Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Prologue:

Where did it all go wrong?

Reina Vinoscht faced the dark enmity of her husband, who was looking at her with those cold eyes of his.

In the eyes of her heartless husband, Reina felt the last bit of any expectations she had left, fade.

She glanced at the people standing behind her husband.

The light blonde-haired child, who so closely resembled her husband, was grasping onto the hem of the woman’s dress next to him with a pale complexion.

The woman reached out sadly and hugged the child by his shoulder.

Reina, watching this series of events with an unfocused gaze, found that the woman’s gaze was laced with contempt.

“Why?”

That’s what Reina really wanted to ask.

Why are you standing there, taking everything for granted?

What-how did everything go wrong, and now you’re taking away my baby…

This is the child I gave birth to myself, and yet you-

There were so many things she wanted to say, but Reina, having already lost the will to live, ended this life of hers without uttering a word.

I love you.

In the end, I couldn’t even tell that to my child.

The dry tear mark down her pale cheek was the last thing she felt.

Chapter 1: Reina Vinoscht

Reina Vinoscht was born the granddaughter of Duke Vinoscht, a nobleman of the Soriese Empire.

Everyone would say to her, “How wonderful must it be to live such a blessed life!”

They were right.

Her father was the only son of Duke Vinoscht, meaning that he was the prime successor who would take over the Vinoscht family, while her mother was the third daughter of Duke Rowal.

Born in the Empire as a noble second to only the Imperial family, Reina lived a happy childhood until she was six years old.

She had a loving father, and a kind and warm mother. Six year old Reina loved her parents.

But this happiness, as she soon found, was fragile like glass.

“Come here, Linst, come play with Sister.”

Reina loved her baby brother, Linst, who was born when she was five years old.

Although Linst couldn’t walk properly yet, he still followed his sister around.

Then, he said in a small voice, “Sister.”

“Sister, sister! What are you doing?”

“I’m threading some glass beads for father’s birthday gift.”

That day, Reina, Linst, and their mother were on their way to the Rowal Duchy to meet their grandfather.

While carefully threading the glass beads one by one onto a gold cord, the carriage shook and the beads tumbled to the ground.

“Oh…sister, your glass beads fell.”

Roll, roll…

Linst bent down to pick up the glass beads that’d fallen under his feet.

It was then.

At that very moment, the carriage wheel hit a large stone. A gust of ferocious wind blew.

And of all things, the carriage door hadn’t been properly locked.

“No, Linst!”

The luck was terribly bad that day.

The moment the carriage started again, everything tilted, and Linst, who’d bent down, rolled out.

Their mother, who was next to him, screamed and leapt to protect her son.

“Mother! Linst!”

Everything happened so quickly in a flash, but Reina watched it as if time had slowed down.

The sound of carriages halting with a screech.

The screams of people.

The earth stained a deep red with blood.

Linst lying unconscious on the bed.

Her mother’s body.

Everything was faint, dark, and distant.

******

And just like that, Reina lost her mother.

“Her neck broke as she fell off the wagon. They say she died instantly.”

“Oh, that’s terrible. At least she didn’t feel any pain…”

Fortunately, Linst was lucky enough to have survived, but was informed that he would have trouble using his left arm for the rest of his life.

As soon as Reina returned, she was summoned by her father.

“Oh…father.”

Her father who’d been ignoring Reina this whole time, suddenly shouted at her.

“It’s all because of you!”

“What?!”

“Everything! It’s all because of you! Linst almost lost his left arm and my wife-“

He was holding her shoulder tightly and shaking her. It was as if her father had become a completely different person.

There was no sign of his usual kindness.

As Reina looked away from from her father’s bloodshot, red eyes, she saw the cold blue veins on her hand.

“Because of me? Mother died because of me?”

Reina shook her father’s hand like a sheet of paper, trying to sort her thoughts.

But only her father’s sharp, accusatory voice rang in her head.

It drove her into an endless abyss.

***

After her mother’s death, Reina was treated as if she didn’t exist.

It was because her father didn’t want his daugther to stand out.

“Haa…I’m so sorry, they are still young and sometimes, they can be a little too much.”

TL/N: This is Reina’s father speaking, they=his kids, he’s talking about them

“You lost your wife and your heir was injured. I understand how you feel.”

Despite the rumors surrounding her, Reina mastered the art of silence in order to live.

She no longer ran around the Duchy, exploring, did not sing, and did not open her mouth.

She was still given warm soup and delicious steak, but she could enter  restaurants only after her father and Linst had eaten.

After a while, her room was moved to a separate building.

The maid brought Reina’s meal to her on a tray.

“Why did you bring my meal into my room?”

“The lord said that you no longer have to come down to the dining room.”

“But…”

And my Lord ordered you to do everything you can in your room, not just your meals.”

“……”

At first, Reina spent the days crying into her pillow, but eventually, everything faded away.

Her life before the accident was dismissed as just a dream that she’d enjoyed for granted. She was still the granddaughter of the Duke of Rowal and the granddaughter of the Duke of Vinoscht, but she no longer had a father.

As time went by, Reina’s father still treated her as a stranger.

After that day, Linst lived in and out of temples across the empire for treatment, so Reina couldn’t even see him.

She was well-aware of the gazes of pity and sympathy that followed her.

Reina’s grandfather, who would occasionally come down to visit, felt sorry for his granddaughter.

“Your situation has grown worse, Reina. I cannot even rest properly at night thinking about you. Why don’t you come with me and enroll at the academy?”

“It’s okay…I want to stay here…with my father.”

Nonetheless, she knew that her grandfather cared for her and was doing her a small favor by giving her some attention.

Not long after that, Reina’s grandfather passed away, and her father became the next Duke of Vinoscht.

A year went by, and then two. As the years passed, Reina became more and more broken.

As she grew older, she became increasingly beautiful, but the darkness,  the abyss within her still remained.

Whenever she tried to sleep, the memories of that day haunted her over and over again.

“No, Linst!”

“Mother! Linst!”

At that time, Reina relied heavily on medicine to fall asleep.

However, the sleep induced by drugs wasn’t deep enough.

“It’s because of you! It’s all because of you!!”

Her father’s shouts and curses as he shook her deeply distressed her. She would often wake up suddenly, covered in cold sweat.

As the days of sleepless nights went on, her face, which had been blooming, began to grow pale and thin.

She felt like she was going to die.

At the young age of sixteen.

***

Tired of the constant darkness that controlled her, she finally sought the courage and went to see her father, who’d just returned to the Duchy after a long time.

There was something she wanted to ask him.

“Father, this is Reina. I just wanted to say…”

But before she could say it, she had no choice but to turn around.

It was because of the inkwell that tore her forehead the instant she opened the door.

“How dare you!”

Reina felt the blood from her forehead trickling down to her lips.

How…when will I ever be forgiven…

She felt pathetic and foolish for thinking that there was even the slightest chance she could be forgiven.

I don’t deserve any forgiveness…

Pale moonlight shone on her as she spent her days in this endless darkness and solitude.

By pure coincidence, Reina met Edhart Heathville.

It was at a banquet to celebrate Linst’s formal status as a lord at the age of fifteen.