The marriage between the daughter of a lower-ranking aristocrat and the Crown Prince.

People have called this love story beyond the status gap the romance of the century, but in fact, a marriage in the imperial family was not possible with only love.

There are four reasons why Angela, a lowly daughter of a baron from the countryside, could become the crown princess.

First of all. Angela was very beautiful.

She has silver hair, white skin, green eyes reminiscent of emerald, and a slender figure, all are characteristics that were rare in the Empire.

No one disagreed with her reputation as the most beautiful woman in the Empire.

That appearance bound to have an absolute effect on people.

If Angela hadn’t had such a beautiful appearance, the daughter of a low-ranking nobleman would never have been called “the flower of the social circle” in the capital’s high society.

Then the second one, the existence of her close friend ‘Jayna Bellechateur’.

The only daughter of the Marquis of Bellechateur, Jayna, who cherished Angela as if she was her own biological sister.

In order to help Angela adjust to the capital’s social circle smoothly, she spared no effort to provide her support.

In addition to the monetary part, she brought Angela to every social gathering and introduced her to the influential nobles.

The stature of Angela within the nobility was entirely attributed to Jayna.

And, thirdly, she ran a clinic, gained popularity and fame among commoners.

Angela, a healer and a herbalist, opened a treatment centre in the capital with the support of the Marquis of Belchester to help the poor civilians in need.

Naturally, the commoners began to praise her.

A young noblewoman that took care of them, who would not be respected by anyone!

Angela became popular with the common people, and her reputation grew naturally.

She began to be called “White Angel” one day, and when the prince who heard this rumour took an interest in her.

That’s how Angela and the Crown Prince met until in the end, the two became lovers.

Then lastly, the revelation of Marquis Bellechateur’s so-called treason.

Angela had discovered that her patron, the Marquis of Belchester, was trying to rebel.

After much torment, Angela attempted to report the rebellion of the Marquis to the Imperial Court, but Jayna Bellechateur, who discovered her, in an attempt to silence Angela she tried to poison her.

However, Angela managed to survive and gave decisive testimony to reveal the plot of the Marquis.

As a result, the Marquis of Bellechateur, who dared to rebel against the Imperial Family, paid the price with the extermination of his whole kin

Angela was recognized for her contribution to guarding the peace of the Empire and received permission from the Emperor to marry the Prince.

Everyone in the Empire was delighted by the news. A beautiful sweet white angel deserves to be his queen.

***

In the dungeon of the Imperial Palace.

The stale bread thrown by the guard collided with her head and she yelped in pain because she felt as if she was hit by a rock, but her vocal cords were injured and only a screeching sound came from her throat.

She looked up and saw that the guard was staring at her with contempt then he spat on the dungeon floor and left.

The thrown bread fell to the other side of the solitary cell.

Jayna's POV

Without the strength to stand up, I crawled and picked it up. The bread was hard enough to hurt my teeth when I chewed, but I still ate it whole. Because this was all I could eat.

I forcefully swallowed and leaned against the cold wall.

My body was full of wounds, the ruined hair was so bad that it tore with one slight pull. The graceful figure of a young noblewoman was nowhere to be found.

I don’t even know how much time has passed.

The image of my father, who had been executed for treason, surfaced to my mind and my tears flowed again. My father’s head was said to be hung on the capital walls.

There was nothing I could do.

I, and the Bellechateurs, did not commit any crime.

How the hell did it become to this?

Angela was nearly poisoned for wanting to report the Bellechateurs, and I, Jayna Bellechateur, have been accused of being the culprit who tried to poison her.

She had simply sold the Marquis of Belchester to become the Crown Princess.

The prelude was framing me. Angella fell whilst she was having tea with me. Although everything was her acting, because of this, I was charged with the attempted poisoning and got taken to the Imperial Palace for it.

The crown prince was furious at the thought of losing his lover.

No one could preclude him from his rage. The crown prince ordered my execution, and my father protested.

My father tried to save me, but with the words from Angela’s mouth, the situation worsens.

A rebellion.

It was a trap for the Marquis Bellechateur from the very beginning.

When the imperial palace searched the residence of the Belchester family, unknown evidence of rebellion appeared, starting with the alleged corruption of my father who was in charge of the military service.

In order to not conform to the status of a prestigious family with a long history, the investigation and sentencing were conducted in a very short period of time.

The family in the end could not escape extermination.

I know I am the last remaining Belchester, but sooner or later I will disappear in the dew of the execution ground.

“Jayna?”

The quiet underground prison became noisy after a long.

It was Angela. She was approaching me accompanied by a group of knights.

When I saw Angela, my dying eyes filled with anger.

I moved towards her with a strength I didn’t know I still had. My fists holding the iron bars trembled.

“What are you doing here? You still dare to show your face in front of me?!”

“Who are you to threaten her royal highness!”

Just as he said that I felt my sight blur and jostled to the other side of the cell caused by being shoved by a knight accompanying Angela.

I spitted up blood with a cough. I could see his face, a familiar one, through the hair covering my visage.

It was my ex-fiancee who attacked me, Cassiel Kalmár

“Sir Cassiel, would you mind waiting

outside with the others for a moment? It’s my last meeting, I’d like to talk with Jayna alone.”

“I cannot do that. She is the daughter of a traitor and besides that, she’s an attempt to end your life as well. His Royal Highness’s order was to never be separated from the Crown Princess because we couldn’t tell what might happen.”

“Sir Cassiel, please.”

Angela held her hands together and looked at him with pitiful, teary eyes.

I’m certain Cassiel would never refuse Angela’s words.

“The execution is only an hour away. There are iron bars between her and me, so she won’t be able to touch me. She was once like a sister. If not now, I will no longer have the opportunity to speak to her later.”

Tears welled up in her green eyes. Cassiel made a rare flustered face.

“There’s no help when you say that. we’ll be right there, if she shows any sign of wanting to harm you, please call us out loud.”

“Thank you, Sir Cassiel.”

The sound of the knights’ footsteps receded, then soon disappeared altogether. It was just me and Angela.

“Why are you here? Do you finally have something to say now?”

“Indeed. I just wanted to take a closer look at your messy form.”

“Really? Are you satisfied now?”

“Yes, and I wanted to show you this.”

The crown was twinkling on Angela’s head.

The crown jewel, made of platinum, really suited her silver hair, as it had been made with its owner chosen from the beginning.

“My goal was always to be the most powerful woman in the empire. And finally, it almost coming true. What do you think? Doesn’t it look good on me?”

Angela was widely smiling from the bottom of her heart.

I got goosebumps. Although she was inconsiderate, but to her, me and my father were her benefactors.

Nevertheless, Angela didn’t feel guilty about what she had done to her benefactors.

“You’re so audacious till the very end.

Don’t you even remember what my father and I have done for you so far?”

“I’m grateful for it all.”

“Don’t you feel remorse?”

“If I had, I wouldn’t have done anything like this. I have never felt sorry for this. I have hated you since the beginning. Anyway, were you doing that because you pitied me? Like a noble saint helping a beggar. Didn’t you know that your petty compassion had felt mocking?”

“Compassion?”

I let out a laugh. How could she describe those things in a word like sympathy?

I still remember the first time I met Angela.

The girl, who accompanied my father into the Bellechateur’s household, couldn’t hide her anxious eyes and trembling hands.

But she was shining. I had fallen in love with that lovely girl at first sight.

I wanted to do everything Angela liked and sincerely wanted her to be happy.

So I didn’t blame her when I had lost my friends, being abandoned by my fiancé, and losing my father’s love.

I knew she was behind it all, and I tried denying it. I believed in Angela. Because she was family.

But she didn’t stop.

I started being called the evil girl from some point on. A cunning villain who was jealous of Angela and bullies her.

When Angela was called a white angel and admired, my reputation was falling apart.

I tried to change the situation only belatedly, but it was impossible.

It was because Angela’s influence and position raised beyond my reach.

“……did you have to do this? You would have been able to be the crown princess without planning all this. Due to status issues, my father hoped for you to officially join the Bellechateur family. You knew that, didn’t you?”

“I knew.”

Angela’s face got closer. Her smile more beautiful than ever.

“But that wasn’t enough. Because I wanted you to be unhappy.”

“I wanted to ruin your whole life. I loathed you from the start.”

The white angel was actually a devil. At least for me, it was.

***

The guard came to pick me up and said that the death penalty would soon be carried out

The anguishing waiting time is over. At the very least, I wanted to walk proudly to the execution ground, keeping my honour as an aristocratic.

However, my legs were so weak that I couldn’t stand up, let alone walk.

“Can’t you get up fast? There is no time to delay! Tsk, I guess I’ll just drag you through.”

The guard approached me angrily.

He was not kind enough to support me.

For him, I am the daughter of a traitor and a criminal who attempted to poison the current Crown Princess.

He grabbed my hair and started walking quickly.

My legs were dragged all over the ground, and bloodstains appeared wherever I was swept.

Even though I thought I was used to pain now, it was so unbearable that I felt I’d die on the way to the execution site.

The guard pushed me the moment he arrived at the location.

Two knights approached, grabbed both of my arms and forced me to kneel.

At the top of a terrace, the Crown Prince and Angela, who was crying in his embrace, were seated.

I’m probably the only one who knows that Angela’s tears are fake.

Cassiel, standing behind Angela, looked right into my eyes. Mo emotion other than undisguised hatred flooded his eyes.

I felt a bit bitter at that inside me. Cassiel and I had been together for a long time. I hoped that just before I die, he would feel sorry.

“The execution of the sinner, Jayna Bellechateur, will take place.”

When the Crown Prince spoke in an indifferent voice, the executioner put my neck on the guillotine.

I was prepared for death to claim me. Still, I was afraid of what was coming to me.

I didn’t want to show them any sadness, so instead, I held the necklace in my hands like I was praying.

I received it when I met my father for the last time.

‘Things are going well. I’ll get you out of jail soon. You just have to wait for a bit more. Just in case make sure to keep this on you.’

My father said so, but I realized the moment I received a necklace. Things were going bad.

I opened my eyes and looked ahead. Angela alone was smiling in the solemn atmosphere of the execution ground.

Angela, I resent you.

I wish I could close my eyes and turn back the time.

─ Is yond thy wish? (Is that your wish?)

I heard a strange voice in my head, but I thought it was a hallucination I’m only hearing because it’s just before my death.

─ Is’t thy wish to wend back in time? (Is it your wish to go back in time?)

It’s neither an auditory hallucination nor an illusion.

I lifted my head and looked around, but couldn’t find the owner of the voice.

The executioner was annoyed by my sudden act, grabbed my neck roughly and put it back on the guillotine.

─ Thou art right about what thou art bethinking. I, the ramnant of the dragon, has’t waken to fulfil thy wish, and once thee maketh t, thee coulld nay longer undo thy wish so bethink deop. (You’re right about what’re you thinking. I, the ramnat of the dragon, have waken to fulfil your wish. And once you make it, you could no longer undo your wish so think wisely/deeply.)

“Yes. That is my wish, to go back in time.”

I answered the surreal question impulsively.

─ eallriht, with this, mine own vowe to hine hast been hath kept. (All right. With this, my promise to him is kept.)

[I did on impulse. I apology for any mistake I made writing the sentances, escpecially the phrasing of the last one just above, my brain gave up on it]

As soon as the guillotine blade fell, I lost consciousness

I opened my eyes to the warm breeze that surrounded me.

The strange and familiar scent of lavender and the cosy texture of the blanket. This is my room without a doubt.

As I peeked through the blankets, I saw my bare limbs, without any wounds.

This incredible phenomenon remained remarkably unchanged for a week.

Now, I’m finally resolved to admit that I was back in the past.

“Miss, are you going to be lying down again today? The doctor assured me there’s absolutely no cause for you to feel ill, but I have no idea what’s wrong with you all of a sudden. Could you please tell it to me at least?”

she is my personal maid, Anna, who just walked through the door.

she has been looking very worried for a while because of me, who had been laying in bed for a week, eating a small portion of the food.

I remembered my last image of her, her face full of tears.

Two days after Angela collapsed due to her own poisonous tea, the imperial knights under the Crown Prince’s orders forced their way into the Bellechateur House and dragged me out of my room.

They showed me no proper courtesy as a lady, even before I was condemned at that time.

‘Don’t be rude to Lady Jayna!’

‘It is His Highness, the Crown Prince’s command. Move this instant or I shall slit your throat.’

Blocking the sword, Anna stood in front of me and faced the knights.

The mansion was in turmoil already. Then, in this mayhem, a knight charged towards me, his eyes burning with rage.

‘Just die! How dare you lay your hands against Miss Angela?’

He lunged at me, swinging his sword.

It all happened in an instant.

It was an unexpected turn of events. And unfortunately, he was the strongest of the dispatched knights. Therefore, no one could stop him.

I didn’t want to die. At that moment, I drew back, trying to protect myself.

She was stabbed instead of me and died on the spot.

The knight in question was known to be one of Angela’s fanatical supporters. That reason alone explained his behaviour.

Other knights stopped him too late, after all, nothing could reverse Anna’s death.

“…Anna, thank you.”

“Miss? Why are you saying this so suddenly? Is there something bugging you?”

I pulled Anna closer to me and hugged her. Anna didn’t recoil from me as I silently kept clinging to her body.

When I first met Anna on a deserted forest road on the outskirts of the capital, I was ten years old and Anna was twelve.

Anna had been born in the slums and raised as an assassin. I brought her, who was heavily injured from a failed mission, back.

If I had done everything for Angela, Anna would have done anything for me.

I wanted to thank her one day. It wasn’t until I saw Anna’s head drop dead that I knew it was too late.

“Has anyone been bothering you? No, there’s no way anyone would unless they were insane.”

“It’s not like that. And I’ll get back on my schedule from today, so I’ll be back after doing a small thing!”

I left the room after that and bolted out.

Behind me, Anna shouted at me to at least change from my nightgown, but I kept running as if not to hear her.

It was the first time I had run around the mansion since I had taken the etiquette class. The employees of the mansion were stunned when they saw me pass but I didn’t stop.

I soon reached my destination. A secret storage room in the basement of the Bellechateur mansion.

There was a magic cast here so that only the direct descendants from the Bellechateur lineage are allowed to go in and out.

When I was little, I used to hide in this secret room often while playing hide-and-seek.

Only me and my father can access this place. It wasn’t until my father left for the place that the hide-and-seek game ended, and I was severely reprimanded by the adults.

I stepped inside carefully, remembering the past.

The Marquis’ most valuable treasure is kept

The glass box, located in the centre of the treasure room, houses the Marquis’ most important possession. It was enchanted with dual-spaced magic that even I dare not touch it.

“Furthermore.”

As expected.

I could see a necklace inside the glass box. The necklace I had received from my father when I was locked up in the underground prison of the imperial palace.

Originally, this necklace was supposed to have a golden gemstone, but now the precious stone has lost its glow and is cracked in half.

There is an ancient story that exists in our family, about a legend that comes from our ancestors.

Long ago, when the territory of Bellechateur was a kingdom.

The first king of the kingdom rescued a dragon in danger, who gave him a shred of his heart in gratitude.

– Calleth upon me at which hour thee ‘r thy descendants art in ado. I shall grant thee one wish.

The golden stone, also called the Dragon’s Heart, was passed down to Bellechateur descendants for a long period of time.

No one in the family believed this tale to be true anymore.

Many of the emerging nobles hired writers to create ‘real’ stories about their families. So I came to believe that the same was true for the story of Bellechateur’s historic king.

A dragon, that makes sense at this point.

The necklace was just a symbol of the family passed down to the household head.

But did it really happen?

I was lost in thought when I saw the grey stone cracked in two.

I certainly heard someone’s voice and my wish came true, and the proof was that I, who had been beheaded on the guillotine, was still alive and roaming around the mansion.

Humans can do no such thing as rewinding back time. If I had to choose, ‘The Dragon, who was helped by Bellechateur, honoured his promise’ is more realistic.

“Thank you for sending me back in time.”

I bowed my head down to the necklace. If anyone saw me, they would laugh at what I was doing, but I was serious.

***

“Honestly, I’m so glad you’re feeling better now but where did you head to while still wearing a nightgown? I have been looking for you for a long time in fear that you might faint!”

When I returned to my room, Anna was waiting for me with a terrifying aura.

Knowing my wrongdoings, I stood in front of the mirror, avoiding her gaze.

Blue eyes met their match in the jewel-adorned mirror.

It was a face I had always seen before, but it felt unfamiliar.

The white skin glowed, and the long black hair shone.

“Anna, how old am I this year?”

“You are 18 years old. I don’t think you will explain to me why you asked that so I won’t interrogate you anymore.”

If I was eighteen, that would be the age I first met Angela.

Then, is she currently in the mansion?

A part of me sank when I thought about Angela.

My life had fallen into hell and after the Marquis of Bellechateur was destroyed, my life had never been the same.

I remembered my days in the dungeon.

If I face her, could I retain a calm facade?

To be honest, I don’t really feel confident. I need some time to sort my mind out.

“Ah! Come to think of it, a letter from His Excellency the Lord has arrived. Would you like me to bring it to you now?”

When I nodded and Anna stopped tidying up the laundry and brought a letter. On it was familiar handwriting.

There are many things I would like to express to my father.

At the age of 10, I lost my mother, and my father was always cold.

As my father and I were not good at expressing our emotions, our relationship wasn’t very good.

Was it always like that? Every time I had a conflict with Angela, I would see my father holding her hand so I thought that he didn’t love me.

I was a fool. if I had ever thought about it from my father’s point of view, I wouldn’t have such misunderstood.

I hadn’t realised that until it was too late.

So when Angela’s case of poisoning occurred, I thought he would be standing on her side who entered a coma.

‘My daughter is not the kind of person who would do such a thing! It’s a trap someone has set up to frame Jayna!’

However, after Angela woke up. the situation was so bad that it couldn’t be mended, and even after being wrongly accused of treason, my father tried every possible means to save me.

What’s more, just before he was executed, the shape of my father’s mouth I had seen from afar was saying this.

‘Jayna, I love you.’

And just before he was executed, my father’s mouth, which I had seen from afar, said:

I rushed to read the letter as I felt like crying at the thought of that moment.

My father, who was serving in the imperial army, often stayed away from the capital due to border inspections or military negotiations issues.

My father would write me a letter each time.

What?

In a moment of surprise, I forgot to breathe.

With this sentence alone, I could tell what was written on the back.

I’m not a genius. I don’t remember all the letters my father sent me.

However, this letter contained something more important to me than anything else, so I couldn’t forget it even if I tried to.

<...He wishes for me to take his daughter to our mansion in the capital. It seems that we will be arriving in five days.>

That’s what the letter says, but it won’t be five days. Father will arrive at the mansion exactly one week later.

Angela, with him.

I folded the letter and put it down on the dressing table without uttering a word.

I think I laughed without knowing it.

Did that existence that brought me back into the past know everything? I don’t know why I had been back to this particular point. Probably never will.

But one thing I am sure of is that there is no better time than this.

Angela had told me in that cold prison.

‘I wanted you to be unhappy.’

‘I wanted to ruin your whole life. I loathed you from the very beginning.’

This time I will be the one to destroy your life. Looking at myself in the mirror, I showed a terrifying expression I had never seen before.

Angela, I want you to be unhappy too.