Birthday Celebration, Once Again

Guiscard, who entered the room, pushed Diana against the wall. His eyes pierced her face.

Pinned against the wall by a person trying to control his immense anger, Diana spoke first.

“I didn’t.”

“You didn’t?”

“No.”

“No, what?”

“I didn’t kill them.”

“But you tried to; you wished for it.”

“….”

“Milady is truly like an open book.”

Guiscard swept Diana’s hair with his hand as if finding her cute, then gripped it tightly. She bit her lips in response.

“Why? Was it that disgusting to bear the child of a damn monster?”

“….”

“Yeah, I guess it was. That’s why you got rid of the child. I get your coldheartedness, your cruelty.

He seemed to have lost his mind completely. Guiscard spoke while stroking her stomach—where the baby should be—frantically.

His clenched fist struck the wall as if he couldn’t bear it anymore.

“I’ve waited for that child so long! So that you—! This stupid lady! Were you trying to protect that petty pride of yours?!”

“I didn’t—”

“Even if it wasn’t you, you couldn’t protect them! A single baby!”

At such words, a laugh escaped Diana, leaving her momentarily speechless. She didn’t even have the strength to protect them. He had left her like a dog without giving her any power, and now was he questioning her about why she couldn’t protect the child?

“Did I ever say I wanted to have them?”

Guiscard closed his mouth at those words. Why did he consider it a sin that she lost the child when he never treated her properly as his wife?

“Did you even consider having a child with me?”

“….”

“Have I complained about your revenge? Did I ever say it was unfair? I accepted it, I always accepted it!”

“….”

“But a child? A child? Did you want to play family with me? You did it to cause me pain, didn’t you?”

“….”

“Why—do I have to enjoy this suffering?! You know it right?! Yes, it was horrible. Absolutely horrendous! The fact that your child was in my stomach was revolting!”

Diana shouted.

At this point, whether he believed her or not didn’t matter! She rather hoped he’d misunderstand. Whether she took the pills or not, Guiscard had clearly decided to blame her!

“I hate it; I can’t—I really hate it!”

She wanted to trample on that face, which looked at her with a somewhat baffled expression.

Guiscard’s grip on her hair loosened.

“Life with you is dreadful! This life is dreadful! Just kill me! Please kill me!”

“….”

“I mean it! Just kill me! Now, please… Please!! No more! I hate it!!!”

She screamed like a madwoman.

She couldn’t let go of the tension of always being attacked by someone. Her nerves, always on edge, tortured her mind. While Diana thought that the man’s revenge was justified, she couldn’t help but feel hatred for the one who created this situation.

“Kill me, please!”

Diana bawled. She roughly hit Guiscard’s chest.

‘Let’s die, let’s just die. If it’s going to be like this, there’s no need to live.’

“Did you mean Alexia?”

“….”

Diana lifted her head in surprise. Alexia was her younger sister, the one who was evacuated when the war broke up at her command. She hadn’t heard any news but assumed she was doing well.

She looked at Guiscard, who was staring down at her.

“Even if it’s for the sake of that child, you shouldn’t die.”

“…Are you threatening me?”

“Yes.”

Guiscard softly confirmed her words. Her pent-up frustration exploded, and her hand struck out violently. Surprisingly, he took a slap with ease.

“You, disgusting monster.”

Diana gritted her teeth and spoke.

A monster, truly, this man was a monster.

‘This man, this b*stard is a monster. We shouldn’t have met. We shouldn’t have reunited.’

“Like a mother who killed her offspring.”

He was consumed by revenge, and she, who had become a pawn in his revenge, had also gone mad.

◇ ◆ ◇

After the incident of losing the child in her womb, Diana’s standing was reduced to nothing.

Rumors that she had killed her son spread throughout high society, and people avoided talking to her. Even the clergy, the ones who once pitied her, were no different. When she went to pray, they would clear their throats and pierce her with glares before hastily leaving as if she were tainted with filth.

Since that day, Guiscard has never revisited her chambers, and he has barely had any contact with her, including meals. He even suggested she rest quietly during national events.

In essence, she was isolated and confined.

The queen’s palace became eerily silent, to the point where even the buzzing of insects could be heard. Diana wore a sunken expression. There was no meaning in living. She wanted to die.

Still, for Alexia’s sake, she had to keep living. The child was innocent.

However, Young Lady Levianne couldn’t be forgiven. She—who had taken away the child before she could bring herself to love or hate them—deserved death.

Yet Diana had no power for revenge.

Looking at the esteemed Lady of Levianne, who tormented her, Diana trembled with agony, recalling the time when she was the esteemed Lady of Brien in Fanberoux.

Her ladyship possessed everything Diana had lost.

Consequently, she harbored even greater resentment, despising the breath of the monster-like person who had ensnared and stolen what was rightfully hers. Naturally, she resented Guiscard as well. He, who didn’t believe her words and let the woman who actually killed his child live, was just the same.

“My child. I will forget you,” Diana said indifferently, stroking her belly. Their criticisms were not entirely baseless. She had wished for their existence to be over.

“Will you not leave if I, who has no qualifications to be a mother, keep thinking and reminiscing about you?”

Diana chuckled as though she had lost her mind. It may be her feeble escape.

Like that, she buried the child in her heart.

◇ ◆ ◇

Diana heard the news about Alexia.

After she had heard them by chance, Diana screamed for a long time. Now, in the eerily quiet Queen’s Palace, she could even cry to her heart’s content.

‘There’s no point in living.’

Yet, for some reason, she was still alive

Why was she alive? That was the question.

Then, she, who was living like a doll, was visited by an enemy-like lady.

“Your Majesty, please forgive my sin.”

‘Forgiveness for killing my child?’ Diana looked at Young Lady Levianne. With a smile on her lips, she looked at her with a pitiful expression.

“I have His Majesty’s child.”

Diana looked at the lovely lady with a stoic expression. With an adorable face that could make everyone love her, the Young Lady said to Diana.

“I will free you from that illusionary position of Queen.”

“…You! How—!”

Diana’s face was bloodshot. She was baffled. The murderer who killed her child—how could she be claiming to have a child?! And how could it be the seed of the father whose child was murdered?!

In response to her first display of intense anger, Lady Levianne laughed loudly and made spiteful remarks.

“Diana Brien, the fallen Young Lady of Fanberoux; surely, you didn’t expect to have a peaceful life after enslaving Our Precious Majesty, did you?”

Her breath caught in her throat. Diana couldn’t say anything.

“You shameless woman. You’ll live just like a maggot, always groveling in squalor and wishing you’d rather be dead.”

The lady who had been glaring at her changed her expression and smiled lightly.

“So, I will take that seat now. You’ve been sitting in a place that doesn’t suit you for too long.”

“….”

“Don’t worry. His Majesty won’t ever forsake you. His Majesty said he would not let you step out of the imperial palace.”

After Lady Levianne left, Diana stared blankly at the sky.

For a moment, intense hatred towards Guiscard surged inside her, but the turbulent emotions subsided. She didn’t vent her anger towards Guiscard, the child’s sole enemy and procreator, nor did she utter curses at Young Lady Levianne, who killed her child.

Only one thought lingered in her mind.

‘Ah, I should die now.’

‘So, let’s die now.’

At the age of twenty-five, Diana chose death. Thus, she tried to jump in front of Guiscard, took poison, and met her death in his arms.

It was the end of such a long, ill-fated relationship.

◇ ◆ ◇

Regaining her senses, Diana stared blankly at her surroundings. It wasn’t heaven, as she had initially thought. It was just a familiar place.

Her room at the Brien Ducal mansion, in Fanberoux.

It was a place she wanted to but was unable to return to.

‘Did I fail in her suicide attempt? However, how could I be in this burned-out place?’ Diana pondered with a vacant mind, placing her hand on the flower vase on the bedside table. Along with the chilly sensation of the vase, a small hand became visible. It was an excessively young hand.

Diana wiggled her hand. Surely, it was a child’s hand. Surprised, Diana approached the mirror.

“Ah…”

She tilted her head with a puzzled expression. Cheeks that had yet to lose baby fat were flushed as if painted with watercolors. Neatly groomed hair was tied with a red ribbon, and she wore a dark lilac dress.

She gently brushed the mirror with her fingers.

“Happy twelfth birthday, Ann!”

Diana ran without thinking towards the person who came in swinging the door open.

A thrill ran inside her.

Whether it was a dream or not, she could meet the one she missed for a long time.

Older brother! Oh! He was alive!

It was the beginning of her second life.

_