IWCVF 01

Chapter 1

Prologue

When was that?

It was back when I didn’t even know what a prophetic dream was.

I only learned that word after I had that dream. I was exactly ten years old when I saw it. In the dream, because of my useless father, I got engaged.

“I don’t want to get engaged!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs. My emotions surged up, choking my throat.

My father, a duke, had failed in his business and tried to sell me to repay his debts. Goosebumps covered my body, and without realizing it, I scratched my arms.

Disgusting.

My father’s actions were disgusting. And the man who proposed the engagement was disgusting too.

Why did I have to get engaged to the son of a low-ranking baron? It was no different from being sold for money.

But my father spoke firmly.

“Go. I had no choice—I used loan sharks.”

He had even borrowed money using our family as collateral. He had done something he never should have done.

Despair.

It rushed over me and swallowed my whole body.

I could barely breathe. I wanted to cry, but I was so shocked that not even tears came out.

And just like that, I gave up on life and was forced to go to the house where my fiancé lived.

* * *

My fiancé’s name was Raiden Pellis.

The family I was engaged to wasn’t just an ordinary viscount family. They were originally barons, but they had donated large amounts to the imperial family. Recently, during a famine, they bought grain and donated it, earning recognition and a higher title.

In other words, they had bought their status with money.

I didn’t want to talk to people who had bought me with money.

“Nice to meet you.”

“…….”

“You are a truly dazzling young lady. I look forward to getting along with you.”

Raiden was a handsome young man with neatly tied silver hair. He guided me to my room, and I shut the door without saying a single word.

Raiden tried to get along with me, but I was too wounded to accept him. The shock of being sold was too great, so I treated him harshly.

Back then, I was like a thorn.

It was wrong of me to pour out my anger toward my father onto him. I was foolish.

Then a war broke out, and he left for the battlefield. He returned after achieving great merit as the crown prince’s aide.

By the time he came back, my wounds had healed a little. I had finally admitted that Raiden wasn’t at fault.

“Welcome back.”

That was the first time I spoke to him kindly.

“This is unfamiliar. Isn’t it too late for us to get along now?”

His eyes still looked at me with pity.

“I will break off this engagement.”

I was shocked by how firm he sounded.

“I don’t dream of a future with you.”

He rejected me—just when I had finally tried to approach him gently.

He had found someone he loved, and he intended to break off our engagement for her.

I didn’t want to accept it, but the imperial family had already decided to make him the husband of the youngest princess.

Olize.

The woman Raiden loved. A beautiful and wise imperial princess.

In the end, I had no choice but to break off the engagement under the emperor’s order, and I returned to my ducal house.

But the ducal family was already collapsing. My father, after repeated business failures, eventually took his own life. Unable to bear the family’s debts, I went to Raiden for help.

“If you feel sorry for me, then help me.”

“I will help you—just this once.”

He was already engaged to Olize, and his face looked at peace. When he was with me, he always seemed tense, but now that tension was gone.

Was he happy?

I wasn’t happy at all.

“I’m only helping because I feel a little responsible for forcing the engagement to end.”

My heart ached as I looked at him.

If I had known he was such a good person, I wouldn’t have treated him so cruelly.

It felt like my chest, full of thorns, was bleeding.

I hated Olize—the one who had taken my place.

If she disappeared, the place beside Raiden would be mine.

A dark voice whispered in my heart.

Before I knew it, I was consumed by jealousy and desperately trying to take him back.

* * *

Let’s get rid of Olize.

After reaching that thought, I obtained poison—but I was quickly caught.

Because of that incident, I was thrown out of the ducal house without even receiving Raiden’s help, and eventually, I was sold to a brothel.

I cried the entire time.

My life had been foolish.

If I had another chance, I wouldn’t live like that. I wouldn’t hold such dark thoughts. I would have let him go to Olize.

But when I woke up again, everything had become a dream.

“Celia!”

My mother, holding back tears, hugged me tightly.

“You didn’t wake up for three days.”

“I had a terrible dream.”

At first, I thought it was just a nightmare.

But as days passed, the events from the dream began happening in real life.

That wasn’t a dream.

Then I couldn’t let things happen the same way again.

Thinking of Raiden made my heart race—but he wasn’t mine, so I had to forget him.

First, I needed to find a way to survive.

And so, I decided to prepare for a new life to avoid the hardships that were coming.

Then first—I should enroll in the academy!

To survive on my own and stop my father’s business from failing, I needed to become smarter.

And just in case I met Raiden again, I needed to be prepared.

Ten years passed.

* * *

I walked into the room.

After starting his business, my father had begun smoking cigars.

My mother had told him many times not to smoke indoors, but he never listened.

The thick smoke made me cough. I hated that smell. But today was a special day, so I endured it.

Seeing the Pellis family’s carriage, I could guess what was happening.

“Celia, the truth is…”

My father hesitated. His hands trembled as he held the cigar before finally looking at me and speaking.

“I used loan sharks, and now our house is about to be taken. To stop that, you must get engaged to the Pellis family.”

It was a deal that had nothing to do with my will.

I should have been angry, but I simply looked at him calmly.

I had already seen this future.

Knowing this day would come, I gave a bitter smile.

I told him not to use loan sharks.

I suppressed the tight feeling in my chest and looked at the ring on his desk.

“Is that the engagement ring?”

“It was left by Viscount Pellis.”

I opened the box.

Inside was a beautifully cut red ruby ring, shining brilliantly.

It was a very beautiful ring.

Holding it in my hand, I gave my father a bitter smile.

“How will the engagement ceremony be held?”

“We’ll keep it simple at our house. After that, the Pellis family wants you to go to their estate.”

His voice trembled.

In the dream, I had refused.

But now, I already knew this day would come, so I had prepared myself.

I couldn’t repeat my mistakes.

“I have a condition if I go quietly.”

My father’s face brightened.

“Stop using loan sharks and don’t expand your business any further. If you promise that, I will go to the Pellis family.”

“But…”

When I looked at him, he stopped speaking.

If he felt even a little sorry for me, he shouldn’t say anything more.

“Otherwise, I won’t go.”

At my firm words, his face turned red. He clenched his lips before finally giving in.

“Alright.”

Only after hearing that did I put on the ruby ring.

Fate had not changed.

The red ruby engagement ring sparkled on my finger.

Honestly, I didn’t want to meet Raiden again. I wanted to live a life unrelated to him.

But fate did not stray—it led me back to him.

If things continued like this, I had to change my destiny no matter what.

What should I do?

First, I needed to change my attitude.

If I treated him kindly from the very beginning, then when he later met the woman he loved and broke off the engagement, wouldn’t he feel at least a little sorry?

And I should help him.

Then later… I could ask him to save me.

Even though I told my father not to expand his business, he wasn’t the type to listen.

I glanced at him.

He was probably agreeing so easily because he needed money right now.

Cruel, but that was reality.

So if the family truly collapsed someday…

I wanted to ask Raiden Pellis for help.