"No way… Are you talking about His Majesty, the Emperor?”

As soon as Iona asked in a suspicious voice, Duke Leroy hardened his expression.

Then, before she could explain anything, he put his hand behind her neck in an outrageous way.

Surprised by his sudden action, she blinked blankly.

But instead of hearing Iona's explanation, he slowly tilted his head toward her.

Iona could see his shadowy gray eyes coming close to her inch by inch.

Before their lips met, the man hesitated for a moment before giving a warning.

“I’m telling you in advance... Just in case... You won’t die here and this won’t be our last kiss.”

Before she had time to refute, a soft touch pressed against her lips. Iona felt her lips tremble a little as his lips touched hers.

That was all. The man's tongue did not cross the wall between them, even though she had mentioned his mental age earlier to provoke him.

'I have someone to love me after all.'

Even in the midst of this, Iona was satisfied.

Though when she would go to the underworld and would be asked about her first kiss, she wasn't sure whether to say that she had an experience or not; In the first place, it was questionable whether the afterlife existed.

It wasn't that she didn't desire to have a proper kiss with her husband, but she had already reached her limit.

Her tongue stiffened first and her body followed. Iona had a natural foreboding that the end was near.

Was it because of the sudden death? Looking back on the short life she lived, she wondered what was missing.

When she thought of her tiring life, the sudden numbness now felt like a heavenly sleep.

'If so, wouldn't this be a pretty decent death?'

At least Iona had a husband who risked his life and ran to save her. It felt pretty good.

Among noble ladies with a reputation for being well married, there were not many who could claim to have had this experience.

Heck, an ordinary lady would even never be in the same situation.

“…Lord... Leroy?”

The man's face blurred when she called his name.

Sensing something strange, he changed his expression in an instant and shook her body.

“Iona! Iona Modrov!”

He laid her on the floor and continued to call her name.

Iona wanted to answer his call, but only shallow breath came out of her mouth. She didn't think she had consciously closed her eyes, but all she could see was just eternal darkness.

Hearing his somewhat distant voice still calling her desperately, Iona smiled lightly.

'If it weren't for the circumstances surrounding us, we might have lived as a pretty decent couple.'

This was Iona Modrov's last thought in this pitiful life.

***

“Iona!”

“…”

“Iona Modrov! How dare you doze off in front of me!”

Iona opened her eyes abruptly at the sound of a loud command that fell on her ears. 

A man with an angry face was glaring at her.

Just before she died, her husband was also calling her name, but the difference between the tone of this man and her husband was of Heaven and Earth.

'The Duke too must have been angry with me...'

Shaking her head, Iona looked around in a bewildered mood.

It was strange.

She must have died defending the Emperor, but now she was sitting in the office of Count Modrov. There was no pain in her body and she even felt quite energetic.

Strangest of all, the man in front of her was already dead, like her.

Iona's face was stained with disappointment as she looked at Hayden, her bastard Father.

"I guess I've been sent to hell."

"What?"

Looking at Hayden standing in front of her, she concluded it must be hell.

“It's not unexpected. I have committed too many sins to hope for heaven... Sigh, it seems I was deemed as a waste with no room for rehabilitation.”

Iona committed many sins under the command of the Emperor.

Even if it was someone else's will, Iona had no intention of denying what she had done.

It would have been even more strange if she'd gone to heaven after committing so many sins. If there was any doubt, it was that this place seemed too good of an environment for hell.

Even after her father died, he was still living so luxuriously in hell. Had she known this, she would have let him live a life he'd wish to die.

“But it seems that life here suits you quite well. I see you have rejuvenated.”

Iona twisted the corner of her mouth and made a sarcastic remark.

Hayden stared blankly at Iona, then went red as if realizing what kind of mockery he had been subjected to.

Iona laughed at him inwardly, thinking that his hot-tempered personality did not change even after they both died.

Hayden's anger easily crossed the line, as always. Jumping up from his seat, he waved his hand at Iona.

“How dare you lowly thing say—”

Iona lightly grabbed the savage hand that was flying toward her. She then pressed his arm onto the sofa table on her left.

Hayden's face contorted in pain as he hit his elbow on the marble top.

Iona asked, looking down at her father, who was struggling with pain.

“Father, why am I lowly?”

“Stop!! Ugh!!.”

“You are the one who broke the trust between husband and wife, and slept with another woman, so why should I, who is innocent of any crime, have to be called lowly?”

“Gaah, you don’t even recognize my grace, and you’re acting like that, have you gone crazy!”

Hayden's face was stained with embarrassment and shock.

Even at this point, it seemed that he had not yet let go of his old authoritative attitude.

Iona already put up with his injustice for a long time. It was no exaggeration to say that her entire life was marked by the ghost of her father.

As a knight, Iona couldn't even choose the lord she would be loyal to.

Iona was an illegitimate child, and, of course, had an irredeemable scum as her father who could even sell his young daughter for success.

Count Mordlov wanted to put a leash on the future Emperor in advance, but at the same time, he wanted to avoid a situation where the leash would hold him back. In that sense, Iona, a child who was a disgrace in his eyes, was perfect to be the leash.

Count Modrov, who had initially accepted Iona as an illegitimate daughter because she showed talent for swordsmanship, kept his daughter locked away from the public eye.

Iona was hardened through hellish training that was almost impossible to handle, and if she couldn't keep up, she would either starve or be beaten. 

'No, I'm usually both starved and beaten at the same time.'

Even an ordinary person would, of course, achieve remarkable results if they devoted all their time except for sleep to training, and Iona was already a rare talent.

The teacher, who was training Iona, showed disbelief again and again when she saw Iona's monstrous growth. Even so, she clicked her tongue in deep regret every time, because she knew very well what that training was for.

Iona grew up as a sword; and the price for not growing up like a human was paid by her humanity. Back then, she couldn't tell the difference between nurture and exploitation, love and hate, or even happiness and pain.

So, even until the moment when she was sold to the prince – soon to be Emperor – Iona did not pity her situation. But as time passed, she also gradually came to understand what her father had done to her.

Iona whispered slowly. “Did you not know? Your sin grew and became me.”

"Ugh! You are going too far! I can't let go of this!”

Hayden, who belatedly relieved the pain, clenched his teeth and swung his other arm.

But Iona avoided the flying fist by bending her body slightly and slammed his head on the floor.

-Bang!

The man groaned loudly at the sudden pain.

“Do you know that I became the next head of the House Modrov after you? Your two poor sons and daughters died without knowing why they were dying.”

Iona bent her head to see the loser's ugly face. Seeing his pale face, now she wasn't sure if this was really hell.

Hayden was trying to keep his composure, but there was an unconcealed fear in his eyes.

'Did he just recall the moment of his death?'

However, Hayden spat out words completely different from Iona's guess the next moment,

“What, what kind of crazy thing is that? Do you think you can do anything after being favored by the crown prince? In the first place, you are sitting next to him because of me!”

“…Prince?”

Iona muttered blankly as she loosened her grip on Hayden.