The Villainess Wants to Be Loved Again
The first time I laid eyes on her, I knew she was the one I would spend the rest of my life with.
Golden hair that shimmered like sunlight, eyes the color of fresh spring leaves, and a smile so radiant it could melt even the coldest heart. From the moment I saw Aria von Eisenstein, I was completely captivated.
She was the only daughter of the prestigious Eisenstein ducal family, and I was merely the second son of a minor baron. Our social stations could not have been further apart. Yet fate, in its strange mercy, bound us together through a political marriage.
I still remember the day our engagement was announced. The way her lips curved into that perfect, practiced smile as she looked at me. The way her voice, sweet as honey, said my name for the first time.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir Leonard."
Even though it was a marriage of convenience, I believed that if I devoted myself to her completely, she would eventually come to love me. I poured everything I had into becoming someone worthy of standing by her side.
I trained until my hands bled to become the empire's finest knight. I studied politics and etiquette until my eyes burned. I even memorized every flower in the ducal garden because I knew they were her favorites.
But none of it was enough.
"You disgust me."
Those were the last words she ever spoke to me.
The day our divorce was finalized, she looked at me with eyes full of nothing but contempt. As if I were nothing more than a bug that had dared to crawl too close to her perfect world.
I died that day.
Not literally, of course. But the man I had been—the one who had loved her with every fiber of his being—perished the moment those papers were signed.
After that, I threw myself into my duties as a knight. I rose through the ranks with terrifying speed, becoming the youngest commander in the history of the Imperial Knights. They called me the empire's blade, the emperor's shadow. But inside, I was hollow.
Until the day I received that letter.
My dear Leonard,
I know these words come far too late. I know I have no right to ask anything of you after the way I treated you. But if there is even the smallest chance that you might read this letter...
Please. Come back to me.
I was wrong. About everything.
I miss you more than I can bear.
— Aria
The elegant handwriting was unmistakably hers. The faint scent of her favorite rose perfume still clung to the parchment. For a long moment, I simply stared at the letter, my mind refusing to process what I was seeing.
This had to be some kind of cruel joke.
The woman who had looked at me like I was less than dirt was now... begging me to return? After three years of silence? After she had thrown away everything we had built together?
I almost burned the letter right there.
But something stopped me. A small, treacherous voice in the back of my mind whispered that maybe—just maybe—this was real. That perhaps the woman I had loved so desperately had finally realized what she had lost.
I hated myself for even considering it.
Yet here I was, standing before the massive oak doors of the Eisenstein ducal mansion once again. The same place where I had once been so happy. The same place where my heart had been shattered beyond repair.
The butler who greeted me looked as if he had seen a ghost. His eyes widened comically when he recognized me, and for a moment I thought the poor man might actually faint.
"C-Commander Leonard! This is... quite unexpected. Please, follow me. Her Grace has been expecting you."
Her Grace. So she had inherited the ducal title after all. I wondered what had happened to her parents. Not that it was any of my business anymore.
As we walked through the familiar halls, memories assaulted me from every direction. The corridor where I had first kissed her hand. The garden where we had taken afternoon tea together. The library where I had spent countless nights reading to her until her eyes grew heavy with sleep.
Every inch of this place was haunted by the ghost of what we once were.
The butler stopped before a set of ornate double doors and knocked softly.
"Your Grace? Commander Leonard has arrived."
There was a moment of silence. Then a voice I hadn't heard in three years called out.
"Let him in."
The doors swung open, and there she was.
Aria von Eisenstein.
She looked... different. The radiant confidence that had once defined her was gone. Instead, she seemed smaller somehow. More fragile. Her golden hair was pulled back in a simple style rather than the elaborate updos she used to favor, and there were dark circles beneath her beautiful green eyes.
When she saw me, those eyes filled with tears.
"Leonard..."
She took a hesitant step forward, then another. Her hands trembled as she reached out to me.
"You came. You actually came."
I remained perfectly still, my face a mask of indifference even as my heart hammered against my ribs. The scent of roses washed over me, bringing with it a wave of memories so powerful they nearly stole my breath.
"You summoned me, Your Grace," I said, my voice cold and formal. "Here I am."
She flinched at my tone, but didn't retreat. If anything, she moved closer, close enough that I could see the way her lower lip quivered.
"I... I don't know where to begin. There are so many things I need to say to you. So many apologies I owe you."
I raised an eyebrow. "Apologies? From the great Duchess Eisenstein? This should be interesting."
Her tears spilled over then, tracking silently down her porcelain cheeks. She didn't bother to wipe them away.
"I was cruel to you. Unforgivably so. I let my pride and my fears blind me to the treasure I had in my hands. I pushed you away when all you ever did was love me."
She reached out and gently took my hand. Her fingers were ice cold.
"I know I don't deserve another chance. I know I have no right to ask this of you after everything I put you through. But Leonard..."
Her voice broke, and she had to swallow several times before she could continue.
"If you could find it in your heart to give me even the smallest opportunity... I want to love you properly this time. The way you always deserved to be loved."
For a long moment, the only sound was the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner.
I looked down at our joined hands. At her tear-stained face. At the woman who had once been my entire world.
And I felt... nothing.
The love that had once consumed me like wildfire had been reduced to cold ashes. The pain was still there, buried deep, but even that felt distant now. Like a story that had happened to someone else.
I gently pulled my hand from hers.
"Your Grace," I said quietly. "Do you remember what you said to me on the day our divorce was finalized?"
She went very still.
"You told me that the mere sight of me made you sick. That you had only ever tolerated me because of the political benefits our marriage provided. That you wished you had never laid eyes on me at all."
Each word landed like a physical blow. She actually staggered backward, one hand pressed to her chest as if I'd stabbed her.
"I remember," she whispered. "God help me, I remember every single word."
"Good." My voice was steady, though my hands had clenched into fists at my sides. "Because I remember them too. Every. Single. One."
I took a step back, creating distance between us.
"I'm not the same man you married, Your Grace. That boy who loved you so desperately died three years ago. The man standing before you now has no interest in being your consolation prize."
Her face crumpled.
"Please," she begged, her voice raw with desperation. "Please don't say that. I know I hurt you. I know I broke something precious between us. But I'm different now too. I've changed, Leonard. Let me prove it to you."
I studied her for a long moment. The tears. The trembling hands. The genuine anguish in her eyes.
And for the first time since receiving her letter, I felt something other than anger or indifference.
Curiosity.
What could possibly have happened to turn the proud, untouchable Aria von Eisenstein into... this? What had broken her so completely that she would humble herself before the man she had once discarded like yesterday's garbage?
"One month," I said finally.
Her head snapped up, hope blooming across her tear-streaked face.
"I'll give you one month to convince me that this isn't some elaborate game. One month to show me that you've truly changed. But know this, Your Grace..."
I leaned in slightly, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
"If this is another one of your cruel tricks, I will destroy you. Politically. Socially. Completely. Do we understand each other?"
She didn't hesitate for even a second.
"Yes," she breathed. "I understand. Thank you. Thank you, Leonard. You won't regret this. I swear it."
I wasn't nearly as certain.
As I turned to leave, her voice stopped me at the door.
"Leonard?"
I didn't turn around.
"Yes?"
"I... I missed you. Every single day."
For just a moment, my carefully constructed walls cracked. A memory flashed through my mind—her laughter echoing through these same halls, her hand warm in mine, the way she used to look at me like I hung the moon and stars.
I crushed the memory ruthlessly.
"One month, Your Grace," I repeated without turning. "Don't waste it."
Then I walked out of the room, leaving the woman who had once been my everything standing alone with her tears and her regrets.
Only when I was safely back in my carriage did I allow myself to exhale.
What the hell was I doing?
This was madness. Complete and utter madness.
Yet as the carriage rolled away from the ducal mansion, I couldn't quite shake the image of her tear-filled eyes. Or the desperate sincerity in her voice when she had said my name.
Maybe I was a fool.
Or maybe—just maybe—the villainess really had changed.
Either way, I was about to find out.