Chapter 4
It was warm and comforting, as if golden light enveloped and protected Letitia.
“W-what!”
Letitia gasped for breath as she rose from her seat. Despite the unbearable pain that rushed with the stench of bitter blood, she remained calm. Letitia instinctively brought her hand to the chest where the knife had pierced.
“…Nothing.”
She felt no wounds or pain. She examined her body, trying to make sense of the situation. But what unfolded before her eyes felt surreal, devoid of reality, even with her rational mind trying to grasp it.
Clearly, she had died bleeding.
If this wasn’t a dream, how else could it be explained? She felt herself all over and found no injuries. Slowly raising her head to scan the room, she suddenly felt a sense of unease.
The wallpaper and furniture were different from her taste. Even the lace curtains draped over the bed were identical to the ones decorating the room when she first arrived at the palace.
“This can’t be true.”
Letitia got off the bed and inspected the room. How could she be here if she was dead? The palace, where screams should echo, was filled with a silent stillness.
Standing cautiously in front of the mirror, she finally realized that she had returned to the past. The clothes she wore were the pajamas her father gave her before coming to the palace.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Your Majesty, I’ve prepared water for washing. Are you awake?”
Startled by the sudden knock, Letitia quickly tidied her hair. Tears welled up at the familiar voice, and her nose tingled.
As she slowly opened the door, she saw Mary holding warm washing water.
“Your Majesty? Are you feeling unwell? Were you cold last night?”
Letitia shook her head in response. She forced back her tears and smiled.
“Just yawning.”
“…Pardon?”
“It’s nothing serious.”
Mary tilted her head, placing the washing water on the floor. In this unfamiliar palace, Mary was Letitia’s only friend.
“Oh my! Why are your feet so cold? This won’t do at all.”
Fussing over her, Mary quickly called another maid to prepare warm water. Soon, they brought a basin filled with water and carefully soaked Letitia’s feet.
“This should help warm you up a bit.”
“Thank you.”
Letitia thanked Mary, who smiled kindly as she poured water over her feet little by little.
As the fatigue washed away, a sense of uncertainty about the future began to overwhelm her.
“What should I do?”
Letitia gradually realized that she had returned to the past. It was the Imperial Year 648, precisely two years ago. It had been one year since she had maintained her marriage with Arden.
Letitia was born into the Boarte family.
There was an unknown secret in her family. It was about Ellosa, the wife of Boarte Duke, and the blood flowing through Letitia’s body.
Letitia’s mother, Ellosa, was an elf. A member of the rare and mysterious race, she could live an immortal life as a High Elf. However, Ellosa gave up everything and fell in love with the Boarte Duke.
When an elf fell in love with someone, they had to be loved in return to survive. Therefore, loving a mortal whose life was finite was like giving up their eternal life.
Loving a human and bearing a child with them was also forbidden.
So Ellosa was exiled by the elves and lived with humans alongside the Boarte Duke.
Elves had the ability to put someone to sleep.
And among them, High Elves had a special ability to control dreams. They could manipulate dreams freely, whether nightmares or good dreams.
Letitia grew up receiving love from her father and mother. She was healthy and beautiful enough to make anyone fall in love with her at first sight, according to the rumors.
“Letitia, you mustn’t love recklessly. You must love the one who loves you,” Ellosa always emphasized to her. She told Letitia to meet someone who would love her for a lifetime and marry them.
It seemed natural to be loved and live happily. However, nothing was natural anywhere in the world. Winning someone’s heart was a difficult task.
Happiness was not guaranteed either.
Even in the Boarte family, where laughter never ceased, shadows began to creep in. It started with the sudden disappearance of her mother, Ellosa.
Letitia and Castaine searched for her desperately but found no trace of her mother anywhere. She vanished as if she never existed in the first place.
That was the beginning of Letitia’s fateful journey.
❖ ❖ ❖
Imperial Year 647.
That year, Levrater II, who led the Briarvente Kingdom, died, and his younger brother Arden ascended the throne as Levrater III.
Arden’s mother, Catherine Magot, was weak. His elder brother, Valua Levrater, resented him because their mother died shortly after Arden was born.
The strong-born brother harassed Arden unknowingly. But he accepted it as something he had to endure.
His mother, after enduring only half a year after Arden was born, had to face death on her bed.
His father cherished Arden, who was pitiful due to his mother’s sudden death, but he, too, succumbed to a sudden illness and passed away within a year of her death.
Afterward, Valua ascended the throne, and perhaps keeping the memories of his childhood in his heart, he treated Arden with great care after becoming king.
But even the healthy elder brother soon fell ill shortly after loving Arden.
“You’ll have no one by your side. I love you, but those who loved you are all gone,” his dying brother held Arden’s hand and said.
“No one should love you. Ah, your love is poison. Slowly leading others to death… ”
Arden was left with no one by his side. No matter if they were the ones he loved or the ones who loved him.
He suffered from insomnia due to trauma. He was plagued by endless nightmares every day, and his life gradually deteriorated.
He wanted sleep, even if it was just a little. He didn’t care how he could achieve it.
Was it his desperate wish that came true? Arden accidentally learned about the power of the elves. The power to put someone to sleep. He could even control dreams. So Arden bought information to find someone with elf blood flowing in the kingdom.
Instead of the disappeared elf race, Arden learned about Letitia, who was born between a human and an elf, from the Boarte Duke family.
The Boarte Duke family. Letitia, born between Castaine Duke and a High Elf, half-elf. The king needed her.
In the end, he summoned Letitia, who inherited half of the elf’s power, by necessity.
“Letitia, you don’t have to agree if you don’t want to.”
The Boarte Duke didn’t want to send her away. But even he had made one proposal that couldn’t be refused in the royal court.
Finding the missing Boarte Duchess. If Letitia stepped forward, they might find her mother much faster.
“Father, it’s okay. I don’t have to love the king. So please don’t worry.”
“…Letitia, please, don’t love the king.”
“Yes, I won’t love the king.
