Chapter 6
After being confined to the northern tower, she had lived in constant darkness. The tower’s windows were boarded up, and the only light was a sliver of sunlight slipping through the cracks. In such an environment, a mirror was a luxury she neither could nor needed to use.
It was truly the first time in ages she faced her own reflection.
The familiar wheat-colored hair and green eyes.
Yet the figure in the mirror was not the gaunt twenty-four-year-old Ines Greenwood.
A woman still bearing traces of youth stared piercingly back at her.
Ines fumbled over her face, muttering “This can’t be” over and over.
Marie quickly seated the dazed Ines in a chair and began extracting the glass shards embedded in her sole.
“Good heavens. Miss, what have you done! Didn’t it hurt at all?”
Kind Marie’s eyes began to fill with tears. She teared up as if she herself were injured and cried out.
She pulled out the glass fragments with tweezers, but the deeply lodged ones refused to budge easily.
It must have been excruciatingly painful, enough to leave one speechless, yet Ines didn’t utter a single scream. She merely sat in the chair like someone confronting a ghost, unable to tear her eyes from the mirror, her face pale as she gazed at her own reflection.
‘I’ve returned.’
Ines realized.
This wasn’t some kind of hell.
She had defied the forward flow of time and returned five years into the past.
Only now could Ines understand Marie’s words.
Continental Year 560. A cold day transitioning from autumn to winter.
Count Greenwood had abruptly delivered a piece of news to Ines.
“Your engagement has been decided. The partner is Cedric Angel. It’s for the family, but it shouldn’t be bad for you either. Isn’t he the one you’ve had a crush on for so long?”
Cedric Angel, head of the Angel family.
He was ascending rapidly in noble society thanks to his sister who became the empress, but Count Greenwood was a man who never knew satisfaction with what he had. He desired greater power through an in-law alliance with Cedric Angel.
To further solidify the empress faction’s influence, they needed to draw in the neutral Duke Angel. The best way was through a marriage alliance.
The reason Count Greenwood knew this yet hadn’t acted easily was solely because of Ines. Ines Greenwood’s one-sided affection for Cedric Angel was already known to everyone in high society. And the fact that Duke Angel had shown no response to her feelings all this time was equally infamous.
However, after the empress bore a son, there was no more time for hesitation. To make the child the crown prince, Duke Angel’s support was essential.
Many in the empress faction reacted skeptically, wondering if Cedric Angel would agree to the match. Count Greenwood hadn’t held high expectations either.
Still, he couldn’t abandon pursuing Cedric Angel, so the count intended to secure him, even if it took considerable effort.
But the result was astonishing. A positive response came just days after the proposal.
Having received the desired answer, Count Greenwood’s feelings grew complicated. Unlike himself, for whom the gains from this marriage were clear, he couldn’t be sure what Duke Angel was thinking.
In any case, what was certain was that he too had something he wanted. Thus, the deal, where each side’s interests aligned, proceeded as smoothly as flowing water.
‘Today’ was the day after being informed of the engagement that had come to fruition.
“This won’t do, miss. I’ll speak to the count and call a doctor. Please wait a moment. And don’t move at all.”
The crude tweezers couldn’t handle all the glass shards. The wound was severe, but even more worrying was the miss’s blank stare fixed on the mirror, as if she couldn’t hear a word. Marie lifted her skirt hem and dashed down the hallway with all her might.
* * *
Upon hearing that Ines had injured her leg, Count Greenwood immediately summoned the family physician. Shocked by the sudden situation, the count’s expression was rigid. Standing by the arriving physician’s side, he watched Ines’s wound with a grave face.
The physician attached a magnifying glass to his monocle frame and carefully began removing the tiny shards Marie hadn’t been able to extract.
“For someone as cautious as you, miss, how did this happen… All the glass shards are out now. But you’ll need to stay in bed without moving for a while.”
The warning that the wound would reopen with every step was added.
“Is the injury serious?”
“It’s not critically serious. Still, rest is best for quick recovery.”
“We’re planning the engagement ceremony for next spring. Will there be no issue with that schedule? She can’t lie in bed for long if she’s to prepare for the engagement.”
The physician briefly glanced at Ines with pity, hearing the count’s words that seemed to prioritize engagement preparations over his daughter’s well-being.
“It’s not that bad. With about a week of proper rest, the wound should heal quickly.”
Only then did the count’s expression soften.
Afterward, the physician handed Marie ointments and medicines to aid wound recovery. He bowed to Count Greenwood and Ines before leaving the room.
As his startled heart calmed, dissatisfaction toward his daughter began to surge. Count Greenwood confirmed the physician was far enough away, then furrowed his brows and called his daughter’s name.
“Ines.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Be more mindful of your conduct from now on. Such carelessness could make the future Duchess of Angel a laughingstock for her frivolous demeanor.”
It was a starkly harsh thing to say to a daughter who had just finished treatment for glass shards in her foot. Yet Ines merely nodded quietly, showing no particular reaction.
Father had always been like this. His slightly younger appearance than in her memories and the sharp tone that had faded after her marriage confirmed this was reality.
Returning through time didn’t change who her father was. Like Marie, he too seemed to have no recollection of the previous life.
“You must be excited. Making mistakes you never do. Don’t even think of leaving the bed for a week. If it delays engagement preparations, I’ll make you walk with crutches, so healing quickly is in your best…”
“Father.”
Ines interrupted Count Greenwood.
Frowning at his daughter’s unfamiliar behavior, the count didn’t reprimand her. Taking the silence as permission, Ines spoke.
“About the engagement to Duke Angel”
“Problem?”
A deeper crease formed between Count Greenwood’s brows.
“Yes ”
Problem? It felt awkward for his usually obedient daughter, who always followed without question, to use the word ‘problem.’
“Problem? You’re talking nonsense.”
Normally, she would shrink her shoulders and glance nervously at the slightest hint of displeasure. But now, she met his gaze directly and continued.
“Father, I don’t want to marry him.”
The count’s reaction lagged for a moment at Ines’s words.
“What?”
He doubted his ears.
“What did you just say?”
“Miss!”
Startled Marie quickly tried to stop Ines, but she repeated her words without wavering.
“I said I don’t want to marry Duke Angel.”
“You must be mad.”
Though demeaning, few words could capture the count’s inner thoughts in that moment.
Marie expected the count to explode in anger.
But his voice carried more surprise than rage. It was because his always meek and quiet daughter, who had never defied him once, showed such an unexpected side.
Count Greenwood had never even considered that Ines could rebel against him—a natural possibility.
Meeting her father’s reaction, Ines kept her eyes wide open and replied clearly, enunciating each word.
“I’m not mad. But if you don’t cancel the engagement, I’ll do something even worse. Unless you want the scandal of your only daughter going insane, please cancel the engagement.”
“You…!”
“Miss! Why are you doing this?”
Marie blocked the count as he flared up in anger, trying to stop her. But Ines repeated the same words like a broken doll.
“Please cancel the engagement. Father, I don’t want to marry him.”
To his defiant daughter, Count Greenwood snapped angrily.
“No matter what you say, you must become the lady of the ducal house. For our family!”
“There isn’t only one Angel dukedom.”
“…What?”
“Anyone but Duke Angel is fine. Whoever you tell me to marry, I’ll do so without complaint, as long as it’s not him.”
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