Chapter 03
A garden bathed in warm sunlight came into view.
The soft scent of soil and the gentle voice of my mother filled the air.
“This herb helps ease anxiety and calms the mind.”
My mother whispered kindly as she handed over a dirt-covered herb. I smiled brightly and took it.
“Mom, you’re sick, so eat this. One day, I’ll grow lots of herbs and cure you completely!”
She just smiled warmly and embraced me. Back then, I didn’t understand the sadness hidden in her eyes.
The scene changed. It was my mother’s funeral.
The herb garden she cherished soon became desolate, and my father drowned himself in alcohol every day.
Then one day, a strange woman entered the mansion with a young girl.
My father told me to call her my stepmother.
And the doll-like pretty girl became my sister.
“Sister, you look just like a princess from a fairy tale! Just like this doll!”
Rachel was my only friend, even though she often took my things and touched my mother’s keepsakes without permission.
With my father always drunk and my stepmother treating me like an outsider, Rachel was the only one who smiled at me.
Seasons passed, and on my tenth birthday, my father and stepmother died in a carriage accident.
Since the empire didn’t allow women to inherit property, my father’s wealth went to my cousin Pierre.
As the new head of the family, Pierre wasted money on gambling and alcohol.
Naturally, the family’s fortune crumbled, and soon we were drowning in debt.
When his last business venture failed, he started insulting me, calling me useless.
Whenever Pierre flipped the dining table in his drunken rage, I would escape to the garden, the only place that held memories of my mother.
I planted and nurtured herbs in a small corner of the garden. That was my sole source of comfort.
“Aselin, your medicine is amazing. Can you teach me more about herbal medicine?”
Encouraged by my fiancé, Alex, I worked even harder, growing various herbs.
I dug the soil until my fingertips turned black, watered the plants, and experimented with different combinations.
Through relentless research, I discovered powerful remedies.
Over time, my medicines ranged from ointments to pills.
“Even a useless bug has its talents, huh? Let’s see if you can actually be of use to the family.”
As my medicines became profitable, Pierre’s attitude changed.
For the first time, I felt recognized.
I was unaware that he intended to take advantage of my success and only saw my efforts as a means of earning money.
“My dear daughter, put your happiness above all else. As long as you’re healthy and happy, that’s all that matters to me.”
I’m sorry, Mom.
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
“…Miss, are you awake?”
I opened my tear-filled eyes.
“…Dana? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me! I was so worried when you suddenly collapsed yesterday!”
“…I collapsed?”
“Do you not remember?”
Dana studied my face with a serious expression.
“You slapped Miss Rachel across the face. Then you fainted immediately after and slept all day.”
I widened my eyes, searching my memory.
I recalled the sharp sting in my palm, Rachel’s jaw dropping in shock, and Alex standing awkwardly, unsure whose side to take.
“…Ha… Haha.”
I burst into laughter.
It was like watching a third-rate drama.
“Dana, what year is it right now?”
“It’s the imperial year 320.”
I turned my gaze to the bright summer sunlight streaming through the window.
The last thing I remembered before the accident was falling from the terrace on the last day of June.
Then…
“Is today July 1st, 320?”
“Yes. Yesterday, your wedding date was finalized, and Viscount Alex came to visit. But when you fainted, he had to leave. He came back just a while ago and is waiting in the drawing room.”
Hearing Dana’s words, I fell into deep thought.
320… That meant I had returned to the past, exactly two years ago, at the age of 20.
And in August, I was supposed to marry Alex…
Then be used and discarded, leading to my death.
But this time, I would never marry Alex.
I wouldn’t waste this miraculous second chance on trash like him.
I gathered my thoughts and spoke.
“So Alex is waiting in the drawing room?”
“…Alex? Oh, you mean Viscount Alex? Yes, he said he’d wait an hour, so he should still be there.”
Without hesitation, I left the room.
As I walked down the long hallway, the mansion’s familiar yet cold scenery came into view.
I looked out the arched windows and saw the remnants of an old cherry blossom tree.
That tree and the garden beside it were the only places holding warm memories—memories of my mother.
“Useless things, whether trees or people, must be cut down!”
I remembered the night Pierre, drunk, grabbed an axe and chopped down the tree.
He stole my research journal and used it to graduate as the top student at the Imperial Academy.
He took my herbal medicine guide and built a business, profiting from my hard work.
I never complained. As the head of the family, his honor was more important than mine.
But when he cut down the tree filled with memories of my mother…
That was the moment my heart truly broke.
My nose tingled with emotion, but I pressed my fingers against my eyes and headed for the drawing room.
Just as I reached the end of the hallway—
“Hey!”
A sharp voice called out.
I stopped in my tracks.
Pierre was approaching from the other end of the hall.
Pierre walked with an unsteady gait, his hair a complete mess.
It was obvious—he was looking for someone to pick a fight with.
He must have gotten drunk again last night.
I ignored him and kept walking straight ahead.
But before I knew it, Pierre was standing right in front of me, tapping my shoulder with his finger.
“Hey, didn’t you hear me calling you? Why aren’t you answering?”
Still the same. He called me like I was some stray dog.
I looked straight at Pierre and smiled slightly.
“You called me?”
“Yeah, are your ears blocked? Why did you ignore me?”
“I didn’t hear you say my name.”
“No way. I called you so loudly!”
Pierre frowned in disbelief.
The atmosphere was getting tense, so I took a step back.
Then, I took a deep breath and shouted at the top of my lungs.
“HEY!”
Pierre’s eyes widened as he clutched his ears.
I smiled sweetly at his face.
“…Oh, but my name is Aselin Rondinella.”
“You must have hit your head when you fell from the terrace. Why are you suddenly yelling?”
“You yelled first, so I thought maybe your hearing was bad. I just made sure you could hear me properly. And as for telling you my name, I figured you must not know the basic manners.”
“Why wouldn’t I know manners? Are you seriously trying to teach me, the head of this family?”
“When you call someone, you use their name, not ‘hey.’ That’s just common sense. A family head shouldn’t bark like a stray dog, should he? That would be… uneducated.”
“W-what? Dog…? Uneducated?”
Pierre’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Then, he narrowed them and smirked.
“Just because you can make some medicine, you think you’re important? At the end of the day, you’re just a woman. No matter how good you are, you’re nothing more than gum stuck to the bottom of a man’s boot. So act like a proper woman and keep your mouth shut!”
A useless man bragging just because he had one extra thing.
I stifled a yawn, watching him bark like a dog.
“Hey, are you even listening to me? What about the new medicine?”
At Pierre’s shout, a memory suddenly came back to me.
Oh, right… Around this time, I had developed a special ointment.
“Yesterday was the investor presentation for the new medicine, but you had to go and fall off the terrace like an idiot! Do you know how much trouble you caused me?”
Pierre’s voice roared like a steam engine.
He had been bragging everywhere like he was some kind of pharmacist.
Well, now he could suffer a little.
I rolled my eyes, then flashed him a bright smile as I opened my mouth to speak.
