Acidity of Regret Ch 88
- Feb 8
- 6 min read
Dina must have spent the entire confrontation pacing and fretting, for she bolted toward the foyer the moment Vanessa stepped inside.
Vanessa offered a quiet reassurance to her pale-faced maid before heading straight for the bedroom.
Mud stained the hem of her skirt. After changing her clothes, she lay on the bed and asked Dina to draw the curtains.
She had granted him the meeting he desired and delivered her words; she had no intention of wasting further energy on him.
She did not know how Declan interpreted her ultimatum, but when she eventually reopened the curtains, his silhouette had vanished from the gate.
A month passed since that day.
The events of that afternoon felt like a fever dream. She still struggled to process the reality of it—Declan Vinkart, a man whose pride surpassed the heavens, had knelt at her feet.
He was a man who once exploited her heart to satisfy his own vanity; expecting a sincere apology from him had always seemed like a fool's errand.
[Guard] "Forgive the intrusion, Your Majesty."
During lunch, the Captain of the Guard entered with a stiff bow and whispered into the Emperor's ear. Though the Emperor attempted to maintain a facade of imperial calm, his expression soured instantly. He stood and followed the Captain out of the room.
Vanessa’s gaze trailed the Emperor’s retreating figure before she turned back to her plate.
A heavy, stagnant atmosphere settled over the table. Everyone knew the cause: "the incident."
One week after her encounter with Declan, trouble erupted in the Grand Duchy. The monsters inhabiting the canyons of the Tyrelle Mountains had suddenly surged in number, multiplying until they blanketed the peaks.
When the news first broke, the citizens of the Empire expected the Grand Duchy to handle it with its usual efficiency.
It was a natural assumption. For centuries, the Duchy had served as a fortress—the iron bulwark protecting the Empire from the shadows.
Furthermore, fluctuations in dark mana often caused temporary spikes in monster activity. The Ingzella Empire felt no immediate threat.
However......
This time, something differed. The chaos showed no signs of receding. Reports claimed the monsters fought with a ferocity and power never seen before, leaving the Ducal forces struggling to hold the line.
For the first time in history, the forces of evil held the advantage. And leading the army at the vanguard was......
Since the kidnapping, the people of the Count's household carefully avoided mentioning the Grand Duchy in her presence. Yet, with the entire nation trembling under the crisis, scraps of information inevitably reached her ears.
When she first heard of the monsters, her mind flashed back to her escape with Helia. During that carriage ride, the bizarre sight of the shifting mountains had caught her eye. That had been the omen for this catastrophe.
[Empress] "It seems we must conclude today's luncheon here."
The Emperor’s absence stretched too long, forcing the meal to end before tea could be served.
Hayden escorted Vanessa to her carriage.
During the ride back to the estate, she sat in silence, lost in thought.
Since her return to the past, the world had remained largely unchanged. While the central thread of her marriage to Declan had been severed, the surrounding events followed a familiar pattern.
Yet, this situation was an anomaly. During her previous life—her time as the Grand Duchess—no such monster uprising had occurred. She mentally checked the dates and confirmed the timeline. The period where the monsters were now ravaging the north coincided exactly with the time she had been slowly dying in the Grand Duchy.
But this never happened then......
If such a crisis had occurred back then, Declan wouldn't have had a single moment to spend by her side. Her memories were clear; the north had been peaceful.
That left only one conclusion.
The timeline has shifted.
A divergence had formed at some point after her regression. She could easily guess the cause.
When they were first married in her previous life, Declan frequently left the castle at night, claiming there were "issues in the canyon." He would return shortly after, acting the part of the doting husband, claiming the situation had settled.
During those lonely nights when her isolation grew like mold, he had likely been uprooting the seeds of this very disaster before they could sprout.
In that life, he was a Grand Duke present in his own territory, acting swiftly. But this time?
Since his regression, Declan had remained in the Empire. Because of her. Obsessed with their inverted relationship and the Goddess’s intervention, he had stayed here, desperate to reclaim her.
And while he was distracted, the disaster in the Grand Duchy had festered.
Vanessa parted the carriage curtains slightly. Outside, crowds huddled together, clutching newspapers and speaking in hushed, urgent tones.
The headlines were no longer about the imperial wedding; the public cared little for distant celebrations when their own safety hung in the balance. The impending national wedding had been pushed to the back pages by the terrifying reports from the north.
The monsters of the Tyrelle Mountains were a primal fear for the Ingzella people. Faced with an unprecedented threat, the Empire walked on eggshells.
If the Grand Duchy—the supposedly invincible fortress—fell, the monsters would pour into the heart of the Empire and turn it into a slaughterhouse.
[Dina] "My Lady, you've returned?"
The carriage stopped, and the door opened to reveal a welcoming Dina. She offered a faint smile and stepped down with her maid's assistance.
As they walked to the bedroom, Dina chattered like a sparrow, but she only processed fragments of the conversation. One word, however, snagged her attention.
[Dina] "The Covenant Ceremony is nearly upon us."
She offered an awkward smile as she helped Vanessa change. Serving her mistress’s wedding was a lifelong dream, but the grim state of the Empire made her heart heavy with complex emotions.
In the Ingzella Empire, where faith ran deep and the temple held immense authority, the Covenant Ceremony was a mandatory precursor to marriage. It was not a mere signing of documents; it was a ritual to bind two souls together under the eyes of the Goddess.
Because of its weight and solemnity, some nobles in political marriages skipped the ceremony to avoid the burden. However, for the Imperial family—the bloodline loved by the Goddess—it was an unbreakable requirement. Vanessa, as Hayden's future bride, could not avoid it.
Dina said "nearly," but the truth was more precise: seven days.
One week......
That day felt more significant than the wedding itself. Once the Covenant was made, there would be no turning back. She had already made her choice, yet her chest tightened.
She pressed a hand over her heart. Dina’s face paled instantly.
[Dina] "What is it? Does your chest hurt again?"
[Vanessa] "It's not that. It's just......"
Suffocation? Emptiness? Or perhaps anxiety?
Vanessa herself couldn't define the sensation. Knowing that thinking about it would yield no answers, she pushed the feeling aside, as she always did.
Relieved that it wasn't the return of her previous illness, Dina glanced toward the desk. It was piled high with books and recent correspondence. Dina was likely looking for the newspapers hidden among the letters.
[Vanessa] "Dina, could you clear the desk?"
Dina’s face brightened. The maid wanted to protect her in her own subtle way, and Vanessa allowed it.
The letters were surely filled with empty congratulations for the wedding, and the newspapers......
[Dina] "Yes, My Lady."
Fearful that Vanessa might change her mind, she gathered the papers and hurried out of the room.
The air in the bedroom turned cool. Though the room was warm, the chill came from Vanessa’s own turbulent mind.
She pressed her fingers against her temples. A persistent headache throbbed behind her eyes.
Grand Duchy. Monsters. Declan.
The words floated aimlessly in her head.
Normally, such a crisis would force a postponement of the national wedding. It was an emergency where peace could shatter into chaos at any moment. The only reason the wedding proceeded was because of the Grand Duchy's silence.
Despite clearly struggling, the Grand Duchy had not sent a single request for military aid to the Empire.
This silence baffled the public. Some believed the fortress was holding firm. Others grew terrified as thundering explosions from the north began to echo once or twice a day, shaking the horizon.
While everyone else searched for a reason, Vanessa alone understood the truth.
If you watch me marry Hayden without interference... then I might believe you are sincerely sorry.
She remembered the way his eyes had wavered when she spoke those words—how the light in them had dimmed into a bottomless void.
Looking at his reaction then, she thought he could never do it.
Under Imperial law, individual territories cannot maintain private armies for national defense. If a conflict requires an expedition, the Imperial Knights—who serve only the Emperor—must move. The commander of such a force must be a member of the Imperial family. Currently, Hayden was the only suitable heir for that role.
The other princes and princesses were either too young, too frail, or lacked the constitution for war.
If the situation escalated further, Hayden would be forced to march to the front lines, and the wedding would be delayed indefinitely. Thus, Declan was currently pushing his limits, standing as a lone shield to block the chaos from reaching the Empire.
He was doing it as an act of atonement. He was desperate for even a single chance at forgiveness.
Perhaps her deduction was too bold. Maybe she was entirely wrong. Yet, the persistent fluttering in her chest gave her an inexplicable certainty.
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