He said with his cold, sunken eyes.
“Ha!”
A hollow laugh escaped.
“It doesn’t matter if other people curse and point fingers at me, calling me a villainess. But you shouldn’t be like that.”
“Don’t be stubborn.”
With pitch-black hair and black eyes, he was an attractive man who seemed to capture the night sky.
However, what was actually in those attractive men’s eyes was a chilling coldness.
“Now that we’re divorced, you and I are strangers. And yet you’re the one who chases me for every little thing and commits atrocities against innocent people.”
“You’re the one who made me like this!”
A voice full of resentment rang out.
“You poisoned Lucia to kill her, and now you’re saying it’s my fault? Do you think blaming others like that will make your own mistakes disappear?”
“Blame others? Do you think I’m blaming others now? You haven’t changed at all. “ You don’t care about my heart or sincerity.”
“Don’t change the subject. You’ll be brought to trial today. You can make your excuses there to your heart’s content.
“Hahahahahaha! I don’t care what happens at trial.”
Jeremiah furrowed his brows at Karina’s words.
“If you think you can run away, you’re mistaken. Even your great family won’t be able to help you this time.”
“Did you think I’d beg you to forgive me just once if you said that? I don’t even care about my life.”
Karina looked at him with sharp eyes.
“It’s just that you shamelessly try to make yourself happy, and it’s unbearable and disgusting.”
“You never show any remorse.”
Jeremiah let out a frustrated sigh and turned his head, pressing his temple.
Looking at his back, she had a gut feeling that this was the end.
Along with her resentment, a question she had never been able to utter before burst out. She really wanted to ask one last time.
“Have you ever been sincere to me even once?”
Jeremiah’s steps stopped abruptly at Karina’s question.
“...Even just once. Even just a little sympathy.”
Karina grabbed the area around her heart. She pressed her clenched fist hard against her chest.
Her chest... her heart ached.
“Have you ever been sincere to me?”
Jeremiah’s expression as he looked back at Karina was as cold as ice.
“Why should I do that?”
Jeremiah’s voice rang clearly in the silent room.
In an instant, a cold chill swept through the room as if cold water had been poured over it.
The desolate silence plunged Karina into despair like a deep swamp.
Karina and Jeremiah. Their gazes were complicatedly intertwined in the air.
“Don’t be mistaken. I’ve never given my heart to you for even a moment.”
With those words, Jeremiah left her side without any regrets.
He disappeared, but the words he left behind still suffocated Karina.
“...Hahahahahahahahahahaha.”
Karina, who had been standing there blankly for a while, laughed like crazy.
It was a fact she already knew.
She knew it, but hearing it directly from his mouth, was so painful and miserable.
Tears flowed down her cheeks and dripped down her chin. She foolishly cried. But only laughter came out of her mouth.
It was vain. She felt miserable and pathetic, having been abandoned.
That’s why only dry laughter kept leaking out.
Poor Karina.
A foolish woman who couldn’t let go of her unrequited feelings and foolishly dragged around.
Lonely and pitiful Karina, who had no one in the world who loved her completely.
Karina decided to burn all of these feelings that had become worn and tattered, leaving only the shell behind.
It was a distorted love and hate that was hard to call love.
Now she really wanted to end it.
If she couldn’t untangle this tangled thread, she had to cut it off.
With her own hands.
Karina took out a small glass bottle hidden inside her sleeve with her trembling hands.
‘It’s a wish-granting potion.’
It was what she heard as she received the vial.
'I want to end all of this.'
Karina opened the cap without hesitation and drank the potion.
Her vision became blurry. A sharp pain surged through her heart, dulled by grief.
Her body collapsed and she fell to the cold floor. Karina closed her eyes, feeling the cold air rising from the floor she was touching.
***
Karina Millainer.
The only daughter of the Marquis Millainer family and the wife of Jeremiah Colesberg, the Grand Duke of the Empire.
Karina Milliner was a villainess.
She wasn't a villainess from the beginning.
She was originally timid and quiet. However, after marrying Grand Duke Jeremiah and becoming Grand Duchess, she revealed her true nature.
She committed all kinds of atrocities against innocent maids and didn't hesitate to commit acts that would make people frown. When Jeremiah, unable to bear it any longer, demanded a divorce, she did not reflect but rather acted even more viciously.
Jeremiah's patience reached its limit as her violence grew worse by the day.
In the end, she was abandoned and divorced.
However, Karina's obsession and madness did not subside even after the divorce. Instead, they became even more extreme. She followed Jeremiah around, meddling and interfering in everything he did. She even fiercely opposed Jeremiah's remarriage and used all kinds of methods to sabotage it. She persistently harassed his remarriage partner and eventually tried to poison him.
Her evil deeds were enough to incur the wrath of Jeremiah and the nobles.
In the end, the wicked Karina was arrested and brought to trial. She was charged with trying to poison the beautiful and kind Lucia, as well as her previous evil deeds. She was to be judged severely by the law.
A vicious and violent crazy woman.
That was the reputation Karina had heard before she died.
'That's me.'
Karina smiled wryly.
She got up from her bed and looked out the window.
Beyond the foot of the mountain, the sun was rising and dawn was breaking.
Early this morning.
Karina opened her eyes in her old bed in the room she used to use.
'This is... my old room.'
Karina and Jeremiah had shared separate rooms even after marrying.
Jeremiah, who was busy with work, used the room next to his office as his bedroom. Since it wasn't a marriage of love anyway, he probably didn't feel the need to share a room.
Of course, this was from Jeremiah's perspective.
Karina, who truly loved Jeremiah, was very upset by his actions which seemed to draw a line. However, she tried to console herself, saying that it was an inevitable choice due to his busy work schedule. She did not want to disturb or annoy him.
This bedroom was the place she had used during those awkward times.
'You clearly said it was a wish-granting potion.'
Karina frowned and glanced around the room. She saw a picture frame decorated with dried flowers from the wedding bouquet.
She had tried to cherish it, but it had been broken a month after the wedding due to the maid's mistake.
'You said you would grant wishes, so why did I come back to three years ago?'
In her last moment, all Karina wanted was to end everything. For this moment to end. For all ties to be cut off so that she would not be miserable anymore.
But out of nowhere, she came back to the time right after her marriage.
'Is this not a wish, but a divine punishment? Repeating the beggarly past once again?'
Knock knock.
The door opened before she could even give permission to come in.
“It’s time to get up.”
The maid who had been entering with indifferent eyes was surprised to see her standing in front of the window.
“Why are you up so early? You should get ready and go eat.”
“Nothing.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing...”
Karina cast her gaze at the maid who had come to announce meal time.
Her droopy eyes were familiar.
Suddenly, she wondered if this was the same situation as three years ago.
“I’ll get ready and go down. Go.”
“...?”
The maid looked at her for a moment with a puzzled expression.
“What? Do you have anything else to say?”
“No.”
The maid shook her head and left the room without saying a word.
“...How rude.”
In the past, Karina had been harassed by the maids.
Minor but subtle neglect and harassment that was annoying enough to ignore. For example, her towels smelled bad or they secretly mixed lacquer powder in her makeup. They decorated her room with ragweed, which caused coughs and allergies. Such childish and fatal tricks.
She thinks it started around this time.
She used to run her palm over the inside of the clothes hanging in the closet. It was to check if there were any pins or needles.
'Okay. Not that bad yet.'
Karina changed into clean clothes and left the room.
When she entered the dining room, she saw that the maids had set up a table for one person just like before.
When she sat down, the maids brought out the food.
Karina stared at the food on the table.
A salad made hastily with ingredients that were about to spoil, a steak covered in salt and pepper, a dark red stew that smelled like a tangled stew with so many different ingredients that it was hard to tell what was in it.
Even the dishes were dirty and unsanitary because they hadn’t been washed properly.
‘Nothing has changed.’
When she first received this treatment, she didn’t know what was going on.
She didn’t know why she was being treated this way or who had told them to do it.
She was so ignorant that she couldn’t say anything, worried that she might get on the Grand Duke’s bad side. She thought that the Grand Duke’s rules were different. The maids were so oblivious that they made mistakes.
She even believed that Jeremiah’s inability to pay attention was due to his busy schedule and inevitably neglecting his duties. She thought that when she got settled, she would correct the maids’ bad behavior at the right time.
She only had such stupid thoughts.
In the past, Karina didn’t know why they were hostile towards her...
She couldn’t even guess at the time why the hatred, contempt, and unpleasant treatment that were full of malice continued.
Now she knows.
Karina, who had been lost in thought, raised her head and looked at the maid who had brought the meal.
Her gaze was as cold as the cold food.
“You want me to eat this now?”
“Is there a problem?”
The maid asked shamelessly.
“No. There’s no problem.”
Karina smiled brightly and got up from her seat.
“Sit here.”
“Huh?”
“Sit here and eat it. Don’t leave any leftovers.”
The maid was flustered by Karina’s order and didn’t know what to do.
“Can’t you hear me?”
“How could I touch the Grand Duchess’s meal? I’m afraid that His Highness the Grand Duke would be very angry if he found out.”
“It’s scary when the Grand Duke gets angry, but I’m not scared?”
The maid couldn’t answer me.
“Eat. It’s an order.”
“...”
“Are you ignoring me, the Grand Duchess?”
Then another maid standing next to her interjected.
“I’m sorry. Even if it’s the Grand Duchess’ order, it’s difficult to grant such an unreasonable request.”
‘Is it okay for a maid to ignore the Grand Duchess’ order and talk back?’
Karina laughed out loud at this ridiculous situation.
In fact, the reason they act so stiffly is because they all have someone they trust.
It was Caroline Colesberg, Jeremiah’s older sister.
She was watching over them.
“We don’t need maids who don’t follow their master’s orders? You’re all fired.”
The maids’ shoulders flinched at my words.
“We’re employed by our master. Even if you’re the Grand Duchess, you can’t just throw us out.”
Funny.
“Okay. Then I’ll just tell the master myself.”
Karina got up from her seat and walked straight out of the restaurant to find Jeremiah.
Just then, the head maid came in.
“The inside of the restaurant is very noisy. Is something going on?”
The head maid quickly glanced at the maids and then looked at Karina again.
“Did the maids do something wrong? Please tell me and I will punish them.”
Her ridiculous remark made Karina snort. She was afraid that things would get worse, so she suddenly jumped in and pretended not to know.
“I offered the maids a meal, but they keep refusing, saying it’s too much?”
“Of course. This is the Grand Duchess’ house. How could a maid dare to covet the Grand Duchess’s meal? Please consider their position.”
The head maid humbly defended the maids from the beginning.
“Yes. As you said, this is the Grand Duchess’ house.”
Karina’s voice was low.
“And I am the Grand Duchess, the mistress of this house. But isn’t it surprising that a mere maid would refuse the order of the Grand Duchess?”
A gentle smile appeared on Karina’s face, but the words that came out of her red lips were as sharp as a sharpened sword.
“What on earth do you think you are doing?”
The words she spoke with a smiling expression did not match her expression at all.
Karina’s gaze looking at the head maid was eerily cold.
The head maid’s eyelashes fluttered in surprise at Karina’s reaction, which was completely different from her usual obedient manner.
“That’s why I’m going to fire all those annoying maids who don’t follow their master’s orders.”
“Fire?”
A familiar voice was heard.
She looked up and saw a handsome, tall man through the open doorway.
Tall, with broad shoulders. With long limbs and solid muscles trained through swordsmanship, his slender body was tightly woven. His hair and eyes were pitch-black as if they contained the night sky.
Dark eyebrows to match, a high nose, smooth skin, tightly closed lips, and a sharp jawline. He was a man with a perfect appearance.
“Welcome, Your Highness.”
His name was Jeremiah Colesberg. The current Grand Duke of the Colesberg family and Karina's husband.
Jeremiah's patience reached its limit as her violence grew worse by the day.
In the end, she was abandoned and divorced.
However, Karina's obsession and madness did not subside even after the divorce. Instead, they became even more extreme. She followed Jeremiah around, meddling and interfering in everything he did. She even fiercely opposed Jeremiah's remarriage and used all kinds of methods to sabotage it. She persistently harassed his remarriage partner and eventually tried to poison him.
Her evil deeds were enough to incur the wrath of Jeremiah and the nobles.
In the end, the wicked Karina was arrested and brought to trial. She was charged with trying to poison the beautiful and kind Lucia, as well as her previous evil deeds. She was to be judged severely by the law.
A vicious and violent crazy woman.
That was the reputation Karina had heard before she died.
'That's me.'
Karina smiled wryly.
She got up from her bed and looked out the window.
Beyond the foot of the mountain, the sun was rising and dawn was breaking.
Early this morning.
Karina opened her eyes in her old bed in the room she used to use.
'This is... my old room.'
Karina and Jeremiah had shared separate rooms even after marrying.
Jeremiah, who was busy with work, used the room next to his office as his bedroom. Since it wasn't a marriage of love anyway, he probably didn't feel the need to share a room.
Of course, this was from Jeremiah's perspective.
Karina, who truly loved Jeremiah, was very upset by his actions which seemed to draw a line. However, she tried to console herself, saying that it was an inevitable choice due to his busy work schedule. She did not want to disturb or annoy him.
This bedroom was the place she had used during those awkward times.
'You clearly said it was a wish-granting potion.'
Karina frowned and glanced around the room. She saw a picture frame decorated with dried flowers from the wedding bouquet.
She had tried to cherish it, but it had been broken a month after the wedding due to the maid's mistake.
'You said you would grant wishes, so why did I come back to three years ago?'
In her last moment, all Karina wanted was to end everything. For this moment to end. For all ties to be cut off so that she would not be miserable anymore.
But out of nowhere, she came back to the time right after her marriage.
'Is this not a wish, but a divine punishment? Repeating the beggarly past once again?'
Knock knock.
The door opened before she could even give permission to come in.
“It’s time to get up.”
The maid who had been entering with indifferent eyes was surprised to see her standing in front of the window.
“Why are you up so early? You should get ready and go eat.”
“Nothing.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing...”
Karina cast her gaze at the maid who had come to announce meal time.
Her droopy eyes were familiar.
Suddenly, she wondered if this was the same situation as three years ago.
“I’ll get ready and go down. Go.”
“...?”
The maid looked at her for a moment with a puzzled expression.
“What? Do you have anything else to say?”
“No.”
The maid shook her head and left the room without saying a word.
“...How rude.”
In the past, Karina had been harassed by the maids.
Minor but subtle neglect and harassment that was annoying enough to ignore. For example, her towels smelled bad or they secretly mixed lacquer powder in her makeup. They decorated her room with ragweed, which caused coughs and allergies. Such childish and fatal tricks.
She thinks it started around this time.
She used to run her palm over the inside of the clothes hanging in the closet. It was to check if there were any pins or needles.
'Okay. Not that bad yet.'
Karina changed into clean clothes and left the room.
When she entered the dining room, she saw that the maids had set up a table for one person just like before.
When she sat down, the maids brought out the food.
Karina stared at the food on the table.
A salad made hastily with ingredients that were about to spoil, a steak covered in salt and pepper, a dark red stew that smelled like a tangled stew with so many different ingredients that it was hard to tell what was in it.
Even the dishes were dirty and unsanitary because they hadn’t been washed properly.
‘Nothing has changed.’
When she first received this treatment, she didn’t know what was going on.
She didn’t know why she was being treated this way or who had told them to do it.
She was so ignorant that she couldn’t say anything, worried that she might get on the Grand Duke’s bad side. She thought that the Grand Duke’s rules were different. The maids were so oblivious that they made mistakes.
She even believed that Jeremiah’s inability to pay attention was due to his busy schedule and inevitably neglecting his duties. She thought that when she got settled, she would correct the maids’ bad behavior at the right time.
She only had such stupid thoughts.
In the past, Karina didn’t know why they were hostile towards her...
She couldn’t even guess at the time why the hatred, contempt, and unpleasant treatment that were full of malice continued.
Now she knows.
Karina, who had been lost in thought, raised her head and looked at the maid who had brought the meal.
Her gaze was as cold as the cold food.
“You want me to eat this now?”
“Is there a problem?”
The maid asked shamelessly.
“No. There’s no problem.”
Karina smiled brightly and got up from her seat.
“Sit here.”
“Huh?”
“Sit here and eat it. Don’t leave any leftovers.”
The maid was flustered by Karina’s order and didn’t know what to do.
“Can’t you hear me?”
“How could I touch the Grand Duchess’s meal? I’m afraid that His Highness the Grand Duke would be very angry if he found out.”
“It’s scary when the Grand Duke gets angry, but I’m not scared?”
The maid couldn’t answer me.
“Eat. It’s an order.”
“...”
“Are you ignoring me, the Grand Duchess?”
Then another maid standing next to her interjected.
“I’m sorry. Even if it’s the Grand Duchess’ order, it’s difficult to grant such an unreasonable request.”
‘Is it okay for a maid to ignore the Grand Duchess’ order and talk back?’
Karina laughed out loud at this ridiculous situation.
In fact, the reason they act so stiffly is because they all have someone they trust.
It was Caroline Colesberg, Jeremiah’s older sister.
She was watching over them.
“We don’t need maids who don’t follow their master’s orders? You’re all fired.”
The maids’ shoulders flinched at my words.
“We’re employed by our master. Even if you’re the Grand Duchess, you can’t just throw us out.”
Funny.
“Okay. Then I’ll just tell the master myself.”
Karina got up from her seat and walked straight out of the restaurant to find Jeremiah.
Just then, the head maid came in.
“The inside of the restaurant is very noisy. Is something going on?”
The head maid quickly glanced at the maids and then looked at Karina again.
“Did the maids do something wrong? Please tell me and I will punish them.”
Her ridiculous remark made Karina snort. She was afraid that things would get worse, so she suddenly jumped in and pretended not to know.
“I offered the maids a meal, but they keep refusing, saying it’s too much?”
“Of course. This is the Grand Duchess’ house. How could a maid dare to covet the Grand Duchess’s meal? Please consider their position.”
The head maid humbly defended the maids from the beginning.
“Yes. As you said, this is the Grand Duchess’ house.”
Karina’s voice was low.
“And I am the Grand Duchess, the mistress of this house. But isn’t it surprising that a mere maid would refuse the order of the Grand Duchess?”
A gentle smile appeared on Karina’s face, but the words that came out of her red lips were as sharp as a sharpened sword.
“What on earth do you think you are doing?”
The words she spoke with a smiling expression did not match her expression at all.
Karina’s gaze looking at the head maid was eerily cold.
The head maid’s eyelashes fluttered in surprise at Karina’s reaction, which was completely different from her usual obedient manner.
“That’s why I’m going to fire all those annoying maids who don’t follow their master’s orders.”
“Fire?”
A familiar voice was heard.
She looked up and saw a handsome, tall man through the open doorway.
Tall, with broad shoulders. With long limbs and solid muscles trained through swordsmanship, his slender body was tightly woven. His hair and eyes were pitch-black as if they contained the night sky.
Dark eyebrows to match, a high nose, smooth skin, tightly closed lips, and a sharp jawline. He was a man with a perfect appearance.
“Welcome, Your Highness.”
His name was Jeremiah Colesberg. The current Grand Duke of the Colesberg family and Karina's husband.
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