WHCCP 2

CHAPTER :02

In the high-stakes situation of soldiers chasing right behind us, learning the locations of lethal vital spots felt utterly surreal, like a dream.

As if noticing my state, the Duke gently took hold of my shoulders and met my eyes.

“You’re all right.”

As his hand slowly patted my shoulders, I felt my trembling gradually subside as if by magic.

Once I calmed down to some extent, I saw the Duke’s stiff expression soften slightly.

“Thank…”

It was the moment I was about to thank him.

“There they are! Catch them!”

The soldiers were charging in our direction. The man pushed my back hard once more.

“We cannot delay any longer. Run, and don’t look back.”

His face looking significantly worse than before, the man drew the sword at his waist and raised his voice.

Seeing his back drenched in blood, I gasped and hesitated, prompting him to yell at me once more.

“Go!”

Forcing my leaden feet to move, I began to run forward.

“Sob…”

Tears poured from my eyes without stopping.

By now, the Duke was probably poisoned, unable to even stand properly.

How long had I been running while sobbing? Before long, I saw an exit leading outside in the distance.

And in that moment.

*Squelch.*

“Gasp…!”

A searing pain, like a burning brand pressed against my solar plexus, stole my breath away.

Looking down, I saw blood slowly spreading around a blade that had pierced through my chest.

Forcing my head back, my eyes met those of a man standing just a few paces away.

“To think he gave up everything for a mere woman like this…”

The man scowling in irritation at me was Grand Duke Axif.

*Is he talking about the Duke?*

Looking down at me like I was a bug, the Grand Duke clicked his tongue, his face filled with utter disbelief.

*I have to tell him it’s not like that.*

I needed to tell the Grand Duke right now that there was nothing between the Duke and me, so that the Duke could get treatment.

But as my consciousness faded, all I could do was feebly part my lips.

Soon, my vision faded to black.

***

I thought I had died just like that…

“Gasp—!”

“Oh my! Lady Dahlia!”

The sensation of falling forward was instantly followed by a stinging pain as my palms scraped against the floor.

If I was dead, I shouldn’t be feeling pain. What was going on?

“Are you all right? Oh dear! You’re bleeding so much.”

Moreover, the fussing voice beside me sounded strangely familiar.

Turning my head toward the voice, I gasped in sheer shock.

“May…?”

Why was May here in front of me?

She was a maid who had retired to return to her hometown to care for her sick family when I married Delos and entered the imperial palace.

There was no way May had died with me…

Utterly bewildered, I quickly scanned my surroundings.

The strangely realistic physical sensations, the familiar sight of the bedroom I had lived in before my marriage.

And even May, standing right before me.

“May. Why are you here?”

Unable to contain my curiosity, I finally asked her.

“What do you mean ‘why’? You said you wanted to look at the dress you’ll wear to the Second Prince’s birthday banquet in five days.”

“Banquet…?”

Was “the Second Prince” referring to that bastard who had abandoned me and fled just hours ago?

“Which birthday banquet is it?”

“Pardon?”

May’s expression turned thoroughly bewildered.

“His twenty-second birthday celebration…?”

I could feel May studying my face, her expression practically asking, *You don’t seriously not know, do you?*

“The twenty-second…?”

But I didn’t have the luxury of worrying about her facial expressions.

That bastard Delos and I were the same age.

And I was twenty-four when I died with a sword through my chest.

Once my thoughts reached that point, I shook my head in disbelief and rushed out of the room.

“Oh, Lady Dahlia!”

I heard May calling after me, but I ignored her and hurried along.

The hallway was also chillingly familiar.

*Am I dead and dreaming?*

It was while I was wandering the hallways aimlessly in a daze.

“What on earth are you doing, Dahlia!”

A voice, both unfamiliar and incredibly familiar, calling my name.

“Father…”

Turning around, I saw my father, whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time.

After cutting ties with him because of his opposition to my marriage to Delos and leaving the house, his was a face I had only seen at official events.

And even that became impossible after he passed away in a carriage accident after my marriage.

*Right. This was around the time my relationship with my family began to fall apart in earnest.*

Because it was around this time that Delos brought up marriage to me.

I had accepted his proposal without a moment’s hesitation.

Watching this unfold, my father had been furious.

He had always highly disapproved of me dating the Second Prince, who was notorious for his poor conduct.

“Ah…”

As I retraced my past, my face rapidly paled.

I recalled the day of the massive fight I had with my father when he adamantly opposed my marriage to Delos.

“I will never see my daughter marry the Second Prince!”

“Then I guess I won’t be your daughter anymore. Fine! I’m leaving this house as of today.”

Since my father refused to give his blessing until the end, I had ultimately committed the madness of cutting ties with my family.

As the memory of my father’s hurt face flashed before my eyes, my eyes began to sting.

*Dahlia. What on earth did you do?*

I felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness as scenes from the past flashed before me like a panorama.

As I stood there in a daze, a heavy sigh echoed from in front of me.

Snapping out of it, I looked up to see my father staring at me with a deep furrow in his brow.

“Running around the hallways barefoot. What is going through your mind these days?”

To top it off, his face was a picture of weary exasperation.

And no wonder, as I had been practically half-mad during this period.

I had lashed out viciously, raising my thorns to rebel against my father, who was urging me to break up with Delos.

Looking at my father with trembling eyes, I slowly opened my mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

“……What?”

Hearing my words, which sounded like a sorrowful sigh, my father’s eyes widened in shock.

As if he had heard something he shouldn’t have.

Dropping my head, I spoke to my father once more.

“I am so sorry. It was all my fault, *sob*…”

As I spoke, tears finally began to spill over.

They flowed endlessly, tracing paths through the air before dripping onto the floor.

*As if I had any right to cry.*

It was an apology I should have begged for a long, long time ago.

As I choked back my sobs, my father took a hesitant step toward me.

“N-no. It wasn’t that big of a mistake… Calm down.”

Beneath his obvious fluster, there was a trace of worry in his eyes.

Seeing that, a wave of sorrow surged through me, completely out of my control.

How long did I cry, apologizing over and over?

“A-all right! I get it, so please stop crying!”

Misinterpreting my tears, my father began to coax me in a much gentler tone.

The moment I heard him say that I could walk around barefoot from now on, I completely broke down, wailing out loud.

“Uwahhh—”

“What in the world…?”

I could feel the eyes of the servants staring at me with the same dumbfounded shock as my father, but I couldn’t stop crying.

***

Six hours later.

I muttered blankly, gazing up at the moon in the night sky.

“It really isn’t a dream…?”

After my crying fit earlier today, I had realized something was off.

No matter how much time passed, there wasn’t even a hint of waking from this dream.

It was the same even when I did things that would make anyone think I had gone mad, like pinching my cheeks or striking my own head.

As time wore on, the only things that increased were my swollen cheeks and the stinging pain.

“Did I really come back to life?”

It was a story no one would ever believe.