"..."
Karina stared at Lucia for a moment without saying anything. Since returning. Today would be the first time she and Lucia met in the present, not the past. She had not expected that she would suddenly bring up the topic of divorce at their first meeting. Of course, the fact that the Grand Duchess, the mistress of the Colesberg Grand Duchy, was planning to divorce had already been rumored throughout the empire for a long time. At least, the fact that the person who was talking about divorce so openly in front of her was Lucia, the person Jeremiah had tried to remarry in the past, made her feel especially bad.
Since they were each other, she could not help but feel different. Lucia, waiting for an answer, smiled brightly.
"We don't know each other and it's just our first time meeting, so isn't it rude to say something like that?"
Karina spoke directly with a blank expression. Her voice was neutral, but her tone was cold. She didn't hide her discomfort.
"Oh, are you feeling unwell?"
Lucia's eyes widened. Karina didn't deny it. Then Lucia quickly continued.
"Please don't misunderstand. I didn't mean to be sarcastic or disparaging about divorce."
She smiled brightly and waved her hands. Her gesture, trying to calm down Karina who was on guard, was as gentle as the fluttering of a butterfly's wings.
"I don't mean anything bad. I just asked because I heard you two are getting a divorce. It has something to do with me, too."
Karina's mood became even more depressed as, as she said, there was absolutely no trace of malice.
"I don't really understand what my divorce has to do with you, Saintess."
"Oh, it's nothing else. Actually, I wanted to ask for your help, Grand Duchess."
"Help?"
Karina looked puzzled at the unexpected sound. Was there something the Saintess had to ask her for help with? The answer to that question came immediately.
"How can I become friends with His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Colesberg?"
"Yes?"
"I think you would know well since you have been close to His Highness the Grand Duke as a married couple for some time."
"What are you talking about...?"
"I plan to have a special relationship with His Royal Highness the Duke of Colesberg."
"A special relationship?"
"If the Grand Duchess divorces His Highness, I plan to remarry him."
'What?'
For a moment, Karina's thoughts stopped. What had she just heard?
'Planning to remarry?'
'Did Lucia like Jeremiah first?'
'This is my first time hearing this. When on earth was it decided?:
Lucia tilted her head and chose her words as she saw Karina's unconvinced look.
"Um... How should I explain this so that you can understand?"
Lucia, who had been thinking about it for a while, opened her mouth again with an expression that seemed determined to make up her mind.
"Actually, I heard the word of God. He said that it was God's will for me to be with His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Colesberg. He said it was my destiny."
Lucia smiled shyly as she said that.
"That's why I'm trying to get closer to His Highness the Grand Duke. He is my destined partner, chosen by God."
"The destined partner..."
When Karina heard those words, her heart sank. She was speechless with shock.
'Is it God's will for Lucia to be connected to Jeremiah?'
Confusion engulfed Karina like a tidal wave.
"And although this has not been announced yet, I have already asked for permission from the temple."
She said with a serious expression and a proud look.
"..."
Karina showed no reaction and only moved her lips.
'You've already received permission from the temple. Has it been like this in the past?'
'Then what about me? What was I?'
'What was the pain I suffered in the past? Was that also God's will?'
'Then why did I go back to the past?'
Her mind was in disarray. The color drained from her face.
"Oh, my? What's wrong? Your expression is really bad... Your face is so pale."
Lucia, whose words had been trailing off, clapped her hands together with a worried expression.
"Oh, by the way, you said you weren't feeling well, right? If there's anything that hurts, please tell me. I'll treat it for you."
Lucia said confidently.
"No, I don't need it."
Karina wanted to get out of this place right away. She didn't want to stay here even for a minute. Her chest was suffocating. She felt like she had to go outside and get some cold air to come to her senses. At that moment, knock. A palace attendant came to the break room where the two were.
"Saintess, your clothes to change into and water to wash in are ready. Let's go."
"Yes, thank you."
Lucia, who was about to leave the room without delay, turned her head and greeted Karina.
"I would have liked to talk more, but unfortunately, there is no time. See you next time."
It was a pure smile without a single speck of dust. There was no sense of hostility or jealousy towards Karina at all. Lucia, who shocked Karina like a typhoon, left the room. Karina, who was left alone, stood there as if she was stuck in the same spot and let out the breath she had been holding.
'Ha.'
Suddenly, a bitter smile came out as she compared herself to her past self when she hated and was jealous of Lucia. There was no need to go back to the past
'My heart was already shaken after hearing Jeremiah's confession once.'
Didn't he immediately snap at Lucia when she brought up the topic of divorce? The familiar frustration and defeat stabbed her heart.
'It was going to end up like this anyway!'
A self-mocking smile appeared on her lips.
'Yeah. I shouldn't have had any expectations.'
Bitterness surged in. A feeling of resentment suddenly rose up, but she tried to suppress it. Karina already knew that Lucia would appear.
'There's no reason to be surprised or upset now.'
She tried to calm herself down by telling herself that. But...
'I'll be right back, so just wait a moment. Come back with me.'
Jeremiah's voice, whispering affectionately with a worried expression, lingered in her ear.
'You are mine. You are my one and only wife.
Her heart fluttered again as she recalled the image of him carefully kissing the back of her hand.
'Why now of all times!'
Karina clenched her fist and bit her lower lip. The timing was really fucking perfect. If only Lucia had shown up a little earlier. If only she had shown up before she had received Jeremiah's confession.
'Then there would have been no such expectations or hopes.'
'If only I had, I wouldn't have felt so miserable again.'
An indescribable emotion welled up in her throat as the situation continued to flow without fail just like in the past.
“Hoooo.”
She let out a hot breath that felt like her chest was burning. Her eyes were moist, but no tears flowed.
Let's go back.
Just go back, come to your senses, and leave as you originally planned.
'It was just a brief moment of shaking.'
It was okay. She hadn't given him an answer yet. She could turn back. There was no need to rush to get a divorce anymore.
'Now that Lucia has appeared, Jeremiah and I'll have our divorce as planned, just like before.'
If she hadn't been connected to Jeremiah, Karina would have had no reason to be hostile to the Saintess. It was just that Karina alone felt a little uncomfortable with the Saintess because of her past memories.
"There's no need to feel any regrets..._
The moment she was about to leave the break room, trying to calm her confused emotions, suddenly someone came in without knocking.
"...!?"
Startled, Karina pulled back and looked at the face of the person who almost bumped Into her.
"Father?"
Marquis Millainer was looking at her with a stern expression.
'Why is father here...?'
Now that she thinks about it, when the Emperor entered the banquet hall earlier, she thought it was unusual for the Marquis not to be seen.
'Somehow. They were acting differently today.'
He followed the Emperor around like a goldfish, and the only time he was not by the Emperor's side was when he had to carry out separate orders.
"Karina. Sit down, I have something to say."
The Marquis naturally gave orders and sat down on the sofa in the center.
'Following Lucia, this time it's my father.'
Karina placed one hand on her throbbing forehead.
"What's going on?"
She asked, standing in place on the sofa instead of sitting down with a tired expression.
"I told you to sit down."
The Marquis frowned and spoke in a scolding tone. He didn't really feel like talking, but this was the palace. Jeremiah had been taken by the Emperor, and the Marquis couldn't have been unaware of that.
"..."
Karina's eyebrows furrowed as she thought about it. The Marquis came into the break room without even knocking, so he must have known that she was there.
'Could it be that the reason the Emperor wanted to send me back right away was to make me face my father?'
Even as soon as the Saintess left, didn't her father come looking for her as if he had been waiting? The Marquis, who had been kicked out of the Grand Duke's household, couldn't possibly miss this opportunity to talk to Karina without anyone's interference.
'This was it.'
Karina swallowed a sigh inwardly. In that case, perhaps it would be better to have the conversation here rather than outside where others might overhear. After thinking about it, she sat down opposite the Marquis with a reluctant expression.
"Please keep it short and to the point."
The Marquis haughtily clicked his tongue at the sight of Karina speaking with her arms crossed instead of pouring a cup of tea. However, it seemed that he had no intention of wasting too much time, as he took out a glass bottle the size of half a finger joint from his bosom.
"Take it."
The Marquis held out the vial in front of Karina. It was a black vial whose contents could not be seen.
"..."
Karina's mouth snapped shut when she saw that. She had seen something exactly like that in the past.
'That's definitely the drug you told Jeremiah to give to help with pregnancy.'
Karina's brow furrowed. The past before the regression. The Marquis had given her this medicine while talking nonsense, as she desperately wanted a child.
'They say that if you give this medicine to a man and do it just once, you can have a baby right away.'
'Once you have a child, he will open his heart to you too.'
She was so thirsty for affection that she fell for those words. She took the medicine and tried to secretly feed it to Jeremiah.
However, since she was not good at hiding things, Jeremiah caught her right away. After that, Jeremiah treated her as if he didn't want to look at her, and became even colder and more merciless. Karina's eyes, recalling the bad memories, sank as cold as ice.
'You're bringing that up while we're talking about divorce. What on earth are you thinking?'
It was ridiculous. She thought she didn't need to hear anymore, but the Marquis opened his mouth with a serious expression.
"Karina. Feed this to the Grand Duke of Colesberg."
"What is this?"
She asked dryly, intending to reject him right away.
"This is called 'Croana'."
"Yes?"
Her eyes widened in surprise. She should have heard the answer, a drug that helps with pregnancy. But the answer was completely different from what she had expected. It was a name she had never expected to hear here.
'Croana... What on earth is going on?"
While she was a little flustered and at a loss.
"Didn't you say before that you wanted to win his heart? That's why I worked so hard to get it for you. It's a newly developed medicine. If you feed it to him, he'll listen to everything you say. It's definitely not a bad thing for you either."
The Marquis smiled bitterly as he continued his explanation.
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