WHCCP 3

CHAPTER :3

I raised my hand and touched my right cheek, which was burning with heat.

“Ngh.”

It really hurt, after all.

Just as my head was beginning to throb from the sheer confusion,

Knock, knock.

“My Lady…”

May’s voice drifted in from outside, asking if she could enter.

“Come in.”

Once permission was granted, May stepped inside and cautiously broke the silence as she looked at me.

“Um… what should we do about your appointment tomorrow with the Second Prince?”

“What?”

Her words snapped me awake as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over my head.

“Yes. That is why you were planning to go out to buy a dress today. You mentioned you had nothing to wear…”

At her words, I felt like screaming right then and there.

It was because the memories of my past self, desperately struggling to look just a little better in his eyes, came rushing back one after another.

“My Lady…?”

Watching my sudden silence with concern, May called out to me.

Lifting my head, I masked my face with an expression of calm composure and spoke.

“Ah, that’s right. I did have an appointment tomorrow. Thank you for reminding me.”

“Of course. But… are you truly alright? You skipped dinner tonight, too…”

I felt her worried gaze scanning my face.

As one of the people who had witnessed the earlier commotion, May undoubtedly found it strange that I had suddenly burst into tears in the hallway.

“I’m fine now. I think I just had a sudden nightmare.”

Reassuring May with a casual excuse, I sent her out of the room on the pretext of needing to sleep.

Left alone in the quiet room.

“So I get to see that bastard’s face again.”

Letting out the breath I had been holding, I collapsed face-first onto the bed and muttered.

The sight of his back as he abandoned me and fled played vividly before my eyes.

“How on earth did I ever fall for a guy like that…”

I recalled our first meeting, which was now a hazy memory.

It was when I was around eleven. At a banquet hosted by the Imperial Consort, Delos had approached me warmly. That was the start of this ill-fated relationship.

‘Right. Back then, I was having a hard time getting along with people, so I was grateful when Delos approached me first.’

He was even the one who confessed first.

“We were called lovers, but that was just a nice way of putting it.”

As time went on, he treated me worse than his own servants.

Constant disregard and sarcastic remarks became the norm, but far from breaking up with him, I walked on eggshells, busy trying to cater to his every whim.

And the public called me ‘Delos’s puppet.’

They weren’t wrong. I literally crawled when he told me to crawl, and begged when he told me to beg.

As time passed and I became Empress, I could do nothing but watch Delos’s sheer stupidity from the sidelines, which ultimately led to the outbreak of the rebellion.

Recalling the night the rebellion erupted, the center of my chest—where the sword had pierced through me—ached reflexively.

Along with that vivid pain, a man’s face surfaced in my mind.

“Evan Wallenstein…”

As I quietly muttered his name, the aching in my chest seemed to subside like magic.

“If I’m alive, then he must be alive right now too, right?”

I recalled my last glimpse of the Duke.

Had the rebellion succeeded, he was a man who would have enjoyed more honor and power than anyone else by the side of the Grand Duke turned Emperor.

I wanted to ask him why he threw all of that away just to come to me.

Tossing and turning from lying flat on my back, I stared up at the night sky once again.

Whatever the case, one thing was certain: I had been given another chance.

I closed my eyes tightly and prayed in my heart.

*I want to do my absolute best to live again, so please, let this not be a dream.*

***

Perhaps my desperate prayer from yesterday had been answered, for I welcomed the morning once again in my twenty-two-year-old body.

Leaving the estate in a carriage right away, I finally arrived at our meeting place.

“My Lady, we have arrived.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Stepping down from the carriage, my heart began to flutter at the sight of the building before me.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled open the door handle.

*Chime—*

Catering to the upper class, this cafe was one of the places Delos had frequented over the past few years.

‘There he is.’

I was able to spot him instantly.

It was thanks to his flashy blonde hair, which stood out even from a distance.

Walking slowly toward where he sat, I finally called his name.

“Delos.”

“What took you so long? Keeping to the appointed time is basic etiquette, isn’t it?”

The bastard—no, Delos—scowled fiercely and let out his irritation the moment he saw me.

I quietly took in his face, which felt like something I hadn’t seen in ages.

Yeah. He had always been this kind of guy.

A man who wouldn’t hesitate to threaten to break up, claiming he was “disappointed” in me if I so much as lightly scolded him, even though he broke appointments as naturally as breathing.

In a year, this man would ascend the throne as the next Emperor, following the current Emperor’s will.

At the time, opinions were divided over why he was chosen instead of the First Prince, who was the strongest candidate for the crown. But in accordance with the absolute will of the Emperor, he ultimately inherited the throne.

‘And in less than a year, he completely ruined the country.’

Barely any time had passed since the end of the previous war, yet he declared war on a neighboring kingdom once again.

Unable to stand by and watch any longer, his older brother eventually launched a rebellion.

Shaking off my brief thoughts, I sat down opposite the man, who was making no effort to hide his extreme displeasure.

“Getting ready can take a bit of time. Anyone would think you spent the night waiting here.”

“……What?”

He frowned, looking as if he had just heard something utterly absurd.

“Anyway, I’m sorry for being late. For making you wait a whole five minutes.”

Delos stared blankly at my calm face for a long moment before speaking again.

“Aren’t you going to apologize?”

The “apology” he meant was for me to clasp his hands with a desperate look on my face, begging and swearing never to do it again.

This was coming from a man who broke promises as easily as drinking water, yet had never once offered a single apology of his own.

‘In the past, I would have panicked and apologized immediately.’

Having realized that all my past efforts were entirely futile, I found this entire situation utterly tedious.

“I just apologized. What else do you want me to do?”

At my nonchalant retort, I saw Delos’s face stiffen into stone.

Having watched him closely for so long, I knew his patience was about to snap.

“How unfortunate. I don’t care much for women who make a mistake and don’t even bother to beg properly.”

Seeing him utter the exact line I had anticipated, word for word, I let out a silent chuckle.

The next words out of his mouth would surely be…

“Let’s call it quits here.”

Since he was a bastard who used breaking up as a weapon whenever the slightest thing displeased him, this sudden declaration didn’t surprise me at all.

In fact, to the current me, it was incredibly welcome news.

“Sure, do as you please…”

Not wanting to look at his face a second longer, I gave a lazy reply with my gaze fixed out the window.

How long had I been staring outside like that?

*Scrape—*

At the harsh sound of his chair scraping back, I turned my head to look forward once more.

“I didn’t realize you wanted to break up with me so badly. Let me make this clear: you’re the one throwing away this opportunity, Dalia, so don’t you dare come begging me later.”

“Sure. There’s nothing to be done then.”

I stared at him with an expression devoid of any emotion as I spoke.

Since I, who would usually walk on eggshells and bow my head first, was suddenly acting so firm, Delos looked quite flustered.

“……I hope you don’t regret what you said today.”

Delos curled one corner of his lip in a mocking sneer before vanishing completely from the cafe.

By now, his mind was undoubtedly filled with the absolute certainty that I would come crawling back to cling to him in just a few days.

“Oh my goodness. Are they really breaking up?”

“Lady Feldlorang is being surprisingly firm, isn’t she? I’m shocked.”

While I quietly savored my tea after Delos left, the sound of whispering about me from nearby drifted over, clear as day.

Even if they pretended otherwise, everyone had always been highly interested in my relationship with Delos. By tomorrow, the rumor would likely spread through the entire social circle.

‘Which works out even better for me.’

Having finished my tea, I rose from my seat to head back home.

Instantly, the constant whispering died down in a sudden, uncanny hush.