll around. She longed to sleep all day and enjoy her rest.
Besides, she had worked so hard in her previous life that she felt even less like moving now.
Until she became king, she had received all kinds of education every single day without fail and studied until dawn.
When the king went on incognito visits or inspections, she accompanied him to every schedule without missing a single one, even knowing she would exhaust herself, and learned about the lives of the people.
She attended nobles’ meetings and strove to keep up with their political experience.
That was probably why she was so tired.
“…Pull yourself together. To gain anything, hardship is inevitable.”
Shairin took a deep breath and exhaled, as solemn as a knight heading to the battlefield.
She chose the most neat and subdued dress from among her clothes.
When she rang the bell, the maids entered the room with cosmetic tools.
“Light makeup, minimal accessories, and use the clothes I’ve already picked out here.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
This was not a daughter visiting her father, but a princess going to meet the king. There was no need to be as flashy as if she were attending a banquet.
The brush quietly swept across Shairin’s face. A dress as soft as silk wrapped around her body. A minimally decorated necklace was placed around her neck.
“You are all set.”
“I’ll be going now.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The maids withdrew. After taking a deep breath, she made her way to the king’s office.
Soon, Shairin arrived at the office she had used in her previous life. The chamberlain greeted her and announced her arrival.
The door opened. A familiar landscape welcomed her.
The piles of documents on the desk, the busy aides moving about, the smell of ink and paper that hung in the room, the sound of pages flipping…
She did not miss it. This was the place where Shairin had felt her incompetence the most.
This was where she had most vividly felt that she was not fit to be king.
“….”
“You have come.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Leave us for a moment. I have something to discuss with the princess.”
All the aides bowed to the father and daughter and then left the office.
Soon after, the chamberlain brought tea and refreshments for the two of them.
Silence fell. Shairin drank her tea without speaking. In her previous life, she hadn’t liked tea because it was bitter and astringent, but now, perhaps because she had grown older, it went down smoothly.
After savoring the tea for a while, the king set down his cup, as if to indicate it was time to get to the point.
His gaze was serious. Shairin straightened her back and looked back at her father.
“That talk about not wanting to be king—was it sincere?”
“Yes, Father.”
“May I ask why?”
“Because there is a perfect successor to take my place.”
A successor more fit to be a wise ruler than anyone else.
