The moat was so cold it felt sharp.

I did not struggle. I let myself sink, slow and steady, as the water closed over my head.

I was almost home. I wondered, in a distant way, what flavor cakes my parents had bought this year.

In the darkness, someone clamped onto my wrist. The grip was brutal. I was hauled upward, lungs aflame as I broke the surface.

"Victoria Frostwell! Have you completely lost your mind?!"

I opened my eyes. The Grand Administrator, who had seemed calm only moments ago, was soaked from head to toe. His face had gone pale. He coughed hard, water spilling from his mouth, his gaze fixed on me as if he feared to blink.

"You think pretending to die will erase what you did to Roxy?" he snapped. "You think this makes it even?"

I met his eyes in silence.

"Then let me really die," I said. "Would that not be exactly what you want?"

He froze. Then his fierce eyes reddened at once as if struck.

"Roxy just came back," he said hoarsely. "I only didn't want her to worry about you again."

I watched the faint red creep into the corners of his eyes, and something old stirred in my chest.

When the Somerset family was condemned, Henry had been crushed by public scorn. His body was frail, his mind burdened beyond its strength. Whenever he felt wronged, he never explained himself. He would sit in silence, eyes burning red at the edges, until only my voice could soothe him.

But now, what grievance did he still have to cling to? For the past four years, it had been his unspoken orders that sent stewards and maids to torment me.

It was clear enough. I was not going to be allowed to die here.

I bent down, picked up my bundle, and turned toward the road that led home.

As soon as I took a step, Henry seized my wrist again. His grip tightened, and he stayed close behind me, step for step.

"You have always been full of schemes," he said coldly. "If I don't keep an eye on you, who knows what madness you'll attempt next. I'll hand you over to your brother. After that, I won't care what happens to you."

I stopped.

In this world, the person who wanted me dead more than anyone else was my elder brother, Vincent Frostwell.

When I was dismissed from the palace, I had not even considered returning to the Frostwell household.

Now that I thought about it, returning might give me a better chance to leave for good.

-

The Frostwell residence was in chaos. Housekeepers rushed to clean Roxanne's room. The courtyard overflowed with oleander, her favorite flowers. White and pink blossoms filled the air with a heavy scent.

Vincent stood in the yard, his face lit by a bright smile, a gift box in his hand.

The instant he saw me, the smile vanished.

"You still have the audacity to come back?" he said flatly. "I thought you would've died in the palace by now."

I stood there, stunned. I remembered a time when my brother had not been like this.

Our parents died young. From childhood onward, it was just the two of us, clinging to each other as the only family we had.

The Frostwells were a medical family. Vincent wanted to enter the palace and become head of the Royal Medical Unit.

I climbed mountains to gather herbs so we could afford his journey to the capital.

One rainy day, the trail grew slick. I slipped while collecting a rare herb and broke my leg.

That was the first time I ever saw my gentle brother lose his temper. He ran to me with one shoe missing, wrapped his arms around me, and cried. He said he would rather give up his chance to go to Crownspire than lose me.

He said that without me, he had no home. Without me, nothing held meaning.

But after we took in Roxanne, I was no longer his only little sister.

Roxanne was frail. Vincent fed her the pills I had spent years refining, medicine I planned to sell so I could buy his ceremonial clothes for entering the palace.

She found the pills bitter and spat them out when no one watched.

When I caught her and spoke sharply, my brother accused me of greed. "Victoria, are your pills really more important than Roxy's life?"

Later, when Roxanne ran away, Vincent crushed my fingers and expelled me from the family.

"A vicious person like you has no right to practice our medicine," he said. "From today on, I no longer have a sister."

The hands I had trained for over a decade were rendered useless. Even in the Withered Court, I washed clothes more slowly than the others. I endured endless contempt.

Henry's expression shifted. He hesitated, then spoke. "Roxy came back. His Highness dismissed the concubines. She couldn't accept it. Just now, right in front of me, she tried to take her own life twice."

Vincent frowned. "Women's tricks. Crying, making scenes, threatening to hang themselves. Administrator Somerset, you're young and clever. How could you be fooled by her? I know Victoria best. Someone like her would never truly choose death."

Henry's face relaxed. He shook his head with a short, self-mocking laugh, as if embarrassed by his earlier loss of control.

Vincent lifted the box and looked at me with open disdain. "I'm going to the palace to bring this to Roxy. I don't have time for you. Before I come back tonight, you'd better already be gone—"

Before he could finish, I plucked an oleander leaf from the plant beside me and placed it in my mouth.

Vincent's face drained of color.

Oleander leaves were highly toxic, and everyone knew it. Yet as long as Roxanne liked them, Vincent could make them bloom in the Frostwell household all year.

I once feared someone might eat them by mistake. I argued against planting a poisonous flower in the courtyard.

Roxanne cried herself sick over it. "Does Vicky hate me so much that she will not even let you plant flowers for me, Vince?"

Vincent pulled her behind him and sneered at me. "If you want to target Roxy, at least come up with a better excuse. Who would ever eat something this bitter by accident? Anyone would spit it out the moment it touched their mouth."

I never imagined it would become the tool that finally let me leave.

The sharp, overwhelming bitterness exploded across my tongue. Nausea surged. I forced it down and swallowed.

This time, I was really going home.

Vincent dropped the box and rushed forward. He slapped my back hard, then pried my mouth open with rough fingers, scraping and digging inside.

"Spit it out!" he shouted. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

I struggled wildly. Half my body went numb. I clenched my teeth and refused to let go, biting down until his fingers bled.

He sucked in a sharp breath and struck my face.

"Just because the Crown Prince does not want you anymore, you want to die like this?" he snarled. "Where is the backbone of the Frostwell family? Roxy and His Highness are a match made in heaven. After four years in the Withered Court, have you still not figured that out?"

Ignoring his bleeding hand, he ordered the maids to bring an emetic pill and forced it down my throat.

I vomited until the world spun. I collapsed onto the ground like discarded mud and let out a hoarse, broken laugh.

"So this is the Frostwell family's backbone?" I said weakly. "You did not even bother to investigate. You decided I hurt Roxanne and drove your own sister out of the house?"

Vincent's face drained of color. He had nothing to say.

Suddenly, frantic hoofbeats thundered outside.

A young steward in green rushed in, panic written across his face. He bowed to Henry. "Grand Administrator! His Highness orders you to bring the disgraced Consort Frostwell into the palace for questioning. Lady Roxanne is missing!"

Henry and Vincent exchanged a glance, then turned together and glared at me on the ground.

"No wonder you kept staging suicide scenes," Vincent snapped. "So this was to cover up your crime. Where did you hide Roxy? What are you planning to do to her now?"

I truly had no idea where Roxanne had gone. Still, this was the perfect chance. They loved her more than their own lives. Maybe they would lose control and kill me.

They did not wait for an answer. They dragged my filthy, half-dead body back into the palace.

-

The Crown Prince, Caelum Valebrook, did not waste words. He reached out and seized my chin, forcing my head up. "Where is Roxy?"

I met the gaze of the man who had once been my husband in this world. Regret surged like bile.

When I first met Caelum, he had been hunted and wounded at the bottom of a mountain ravine. I hid him in a cave and led his pursuers away.

That happened just after Roxanne took my fiancé. My childhood sweetheart, the young general, broke our engagement. I became the capital's laughingstock.

Caelum learned of it and offered himself in marriage. He gave me the title of Crown Princess. He said it was not only repayment. He said he was moved.

Once Roxanne appeared, Caelum's gaze drifted to her again and again. They admired the moon together, played chess, and talked for hours. There was no longer room for me.

When Roxanne disappeared, Caelum used punishment on me for the first time.

When the whip struck my lower abdomen, blood soaked the floor. Only then did I learn I had been carrying a child. Not yet full-term, and lost just like that.

I did not answer. A flicker of killing intent crossed Caelum's eyes.

"It seems that unless you suffer a little, you will not speak," he said coolly.

He ordered the torture devices brought in.

Henry carried out the punishment himself. Vincent fed me pills that kept me conscious and sharpened every sensation of pain.

Panic finally broke through. I wanted to die, but I did not want to suffer before I did. I struggled desperately.

The first whip cracked across my back. Pain tore through me and raced into every limb. My lips trembled, yet no scream came.

"Kill me," I whispered.

Caelum watched with cold interest, the corner of his mouth lifting.

"You think I will go soft?" he asked. "I will ask you one last time. Where is Roxy?"

I lifted my head. My face had lost all color. I smiled with ugly triumph.

"Roxanne?" I said. "I killed her. You all love her so much, do you not? Go on. Kill me and avenge her."

Caelum's eyes burned red. He drew his sword and drove it straight into my chest.

As my awareness shattered, Roxanne's voice sounded outside the hall. "Everyone's here? Then we can have a reunion night. Ah. Why is there so much blood?"