Richard was seething with anger as he left the palace. He couldn't even plant a spy in the palace like he did in the past.

At that time, the Cassil family was very powerful, and Tenstheon also had the Crown Prince who was under the curse as a weakness.

But they were caught.

Tenstheon knew about the spies but he pretended he didn't notice any of them. He captured all of the spies at the same time when he punished Duke Cassil.

It was a severe blow to the Cassil family.

They were caught planting spies in a clumsy manner so they couldn't avoid punishment.

Ancia had to deal with the Crown Prince as soon as possible.

Richard gritted his teeth and looked at the Forens Palace.

The Sephia Palace and Forens Palace were next to each other.

The emperor granted the palace to Ancia first, and soon, he gave the other palace to the Crown Prince.

'If I had been born as Tenstheon's child, that would have been my palace.'

Then suddenly, he saw a beautiful woman with white hair and a mysterious aura.

Richard's gaze naturally followed her. She turned and looked at Richard too.

At that moment, Richard's eyebrows furrowed.

Although the hair covered most of the woman's face, he could still see some of her burn scars.

"It must be the girl the Crown Prince picked up in the valley of chaos."

He was a monster.

So he must have a hobby of collecting monsters like him too.

Richard thought the woman was beautiful, but the moment he saw those scars, he couldn't see her beauty anymore.

Furthermore, he thought that even the scarless side of her face was no match for Ancia.

Why did the Crown Prince keep a woman like that beside him?

Richard just couldn't understand him.

In any case, she was the woman the Crown Prince cared for.

She might be useful. Richard approached Rose.

***

Blake gave me the key to the Amoria Palace. He also allowed me to enter the Imperial Library as I pleased.

Early in the morning, I went to the library to find a book about my condition. When I was heading back after I finished reading it, I ran into Richard.

I heard the news of the Cassil family from Chelsea.

Richard survived thanks to the people's sympathy. Domiram also told others that his master was the Duke and Richard knew nothing.

That was all nonsense. He must've used Domiram's black magic to manipulate the Duke of Cassil.

If I was here at that time, perhaps Richard wouldn't get away with it like this.

When I met him again today, I recalled my memories from a thousand years ago, making me feel even more unpleasant.

Richard strode towards me.

"Are you a maid here?"

He said with a mocking smile.

It was laughable to see Richard pretending not to know me even though I was sure he knew who I was.

I quickly looked away from him, in case he misunderstood that I liked him like he did before.

"......"

I felt really sad and pained whenever the memories from a thousand years ago came to mind.

Even the memories of Ancia's life in the past.

Having suffered from the abuse of my father, Count Bellacian, since birth, I was not in the right state of mind.

If I didn't marry Blake and fall into the river, I would've something else to end my suffering.

Out of those memories, there were some memories that bothered me.

When Richard said I liked him before, I thought it was because Richard was popular like it was mentioned in the original novel.

Gilbert Bellacian loved to host and attend parties. Before his marriage, his family suffered from the lack of funds that he couldn't afford to host parties, but after he remarried my biological mother, he often hosted and attended many parties.

I didn't like these kinds of events, but I definitely couldn't stay in my room because of those parties.

Gilbert Bellacian cared about his reputation the most so he didn't want to be rumoured to be abusing his eldest daughter.

That's why he forced me to attend them even though I didn't like it.

Gilbert Bellacian was stupid and emotional. He should've at least dressed me up in good clothes.

I often wore worn out dresses that didn't fit me at every party. He also never introduced me to anybody.

He just let me attend it.

The aftereffect of his abuse caused me to only sit quietly in the corner at every party and think of ways to avoid greeting others.

Other people also didn't bother to talk to me.

One day, I was sitting alone in the corner when I saw Richard. I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

The moment I saw him, I got goosebumps all over my body. I didn't know about my memories of a thousand years ago at that time, but my body still responded that way when I saw him.

'Who is he? Why did I feel an ominous feeling after seeing him?'

After that day, I stared at Richard whenever I attended the parties because I wanted to find out why I reacted like that whenever I saw him.

One day, he came over to talk to me.

"Lady Bellacian, do you like me?"

"Pardon?"

I was puzzled.

Who likes whom?

Is he saying that I like him?

"Thank you for that but please stop."

"No..."

I tried to deny it.

But he didn't listen to my explanation and left after saying what he had to say.

Now that I thought about it again, I felt it was very unfair.

When I recalled what had happened, I was filled with resentment.

Who the hell liked whom?

I was just staring at him!

That's why he had said that before!

If I remembered what had happened before, I would've protested.

He's got a knack for pissing people off.

Richard asked me, "What's your name?"

"......"

Why would he ask me that if he knew?

"I'd like to talk to you for a moment. Do you have time?"

He gave me a fake smile. Under his gentle gaze, I could feel a hint of his arrogance.

He was still the same.

"We can meet outside the palace if you want to."

I accidently caught a glimpse of his eyes and got goosebumps.

Seeing how he seduced me so blatantly, he must've known about me and was trying to use me.

I grew up with Phillip since we were children so I could notice whether or not he was pretending.

Even a thousand years later, he hadn't changed. I could clearly understand his true intention.

I shook my head firmly and turned around.

"Hey, hold on."

He didn't expect that I would ignore him, so Richard called out to me in an urgent voice.

But I entered Forens Palace without looking back.

***

Tenstheon was working in his office when Ser stepped inside.

"Your Majesty."

As soon as she came inside, she broke down in tears.

Tenstheon was startled and approached her.

"Ancia, what's wrong?"

"Everyone seems to hate me."

"What does that mean? Who doesn't like you?"

Tenstheon panicked. He had specially selected Ancia's servants and guards. There was no one who would ignore Ancia just because she lost her memories and was bad at etiquette.

"His Highness, the Crown Prince hates me."

"That's not true..."

"My sister doesn't even come to see me."

"Diana has an important test coming up. I'll contact her as soon as the test is over."

Tenstheon explained kindly, but Ancia kept whining.

"The maids and servants all look down on me."

"Who dares to look down on you."

"All of them! Even Melissa, the head maid, and the senior attendant! Yesterday I was going to meet the Crown Prince but they tried to stop me!"

"They're not that kind of person. There must be some sort of misunderstanding."

Everyone knew that Melissa and Hans were always loyal to Ancia and would never ignore her.

Moreover, everyone was well aware of how much they missed and valued her.

Despite Tenstheon's coaxing, Ancia continued, "Why are you taking someone else's side?"

"I'm not taking any sides."

"I wouldn't have come here if I knew this would happen!"

Tenstheon was surprised at her outburst.

If it was someone else, Tenstheon would severely scold and punish her for being like this. But it was Ancia. It wasn't her fault that her memory was gone and her personality changed like that.

"I'm sorry. Don't cry."

Tenstheon could only try to soothe her for now.

"I haven't had a meal together with His Highness yet. His Highness hates me. I'm so sad."

"I don't think so. It has been a while so maybe there was a misunderstanding. I'll call Blake over."

"Really?"

She managed to stop crying.

"Yes."

"Thank you, your Majesty!"

When Tenstheon nodded, she smiled broadly as if she hadn't just been bawling her eyes out a moment ago.

Tenstheon couldn't return her smile. He felt that something was strange with Ancia.

She framed Melissa, Hans, and the Crown Prince too.

Tenstheon knew them well. They were genuinely nice people, yet she framed them so thoughtlessly.

He couldn't feel a sense of guilt from her.

Why did she become like this?

Either way, it wasn't something the former Ancia would ever do.

But seven years had passed, Maybe she had gone through a lot in those years.

If only he had protected Ancia back then, she wouldn't have changed like this.

Testheon was worried about her.