Chapter 25

“But I really did make a mistake….”

When I timidly argued back, Heinox stared at me for a long moment before speaking.

“What exactly do you think you did wrong?”

“Umm… calling her Mom…?”

Even after my answer, Heinox still wore that unreadable expression.

‘T-Then that wasn’t it?’

“Or… talking carelessly in front of Kedrick…?”

But Heinox continued looking at me with the exact same face.

“Th-Then….”

‘If it’s not that, then what is it?’

I hurriedly searched my memory for something else I might have done wrong.

‘Eating two cookies before breakfast? But Heinox shouldn’t know about that… or does he know I met Royster?’

If he knew I had met the Second Prince Royster, he might genuinely be angry.

‘Getting close to the Second Prince would never benefit the family.’

Building ties with Royster—who was practically abandoned—would only invite even greater wariness and hostility from the Empress.

‘That must be it.’

Heinox was definitely angry because I had done something that could potentially harm the family.

‘Right. This one really is my fault. Just admit it.’

Just as I opened my mouth to confess—

“You did nothing wrong.”

At Heinox’s voice falling over my head, I lifted my eyes.

He was looking at me with an expression filled with pain.

“You did nothing wrong.”

“……”

“You did absolutely nothing wrong.”

I stared blankly at Heinox as his expression twisted.

“What is wrong with calling her your mother? It is an undeniable fact that you are the child of Priscilla and me.”

“……”

“Do not say things like that. Don’t ever speak as though you are not my child… please.”

Biting down hard on his lips, Heinox forced the words out with difficulty before taking a deep breath.

Silence settled over the carriage once more.

Only the sound of sand crunching beneath the wheels and the occasional passing wind filled the air.

For a long time, Heinox simply sat there with his eyes closed, breathing in and out.

Only when House Tanzeric finally came into view outside the window did he speak again.

“Is there anything you want to know about Priscilla?”

‘Priscilla?’

It was a name I never expected Heinox himself to bring up first.

‘I thought he’d avoid mentioning her until the day he died.’

Yet surprisingly, Heinox was the one who mentioned Priscilla first.

‘Something I want to know about Priscilla….’

I had never imagined having a conversation with Heinox about Priscilla, so I had never prepared any questions.

‘Still… there is one thing.’

A question that had lingered every time I saw Anne and Renzard still mourning her.

“What kind of person… was Mom?”

What kind of person had Priscilla been?

How radiant must she have been for the people left behind to still miss her years after her death?

“Was she… happy when she had me?”

Did Priscilla love children?

How much must she have loved them to willingly give up her own life?

“……Priscilla.”

Contrary to my expectations that he would avoid such difficult questions, Heinox answered slowly and calmly.

“She was very happy. When she learned you were in her womb… and when she learned you were the daughter she had always longed for, she smiled as though she had gained the entire world.”

Though Heinox’s eyes were fixed on me, it felt as though he was seeing something distant and precious beyond me.

“She said you would be a beautiful child. That every morning she would brush your hair herself and braid it for you.”

As if picturing Priscilla in his mind, a faint smile had appeared on Heinox’s lips.

“She said she would give you anything you wanted and let you do anything you wished.”

“……”

“I warned her that you would grow spoiled, but she paid no attention to me. She said that if her beloved daughter became a little spoiled, then so what? She even warned me not to think about scolding you later.”

“……”

“Every night she read fairy tales for you. After meals, she would walk through the garden while breathing in the scent of flowers everywhere. And on the day you were born….”

A painful expression crossed Heinox’s face as the memory resurfaced.

“She cried while apologizing to you. She said she didn’t think she would be able to meet you. That she wouldn’t be able to hold you… or tell you she loved you.”

“……”

“She only cried, saying she was so sorry for the child who would never once be held in her mother’s arms. Even as her breathing slowly faded away.”

After tightly shutting his eyes once before opening them again, Heinox looked directly into mine.

“Priscilla felt deeply sorry toward you… and she loved you very much.”

“……”

“Priscilla… was that kind of person.”

‘Ah.’

That was where Heinox stopped.

Now it was my turn to answer.

To say how curious I had been about her.

How much I had wanted to know her.

‘But….’

My throat kept tightening, and I couldn’t speak.

If I opened my mouth now, it felt like all the emotions I had barely managed to suppress would burst out.

I didn’t need any more explanations to understand how lovable Priscilla must have been.

She had clearly been someone raised with love, and because of that, she knew how to give love as well.

‘But how can someone love a child more than their own life?’

Enough to leave behind her husband and her other children.

‘Ah… what do I do?’

Every time I imagined Priscilla smiling lovingly at her child, something deep inside me trembled harder and harder.

‘Why… does my chest hurt so much?’

I had never once met Priscilla.

I had never personally felt her love.

‘So why…?’

Yet I felt an emptiness like I had lost someone I had loved for a very long time.

As though Heinox’s grief itself had been passed into me.

‘It feels hard to breathe.’

The storm of emotions crashing into me felt overwhelming.

Every time I tried to steady my ragged breathing, tears blurred my vision.

As I clutched my chest and gasped harshly for air, Heinox abruptly lifted me into his arms.

“Roxina! Get ahold of yourself, Roxina!”

“Haa… haa….”

With bloodshot eyes, I slowly looked up at Heinox.

“D-Duke… haa… Duke….”

“Yes. I’m here, so speak.”

“M-My chest keeps hurting….”

I pressed harder against my chest as I spoke.

“It hurts so much because I’m sad… my heart hurts so much….”

No matter how much I breathed, my breathing wouldn’t steady.

I gasped even harder as tears streamed down my face.

At that moment, the carriage stopped, and Heinox rushed into the mansion while carrying me.

“Physician! Bring the physician immediately!”

The butler, who had been preparing to greet us, froze in shock at my condition before quickly regaining composure and guiding us inside.

After laying me down on the bed, Heinox grew visibly restless as the physician took too long to arrive.

Just as Heinox was about to shout at the butler again, the physician finally rushed in.

The man clearly looked as though he had run the entire way, but he still flinched under Heinox’s vicious presence.

“M-My apologies for being late.”

“Then examine her.”

After snapping coldly, Heinox turned to look at me, drenched in cold sweat.

“Haa… haa….”

Inside me, something churned violently while my body temperature steadily rose.

‘Feels like I’m going to throw up….’

It felt as though a blazing fireball was raging inside my stomach.

‘It’s too hot….’

The burning mass tore through my insides before crawling through my throat, fingers, and toes.

‘My body feels horrible….’

I had never experienced pain like this before.

Not even when I struggled desperately to survive in my previous life while working myself to exhaustion day and night had I ever hurt this badly.

‘What the hell is happening to me?!’

I could vividly feel sweat beading through my hair and running down my forehead.

‘My ears feel muffled….’

My vision blurred, sounds became distorted buzzing noises, yet my physical sensations remained painfully clear.

I could clearly feel air scraping through my lungs with every breath, sweat dripping down my body, and that burning mass ravaging me from within.

‘What is wrong with me…?’

This wasn’t a cold.

It wasn’t a fever.

I had never heard of or experienced an illness like this before.

With fading vision, I waited desperately for the physician’s diagnosis.

The physician hurriedly examined me, but all he did was repeatedly check my pulse with an increasingly puzzled expression.

“What exactly are you doing?”

Heinox asked sharply, sounding incredulous at the repeated actions.

“T-The pulse is somewhat strange….”

The physician stammered nervously, cold sweat running down his face.

Then—

“Father!”

“Roxina!!”

The door burst open loudly as Chedman and Renzard rushed inside.

Renzard immediately ran to my bedside.

“What’s wrong with you?!”

“I… haa… don’t know either.”

‘If I knew, would I be like this?’

I forced the words out weakly.

Renzard immediately pulled the blanket covering my stomach all the way up to my shoulders.

‘It’s hot….’

My body burned with heat, but Renzard’s expression was so serious that I couldn’t bring myself to complain.

Carefully covering my entire body except my face with the blanket, he said,

“Don’t talk for now.”

‘You’re the one who asked me.’

He was the one who had demanded to know what was wrong.

‘Then why tell me not to talk?’

As I grumbled internally—

“Ugh!!”

Something suddenly twisted violently beneath my ribs.

The pain was incomparably worse than anything I had felt until now.

Heinox shouting at the physician to find the cause.

Chedman desperately urging him beside him.

Renzard screaming at me not to lose consciousness.

Everything in the room seemed to move in slow motion while my body felt strangely weightless.

It had been like this when I died after being hit by the motorcycle too.

The world slowing down around me while I alone floated motionless in the center.

‘Ha….’

I felt empty.

I had struggled so desperately just to survive.

I still hadn’t uncovered the reason behind Priscilla’s death.

Turning my head, I saw Renzard shouting desperately at me.

“Open your eyes! Keep your eyes open!!”

Tears had gathered in his eyes as he tightly gripped my arm.

‘This is… kind of moving.’

I thought we would remain enemies forever.

Seeing Renzard crying because of me felt strangely emotional.

While feeling oddly proud of how different things had become from the original story, Chedman grabbed Heinox and pleaded urgently.

“Father! Please save Roxina! I still… I still haven’t even apologized to her yet!”

“……”

“Father…!”

After staring down at the unusually frantic Chedman, Heinox slowly turned his gaze toward me.

‘Ah… so I’m dying like this.’

Even after receiving a second life, in such a ridiculous way.

Perhaps the gods had pitied someone who was originally meant to die and briefly allowed me to live as Roxina.

‘What a damn cruel form of pity.’

If they intended to take it back this easily, they shouldn’t have given me this life at all.

‘I thought maybe… I could live happily.’

Maybe with these people—

With Renzard crying while holding onto my arm.

With Heinox staring blankly at me.

With Chedman shouting apologies.

‘Maybe we could have become a real family.’

At some point, hope must have slowly piled up inside me.

I thought we would never grow close, but somehow—

Maybe I had wanted to be loved too.

Maybe I had wanted to be protected within something called family.

Even after everything, I was still longing for love.

I had acted strong and endured countless storms alone, but perhaps deep down, I had wanted someone to weather those storms beside me.

Tears slid from my eyes as the aching pain wrapped around my heart.

‘If only… I had one more chance.’

It would be nice if I could live.

With that impossible wish, I slowly closed my eyes.