"Gasp! Haa..."
As her fading consciousness suddenly returned, Blair's eyes snapped open.
Her blurry vision gradually cleared, revealing an unfamiliar ceiling.
'No, that can't be. That pattern....'
Staring blankly at the ceiling pattern, Blair recalled that it was the ceiling of the Princess Palace where she had stayed before her marriage.
'Why am I in the Imperial Palace?'
Her last memory was of being attacked by an intruder at the Holstein villa, far from the Capital.
If she hadn't died, she should be recovering there, but for some reason, she was in the Imperial Palace.
She didn't know what had happened, but right now, only one thought filled Blair's mind.
'Asiel!'
Her baby must have woken up and immediately looked for Mommy.
Blair scrambled out of bed and hurried to the door.
At that moment, the door opened from outside.
"Oh, You're awake, Your Highness? I was just about to wake you."
It was Rina, Blair's personal maid.
Rina, who had served Blair in the Princess Palace since childhood, had earned her trust and followed her to the del Mark Duke family even after marriage.
To Blair, she was sometimes like a sister, sometimes like a friend—a trusted confidante.
"Rina, where's Asiel?"
"Asiel?"
"Yes, Asiel. Where's that child?"
"Who's that?"
Rina tilted her head, then let out a small exclamation as if realizing something belatedly.
"Oh, is that the name of the cat that's been prowling around the back garden lately?"
Already on edge, Blair furrowed her brow.
"Rina, I'm not in the mood for jokes right now. Asiel—where's my son?"
"Pardon? Your son?"
Rina blinked in confusion.
"How could Your Highness, who isn't even married yet, have a son?"
"...What?"
Only then did Blair realize Rina was calling her 'Your Highness.'
'No way....'
Blinking in confusion, Blair asked Rina,
"Rina, how old am I...?"
Rina found it odd that Blair had suddenly forgotten her own age, but it wasn't a difficult question, so she answered promptly.
"You turned twenty this year. You celebrated your coming-of-age two months ago."
Impossible.
Hearing her age, Blair had no choice but to accept that an absurd assumption had become reality.
'I've returned three years to the past.'
Before Asiel was born, before her marriage to Herdin.
* * *
With no time to collect herself, Blair attended the luncheon.
It was the weekly family meal with her brother, Emperor Ivan, and her mother, Katrina.
Though seven years had passed since the late Emperor—who had established this family tradition—died, the tradition continued as if upholding his will.
But Blair's mind was elsewhere entirely.
'I thought I died, but I've returned to the past... Am I dreaming this after death? Or is the future I believed in the dream?'
Chewing food whose taste she couldn't register, Blair reviewed her memories and reached a conclusion.
'No, that wasn't a dream.'
She couldn't explain it in words, but it hadn't been a mere dream.
'Asiel's voice calling me, the warmth of his embrace, his face... Everything was so vivid.'
And so this moment felt all the more empty.
'My baby....'
She had miraculously returned to the past, but this reality without Asiel was hell to Blair.
Her hope, her life—her everything—had vanished into the prank of time in an instant.
As Blair was lost in emptiness,
"Your Highness."
Rina, waiting behind her, called softly and touched her shoulder.
"...Ah."
Only then did Blair snap back to reality.
"His Majesty is calling you, Blair."
Katrina was looking at Blair with an irritated expression.
To her, her son who became Emperor was the pride and trophy she had devoted her life to obtaining.
Ignoring that trophy was tantamount to denying her entire life.
"You've been spacing out since earlier. Did something happen this morning?"
"I'm sorry. I had a restless night... What were you saying?"
"Nothing much. Just prepare properly for your marriage to the Duke of del Mark without any hitches."
Ivan casually mentioned the marriage as if it were no big deal—something he had never discussed with Blair beforehand.
Blair's eyes widened in shock.
"It's already settled. I dangled the right bait, so he won't refuse."
It was an engagement proceeded without a word to the person involved, Blair.
Judging Blair's surprised expression as reluctance toward the marriage, Ivan quickly added,
"I trust you won't say something childish like you hate political marriages."
"He's quite a good—no, the best—groom candidate. Women across the Empire who want to dance with the Duke of del Mark are a dime a dozen. His Majesty put a lot of thought into your match."
"Your marriage isn't just a union between man and woman. It's for improving relations between families, so as a princess of the nation, take responsibility..."
Ivan and Katrina preempted any opposition from Blair to the engagement.
Seeing their reactions, Blair finally recalled the past.
'I'm sorry, but I don't want this marriage.'
Before her regression, in the same situation, Blair had refused marriage to Herdin.
It was her first act of rebellion against Ivan and Katrina, who she had always obeyed meekly.
It wasn't because she disliked Herdin. Blair found him uncomfortable and frightening. Ever since the Empress's Palace fire ten years ago.
But....
"I'll do it."
This time, Blair responded differently from her previous life. Obeying Ivan's command, as she always had before regression.
"It's His Majesty's will, so I must follow."
However, her eyes were different from before.
This life, she had a reason to absolutely marry Herdin.
* * *
After the luncheon, Rina returned to the Princess Palace and subtly gauged Blair's mood.
'She seems different from usual today... Did something happen?'
But as her closest maid, Rina knew every detail of Blair's actions.
Until last night, nothing had been amiss.
She had simply slept quietly in her room and woken up—nothing could have happened in between.
If anything, the marriage to Herdin announced at luncheon might have been shocking.
Yet Blair seemed unfazed by that news.
'No, rather... she looks in a better mood than this morning.'
Rina tilted her head.
Though it was before she entered the palace, Rina knew the del Mark Duke family and the Imperial family were on bad terms.
And that the Empress's Palace fire had cemented that enmity.
'A marriage to an enemy family arranged overnight, yet she looks pleased.'
Blair's father, the late Emperor, had two women.
His official wife, Empress Esmeralda, and consort Katrina.
The Empress had no children for several years, so Katrina, the consort brought in for that reason, bore a son, Ivan.
Though Katrina, a gypsy with no power upon entering the palace, gained allies seeking her favor after birthing the prince.
Fierce power struggles ensued, creating political opposition centered on Esmeralda and Katrina.
Yet the Empress cherished Blair, the daughter of her political enemy, like her own.
At least on the surface. Until 'that incident.'
A fire broke out in the Empress's Palace, killing the Empress and severely injuring Blair, who was with her.
The shock caused Blair to lose her memories of that time.
The Emperor vowed to uncover the culprit who harmed his daughter and investigated, but all evidence pointed to Empress Esmeralda.
The del Mark Duke family—Esmeralda's birth family—denied it, but in the end, she was buried as a traitor.
Her only nephew was Herdin.
'Even Their Majesties are heartless. No matter that it's for mending relations....'
Blair, who hadn't wanted it—and was a direct victim of the incident—couldn't welcome a marriage to del Mark.
Worried, Rina was about to speak while taking her outer garment, but Blair spoke first.
"Rina."
"Yes, yes!"
"Send someone to the del Mark Duke family. Tell them I want to meet tomorrow. If he's busy, ask for a suitable date."
At Blair's command, surprised Rina's eyes widened.
"You want to meet the Duke of del Mark?"
"Why so surprised?"
It made sense—even at the harvest festival banquet a few months ago, Blair had avoided him.
'Well, Her Highness must have her reasons.'
Thinking that, Rina replied,
"Oh, it's nothing. I'll send someone right away."
After Rina left the room, Blair, alone, gazed out the window.
Soon, she saw a servant boarding a carriage and departing the Princess Palace.
Blair thought of the master of the duke's residence where the carriage was headed. And the lovely child who resembled him perfectly.
Recalling that face, Blair placed her hand on her belly, which had once held that child.
'For Asiel, I can do anything.'
Even if that 'anything' meant repeating the terribly lonely married life with him.
Then, what she needed to do now was clear.
'Marry Herdin safely once more.'
If it was the fated future and she had truly returned to the past, things would flow along the predetermined path regardless.
But Blair didn't want to leave even the slightest chance that he wouldn't become her husband.
'I will definitely meet my baby again.'
Her eyes, which had lost their light, began to sparkle once more.