The Villainess Proposed a Contractual Marriage

I saw hell.

I witnessed the karma of my first and only precious person being horribly broken.

Strangely, they say a person executed by guillotine remains conscious for a brief moment.

Roll, roll.

Thud.

Thus, the condemned, granted the right to take in this world for a short while, etched it into their mind. Above all, the wretched end of the person they cherished most.

This too may be karma, but oddly enough, the spot where Elphisia\'s head fell was at Harte\'s feet. Even in her hazy state, as if in a fog, she recognized the old, shabby man as Harte.

How could she not? How could she fail to identify him?

No matter how eroded by time, those violet eyes, pure and clear like an autumn sky over the plains, remained unchanged. Harte was always Harte, just as he was. But as transparent as he was, the depth of his despair was equally transparent.

A cry that seemed to cut off her breath.

The cold body temperature felt simultaneously.

All of it belonged to Harte.

Why was everything so vivid, when life was about to end?

She felt resentful.

Of herself, who had lived like a beast.

Of herself, who had not known others\' pain.

The villainess who had traversed the path of apostasy...

She felt so very resentful.

Elphisia sensed her consciousness fading into the distance. The last thing she heard as she sank into an endless swamp was Harte\'s sorrowful prayer.

"Please, just one more chance..."

Such a foolish wish, so like him.

"To Elphisia... to her... please give just one chance to change..."

It was a plea as if he didn\'t care what happened to himself.

Finally, at the frayed edge of consciousness, like a thread that had reached its limit.

A brilliant golden light colored her world.

Strangely, the sensation of sinking into the swamp disappeared, and her ability to think clearly returned.

In the vast golden world, someone whispered faintly.

-Take up the sword of vengeance. Is your love not crying for you? If you make your decision, I shall bestow upon you the name of God.

"Ha, wielding a sword recklessly without knowing my place led to this sorry state, and you want me to take up the sword again? Harte would be so pleased," Elphisia scoffed self-deprecatingly. The target of her derision was, of course, herself.

Vengeance?

A sword tempered with malice would inevitably pierce Harte\'s weeping heart.

She could never do that again. She must not.

When Elphisia\'s answer remained unchanged, the voice changed its question.

-Confess your desire. If you wish it, I will realize any dream. All the glorious things of this world shall be yours.

"Bring back the dying Harte. The Harte who didn\'t know me..."

She no longer begged for life. Elphisia was better off dying like this. If for no one else, then for Harte\'s sake.

But Harte was a victim sacrificed to Elphisia\'s misdeeds. So she wanted to at least restore the damage Harte had suffered.

-I shall rewind the clock of the mortal world. I grant you the opportunity to start life anew, so take this terrible world in your hands in your own way.

"I..."

Elphisia opened her mouth honestly. Her most earnest desire flowed out.

"I want Harte to be happy."

With those words, no more voices were heard.

The faint golden radiance that had filled the world intensified.

That was the last thing Elphisia remembered.

Sensing herself sinking deep into a surface without a single ripple, her consciousness crumbled.

The world truth known as time was about to be distorted.

---

---

"Huk...!"

Elphisia opened her eyes, exhaling a violent breath as if coughing up blood. Strangely, though, the scenery of the place where she opened her eyes was very familiar.

The ruby-decorated side table that looked just like her eyes, the gold-trimmed dressing table. And the jade basin where lukewarm water was always prepared for washing.

Even the position of the bell pull hanging from the bed canopy was uncannily familiar.

Elphisia pulled the bell pull in a daze. Soon after, her room door opened, and the head maid Rotella appeared.

"Did you cough, young lady?"

"Young lady...? Me?"

"Why, of course."

"Ha..." Elphisia sighed. She requested a correction in a tone that suggested she couldn\'t help it. "It\'s fine when no one\'s around, but don\'t make that mistake in public. If you demote the Duke\'s daughter to a young lady, you\'ll be the one in trouble."

The Duchess, for who dignity had become a habit, pushed aside the blanket herself and got out of bed, placing her feet on the floor.

"Well... it doesn\'t matter. This is all just a passing illusion anyway..."

Just as she was about to mockingly laugh at herself, Rotella jumped in surprise and grabbed both her shoulders.

"Oh my, young lady! Don\'t say such things. You might really go mad...! His Grace Cardi Luminel is strictly keeping watch, such words could be misconstrued."

"What? Cardi Luminel? You mean my father?"

"My... It seems the young lady hasn\'t fully woken from her dream. I\'ll bring the washbasin right away, so please wait."

Head maid Rotella brought the jade basin to Elphisia with measured steps. Her face was then reflected in the polished jade.

At that moment, Elphisia\'s body froze.

"Why...?"

The face of Elphisia reflected in the jade basin retained the appearance of her childhood. Her face was small and round, and her cheeks were plump with baby fat, making her face look like a rice cake.

Come to think of it, her line of sight was low too.

Elphisia had been tall enough to look down at Rotella clearly. But now her eye level was so low that she had to crane her neck to look up.

Elphisia pushed away the washbasin and snatched Rotella\'s hand.

"Rotella...!!! What year is it now and what day is it?!"

"You\'re asking such an obvious thing. Today marks exactly one thousand years since the founding of the Empire."

"Then my age is...?"

"You\'re thirteen this year. To think the time has come for the young lady to study at the Academy... This Rotella is truly moved."

"..."

After Rotella left, Elphisia tried several times to perceive reality. She even deliberately banged her head against the wall and let out a piercing scream from the balcony.

Perhaps because of this, rumors even circulated secretly that the young lady had gone mad.

After that, nothing changed even as a day passed, and four days flowed by.

Only then did Elphisia acknowledge it.

The fact that she had traveled back in time.

"Harte..."

She could meet him again.

"Harte... Harte...!"

She had the chance to meet the most precious person in the world once more.

Elphisia immediately headed for the temple. She made the excuse of wanting to pray for safety before entering the Academy. Since Cardi had never set foot in the temple his entire life, Elphisia was able to reach the temple with only a few escorts.

She walked aimlessly.

Searching for Harte in the vast temple grounds was far too difficult a task.

It was while she was walking through the maze-like paths.

A temple guard blocked her way.

"Miss, entry beyond this point is forbidden to outsiders."

"What?"

"It\'s the temple\'s restricted area. The exit is through the door on the left..."

"W-wait. Wait... please." Elphisia interrupted the guard with awkward honorifics. She then tried to explain the situation and make a request. "Harte..."

...

......

But her words could not continue.

There was no justification.

Above all, what would she do if she met Harte?

If Harte also had memories from before the regression, he would have come to the Luminel mansion faster than her.

As God\'s vanguard, Harte would have easily breached the security of the Luminel mansion.

"No, nevermind." Elphisia took a step back.

If Harte had no memories, it was right for her to disappear.

What face did she have to approach him?

She had shown him hell, consumed by her own misdeeds.

How dare she casually speak to him?

"I\'ll go back."

After returning from the temple, she spent her days as usual.

Empty days passed while wearing the mask of a dignified young lady.

Unlike before the regression, she made no enemies.

The nickname she earned while attending the Academy was \'Scentless Flower\'.

She always maintained an expressionless face, appearing detached from worldly affairs. On the other hand, she showed perfection in numerous fields, rising as an idol to many.

She rejected frequent courtships, which was all too common and didn\'t even smile. As if she were a heinous criminal who had committed an atrocious sin.

Hence, the Scentless Flower.

It was a nickname for Elphisia Luminel that contained both admiration and contempt.

In the process, Linia Chandler became an enemy of her own accord due to her inferiority complex, but that was a problem Elphisia could not help.

As time passed like that, the time came to return to the Duke\'s mansion after graduating from the Academy.

---

---

Elphisia. Twenty-two years old.

For an ordinary noble lady, it would have been the age to be looking for a marriage partner. No, it was rather late.

So Cardi suggested a marriage partner a few times, but each time Elphisia politely refused. If there was any fortunate aspect, it was that Cardi\'s personality was such that he casually let it pass.

Elphisia\'s world was still gray.

Sometimes she hired informants to investigate the temple, but no information about Harte could be obtained at all.

Her mood turned gloomy.

Even if she couldn\'t see him, she wanted to at least know how he was doing.

"Harte..."

Was she being punished?

Would she grow old and end her life without even catching a glimpse of him?

That was what she feared most.

Her throat felt parched each time the hope she had when she first regressed crumbled.

As Elphisia spent her days with such a state of mind, she soon came across a piece of news.

The illegal auction incident in the territory of Court Count Arwel.

The one who suppressed it was none other than...

"Harte."

The chain of causality had changed.

He had remained in the temple for 10 years, even after this. Such history had never occurred.

Elphisia gladly rode the winds of change.

As it happened, Cardi wanted someone with a baptismal name, and Elphisia seized the opportunity the moment talk of marriage arose.

It was her last chance.

She resolved to make Harte happy this time for certain.

Though she steeled her resolve like that.

The change in fate was too great.

The personality of Harte, who she met again, had changed quite a bit.

If he had been just like a large dog before the regression, now his sly side was more prominent.

It was slightly unconvincing, but she tried hard to understand.

People change.

Thinking that this must be what Harte was like in his younger days... she nodded her head for now.

But sometimes he was so childish that it was amazing how \'this person\' became \'that person\' later on.

However.

This is this, and that is that.

There was a truly incomprehensible part separately.

"Harte, you...! Whose child is this?! I\'m asking whose child this is! Who gave you permission to have a child?!!!"

"Arghhhh! It hurts! It hurts, my lady! I\'m telling you it hurts!"

"What does it matter if it hurts? Does it matter if it hurts, you bastard!"

It was the existence of children who shouldn\'t be there.

She thought he had left the temple because he suddenly got a woman.

Wasn\'t that actually the case? Elphisia herself was a witness to that history.

"Who are you to hit our papa, lady!"

"From today, I\'m your mother."

"Oh, is that so? Well then, I guess it can\'t be helped... It\'s just parents arguing..."

"Tina?"

She could only realize the identity of the three children after regaining her senses.

Tina, Glen, and Yulian... no, Askalion.

All of them were connections bound to Elphisia by ill fate.

Due to the heat rushing to her head and their appearance being much younger than she remembered, she failed to recognize them.

\'Fate... is it.\'

This might be God\'s revelation to atone once and for all.

Elphisia speculated so.

\'If that\'s the case, I should accept it.\'

Harte. And the three children.

If she could place even a single flower on the path they would walk in the future, she felt she might be able to atone for her evil deeds, if only a speck.

So, Elphisia proposed.

While putting forward ridiculous conditions.

First, fulfill the duties as husband and wife.

Second, do not love.

Third, if the contract is broken, give everything of the violator to the other party.

Elphisia signed without hesitation. And waited for Harte\'s pen tip to move.

When their mutual agreement was finally formalized, Elphisia inwardly vowed.

This life, I will live for you.

I will stay by your side forever, you who breathed life into me when I was suffocating from evil.

I swear my resolve to our past that has now vanished.

Thus, one day, unilaterally, the villainess proposed a contract marriage.