Chapter 1
Bellona had already accepted that this life was beyond saving.
After twenty repeated regressions, her ill-fated relationship with Deminic seemed endless.
As always, Deminic, who had turned to dark magic, had transformed into the true villain—a man driven mad by bloodshed.
Bellona slowly closed and opened her eyes, taking a deep breath as she tried to gather the emotions swirling inside her. She couldn’t even tell whether it was disappointment in herself or simple resignation.
“So you’re giving up this easily?”
His voice carried a trace of dissatisfaction.
Bellona was the only person who had never feared him and had always fought him as an equal. Seeing her sit there in unusual silence left him strangely disappointed.
Across countless lifetimes, Deminic would occasionally look at her with that same unreadable expression, as if there was still something he couldn’t let go of.
Bellona shook her head, trying to brush away the heaviness weighing on her heart.
For some reason, she felt genuinely miserable.
“Next time, I won’t lose like this.”
She pulled a small bottle from her pocket, removed the stopper, and swallowed its contents in one gulp.
The colorless, odorless liquid slid down her throat, and it felt as though flames were spreading through her from the inside.
“What exactly are you doing?”
Bellona looked at Deminic, who had grabbed her wrist too late.
Her face held nothing but relief.
Seeing genuine panic in his eyes—a rare sight—was unexpectedly satisfying.
Perhaps it was because she’d always hated the way he acted as though everything in the world existed under his control, staring at everything with that arrogant, bored expression.
“What does it look like? I’m running away.”
The satisfaction didn’t last long.
The small pleasure of having finally managed to get under Deminic’s skin disappeared just as quickly, and an endless darkness settled over her, swallowing her in despair.
And just like that, Bellona Rosentine’s twenty-first life came to an end.
“What exactly was the problem?”
On a peaceful spring day, twenty-one-year-old Bellona Rosentine opened her eyes in the garden of the Count’s estate and immediately grabbed her head in frustration.
She was exhausted.
From her red hair reflected in the trembling teacup to her youthful face that looked far younger than her actual age, everything was exactly the same.
The setting.
The timing.
Every single detail.
“I’ve repeated this ridiculous cycle more than ten times.”
When she’d first been born into this world, things hadn’t been so bad.
She’d been reincarnated as a supporting character—the female protagonist’s closest friend—and, armed with knowledge of the future, she’d eventually helped both the heroine and the male lead.
But even the life she’d considered her most perfect one hadn’t allowed her to achieve true death.
Just like in her first life, she’d grown old, lain in bed, reminisced about the past, and thought, This time, I’ll finally find eternal rest.
And then she’d opened her eyes to the same familiar garden.
The next thing she’d tried was complete surrender.
She’d stopped caring, declared that particular life a temporary break, and casually dealt with Deminic, the original novel’s villain.
The result?
The poison ending she’d just experienced.
“There’s nothing left to try anymore…”
Twenty-one regressions.
Her twenty-second life.
Staring at the clear blue sky while seriously trying to figure out what was wrong felt utterly pointless.
Then—
“Miss, is something wrong?”
Bellona blankly stared at Rose, her maid, who was pouring tea for her and asking the exact same question she’d asked in every previous life.
“I feel like complaining to God.”
“You must be carrying a lot on your mind. In that case, how about visiting the temple?”
Bellona froze.
“The temple?”
Another person immediately came to mind.
Deminic.
The original story’s eternal villain.
The reason he’d become a villain was simple.
Dark magic.
There’s a reason I’ve never involved myself in Deminic’s affairs before…
Deminic had been born as the son of a princess.
However, unaware that he was both a member of the imperial family and the sole heir to a ducal house, he’d spent a miserable childhood in the temple orphanage.
The people in the temple had pointed fingers at him because of his crimson eyes, claiming they were ominous—demonic, even.
Eventually, Deminic truly did learn how to wield dark magic.
And by the time he’d become an adult, Bellona had already regressed once again.
Coincidentally, today was the very day he’d decided to massacre the temple staff who had abused him throughout his childhood.
His rehabilitation was already impossible.
But there was still one possibility.
His soul hadn’t been completely consumed by dark magic yet.
“I might be able to help with the whole ‘slowly going insane because of dark magic’ problem.”
She might not be able to redeem him completely, but perhaps she could at least turn him into someone relatively normal.
Besides…
“I’ve died for you this many times. If there’s a next life, why don’t you try taking my hand? Who knows? Maybe if you stop me, I’ll do fewer crazy things.”
“Why would I do that? Keep dreaming.”
Why was that conversation suddenly resurfacing now?
The words Deminic had spoken just before her death in her previous life echoed in her ears.
Of course, even if we did join forces, we’d both be fully prepared to betray each other at any moment.
Still, a less insane version of Deminic might at least stay within the boundaries of common sense, even if he betrayed her.
This was the only option she had never tried before.
I’ll bring Deminic onto my side and help him. Who knows? Maybe this is the true happy ending this world has been expecting from me all along.
Having reached that indifferent conclusion, Bellona abruptly stood up.
“Rose, let’s go.”
If there was even the slightest possibility that she could finally break free from this endless cycle of regression and achieve a true death, then Bellona was more than willing to take action.
Once she’d made up her mind, reaching the temple didn’t take long.
After stepping down from the carriage, Bellona stood in front of the pristine white building and quietly sighed.
Then she turned to her maid.
“Tell them I’d like a private prayer room. And make sure it’s somewhere quiet—the room at the very end, if possible.”
Bellona watched Rose hurry away while wondering how far Deminic had progressed with his plans.
He was almost certainly already inside the temple.
Fortunately, the sun hadn’t set yet.
There was still time.
Running into him wouldn’t be difficult.
“The priest said the room at the end of that corridor is available, and you may use it.”
“Really?”
Arriving at the room, Bellona glanced back at Rose.
“Wait here.”
After confirming that the door had completely closed and that silence had settled over the darkened room, she walked forward and rolled back the carpet on the floor.
A wooden door leading underground revealed itself.
“There’s a reason I specifically asked for this room.”
In one of her previous lives, she’d heard that some priests had survived Deminic’s massacre by escaping through a hidden passage.
There was something she absolutely needed to retrieve before meeting him.
“This place is basically a dust pit.”
Keeping one hand against the wall, Bellona followed the dark passage until she finally reached the end.
She grabbed the doorknob and pulled.
Brilliant light poured in from above.
Sunlight streaming through stained glass painted the magnificent chamber in dazzling colors.
The empty space, always meticulously maintained, echoed with the sharp clicks of her shoes.
Without hesitation, Bellona walked forward, climbed the stairs, and stepped onto the sacred altar.
“Which holy relic was it again?”
This chamber housed the temple’s sacred altar and also served as a storage area for ordinary holy artifacts.
Bellona casually picked up relic after relic from both sides of the altar, examining them with little interest.
“I died because this cup was a fake without a single trace of divine power, and this sword is useful, but… Ah, I think it was this necklace.”
A transparent gemstone hung from a thin silver chain.
The moment Bellona saw it, she nodded with satisfaction.
Creak.
Right on cue, the door behind her opened.
Someone was entering.
It seemed her timing had been perfect.
She couldn’t honestly say she’d missed him.
But she couldn’t say she truly hated Deminic anymore, either.
“…Who are you?”
After noticing his familiar black hair, her eyes settled on his unforgettable crimson eyes.
Some people called them ominous.
Others called them captivating.
Bellona belonged firmly to the second group.
There was something about Deminic’s flickering red eyes that made people want to keep staring, as if they were being drawn into them.
When she remained silent, the suspicion on his face twisted into an expression she knew all too well, tinged with faint irritation.
A small smile appeared on Bellona’s lips.
“Someone who can tell you things you don’t know.”
For some reason, she had a feeling today was going to be much more interesting than she’d expected.
Of course, she hadn’t come here unprepared.
She was confident she could pique Deminic’s curiosity enough to avoid being killed immediately.
He really did have a tragic life.
Deminic was the only child born to Princess Olivia—the Emperor’s beloved younger sister—and the Duke of Roxellern.
Shortly after his birth, an assassination attempt disguised as an accidental fire took the lives of both his parents.
He barely escaped with the help of a maid.
But even the maid he’d grown up believing was his mother died a few years later.
Without ever learning his true identity, Deminic eventually ended up in the temple orphanage.
And at this moment, Bellona was the only person who knew the truth.
Looking directly at the man glaring at her, Bellona got straight to the point.
“I know your secret, Deminic.”
“What secret? Speak now, or I’ll kill you.”
It was, without question, the worst possible first meeting.
