Dorian Ashford was the Empress' only son. From the moment he was born, he was destined to be the Crown Prince. However, after he fell in love with my sister, Celeste Vale, he decided to throw his title away and run off with her to live a simple life together.

I could not stand watching him destroy his future, so I told the Empress everything.

Dorian was confined to the palace and could not make it to meet Celeste. Later, she ended up getting killed by bandits.

After Dorian took the throne, he did not hesitate to send me off to marry into an enemy nation as part of a political alliance. He said coldly, "Consider this repayment for your betrayal back then."

In the end, I was brutally assaulted and killed by bandits on the road to that forced marriage.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to before any of this happened.

In the Rosewood Garden at Winterpeak Abbey, a young man and woman played and chased, laughing as they went.

"That shameless tramp has no decency at all. Miss, you're supposed to be the future Crown Princess. Yet, she still throws herself at His Highness without any self-respect. A bastard daughter thinking she can compete with you for the Crown Prince? Yeah, right. Miss, why aren't you worried at all? What if His Highness actually falls for that tramp?"

I listened to my servant, Lily Woods, as she went on and on. I smiled at her but did not bother answering.

I had always been sensitive to cold, so I sat in the garden pavilion with a hand warmer, perched on a stone bench covered with thick cushions, watching the man and woman chasing each other in the distance.

The man doing the chasing was none other than the Crown Prince, Dorian Ashford, who had been favored and adored since birth. Everything had always gone smoothly for him, with everyone doting on him and worried about disappointing him in any way.

The woman being chased was my sister, Celeste Vale. She was born to a mistress. She was blessed with a face that could captivate any man and a heart full of ambition as she dreamed of rising above her station.

In my past life, I had been so foolish that I could not see that Dorian had already fallen for Celeste by that point. I had stubbornly inserted myself between them and joined their little game of tag.

When we both fell in the snow at the same time, Dorian immediately ran to Celeste's side, helped her up, and looked at her with obvious affection and concern. He saw blood on the snow and carefully checked her over for injuries.

Meanwhile, I became the third wheel nobody wanted around.

"Miss, your leg is bleeding!" Lily said urgently, her voice full of worry.

Even now, thinking back on it, I could still feel the stinging pain from where the tree branch had cut my calf.

Just then, Celeste walked over with a shy smile on her face and asked curiously, "Seraphina, why aren't you playing with us? Is it because you don't like me?"

"I get cold easily. You two go ahead and have fun," I replied, turning slightly to avoid her hand that was reaching toward me and brushing off some nonexistent dust from my hand warmer.

She asked again, "Don't you like His Highness, Seraphina?"

"Do I? When did I ever say I liked him?"

Celeste looked surprised. She could tell something about me had changed, but she could not quite put her finger on what was different.

In my past life, on the road to my political marriage, a group of bandits suddenly appeared and took turns violating me. I screamed for help until my voice gave out, but no one came to save me, and they did not stop until I was dead.

Right before I lost consciousness, I thought I saw Dorian standing there with an expression of wild, triumphant madness. It was as if he had just won a battle.

He walked over to me and lifted his foot, then stepped on my face like I was an insect he was crushing. His actions were brutal, but his tone was sickeningly gentle.

He said to me, "Consider this my way of repaying you for betraying me back then. Do you know how Celeste died? She was pregnant with my child, and she went through exactly what you just did. We couldn't even find her body afterward. You should thank me for showing you mercy. Do you know who sent these bandits after you? It was me."

At the end, he lifted his foot off my face. When he noticed the blood staining his shoe, he wiped the sole clean with the little fabric left on my body, as if in disgust.

My tears had long run dry. My face was swollen and covered in a mixture of blood and dirt.

All I wanted was to die, and he seemed to see right through me.

"You want to die? How could I possibly let you off that easily?"

At some point, Dorian had walked over. When he reached out to pat my head like he always used to, I instinctively flinched back in terror, avoiding his touch.

His hand froze mid-air, and he gave me a strange look before chuckling softly and lowering it.

I did not care how he felt about me pulling away from him. This time, I would not interfere in their relationship anymore.

...

It was the festival. My mom came to my room and looked completely shocked to find me still there.

"Seraphina, why didn't you go out and have fun today?"

She was right to be surprised. In my past life, I would have been running around after Dorian without a care in the world.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" I stood up and walked over, linking my arm through hers and resting my head on her shoulder.

My mom knew I liked Dorian, but she had advised me, saying, "His Highness may be an exceptional young man, but Seraphina, he doesn't have any feelings for you."

I replied, "Mom, I know. I won't have feelings for His Highness anymore."

My mom finally patted my head and said, "Seraphina, you've finally grown up."

On that same day in my past life, I had ignored my mom's attempts to stop me and gone out with Celeste and Dorian anyway. I had almost driven her mad with anger.

Back then, my mom had told me earnestly, "Seraphina, I don't need you to be rich or powerful. I just want you to find an honest man who'll treat you well. His Highness isn't right for you."

At the time, I had not listened to a word she had said because my mind was completely consumed by him. In the end, I regretted it with every fiber of my being.

The day the bandits assaulted me, I did not die. Instead, they dragged me back to their camp and kept me locked in a cage like an animal, stripped naked, letting them have their way with me day and night.

My hair was a tangled mess, my skin filthy and rough, and my throat could not make a sound anymore. My body was covered in disgusting fluids that would dry and then be replaced with fresh ones, reeking of something foul.

Sometimes I was conscious; sometimes I was passed out.

In my delirium, I heard them saying, "She had a miscarriage. Wonder whose kid it was?"

The listeners burst into laughter.

"Probably everyone's, since we all had a turn."

"I wonder what she did to offend the Emperor. Can't expect a good ending when you cross him."

...

After they finished their outing, Dorian walked Celeste back to the Vale Manor. He especially brought me a honey cake, believing it was my favorite, to thank me for covering for them.

The truth was, I hated honey cakes. It was sickeningly sweet, and it was actually Celeste's favorite.

I took the honey cake from his hand and thanked him politely. I did not cling to him or pepper him with questions like I used to.

"Seraphina, are you feeling unwell?" Dorian asked with concern.

"I'm fine. You two should head back now. It's getting late."

I could sense my own distance and coldness toward them, my whole attitude screaming for them to stay away. Yet, whenever I saw them, my body automatically went into defense mode, my fists clenching silently, my lips pressed tight.

Lily said, "Miss, are you afraid of His Highness?"

In this life, I was going to let them have each other and stop being an obstacle, just to prevent the tragedy from my past life from happening again. But every time I remembered it, I could not help the cold dread that seized my body, the trembling, the fear, the helplessness, the grief, the despair.

As I watched them walk away, Dorian suddenly stopped and brushed a flower petal from Celeste's hair, then they clasped hands with their fingers intertwined, looking every bit like lovers deeply in love.

Later, Empress Victoria Sinclair summoned me to the palace, just as I had expected.

Dorian and Celeste's outing had been discovered. Dorian was grounded and forbidden from seeing Celeste again.

Empress Victoria ordered me to talk some sense into Dorian, and I had no choice but to obey.

As soon as I got close to Dorian's quarters, I could hear him throwing a violent tantrum and the sound of things shattering.

The moment I opened the door, I heard him shout, "Get out! All of you get out!"

Right then, with a loud crash, a porcelain vase smashed into my forehead. Everything went black for a moment, and I had to grab onto the door to steady myself.

Dorian saw it was me and froze, looking somewhat concerned. However, his pride kept him from saying anything.

Then, he suddenly said, "Was it you? Did you tell Mother?"

I could feel blood trickling down from my forehead, so I wiped it away with my handkerchief. I looked at him, and he seemed like a completely different person from that night.

I wondered what on earth my past self had ever seen in him.

I pressed my hand against my forehead as I explained. "It wasn't me. Whether you believe me or not, I didn't say anything."

"It really...wasn't you?" Dorian asked skeptically.

"How's Celeste? Did they punish her?" His tone was urgent and filled with regret.

"She's fine. They just won't let her leave the house."

...

That day, Dorian kept me there talking nonstop while drinking heavily. He told me all about how he had fallen for Celeste and the fun times they had shared.

I sat there quietly listening to their story, feeling absolutely nothing. Dorian said he did not care whether she was a legitimate or illegitimate daughter. He only loved Celeste as a person, and he promised to love only her.

Sure, Dorian could claim not to care about her status, but the woman who would stand as his official wife had to be of proper birth.

As I was about to leave, he broke down in tears and begged me to make sure Celeste knew that he would come find her.

...

In my past life, before I died, Dorian came to see me. He even brought what he called good news.

In a voice as gentle as if he were speaking to a lover, he said the cruelest things.

"Do you want to know how your precious mother is doing now?"

My throat was too damaged to speak, so I could only make grunting sounds.

"She's been sold to a brothel, I believe. I wonder if she'll be as tough as you and survive as long."

I thrashed on the ground, but my tears had long since run dry.

"Don't rush. There's more, like your father, your brother, your sister-in-law, and your nephew."

He was a complete monster.

I coughed up blood, lashing out wildly, wanting to kill him.

"Your father and brother are at the palace now. They can only stay inside the palace walls. Do you know why? Because they're made palace servants!"

He laughed maniacally as he said, "Oh, and your sister-in-law, she's so young. The soldiers at the military camp took a liking to her. What do you think happened to her? Don't worry about your nephew. He's so little; what can he do? He's out on the streets begging now. So, how do you like my arrangements? Pretty fair, don't you think? Or should I make some adjustments?"

...

After that day, Dorian realized throwing tantrums was not going to solve anything. He moped around for a while, then he went back to his usual self and stopped mentioning Celeste.

Then, he followed Empress Victoria's arrangements and summoned me to the palace regularly to 'build a relationship' with him, at least on the surface. However, in reality, I was just passing words between the two of them.