Chapter 11
I showed a face full of sincere regret.
“Yes, I was very rude to His Grace before. It’s late, but I truly regret it now.”
The duchess quietly nodded. She still looked shocked, but thankfully, she didn’t seem to doubt my words.
Her eyes toward me changed a little.
‘She must be thinking—since the wedding is near, Eve is finally trying to win the duke’s favor.’
That’s probably what she believes.
“But if you stay like this, Your Highness might catch a chill. If you don’t mind, please take this…”
The duchess took out a handkerchief, worry in her eyes. It was ivory-colored, with an embroidered wisteria flower on the corner.
“It has a warming spell on it.”
“Magic?”
I didn’t really need it, but the idea of magic caught my curiosity.
Now that I thought about it, there were several kinds of practical magic in this world.
“If you hold it in your hand, it will get warm quickly.”
Her face was filled with genuine concern. It wasn’t the polite kindness she showed earlier because of her daughter, but a real warmth toward me.
Probably because she believed I gave those rare flowers to honor the late duchess.
Still, for her to treat Eve so kindly… it matched her gentle, soft-hearted appearance.
That such a mild woman was the duke’s aunt was almost unbelievable.
“Thank you.”
I reached out to take the handkerchief.
As our hands brushed, her fingers lightly touched mine—
And suddenly, my vision twisted.
‘What—what is this?’
The freezing cold air vanished. Warm air wrapped around me instead.
The temple garden was gone.
I was standing in an elegant hallway, decorated beautifully.
It felt like a dream, but the warmth and scent of the place were real.
‘Where am I?’
At the end of the hallway, a maid appeared, carrying a tray.
Startled, I stepped back—but she didn’t see me.
She passed straight through where I stood and opened a nearby door.
As if pulled by something, I followed her.
The door led to a small parlor.
She walked through another door, and beyond it was a luxurious sitting room.
Inside, another maid was waiting—an older woman.
“I brought the medicine.”
“Good.”
The younger maid set the tray on the table and left.
‘Did she say medicine?’
The remaining maid took a small vial from her sleeve and sprinkled white powder into the bowl on the tray.
Then she turned toward another door.
“Young Miss, it’s time to take your medicine before bed.”
From that door, a girl stepped out.
She looked sixteen or seventeen, with pale brown hair and a thin, fragile body. Her face was colorless, and she wore a white nightgown that covered her from neck to toe.
The girl quietly took the bowl.
I reached out in alarm.
‘Wait, she put something in that medicine—’
But my hand passed straight through her.
‘Wha—what?’
Before I could stop her, the girl drank the medicine in one gulp and went back into her room.
I followed.
It was a grand and cozy bedroom.
The girl lay on the bed as if to sleep.
‘This isn’t real…’
When I tried to touch something, my hand went through it again.
Everything was hazy, dreamlike.
A clock on the wall ticked rapidly, its hands spinning faster and faster.
Time was moving forward.
Soon the girl on the bed groaned and clutched her chest.
“Ugh… cough, cough!”
She coughed violently—blood spilled from her lips.
Another maid rushed in.
“Young Miss!”
The girl collapsed, fainting, her body stained with blood.
“Go get Madam!”
Moments later, a scream echoed from outside.
“Diane!”
A woman in a pale blue gown rushed in.
‘The duchess?’
Her face was younger, thinner, but it was unmistakably the same woman who had just given me the handkerchief.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she pulled the girl into her arms. Her gown crumpled, and her neat platinum hair fell loose.
“Diane! Why… why did this happen?”
She wiped the blood from the girl’s lips with shaking hands.
‘Diane…?’
That was the duchess’s only daughter—and my future bridesmaid.
“Call the doctor! Hurry!”
People gathered by the doorway, whispering in shock, all dressed for a ball.
‘A ball… could this be that night?’
Before I could think further, everything went black.
I gasped and pulled my hand away.
I was back in the winter garden, the cold air biting my skin.
The sunset glowed faintly through the trees.
The vision was gone.
Only the duchess stood before me, dressed in her dark blue gown.
And suddenly, I understood.
‘That was… a vision.’
The duchess blinked in surprise.
“Your Highness? Are you all right?”
“…It’s nothing.”
I smiled as if nothing had happened and took the handkerchief.
Warmth spread through my cold fingers, like holding a tiny heater.
But my thoughts turned cold.
‘That was foresight—Eve’s power.’
It was short, but so vivid it felt real.
Since I woke up in this body four days ago, this was the first time I had seen a vision of the future.
I looked down at my hand.
The delicate fingers held the soft handkerchief, the wisteria flower embroidery pressed between them.
‘This must be the key.’
Eve’s foresight was triggered by touch.
When her bare skin touched another person, a vision could appear.
She had never realized this.
When she was a child, visions came randomly. But after age ten, something changed—
She could only see visions when touching someone directly, without gloves.
And that was a problem.
‘Because Eve… had severe germophobia.’
She always wore gloves, hating to touch anything dirty.
So she rarely ever touched people with bare hands.
Even then, her holy power was weak, so visions didn’t appear easily.
She had to consciously wish to see something related to the person she touched.
Even then, it rarely worked.
That’s why Eve never discovered the real trigger.
‘The girl in the vision—Diane.’
The duchess’s daughter.
It made sense why I saw that scene.
I had been thinking about Diane nonstop—how she was sick, how I wished she could attend the wedding.
‘The maid added something strange to her medicine. After drinking it, Diane coughed blood and collapsed.’
It wasn’t poison—Diane didn’t die in the original story.
Nor was there any mention of this scene.
That must mean the maid’s deed went unnoticed, mistaken for her illness worsening.
So that white powder was likely a drug that made her sickness worse.
