TPSR 1

Chapter 1

Why did it end up like this?

With trembling arms, I barely managed to support my collapsing body.
Sticky blood flowed down from my torn forehead, covering my vision.

My skin—bruised and scraped as I was dragged all the way to the underground prison—was swollen and split open here and there, sending waves of pain through me.
It hurt terribly.

I could have writhed in agony at this unfamiliar pain, but something else completely dominated my thoughts.

“Something’s wrong. Something….”

Just three days ago, I had been the empire’s one and only imperial princess.

**Lorea Friese.**

The most precious—and most despicable—jewel of the imperial family.
A cruel and cunning villainess.
A beautiful demon clad in gold.

All of those wretched titles belonged to me.

The nobles despised me, yet feared me.
Though I was only a half-blooded princess who didn’t even know her birth mother, I lacked nothing.

Because the sun of this nation—the one and only emperor—was on my side.
He gave me everything I wanted.

So why…?

> “All authority and titles of Imperial Princess Lorea Friese are hereby revoked. She is to be confined in the underground prison for eternity.”

*Why would Father make such a decision? He wouldn’t… He couldn’t…*

At the verdict that felt like an ambush, everyone except me cheered.
The people hurled curses and stones as if they had been waiting for this moment.

“Never come back, you demon!”
“Filthy witch—rot in hell!”

The filthy, damp floor I would never have touched before.
The stench of rot assaulting my nose.
The swarming rats and insects.

None of it felt real.

“Why… why me…?”

That was when it happened.

From the entrance of the underground prison, faint footsteps echoed.
They drew closer, then stopped in front of the iron bars.

I hurriedly crawled forward on my knees and clutched them.

“…Father!”

“My, what a pitiful sight.”

There was no pity in Father’s voice—if anything, it sounded mocking.

Why?

“Father, why are you doing this? Something’s wrong, isn’t it? There’s no reason for you to treat me this way!”

“You still seem to have strength left.”

“Father, why—!”

My grip on the bars tightened.

“I lived exactly as you wished! I became a villain for the imperial family, a figure of fear to the people! Everything—everything was just as you wanted!”

*Cough.* A blood-stained cough burst out. My throat burned as if it were tearing apart.

“…This is all a mistake, isn’t it? You must have another plan… right?”

I was the necessary evil of the imperial family.

Whenever the empire needed to suppress the people or push policies that would provoke resentment, my name was always put forward.

I believed without question that this was my worth.

So Father wouldn’t abandon me.

“You need me!”

I screamed in desperation.

But something was strange.

Father merely looked down at me with a detached, observing gaze.

“I have shed more blood for the imperial family than anyone. You know that.”

I desperately scooped up the blood pooled on the floor.

Sticky. Dark. Red.

The thing that made me a precious princess despite not knowing my birth mother.
The thing only I possessed.

Blood that could control unstable demonic power.

The emperor nodded calmly.

“Yes, that’s right. You—and your blood—have contributed greatly to this imperial family.”

“Then why—!”

“What choice do I have? The people’s anger grows stronger, and the purity of the demonic power in your blood continues to decline.”

For the first time, regret crept into the emperor’s voice.

In his wrinkled hand, crimson refined stones clinked softly.

“If we don’t secure it before you become completely useless, how could we produce more refined stones?”

“…What.”

“You must be used until the very end—for the power of the imperial family.”

Something inside me collapsed with a heavy thud.

“Lies….”

That was it?

The reason I was thrown into the mud and discarded so mercilessly?

Just to extract a large amount of blood at once?

My grip on the bars loosened. My arms fell limply.

“…….”

I had known, vaguely.

That from the beginning, I was nothing more than a chess piece of the imperial family.
That one day, I might be discarded.

Still, they were my only family.

So I wanted to be useful.
Even if I wasn’t loved.
I wanted to have value.

“…May I ask just one thing?”

I struggled to lift myself again and looked into Father’s golden eyes—eyes that didn’t resemble mine at all.

“Not even once… did you ever cherish me as your daughter? Even for a moment….”

My voice faltered.

“Even if I was only half… still, still, did you ever—”

“A daughter?”

The emperor’s expression was strange.

He bit his lip, trying to hold back laughter—then burst into roaring laughter.

The ripping sound echoed through the underground prison.

“Hahahaha! You fool!”

“…Father?”

“Who told you that you were even half my child, hmm?”

What was he saying?

With a look of utter contempt, as if staring at an insect, he kicked the iron bars—*clang!*

“Listen carefully.”

A thick hand shot through the bars and grabbed my collar.
Silver hair—so like my own—fell like a curtain.

“The House of Duke Carter.”

I flinched at the name.

“I used you to trample those vermin, nothing more.”

“…What does that—”

*Thud.* He roughly released my clothes. My vision swayed.

“Do you still not understand?”

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Whose blood do you think those wicked red eyes of yours came from?”

The emperor sneered.

“Go on. Tell me how it felt—strangling your own father and brother with your own hands and casting them into ruin.”

He looked utterly delighted. His yellow eyes gleamed like a snake’s.

I couldn’t understand him.

The emperor laughing maniacally before me.
The name driven into my ears.

None of it made sense.

**Carlos Carter, Duke of Carter.**

The imperial family’s greatest enemy, bearing royal blood.
The man I crushed and destroyed with refined stones—until I drove him to death.

And his only remaining heir—I had personally reduced him to a living wreck.

Yet…

“That can’t… be.”

They were my family?

“Oh my, what a pitiful face. Have you only now begun to pity your blood relatives?”

“No… no, it’s a lie….”

“No. It’s the truth.”

“…….”

“Because I made it so.”

I took you from your family.
Raised you as an imperial princess.

The emperor smiled lazily, as if my shattered face were entertainment.

“Unfortunately, it’s too late now. The duke is dead, your brother is ruined, and you’re locked in this underground prison.”

“…….”

“But don’t worry too much. At least you won’t die here just yet. Your blood will be used valuably until the very end.”

The emperor stretched his lips into a wide smile.

Something in my mind snapped.

He wouldn’t kill me here.

He would brand me a villain, isolate me from the world, then stab a blade into my heart when it suited him.

“…Impure blood can’t be used for refined stones. If I die in this filthy prison, that would be inconvenient for you.”

“Oh, you understand well.”

The emperor praised me approvingly.

“So feel honored. Your filthy bloodline will be erased, and you’ll become a princess who devoted herself to the empire.”

He chuckled as he lowered himself to meet my gaze.

“Of course, no one will ever know.”

The gentle father who had at least pretended to care was gone.

There was only an emperor delighting in the death of his enemy’s daughter.

“Do you understand, Lorea?”

Lorea.

At the sound of my name, I reflexively sucked in a shaky breath.

He had never once called me by name—only “my jewel,” “the princess,” and the like.

How desperately I had longed to hear it.

And yet, I heard it now—when my entire life was denied and death loomed before me.

It all felt like a dream.

“I’m truly grateful to you. Becoming a precious chess piece right to the very end.”

At those final words, strength drained from my hands.

My body felt cold.

“Ha… haha.”

I laughed.

I couldn’t not laugh.

“…Have you finally gone mad?”

“Ha… ha….”

I stopped laughing abruptly and looked straight at him.

“…I understand perfectly what you intended to use me for. But.”

My vision was a mess—tears or blood, I couldn’t tell.

“Then you should have been more thorough, Your Majesty.”

After that, it was easy.

I thrust my arm through the bars and yanked out the sword at the emperor’s waist.

“It seems you forgot how cunning your princess can be.”

Before he could stop me, I drove the blade straight toward my heart.

The emperor’s eyes widened.

“No!”

*Thud.*

“Cough.”

The blade pierced my heart. Agonizing pain flooded my body. Bloody coughs burst out.

“M-my blood…!”

The emperor’s face turned deathly pale. He tried desperately to scoop up the blood through the bars, but it was useless.

I looked straight at him.

At the very end—at least at the very end—

I would not fulfill his will.

“…May your path ahead be filled with nothing but ruin.”

With that venomous curse, my strength gave out and my body collapsed.

In the cold underground prison, as all the blood drained from me—

I finally smiled brightly.

—

“…Your Highness. Princess?”

“…….”

“Are you all right?”

…Princess?

When I opened my eyes, I wasn’t in the filthy prison—but sitting beneath warm sunlight.

*The scent of perfume…*

I frowned instinctively.

The maid reflected in the mirror startled and bowed hurriedly.

“I-I’m sorry! You didn’t respond!”

…What?

I was supposed to be dead.

Unable to accept the situation, Lorea kept her head still and rolled only her eyes to observe her surroundings.

*Am I alive? No… something’s different.*

This place was familiar—yet strange.

The princess’s bedroom where I had stayed before my coming-of-age ceremony.

I looked in the mirror again.

My face was very young—early teens at most.

I pinched my cheek hard. Soft flesh squished and stretched.

“…Ah.”

It hurt.

Not as much as being stabbed through the heart—but still.

“What year is it now?”

“Pardon?”

The maid blinked in confusion, then, seeing my cold expression, answered nervously.

“I-It’s Imperial Year 1043.”

Seven years ago.

When I was thirteen.

*Ha.*

I let out a hollow breath.

This wasn’t resurrection.

I had returned.

To the past.