FRL 2

Chapter 2

“An explanation?” What kind of explanation was he planning to give?

Regardless of her curiosity, Vanessa didn’t have the confidence to face him like this. She couldn’t remember how she had treated him at this point in time.

Unable to settle on any answer despite her thoughts racing frantically, Vanessa swallowed hard.

“Besides, if you go out looking like that…”

In the end, instead of answering, Vanessa kicked off the ground and sprinted toward the entrance of the mansion as fast as she could.

“Vanessa…!”

She heard his urgent call from behind, but Vanessa kept her eyes fixed ahead and ran as though she were fleeing.

She felt bad for Ian, but Vanessa was still accustomed to the Ian Ruscliff who was nearly forty.

‘Maybe next time. Though I don’t know if we’ll ever meet again…’

For the moment, she didn’t want to face that youthful face.

Even if he hadn’t intended it, because of Ian Ruscliff, she had not only ended up divorced but had also been branded an adulteress.

“Haah… ha… haah…”

Only after she had completely escaped the mansion did Vanessa slow down and catch her breath.

Once she was free of Ian, she remembered her purpose again.

She had to get to the Charose residence as quickly as possible.

She had to see her father.

‘Where’s the carriage rental place?’

Perhaps because it was fifteen years ago, the streets looked quite different, and it took her a considerable amount of time just to find the rental station.

Vanessa anxiously tapped her feet until she spotted a sign with a carriage painted on it in the distance. The moment she did, she hurried over without hesitation.

“Charo… haah… Charose, no… to the shores of Lake Lamber…”

A suspiciously dressed woman had appeared before dawn, unable even to catch her breath.

The coachman’s eyes widened at her extremely suspicious appearance.

“L-Lake Lamber, yes. Get in.”

“Money, silver…”

In desperation, Vanessa quickly removed her brooch and handed it to the coachman. His eyes widened once again.

It was an expensive brooch that was obviously worth several times the fare, so the coachman’s face showed a hint of discomfort and annoyance.

“I don’t have any change…”

“Keep the change. Just get me to the lakeside as quickly as possible.”

“My goodness, Young Lady. How did you know I’m the coachman with the fastest horse in all of Dunbarne Village?”

However, the coachman’s expression immediately brightened when Vanessa told him to keep the change.

She had wanted to head directly to the entrance of the Charose ducal residence, but she was in no condition to do so. So she had simply named a nearby lakeside destination, and the coachman had arbitrarily addressed her as a young lady.

Whether the woman before him was a thief or a noble lady didn’t matter. The jewel in his hand was proof enough of her status.

Perhaps thinking that, he went a step further and even brushed off the back seat of the carriage with his sleeve before Vanessa sat down.

Vanessa, whose status had instantly risen from suspicious woman with a scarf wrapped around her head to young lady, climbed into the carriage while listening to the coachman hum to himself.

How long had they been traveling?

Through the carriage window, Vanessa began to see the Charose residence in the distance.

Whatever had happened, if she had truly returned to the past…

If she could see her father again…

If she could apologize for her past disobedience…

Only then did Vanessa begin to fully process the dreamlike reality that had happened to her.

‘Could I be under a spell? I’ve heard there are people in Delphiro who specialize in sorcery…’

But everything was far too vivid to be an illusion or dream created by sorcery. Even the breeze that brushed through her hair felt real.

Besides, she had never earned enough resentment from anyone to warrant having such an elaborate spell cast upon her.

‘There’s nothing left for anyone to take from me anyway.’

They had already taken all the wealth and honor her father had built. They had left her crippled, barely clinging to life.

What more could there possibly be to take from her that would make someone go to such lengths?

As Vanessa thought of those who had taken everything from her, she calmed her boiling emotions and stepped down from the carriage.

Perhaps because she had run so desperately earlier, it didn’t take long for her to become accustomed to walking normally again.

Even so, Vanessa continued to feel that everything was unfamiliar as she walked toward the bridge between Lake Lamber and the ducal residence.

“Vannet!”

And before she even reached the ducal residence, she heard a familiar voice.

No matter how hard she tried to suppress it, the anger that had been surging inside her suddenly froze at that single call.

“…Father.”

Though he was already middle-aged, he had a sturdy build and an upright posture. After his wife died, he had raised his daughter alone, disciplining her properly while giving her more than enough love.

When he heard that his daughter’s legs had been crippled, he had been the first to turn away and cry, saying that he should never have married her off.

How long had he been waiting for her?

If only she had known this would happen, she should have told the coachman to stop at the entrance to the ducal residence.

Seeing her father healthy and whole again made emotions she couldn’t put into words threaten to burst forth, and Vanessa had to bite down hard on her lip.

“Even if you were scolded, what kind of person leaves home overnight without saying a word? Who taught you to do that?”

Of course, it seemed that her actions had a completely different meaning to her father.

“Were you trying to give your father a heart attack? How could you possibly…”

“I’m sorry.”

At his daughter’s immediate apology, the duke moved his lips as though about to say something, then firmly closed them.

Vanessa was the first to speak again.

“…I’m sorry, Father. For everything I’ve done until now… for acting so immaturely.”

“…Next time, at least leave a note before you go out.”

“Yes. I will.”

Vanessa nodded while desperately holding back her tears at the sight of his relieved expression.

She had thought that the next time she met him would be beneath the paradise spoken of in the Holy Kingdom. She had even prepared an excuse for when he scolded her and asked why she had come back so soon.

‘Carlisle. It seems a demon, rather than a god, was on my side after all.’

When she met the person she had missed more than anyone in the world, and realized that she could undo the thing she regretted more than anything…

What naturally ignited within Vanessa’s heart was a desire for revenge.

Her father had always covered his forehead.

When she was young and still ignorant of the dangers of archery, an arrow she had shot had grazed just above his eyebrow, leaving a scar. The reason he continued to cover it was because he didn’t want her to worry about something that had happened when she was a child.

The moment Vanessa caught sight of that scar between the strands of his disheveled hair as he hurried toward her, she became certain that this was not sorcery.

No one except her knew about the scar on her father’s forehead.

Besides, the only person who might have been capable of casting such a spell on her was her mother-in-law. If it had been her, her father’s face would not have looked like this now.

She had heard that the unbreakable law of sorcery was that one could not create something they did not know with absolute certainty.

Therefore, she really had traveled back in time.

And, much to her joy, she truly had.

“…You’re smiling after doing something wrong.”

“I’m just… so happy.”

“Happy about staying out overnight?”

Vanessa burst into laughter at his wide-eyed expression, as though he might explode in anger at any moment.

“No.”

She gently narrowed her eyes to hide the tears gathering there. At the sight of her softly curved eyes, the duke quietly gazed at his daughter’s face.

“…I’m just so happy to see you, Father.”

“……”

“When I left home… I realized how hard life really is.”

“You’re ridiculous. I spoiled you too much. If you learned how hard life was after only one day outside the mansion, then I really did raise my daughter too preciously.”

His voice was deliberately stern, but to Vanessa, it sounded like nothing more than her father’s little complaint.

“Really. And speaking of that…”

Vanessa was about to continue, but the duke cut her off.

“I’d like to hear what you experienced as well, Vannet. But your… future husband has been waiting in the drawing room for quite some time.”

At the sudden mention of a future husband, Vanessa’s eyes widened.

“Future husband…?”

“The eldest son of the Marquis of Leonard.”

The duke frowned in displeasure before letting out a small sigh.

“I didn’t realize you attached so much meaning to the fact that you’ve been friends with that boy since childhood.”

“……”

“Were you really so hurt by my saying that you couldn’t marry that bastard that you didn’t even come home?”

Vanessa frowned at his gentle, coaxing tone.