Chapter 2 – Back To Life
“Please die, Honey.”
“…!”
Gloria pummeled Erun, who was startled at her words asking him to die and gasped sharply at the word ‘Honey’.
A scream was heard.
“Gasp!”
A loud sound as if bones were being crushed resounded in the State Office.
The force from her small fists must have been considerable enough for Erun to stumble. He unconsciously shook his arm and touched the desk, but it didn’t help him.
He fell to the ground as the shock was considerable.
The courtiers and knights waiting outside the office rushed into the room at the brutal sound that echoed like a harpoon clashing.
“Your Majesty! What’s… aagk!”
“You- Your Majesty?”
They gawked in disbelief, alternating between the fallen Erun and Gloria clenching her hands.
This situation was certainly unrealistic, with the Emperor clasping her hands and showing her anger, as well as the Marquis, who was recognized as a highly valued knight, lying on the floor.
And when the courtiers and knights dared to commit the rudeness of entering the room and gaping at her and Erun, she glared even more.
However, it was just for a moment.
Gloria, feeling a little better after putting her fists on that goofy face, ordered the knight standing in front of her in a cold tone.
“Get this damn thing out of my sight.”
Damn thing?
The knights and courtiers, startled, looked down at Erun, who had fainted on the floor.
He was a man who had held a sword for a long time. Everyone was full of questions about how she had knocked down such a man but,
‘No one is stupid enough to say it out loud in a situation like this!’
They grabbed the senseless Erun and took their leave, keeping their mouths shut as if running away from the office.
The room quieted as if there had been no commotion after they closed the door and removed that “damn thing”.
“Haaa.”
Only then, Gloria relaxed and dropped into the chair.
“What the hell…”
‘I obviously died.’
Gloria muttered in a tone of disbelief, looking at her clear hands.
Her vision blurred as she stared at a soft white hand, not a hand blackened by poison.
She remembered vividly the touch of that damn man’s hand covering her eyes and her weak wheezing until the moment when she finally stopped breathing.
‘What the hell is happening?’
Gloria turned her head to look out the window. Winter, when the bitterly cold wind blew, had gone away and a warm Spring, where the green sprouts bloomed, was taking place. Even the seasons were different, she muttered in disbelief.
“Am I, am I back to life?”
Faced with an unbelievable situation, Gloria pinched her cheek and pulled her hair.
Her cheeks tingled, and she realized it was real as she saw a few red hairs caught between her fingers.
“Oh!”
Gloria was speechless at the shocking situation. She just stared blankly at the red hairs in her fingers.
‘Should I have pulled harder to the point my neck hurt?’
In this illogical situation, Gloria’s face distorted, and she punched the desk with her fist.
“It’s not a dream.”
Gloria covered her eyes with her hand as the tingling pain arose.
It was a world where magic and divine protection weren’t odd, but it was hard to believe that someone could return to life.
Gloria was confused.
“Oh my God! Your Majesty!”
“…!”
Gloria’s heart sank at the sound of the high-pitched but lively lady’s voice.
“Your Majesty, are you all right?”
“Di…ana?”
“Yes? What did you do to your precious hands, really!”
This should never be a dream.
Gloria’s spirits flagged at the soft touch of her friend and the nagging she had heard every day before she ascended to the throne.
Diana felt something was off with Gloria, who strangely called her name, but the swelling of the Emperor’s hand was more important.
Gloria, staring blankly at her, called out once again the name of the person she had missed.
“…Diana.”
An almost inaudible, very small voice. Diana responded cautiously to the voice cracking as if pained.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Diana is here right before you.”
“Di…ana.”
“Your Majesty?”
It was curious.
Diana’s eyes widened at Gloria’s behavior as she kept calling Diana by name like she had recovered something precious.
What the hell happened in the short time while she was away?
However, as the hand that had hit Erun started to swell, Diana hurriedly called the court lady nearby.
“Hurry up, bring a healer and a doc— aaack!”
“Diana!”
Gloria grabbed Diana and hugged her tightly.
Why was Gloria doing this so suddenly?
Diana staggered as Gloria hugged her body with tremendous force as if she had found the one she had lost and comforted her with an awkward smile.
“Your Majesty, I’m not going anywhere. So just calm down a lit—”
“It’s not a dream, is it?”
“Pardon?”
“It shouldn’t be a dream.”
‘Please. Don’t be a dream.’
Gloria closed her eyes tightly and prayed earnestly. She wished that Diana being alive around this time of her life wasn’t just a dream.
Seeing Gloria slowly bending down and trembling, Diana gave up asking why and decided to focus on soothing her.
As she wrapped her arms around Gloria’s shoulders, the Princess said,
“I don’t know in detail what happened, but the wedding is just around the corner, so you must be careful.”
“…What?”
At Diana’s words, Gloria’s voice seemed to leak out.
Diana said it again with an awkward smile as if she felt pressured by the wide-eyed gaze.
“The wedding is just around the corner. There’s not much time— hakk!”
At the word ‘wedding’, Gloria dropped the arm that was holding Diana.
“Your Majesty!”
At the sudden embrace and now, seeing how Gloria was flipping important documents all over, Diana called her with a shrill voice.
But Gloria did not stop her frantic search.
‘She’s not the kind of person who would act like this.’
Diana looked at Gloria anxiously as the papers fell to the floor.
Gloria quickly glanced at the dates written on the documents, ignoring the Princess’ gaze.
‘I died in the 459th year of the Imperial Calendar.’
A winter day with pure snow scattered on the 459th year. Two months before the celebration for the beginning of the new year.
At what time was she, who had been properly stabbed in the back by Erun and died, standing right now?
Gloria was checking all the documents in her hand and lifted the ones bearing the most recent date.
“…Oh, God!”
“Your Majesty?”
A small voice, as if her soul leaked out, escaped Gloria’s pink lips. She checked the date at the bottom of the paperwork with trembling eyes.
[The 18th day of the third month of the 458th Imperial Year.]
Written in black ink, the date was deeply engraved on Gloria’s mind.
She died in the Winter of the 459 Imperial Year. About a year and three months after she married Erun. She calculated the vicious date.
“The wedding was in the fifth month of 458.”
Gloria was talking to herself, but Diana, who mistook the comment for a question, nodded and answered.
“Yes, Your Majesty. That’s why everyone is happy.”
“…What?”
Gloria’s face turned white at Diana’s answer. A glorious day was coming, Diana couldn’t understand why the Emperor had such a stricken look on her face.
As if she didn’t know anything, Gloria asked Princess Diana Ludenberg in a trembling voice,
“Who is my marriage partner?”
Diana’s face gradually stiffened at her question. Of course it was an issue since she was about to marry without a single scandal, but suddenly she was asking who her fiancé was.
Even Gloria knew it was a stupid question. But she desperately wanted to deny the reality. She wanted to deny it again and again. Since she returned to the past, she prayed that her spouse would be different.
‘Such a pitiful person.’
The Late Emperor was suddenly murdered, and the Seat of Glory was handed to the only one in line to the throne, Gloria Blake.
*Seat of glory refers to the throne.
‘You’ll be fine now.’
Diana slowly pulled Gloria’s hands together.
She was the one who would become the most beautiful and noble bride in the world in a few months. Diana desperately swallowed her tears, fearing that if she showed tears like this prior to a happy event, it might leave a scar in Gloria’s future.
Princess Ludenberg, who was fated to disappear along with her family a few years later at the hands of Marquis Erun Lebossi, replied with a broad smile.
“The Imperial Knight, Marquis Erun Lebossi.”
She answered delightedly.
But with that answer, Gloria’s fragile world collapsed.
“Your Majesty, where are you going? Your Majesty!”
Diana called Gloria, but she didn’t stop running. Whether her hair ornaments fell off or not, the courtiers hurriedly followed her, surprised by her sudden sprint.
“Your Majesty! Please, calm yourself, Your Majesty!”
“It’s dangerous, Your Majesty! Please stop!”
“Don’t follow me!”
She could hear the urgent calls of the courtiers, but Gloria shut her eyes tightly and shook them off.
Not only the courtiers but also the knights stationed around were startled by the Emperor’s behavior.
“Uuuff. Uuuuff”
Gloria shook everyone off and ran out the first open visible door, breathing heavily.
It wasn’t the same breath that she exhaled while fighting for her life after consuming poison. Her heart pounded rapidly and her body stung, but it was clearly the heavy breathing of a living person.
“Haha… ha!”
‘I’m still alive. I’m breathing out!’
“Am I going to marry Erun Lebossi again?”
Gloria stared at the sky resentfully.
But on second thought.
“Is this an opportunity?”
Gloria clenched her fists tightly, and her blue eyes lit up. At the same time, her normally kind face began to fill with vengeance and rage.
Why, of all possible times, why had she returned to this time, just a few months from the wedding?
“Either way, it’s fine.”
Gloria muttered as she looked up at the sky, which was getting darker. The weather had been sunny a while ago, but clouds were starting to gather. It looked like it might just rain.