Chapter 003
I raised my hand and pressed it against my hot, flushed right cheek.
“Ugh.”
It hurt, as expected.
My head was starting to ache from the confusion.
Knock, knock.
“Miss…”
I heard May’s voice from outside, asking if she could come in.
“Come in.”
Once I gave my permission, May entered and cautiously began to speak.
“Um, what should we do about your appointment with His Highness tomorrow?”
“What?”
Her words jolted me awake, as if I had been splashed with cold water.
“Yes. You were supposed to go out to buy a dress today, since you said you had nothing to wear…”
Her words made me want to scream at that moment.
Memories of all the efforts I had made to look good for that guy flooded back to me.
“Miss…?”
May, noticing my sudden silence, called me out.
I lifted my head and, putting on a calm expression, said,
“Ah, right. I had an appointment tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me.”
“Okay. But are you really alright? You skipped dinner too…”
I could feel her worried gaze scanning my face.
May was undoubtedly one of those who had witnessed my earlier outburst in the hallway, and she must have found it strange that I suddenly broke down crying.
“It’s okay now. I guess I just had a nightmare.”
I reassured May with a vague excuse and sent her out of the room, saying I needed to rest.
Alone in the room.
“I can see that guy’s face again.”
I let out a breath I had been holding and muttered as I flopped onto the bed.
The image of him fleeing and leaving me behind vividly appeared before my eyes.
“How did I end up liking someone like that…”
I recalled the first meeting with him, which was now a distant memory.
When I was eleven, Delos had approached me warmly at a banquet hosted by the empress, and that was the beginning of our ill-fated connection.
‘Right. At that time, when I was struggling to socialize with others, Delos approached me first, and I was grateful for that.’
He even confessed to me first.
“We called ourselves lovers, but it was just in name.”
As time went on, he treated me worse than a servant.
His continuous disregard and mocking behavior became a daily occurrence, yet instead of breaking up with him, I was busy trying to please him.
People started referring to me as “Delos’s puppet.”
It wasn’t an inaccurate description. He had me completely under his control.
As time passed and I became empress, I could only watch Delos’s foolish antics from the sidelines, and eventually, a rebellion broke out.
My chest, where a sword had pierced me, instinctively ached as I remembered the night the rebellion broke out.
Along with the unfamiliar pain, a man’s face came to mind.
“Evan Ballestain…”
As I quietly whispered that name, it felt as if the throbbing in my chest had settled, almost like a lie.
“If I’m alive, then that person must be alive too, right?”
I remembered the last image I had of Duke.
If the rebellion had succeeded, he would have enjoyed more honor and power than anyone else beside the grand duke who became the emperor.
I wanted to ask him why he had abandoned all of that to come to me.
I turned over and looked up at the night sky again.
What was certain now was that I had been given another chance.
I closed my eyes tightly and silently wished.
I wanted to live my life again to the fullest, so please let it not be a dream.
***
Whether my desperate prayer from yesterday was heard, I awoke once more in my twenty-two-year-old body.
I climbed into a carriage and finally arrived at the meeting place.
“Miss. We’ve arrived.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
As I got out of the carriage, my heart began to race at the sight of the building before me.
I took a deep breath and pulled the door handle.
Ding─.
This café, aimed at the upper class, was one of Delos’s favorite places in recent years.
‘There he is.’
I spotted him immediately.
Thanks to his striking golden hair, he stood out even from a distance.
I slowly approached him and finally called his name.
“Delos.”
“What took you so long? Isn’t it basic courtesy to be on time for your appointment?”
That bastard—no, Delos frowned and expressed his annoyance as soon as he spotted me.
I took in his face, which seemed like a long time since I’d last seen him.
Yeah. He was always like this.
This was the man who would casually break our plans and then get offended if I even slightly scolded him, saying he was disappointed in me and threatening to break up with me.
A year later, this guy would take the throne as the next emperor, following the will of the current emperor.
There was much debate over why the Emperor chose him over the then-strong contender, the First Prince, but he ultimately ascended to the throne at the Emperor’s absolute will.
‘And within less than a year, he completely ruined the country.’
It hadn’t been long since the war ended, and yet he declared war on a neighboring kingdom again.
This led to his brother eventually starting a rebellion.
Lost in thought for a moment, I sat down across from him, who was openly displaying his displeasure.
“It’s possible to be a bit late when preparing. Anyone would think you spent the night here.”
“…What?”
He frowned as if he had heard something absurd.
“Anyway, I apologize for being late. I made you wait for five minutes.”
Delos stared at my face for a long time, then opened his mouth again.
“Aren’t you going to apologize?”
The apology he was referring to meant me desperately grabbing his hand, swearing that I wouldn’t do it again.
Yet he himself had never offered a single apology for breaking promises as casual as eating a meal.
‘In the past, I would have panicked and apologized immediately.’
Realizing that all my previous efforts were in vain, I found this entire situation utterly boring.
“I just apologized a moment ago. What else do you want?”
Responding in a refined tone, I could see Delos’s face hardening like stone.
Having watched him for a long time, I quickly realized his patience was wearing thin.
“It’s unfortunate. I don’t like women who don’t properly apologize after making mistakes.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly as he delivered the line I had anticipated without a single mistake.
The next words that would come were surely…
“Let’s end it here.”
Given that he had always used breakups as a weapon for the slightest dissatisfaction, his announcement didn’t surprise me.
In fact, it was quite welcome to me at the time.
“Do as you please.”
Not wanting to see his face any longer, I responded indifferently while gazing out the window.
I don’t know how long I had been staring out the window.
Creak.
The sound of a chair being roughly pushed back made me turn my head to face the front again.
“I didn’t know you wanted to break up with me so badly. Just so you know, it was you, Dahlia, who squandered the opportunity, so don’t come begging later.”
“Yeah. It can’t be helped.”
I stared at him with a blank expression, my emotions gone.
Usually, I would have been cautious and bowed my head first, but since I was being assertive, Delos seemed quite taken aback.
“…I hope you don’t regret what you said today.”
Delos smirked with a look of disdain, then completely disappeared outside the café.
By now, I was sure he believed that in just a few days, I would come to him begging.
“Oh my. Are they really breaking up?”
“Lady Feldro was coming on pretty strongly. I was surprised too.”
After Delos left, I quietly savored my tea, and I could distinctly hear whispers nearby about me.
Even if everyone pretended otherwise, they had always been quite interested in my relationship with Delos, so by tomorrow, the entire social circle would probably be buzzing with rumors.
‘Well, that’s better for me.’
Finishing my tea, I got up to head home. As I did, I felt the whispers around me abruptly stop, as if it were all a lie.
