Two hours earlier, Grandfather Halba had declared that he was going to cheer her up and dragged Meli out into the palace gardens.
Not that she needed cheering up.
She was still immensely proud of having landed a solid blow against the Empress's faction.
Unfortunately, her opinion had never been part of the discussion.
So she ended up running through the gardens with him.
She really had no choice.
The moment Grandfather Halba set her down on the grass, he threw both arms wide and bellowed,
"Catch me if you can, my little puppyyyyy!"
When she stubbornly refused to run, he immediately turned to her nurse and maids with a worried expression.
"Is something wrong with the child? Is she seriously ill?"
He fussed over them so relentlessly that the poor women looked completely helpless.
At the ripe old age of three, Meli found herself facing the greatest dilemma of her life.
Should I run... or not?
In the end, she spent two straight hours running without rest.
The only reason it finally ended was because Count Maron appeared to drag Grandfather Halba away.
By then she was so exhausted she couldn't even lift a finger.
He carried her piggyback to his office, where she promptly fell asleep.
It was while she drifted in and out of consciousness that her aunt arrived.
"I heard Meli got into a fight with Mintia of House Chérie—and won?"
Grandfather Halba chuckled.
"The child was sulking because she'd been hurt, so I took her outside to play tag. She ran around quite energetically."
...
Grandfather Halba... isn't something wrong with that version of events?
Wasn't you the one pouting after I got hurt?
You dragged me outside claiming it was to cheer me up, but really you just wanted to watch me run around. Did you think I wouldn't notice?
If only she had the strength, she'd leap to her feet and expose the truth at the top of her lungs.
Instead, she was so tired she couldn't even move the corner of her mouth.
"Children are all like that," her aunt said with a smile.
No, Aunt! That's not it!
This was too unfair.
She couldn't possibly fall asleep like this.
She struggled desperately to stay awake, but exhaustion proved stronger.
While she fought against sleep, Grandfather Halba and her aunt continued talking.
"So you banned Mintia from entering the Imperial Palace?"
"Of course. To begin with, it was against protocol for a child who hadn't even made her debut in society to come and go from the palace whenever she pleased. Letting her in because she's related to the Empress was one thing, but only to a point. We overlooked it because the Empress kept summoning her, and that made the marquis forget his place. I'd been waiting for an excuse to forbid her entry."
So my little incident just happened to be the perfect opportunity you'd been waiting for?
Somehow...
That almost made her feel cheated.
As she squirmed in a stubborn attempt to remain awake, her aunt walked over and tucked the blanket snugly around her.
"Mmm..."
Even through her drowsiness, the warmth of those gentle hands felt wonderful.
She instinctively rubbed her cheek against the back of her aunt's hand.
Her aunt smiled and softly stroked her cheek in return.
Then she spoke.
"Father. I'd like to be direct. Please move up the date when Mintia's ban from entering the palace is lifted—to next year."
...What?
Even Grandfather Halba sounded puzzled.
"Why all of a sudden? What's your reason?"
"I reached an agreement with the Empress. If Mintia is allowed back into the palace next year, she'll hand Lavender Palace over to Meli."
She continued calmly.
"The Empress oversees the palace's internal affairs. Technically, assigning residences is also something that can't be done without her approval."
"That's true..."
In truth, ever since the Crown Prince and his wife had died, the Empress had been coveting Lavender Palace, intending to give it to Voltaire.
Voltaire himself had repeatedly begged his mother to let him move in as soon as possible.
However, the Empress wanted everything to proceed neatly and without controversy.
She had intended to wait until after Voltaire was officially invested as Crown Prince.
She never doubted that he would become Crown Prince.
Besides, in the fantasy world inside her own head, the position already belonged to him.
Once he became Crown Prince, no one would dare object to him receiving Lavender Palace as well.
It would have looked terrible, however, if she had immediately handed the palace to her own son the moment its previous owners disappeared.
So although she had driven Meli out of Lavender Palace early on, she had refrained from moving Voltaire into it right away.
Grandfather Halba frowned thoughtfully.
"But think about it. I have no intention of making Voltaire Crown Prince in the first place. If that's the case, is there any need to advance Mintia's return just to make the Empress hand Lavender Palace over to Meli? If Voltaire never becomes Crown Prince, he won't be able to claim Lavender Palace anyway."
"That doesn't mean she'll willingly give it to Meli," her aunt replied.
"She'd rather leave it empty forever. Once the investiture ceremony is over, she might hand it over to me through gritted teeth—but she'll never voluntarily give it to Meli. This is the cleanest solution."
Knowing Aunt... that's probably not the only reason.
The Empress had swallowed her pride and agreed to bargain with her stepdaughter.
But what would happen once she realized that the prize she'd fought so desperately for had never been within her reach to begin with?
When she realized her stepdaughter had toyed with her over something that could never have become hers...
That would certainly be quite the sight.
Perhaps that was exactly what her aunt wanted.
Grandfather Halba hummed thoughtfully before asking another question.
"Then which palace do you intend to move into?"
"Most likely Crystal Palace. Just as previous Crown Princes who suffered from pollen allergies chose to live there instead of Lavender Palace."
She paused briefly.
"The only question is whether the Empress will actually surrender Crystal Palace."
She sounded perfectly calm.
Yet something felt strangely off.
Am I hearing things because I'm half asleep...?
In her previous life...
She had never lived in Lavender Palace during childhood.
Not once.
She had lived in Seowol Palace—the very palace she occupied now—until she was eventually transferred to the Cold Palace.
Things... might change far more than I expected.
The thought filled her with quiet hope.
Smiling faintly, she slipped back into sleep.
Within the hazy depths of unconsciousness...
A voice she had nearly forgotten after beginning her second life echoed beside her ear.
"Please... never forgive... this humble servant..."
Something cold and razor-sharp pierced the back of her neck.
Her eyelids slowly drifted shut.
"I shall repay this disloyalty... with my life..."
An icy chill spread through her entire body.
She could feel herself collapsing into his arms as her consciousness slowly faded away.
Oddly enough, despite being inside the dream, she observed everything with perfect clarity.
As though she were merely a bystander watching someone else's death.
The silver dagger lodged in her neck gleamed vividly before her eyes.
It was a beautiful weapon.
Its elegant curves resembled a leaping dolphin, while a brilliant sapphire decorated one side of the pommel.
Warm blood trickled down her neck.
The metallic scent filled her nose.
Then—
Crack.
The blue gemstone at the end of the dagger split apart.
Cracks spread rapidly across its surface before it shattered into glittering dust.
"Ugh!"
At that instant, an overwhelming force yanked her somewhere else.
It felt as though someone had crumpled her entire body and forced it through a hole no larger than a ring.
As if her soul and body were being violently torn apart.
"AAAAAH!"
She screamed herself awake.
She was lying in her bedroom.
Panicking, she held both hands in front of her face.
Tiny little hands.
Soft, chubby fingers that obediently wiggled at her command.
Without question...
They belonged to her three-year-old self.
After such a nightmare, she could no longer tell what was reality, what was the past, and what was the future.
Cold sweat drenched not only her palms but her entire back.
Seeing her trembling, her nurse immediately scooped her into a warm embrace and gently patted her back.
"Oh, my poor child. You must have had a terrible dream."
"It's alright."
"Everything's alright."
The nurse's comforting hand was so large it nearly covered Meli's entire back.
Wrapped in that warmth...
She suddenly felt like crying.
I miss Ar.
What had become of him?
How had he lived after her death?
Had she been selfish...
leaving him behind first?
She desperately missed the man who had remained by her side until her very last breath.
Will I even see him in this life?
What if one tiny action she took to change the future caused them never to meet again?
Her encounter with Mintia had taught her something important.
The butterfly effect.
Even actions unrelated to him could eventually erase the chance for them to meet.
In her previous life, she had first encountered Ar by chance when she was ten years old.
But that meeting wasn't why he later became her knight.
She still didn't know how he had ultimately been assigned as her personal guard.
It had simply happened because the adults around them decided it so.
If only she could remember the exact day they first met...
Perhaps she could return to that place and recreate the coincidence.
But she couldn't.
All she remembered was that it had happened on some bright, sunny day...
when she'd skipped history class.
Nothing more.
If she truly intended to change the future...
Then they would never meet the same way they had before.
Could fate really bring us together again?
The thought shattered her composure.
Tears poured from her eyes.
"Hic..."
"My goodness..."
The nurse stroked her back soothingly.
"What a frightening dream you must have had to cry so sadly."
"It was only a dream..."
Only then did Meli make up her mind.
I'll find Ar.
Another task had been added to her growing list.
After dragging on for nearly half a month, the Grand Council finally reached its decision.
The long debate over the succession ended with Princess Eonel being named the Empire's Crown Princess.
The Imperial Palace bustled with excitement as preparations for her investiture ceremony got underway.
Yet amidst all that celebration...
There was one place where winter still raged.
The Empress's Palace.
Inside her elegantly furnished tea room, scented with delicate herbs, murderous intent radiated from the Empress.
If anyone so much as gave her the slightest excuse...
she looked ready to tear them apart on the spot.
Oddly enough, however, her expression remained perfectly serene.
Voltaire sat across from her, unable to do anything except nervously wring his hands.
I'd rather she just scold me already...
His mother's ambition weighed heavily upon him.
He had never wanted to become Emperor.
He only wished to spend his life comfortably as an Imperial Prince, enjoying wealth and leisure.
But one day...
Everything had changed.
His mother began forcing him to study the art of kingship.
Claiming that, as the Empire's Second Prince, he would one day assist his elder brother, she filled his days with lessons in politics and governance.
Every day, in this very tea room, she secretly made him study books on political theory and rulership.
Back then...
His elder brother, the Crown Prince, had still been alive.
Voltaire might not have been particularly clever, but when it came to his mother, his instincts were unusually sharp.
Perhaps it was because he was always tense in her presence.
Even as a child, he had understood what she truly intended.
If learning the art of rulership was simply preparation to support his brother...
Then why wasn't he studying directly under their father alongside the Crown Prince?
Why did his mother insist on teaching him in secret?
Wasn't it because...
she intended to remove his brother and place him on the throne instead?
He fully realized the truth three years later, when he turned thirteen.
Even then...
He was still far too young to oppose such an overbearing mother.
Eventually, a small hope began to bloom inside him.
If I simply become Emperor as Mother wishes... perhaps this suffocating life will finally end.
The moment he accepted her ambitions...
Everything became easier.
His mother finally smiled warmly at him.
"I'll remove every obstacle myself."
"You need only become Emperor."
"Make me the Dowager Empress of this Empire."
The instant he accepted her...
The invisible leash tightening around his chest loosened.
For the first time in years...
He could breathe.
After that, events unfolded with terrifying speed.
As though fate itself had already been written...
His older half-brother died in a carriage accident.
Even now, the truth behind it had never been uncovered.
Voltaire could only guess that his mother, her marquis family, and those loyal to them were responsible.
There was no evidence.
No witnesses.
Nothing.
They had gone that far...
just to create a vacancy for the position of Crown Prince.
His thoughts churned violently.
Biting his lip, Voltaire lowered his head.
Then, cautiously...
He stole a glance at Kiyen.
