Chapter 2

It was the day when the Vinoscht estate, which had been tightly closed since the disaster, was opened to the public.

Numerous nobles came from the empire, subordinate states and neighboring countries.

The usually dark mansion was filled with bright lights and loud laughter.

But Reina knew that the sparkling lights were not meant for her.

Instead she was spending time reading books on her bed.

She was forced to go out when her maid didn’t come, even though her meal time had passed.

‘I don’t want to, but I have no choice but to go directly to the kitchen.’

Because it had been a long time since the last banquet, she knew that the employees were busy, so she had endured her hunger until this late hour.

However, it seemed like it would be difficult to eat tomorrow as well.

She left her room and carefully walked down the hallway.

“That kid is the….”

“She looks very much like her mother.”

“Oh my God!”

“A black dress on this happy day….”

As she passed by, wearing a dusty black dress, she heard people whispering.

It was familiar.

However, the words that came out of other people’s mouths became a dagger in her heart.

Reina gave up on going to the dining room and headed back to the annex where her room was located.

Because she wanted to rest more than to eat.

She couldn’t go back without receiving people’s attention because the hallway to her room was crowded with guests.

She no longer wanted to be noticed.

Inevitably, she headed to the glass greenhouse behind the Duke’s residence, where she often walked.

“Fortunately, it’s quiet here.”

The greenhouse that her mother carefully tended to.

It was left unattended after losing its owner, but Reina would still stop by because few people would go there.

“Sigh.”

She could only relax when no light and sound reached her.

‘This place suits me.’

A forgotten place where dust and dirt piled up. This was the only place where she was comfortable being.

Reina, sitting in front of the tea table, looked up at the moon through the ceiling of the greenhouse as she always did.

‘It would be nice if the moon wasn’t so bright.’

But contrary to her wishes, it was a bright moon.

For some reason she felt lonely, so she sat on a chair and hugged her legs.

“…I would rather die.”

In that instant, her true feelings came out.

Immediately after that, a strange voice was heard in Reina’s ear.

“…I didn’t know there were other people here.”

His pale blonde hair shone brightly under the moonlight. His eyes were as red as a ruby.

‘I wonder if he heard what I said.’

As she crouched down at the intrusion of a stranger, he introduced himself.

“I am Edhar Hisvillian, the second son of the Duke of Hisvillian.”

Reina didn’t know what to say so she remained silent.

She didn’t know how many years it had been since she heard someone else’s voice talking to her.

Edhar looked at Reina’s pale face and black dress for a long time, and said in a dull voice.

“Anyone who has already died can’t come back, so it’s better to forget it even if it’s unfair.”

At first glance, he seemed to be worried.

As she carefully looked at the man in front of her,  he opened his mouth.

“I don’t know how to tell you this, but… the value of your life is yours, and you are the master of your own life.”

Reina’s heart pounded when she saw someone facing her without avoiding her after a long time.

She thought while listening to Edhar.

The master of my life.

‘My life belongs to my father. If father doesn’t forgive me…’

Edhar, without waiting for an answer, left the greenhouse with his parting words.

“I hope your value is not trivial enough to think that it fits with such a place.”

It was at that moment.

She recalled the words of her mother, which she had forgotten all this time.

‘My dear daughter, Reina. You are more precious than anyone else.’

‘Why did I forget this?‘

Her worth was more than this..

After being left alone, Reina thought of the words he had left behind over and over again.

She was not her father’s daughter, but she was still the daughter of the Duke of Vinoscht and the sister of the heir of Vinoscht.

However, she knew that such a status did not dictate the value of her life.

Reina wanted to find the value of her own life and her purpose.

Soon she found her light, the only glimmer in her dark life.

Reina wanted Edhar.

‘If he stays by my side, I think I can be complete.’

At some point, standing by his side became the purpose of her life.

She thought that if he were to be by her side, she would be recognized as well.

The opportunity came right away.

When the Duke of Hisvillian began fighting for succession, Reina asked her father to marry Edhar.

“You stupid thing! You don’t even know what you are talking about!”

She was beaten a couple of times and had a blue bruise on her cheek, but she was happy.

Her father told Edhar that he would support him on condition that he married his daughter Reina.

The fact that Edhar already had a fiancee was ignored.

Edhar, who was forced into a situation he couldn’t escape, accepted the conditions of the Duke Vinoscht.

For the first time Reina was grateful for being the daughter of the Duke of Vinoscht.

Although she met him again, he was different from the first time.

“It’s really like father like daughter.”

His cold words did not have the same respect as at their first meeting.

It was still nice. Because she could stand by his side.

On their first night, he didn’t care for Reina, but she was still satisfied.

Even if he looked down at her with contempt, she had a greater sense of satisfaction that she finally found someone to save her.

‘It’s alright, It’s enough just to be with him.’

I didn’t expect to receive a single warm gaze from the beginning.

After a year of fighting over the Duke’s seat, Edhar took the place of succession.

When he became the Duke, she naturally became the Duchess.

He was obligated to visit her once a month.

It was because his promise with the Duke of Vinoscht had a clause that Reina’s child had to be his successor.

It was an obligatory relationship, but Reina waited countlessly for that night every month.

Edhar, who looked down at her coldly, reminded her of her father, but she laughed hard as she remembered the day she met him at the glass greenhouse.

‘The value of your life is yours, and you are the master of your own life.’

‘Will you worry about me someday?’

‘Wouldn’t I be warmly scolded…’

Reina waited patiently for the day her little wish would be realized.

***

The year changed, and Reina had Edhar’s child.

When Reina became pregnant, Edhar stopped coming as if he had been waiting.

“Even though the madam is pregnant, the master did not look for her even once.”

“Did you not know?  In fact……..”

She heard from the employees that he was meeting a woman.

Reina led her heavy pregnant body and went to see the woman he was meeting with.

“Good to see you, Duchess.”

She was an elegant black haired woman.

She couldn’t be called a beautiful woman, but she was born loved and had been raised with care.

It was unbearably enviable, and she felt infinitely shabby, but Reina managed to speak to her.

“Please don’t meet Edhar anymore. He’s……”

“Duchess, do you think that position belongs to you?”

“What……….”

“It was me who was first engaged to Ed.  It’s was my engagement that you broke.”

“….”

“So it’s not me who stole Ed, it’s you.”

It was Edhar’s anger that welcomed Reina, who returned to her mansion without a proper rebuttal.

“Why did you visit her?  How dare you do that!”

It was the first time that his dull eyes, which always knew how to ignore and despise her, were filled with emotions.

Reina fell in shock after Edhar left, and she suffered from labor pain.

Feeling a distant spirit, Reina remembered the day her mother died.

***

It wasn’t until she had suffered for twelve hours of pain that her child came into the world.

It was born two months earlier than the expected date.

But even after her child was born, Edhar still didn’t visit her.

She thought she might go crazy.

The kid who looked exactly like Edhar was lovely, but she didn’t know how to give him love.

“Madam, would you like to hold the child once?”

“…I will hug him later.”

She wanted to cherish and hold him, but for some reason she couldn’t bear doing that to the child.

Reina, who reached out her hand to soothe her crying child, realized something.

‘Something inside me died.

Something very, very important…’

The child was neglected but Reina watched her child all day.

“You are my one and only child.”

The spark of life revealed by a small life was fascinatingly beautiful and she could not take her eyes off.

She couldn’t touch the child with my dirty hands, so she did it through the nanny to nurture, wash and feed the child.

Nevertheless, she loved the child.

Reina was grateful to Edhar for bringing this child to her.

‘Maybe I met Edhar to meet this child.’

She thought that she found her new purpose in life.

Then, by the time the child had grown, the mansion became noisy.

“Nice to see you again, Duchess. Have you been well in the meantime?”

“….”

Edhar invited a dark-haired woman into the house.