PLTSVA 33

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That night, as I lay in bed, tossing and turning for a long while, I finally opened my eyes wide and looked up at the moon tinged with a bluish hue.

Unable to fall asleep, I walked over to the window and saw a lone figure wandering in the garden.

“Dad…?”

In the middle of the night, with no servants around except the guards stationed at the front gate, he was walking alone through the vast garden.

I took a shawl from the closet and draped it lightly over my shoulders before heading down toward the garden.

The quiet night breeze brushed past my ears.

His silver hair, made even clearer under the moonlight, came into view.

When he saw me from afar, Dad looked slightly surprised.

As I approached him, I said,

“Can’t sleep either, Dad?”

“I often take a walk at night around this time. What about you—why haven’t you slept yet?”

“It’s just…”

“Your leg must be uncomfortable. You should’ve called a servant.”

“…What?”

At that moment, my leg gave out and I stumbled.

What…?

Somehow, I was holding a cane adorned with jewels.

The leg I was supporting with that cane, unlike just moments ago when I could move freely, was now numb.

The cane emitted a faint magical energy, and once I gripped it properly again, it stabilized me.

When I suddenly lost balance, Dad caught me with a shocked expression and asked,

“Are you okay?!”

He said with a pained expression,

“If only I had found you just one month earlier…”

“What do you mean…?”

Then I realized—it was an extension of that previous dream.

I had been pulled into that dream world again.

The monster had broken Ria’s leg, and ever since, she had to walk with a cane like this.

From what Dad said, it seemed he came to the orphanage to find me about a month after that incident.

It wasn’t something the original novel had specified clearly, but now I understood his look of torment and guilt.

Seeing me in shock, he asked in a concerned tone,

“Are you still shaken up by what happened yesterday?”

“Yesterday…?”

“You witnessed the imperial princess being crushed under a chandelier right before your eyes…”

“What?! What do you mean—?!”

A loud cry escaped me, loud enough to shatter the silence of the night garden.

“I knew it. I shouldn’t have let you attend the debutante ball. That horrific memory… You must forget it quickly.”

“Debutante…?”

If this was a scene from the original story, then it would be a year ahead of the reality I knew.

In reality, my own debutante ball was approaching—but how could yesterday have been the debutante here?

‘The imperial princess will soon be the centerpiece of the upcoming debutante…’

Then I remembered something Drehan had once said.

Ah…

In the original story, Rachel returned to the capital shortly after Luca did.

With the princess’s return as the turning point, the debutante’s date had been set, effectively pushing it forward by a year.

But more important than that was…

“What happened to the imperial princess…?”

“Neither the high priest nor the Tower Master knows a way to bring back a departed soul.”

My heart sank with a heavy thud.

“Has the culprit been identified?!”

“There’s suspicion toward the Kablos family, but it’s circumstantial. There’s no evidence. If this keeps up, it may be ruled an accident. The moment His Highness returned, a storm of bloodshed began in the imperial court…”

“Then what about Luca—what happened to him?”

“I can’t tell you not to worry about him. He’s enduring the grief of losing his sister while desperately searching for the culprit.”

“That can’t be.”

The summer night wind blew gently.

It started as a tickle on the tip of my nose, then grew stronger into a gust, and soon a fierce storm swept through.

And without fail, time began to whirl around me.

Dad, who had been right before my eyes, vanished. Countless servants rushed about so quickly that I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of them as I stood alone in the garden.

The sun rose and set, the moon waxed and waned, rain suddenly poured—it was like a time-lapse.

The scene finally stopped on a day when the sun was setting.

The season of summer had quietly changed to an autumn painted with falling leaves.

And standing before me was Luca.

I opened my mouth, wanting to say something—anything—but in the end, only his name came out.

“Luca…”

“Why is it that everyone around me ends up unhappy?”

He said it with a faint, painful smile.

“My mother, whom I longed to see, passed away on the very day I returned to the palace. And my sister… died at her long-awaited debutante while still so young.”

Everyone… because of me. That unspoken phrase pierced into my ears, and my heart ached.

What had that boy done to deserve carrying all the burdens of the world?

Was it because the one who was supposed to comfort and help him through all this was Xenia? Was that why fate had to make him suffer like this—to fit the story?

To have him follow the heroine so completely, even forgiving the villainous Kablos family…

If that’s the future this twisted story wants—

If Luca’s destiny is to endure all of this…

Then I could become the worst villain the world has ever seen—for him.

If you can’t, then I will punish those villains.

Duke Kablos, his son Enoch Kablos, Lady Jeria, and every force behind them.

I’m sorry, Xenia—but unlike you, I have no affection for that family of monsters.

‘But before it comes to that… I have to stop it first.’

Even though I knew it wasn’t real, my heart throbbed as if caught in a violent whirlpool.

Without realizing it, I took a step toward him, intending to embrace him.

I wanted to say: I’ll protect you. Don’t worry.

But my leg, supported by the cane, lost balance, and I stumbled into his wide arms.

It was unclear who needed the comfort more—yet he held me firmly with strong arms.

Wrapping his arms around my back gently, Luca whispered,

“You’re all I have left now, Ria.”

“……”

“From now on, I’ll bear all the misfortune and the vengeance—so please… live on, forgetting me.”

“What happens if even I forget you?”

My vision blurred with tears.

“The final emperor’s trial, ‘The Lord of the Battlefield,’ starts next week. I’ll trigger the assassination of the Selon royal envoy. This is the last time we’ll see each other.”

He stared at me, as if committing every part of my face to memory, then turned away.

I tried to follow his retreating figure with effort, leaning on the cane—but eventually I collapsed on the spot, and a tear dropped from my eye.

Through my blurry vision, I saw Luca running back in alarm.

But he never reached me.

And with a blinding flash of light, I lost consciousness.

“…What? I’m back?”

The room was dim, like just before dawn.

The emotions, the sensations, the air—I could still feel them vividly, but I was waking up in the still quiet of my room as if it had all been just a dream.

I stepped down from the bed and walked around my room.

I could walk just fine. No cane.

I had experienced something like this before—where I couldn’t tell dream from reality.

Was it a warning?

What if Rachel really did die in reality…?

Among all the girls participating in the debutante, Rachel was of the noblest lineage. The timing of the event itself could shift according to her wishes.

This case was no different.

The debutante was moved forward by a year. If Rachel really had been targeted by those trying to suppress Luca, then regardless of the timing, they would act again with the same motive.

In fact, Lady Jeria, one of the concubines, had already been expanding her power like a wildfire ever since Luca’s return.

The rightful heir returning—the palace was on the verge of becoming a battlefield because of it.

And the emperor? Rather than mediating, he was neglecting state affairs and just enjoying himself.

Luca was now the center of public attention. No one would dare touch him.

Even though he hadn’t wielded a sword in two years, he was still a transcendent who could control aura.

Even if a chandelier were to fall over his head, he would surely survive.

But Rachel, hidden in his shadow, was the perfect target—an easy prey, Luca’s Achilles heel.

Thinking back, in the original novel, Rachel—introduced as Luca’s sister—only appeared briefly in the early chapters, then vanished completely.

Since the story was written entirely from Xenia’s perspective, no one questioned Rachel’s disappearance after the debutante.

But what if… she had died on the day of the debutante?

I recalled the devastated look on Luca’s face, as if he had lost everything.

I sat on the edge of the bed and spent the rest of the night drowned in rising thoughts.