2 Chapter 2

"Let's go. Dispose of her wet clothes," Ober ordered Giyom.

While looking at the quiet lake for a moment, Ober turned back.

Giyom, who looked like a drowning mouse, came out of the water and followed him.

Marianne lay unconscious at the bottom of the lake they deserted, drooping like a wet piece of paper.

She felt a deep drowsiness. The energy of near death was hovering around her like a hunter. She had no power to refuse it. Just before her heart stopped and the messenger of hell rushed in, what she thought for the last time was a simple regret.

'If I had known Ober's malice in advance, I would not have died so miserably.'

At that moment, the water deep in the lake where she sank sparkled brightly as if stars had exploded.

It was dark everywhere.

Heavy and moist pressure surrounded her body from head to toe. She was stuck in a space where she couldn't move even her fingers freely, let alone her arms and legs. It was warm, distant, and calm.

'Ah, it's water.'

Marianne suddenly realized that she was underwater. Then she opened her eyes before she knew. Her dark chocolate-colored hair floated in front of her eyes, tangled up like a water plant.

'It's annoying. I want to clean it up.'

When she thought so, the sense of her fingertips came back this time.

As she reached out and pushed her hair to the side, a yellowish mass of lights stabbed her eyes over the wavy surface.

'It's so shiny. Who has turned on so many lights?'

The moment she stretched her arms further up to cover her eyes while frowning, something hot suddenly pulled her away roughly.

"My lady! What are you doing?!"

The girl's voice bounced everywhere, along with transparent spray. It was a voice that she had heard a lot somewhere.

Marane, sitting up with the help of somebody's pull, breathed out, which she had been holding back under the water. Oxygen passed through her nose and down the airway to inflate her lung. The sense of breathing that she didn't feel normally was so clear that she breathed in and out again and again. Though she just breathed, she felt a great pleasure.

"Oh dear, you've learned a strange play from Miss Evelyn. … . I asked you not to play that weird game! Did you even bet who first jumped into the bath water to become a water demon first? "

The girl nagged her.

Though she was rude, Marianne did not scold or get angry with her. She just focused on breathing for a while and suddenly jumped out of bed.

"Oh my, lady!"

That surprised girl screamed again. Mariane embraced her shoulders with her arms as if she hadn't heard anything.

Water demon... A woman who was drowned like an idiot.

She was Marianne herself. When she recognized death, her memories of death went back to their place just like the senses of her body that came back one after another.

She died after drowning in the middle of the dark lake. Though she didn't remember exactly when she was out of breath, she could vividly recall the process of water filling her lungs instead of air and blurring her eyes, let alone the enormous power that pushed her head down.

"Don't you want to take a bath? I just brought the rose perfume from Marquis Chester."

She even remembered the man who was controlling the power from a distance.

Marianne shivered with the revival of her terrible memories.

"You might have a cold again."

The girl grunted and covered her with a large bath towel.

Marianne came out of the bath, helped by the girl. The sense of real walking on the floor was too clear for her to think she was hallucinating.

'How can this happen?'

Marianne raised her hands and slapped both cheeks. Her moist hands were wet with water and it felt like her cheeks were burning. Nevertheless, the surroundings were not distorted, nor were the dimensions changing. She didn't wake up from sleep, either. It didn't seem like a dream.

'Then, was the world I regarded as reality a dream? Perhaps… Was it a dream where I was betrayed and killed by him?'

Marianne's hope died very shortly.

"My lady! Why are you acting like this today? Your birthday party is in two days! What if you get sick?"

"Birthday party? In two days?"

"Yes, there's only two days left. Your twenty-first birthday party! Oh my god, you've been waiting for about a month. Are you going to pretend not to know that?"

She felt dizzy, mired in more confusion.

She was twenty-three when Ober murdered her.

* * *

The maid who nagged while helping her take a bath was Cordelli.

Although there was a difference in titles, she was the daughter of her nanny and she was about the same age. Marianne grew up thinking of her as a friend and a sister.

Cordelli also gave Marianne special treatment. Instead of assigning it to a junior maid, she took care of it by herself, and she stood by Marianne all the time while fulfilling her job as a housemaid. She was innocent and bright by nature. So, she felt strange about Marianne who suddenly started to have lots of suspicions, but she quickly adjusted herself and served her master.

"Cordelli, what's the date today? If I'm twenty-one years old, it is 593 by the imperial calendar, isn't it?"

"Right. Today is April 19, 593 by the imperial calendar. Are you testing me because I might not remember your birthday?"

"No, nothing like that… What about my father?"

"He said he would be back before your birthday. I guess he'll be back today or tomorrow? Do not worry. He cares for you so much that he has changed his schedule to come back on your birthday party."

Thanks to her detailed answer, Marianne was able to gather some information while walking in the familiar hallway.

In terms of space, she was in the Castle of Lennox and it was spring when she was 21. In the spring of that year, her father was out for an inspection tour of his territory, and Ober busily visited her house to win over her heart.

Though she found it hard to believe, there was too much evidence. The structure of the house that she used to know, the familiar scenery that varied with her moving steps, and the voice of Cordelli who called her a lady instead of madame. Even the room that she was in now resembled the one in her own memory.

"You must be tired. Can I bring you some hot tea?"

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Let me go ahead and pick the one with the best scent."

Cordelli responded kindly and left the room. Her footsteps faded away from the closed room.

Marianne, left alone, looked around the room one more time.

It wasn't the main bedroom of the house where she stayed as a duchess after marrying Ober, but the room of an annex.

The annex was adapted to fit Marianne's taste, ranging from the small ornaments in the bedroom to the large trees and fences of the back garden. It was the result of his father Duke Klink's constant efforts for the only daughter of his family and his poor daughter who lost her mother as a baby.

Duke Kling accepted no matter what request his daughter made, even though sometimes it was too excessive to hurt his prestige or if it cost too much.

If there was one thing he desperately opposed, that was her marriage to Ober. He eventually gave in to her and made Ober his son-in-law.

'I didn't know that Ober was such crap. Neither my father nor did I know. If I had known about him in advance, things would have been different.'

Marianne walked to the window, chewing on her useless assumption like that.

When she pulled the curtains, she could see the garden of the annex outside the window. The flower garden, which looked a bit blue as it got dark outside, was filled with cherry trees in full bloom, colorful tulips, fragrant lilacs, and less hyacinths.

Obviously, it was a spring garden. It was so different from the midsummer garden of the dark lake where she was stuck. That dreamy scene clouded Marianne's thoughts.

'Have I really returned to the past? Or did I have a bad dream? But it's too vivid to think that this is a dream... '

Lost in her thoughts, she swept her hand down the window. Touching the window as if she was reflecting on her memories, she suddenly looked at her hands. And then she frowned. She noticed the wounds between the ring finger and middle finger on her left hand. The surface of the skin was slightly bumpy, as if it had been cut by something and then healed. At first glance, it was like an uncolored tattoo.

'No way, this is… '

After hesitating for a moment, she touched the wound gently. She felt strange when she touched it with her fingertips. Suddenly, she had goosebumps on her back.