ASPB 4

Chapter 4

The farther Otilie got from the glass greenhouse, the faster her footsteps became.

The calm expression she had worn when facing Arno had completely disappeared.

Her already pale face had grown even paler, stiffening like plaster.

The woman who usually walked as lightly as a feather was now practically running.

‘It’s different!! Things have definitely changed from before!’

At first, she had simply thought that her pride was hurt because he had been the one to ask for a breakup first.

She had assumed he was just displeased.

But after exchanging only a few words with him, Otilie could be certain.

He genuinely had no intention of breaking off their engagement.

‘Why? Why is he acting differently from my previous life?’

Another headache began spreading through Otilie’s mind.

She hurried all the way to the entrance of the Imperial Palace. She coldly brushed aside the knight who tried to escort her and climbed into the carriage as if fleeing.

Trying not to let the rising headache overwhelm her, Otilie opened her eyes wide and concentrated.

He did not want to break off the engagement.

Then… what had changed him?

No, to begin with, was there something that could change the mind of a person who should never have changed?

And he had not seemed particularly surprised when Otilie asked to break off their engagement.

‘No, he was surprised. But something about it was subtly different.’

His lover, who had been whispering words of love to him just a few days ago, had suddenly declared that she wanted to break off their engagement.

But what surprised him was not so much the words ‘I want to break off our engagement’ as the fact that ‘Otilie was the one saying them.’

It was almost as if he had seen a child who could only crawl suddenly stand up and start running.

Looking back, he had rejected her request to break off the engagement, but he had accepted the situation itself… strangely quickly, considering how surprised he had been.

The Arno she remembered from this period in her previous life would have reacted far more emotionally.

But he had been far too calm.

Otilie gazed out at the endless white winter landscape and continued thinking, calmly and carefully.

An impossible puzzle was quietly coming together.

And finally, when the carriage returned to the Falkenberg Duke’s residence, Otilie stopped thinking.

Arno von Eisenblut.

Was it possible that he had also returned in time?

‘The fact that I returned in time was already the beginning of an unbelievable story. There’s no reason that story had to begin with me alone.’

And if he really had returned in time as well…

‘This is a disaster!’

After all, Otilie had already acted differently from how she had in her previous life, meaning she might have given him a hint that she had regressed.

Otilie sank into the bathtub, submerged her face in the warm water, and let herself sink completely beneath the surface.

The warmth slowly relaxed her body, and even the tension in her heart began to melt away.

“Pwah—!”

Taking a deep breath, she emerged from the water and looked out the window.

The pure, white world surrounding the ducal residence, which she had to protect, was so bright that it dazzled her eyes.

Now that things had come to this, there was no turning back.

Whether he had returned in time or not—

Otilie had already revealed her hand.

And now, all that remained was the ‘variable’ that he could no longer predict Otilie’s actions.

But if he really had returned in time… why didn’t he want to break off their engagement in this life?

In her previous life, he had clearly wanted to end their engagement.

Wasn’t he the one who had laughed at her with a cold expression she had never seen before, trampled on her as she cried and begged him, and then abandoned her?

So why was he refusing to break off their engagement this time…?

Otilie wondered if the answer might lie in the time after her death.

Until the year she died, when she was twenty-five, he had firmly held on to the Emperor’s throne.

By then, he no longer needed the support of the Falkenberg family. Otilie was no longer a ‘necessary person’ to him.

Then, could something have happened after I died?

And if he really had regressed, the point in time he returned to might be different from mine.

I returned after dying at twenty-five.

If ‘death’ was the key to regression, then he must have returned only after dying as well.

Drip, drip—

Listening to the sound of water droplets falling from the bathroom ceiling, Otilie continued turning things over in her mind.

A faint frown of irritation appeared on her beautifully delicate face, as though it had been carefully embroidered.

After getting out of the bathtub, Otilie called for Lize.

As if she had been waiting, the door suddenly swung open.

It was Lize.

The same Lize from her memories, who had held her as she collapsed, coughing up blood, in her previous life and burst into tears, unable to contain her overwhelming sorrow.

But now, Lize wasn’t crying.

That fact brought Otilie relief.

“Did you call for me, my lady? You had a good meeting with His Highness the Crown Prince, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Lize.”

Otilie quietly closed her eyes.

She rested her head in Lize’s hands and sat silently for a long while.

Lize diligently moved her hands, carefully drying Otilie’s wet hair.

“But you came back really early today.”

Lize’s cheerful voice seemed to soothe Otilie’s troubled heart.

“Yes, Lize. I’m going to break off my engagement with the Crown Prince.”

“Pardon? …Whaaaat?!”

Lize’s shrill reaction was exactly what Otilie had expected.

Amused by her reaction, Otilie let out a small laugh.

“I just told him I wanted to break off our engagement. Of course, he refused.”

Holding a towel, Lize stared at Otilie with a shocked expression.

Her beautiful young lady had her eyes tightly closed and was calmly letting her dry her hair, looking as peaceful as ever.

“Why, my lady? Why are you suddenly talking about breaking off the engagement? I don’t understand… Just a few days ago, you two were in love with each other.”

‘That’s right. We were, Lize. For you, it was only a few days ago… but for me, it was years ago. But you’re right. Back then, I truly loved him. That’s a fact that hasn’t changed.’

Suppressing the feelings she couldn’t bring herself to express, Otilie quietly nodded.

“That’s how things turned out, Lize. Anyway… I’ve made up my mind to break off my engagement with him.”

Otilie slowly opened her eyes and looked at Lize’s reflection in the mirror.

A gentle smile slowly bloomed across her calm and peaceful expression.

“You’ll support me, won’t you, Lize?”

Lize knew that when her beautiful young lady said something like that, no one could stop her.

“Yes, my lady. Whatever you decide to do… I will always support and encourage you.”

Lize also knew that whenever her lady was being stubborn, there was always a good reason behind it.

She trusted Otilie.

And at this very moment, Lize’s answer was completely sincere, without the slightest bit of pretense.

Until the day the world came to an end, she would support and encourage her.

With that determination passing through her mind, Lize’s expression grew firm with resolve.

Otilie gazed at her lovely maid for a moment with warm eyes.

After finishing dinner, Otilie sent word to her family, asking them to gather in the study.

She should have told her family before asking to break off the engagement.

Perhaps the order of things had gotten a little mixed up—

But after going back in time itself, what did something like that matter?

One by one, the members of the Falkenberg ducal family gathered in the study.

Since Otilie rarely called the entire family together unless something important had happened, each of them looked at her with worried expressions.

Suddenly, Otilie remembered her previous life.

Her family had been even more heartbroken than she was when they saw how much she suffered after the Crown Prince unilaterally announced that he was breaking off their engagement.

Her father, Duke Albrecht von Falkenberg, and her older brother, the young Duke Kollat von Falkenberg, who was two years older than her, had actively protested against the Imperial Family. They had even nearly been put on trial for insulting the Imperial Family.

And what about when she was put on trial as a witch?

Her father and brother had formally declared war on the Altenbrück Ducal Family, and a civil war between the two duchies had nearly broken out.

It was fortunate that she had managed to stop them.

And when they found out about Tillo Haldin’s affair, they had caused a huge commotion, threatening to hunt him down and kill him.

Meanwhile, her mother, Duchess Violetta von Edelant Falkenberg, had been slowly wasting away alongside Otilie.

What happened to them… after I really died?

‘No.’

Otilie lightly shook her head twice, pushing away the thoughts that were beginning to surface, and opened her eyes with determination.

I’m back at the age of twenty now.

And none of those things have happened yet.

I can make things different this time.

“What’s wrong, Lily? You don’t look well.”

Duchess Violetta asked, looking at Otilie with a worried expression.

Seeing her mother’s beautiful, healthy appearance and hearing her gentle voice made Otilie’s heart ache.

However, she firmly suppressed her unnecessary emotions.

There was still so much she had to do.

“I… asked His Highness the Crown Prince to break off our engagement today.”

Otilie spoke calmly.

But the news was anything but calm.

Her family’s eyes widened in shock.