Chapter 1

My older brother was the crown prince, but he fell in love with a courtesan.

He secretly brought her to his rooms and spoiled her endlessly.

I tried to persuade him many times, but nothing worked. In the end, I reported the matter to our father.

The king flew into a rage and ordered the courtesan executed.

My brother changed after that. He worked hard and diligently.

Years later, his power grew strong. He staged a coup, killed our father, and sold me into a brothel.

He said, "Other than her lowly background, Ursula did nothing wrong. Since you look down on courtesans, you'll be one for the rest of your life."

I died under endless torment in that place. After my death, my brother hung my corpse on the city wall and let people curse and spit on me.

When I opened my eyes again, I returned to the day he brought the courtesan to his rooms.

Well, he wasn't the only one with rights to the throne.

*****

I was the only princess of the Rheinston Kingdom, but my brother, Harlen Traynor, sent me to a brothel.

I lowered myself, begging him for help, but that only made him even more excited and cruel.

He towered over me, his eyes bloodshot, absolutely thrilled by his own revenge.

He sneered, "Maria, didn't you always look down on women from the brothel? Look at you now. You're worse than the mud in the gutter.

"What did Ursula ever do wrong? She loved me so much. She was simply born with a lowly background. Did you know she was carrying my child when she died?

"I'm going to make you a whore for the rest of your life, to pay for what you did to Ursula."

I struggled to open my eyes and glared at his merciless face, using the last of my strength to say, "Ursula deserved to die..."

"You're the one who should die," Harlen cut me off, slamming his foot down on my face. "You and Father both deserve to die."

"You're a fool." I spat out a mouthful of blood.

I hated him with every fiber of my being.

After that, Harlen left me to suffer in the brothel.

Within half a year, I got sick and died.

When I died, my body was covered in sores, and the pain was hellish.

But Harlen still wasn't satisfied. He had my corpse hung on the city wall, left to fester while everyone spat on me and hurled curses.

When I opened my eyes again, Harlen's wife, Shonda Pierson was crying in front of me.

She said, "Maria, the crown prince brought home a girl from the brothel. His maid said he spent the whole night in her room and didn't sleep at all!"

It took me a moment to realize what had happened to me. I'd returned to the past.

I was back on the very day Harlen brought Ursula back to his rooms.

In my previous life, Harlen went to a brothel to meet with foreign envoys, trying to keep his identity as the crown prince a secret. But he was set up and was nearly assassinated.

Ursula shielded him with her own body, taking a deadly strike that was meant for him. From that day forward, Harlen's feelings for her began to grow.

He immediately got her treated and paid her way out of the brothel, keeping her tucked away on the outskirts of the city. But he couldn't stand being apart from her, so he secretly brought her to his rooms.

Moreover, he didn't spare a thought for Shonda and only doted on Ursula.

Shonda kept coming to me in tears, so I tried again and again to talk Harlen into spending time with Shonda too. After all, Shonda was the daughter of a powerful lord, and the court was already a mess.

But Harlen just put on a show for me, acting like he'd change. In private, he didn't change at all.

In fact, he only got more obsessed with Ursula, and started skipping morning court more and more, always using some illness as an excuse.

I couldn't bear to watch Harlen fall so far, so I started digging into Ursula behind his back.

What I found was that she was no ordinary brothel girl. Her background was a tangled mess. Furthermore, the assassination of Harlen at the brothel was suspicious.

I was terrified Ursula might be a spy, so I didn't dare let her stay by Harlen's side.

If her true identity was what I feared, with how much Harlen doted on her, his life could be at risk any time.

And so I reported everything to our father.

Enraged, he had Ursula executed right then and there.

Years later, I finally found out that Ursula was actually an assassin planted by my uncle, Garrett Traynor, the Duke of Trudington, right by Harlen's side.

That whole assassination at the brothel? It was staged from the start, all so Ursula could get close to Harlen.

Due to his poor health, my father only had two children: Harlen and me.

Harlen was made crown prince from birth, and our father placed all his hopes on him, personally raising him to be king one day.

But the duke was always hungry for the throne, hoping to control Harlen and use him to steal the crown for himself.

Later, my father and I set a trap and wiped out the duke and his whole faction, putting all the power he held straight into Harlen's hands.

Harlen didn't let us down. After Ursula died, he went right back to his old self, devoting himself to ruling and looking after his people, with nothing to distract him anymore.

But none of us ever imagined that he wasn't truly repentant at all. Harlen was simply lying low, waiting for his chance to strike.

Years later, when he'd gathered enough power, he stormed into our father's chambers with his army.

He knew our father was already on his deathbed, but Harlen didn't care. He forced his way into the palace and murdered our father in cold blood, willing to bear the hatred of the entire kingdom.

My father's blood soaked me from head to toe, and Harlen didn't spare me either. He shattered my pride, ensuring I wouldn't rest in peace.

"Maria, you have to help me," Shonda sobbed, her voice cracking when she saw I wasn't answering.

I hadn't even opened my mouth yet when a footman announced outside, "The crown prince has arrived."