“You need to die in Rachel’s place.”
It felt like a hammer had smashed into my skull.
I lifted dazed eyes to my husband.
“Die for her… what are you saying?”
“Rachel is carrying my child.”
His cold voice stabbed into my chest like a dagger.
My hands, stained with blood and bruises, trembled uncontrollably.
“That’s a lie… Why would Rachel be carrying your child?”
“I love Rachel. I’ve loved her for a long time.”
The word “love”—one he’d never once uttered to me in all our years of marriage—he now spoke so carelessly.
And not with my name, but with that of my only sister.
My heart throbbed as if it were being torn to shreds.
“That’s absurd. How could you do this to me?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect my feelings to grow this strong. Rachel is more precious to me than life itself, but she’s your family too, isn’t she? So it’s only right that you bear this burden alone.”
“I ended up in this prison for Rachel in the first place! You told me to hold on for just a month while you found a way out, and now you say this?”
Tears I’d been holding back streamed down my cheeks.
Alex’s expression remained dry as he spoke.
“Duke Pierre agreed to it as well.”
“My brother… agreed?”
“The duke offered his herbal compendium to the imperial court. In recognition of his efforts, His Majesty decided to let this matter slide. But on the condition that someone takes the fall to keep the rumors at bay.”
My grip on the cell bars faltered, and I collapsed to the floor.
[“Useless thing! While you’re out there picking weeds, our family’s falling apart! If you don’t get rid of that trash, I’ll burn it all!”]
I remembered the day my brother, who always treated me like a burden, had finally shown faith in me.
It was the day the ointment I’d crafted, based on my herbal compendium, sold like wildfire.
I’d toiled until my hands were calloused, surviving on scraps of sleep, dedicating ten years to completing that compendium.
With the formulas I mastered, Pierre launched a business, and thanks to that, our crumbling family was revived.
And yet, they wanted me to die in place of Rachel, who’d done wrong…
My brother, my only confidante—my sister—and even my husband, who’d never shown me a shred of affection.
They had all abandoned me.
Overwhelmed by regret and despair, I sprawled on the floor, clenching my fists.
Why should I have to die for them? I was nothing to them.
Hot tears pooled at my chin and dripped onto the ground.
Oblivious to my anguish, Alex’s cold voice continued.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have a choice. Rachel is frail, and now she’s pregnant—she needs our protection. So you…”
“What about me?”
“…”
“Am I supposed to just get hurt? Am I supposed to just die?”
The man I’d loved so dearly—his beautiful lips were now spitting out cruel words that pierced my heart like needles.
“It was Rachel who poisoned the First Prince’s cup. So why should I die? I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Nothing wrong?”
Alex lifted his face, which he’d kept lowered until now.
In the flickering torchlight, one corner of his mouth curled faintly upward.
“You made that poison yourself.”
“…The Beatrice medicine? I told you it was for hunting deer… Don’t tell me it was used on the First Prince?”
I stared at Alex, eyes wide.
He didn’t deny it or look away.
To think that the medicine I’d painstakingly developed, wearing down my fingertips, had been used to harm someone without my knowledge.
I glared at Alex with contempt.
He dragged a hand across his face, irritation plain.
“I’ve always thought this, but you’re so hypocritical. Pretending to be innocent, acting like you don’t know, while behind my back you tormented Rachel.”
“She’s my only sister. Why would I do such a thing?”
“Rachel tells a different story. Every time we met, she had fresh scratches and bruises. When I asked, she said you were the one who did it.”
At those words, a conversation with Rachel flashed through my mind.
[“Rachel, what happened to your face? Are you hurt?”]
[“The new maid scratched my face while brushing my hair.”]
[“That could leave a scar. Use the ointment I made—it’ll help. And you should reprimand that maid to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”]
[“It’s fine, sister. People make mistakes.”]
Looking back, Rachel always had injuries.
One day on her arm, the next on her face.
To think… she’d been hurting herself to drive a wedge between Alex and me.
Rage surged, and I clenched my fists tighter.
“Even through brutal torture, I held on desperately to protect you and Rachel. And yet you betrayed me, and now you’re telling me to die in her place? I’ll never forgive you. No matter what it takes, I’ll get out of here. I won’t die like some fool!”
“If you weren’t barren, things wouldn’t have come to this! Would it satisfy you if Rachel, who’s actually carrying my child, died instead?”
His words shattered something deep inside me.
Two years into our marriage, we still had no child.
That fact alone had branded me a failure, unfit as a woman.
Knowing this, he’d never once taken my side—a heartless husband through and through.
Alex reached through the bars and gripped my chin roughly.
His face twisted slowly.
“Sweet Rachel—she swore her sister would lay down her life for me. But… it seems she was wrong. You’re selfish, from start to finish, aren’t you?”
Tears streaming down my face fell onto his hand.
He held my face tightly, forcing my lips apart.
Then he pulled something from his pocket and shoved it between my lips.
The sharp, bitter taste of poison spread across my tongue.
“Mmph…!”
I thrashed, trying not to swallow.
Alex’s expression grew fiercer.
His large hand clamped over my mouth and tilted my head back.
The pill rolled helplessly down my throat.
The sharp, stinging scent—it was unmistakably poison made from Beatrice fruit.
“Guh, cough!”
I writhed, desperately trying to spit it out.
But Alex’s grip tightened around my neck.
His lips parted, and a chillingly calm voice emerged.
“If you’re gone, everything will be easier. So just endure it for a moment. The pain will fade soon.”
Just endure it… for a moment?
I glared at Alex, the man I’d once loved, with eyes wide open.
At that moment, through my blurring vision, someone else stepped into the cell.
Golden hair gleamed like molten sunlight, even in the pitch-dark gloom.
Emerald eyes, brimming with tears, looked innocent as ever.
“Sister… I’m so sorry. Because of me, you’re…”
Rachel covered her face with both hands, her shoulders heaving with sobs.
Alex wrapped his arms tenderly around her waist, pulling her close.
“Don’t be too sad. She’s not the kind sister you thought she was. Clinging to her own life until the end—what an ugly sight.”
He pressed a gentle kiss to Rachel’s forehead, resting a hand on her lower belly.
“My love, don’t worry anymore. I’ll protect our child with my life.”
At his words, Rachel lifted her tear-streaked face.
For a fleeting moment, our eyes met, and the corner of her red lips curved into a faint, slanted smile.
Not only did you frame me and throw me into this prison, but you’re carrying my husband’s child.
And now… are you laughing?
I wanted to slap Rachel across the face, but my body wouldn’t obey.
I glared at her, eyes burning, until a surge of blood rose in my throat, and I coughed it out.
Slowly, my body went numb, and the pain began to fade.
In that moment, I knew.
Soon, my life would truly end.
If only, just once more, I could have another chance…
Tears filled with resentment welled up, clouding my vision.
My breath grew labored, and my sight darkened.
And so, my first life came to a grim end.
* * *
But the ways of the world are unfathomable.
I was certain I’d died at my husband’s hands, yet when I opened my eyes, I was back in the past.
“Sister? Are you awake?”
“…”
“My lord, something’s wrong with her.”
The two people I’d seen in my final moments stood before me.
Had the gods heard my prayers? Were they giving me a chance to take revenge on these two?
I threw off the blankets and leapt to my feet.
The reflection in the mirror looked different.
Silver hair shimmered, catching the chandelier’s light, cheeks and lips vibrant with life.
Sky-blue eyes sparkled like a summer sea.
I pinched my cheek hard, praying this wasn’t a dream.
“Ow! That actually hurt! This can’t be a dream. Haha, hahaha! It’s not… a dream!”
Muttering to myself and laughing like a madwoman, I saw Rachel’s eyebrows droop in concern.
“Oh no, she hit her head when she fell—she must’ve lost her mind. What do we do… It’s all my fault.”
Hit my head when I fell? Because of you?
Then… today must be that day.
The day I fell from the second-floor terrace trying to save Rachel.
I gave a sly smile and spun around.
I caught Alex subtly pulling his hand away from Rachel’s waist.
So this is when it started? The two of you were already entangled.
With a smirk, I strode toward them.
Raising my hand high above my head, I brought it down with all my strength.
A sharp, resounding slap echoed through the room.
