RHRTD 00

Prologue

His wife was dead.

Zekard Eberhardt could not believe it.

When he first saw his wife’s corpse, he thought he must be trapped in a terrible nightmare.

Why?

Faced with the horrifying tragedy unfolding before his eyes, his heart shattered into pieces.

To put it mildly, Zekard’s marriage had never been a particularly happy one.

Nevertheless, Zekard loved Ines. Even though she did not love him, and even though she had tried to betray him several times, he had turned a blind eye to everything.

“I didn’t do it. Please believe me.”

Whenever he saw his wife pleading with tears glistening in her eyes, it felt as though his own heart were being torn apart.

No, perhaps he had needed to believe her.

If he truly acknowledged his wife’s crimes, Zekard would have no choice but to cast her aside.

That was something he could never allow.

“I will keep an eye on her myself. Do not bring up this matter again.”

His words to his retainers and subordinates had been a desperate struggle to hold on to his wife by any means necessary.

Little had he known that things would end this way.

Zekard knelt before his wife’s corpse. Then, carefully lifting her body, he cradled her in his arms.

His wife lay quietly with her eyes closed, as though she were asleep.

If not for her pallid complexion and the single drop of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, she looked so much like her usual self that he could almost believe she had simply fallen asleep.

“Ines…”

Zekard repeated his wife’s name, biting down hard on his lip.

The moment he finally acknowledged her death, the last remnants of humanity left in his heart crumbled away completely.

He could never accept this reality.

From that day onward, Zekard went completely mad.

Abandoning both his territory and his official duties, he ran rampant as a ruthless murderer.

He tore through the entire empire in search of the person who had killed his wife, determined to exact his revenge.

Everyone lamented the downfall of Zekard Eberhardt, the great hero who had once saved their nation.

“What on earth was so special about that woman?!”

Zekard’s wife, Ines Eberhardt, was infamous throughout the empire as a wicked wife.

There had even been rumors in the past that the Duke of Eberhardt was in love with the Saintess rather than his own wife.

People feared the man he had become, yet they could not understand why he had gone so mad over the death of a woman who was little more than a wicked wife.

Several years passed that way.

At long last, Zekard uncovered the secrets surrounding his wife’s death and mercilessly slaughtered those who had driven her to her demise.

Countless people died.

Even the innocent priests who tried to stop him and the heroes who sought to punish the wicked were killed.

Everyone shuddered at the sight of such cruel and horrific slaughter.

No one remembered Zekard Eberhardt as a hero anymore.

“There is no way to bring the dead back to life.”

The priest, whom Zekard had dragged there and forced to examine Ines’s corpse, spoke with trembling fear.

“The only thing my divine power can do is preserve her body in its current state, preventing it from deteriorating any further.”

According to the priest, death belonged entirely to the realm of the gods, and humans had no right to interfere with it.

No, not even the great gods themselves could guarantee that they were truly capable of bringing someone back to life.

“So please… let your wife go now.”

But Zekard could not accept that.

No. He had to bring Ines back to life.

I still have something to tell her…

Amid the torment that felt like hell itself, Zekard gazed at his wife’s pale face and made a vow.

If only a god knew the answer, then he would find that god and bring his wife back to life, no matter what it took.

Naturally, everyone who learned of his plan was horrified.

‘Zekard Eberhardt must have completely lost his mind.’

Even the subordinates who had remained loyal to him until then opposed his decision.

A god?

This was someone he could not even ask a favor of, let alone someone he could be certain of meeting in person.

Even if he were fortunate enough to stand before a god, there was no guarantee that the deity would grant his request.

Nevertheless, Zekard ultimately succeeded in meeting one.

He endured countless hardships.

Trying to meet a god as nothing more than a mortal was reckless in itself.

But Zekard was prepared to sacrifice everything he had.

And that was precisely what he did.

At long last, he stood before a god.

[What extraordinary determination you possess.]

Looking at Zekard, who was battered and bleeding from head to toe, the god expressed genuine admiration.

[Why have you gone to such lengths to find me?]

Zekard ground out his answer through clenched teeth.

“Please bring my wife back to life.”

In his arms lay Ines’s corpse. Despite the terrible ordeals and trials he had endured, not a single scratch marred her body.

[Indeed, yours is a love of extraordinary intensity.]

Zekard’s eyes blazed as he looked up at the god. Even with an absolute being standing before him, his gaze did not waver in the slightest.

Watching him, the god smiled.

[However, it is impossible. That power does not fall within my authority.]

At those words, Zekard unleashed such a murderous aura that he seemed ready to cut the god down on the spot.

But before he could move, the god’s voice rang out once more.

[There is another way.]

“…What is it?”

The god smiled benevolently and spoke.

[I shall turn back time.]

Zekard’s heart sank.

[To the moment before everything happened, when you will have the opportunity to correct your mistakes.]

As he understood the meaning of those words, Zekard was shaken to his core.

Before his wife died.

He could return to the time when Ines was still alive.

[Well? Will you do it?]

Zekard unconsciously bit down on his lip.

“…What must I do?”

Even reaching the god had cost him countless sacrifices.

He could not begin to imagine how much more he would have to give up to bring about the miracle of turning back time.

Yet the god merely smiled.

[You need do nothing. However, as payment, I shall take what you treasure most.]

The god pointed a long finger toward Ines, who lay in Zekard’s arms.

[When you return to the past, she will lose her love for you.]

Love.

Without realizing it, Zekard tightened his arms around Ines, driven by the fear that he might lose her forever.

She would no longer love me…

The mere thought of that possibility was enough to make his heart constrict painfully.

In truth, while Ines had been alive, Zekard had never known that she loved him.

It was only after her death, when he investigated the truth behind everything that had happened, that he finally discovered she had loved him all along.

Upon learning the truth, Zekard was consumed by bitter regret. He realized that his own foolishness and stupidity had caused her so much suffering.

That was why, if he ever had the chance to see Ines again, there was something he desperately wanted to tell her.

The truth was, he, too, had…

[Make your decision. What will you do?]

At the god’s majestic voice, Zekard raised his head.

He no longer hesitated.

“…I will do it. Please turn back time.”

As soon as the god heard his resolute answer, the smile on its face deepened.

[Very well. I shall grant you some time to say your final farewell.]

Zekard looked down at his wife, nestled in his arms.

Everything would be set right now.

Even if, when she opened her eyes again, she would no longer love him.

After gazing at Ines’s face for a long time, unable to tear his eyes away, Zekard lowered his head and reverently kissed her forehead.

“…Next time, I will be the one to approach you first.”

Soon, their bodies were enveloped in a sacred light.

Zekard felt his consciousness slowly fading away.

Memories of his wife flashed through his mind like scenes from a revolving lantern.

Their years together had been brief and fraught with hardship, but they had shared happy moments, too.

They had never openly confessed their feelings to each other, yet there had been times when they had expressed their love through their eyes and their actions.

But those moments would never happen again.

As the price of returning to the past, Ines would no longer love him.

‘…It’s all right. This time, I will set everything right.’

Feeling his consciousness slipping away, Zekard pulled his wife into one final, tight embrace.

And so, Zekard returned to the past.

Leaving everything behind.

The past that no one else would remember remained only in Zekard’s heart…