Chapter 1

I’m Looking for a New Husband

Her husband died.

Riat Pshikia was the youngest daughter of the insignificant Viscount Pshikia family. Her mother died of an epidemic three years after giving birth to her, and although she had two older brothers, Riat did not consider them family.

The Viscount believed that his sons would establish the family’s future, but unfortunately, they had no talent. The only thing that truly shone in the family was Riat’s beauty.

Foolishly believing that his sons were the hope of the family, the Viscount sold Riat to the Count of Vortus’s family so that he could send his sons to the capital.

In exchange for a very large dowry, Riat had to be sold to the count’s family, regardless of whether the count was twice her age or not.

‘I got stuck with a pervert.’

Riat had been beautiful since childhood, and as she grew older, many nobles began showing interest in her.

Even before she had undergone her coming-of-age ceremony, there were people who secretly sent money just because they wanted to meet Riat. As a result, she had encountered quite a wide variety of people.

So naturally, Riat assumed that Count Vortus was a pervert who was interested in young women.

But surprisingly, Count Vortus did not bother Riat much. Other than the day of their wedding, they rarely even saw each other, and whenever they happened to cross paths, the count would be the first to ignore her and walk past.

On the night of their wedding, the count had told her that he had married her only to make it easier to use the lands owned by the Pshikia family, and that she should not expect any affection from him as a husband.

It was, in fact, wonderful news for Riat.

She had occasionally seen the count walking around the mansion with another woman on his arm.

Actually, it wasn’t occasionally. It happened quite often.

She had even seen women coming out of his bedroom, but Riat did not care in the slightest. She did not care whether rumors spread through high society that she had been abandoned by her husband.

Riat simply enjoyed the modest freedom she had been given.

Now that she was married, at least other strange men no longer came after her, and she found some small comfort in that.

It was a miserable little happiness she had barely managed to find.

And then, just as a month had passed…

Her husband died.

“Capture the traitors!”

“Kill everyone in this mansion!”

Riat learned that Count Vortus had committed treason from the shouts of the Imperial knights who stormed into the mansion that night.

That was how little interest Riat had taken in the count’s affairs. And for precisely that reason, the situation felt terribly unfair.

‘What did I do?!’

She had been sold because her family had no money.

She had lived in this mansion as nothing more than a nominal countess, quietly keeping her presence to a minimum. Yet suddenly, because her husband’s family had committed treason, she was about to be executed as well under the principle of collective punishment.

There weren’t even any servants coming to report that the knights had invaded.

That was how little Riat had actually been part of the Count Vortus family!

Riat ran.

She ran while clutching her chemise dress, tripping several times along the way. Behind her, knights carrying torches were gradually drawing closer.

Riat crawled across the floor and cried.

Not because she was sad, but because she was angry and felt horribly wronged.

Then Riat arrived at an extremely shabby temple.

It was so old and poorly maintained that it was difficult to believe it was even a temple. She had merely entered the building to hide, and only realized what it was when she noticed that the objects inside were ritual implements.

Even those were completely rusted.

Because she had run so desperately, her ears were ringing. She could not even tell how far away the knights’ shouts outside the temple were.

Knowing that it was a foolish thing to do, Riat nevertheless prayed before the altar.

Without even thinking to wipe the blood pouring from her scraped knees, she cried and shouted in her disheveled state.

“What exactly did I do wrong?!”

She had no clear goal of wanting to live, but she did not want to die like this.

Riat begged the gods to help her. She called out every divine name she could remember.

But there was no response at all, as though no god was listening to prayers offered in this shabby temple.

Then again, Riat had never been particularly religious in the first place. There was no reason her prayer should reach a god.

“The countess is over there!”

“We have to take her head to the square!”

The knights’ horrific shouts struck painfully against her ears.

Riat collapsed over the altar and sobbed.

Not long afterward, she felt a chilling sensation around her neck.

And then, at that very moment—

[All right. I’ll grant your wish.]

Time seemed to slow down, and something rang through her mind like the sound of tinnitus.

It felt too distant to be a voice coming from nearby, and too unfamiliar to be a language she knew.

Riat could only focus on the sound filling her consciousness.

[Let us make a deal, with the remainder of your lifespan as the price.]

“What… exactly…?”

[You were originally destined to live a long life. Among all the humans in this empire, you were the one destined to live the longest. But now that you are going to die, I shall take half of the life you have remaining. In exchange, I will turn back your time. If you fail again, you will return once more, and I will take another half.]

Turn back her time?

What did that mean?

What would she return to, and what would the being take?

Riat could not understand at all.

But before she could even properly put her thoughts together, her throat was cut and she died.

It was a horrific death, yet strangely, she felt no pain.

As though her senses had gone numb, her consciousness simply snapped off without any sensation of agony.

That was the first death Riat experienced.

Riat regressed.

It took her quite a while to accept the concept of regression.

But after experiencing the exact same events from a month before her death for about a week, Riat finally accepted that she had gone back in time.

She had no memory of actually speaking with the god, but the information remained in her mind.

It was practically an unfair contract—the god had suddenly proposed a deal and only afterward explained the details—but Riat decided to use it as an opportunity.

Riat Pshikia had originally been destined to live another eighty years.

She had never particularly wanted to live that long anyway, so she was actually happy to accept a fate that had been reduced to forty years.

The day Riat returned to was precisely the day she married Count Vortus.

She did not know why that particular day had been chosen as the starting point, but she could understand it to some extent since it was the point at which she would become entangled in the rebellion.

Once Riat accepted her regression and understood her situation, another two weeks passed.

At this point, the choice Riat made was, naturally—

Run away.

The moment she reached her conclusion, she packed her belongings and fled.

Whether the Viscount Pshikia family survived or not was none of Riat’s concern.

Riat dreamed of the bright future that awaited her.

And that future closed exactly one week later.

Count Vortus caught her.

He was angry, saying that even if he did not treat her as his wife, what would happen to the family’s reputation if she ran away like this?

When Riat saw the count raise his hand, she cried.

Not because she was afraid of being struck, but because this miserable fate was simply too heartbreaking.

And so Riat became entangled in the crime of treason once again and met her second death.

Riat Pshikia regressed.

This time, she had twenty years of life remaining.

Thinking that it was just enough time to live comfortably, she ran away on the day of her wedding.

She had seen situations like this in novels several times—women fleeing in white wedding dresses—but it was not nearly as romantic as it sounded.

Moreover, this time, the Viscount Pshikia himself came after her and dragged her back.

Riat cried again.

She clung to her father, who was holding her down and demanding that she marry the count, and sobbed.

“This is all because of you, Father.”

You sold me to the Vortus family, and I became entangled in their treason. That’s why I ended up with this miserable fate.

Riat grabbed her father by the collar and cried.

In the end, she was sold to the count once again.

Riat cried throughout the entire wedding.

The people around her looked at her with considerable pity, but she was not grateful for their sympathy at all.

Riat was not normally the type to cry easily.

Ever since childhood, she had been forced to sell her appearance for the sake of her family, so she was exceptionally good at controlling her expressions.

And thanks to the family members who were nothing but burdens, she had developed an extremely cynical outlook, leaving most of her expressions dry and emotionless.

The only reason she cried was because she felt wronged and furious.

This miserable family! This miserable count! This miserable rebellion!

Once again, Riat met a miserable death.

The third death.

The third regression.

Riat had ten years of life remaining.

She was filled with rage.

She had reached the point where she could no longer see reason, blinded by anger not only toward her family but also toward Count Vortus.

It was only natural after experiencing death so many times.

So during this regression, Riat Pshikia killed Count Vortus.

She did it on their first wedding night.

That was her only opportunity, since she had never shared a room with him on any other occasion.

And the moment she saw the count after regressing, she could not contain her anger.

‘I’m finally free!’

…But this time, she was imprisoned by the Empire for daring to kill her husband as a woman.

Still, she was happy, thinking that she would be free after serving a few years of her sentence.

Then documents related to the rebellion were discovered inside the Count Vortus estate, and she was publicly executed in the square.

‘Ah.’

It was a death that was difficult to describe without swearing.

Riat died.

Regressed.

Died.

Regressed.

Died…

Eventually, she began to dig into the truth.

The reason she died was Count Vortus’s rebellion.

No matter how many times she ran away, she could not avoid marrying Count Vortus, nor could she prevent the rebellion from taking place.

So Riat Pshikia began searching for information about the rebellion.

She secretly summoned servants from the mansion and paid them for information, gradually getting closer to the truth.

She even discovered that Count Vortus had targeted the Pshikia territory because he intended to use it as a route for transporting supplies for the rebellion.

During one of these investigations, Count Vortus caught her and locked her inside the mansion.

He imprisoned her because she could not be allowed to leak the information outside.

And so she became entangled in the rebellion once again and died.

At that time, Riat actually wished she would die quickly.

When the knights were about to pass by her closed door, she shouted to let them know she was there.

After regressing once again, Riat did not give up.

She continued searching for information related to the rebellion.

How they planned to start the rebellion.

How many troops the count had gathered.

Which nobles intended to join him.

After uncovering all of that information…

After so many deaths that she had long since stopped counting them, Riat finally reached the means by which she could end her regression.

Riat Pshikia gathered every document related to the rebellion and happily summoned Count Vortus to her room.

Although she was nothing more than a nominal countess, fortunately, the count did not ignore her earnest request.

Riat drank wine with the count and engaged in meaningless small talk.

Throughout the conversation, Riat kept smiling so much that the count even asked if she was already drunk.

Riat replied that she probably was, but she continued smiling.

Before long, the drugged count’s body went limp.

And Riat happily approached him and cut his throat.

There was not even the slightest hesitation in her movements.

Rather than cutting him several times and leaving him in an ugly state, she thought that cutting cleanly through his neck in one stroke was an act of consideration.

She embraced his head after it fell to the floor and gently stroked the count’s hair as though she were handling something precious.

“You’re much better when you stay nice and quiet like this… Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me? Hmm?”

It was an incredibly grotesque scene, yet the smile never disappeared from Riat’s lips.

The rage, injustice, and emptiness she had experienced through countless deaths and regressions had gradually shattered her sound mind.

In other words—

“You look the best I’ve ever seen you. Let’s just stay like this.”

Riat Pshikia was slowly going insane.

“I present the head of this traitor, Your Majesty.”

Riat knelt before the Emperor of the Empire and made her report.

She explained in a deeply earnest voice that although she had married Count Vortus, she had discovered that he was plotting treason, and as a citizen of the Empire and Her Majesty’s loyal subject, she could not tolerate such actions, so she had killed him.

Some of the documents related to the rebellion had already been handed over to the Emperor’s aide.

Riat spoke with her forehead pressed against the floor.

Beside her was a box containing Count Vortus’s head.

The report was made in the presence of all the nobles.

A chilling silence filled the room.

Then, from behind the opaque curtain, the Emperor spoke quietly.

“…I commend you highly for your service.”

It was the freedom Riat had finally obtained after offering up her lifespan again and again.

At that point, she had only one year and three months of life remaining.

Riat Pshikia—

had killed her husband.