In this life, I had thought that by simply avoiding him. By neither marrying nor even sparing him a glance, my…
In this life, I had thought that by simply avoiding him. By neither marrying nor even sparing him a glance, my parents and I would remain safe. Yet fate played a cruel joke. Since I awakened early, he conspired with the princess even earlier than before. Without me, he still rose to a second-rank official, this time with the princess's support. Together, they schemed once more to undermine my family's standing.
He continued to fake his deep affection before me, while secretly spreading slander that I was heartless and cold. Hmph. It seems that merely preserving myself is not enough. I must find a way to rewrite my parent's fate entirely.
Then I recalled he once muttered at my grave that on the day I convinced my parents to approve our marriage, he had already hired someone to eliminate his first wife to sever all loose ends. Yeah, that was the first time that I learned he had already been married. After earning his high position, he lured his wife with promises of wealth, only to have her strangled in the wilderness.
How well he had hidden it. In my previous life, I only uncovered the truth after death. This time, I would not let it happen. I would save that innocent woman, and together, we would bring down that faithless traitor.
But a doubt lingered: without marrying him, would the same tragedy still unfold? I brought my family's guards and went on a secret investigation. And there she was, stunningly beautiful, yet pitiful in her loneliness. I waited until night, hoping fate had shifted. But all of a sudden, a strongman burst through the door.
It was happening again. Even without me, the princess remained an accomplice in cruelty. Just before the woman drew her final breath, I intervened and saved her.
Little did I know, the Ninth Prince witnessed it all. In my previous life, he had been cold and distant toward me. Yet I knew, hidden beneath that emotionless exterior was a sharp mind. He was not favored by the Emperor, but eventually he ascended the throne. And then there was the martial man I had once been betrothed to. In my willful foolishness, I had broken off the engagement. He later became the Ninth Prince's greatest general and protector of the realm. I even encountered the man who ghostwrote poems for that traitor. Though he now lived in obscurity, I knew his brilliance would soon be recognized, and he would rise to the top, named Scholar Laureate by the Emperor himself.
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