Chapter 53
The Prince Died, So I’m Starting Over!
I hastily checked on the Third Prince, whom I had hidden in my arms.
He was in a state of shock, having fainted. Fortunately, he didn’t appear to be injured externally.
The unconscious Third Prince slid helplessly downward.
I tried to lift him, but I couldn’t get any strength into my arms. My arms were embedded with tiny, glass-like shards of stone.
Every time I tried to exert force, blood gushed out like a fountain.
My head spun, and my knees buckled instinctively.
I didn’t even notice when my shoes had flown off, leaving sharp fragments grinding into the soles of my feet.
Unable to hold on any longer, I collapsed weakly.
Even as countless shards on the floor pricked me, I didn’t feel the pain.
Just before I completely lost consciousness, I saw something small and white springing out from the palm of the Third Prince.
…No. Did I really see that?
Thinking back, I wasn’t entirely sure.
It seemed like I might have seen it.
I only regained consciousness a week after that chaotic incident.
“It seems like the period I lose consciousness is getting longer each time.”
Even someone as carefree as me couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of urgency.
Anna clung to me and cried uncontrollably the moment I woke up.
“This is so upsetting. Why do these things keep happening only to you?”
Anna firmly believed that the bathtub breaking was solely due to the bathtub itself.
After all, who would suspect that eight-year-old children could smash a bathtub made of stone?
Anna also brought absurd news: Count Luruphel had forbidden the entire court from using the bathtub.
“That’s impossible! Then how are we supposed to bathe?”
“Is that important to you right now?”
Anna, sniffling, glared sharply at me.
As someone with a modern sense of hygiene, I thought bathing was crucial for public health.
But I wasn’t so oblivious as to argue, so I stayed quiet.
Well, there must be some way to bathe in this world without a bathtub…
Seeing me calm down, Anna returned to her sorrow.
“There’s a scar…”
Anna, with the most sorrowful face in the world, traced the tiny scratch on my forehead.
According to her, unlike the other wounds, this one hadn’t disappeared despite all the medicine applied—it had been too deep.
“It’s hardly noticeable, though.”
I replied casually.
The scar was at the edge of my hairline, hidden under my hair unless someone looked for it specifically.
“But still, having a scar on a pretty face…”
“What’s there to worry about? Just live as someone pretty and a bit wild.”
“You really…!”
Anna shot me a playful glare before letting out a deflating laugh.
“By the way, how is the Third Prince?”
As soon as Anna seemed a bit better, I cautiously asked the question I had been holding back.
Anna didn’t answer. She just stared at me silently.
“…You protected him with your whole body. Do you think he got even a scratch?”
“Anna, why do you talk like that?”
“I don’t know! I’m upset and frustrated! Love is fine, but shouldn’t he take care of himself first?”
“No, it’s not about love! He’s still a child. That’s why.”
“So, you’re an adult, then?”
Anna looked deeply hurt.
She was constantly lecturing me that the only person I had to risk my life to protect was myself, regardless of royalty.
“I understand your concern, Anna, but that’s unfilial.”
“Unfilial or impious, what does it matter! Whether I die here or there, it’s over if I die!”
“Hmm, but if you die protecting a prince, at least it would be honorable.”
“Don’t talk like some fairy-tale knight! Does honor fill your stomach?”
Anna glared at me, tears welling in her eyes.
I suddenly remembered Anna’s family situation from the second or third run.
Her eldest sister inherited the family, Anna became a maid, and her younger brother became a knight.
Her brother, according to Anna, had a personality similar to mine—mature and flexible for his age—and had been loved by the whole family. He died last spring protecting his master.
In this run, Anna seemed to reflect her brother’s image onto me.
I quietly let her grumble.
After fussing for a while, Anna reluctantly reported that the Third Prince was unharmed.
Unlike me, he had no scratches at all.
Though he hadn’t regained consciousness for a week without reason, that didn’t worry me much.
Now that I was awake, the Third Prince would soon wake as well.
And the next day, I received news that the Third Prince had indeed awakened.
“Father! I want to go back to my room!”
I pleaded with Count Luruphel, who had come to check on me partly as a visit and partly to scold, to move my room.
The original master bedroom had been ruined by the bathtub shards, so I was temporarily staying elsewhere.
Count Luruphel didn’t like my request.
But when I said the room was too cramped and suffocating, he reluctantly agreed.
As soon as he left, I moved back to the master bedroom.
The first thing I noticed was the terrible change in the room.
“What… what is this?”
“The master commanded it.”
“Does it have to go this far?”
The wooden door connecting my room and the Third Prince’s room was completely blocked.
It wasn’t just nailed shut like last time.
Count Luruphel, in his anger, had reinforced it with three additional wooden boards.
Seeing the boards covering the flower-engraved door, I wondered:
‘If I ram my body into it, will it break? …Probably not.’
I stared helplessly at the fully blocked passage to the Third Prince.
I worried for him, but there was no way to visit him secretly anymore.
Neither Count Luruphel, Anna, nor the prince’s attendants wanted us to meet.
Shockingly, the Third Prince seemed to agree with this.
He never responded to the notes I had slipped under the door.
I could imagine how disheartened he must be.
Meanwhile, a certain Marquis came to visit me—a rare occurrence while I was awake.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Yes, thanks to you, I’m fine.”
“I hope I’m not disturbing your rest. I worried since you’re so fragile, so I came to check.”
The Marquis handed me something wrapped in luxurious cloth.
“What is this?”
“Open it.”
I obediently untied the knot.
But I couldn’t make out the object’s identity.
“…What is it really?”
“It’s a winter lynx tail.”
The Marquis replied nonchalantly.
I almost mistook it for something I had lent him.
“A winter lynx tail?”
The miraculous medicine the Northern Duke had secretly consumed?
“Why are you giving this to me?”
“To wish for your health.”
“Is it to help me practice swordsmanship?”
“No. I thought that at first too…”
The Marquis paused, his red eyes softening as he looked at me.
I realized anew how handsome the Marquis was.
Seeing him smile at me, I blinked in embarrassment.
“Now I just want to talk to you about the weather.”
“Excuse me? The weather? Why the weather all of a sudden?”
“Isn’t it up to you to think about that?”
The Marquis handed me a note with instructions for using the winter lynx tail.
“I’ll be going now.”
“Already? You just arrived.”
“There’s nothing more rude than wasting a patient’s time.”
The Marquis appeared like the wind and disappeared just as quickly.
I held the pungent winter lynx tail and stared at the tightly closed door.
Suddenly, I understood why Harriela in the original story had fallen for the Marquis.
Unlike the cold-hearted depiction in the story, the Marquis was genuinely kind.
Of course he was kind. He had personally saved a four-year-old in danger.
And he had agreed to a contract marriage with a stranger woman after hearing her plight.
How could someone like that not be gentle?
His expression might be clumsy, but his heart was warm.
‘What was his name again…? Something with Kal…’
I felt a little guilty for having always called him “the Marquis.”
But I couldn’t remember his real name.
…So I couldn’t even remember the Marquis’s name? Not that I refused to?
