HIGOS CH 02

In a flash, her eyes opened.

“Ah…”

At the very moment she had died, Cassia opened her eyes as though waking from sleep.

Is this heaven?

After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, she had often imagined what the afterlife might be like. If the heaven and hell people always talked about truly existed, she had thought she would naturally go to heaven.

If someone like me doesn’t go to heaven, then who will?

Yet the first sight that greeted her after death was actually closer to hell than heaven.

Cassia had always thought the ceiling of her familiar bedroom—the same ceiling she saw every morning when she opened her eyes—resembled hell.

And now it was exactly the same.

If she had no memory of dying, she might have mistaken this for simply waking up the next morning.

Cassia cautiously sat up.

As the wool blanket covering her slipped down, she realized she was unclothed.

I really did die.

Her body was completely different from the emaciated state it had been in during her final moments.

Her translucent, milky-white skin and healthy, curving figure were exactly as they had been before she came to Greze Castle and endured all those hardships.

They say that when you die, you leave everything behind and return to heaven. I suppose it was true. I’ve returned to God in the form I had at the beginning.

Cassia was genuinely moved.

She had imagined that, after meeting God in the afterlife, she would tell Him how difficult and painful her previous life had been and ask Him to let her live a somewhat happier life in her next one.

Surely God, who had witnessed her entire miserable life, would gladly grant such a small request.

“Dear God.”

Cassia closed her eyes, clasped her hands together, and began to pray.

“Dear God? When are you coming?”

She cautiously opened one eye and peeked ahead.

The terrifying room, somehow even more frightening than hell itself, remained exactly as it was.

Sensing that something was strange, Cassia released her clasped hands and opened her eyes wide, looking around.

The first thing she noticed was a naked man sleeping beside her bed.

He had dark red hair and a beautifully built, tanned, muscular body.

In other words, it was the very person she had believed she would never have to see again after death.

Or, more accurately, the person she had never wanted to see again.

The man who had been the greatest source of misery in her previous life.

Her husband, Baron Jester Greze.

“Eeeek!”

Cassia screamed in shock and twisted her body.

The bed was narrow, and her unbalanced body toppled over the edge.

With a loud crash, she landed hard on the floor.

A sharp pain traveled from her tailbone up her spine.

“Ow…”

She was in so much pain that she did not even realize how embarrassing her situation was.

Cassia gently rubbed her tailbone and groaned.

“……Are you all right?”

Then she heard her husband’s familiar voice above her.

Cassia’s thoughts froze instantly.

Looking up, she saw Jester sitting on the bed and staring down at her with a slightly surprised expression.

After staring at each other blankly for a moment, Cassia suddenly shouted,

“What are you doing here?!”

Jester frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Why?! Why are you still tormenting me even after I’m dead?! Don’t you have even a little pity for me?! Please! I don’t want to see your face anymore! I’m sick of it! You’re annoying! I don’t care if you’re handsome! Just disappear!”

Her heartfelt outburst left Jester with a strange expression.

When she had been alive, she would never have dared behave this way.

But now she was no longer his wife.

She could finally say whatever she wanted.

And as much as she hated him, she was also terribly embarrassed by her current state.

Their married life had been so infrequent and awkward that even being undressed around him had always felt unfamiliar and humiliating.

Though it was pointless, Cassia desperately raised both arms to cover herself and squeezed her eyes shut.

Then she prayed to God again in her heart.

Is this some kind of trial in hell before I go to heaven? Please, just take me away already!

Perhaps God had actually heard her desperate plea.

Suddenly, with a soft rustling sound, the wool blanket fell over her head.

Her vision was blocked.

Then she heard movement, and before she knew it, her body was lifted into the air.

Cassia was not foolish enough to comfort herself by thinking that God had picked her up and was carrying her to heaven.

This warmth clearly belonged not to God, but to Jester.

The moment she was placed back on the bed, Cassia threw off the blanket covering her head.

As always, Jester stood there looking down at her with his usual emotionless expression.

Her eyes accidentally wandered downward, and she immediately buried herself under the blanket again.

Then, as though chanting a spell, Cassia cried out loudly,

“Dear God! Please save me from this hell!”

If God’s intention had been to let her experience hell before sending her to heaven, then He had succeeded.

He had presented her with the complete nightmare package:

The face of the man she hated most in the world.

The embarrassing sight of him being so close to her.

And the absolute worst situation of all—waking up beside him in the same bed.

Cassia began calling out to God with increasingly desperate words.

Yet strangely, nothing happened.

It seemed God was neglecting His duties.

“You certainly have a very late way of expressing your dislike.”

Jester’s voice sounded heavy and subdued.

He sounded almost hurt.

Or perhaps angry.

Cassia slowly lowered the blanket.

Jester was already gone.

Perhaps he had realized that Cassia did not merely dislike him but had reached the point of outright despising him.

Without even properly dressing, he had simply thrown on a winter bedroom robe and quickly left the room.

Bang!

The door slammed shut with considerable force.

Cassia stared at it blankly for a long while.

It did not take Cassia long to realize that this was not heaven.

Nor was it the afterlife.

It was her life from before death—something even worse than hell itself.

“Dear God. If you have even the slightest bit of conscience, please return all the offerings I faithfully brought to the church for ten years.”

Cassia closed her eyes and finished yet another prayer.

It was already the twenty-fifth time she had repeated it.

Her prayers had begun as solemn and desperate pleas, but after the tenth repetition, they had gradually become increasingly irreverent and frightening.

Instead of granting the poor woman heaven after death, God had thrown her into the hell of traveling ten years back in time.

It was enough to drive her mad.

Expensive candles were placed here and there on the bedside table and windowsill, as well as on the table where it seemed wine had been shared before they went to sleep.

Cassia had never once set a romantic mood with Jester during her lifetime.

As far as she remembered, the only time they had ever spent a night together in such a carefully prepared room was their first night after arriving in Greze Territory.

The dull ache around her lower back, which seemed to have nothing to do with merely falling from the bed, also helped her understand the situation.

She vividly remembered how uncomfortable she had been the following day because it had been her first experience and everything had been unfamiliar and overwhelming.

In other words, Cassia had returned to that winter when she was seventeen years old—the moment she had entered Greze Territory as though she had been sold there.

It was absurd.

God clearly had never considered Cassia pitiful.

Otherwise, He would never have sent her back to precisely the day when her misery had begun.

She was supposed to repeat ten years in the nightmarish Greze Territory all over again.

If you were going to turn back time, why not twenty years? Or twenty-seven years, when I was still in my mother’s womb? Or even thirty years ago, before I had even been born?

Cassia screamed inwardly and shook her head.

No matter how many years she went back, she was destined to become Baroness Greze.

It had not been a marriage chosen by either her or her father.

It had been forced upon them by the most powerful man in the Empire—the Emperor himself.

If I have to blame someone, I suppose I should blame my heartless and insensitive husband Jester rather than God.

When Cassia turned fourteen, war broke out between her homeland, the Simon Empire, and the Bert Empire.

During that enormous war, which lasted a year and a half, Jester, a commoner mercenary hired by the Imperial Family, distinguished himself through extraordinary military achievements.

Cassia had been too young at the time to know exactly what he had done or how he had fought.

One thing was certain.

His achievements had been so remarkable that the Emperor had regretted being unable to make him bow his head deeply enough.

Jester became famous as a ‘hero who saved the nation,’ not only in the capital but even throughout Ruberno Territory.

The Emperor bestowed upon him a barony and a territory.

Rumor had it that the Emperor had originally intended to grant him an even higher title, but opposition from several powerful aristocrats had forced him to settle for that much.

Perhaps believing that even this was insufficient compensation for a hero who had saved the country, the Emperor suddenly turned his attention to Cassia, who had been quietly living in Ruberno Territory.

He subtly pressured her father, Count Ruberno, suggesting that since the hero had been given a new home without a lady of the house, perhaps Cassia could take on that glorious position.

Ruberno Territory was vast, fertile, and filled with attractions.

It had long generated enormous profits through agriculture and tourism.

As the ruler of that territory, Count Ruberno was one of the wealthiest men in the Empire.

With an excellent bloodline and an active role in politics, the Count Ruberno family had become known as one of the undisputed centers of power.

And Cassia Ruberno was the marriageable daughter of that prestigious family, raised as their precious jewel.

As if her already flawless background were not enough, God had also blessed her with exceptional beauty.

Hundreds of marriage proposals arrived at the count’s residence every day.

There were plenty of noble daughters from respectable families besides Cassia.

But the Emperor wanted to give Jester, the hero who had saved the nation, what he considered a fitting reward.

Cassia Ruberno was exactly the kind of woman he deemed suitable.

Looking back, it was an utterly ridiculous decision.

If he wanted to reward his precious hero so badly, why not choose one of his own daughters?

He had several princesses of marriageable age.

Apparently, his own daughters were too precious, while someone else’s daughter was perfectly acceptable.

Cassia added the name of the rotten Emperor to the list of reasons behind her misery, a list that had previously consisted solely of her husband.

In any case, because of the Emperor’s desire to shower Jester with honors and even hand him the finest bride in the Empire, Cassia had ended up where she was now.

Their first meeting had been cold and unpleasant.

On their first night together, Jester had given Cassia, who was experiencing everything for the first time, an absolutely miserable beginning to married life.

He had left his nervous young bride sitting there for nearly an hour, hesitating before apparently deciding to leave the room.

When Cassia stopped him, what had he said?

[My body isn’t responding.]

He was seven years older than her, supposedly in the prime of his life.

Hearing those words from a strong, healthy man had been indescribably humiliating.

That night, Cassia had swallowed her embarrassment, her cheeks burning, and stopped her husband.

[If you leave like this on our first night… everyone will think I’m ridiculous. I know you don’t like me, but…]

She had heard enough stories to know what was expected of a married couple, so she desperately tried to stop Jester from leaving.

After hesitating for several more minutes, he finally stayed.

That night became one of the most painful and humiliating memories of Cassia’s early married life.

Jester had shown little consideration for his inexperienced young wife, and Cassia had been left frightened, confused, and overwhelmed by everything that was happening.

Whether his earlier words had simply been an excuse because he disliked her or not, he had ultimately followed his own impulses and left her exhausted by dawn.

It was one of the worst days Cassia could remember from her years at Greze Castle—easily among the five most miserable days of her life.