After learning the truth about her mother's death in the past, Evelyn struggled desperately to escape their clutches.
But the Lawrence territory was far larger than she had imagined.
Breaking through the tight security and the forest thick with ancient trees by herself was no easy task.
One day, after being caught while trying to escape, dragged back, and subjected to endless abuse and beatings once again—
A guest arrived at the Count's estate.
It was the very man who had coveted her body in her dream.
"Your Grace, please... become my guardian."
Evelyn went to the garden of the detached residence where the man was staying and desperately begged him to help her.
"I have the power to purify demonic energy. I can stop your rampage. So please...!"
The Cursed Grand Duke, Kallian von Orpheus.
He was a descendant of the first Empress, who had summoned the Demon King Babel thousands of years ago and helped unify the continent.
Before Babel was sealed inside the dungeon due to the Empress's betrayal, he placed a curse upon her bloodline.
"When the Mark of the Guardian appears, the boundary between this world and the next shall collapse, and the gate to another realm shall open."
"Only he shall grant me eternal rest."
Bound by a fate he never wished for, Kallian spent his entire life fighting among piles of monster corpses.
He was the continent's only Sword Master capable of releasing black aura through his sword.
"I've heard plenty of ridiculous things, but this may be the most absurd."
When the man lowered his gaze and answered coldly, Evelyn thought everything was over.
Just the fact that someone as great as him had listened to me was already a miracle.
Of course, even he had a weakness.
To obtain the black aura, he had made a contract with an evil god.
Whenever he overused his power or saw too much blood, the evil god sleeping within him would awaken, driving him into madness.
The only one capable of completely suppressing it was a Purifier blessed with transcendent power—a Saintess.
Even so, someone possessing such overwhelming strength would never show mercy to an illegitimate daughter.
Yet the words that left his lips made Evelyn freeze in shock.
"If you are to suppress my rampages, you must fight beside me on the battlefield. In that case, shouldn't you be asking me to become your husband instead of your guardian?"
She was stunned.
No matter how much monster blood had stained his soul, Kallian still stood at the very peak of power.
Not only had he accepted her proposal without hesitation, but he had even offered to become her husband.
Could it be... he fell in love with me at first sight?
As if mocking even her own ridiculous thought, Kallian curled the corner of his lips.
"It seems you've never heard of the Veil of Darkness. The North is sealed off. Unless you're one of our bloodline or the spouse of one, crossing the border is impossible."
The land he ruled, Johansen, had been sealed to prevent monsters from invading the south.
Just as he said, entering and leaving without any connection was virtually impossible.
In her previous life, Evelyn became Kallian's wife.
She fought through countless dungeons beside him, pouring every ounce of her healing power into him.
The healing that had no effect on anyone else shone, however faintly, when used on her husband.
"I just don't want you to suffer anymore. That's all I wish for."
She had loved that gentle man.
So deeply that merely remembering him made her eyes sting with tears and her heart ache.
"So... if it's truly for his sake... it's better that we don't become involved in this life."
She remembered how he had suffered because of her, facing opposition from both the Imperial Family and his retainers.
Everyone had opposed their marriage openly.
Because the Lawrence family had shamelessly demanded an outrageous dowry and tribute in exchange for her healing power.
"The ruler of Johansen suffering such humiliation over a useless illegitimate daughter! If the late Grand Duke saw this, he'd burst out of his coffin!"
No matter what special ability she possessed, no one would ever welcome a woman who cornered their lord as the Grand Duchess.
"But... if I'm going to uncover the truth behind the Grudge Stone and the temple... I absolutely need Kallian's help."
Now that she knew the curse had been responsible for her death, meeting the great mage Ines in the North was unavoidable.
"Can I... rely on him just one more time?"
She feared that her own selfishness would once again drag him into danger.
But how many people could truly remain calm in the face of death?
She soothed herself with that excuse.
Just then, a light far brighter than ordinary moonlight passed through the prison window and illuminated the damp cell.
"...!"
Startled, Evelyn raised a hand to shield her eyes before slowly getting to her feet.
Clank!
As she moved, the shackles around her ankles rattled loudly.
Walking toward the light, she gripped the iron bars of the small window.
"Was I mistaken?"
The brilliant light had already disappeared, leaving behind only a tiny crescent moon.
Looking up at the sky, Evelyn estimated the passage of time.
"When the full moon rises... Kallian will come to this estate."
After that, everything would become clear.
Whether history would repeat itself—
Or whether a completely new future awaited.
"Haa..."
The silence surrounding her tightened around her throat like a curse.
Taking a deep breath, Evelyn clenched her teeth.
"Just wait. In this life... no matter what it takes, I'll survive."
The wind blowing through the window scattered her hair wildly.
Shivering from the cold, she wiped away the tears on her cheeks and once more engraved the face of the husband she had met only in her dreams into her heart.
After being released from prison, Evelyn had no time to recover from her injuries.
Day after day, she visited the estate library.
Holding genealogy books and newspapers that recorded the noble families of the Cardian Empire, she began writing down everything she remembered about the future.
Which family would suffer what disaster.
What crises would strike the Empire and Johansen.
Where the next Gate would appear.
"Found it..."
Throwing down her quill, Evelyn spread a newspaper across the desk.
It was an article about the Gate that had opened a few days earlier.
<Another Vortex Appears in the Kairos Desert! Is It True That There Were No Civilian Casualties? Public Doubts Continue to Grow.>
Until then, monsters had only appeared in the Bellatra Dungeon, where Babel was sealed, and in parts of the North.
But for some unknown reason, Gates had begun opening across the Empire, throwing the once peaceful land into chaos.
From these Gates poured endless monsters.
The only person capable of erasing this disaster was Kallian, whose darkness surpassed the chaos itself.
The higher the expectations, the greater the complaints.
As civilian casualties increased, public faith in him was bound to weaken.
As Evelyn fell into thought, memories from her previous life flashed through her mind.
"I heard Ritchev Village was completely destroyed after a mutant monster appeared."
"Exactly. None of this would have happened if the Guardian had never been born."
"You've heard the rumors too, haven't you? Some people say the Grand Duke caused these disasters himself to seize the Empire."
If the one bearing the Mark of the Guardian was never born, even the dungeon would eventually enter a dormant state.
Realizing there was no one left capable of opposing him, Babel would withdraw his power after opening the dimensional rift out of hatred for the Orpheus family.
In other words, if she told Kallian the order in which the Gates would appear, the accusations that he was responsible for the Empire's disasters would surely lessen.
"If my memory is correct, the next Gate will appear..."
She muttered with certainty.
At that moment—
"Well, well. I was wondering where that filthy mongrel smell was coming from."
Startled by the mocking voice, she looked up.
The face she least wanted to see stood before her.
"Erze?"
The slightly upturned eyes.
Thin lips.
A sharp chin.
Cold blue eyes filled with malice.
She looked exactly like Louise.
Erze was twenty-one this year, one year older than Evelyn, and her half-sister.
"Er... what?"
Unlike her usual timid self who couldn't even meet her eyes, Evelyn calmly called her by name.
For a brief moment, Erze was taken aback.
Then her gaze fell upon Evelyn's worn-out dress.
Clicking her tongue in disgust, she sneered.
"Even if you're lowborn, couldn't you at least maintain a little dignity? Just look at yourself. You look worse than a brothel slave."
When Evelyn remained silent, Erze stepped closer and looked her up and down with contempt.
"Sneaking into the library like some filthy rat... Seeing that you still haven't gotten rid of such vulgar habits, your mother's blood must really run thick."
At the twisted smile that regarded her as nothing more than vermin, the anger buried deep within Evelyn's heart surged upward.
"Your mother was a prostitute, wasn't she? That's how she seduced our honorable father and got herself pregnant. Disgusting. Absolutely filthy!"
Evelyn didn't bother denying that her mother had never been such a woman.
There was no point.
The more she protested, the more they insulted her mother.
Endure it. The chance for revenge will definitely come.
She fought to keep her face expressionless.
Meanwhile, Erze continued pressing her.
"In ten days, the Viscount will come to take you away. Why don't you pay a little more attention to your appearance? A woman with such low status who also tries to act clever only exhausts men. You should quietly become nothing more than a broodmare..."
"What?"
Evelyn stared at Erze's sharply narrowed eyes in disbelief.
"What do you mean... ten days from now?"
The Viscount's arrival had come earlier than in her previous life.
"You know the Viscount lost his son in an accident, don't you? In exchange for wiping out our family's debts, he demanded a woman who could bear him children. Well... to be precise, he specifically chose you."
In her previous life, when Louise first told her this, Evelyn had cried and begged.
She pleaded for another way to earn money for her mother's treatment.
But now...
She no longer needed to.
Calmly biting her lip before letting it go, Evelyn looked back at the delighted Erze.
"So?"
"So what do you mean, 'So?' The blood oath between the two families has already been completed."
"I see."
For the first time, Evelyn's tightly pressed lips slowly curved into a smile.
