Chapter 2

Edzov whispered as he pressed his lips deeply against Meysarina’s.

“At this banquet, Amelia will finally accept my proposal. She dragged things on for so long—it was nerve-wracking watching her waste away. Even if she dies, she must marry me first.”

With a chilling gleam in his eyes, Edzov thought of Amelia.

“Count Chezaret hated his daughter so much, yet he left the entire fortune of the Count’s house to her… It must mean you were never truly acknowledged. No matter the hatred, blood still mattered more.”

At his words, Meysarina’s expression hardened.

“Amelia truly loves me. Giving me everything before she dies won’t be a misfortune for her.”

Meysarina held him more tightly, her voice low and resolute as she whispered into his ear.

“My sister will help me to the very end—to become the head of House Fiore. Once I rise to that position, won’t it aid His Grace the Grand Duke in ascending to the throne?”

Edzov gently caressed her hair, murmuring with a smile.

“She really intends to give everything, and die.”

“If we’re happy, she’ll be happy too. She’s always wished for our happiness.”

Their breath mingled again, heavy and fevered. Outside the door, Amelia could no longer bear to watch. Swallowing tears that clawed at her throat, she stood frozen, her heart breaking apart. Everyone she had ever loved had betrayed her. No—everything had been a lie from the very beginning, a cruel illusion. They had never truly loved her.

“The Count’s wealth… the Duke’s title… Is that all you ever wanted from me?”

She remembered the words Meysarina had often whispered with affection.

“I just want you to be happy, Sister.”

“Were you planning to be happy with him… in a world without me?”

And the words that had been written in Edzov’s proposal letter:

“Amelia, please marry me. Give me everything you have.”

“So that proposal… wasn’t about love?”

Their voices, tangled with passion, continued to tear her apart.

“Edzov… I truly loved you. I truly wished for your happiness…”

Even the first love she had ever known had been a lie.

“Meysarina… I truly believed you were my family!”

Even familial love had been nothing but a means to an end. The silver pistol in her trembling hand gleamed with miserable clarity.

“I didn’t even realize… and I was ready to give them everything I had. For their sake. Without hesitation. Wishing only for their happiness!”

“Ugh!!!”

A searing pain stabbed through her chest, and Amelia collapsed to the cold floor.

“Ha… No… I don’t want this…”

Her hand clutched at her heart, shaking violently. Her heart had always been fragile, but now, the pain felt different—deep, agonizing. Was her heart really going to stop now? At this moment, when everyone wished for her death?

“No… Not like this… I can’t accept this…”

Amelia struggled to move, but her limbs would not obey. Her weakening pulse thundered in her ears, drowning out all else. Still, Meysarina and Edzov’s voices pressed down on her like a cruel weight. Tears, thick as blood, fell from her eyes.

“It’s not fair… No… I don’t want to die like this… Please…”

Desperately, she clawed at the cold floor, her nails breaking as she whispered hoarsely,

“S-Stop… I don’t want to die like this… Why are you all so cruel? Why?!”

She shouted with all the strength she had left, but her body was already failing. Her consciousness faded like smoke. Was she really going to die like this? Discarded, forgotten, abandoned until the bitter end?

“So I truly never had a violet miracle in my life…”

As her final breath seemed to fade in miserable futility, a pair of arms reached out, lifting her up with urgency.

“…Who…?”

A familiar warmth enveloped her gently. A soft scent of violets lingered at the tip of her nose. She didn’t know who it was, but instinctively, Amelia clung to that presence—as if it were salvation itself.

“…Please… help me… Stay with me… Don’t let me die…”

In her fading consciousness, a familiar whisper sank into her heart.

“I will stay by your side… my precious violet.”

Darkness swallowed her. As she wandered through it, a sharp voice pierced her ears.

“A wretched girl who killed her own mother the moment she was born.”

It wasn’t a stranger—it was her own father. When Amelia was five, her mother, Lady Ailey, passed away, her health broken from childbirth. Count Chezaret placed all the blame on Amelia, loathing her with scorn.

“Don’t look at me with those corpse-like eyes. It disgusts me. Never appear before me again in this house.”

Abandoned by the Count, Amelia grew up in the vast estate clinging only to her nanny—her only mother, father, friend, and family. She tried everything to understand the Count. He loved her mother so deeply, it was natural for him to resent her. She believed that if she became a good daughter, he would accept her. But not once did he look at her with warmth.

When she was eight, the Count remarried. The woman brought her daughter—Meysarina. Amelia had been overjoyed, thinking she now had a new mother and sister. But to her stepmother, Amelia was not a daughter.

“If you’re going to die anyway, hurry up and die already!”

Amidst the darkness, Amelia recalled those words—shouted at her when she was still just a child. The reason? Meysarina. Though the Count despised Amelia, his obsession with noble bloodlines led him to bequeath all his wealth to her, his own flesh and blood. He didn’t even acknowledge Meysarina as his child. To her stepmother, Amelia was a thorn in her eye.

Still, she had her nanny, and Meysarina, who acted like a sister. Even if they hated her, she tried to understand them. She obeyed, did everything her stepmother wanted. But now she knew—no one had ever wanted her to live. Only now did she understand how pitiful her life had been—how empty and wretched.

“My life was already condemned… Was it too greedy to want just a little love? Was that a sin? What… What did I do so wrong?!”

All voices faded. For the first time, rage and desire stirred in her.

She wanted to live.

Yes, she wanted to live.

Her life was too pitiful, too unjust, to end like this.

“Not for anyone else, but for myself. I will love myself, at least. Yes, I will. From now on, I will take everything for myself—without holding back!”

At that moment, her lifeless heart began to beat again—strongly, furiously—with a heat she had never known.

And then, a voice.

[I will let your heart bloom for exactly one year.]

“One year…?”

[Exactly one year, starting now.]

In that moment, Amelia’s vision began to blur, and strength drained from her body.
Yet, she didn’t try to stay conscious. Instead, she let herself drift, listening to the steady rhythm of her own heartbeat—soft and lulling, like a lullaby—as her eyes slowly closed. Somewhere deep inside, she felt certain that when she awoke, everything would be different. As if she were a violet, newly blooming into the world.

“Unnie! Unnie!”

Amelia barely regained her senses at the sound of a desperate voice calling her name. Meysarina clutched her hand tightly, her face finally easing with relief.

“Unnie, are you awake? I was so scared when I heard you collapsed!”

Amelia swallowed a shaky breath and looked up at Meysarina, whose hands still held hers tightly. The sight of her silky, crimson hair shimmered before Amelia’s eyes—too vivid, too real. It wasn’t a dream. It was a living nightmare. Her beloved younger sister, the one she had trusted above all else. Just yesterday, she had still believed in her.

“Unnie, why aren’t you saying anything? Are you alright? Should I call a healer?”

At last, Amelia managed to part her lips.

“I’m fine. Don’t make a fuss.”

“But your face is so pale—”

“Yesterday’s journey was exhausting. My heart must have been overstrained.”

She added, her voice dry and faintly bitter,

“Or perhaps this weak heart just can’t take it anymore.”

Meysarina, oblivious to the meaning behind her words, flinched and then cried out in alarm.

“Don’t say that, Unnie! You still have so much left to do!”

So much left to do… like giving Edzov the Count’s fortune, and helping you become the head of House Fiore. Right. I can’t die yet—not if you’re to take everything from me.

Her heart thudded—cold, deliberate, heavy.

“What happened yesterday?”

“…What?”

“You left for the Ducal estate before me. I wish we’d traveled together. I had something I wanted to say.”

At her quiet question, Meysarina’s face softened with an expression of regret.

“There was something important I had to take care of.”

“It must’ve taken all night. I arrived late too. I thought I’d be able to see you right away.”

Meysarina faltered for a moment, then tears welled up in her eyes once more.

“I’m so sorry, Unnie. No matter how important it was, you should’ve come first. I know how fragile your health is. I should’ve paid more attention… This is all my fault. No—it is my fault!”

She hid the truth behind a mask of false remorse, smoothing everything over with insincere regret.

Before… I would’ve comforted her first. I would’ve blamed myself.

It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have said anything. My weak heart only made you worry…

I was always the one apologizing to her—as if it were my fault my heart was weak. As if I didn’t suffer too… as if I wasn’t in pain…

Amelia watched Meysarina’s crocodile tears with a frigid gaze. It was only then that Meysarina sensed something was different. Her eyes flickered toward Amelia cautiously as she quickly changed the subject.

“By the way… what was it you wanted to tell me, Unnie?”

“…His Grace, Grand Duke Bastien, has proposed to me.”

Meysarina stopped crying in an instant, as if the tears had never been there at all.

“That’s why I came to the banquet—because of the proposal.”

Then, without hesitation, she broke into a dazzling smile.

“Oh my goodness! That’s wonderful news, Unnie! Congratulations! If you marry His Grace, we’ll all truly be family. I have to get close to the Grand Duke now!”

“…”

“You want me to get along with him, right? Just like you wanted me and Mami to be close too, right?”

“Yes. I wanted us all… to live like a family.”

I was so foolish… so naïve. I really believed we could be close. I didn’t even realize what that would truly mean.

“You know how shy I am, how hard it is for me to meet new people… but I’ll try, for you, Unnie.”

“…”

“If you accept the proposal, the wedding will probably happen soon. I’m going to miss you so much once you leave the Count’s estate! Promise you’ll invite me often to Grand Duke Bastien’s residence, okay? You will, right?”

It was becoming harder and harder to hold it all in. A wave of nausea rose in her throat. Were they really asking me to create a place for them to enjoy their tryst in comfort? With my own hands?
While knowing nothing, she had smiled, laughed, and prayed endlessly for their happiness. And they—those who had deceived and betrayed her—lay entangled in her bed, eagerly awaiting her death.

Knock knock—
A knock echoed at the door, followed by a maid’s voice.

“Young Lady, His Grace, Grand Duke Bastien, has come to see you.”

Her heart dropped with a heavy thud.

“Oh my! The Grand Duke is here? Then I should get going. It’s better for the two of you to meet privately, don’t you think?”

Soon after, Edzov came into view. The man who had once held her heart—the same man who had stabbed that heart without hesitation. Meysarina approached him gracefully.

“I greet His Grace, Grand Duke Bastien.”

“It’s been a while, Lady Meysarina.”

“Hurry and see my sister. You don’t know how long she’s been waiting for you.”

“I’ve heard. Thank you for taking care of her in my absence.”

“It was nothing at all.”

With practiced ease, Edzov took her wrist and placed a gentle kiss on it. Her eyes quivered with hidden pleasure as his fingers subtly traced her hand before letting go. Before leaving, Meysarina whispered softly.

“My sister is still weak, Your Grace. Please, don’t overexert her.”

“Of course. I won’t stay long.”

Meysarina left, but the sound of her footsteps never truly faded from Amelia’s ears.

Are you waiting for him? You can’t even bear to be apart from him for the brief time he’s with me?

“Amelie, I’m sorry I came so late. I should’ve come straight to you. But I’m thankful you woke up safely.”

Amelia could no longer bear the farce of their deceitful play. Fine then. While you’re here… let me show you my performance.

“Your Grace.”

Her voice trembled, her eyes fixed on Edzov with a wavering gaze.

“Yes, Amelie, it’s me. How are you feeling? Are you in much pain—?”

“I saw you last night… with Meysarina.”

Edzov froze. Amelia whispered in a voice thick with sorrow.

“I was too confused… too frightened to ask Meysarina. I didn’t know what to do.”

Reaching out, she gripped Edzov’s wrist tightly, as if clinging to the last thread of sanity.

“Has your heart changed, Your Grace? Then why did you propose to me? Why do you want to marry me? Do you… do you even… H-hic—!”

Amelia trembled, her eyes spilling tears, wide and brimming with anguish. Edzov, taken aback, swallowed hard, his gaze locked with hers in uneasy silence.

“Amelie… If you saw everything, then no matter what I say, I know I can’t be forgiven. I’ve wounded your heart, I know that. But I… I was taken advantage of too.”

“Your Grace…?”

“Please, hear me out. That night, I wasn’t in my right mind. I think… Meysarina must have done something to me. Amelie, don’t trust her. She pretends to be innocent, but she’s trying to steal me from you. She’s plotting to tear us apart.”

“M-Meysarina… did that to me?”

“Yes. Believe me, Amelie. You know nothing of her true nature. Who even knows her origins? How could I choose her over you, the woman I love?”

“How… how could Meysarina do that to me… I can’t believe it…”

Edzov watched her closely, then carefully pulled her into his arms. Still sobbing, Amelia leaned into his embrace, and only then did she hear the soft, fading sound of footsteps moving away.

Meysarina… you have nothing. Nothing but that body. You don’t possess a single thing.

As always, Edzov felt a wave of relief as he held Amelia in his arms.

To think I almost got caught… But she’s so easy to pacify. Just a little affection, and she melts into my arms. She knows nothing. Loves only me. And if she just dies at the right time while loving me…

“How pathetic… that what you’re trying to steal from me is you.”

Edzov flinched at her cold whisper.

“Amelia…?”

Her eyes, no longer wet with tears, stared at him—dry, sharp, and glinting with icy contempt.

“Then take him, Meysarina. Take him. I’ll give him to you. So now… get out of my sight.”