Chapter 2
* * *
As the light faded, the scene that appeared was a mountain blanketed in white snow.
The green of the trees had vanished, and in this world dyed entirely white, someone stood struggling.
Drip, drip, drip.
The falling red blood seeped into the snow, staining the white expanse red.
Even with a fatal wound that threatened his life, the man showed no signs of pain. As the person across from him swung their sword, his body seemed to lose strength and collapsed forward.
Even as death approached, he did not show fear, merely closing his eyes with a sorrowful expression.
‘What’s this?’
Before I could deeply ponder the strangeness, the surroundings changed again.
This time, unlike before, it was an opulent indoor setting.
Only the background had changed; the man looked no different from before.
He clutched his throat, coughing harshly on a floor stained with spilled tea. Blood spurted with each cough, suggesting he had been poisoned.
It didn’t take long for him to close his eyes again.
Then the surroundings changed once more.
The backdrop kept shifting, but the protagonist and the tragic scenes remained unchanged.
The man fought desperately against someone and died.
In another place, he was ambushed and killed, assassinated in his sleep, betrayed by a comrade and died in a fall, or accused of heresy and executed. He repeated death over and over.
When his tenth death came, a familiar scene unfolded.
A storm seemed imminent with the worst weather, a wrecked carriage scattered around a cratered ground, and the man dying in the accident.
The moment my eyes met his as they closed, the surroundings warped.
Only then did I realize what the moments of his deaths meant.
At the same time, it was as if my blocked breath cleared, and I inhaled sharply. It was the moment of my tenth regression.
* * *
When I opened my eyes again, the familiar ceiling greeted me once more.
I had returned yet again.
Even though an unwanted regression had begun, I had to suppress a laugh that threatened to burst out from joy rather than anger.
I recalled the man who had died repeatedly before my eyes moments ago.
Leandros Aganilwig.
The second prince of the Aganilwig Empire, who renounced his succession rights upon graduating from the academy.
Though his birth was unfortunate, he was a righteous and upright figure, admired and respected by all, a holy knight entrusted with a divine mission.
And the annoying presence who tried to stop me when I obtained the holy relic.
Given his background and status, he had many enemies, and as a holy knight tasked with protecting the world from the threat of an evil god, it wasn’t strange for him to face life-threatening dangers.
“But the fact that he dies in the same ways I do is strange.”
From a carriage accident to a fall, an assassin in the bedroom, an ambush by someone.
It was an absurd hypothesis, but…
“Honestly, my current situation is the most absurd, isn’t it?”
Until now, I believed that if I distanced myself from the god and the holy relic, blaming them for my curse, I could end it.
But I was powerless, and in the end, I prayed to the god and received an answer about my deaths.
If Leandros dies, I die for the same reason.
Then, if he doesn’t die?
‘Doesn’t that mean I won’t have to suffer this wretched curse anymore?’
For the first time in a long while, a smile naturally spread across my face at the glimmer of hope.
With lighter steps than in my previous life, I walked to the vanity. The familiar gift box was there.
Opening the beautifully wrapped box, the golden music box greeted me as expected.
“Yes, things shouldn’t change.”
Any variable other than witnessing Leandros’s deaths would be troublesome.
But I loathed this gift so much that I was about to put the music box down in disgust.
“Oh my, milady. You’re awake early.”
Wendy, who had quietly opened the door, was startled to see me and hurried inside with quick steps.
“You serving a villainess like me was truly exhausting.”
Her demeanor was completely different from when she tried to kill me moments ago, and it was hard to adjust.
I used to think she was a nimble maid for her role, but knowing she was an assassin, her movements made sense.
‘Dismissing her outright would look suspicious.’
An assassin planted within the family—since I didn’t know whose orders she followed, I needed to think carefully about how to deal with her.
“Yes, it’s my birthday today, isn’t it?”
I spoke as if it were no big deal, and she smiled brightly as was her habit.
“I didn’t know you were so excited for your birthday, milady! Happy birthday!”
“Thank you.”
I wanted to grab Wendy by the collar and demand when she started trying to kill me, but it was a pointless question.
‘How would she know the family’s intentions? She probably killed me because she was ordered to.’
“Is that music box a gift from the lord and lady? It’s so beautiful. It suits you perfectly, milady!”
“Does it?”
Her eyes sparkled so sincerely that I could almost believe her flattery was genuine.
A music box containing a lullaby by the renowned imperial composer Lerdante, with an auction starting price of a million gold—a luxurious item my parents bought for me, who often suffered from insomnia.
It was a cherished possession that brought sweet sleep to someone plagued by insomnia.
“How revolting.”
Having been killed by an assassin sent by the family and returning, I couldn’t feel any affection for it.
‘I need to suspect everyone. Father, Mother, Brother, even the Council of Elders.’
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
After each regression, I always played the music box to calm my mind, but now I couldn’t stand the sight of it.
“Have you listened to the music box?”
“Later.”
As I set the music box down with an irritated look, Wendy scurried over and asked,
“Don’t you like the gift?”
“It’s just not to my taste.”
“What? But…”
With its beautiful design, price, and rarity, it was a gift filled with things I should love, and to treat a gift from my most respected parents so dismissively must have shocked her.
Ignoring Wendy’s stare, I turned away from the ornate music box and headed toward a letter discarded in a corner of the floor.
‘My mood is one thing, but I need to do what must be done.’
“Cancel the birthday party today.”
“What?”
Wendy’s eyes widened as if they might pop out at the sudden news.
“Milady, you were so excited because the duke spared no expense for the party, even renovating the garden. And the eldest young master arranged for the capital’s best orchestra for you, and you were so looking forward to it…”
As she tried to persuade me, Wendy quickly shut her mouth when she saw me pick up the letter from the corner.
“The imperial family is personally hosting a banquet, so shouldn’t I attend?”
My eighteenth birthday, a day that should have been filled with blessings, always ended in the worst way.
The day before the party, the imperial family suddenly sent an invitation for a banquet on the same day as my birthday party.
It was an invitation to Leandros Aganilwig’s birthday banquet.
A banquet held to celebrate the twentieth birthday of the prince who chose the temple over the imperial family.
The outcome of the party I stubbornly held, unwilling to lose, was shabby and miserable.
‘I already disliked Leandros, but I probably hated him even more after that, right?’
“B-but it’s not mandatory, so you said you absolutely wouldn’t go…”
She was likely reciting what I had ranted about last night, but when our eyes met, she gasped and shut her mouth.
“That’s right.”
I didn’t remember exactly, but since it was from the imperial family, I probably couldn’t bring myself to tear or burn the invitation.
‘Unable to contain my anger, I must have thrown it on the floor.’
“I’m sure everyone will attend your party, so don’t give up…”
Knowing the future, I smiled quietly at Wendy’s words.
“Most of the invited guests won’t show up.”
This banquet was essentially a display that the imperial family hadn’t abandoned Leandros, even though he renounced his succession rights and chose the life of a holy knight.
So why would power-hungry nobles pass up such an event?
‘Even my family chose Leandros’s banquet over my party, didn’t they?’
“Isn’t it enough to say I’m attending His Highness’s banquet to celebrate his birthday? That feels courteous enough.”
At my unchanging response, Wendy nodded with a tearful expression.
“Pay the scribes and errand runners double their wages, and do the same for the servants who helped prepare the party. I’ll bring it up with Father.”
With the party matter settled, it was time to move to the next step.
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