Chapter : 02

2. A New Beginning

***

Her twentieth birthday.

Serenthia, the unwanted second daughter of the Rosemary Count Family known as the 【Architectural Noble House】, awakened her past life memories.

In her past life, she was a star architect’s…

“Let me show you the vision for my architectural work this time. Hey, bring the model over.”

“…Yes, yes sir.”

…premium errand girl.

Perhaps it was thanks to awakening her past life as someone who was exploited but competent.

For the first time in twenty years, she discovered her talent. Along with the hope that she could finally be helpful to her family.

“Mom, designing buildings must be really difficult, right? I-I’ll work hard to help you!”

The blueprint she shyly presented with a bright red face…

“Sigh, Serenthia, your handwriting is so crooked! Really, what are you even good at?”

…was thrown in the trash along with a single word of criticism.

When she hung her head thinking ‘That’s just how I am,’ it was unexpectedly her brother Max, the family heir, who saved Serenthia.

“Tsk, exactly! Serenthia, you help by staying quietly… But, hmm… This blueprint actually seems pretty useful?”

It was my blueprints that put my beloved brother Max, who received endless affection, at the top of his class at the Architecture Academy.

“Our cute youngest should also receive an architecture award, shouldn’t she?”

“Eee, Mommy~”

It was also me who gave my youngest sister Evelyn, who clung to Mom and was full of aegyo, the reputation of being a ‘genius architect.’

But Mother hated me to a strange degree.

Even if what I ate was scraps and the money spent on me was pocket change, she acted as if I was stealing everything from my brother and sister.

“I just don’t feel attached to that one. It’s like she’s not really a daughter I gave birth to.”

Even after hearing what Mother said to my aunt, I tried my best to make an effort.

So when a conscription order for the North came down for my brother, the eldest son of a noble family, due to ‘noblesse oblige’…

“How can they draft our precious eldest grandson to the dangerous North? It’s ridiculous!”

When mama’s boy Max was sniffling in Mother’s arms, I finally realized.

“…As long as it’s someone with our family bloodline, right?”

“That’s right! Of all people, why Max…”

“Then I’ll go in his place.”

“You? Well! You may be dull, but you did attend the Architecture Academy. You could probably do something there. Perfect, yes. You go!”

How bright my family’s faces became with just one word that I would go instead.

As I packed my simple belongings and left the Rosemary Estate, what was I thinking?

That I too wanted to receive unconditional love?

But not once did I ever reveal my heart to anyone.

A man with the mighty power of death who could kill every being around him in a single moment.

Until I met Raphael Kairozen.

***

“I’m Serenthia Rosemary. I’ve come to help with the reconstruction of the North.”

“I don’t need useless humans, so get lost.”

When I first met Raphael, he looked at me with a cold expression.

Even after being coldly rejected, I followed him around helping with the North’s reconstruction, and one day.

That day was the first time a blueprint I had drawn with my finger on the ground caught Raphael’s eye.

“You have talent, so why do you act like wilted spinach?”

In addition to the first praise I’d ever received…

“You’re trying too hard. You don’t need to go that far. You have talent, don’t you?”

My face turned bright red at his seemingly indifferent words.

He was the first person to say such things to me, who had only heard that I tried uselessly hard despite having no talent.

But I didn’t know how to define my emotions.

The emotion called love that suddenly intruded into my life as everyone’s shadow was embarrassing.

As the seasons changed, there were many days when Raphael and I went out together to conduct safety inspections of buildings in the North.

“It’s dangerous here. Don’t be annoying and get out.”

It was my first time. Hearing a protective declaration of ‘get out because it’s dangerous.’

At those shallow words, I gathered all my courage from within my heart and said.

“I want to be annoying to you, Raphael… continuously.”

“…What?”

As I slowly, gradually became closer to the cold and prickly man…

I didn’t know how to confess my love, so I just bowed my head deeply.

“So, please take care of me from now on!”

I, who had never been acknowledged by anyone, finally gained confidence while being with him.

“Straighten your shoulders and smile.”

“Why? My smiling…”

“Looks good. …Much better than looking miserable.”

From the very day I gained courage from his words and tried lifting the corners of my mouth.

My life changed.

Because I began to calmly learn what flowers I liked and what my reading preferences were.

And Raphael was always at the center of all my changes.

While spending such happy days, one day.

Raphael, who had casually picked a flower and handed it to me, said.

“…I have something to say. Meet me at the Clock Tower tomorrow afternoon.”

Time alone with him was secured.

I, who had been quietly following him around like an assassin because I liked him, made a decision.

‘That day, I’ll confess!’

However, one hour before our appointment.

A sudden major earthquake struck the North, which had been suffering from frequent earthquakes due to debris left by demons.

I was completely buried under the debris while trying to clear a collapsed building.

When my breath was finally running out, Raphael came looking for me.

“Serenthia.”

…Calling my name urgently.

I tried to smile softly, but my vision gradually blurred.

“Don’t die, please.”

Along with a desperate plea, Raphael whispered in a hoarse voice.

“The reason I, that is, always, saved you was…”

Eyes that people said couldn’t feel emotions. His blue eyes that were always cold shook terribly.

He was…

Crying.

The moment his tears touched my cheek, I realized.

I love him.

I tried to move my lips to say something to him, but no words came out.

I was no longer the person who had been oppressed before coming to the North.

‘Now I can really confess to you properly.’

But to die so futilely like this…

I felt so wronged that I couldn’t confess to him or even experience love that I felt I wouldn’t be able to close my eyes even in death.

The moment I closed my eyes in such sorrow, I suddenly heard a hallucination in my ear.

“Found it, the human who will save Raphael…!”

As I listened blankly, that voice spoke again.

“I’ll turn back time. But there’s a condition! Stay right next to Raphael. If you don’t, you’ll die!”

The moment I nodded as if enchanted by those words, I regressed.

Back to my twenty-year-old self, when I had just awakened my past life and was trying hard to look good to my family.

The problem was that there was still a whole year left before I could go meet Raphael for the North’s reconstruction.

And in the meantime, it would be a future of being exploited by my family.

But even so, it was fine.

In the current timeline, no one knows about my abilities yet.

Moreover, I know the future when House of Kairozen will propose a marriage arrangement around this time!

Thanks to that, I was able to strategically snatch the marriage proposal with Raphael Kairozen.

***

…Yes, until then, everything was perfect!

I came up here in a carriage as if being sold off, and even sent away all the maids from the Rosemary Family.

‘So, I can’t meet Raphael?’

It was true that Raphael was busy.

Even before my regression, he moved very busily for the reconstruction of the North.

I, who came to the North solely for Raphael, was in despair…

‘No, I won’t get discouraged!’

…Instead, my eyes sparkled brightly.

‘Starting today, I should confess once a day, right?’

From the next day, I diligently wandered around Kairozen Castle.

However, no matter how much I looked around, no matter how much I moved back and forth through the corridors…

“Oh my, honey…!”

“That is a wall.”

“I, I see. Oh! Here’s Lord Raphael…”

“No, that’s a portrait of the previous head of the family.”

…Raphael was nowhere to be found.

Something was wrong.

For two whole days, my only conversation partner was Melorsi, the large-framed head maid.

“This is the etiquette book of the North.”

“It’s mealtime, Your Highness the prospective Grand Duchess.”

“This is an important place of the family, so according to family law, you cannot visit yet.”

Even when I told Head Maid Melorsi that I wanted to meet Raphael, the only response I got was the cold words, ‘Lord Raphael lives a life planned down to every minute and second.’

‘How would be the best way to meet him? It would be nice if it were a very fateful encounter…’

…I was rejected at our first meeting, but I absolutely won’t give up!

‘The second meeting is all about the staging.’

It was right then, as I was seriously wandering endlessly through the garden, having even dismissed the head maid.

“Cough, cough…!”

I only coughed once, but blood faintly appeared on my palm.

‘This is… coughing up blood?!’

I had never been particularly sick in my past life either, so what was happening?

At that moment, I remembered the suspicious voice I had heard before my regression.

“I’ll turn back time for you. But there’s a condition! Stay right next to Raphael. If you don’t, you’ll die!”

I had been anxious since I couldn’t encounter Raphael very often.

But this time, I truly felt a great sense of crisis.

Emotional things like calling him ‘honey’ or confessing that I ‘like him’ weren’t enough.

It seemed like I could only survive by physically sticking right next to him no matter what.

‘Then how exactly can I meet Raphael?’

At that moment, a light bulb flashed in my head.

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