A list of characters appearing in The Villainess Lives Again.

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Main Characters

Marchioness/Grand Duchess Artezia Rosan

Artezia "Tia" Rosan

The main character of the story. Artezia is officially the daughter of Millaira and Mikhail Rosan and heir of the Rosan Marquessate. Having been groomed to help her half-brother, Laurence, ascend to the throne, Artezia acted in the shadows and committed countless crimes to eliminate his political rivals.

After Artezia was betrayed by Laurence, she returned to the past when she turned 18 with her memories intact, now determined to prevent her brother's rise and instead enthrone the honorable Grand Duke Cedric Ebron. She suggests a time-limited political marriage with Cedric, but slowly develops feelings for him. After her wedding, she officially becomes the marchioness of Rosan and the grand duchess of Ebron.

Affectionate Nickname: People that are close to Artezia call her "Tia".
Age-Gap Romance: Cedric is 27 at the start of the second timeline, making him 9 years older than Artezia. He embarrassingly eventually realizes that there is quite an age difference between him and his wife, which is not apparent due to her maturity.
Anti-Hero: Artezia did and does a lot of bad things like ordering assassinations or causing the downfall of her political rivals both in her first and second life. The difference in her second life is that she is doing this to prevent a despot from ascending the throne. Artezia has to do bad things in the shadows, because Cedric is an honorable man who would never do it himself, even when it would be necessary.
The Atoner: Having seen the consequences of supporting Laurence, Artezia travelled back in time and now uses her political wit to cause her brother's downfall, and instead seat the just and honorable Cedric on the throne in his stead. She also regrets ruining Lisia's life by forcing her to marry Laurence in the original timeline, especially as Lisia forgave her for it anyway and swears to also ensure Lisia's happiness in the new timeline.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Those who are truly kind to her without any benefit to themselves are those who Artezia values the most.
- Despite being the one who arranged the circumstances that led to her unhappy marriage with the cruel Laurence, Lisia never hated Artezia for her actions and forgave her for it. She was Artezia's Only Friend, and her death destroyed Artezia so thoroughly that it's why she didn't bother fighting Laurence when he finally turned on her. This leads to Artezia being very protective of her in the new timeline, to the point of making her one of her ladies-in-waiting so she can keep her close.
- Cedric risks life and limb to save the captive Artezia from Laurence, and once they meet again, begged her for her help with stopping her brother from destroying the empire further. When she makes it clear that the damage is so thorough that even she can't fix it, he decides to have his men bring her to the countryside so she can spend her last days peacefully. His kindness touches her so much that she decides to give her life to turn back time so he can stop Laurence, and when it turns out she has gone back as well, makes her decide to make him Emperor instead of her brother. It's not hard to see why Artezia ends up falling in love with him.
Blood Magic: Magic has practically disappeared in Artezia's time, as it requires Human Sacrifices and the circles are so complex that most would probably fail to draw them. Artezia has learned how to draw these circles and tried to use her own life as the sacrifice to turn back time to get Cedric to become the emperor.
Cain and Abel: The Abel to Laurence's Cain. Even though everything she did in the first timeline was to make him emperor, Laurence still turned on her and subjected her to a Fate Worse than Death, just because he couldn't stand the fact she was more competent and accomplished than him. In the second timeline, Artezia openly acknowledges that supporting Laurence was a mistake and turns her attentions to making Cedric emperor instead.
The Chessmaster: Evidently, Artezia was one of the main reasons Laurence ascended to the throne. The manhwa once showed her moving people like she moved chess pieces on a board. She now uses her farsighted, political wit and manipulating skills to make sure Cedric instead becomes the emperor.
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: She's far inferior to Lisia as a saint because holy power is shaped by your belief: Tia doesn't believe that anything can come without tradeoffs, so her divine power is nearly worthless unless she fuels it with her life energy. Lisia, meanwhile, is a genuinely kind and devout person who never thinks of things in those terms and can thus heal freely and easily.
Delicate and Sickly: Her health has never been amazing, contrasting the lively and energetic Lisia. This is only made worse by her near nonexistent appetite, something Cedric addresses by ordering his servants to make sure she always eats something, even if it's just things like cookies. If not for this, she would completely neglect her own health. Her poor health also causes her to ignore missing her period because this was never really unusual for her. Missing a period or two due to poor health was just something that happened sometimes.
Despair Event Horizon: In her first life, she simply gave up after Lisia died. She had already more or less realized she never should have supported her brother, but the miserable death of her best and only friend because of her own actions caused her to just... stop. She disbanded her intelligence, propaganda and conspiracy organizations and simply waited for her brother to inevitably turn on her.
Disappeared Dad: Artezia doesn't have a father anymore. Her official father, Mikhail Rosan, died a bit after she was born, while her actual father likely was among the victims of Millaira's mass poisoning incident at Mikhail's funeral. In the first timeline, she yearned for Gregor to be a father figure for her, but since she was a constant reminder of Millaira's infidelity, Gregor was not interested.
Establishing Character Moment: Artezia's appearance at the beginning of the story sees her not even trying to fight against her brother's Frame-Up and resigning herself to the cruel fate he has in store for her. Later, after she's rescued, we see her appalled reaction to Laurence's senseless destruction of various provinces of the empire. Finally, when Cedric goes to his knees and begs for her help in saving the empire, believing in her better nature, she's driven to tears and decides to help him by casting blood magic to send him back in time to stop Laurence's rise to power. These scenes illustrate her lack of self-worth, her dislike of pointless cruelty and violence, and her willingness to repay those who are kind to her tenfold.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Artezia was no doubt one of the most evil conspirators that ensured the ruin of the empire in her first life. She still had people she cared about.
- Despite all the abuse she received, Artezia still loved her mother. Indeed, in the second timeline Artezia still cares for her; when Millaira breaks down and begs for her forgiveness after they meet each other again, the first time after Artezia's marriage to Cedric, Artezia flat-out tells her the only reason she left Millaira is because she would've impeded her goal in making Cedric the next emperor. Ultimately, while she does bring about Millaira's downfall, she does so in a way that allows her mother to survive the story.
- Artezia thinks that all humans in general are in some way evil, with two exceptions: Cedric and Lisia.
Fate Worse than Death: In the first timeline, Laurence cut off her limbs and her tongue and then left her to rot in a cold dungeon for at least a decade. He called sparing her life a mercy, but it would've been kinder just to kill her. Thankfully, it ended up backfiring on him when Artezia is rescued and resets the timeline to stop his ascension to the throne.
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: The first traces of her inherently better nature come early on in two forms: First, she's horrified at what Laurence did to the empire while she was out of the loop. She may have caused tragedies, but they always served a purpose and she also planned for ways to improve the situation afterward and actually help people. Laurence's butchery makes no logical sense at all because it doesn't even really protect his own power, which is unassailable by that point. Second, she actually doesn't really get why Laurence turned on her even though she knew he would. Cedric, at least, implicitly understands that Laurence's pride could not stand the fact that his success was all due to Tia, who never hid the fact that she knew better than he did. Since he knew it was true as well, as soon as he felt he didn't need her anymore he got rid of her.
Guile Hero: In fact, her wit is the only true weapon she has. She refrains from using forbidden Blood Magic and she is a frail woman.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Artezia has horrible self-worth issues and does not care about getting harmed to accomplish her goals, which Cedric asks her to not do anymore. No matter how much good she is doing, it would never be enough for atoning for what she has done in her first life. She even blames herself for not dealing with Aubrey properly, leading to Aubrey committing treason and the death of some soldiers at the fortress trying to protect Artezia. Hailey also is shocked how little Artezia cares about her own health and that she still doesn't seem to realize how far the people of Ebron would go to protect her.
Hollywood Thin: Averted. Her thin physique is not considered normal and while she is considered to be reasonably pretty, this is only when she's forced to eat more regular meals and puts on at least a little weight. Even then, she still often looks unhealthily thin.
Hyper-Competent Sidekick:
- While Laurence was no fool, the one who pulled the strings that ensured he would become emperor in the first timeline was Artezia. She was the one who facilitated the legitimacy he needed, and she was the one who eliminated Roygar and forced Cedric into exile. However, that is exactly why Laurence could not stand Artezia. She was better than him and he needed her. So when his rule was secure, he decided to make her suffer and let her rot in a cell.
- Cedric isn't initially made for politics. He is a military man and not a schemer, so Artezia serves as the far more dangerous element in Marchioness Camellia's and Emperor Gregor's eyes. He does become more politically astute over the course of the story, but he doesn't have the stomach or temperament for Dirty Business like she does, so he leaves that sort of work to her.
I Am Not Pretty: Artezia was conditioned to not care about appearances much by her mother Millaira, who frequently calls her ugly, since Artezia does not resemble her or Laurence. However, other characters frequently comment on her beautiful platinum-blonde hair and turquoise-colored eyes. She does look beautiful, she just looks a bit too skinny and would look better if she took better care of her face and wore more fashionable clothes (which again is the fault of her mother).
I Gave My Word: Oh, she's prone to lying, never doubt that. However, if Artezia promises something, she usually tries to keep her word especially to the people that work for her.
- She was willing to lay down her life and beyond for Cedric after she silently promised to help him at the end of the first timeline.
- In the second timeline, she executes her plan to ruin Roygar and the heads of the Houses Ruden and Camellia to exact vengeance for Dairy Ford, who committed suicide after murdering Queen Amel for Artezia. Preil points out that Artezia did not order her to do this and does not have to fulfill her end of the deal, specifically targetting House Camellia too, when they could become allies, as she never made any promises and even if she did, she would only have to fulfill it to the letter, but Artezia rejects this, as breaking one's promises would be shameless and a schemer must be credible. One can break promises and betray dangerous allies exactly one time, but never one's own subordinates.
I Just Want to Be Loved: Her main motivation for helping her brother was to survive, but also to gain the approval and love of her family. Her mother refused to give Artezia the love she craved and clearly favored Laurence. In her second life, she has given up on trying to gain Laurence or her mother's approval. She nonetheless wants to be loved, which is why she continues to pretend to be a less manipulative and amoral person than she actually is to Cedric in the second timeline once she realizes he loves her, as she selfishly wants him to keep loving her. Later, she's driven to tears when Cedric reveals that he has memories of the previous timeline and has for some time, meaning that he's always known what kind of person Tia is, and for a brief moment is convinced that their relationship is over — until he reaffirms his love for her and begs her to stay with him.
Inconsistent Spelling: Her name is alternatively romanized as Artisea or Artizea. Her family's name is also sometimes written as Rozan.
Insecure Love Interest: She loves Cedric, but refuses to go too far in her relationship with him because she doesn't think an evil woman like her deserves him.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Another reason why Artezia doesn't want to commit to her relationship with Cedric is because she believes he loved Lisia and she took Lisia away from him in the original timeline. Thus, she set a time limit to her marriage with Cedric, as she expects him to eventually fall in love with Lisia and does not want to leave a bad mark on his reputation by making him leave her for another woman. Lisia and Cedric are the only people Artezia came to respect and love, and allowing them to get together would make her happy.
The Kingmaker: When Cedric starts taking the tiniest of baby steps into politics, Tia instantly draws massive attention from both Roygar and Laurence's factions: Everyone knows Cedric doesn't want to be emperor but he's by far the most powerful noble in the country. However, trying to influence him directly is a fool's errand while Tia is very clearly intelligent, politically savvy and willing to negotiate, so if she can be swayed Cedric can be indirectly moved into action. Unfortunately for them, she's long since decided who she's going to help sit on the throne because whether Cedric wants to be there or not, he needs to be there.
Lack of Empathy: Subverted. Artezia moved the empire at her will and killed thousands of people from a small room just by giving her orders. To her, it was all just numbers. Actually seeing what her actions caused, be it Lisia's death or the starved and killed people, makes her regret everything. She can be ruthless to her enemies, but she has no desire to harm her loved ones or innocent people and will go out of her way to protect them.
Last of Her Kind: Artezia is the last direct descendant of the Rosan family. Her mother killed every other member to ensure that Artezia would inherit the marquessate.
Like Mother, Like Daughter: Zigzagged. While Artezia is a more moral person than her mother, it becomes clear that she inherited her talent for scheming from Millaira. Millaira's own scheme to claim the Rosan Marquessate shows she's a fairly adept manipulator in her own right, but it's hampered by her narcissism and hysteria. Artezia, who has no such idiosyncrasies thanks to her abusive childhood and high-functioning sociopathy, is far more effective.
Love Martyr: She may not really feel much empathy directly, but at her core she's really just ruthlessly efficient rather than actively cruel. The only reason she was willing to put Laurence on the throne despite her deep understanding of him is because she was desperate for his and her mother's love. She eventually realizes it wasn't worth it and simply gives up because she's come too far to fix it. Her second life has her take a better path.
Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Officially, Artezia is acknowledged to be Marquess Mikhail Rosan's daughter, but everyone knows he was too old and sick to share a bed with Millaira. However, since Artezia bears a striking resemblance to Mikhail, it's evident that she must be a Rosan as well. Mikhail's daughter and heir suspected that her own son slept with his grandmother-in-law, so she officially acknowledged Artezia as her half-sister to avoid both having to think about it and the inevitable scandal. This automatically put Artezia in the line of succession, just as Millaira planned.
Manipulative Bitch: Artezia is highly effective at manipulating people just with words. She knows what people want to hear to make them dance to her tune.
- Artezia initially lets her mother Millaira believe that she is still her obedient and loyal daughter, who cares for her, which also pleases Gregor who favors Millaira. She then secretly manipulates Millaira's hysteria and lets Laurence do the rest, while associating with Empress Katrine, the person her mother can't stand the most.
- Just by using clever words, she makes Skyla Camellia give up any hope that Roygar can still win the succession battle. By adding Ian Camellia to the mix, Skyla eventually decides to betray Roygar and her aunt Garnet, which leads to the downfall of Roygar and her mother.
Martyr Without a Cause: Surprisingly given her extremely cold attitude, she's always the first to sacrifice herself or her own needs, even when other options were potentially available. Cedric tries to stop her whenever he realizes what she's doing, but isn't always around to do so, and this leads to one of their first serious disagreements.
My Greatest Failure: Her failure to protect Lisia and Lisia's child in the first timeline. That's why she's so protective and supportive of Lisia in the second timeline.
Nice to the Waiter: She's generally a kind and generous mistress to her employees, which is actually one of the reasons why she's able to build such an effective intelligence network.
Number Two: She was Laurence's top conspirator in the first timeline. In the new timeline, she is Cedric's most important advisor.
Oblivious to Love: Due to her low self-esteem and guilt, Artezia has a hard time recognizing when others are in love with her. She doesn't believe Cedric could love her until he tells her so and had no idea that Cardriol had proposed a romantic partnership instead of continuing their business one in the first timeline until he flat out says so in the second.
Ojou: Actually, she wasn't initially treated like a proper lady, despite being the heir apparent of the Rosan Marquessate. Especially her mother and Millaira's butler Bill abused her. Once she comes into contact with Cedric in the new timeline, she is treated properly.
Patron Saint: In the new timeline, it's revealed she's taken Lisia's place as the new Saintess of their era. Artezia finds this more of a hassle than a blessing since it might leave her more beholden to the church if it is ever revealed to the public, so she opts to keep it quiet instead.
Protectorate: Seeing the vulnerable and weak Artezia makes Cedric want to protect her.
Secret-Keeper: Artezia discovered in her first life that Cedric protected a secret village full of people that were accused of treason (but were exonerated). She brings this up to Cedric in her second life, which angers him as he believes she tries to blackmail him with this knowledge.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Artezia was proposed to many times in the first timeline, but she ignored all her suitors up until her death in her forties, because she knew all they aimed for was the title and wealth of House Rosan and a connection to her brother, the eventual emperor. The only person she unknowingly desired at that time was Cedric, a man who she believed to be without an ounce of evil in him. She marries him in the second timeline, though she doesn't believe she deserves him.
The Social Expert: Artezia's ability to read people correctly is one of her strongest assets. She knows what drives people the most and uses this to her advantage. For instance, for her plans to succeed, she needs Empress Katrine's help. She knows Katrine values her friends and wants revenge against Gregor for taking away everything she cared about, so Tia promises to rob Gregor of everyone he cares about in return and give Katrine the Duchy of Riagan back.
The Spymaster: Artezia was the master of an intelligence and spy network in the first timeline. She dissolved it after Lisia's death. In the second timeline, she immediately builds her network after gaining access to the Rosan treasury. It is not only high-functioning, she can easily dissolve it and leave no traces behind, such as when she knows Gregor's own secret service is out there to find any evidence. Cardriol especially values Artezia's ability to manage intelligence, because while he is a strong fighter and leader, he knows how crucial information is and his men are terrible spies.
Strong Family Resemblance: Artezia did not inherit her mother's beauty. Instead, she looks a lot like her alleged father, which is why no one doubts she is a Rosan.
Totalitarian Utilitarian: Left to her own devices, she is not above deliberately causing the common man to starve in order to harm a political rival, reasoning that said rivals would cause even more suffering if they came to power. However, Cedric more or less forbids this type of plan, which causes her to focus instead on direct political scheming and assassination.
Tough Leader Façade: Justified. Her mother raised her to be this. Artezia rarely shows her real emotions in front of her subordinates and enemies. Cedric, Lisia, Alice and other selected people close to her are some of the few people who see her real face.
Undying Loyalty: In the second timeline, her loyalty to Cedric is absolute and she is willing to do just about anything to make him Emperor. At the same time, however, she respects Cedric's autonomy and his own vision for the empire, which is why she tries to always act according to his wishes.
The Un-Favourite: Millaira is not exactly subtle about her clearly favoring Laurence over Artezia. The only reason she gave birth to Artezia was to have a claim over the marquessate of Rosan, and even that didn't stop her from resenting her daughter when it caused her to briefly lose favor with the Emperor for cheating on him.
Weight Woe: Ever since she was a child, Artezia was called fat by her mother. This led to Artezia developing eating disorders, from which she still suffers in the present to the point that she frequently Forgets to Eat. Cedric is shocked to see her body and face being so thin despite coming from a rich marquessate. He frequently visits Artezia to bring her food to help with her poor nutrition.
"Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: What Artezia wanted was to be praised and loved by her mother, but no matter how much she accomplished, praise was only reserved for her when it involved Laurence. She gets over it towards the end of the first timeline after seeing the terrible consequences her actions caused in pursuit of that goal.
Winter Royal Lady: Only during her stay in Ebron. Artezia is very sensitive to the cold, so she is dressed in beautiful furs to keep her warm.
Worthy Opponent: After she goes back in time and begins her plans, Gregor instantly pegs how dangerous she is and that she is likely coming for the throne. Instead of being enraged, he's amused and delighted, and begins testing her to see her capabilities in hopes she'll prove as effective support for Laurence.
Gregor: (thinks) It's a long time since I've felt hunted. To think that an exceptional hunter would appear in an unexpected place. It's difficult not to be pleased.

Grand Duke Cedric Ebron

Cedric Ebron

The son of Floella and Leofric Ebron. Cedric's mother was the daughter of the previous emperor and Emperor Gregor's half-sister, making him Gregor's nephew. Cedric's parents were executed for alleged treason, although they were later declared innocent, making Cedric the new ruler of the Ebron Grand Duchy. He was later ordered by Gregor to rally the western forces and rebuild the army to defend the empire from invading monsters, for which he was hailed as a hero.

However, despite his military power and popularity among commoners and nobles alike, he did not interfere in the succession battle between Roygar and Laurence, since he had no interest in politics. In the original timeline, Artezia eventually destroyed the Ebron Grand Duchy, stole Cedric's fiancée Lisia for Laurence, and forced him into exile. After Laurence became emperor, Cedric led a resistance against Laurence, but since he and his men only knew how to handle military affairs, he eventually had to admit that he was at a loss and didn't know how to overthrow Laurence. In a final desperate attempt, he freed Artezia and appealed to her conscience to help him. Touched by Cedric's willingness to trust her, Artezia decided to use a forbidden spell to turn back time and achieve this wish.

In the new timeline, Artezia intercepts Cedric and suggests a temporary marriage to help him smooth over his relationship with Emperor Gregor, while she would receive Cedric's protection to inherit the Marquessate of Rosan. If he accepts, she will also make him emperor. After some thought, Cedric decides to accept her off and the two are married. Their arrangement grows complicated, however, after their feelings for each other grow and the two begin to fall in love.

Age-Gap Romance: Cedric is 27 at the start of the second timeline, making him 9 years older than Artezia. He embarrassingly eventually realizes that there is quite an age difference between him and his wife, which is not apparent due to her maturity.
Always Save the Girl: Cedric very much wants Artezia to value herself more and consider her own well-being. Both times she becomes pregnant he wants her to abort the baby rather than risk Death by Childbirth.
Beware the Nice Ones: Although probably one of the nicest and most honorable characters in the story, angering him by hurting innocent or weak people is not a good idea.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: This is why he was spared after his parents were falsely charged with treason. If the entire Ebron family was wiped out, the northern region would have seceded from the empire in rebellion. Notably, Gregor never seriously considers eliminating Cedric even after he emerges another contender for the throne until Cedric has a child of his own, one that can both succeed the Ebron Grand Duchy and become Gregor's heir.
A Child Shall Lead Them: He (technically) became the Grand Duke of Ebron when he was only just a baby due to his parents' execution. Presumably, the duchy was put into a regency until he became of age and was able to fully undertake the responsibilities of his position.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: When having the choice between obeying the emperor's orders or help the people around him, Cedric always would choose the people. Artezia was aware of this, so she deliberately caused incidents that forced Cedric to interfere, which eventually led to his banishment in the original timeline. In the new timeline, she takes advantage of it by leading him to situations that would allow him to naturally cultivate his image as a hero and make him a serious contender for the throne.
Clueless Chick-Magnet: He doesn't seem to be aware that a lot of women have fallen for him. His gentle personality, good looks, and fame make him a very attractive marriage prospect.
Cynicism Catalyst: The death of several of his loved ones, the downfall of the Ebron Grand Duchy and the overall collapse of the empire in the first timeline embittered Cedric significantly. While he didn't lose all of his idealism, he developed a more realistic and comprehensive outlook on life, which is why he was willing to rescue Artezia and beg for her help. This outlook remains with him in the next timeline after he regains his memories. Outside of some specific moral lines he asks for her not to cross, he puts up little complaint about Tia's scheming, and involves himself more in the politics of the empire in preparation of becoming emperor.
Establishing Character Moment: The first time we meet him is after he and his people have rescued Artezia after her years of captivity. Face to face with the woman who facilitated the rise of a monstrous despot, Cedric goes to his knees and begs Artezia to help him defeat said despot to save the empire, trying to appeal her better nature. When she admits that the damage is too severe for even her to repair, rather than harm her further, he decides to send her to peaceful countryside so she can spend her last years in peace. This displays his kind and generous personality, and his absolute devotion to protecting the common people. The display touches Artezia so much that it's what prompts her decision to turn back time and make him Emperor instead, viewing him as the only possible choice for the throne if the Empire is to survive.
A Father to His Men: He is well-respected both by the northern and western armies and cares about them like family, for which he has earned their Undying Loyalty. The second timeline begins with him being in a pickle because the emperor refuses to give Cedric and the armies their deserved respect and accolade to save his own face.
The Fettered: During his honeymoon in Ebron, Artezia suggests a plan (that already worked in the past) that would lead to Grand Duke Roygar's death, but it involves piracy and arson to cause a famine and starve the people. She openly admits that while she knows about moral values, she cannot truly understand them. Cedric encourages her to find a better way that won't harm the common people.
Cedric: Once you invokedlose sight of your moral principles, you cannot regain them. It's okay to sacrifice your honor, but not your principles.
Four-Star Badass: Cedric is an accomplished commander who reorganized the western armies and successfully protected the northern and western part of the empire from invasions.
Friend to All Children: He was very kind to Lisia and Aubrey when they were children. In Aubrey's case, it backfired on him as she became extremely clingy to the point of disaster.
Generation Xerox: Actively defied when it comes to his and Tia's daughter, Leticia. When Artezia proposes publicizing herself as a Saintess in order to shield Leticia from further scrutiny and possible assassination attempts by making her the target instead, Cedric immediately shoots the idea down. While he understands and appreciates Artezia's desire to protect their daughter and admits he would probably do the same thing in her position, he cannot bear the idea of what Tia's potential loss could do to Leticia, much like how the loss of Cedric's own parents affected him growing up. He explicitly states that he has no desire for her to follow in his footsteps and be forced to undertake so many responsibilities at a young age like he had to.
Heroic Neutral:
- He is uninvolved in the struggle for the throne, because his priority is to protect the people of Ebron. Many have suggested that he should aim for the crown and become emperor to avenge his parents, who were unjustly killed by Gregor, but Cedric doesn't care about that. Artezia convinces him to enter the battle for the throne to protect the empire and its citizens, because the other candidates are all worse. In truth, however, his real motivation early on was just that he had fragmented memories of a physically ruined Tia and simply wanted to support her.
- Artezia has developed a plan where he still appears to be neutral while working toward making him the next ruler. By marrying her, Cedric would please Gregor and Laurence, as he would now be tied to Laurence by marriage. However, by appearing to fall for Artezia, Roygar would still have reason to believe that Cedric did not marry her for political reasons. Since Cedric is a popular military commander, he would thus become The Kingmaker.
Hidden Depths: Karam never truly broke through the northern walls. Instead, Cedric killed one of their previous chiefs and took his place in what is basically a Karam council system, then using it to open trade, immigration and diplomacy in secret. This is why there is a Karam commander early in the series who deliberately gives Cedric a chance to snipe him: It was something like a secret message and a test of intentions to see if they could have some sort of similar arrangement. Even Artezia is rather shocked by this surprisingly cunning development.
Honor Before Reason: He tends to value honor a bit too much, which is why even his lieutenants ask him to stand down and give up on the accolades for the army to appease Gregor. Artezia is the one who eventually convinces him.
Humble Hero: He does not value his own honor as much as the honor of his soldiers. Artezia tells him that he may go too far with this, because while he may not care as much about his personal honor, his people do.
Inconsistent Spelling: His family name is alternatively romanized as Evron.
Knight in Shining Armor: Cedric is highborn, humble, honorable, loyal, and just, a knight who defends the weak and innocent, and fights for the good of the people. He is one of only two people that she would never call evil, which is why she fell in love with him, and Cedric is determined to protect Artezia. Of all people who have a claim to the throne, she thinks he is the most suitable person to become emperor.
Locked Out of the Loop: Initially, by choice. He turns a blind eye to Artezia's scheming because, while he acknowledges the necessity of it, he just doesn't have the stomach for it and will likely cause more harm than good if he gets involved. After he regains his memories and reveals himself to Tia, however, he allows himself to be brought into the loop because he feels responsible for her actions since he's the one who asked for her help in the first place.
Morality Chain: Tia's empathy for her fellow man is near non-existent, mostly limited to hating pointless suffering or harm coming to the few people she truly cares about. She loathes this about herself because she knows how terribly it goes with her genius, so she relies on Cedric to keep her grounded and make sure she behaves as ethically as possible. Early on, she deliberately chooses to not use an old, proven plan of hers to eliminate Grand Duke Roygar because it would cause a great deal of suffering to the common man, which Cedric would not be able to stomach. From a utilitarian standpoint, it would be better than Roygar taking the throne, but it's still not something Cedric can tolerate.
Neutral No Longer: The main change Cedric goes through during the story is overcoming his predisposition towards neutrality and avoidance of political conflict. As a dutiful and honorable man whose sole concern is protecting the Ebron Grand Duchy, Cedric studiously avoids anything that could even remotely involve him into the fight for the throne in hopes that the winner will leave him and his loved ones alone. Even after he decides to involve himself for Tia's sake, it's clear he's not truly committed to the idea of becoming Emperor and is hoping that she'll eventually back down and just live peacefully with him. It's only after his memories return and he sees that the people in the capital have no care for his neutrality and won't hesitate to bring him or someone he loves down if it's convenient for them that he decides to truly dedicate himself to becoming the Emperor. After that, he becomes more politically-minded and starts making decisions with the entire empire in mind, not just Ebron.
Rebel Leader: Cedric led La Résistance in the first timeline. However, he had no way to close the power gap between the rebels and Laurence.
Reluctant Ruler: Cedric doesn't want to be a politician nor does he seek revenge for his parents' deaths. He rules because that is the best way to protect the empire's people, and this is how Artezia gets him to accept her plan to make him emperor: if Cedric doesn't become emperor, Roygar or Laurence will and either one of them would be even worse than Gregor and lead the empire to ruin. Indeed, in the first timeline he only threw his hat into the ring when it became clear the other contenders viewed him as too much of a threat to leave him alone. In the second, he's become resigned to the idea because his experiences in the first timeline showed him he really is the only option for the position if the empire is to survive.
Secret Secret-Keeper: Eventually he regains memories of his past life, including those of Artezia ruining his home. He keeps this to himself until she talks to him about the succession rights of their child, after which he reveals what he knows in a moment of barely-contained rage.
Selective Obliviousness
- He overlooks the majority of Tia's scheming because he knows it has to be done to keep the throne from Laurence and Roygar respectively, who are both different kinds of tyrants in the making. He does, however, make it clear that he draws the line at involving innocent people.
- He regains his memories reasonably early into the story, but pretends that he hasn't because he knows that Tia is not in a position to accept the truth yet.
Single-Target Sexuality: Towards Artezia. Prior to their "courtship" and eventual marriage, Cedric showed absolutely no interest in romance to the point that he had a reputation of "hating women". After their marriage, however, Cedric makes it clear that he's never going to want anyone else but Artezia, a fact that is cemented when it's revealed that he has his memories of the previous timeline and still only wants her.
Strong Family Resemblance: Cedric is said to look almost exactly like his deceased father, Leofric. This is part of the reason why Gregor doesn't like Cedric, but also the reason why he gleefully supports Cedric in getting justice for Artezia's unfair treatment by the temple, as Cedric acknowledges his royal blood and pleads for Gregor's help. It's as if Leofric has finally submitted to Gregor.
Take a Third Option: To be more specific, he is the third option. Because Cedric is so widely-known to be politically disinterested and focused on his duties as the Grand Duke of Ebron, most people forget he's officially in line for the throne after Roygar and Roygar's children. Because of that, the general assumption is that either Roygar or Laurence will be the next emperor, with many disliking both and opting to choose whichever one they feel is the Lesser of Two Evils. Once Cedric starts entering the political arena and builds himself up as a strong contender for the throne with Artezia's help, those same people start flocking to him in droves once they realize they have him as an option instead.
Warrior Prince: As the grand duke of Ebron, he is responsible for defending the north from invaders. Emperor Gregor eventually ordered Cedric to defend the west from monsters, which he successfully did as well.
The Wise Prince: Cedric is not an aspirant to the throne because his only concern is the protection of his people. He is content as a military leader who protects the empire from outside forces. Artezia tells him that becoming emperor will protect his people from the other throne claimants, which is why he now aims to become emperor.

Artezia's family

Laurence

Emperor Gregor's illegitimate son with his favorite mistress, Millaira. A man who has inherited his mother's beauty and is favored by his father. Since Gregor has no issue with his empress, Laurence is one of the contenders for the throne. In the first timeline, Artezia helped him ascend to the throne by marrying him to Saintess Lisia and eliminating Grand Duke Roygar and Grand Duke Cedric. However, Laurence repaid Artezia by maiming her and locking her up. Under Laurence's rule, the empire eventually fell into ruin.

In the second timeline, Artezia early on drives a wedge between Laurence and Millaira. She lets Laurence believe that she is still on his side, leaving him unaware that she is actually actively working against him.

And Then What?: One of the main reasons why Laurence's tenure as emperor in the first timeline was a failure and why he keeps bungling his own attempts to become emperor in the second is that he has no real vision for what to do with the power he is so desperate to claim. He just wants it because he feels entitled to it and because it will satisfy his inferiority complex. Because of that, he has no real regard for the consequences of his actions when trying to achieve his objectives, and without Artezia around to mitigate the damage, he's left floundering once the backlash hits and sets him back from his primary goal.
Bastard Angst: A strange variation. While he doesn't angst about it, he has something of a complex about his illegitimacy even though he's the Emperor's favorite child and treated as if he were a legitimate prince of the empire (which is easier to do when said Emperor has no living legitimate children). Artezia later uses this flaw of his to start driving a wedge between him and the Emperor.
Bastard Bastard: The illegitimate son of the Emperor and his mistress. Also a horrible person, who has a complex about the fact that he is illegitimate.
Big Bad Wannabe: Preventing Laurence from ascending the throne is the primary goal of the main characters; however, Laurence himself is not really a threat. He's only a candidate for the throne because Gregor wants him to be, and he's not competent enough to claim it on his own, having had to rely on Artezia in the first timeline to do all the actual work. Therefore, in the second timeline Artezia doesn't put in a lot of effort sabotaging him outside of getting rid of Millaira so she can't be his shield anymore. Instead, she just gives him a few well-planted suggestions and lets Laurence do the rest.
The Caligula: While Gregor is a sociopath, he at least cares about keeping the empire prosperous because it makes things better for him as well as the need to have a proper successor so as to ensure his own legacy. Thus, his actions were always kept from getting too extreme and the average person has no real problem with him. Laurence, on the other hand, is driven entirely by his rather fragile ego, paranoia and entitlement. He does not care if the empire literally becomes a flaming pile of rubble so long as he feels he has avenged all slights and crushed the slightest hint of defiance, real or imagined. As such, in the decade between Tia's imprisonment and rescue he turns a powerful and prosperous empire into exactly that. The empire is so thoroughly destroyed and possible resistance so broken that even Tia cannot think of a single way to fix the situation other than turning back time.
Disproportionate Retribution: In the first timeline, he had an entire city/province slaughtered just because one of the natives was party to an assassination attempt on his life. That would not be the last time he did something like this, and his proclivity for such scorched earth campaigns is one of the reasons the empire began to fall apart.
Domestic Abuse: He was abusive to Lisia during their marriage in the first timeline. While Artezia did her best to protect Lisia, ultimately she could only prevent Laurence from abusing her publicly, likely through leveraging Lisia's immense popularity with the majority of the empire. She could do nothing to protect Lisia during their private lives, particularly when it came to the bedroom.
Entitled Bastard: Laurence doesn't care about anyone in the slightest. In his opinion, everything is rightfully his, be it the empire or any woman he desires. He takes the help from his mother and sister for granted, and when he doesn't receive it, he is internally outraged.
Entitled to Have You: His attitude towards Lisia. In the second timeline, Laurence is strangely drawn to Lisia and experiences flashes of memories from the first timeline. He cannot comprehend why he desires Lisia, but he makes several advances and is perplexed when she refuses. At least until he fully regains his memories. At this point, Laurence remembers that Lisia used to be his wife and gave him the legitimacy he desperately craves to become emperor. He eventually kidnaps Lisia and sexually abuses her, threatening to kill her if he can't have her. Lisia, who sees that Laurence is beyond redemption, kills him in the end.
Even Evil Can Be Loved: Subverted. Lisia genuinely loves him, but rather than humanize him, his inability to appreciate her love just makes him come off as a worse person. Eventually, Lisia comes to realize that no matter how much she loves him, he's never going to change, and ends up killing him.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Deconstructed. It's implied he genuinely loved Lisia in the previous timeline, but whatever love he had for her wasn't enough to change him and like everything else in his life, he ended up ruining her.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Flashbacks from the first timeline show that he could not understand why Lisia would concern herself with the weak and sick. Not agreeing with her actions, he eventually had her locked up.
Establishing Character Moment: The first time the readers meet Laurence is during Artezia's downfall in the first timeline, where it's revealed he had his son murdered in order to frame his sister for the crime (the same sister who is the only reason he even became Emperor in the first place), and then pinned a host of others on her (some of which she was guilty of, most of which she wasn't) to seal the deal. All because he resented the fact that she was smarter and more accomplished than him. Then, as her 'punishment', he has her tongue cut out and her limbs removed before leaving her in a dungeon to rot for the rest of her days. This entire scene illustrates his lack of family loyalty and overall self-centeredness, his cruelty, and the insane lengths he's willing to go to in order to avenge any perceived slights.
Foil: To his father, Gregor. They are both paranoid, sociopathic Control Freaks, with a penchant for cruelty. However, the difference between them is that Gregor's cruelty always has a point, with a specific purpose in mind, while Laurence's cruelty is largely executed to satisfy his own ego. The biggest example is when they each arrange the deaths of their respective children: Gregor had all of his legitimate children murdered to secure the Riagan Duchy and prevent any of them from scheming against him like he did with his own family. Laurence had his son Abe murdered so he could use his death to frame his younger sister Artezia for it out of spite.
Generation Xerox:
- Like his father, Laurence is also an illegitimate son of the emperor and a prospective heir. But unlike his father, he lacks the cunning and initiative needed to establish an effective power base that would allow him to become the official heir. That is one of the reasons why Gregor, despite his favor of him, has not made him Crown Prince yet — for all that he cares for Laurence, even he is disappointed in his son's incompetence and needs to have a competant heir for the throne.
- In addition to that, Laurence starts developing a deep hatred and resentment for Cedric, not unlike his father's hatred for Cedric's father, who was more liked compared to him. The fact that Cedric marries Laurence's sister, much like how Leofric married Gregor's, only furthers the parallels.
His Own Worst Enemy: Being a narcissistic psychopath who lashes out at even the slightest perceived slight and lacks any real foresight for his actions, the only thing standing between Laurence and accomplishing most of his ambitions is himself. Something that Artezia is very aware of, which is why she kept him on a leash; the moment she stops trying and he gets rid of her is the beginning of his demise, starting with the destruction of the empire and culminating in Artezia sacrificing herself to reverse time and prevent all the damage he caused. It's so prevalent that in the second timeline Artezia barely puts any effort in sabotaging Laurence beyond getting rid of Millaira and giving him a few pointed suggestions. Laurence does the rest of the damage almost entirely on his own.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His very action of maiming his sister and locking her up for a decade to get rid of her instead of just outright killing her is what allows for her to survive long enough to see the full scope of allowing Laurence on the throne and sacrifice herself to turn back time to ensure he would never be the emperor.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Laurence gives great airs of being the emperor's son but it does not change the fact that he is illegitimate, has no achievements of his own, and his half-sister far exceeds him in capability and cunning. Not to mention he only became the emperor in the original timeline because of Tia. He is very, very aware of this.
Like Father, Like Son: Zig-Zagged. He inherited his viciousness, cruelty, and ungratefulness from both his parents, but unfortunately lacks his father's ability to see the larger picture and does not cherish the concept of family, nor does he have anything close to his parents' cunning.
Murder Is the Best Solution: Laurence's first idea to get rid of a problem is to kill someone. For instance, after his mother is put on trial for human trafficking and commoner protesters begin to demand justice, his first thought is to send the military to kill the protesters. He does not understand the Pragmatic Villainy approach of his father, nor the genuine attempt of Cedric to make amends, calling them empty promises.
Nature Versus Nurture: Discussed. Artezia helped Laurence ascend the throne in part because she believed she could help train him to be a decent emperor, or at least one that could cause damage that was easily mitigated. It was only over the course of his reign that she slowly began to realize how wrong she was; having been raised by two narcissistic parents and spoiled all his life meant that by the time Laurence became emperor, all his worst personality traits had been enabled to the highest order, making him effectively irredeemable. Even Lisia, the one person Laurence might've cared about besides himself, failed to change him in the end and she's the one that ultimately ends his life.
Offing the Offspring: The story begins with Artezia being accused of assassinating his son Abe. In truth, Laurence deliberately had Abe murdered so he could pin the death on his sister and get rid of her.
Overshadowed by Awesome: A major factor in his Inferiority Superiority Complex is the fact that he's perfectly aware of how painfully average he is compared to everyone else around him. Laurence isn't an idiot and, when not guided by his ego or his impulses, is actually reasonably competent. But he doesn't really excel at anything. He's not a master schemer and political mastermind like his sister, nor a genius military strategist and accomplished soldier like Cedric. He doesn't even have his uncle Roygar's strong business sense. If it weren't for his heritage and Gregor's favor, he'd just be another bastard noble child, and he's well aware of it, which just feeds into his insecurities and resentment for those that are more accomplished than him.
Puppet King: Subverted. One of the reasons why many flock to Laurence is because they believe they can manipulate him to support their agenda once he ascends the throne. However, Laurence's Inferiority Superiority Complex means that he despises anyone that is perceived to be more competent than him, meaning any attempts to ingratiate oneself with him through merit is doomed to end in failure. Even Artezia, the person responsible for making Laurence emperor in the first place and a near-unrivaled master manipulator, could only barely control Laurence, and the moment she hit the Despair Event Horizon and let her guard down, he didn't hesitate to get rid of her, essentially freeing him from his last remaining leash and allowing him to wreak havoc upon the empire.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Surprisingly, he delivers one to his mother at Artezia's wedding, plainly explaining to Millaira why she's a hindrance to both him and his sister, and why she's unwelcome at the ceremony and actually advising her to stay back and not interfere.
The Resenter: One of Laurence's greatest flaws is that he does not appreciate and reward meritorious actions. Gregor in that regard is far more intelligent and pragmatic about it, as highly competent commoners like Gayan, Keyshore and Harper have been raised to positions of power and repay that with their loyalty. Laurence on the other hand would just mercilessly remove anyone who is better than him, the prime example being Artezia herself.
Artezia: The wiser a person's remarks are, the less attentive he is. The more merit someone has, the more he despises them. He will avoid those who have legitimate positions.
Self-Made Orphan: In the Bad Future, he eventually had his mother killed for annoying him.
Son of a Whore: His mother is just a glorified, exclusive whore in the eyes of noble and common society and he is very aware of it.
The Stoic: Despite his sadism and Control Freak tendencies, Laurence isn't one for grand displays of emotions. He is very good at keeping his composure, and whenever he does react to something, it's usually with subtle facial expressions and a level voice. It's his actions that betray what kind of person he really is, such as his tendency towards Disproportionate Retribution.
Stupid Evil: In the first timeline. He abuses Lisia, the source of the legitimacy he needed to become Emperor, until she drops dead, sabotages Cedric's campaign to keep the Karam out of the north and subjects the empire to their incursions, and then tortures and imprisons Artezia, the person who won him his throne. The story makes it clear that with or without the Time Travel, Laurence's reign wasn't going to last very long.
Ungrateful Bastard:
- Tia single-handedly made him emperor. He repaid her with dismemberment because he couldn't stand the fact that he needed her. In the second timeline, Tia points out to several of Laurence's supporters that the moment he grasps the crown, he's going to remove anyone who may threaten his authority, regardless of their contributions to him.
  Artezia: He believes he was cheated out of the crown prince's position, which he took for granted. That is why, even if he obtains anything, he is unappreciative. Because he believes that the world rightfully belongs to him.
- He also absolutely doesn't care about his mother. Instead, he abandons her in his attempt to curry favor with Empress Katrine with the hope that she eventually adopts him, giving him the legitimacy that he lacks. This is exactly what Tia wanted him to do though. Laurence does not realize that the only reason he is getting any support from his father is his affection for his mother. Laurence mistreating Millaira and disturbing Gregor's ideal family image is what makes Gregor favor Tia and Cedric instead.
White Hair, Black Heart: He has beautiful silver hair, but he is also a vicious, cruel evil bastard.
Yandere: Towards Lisia. He might've genuinely loved her, but that didn't mean he treated her well. His obsessive and controlling behavior towards her is what eventually led to her death, and not even time travel changes his attitude towards her. Eventually, Lisia is forced to acknowledge that she can't change him and kills him as a result.

Millaira Rosan

The marchioness of Rosan, Emperor Gregor's favorite mistress and the mother of his son, Laurence. After marrying the old and sick Marquess Mikhail Rosan, Millaira was immediately sent to Gregor in exchange for a sapphire mine. As the emperor favored Millaira over his own empress, Millaira was able to enjoy all kinds of luxuries. However, she eventually concocted a plan to lay claim to the Rosan Marquessate by giving birth to Artezia and subsequently eliminated all other Rosan heirs. Raising Tia to be better than her, she instructed Tia to support Laurence in his endeavor to become emperor, which he eventually did in the original timeline. However, after he got rid of Tia, he had his mother killed.

After Artezia turns back time, she immediately plans to cut herself and Laurence off of her mother and take away her mother's power by making her lose favor with Gregor and taking the title of marchioness of Rosan.

Abusive Parents: Millaira both physically and verbally abuses Artezia constantly. Artezia eventually makes her mother beat her in front of many guests, giving her the opportunity to make someone else become her guardian.
Alas, Poor Villain: The story is not unsympathetic to Millaira. True, she's an abusive and unstable mother, but she's also a woman who is deeply afraid of being powerless or abused herself because she knows that her one asset will not last her much longer and a man as selfish as Gregor could easily discard her once her looks start to fade. Several characters directly involved in her downfall do feel pity for her because there's always a sense that being anything but the way she is was never really an option and that deep down she's a fundamentally unhappy person.
Bad Boss: In addition to mistreating her daughter, Millaira also constantly lashes out at her servants and employees. In the second timeline, Artezia gives up trying to control her mother's anger, as if she tried to, Millaira would release her anger at Artezia instead, and Artezia has no intention to get hit anymore, unless she can make use of that.
Beauty Is Bad: Likely the most beautiful woman in the Kratez Empire. She is also not a good person.
Brainless Beauty: Averted. She is actually fairly intelligent and an effective schemer in her own right. Unfortunately for her, said intelligence is often undermined by her utter lack of self control over her awful temperament and a lack of the resources and education she would need to truly shine.
Even Evil Can Be Loved: Despite how horrible a person she is, Artezia still loves her, and the only reason she abandoned her mother is because she would be a detriment to her goal of making Cedric emperor. In turn, Millaira eventually comes to realize that she does indeed love her daughter and cherishes her, but by that point it's already too late.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She truly does love both of her children, though she's terrible at parenting both of them for different reasons. Her spoiling of Laurence likely played a large role in his psychopathy while her abuse of Tia has made her an insecure, unhealthy wreck.
Evil Matriarch: Viciously abuses her daughter both mentally and emotionally. She also likely had a hand in the death of the emperor's legitimate children.
Fatal Flaw: Self-absorption. Millaira is so stuck on her own issues and problems that she has little cognizance for the bigger picture. She allows herself to dissolve into hysterics all the time despite how it reflects on her and her family, and abuses the Emperor's favor relentlessly, leading her to be hated by both the nobility and the common masses. This also manifests in how she supports Laurence; because of how bitterly aware she is of how all her power is owed to Gregor, the only way she can think of supporting her son is by keeping Gregor's favor, rather than using her considerable intelligence to scheme on his behalf like Artezia did in the first timeline.
Femme Fatale: Millaira managed to become Gregor's favorite mistress and likely had a hand in the death of his legitimate children. She later seduced her own grandson-in-law to produce Artezia and lay claim to the Rosan Marquessate.
Gold Digger: Her feelings for Gregor are ambiguous. What is certain though is that she knows she can't forever rely on his favor to maintain her life standard, as her beauty will eventually fade.
Her Own Worst Enemy: Millaira's biggest problem is that she constantly throws tantrums and makes vicious remarks about higher status people in public. In the first timeline, her behavior got her killed at the hands of her own son, while in the current timeline, Artezia uses this to her advantage to get the upper hand on her mother.
Hidden Depths:
- It gradually becomes clear over the course of the story that beneath all her arrogance and hysteria is a Broken Bird who is bitterly aware that all the power she wields comes from others and that she has no real power of her own. The reason she is so obsessed with keeping Laurence and Artezia loyal to her is because she knows that they can ruin her and leave her absolutely powerless once they become adults — a point that was proven true when Laurence killed her in the first timeline after she nagged on him one too many times. In addition, while she might sincerely love Gregor, she also knows he doesn't love her back and could easily discard her once her looks fade, and that she can't rely on him and his favor forever.
- As vain and temperamental Millaira is, she's also considerably intelligent, managing to successfully scheme her way into making Artezia the sole heir to the Rosan Marquessate. Without a doubt, Tia inherited her own genius intellect and talent at manipulation from her, and not her unnamed father. If she weren't so haughty and self-absorbed, it's likely she would be the one championing Laurence against Tia (for Cedric) and Marchioness Camellia (for Roygar) for the emperor's throne.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Her position as the emperor's mistress and de facto wife keeps her safe from nearly any outside threat as Gregor will always protect her in order to maintain the illusion that someone actually cares about him. However, while she's functionally his wife, she's not legally so, causing her to consider the empress a rival she can never defeat. While the empress certainly does hate her, she's also more or less powerless to actually do anything thanks to Gregor. When Millaira is encouraged to strike at her anyway through black magic, she gets caught immediately and destroys her own protected position such that all Gregor can do for her is send her into a hopefully temporary exile and then bring her back later when the opportunity arises. It never does.
Hysterical Woman: Throws a tantrum in pretty much every scene she appears. Any insult towards her will be met with a temper tantrum of hers. Gregor actually loves to make use of this, as he can use it as an excuse to punish anyone that might threaten him or grew conceited.
Improperly Paranoid: She doesn't trust Gregor, which would normally be smart, but in this case it's for the wrong reason. Cruel and self centered as Gregor may be, at his age he is more interested in making himself feel loved and surrounded by family than he is in a mere beautiful woman. While he certainly could discard Millaira at any time and there's nothing a mere mistress could do to save herself, it's actually unlikely he would ever do so unless either forced or the illusion of being a family man was so thoroughly broken that he could no longer make himself believe in it. Her paranoia over her advancing age and unprotected position is quietly encouraged by Tia, leading to an unwise attempt at black magic and human trafficking in order to attack the empress, forcing Gregor to push her away at least temporarily.
Internalized Categorism: Millaira is in the eyes of society just Emperor Gregor's high-class whore and she actually agrees. She is Never a Self-Made Woman, who currently may have Gregor's favor, but she fears that he will abandon her as soon as her beauty fades away or she does something that irrevocably displeases him. Millaira's self-loathing is why she tried to have a Rosan child and raise Tia to be everything that she is not. Seeing Tia in a beautiful dress with accessories gifted by Cedric reminds Millaira too much of herself, which makes her snap and beat Tia in front of their guests.
Karmic Death: She was killed by her own son in the original timeline, who'd she had done everything in her power to make the emperor.
Locked Away in a Monastery: After Millaira is caught and guilty of trafficking children with the intention of sacrificing them to curse Empress Katrine, Millaira is forced to give away her possessions and titles and is excommunicated by the temple. Gregor sends her to a monastery in the west, where she is supposed to stay for the rest of her life. While Gregor always intended to bring her back once some time had passed and Laurence established himself as the crown prince, this never comes to fruition as Laurence worsens his position and Cedric instead becomes crown prince, and neither Cedric nor Tia intend to pardon Millaira.
Mama Bear: Towards both her children. Too bad for her that Laurence does not appreciate it, while she can only express her worry for Artezia while raging and abusing her daughter.
The Millstone: An interesting example. Her behaviour hinders Laurence's chances of becoming emperor, but at the same time she's the main reason he has any chance of becoming emperor at all because Gregor favors her so much. Driving a wedge between Millaira and Laurence actually harms Laurence in the long run, something that Artezia is aware of but Laurence is not.
The Mistress: Of the Emperor. This makes her deeply unpopular with both the nobility and the common people, both of whom see her as nothing more than a glorified whore.
Morality Pet: To Gregor. It's questionable whether or not Gregor really loves Millaira, but he nonetheless has chosen her to be the woman to act as his true wife and have a family with. Thanks to that, Millaira is able to calm his moods and keeps him from lashing out too harshly at Laurence whenever their son disappoints or angers him. It's for that reason that Artezia arranges Millaira's downfall; with her no longer around to be the 'shield', Laurence begins losing Gregor's favor in short order.
Mother Makes You King: Subverted. While Millaira wants Laurence to become emperor, most of her efforts are geared towards keeping Gregor's favor because she doesn't have the foresight to do much else for him. In the first timeline, all the hard work had to be done by Artezia; in the second timeline, with Artezia opting to support Cedric, Laurence has to do the work himself.
Mood-Swinger: Millaira can go from deliriously happy to hysterically furious at the drop of a hat. This especially happens often when she gets drunk.
My Beloved Smother:
- To Laurence, which got her killed in the first timeline because she annoyed him too much. Even Gregor dislikes this behavior, saying that her constant shielding and spoiling of Laurence is what's preventing their son from making something of himself.
- Also to Artezia. Millaira's aim was always to keep Artezia by her side as an obedient daughter, who would not be enticed by men. This is why she constantly tried to make Artezia look as unattractive as possible and refused any marriage offers. She eventually does not protest Artezia's marriage to Cedric, on the contrary, she is actually glad that Artezia would not become what she is - a mistress - and intended to teach Artezia later how she could keep Cedric's love for a long time.
Never a Self-Made Woman: Everything she has is thanks to the Emperor. It's later revealed that this is something that she is aware of and resents, but ultimately can do nothing about.
Parental Favoritism: She is the typical narcissistic parent who designs one child as the golden child to praise and dote on and the other as the scapegoat fit only for scorn and disdain. It's also partly rooted in how their respective births affected her favor with the Emperor. While Gregor praised Millaira for giving him a son, he shunned her after Artezia was born because, as Artezia was quite clearly a Rosan, the only way she could have been conceived is if Millaira cheated on him.
Proud Beauty: Millaira well aware of how beautiful she is. She even considered wearing a modest dress for Tia's wedding to be an enormous sacrifice. In fact, her beauty is probably the one thing that is truly hers, which is why it's her one thing she can be proud of.
The Resenter: Towards Empress Katrine. Sure, Millaira might have the emperor's love and share his bed but the empress is the one that is his legal wife and will be buried next to him. This resentment only grows when both Artezia and Laurence start seeking out Katrine's favor to the point of shunning Millaira, because Millaira views her children as the only things she had over Katrine. Eventually, she becomes unbalanced enough to try and curse Katrine using blood magic and verbally slandering her in public, something that constitutes as treason and can't be overlooked, even for her.
Royal Favorite: The sexual favorite variety.
Sins of Our Fathers: After she's caught trying to conduct blood magic through sacrificing children she secured through human trafficking, Roygar's faction begins to push for her to be charged with treason (since she also cursed and slandered Empress Katrine while she was being arrested). This is because people charged with treason are, by law, required to be executed along with their immediate family — which, in Millaira's case, includes Laurence, Roygar's biggest rival for the imperial throne.
Social Climber: She started out as a commoner or low nobility who obtained a Marriage of Convenience with a marquess, who subsequently sold her to the Emperor in exchange for a sapphire mine. Once she realized how much power being the Emperor's mistress gave her, Millaira had no issues abusing it for her own ends.
Thicker Than Water: Millaira does not trust anyone, especially men and Gregor in particular. The only people that she believes she can rely on are her children. However, her hysterical and abusive behavior makes both of her children abandon her, as in the second timeline Tia stops craving her mother's affection, while Laurence never appreciated Millaira's affection for him and abandons her as soon as he thinks she is a detriment to him and his ambitions.
Troubled Abuser: She's a woman of insignificant birth who used her looks and cunning to rise up to marry a marquis, take over his household and become the emperor's mistress, but in doing so she completely destroyed her own self respect and grew a deep suspicion towards all men. This caused her to try to make her daughter less pretty so that men could never hurt her too as well as beating her to vent her own fear and insecurities over her own ambiguous position.
Unknown Rival: To Empress Katrine. Millaira viciously resents Katrine because she is Gregor's legal wife and the one who will share his grave and be written alongside him in the history books. Meanwhile, Katrine is aware of Millaira's existence but ultimately doesn't care for her or Laurence, viewing them as accessories to the person she truly hates: Gregor.
White Hair, Black Heart: Has dazzling silver hair and is an evil woman.

Imperial Family

Emperor Gregor Kratez

Gregor Afanashi Nestore Kratez

Laurence's father, Millaira's lover, and the current Emperor of the Kratez Empire after time is turned back by Artezia. A cruel, sociopathic Control Freak not unlike his son, he is nonetheless a competent politician and ruler who deeply desires a close and affectionate family. He takes an interest in Artezia after she reveals there is more to her than meets the eye.

Arch-Enemy: To his wife, Empress Katrine, for murdering her family (including their own children) and stealing the Riagan Duchy from her. Artezia is able to win Katrine over by promising to make Gregor the most miserable man on the planet before he dies.
Bastard Bastard: He is an illegitimate child of the previous Emperor who was only accepted as Crown Prince because the Emperor's first wife and Empress adopted him and accepted him as the heir. He's also a sociopath who isn't afraid to purge his own family to maintain his grip over the empire.
Big Bad: He's the true main villain of the story. While preventing Laurence from ascending the throne is Artezia's main goal, Laurence himself isn't much of a threat since he has no exceptional talents of his own. He was only able to become emperor with Tia's help. Since Artezia is no longer backing him in the second timeline, the only reason he still has a serious chance of becoming emperor is because of Gregor's favor. In addition, Gregor is responsible for many of the tragedies throughout the backstories of several characters, including Cedric and Empress Katrine, and some still seek revenge against him — something that Artezia takes advantage of in order to secure their support.
Cain and Abel: Gregor had several half-siblings and eliminated them all to become crown prince eventually. When Floella and Roygar were born, his father refused to cement Gregor's status as heir. This is why Gregor eventually accused Floella and her husband Grand Duke Leofric Ebron of treason and had them executed. He only spared Roygar because Roygar was too young at that time and thus couldn't possibly be a threat, while Cedric was spared not just because of his age but also because Gregor otherwise would have lost Ebron. The sad reality was that Floella even admired Gregor, but this didn't change the fact that her existence alone was a threat to his rule.
Control Freak: To such an extent that he's not willing to share power with anyone, including his own children. That's why he had no issues killing his legitimate children, and why he keeps playing Laurence against Roygar until one of them proves truly worthy to be crown prince — so that way they don't plot against him instead in hopes of claiming the royal seat sooner.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: For all of Gregor's faults, bigotry is not one of them. One of the reasons why his government is so efficient and stable is because he's not afraid to elevate others if they prove themselves competent (and not a threat to him), regardless of their previous station. Artezia points this out to him while they are discussing her part in Roygar's downfall, noting that he's created a world that values merit over lineage and made social mobility much easier for the people of the empire. Ironically, this is also the reason why he's so reluctant to fully endorse Laurence—because he values competence so much, he can't put his full support behind an heir who is not at least trying to achieve his own level of brilliance, even if that heir is his favorite child.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: For all his pretenses of being a family man, there is nothing he values nearly as much as his own life and self interest. As such, he takes it for granted that Roygar will grudgingly accept his family being executed instead of himself because in his position that's how Gregor would feel. Roygar instead opts to kill himself to force Cedric to protect his wife and children, which completely alienates the eastern nobles from the empire while also making Cedric the only realistic successor and giving him grounds to make peace with the eastern nobles that had been his own political rivals.
Evil Uncle: To Cedric. He had Cedric's parents executed on trumped-up charges of treason because he viewed his sister's legitimacy as a threat and hated Cedric's father for being more likable than him. Ironically, while some of this resentment does pass on to Cedric, for the most part he has a high opinion of his nephew and his nephew's abilities. At one point, he even tells Laurence that he should be more like Cedric.
Family Man: What he plays at, not what he actually is. The reality is that Gregor doesn't really love anyone but himself, but at the same time cherishes the idea of having a family. The reason why Millaira and Laurence have been able to keep his backing for so long is because they are useful in helping him live out his fantasy of a loving family. Breaking this illusion is one of Artezia's main objectives, because it will cause Laurence to lose favor with Gregor and thus decrease his chances of ascending the throne.
Fatal Flaw: While his judgment of people's character is usually pretty good, he never reexamines his assumptions, which comes back to bite him multiple times. It causes him to underestimate Tia and the breadth of her plans, fail to recognize that even the unambitious Cedric might make a play for the throne, assume that Roygar doesn't truly care about his family and fail to understand that the head servant's loyalty is technically not to him but rather the stability of the empire and rule of law. There are also implications that when his children all had their "accidents" he didn't realize he'd be making his own empress into his enemy: They appear to have had a good relationship when they were younger and he doesn't seem to enjoy their estrangement.
Fate Worse than Death: He doesn't die by the end of the story. Instead, his attempt to launch a preemptive counter coup against Cedric resulted in him not only being usurped, but also left completely bedridden and forgotten about with only his traitorous head servant left to take care of him.
Foil: As the main villain of the story, Gregor serves as the main foil to Cedric, the main male protagonist. The webtoon emphasizes their differences using a contrasting color palette: Gregor, a redhead, is regularly clad in red, gold, and white, while the dark-haired Cedric prefers blue, silver, and gray.
- Cedric is an honorable, kind man who holds great empathy for people, even his enemies, while Gregor is a merciless schemer who only looks out for himself and his own interests.
- Whereas Cedric actively shuns political conflict and does not seek power for himself, Gregor is a power hungry Control Freak who incites conflict between the various factions in the empire to ensure none of them try to usurp him from his position.
- Cedric is idealistic and tries to see the best in people whenever possible, while Gregor trusts no one and always interprets the actions of others through the lens of what he would do.
- Gregor, despite being married, has had a number of mistresses over the years and has sired multiple bastard children. In contrast, Cedric shows no interest in women up until he meets Artezia in the second timeline. The only reason he got engaged to Lisia in the first timeline was so he could have an excuse to use Ebron's army to protect her if need be; in reality, the two were Like Brother and Sister. After Artezia and he get married and fall in love, he makes it plainly clear he will only ever want to be with her.
- Gregor plays at being a Family Man and has numerous close relatives who he's affectionate to, but ultimately doesn't care about any of them, regularly using them for his own ends and killing them if it suits his needs. Cedric, meanwhile, is deeply affected by the unjust deaths of the parents he never knew even as an adult, and has no immediate blood family until he marries Artezia and starts a family with her. Despite this, he's protective of what family he does have (blood and adopted) and always puts their safety and happiness before his own.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His ultimate undoing is when he's tricked into believing that Cedric intends to start a coup. This forces a confrontation between the two when he sends his secret forces after Cedric's friends and family. Cedric, meanwhile, approaches the normal armed forces who haven't a clue what's going on and convinces them that the emperor's secret forces are actually an enemy of the state. With Gregor unable to respond due to his health issues, Cedric quickly seizes power entirely because Gregor was worried about him seizing power when he had no such intentions!
Hypocrite:
- One of his greatest desires is to have a close and loving family, and yet he had no issues murdering his younger sister and his own legitimate children in order to hoard more power for himself.
- He shunned his mistress for a time after she had another man's child to secure the Rosan Marquessate. Again, this is coming from a man who murdered his legitimate children to secure the Riagan duchy and has cheated on his wife enough times to have at least three bastard children.
Irony: For a paranoid Control Freak who has no qualms with killing his own family members, one of the biggest contributions to his downfall (his deteriorating health) is caused by being poisoned by his trusted head servant for years.
Legacy Seeker
- Despite him being responsible for the death of his own legitimate children, Gregor desires a legacy that lasts long after his death. He ultimately wants to be the one who chooses his successor, and he wants his line to continue, which is why the miraculously blessed birth of Cedric and Artezia's child, Leticia, is a nuisance in his plans. Not only is he petty enough to not accept a successor chosen by the gods, her birth automatically puts Cedric in the center of attention as Gregor's successor, which again is something Gregor does not approve of, because that would mean that the next emperor is descended not from him but from his sister Floella and the Ebron line. This is why Gregor eventually asks Katrine to use her right as empress to adopt Cedric as their son and why Gregor insists to bestow Leticia with a name of his choosing.
- On the positive side, not wanting to have his name sullied in the future for not having a proper successor also means he's making an effort to actually pick an heir rather than just live life to the fullest and leave the succession crisis for someone else to fix.
Manipulative Bastard: He's one of the most capable schemers in the story, on the same level as Artezia and Marchioness Camellia. Combined with the absolute power and authority of the Emperor, and he's nearly untouchable. Even Artezia refuses to truly go after him until she's completely eliminated almost every other threat on the board and has stacked the odds as much as she can in her favor.
Nepotism: Zigzagged. While he does favor Laurence as his successor, he refuses to make his son the crown prince outright because he has yet to show any of the necessary aptitude for the role. Early in the story, Gregor even scolds Laurence for not taking any initiative to secure the necessary power base needed to become emperor, noting that is something he had already managed by the time he was Laurence's age, and compares him unfavorably to Cedric, telling him he should be more like his cousin instead. All this being said, Gregor is still intent on making Laurence his successor eventually despite knowing how ill-fit his son is for the throne, simply because Laurence is his favorite child.
Offing the Offspring: It's heavily implied he arranged the deaths of all four of his legitimate children so he could claim the Riagan Duchy and get rid of anyone that could scheme against him the way he did to his own family.
The Paranoiac: He's always very wary of plots and trusts no one except his own head servant, a man he knows for a fact would die for him. His paranoia led him to murder all of his legitimate children as potential usurpers and caused the brewing potential succession crisis as he deliberately refrained from announcing an official heir in order to make people compete against each other rather than him. This also causes Roygar to cross a serious line late in the story when he negotiates with promises as future emperor without being confirmed as heir apparent, which is treason. The deal was already bad enough, but that was the one thing Gregor simply could not overlook.
The Poorly Chosen One: It's implied he had divine favor when seizing the throne and early in his reign as seemingly everything he did worked for him. However, his obsession with power left him with no strong heirs and his selfish desire to play at being a Family Man would have passed the throne on to someone even worse than himself and destroyed the empire he rebuilt. He was an effective short term solution for the problems facing the empire at the time, but caused problems of his own in the end.
Pragmatic Villainy
- While he's a cruel Control Freak obsessed with power, most of his villainy is always executed with a higher purpose in mind, and he's an overall competent politician and administrator because that is what is most beneficial for him. The average citizen of the empire has no real issue with Gregor; only certain factions of the nobility, many of whom were persecuted in order to help him solidify his reign, have reason to hate him. That is one of the reasons why Artezia doesn't try to actively hinder his rule, instead opting to just ruin his personal life. The one unforgivable flaw he does have is that he fully intends for Laurence to eventually succeed him despite knowing his son is in no way qualified, which is why his own head steward began slowly poisoning him: the servant can tolerate a strongman, but not a madman.
- There are implications in the later parts of the story that he may have actually had some kind of divine favor or protection earlier on his life because as much of a bastard as he was even then, his methods worked to unite a fragmented and unstable empire. Given that Tia is a saintess as well, God seems to care more about results than methods, so perhaps this isn't too surprising. The problem, though, is one that his head servant points out: His early brutality always had a point and was necessary to unite the country, but whatever standards he had have long faded away thanks to his obsession with power and himself.
Properly Paranoid: While murdering his own children to secure his own power is a bit extreme, the empire's historical precedent and current events does make it seem at least like a legitimate threat.
The Social Expert: Gregor is ultimately a cunning man who secured his power by playing the political game right. He raised competent people to high positions and Artezia is constantly on alert whenever she speaks to him, as he is terrifyingly good at reading people's intentions correctly. However, he errs about Artezia, falsely believing she is still the "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl who would support her family regardless of their relationship, something Artezia abuses to remove Millaira and Laurence and instead make Cedric a contender for the throne.
Why Are You Not My Son?: Once Artezia reveals to him how competent and cunning she is, he laments the fact that none of his children are like her, because if they were, he'd have an official heir already. This is nonsense, of course: if he had a potential heir on her level, he would have had them assassinated as a threat to himself. He's just not willing to admit it, because he likes to keep thinking of himself as a Family Man.

Empress Katrine Riagan

Katrine Riagan

Emperor Gregor's legal wife, the last remaining legitimate descendant of the original ruling family of the Riagan Duchy, and the Empress of the Kratez Empire. Ever since the deaths of her four children and her parents, and the suicides of her close friends, the Fescher family, she has been holed up in the Empress's Palace, still wearing mourning clothing and refusing almost all visitors.

In the first timeline, she was uninvolved in the succession war and secluded herself. Artezia eventually murdered Katrine by burning her palace down. In the second timeline, Artezia deliberately seeks out Katrine's support and becomes her lady-in-waiting in order to ensure Cedric's rise to the throne.

Awful Wedded Life: With Gregor. While they managed to get along enough to have four kids, Gregor ended up murdering all their children to secure the Riagan Duchy and has never really treated Katrine as his wife, opting to use Millaira for the role instead. Katrine, understandably, despises Gregor with a passion.
The Chooser of the One: Since Gregor no longer has any legitimate children, Katrine can remedy that by adopting one of his illegitimate offspring and making them the heir — in fact, it was through that exact same method that Gregor became Crown Prince in the first place. It's for that reason that Laurence begins seeking out her favor once Artezia points this out to him. However, it's pretty clear she would never actually do it but is simply stringing him along to waste his time and attention.
Excessive Mourning: Played with. She's been secluded in her palace for almost two decades still mourning the deaths of almost every person she ever loved, but when the person responsible was your own husband and he did so to secure the duchy that rightfully belongs to your family, it's understandable why you would want to shut out the rest of the world and be left alone to your misery. However, she never gave up entirely and was simply waiting for an opportunity at revenge — when Tia presents the chance, she jumps at it. So, in a way, she's still mourning, but channeling it into a venture that is more productive.
Last of Her Kind: She is the last legitimate descendant of the original ruling family of the Riagan duchy. However, she has no claim to the duchy itself because she foreswore it in her pre-nuptial agreement with Gregor. Instead, the claim was supposed to be passed on to their children — who Gregor would have murdered in order to install his own puppet ruler for the duchy and claim its riches for himself.
Parental Substitute: Of a sort. While her support is largely contingent on Artezia fulfilling her end of the bargain in destroying Gregor, Katrine nonetheless takes on something of a maternal role for her, from escorting Tia down the aisle for her wedding to helping her hire a nanny for her newborn daughter. Naturally, this fosters major resentment from Millaira, who views her children as the one thing she had over Katrine.
Revenge: This is how Artezia manages to win over Katrine — by offering her the chance to play a part in Gregor's impending misery.
We Used to Be Friends: When she and Gregor speak together, there's actually a sense that once upon a time these two people loved and trusted each other. And then one of them murdered their children and killed the other's entire close family in order to keep his throne secure and turn a ducal house into a puppet, which slightly soured their relationship.

Grand Duke Roygar Kratez

Roygar Kratez

The second son of the previous emperor with his second wife, Gregor's younger half-brother, and Cedric and Laurence's uncle. The third major contender for the throne next to Cedric and Laurence. He's very popular with the eastern nobility for his pro-business mindset, but is considered an equally unattractive alternative to Laurence because of his greed. In the first timeline, Artezia created a scenario involving the manipulation of grain prices in order to have him executed for treason.

Roygar is married to Garnet, a daughter of Marquess Ruden, with whom he has allied with. Due to their blood ties, his other major political supporter is Marchioness Camellia.

Ambiguous Situation: It's not clear whether or not he had an affair with Lady Ford. Her sister Dairy and Artezia believe Roygar preyed upon her, while Garnet was jealous of how close the two were which is why she accused Roygar of infidelity. Roygar, however, consistently denies that there was anything between them, claiming that he just saw her as a useful subordinate.
Big Bad Wannabe: While he is a serious threat to both Cedric and Laurence in their pursuits of the throne, in the end he doesn't hold a candle to either Artezia nor Gregor when it comes to scheming and politics. It's for that reason he is the first of the potential heirs to be eliminated in the first timeline and in the second timeline.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Roygar is only greedy for the sake of his family. When they're at risk of execution, he straight up commits suicide to force Cedric to shelter them.
Evil Uncle: To Cedric and Laurence. While he doesn't have Gregor or Laurence's cruelty, he is nonetheless a ruthless and greedy man who isn't afraid to have his nephew charged with treason and executed if it means claiming the throne.
Fatal Flaw: Greed, or to be more specific, his opportunistic nature. Roygar is an intelligent and capable individual, but whenever an opportunity comes up that allows him to accomplish a major goal or increase his status, he has a tendency to throw caution into the wind and go for broke regardless of the risks. For example, when Millaira is ruined and puts herself in a position to be charged with treason, Roygar immediately does everything he can to make it happen as Laurence will be executed along with her. He barely acknowledges how strangely convenient it was that this opportunity came up, and he disregards Marchioness Camellia's warnings of endangering Artezia (who is Millaira's daughter), seeing it as a side-benefit since it might ruin Artezia's political power. Sure enough, the scheme nearly blows up in his face, and his actions end up infuriating and alienating him from his nephew Cedric (Artezia's husband), the most powerful noble in the country.
Greed: Roygar's overall Fatal Flaw is that he puts profit for himself and his allies above everything else. That is why Artezia believes he wouldn't be much better than Laurence were he to become emperor; while he isn't disposed to sadistic displays of power and ego trips like his illegitimate nephew, his priority will always be to boost the profits of business, even at the people's expense.
Happily Married: To his wife Garnet. Despite the significant age difference the two very much adore each other, and everything Roygar does is for the sake of their family. When Garnet and their eldest son are due to be executed for Roygar's treason, Roygar does not hesitate to commit suicide in order to save both of them.
Hoist by His Own Petard: When negotiating with foreign powers, he claims the power of the emperor to improve his position in negotiations. This is crosses a serious line with Gregor: Treason. While this wouldn't necessarily have been a fatal blow due to Gregor intending to let him live and keep his position, it sets in motion a series of events that quickly lead to his own suicide in order to protect his family.
A Lighter Shade of Black: To Gregor and Laurence. While Roygar's materialistic mindset means he's ill-fit for the throne, he's not deliberately cruel or malicious to anyone that is not an enemy. For example, when hatching a scheme where Millaira and Laurence are charged and executed for treason, he takes great pains to ensure that while Artezia is interrogated thanks to her relation to them, she doesn't actually go down with them since she's Cedric's wife and he has nothing against either of them. In addition, all of his terrible actions are for the sake of his family, so when they're threatened, he doesn't hesitate to kill himself in order to ensure their protection.
Thanatos Gambit: When he's caught committing treason by claiming himself as heir apparent without Gregor's approval in order to negotiate secret trade deals, Gregor tells him that he won't be executed since he's still useful to him. Instead, he'll execute his wife and children, which Gregor assumes won't really bother Roygar too much since it wouldn't bother him. He's wrong: Roygar instead chooses to commit suicide with a single shot revolver given to him by Cedric. While it was intended as a threat at the time, he knows Cedric will feel honor bound to shelter Roygar's family after this. His death causes massive destabilizations in the empire's political structure, particularly for Gregor, and is the beginning of the end of the story.
Underestimating Badassery: One of Roygar's biggest mistakes is his underestimation of Artezia. Having never had a personal, one-on-one conversation with her, he just views her as Cedric's politically ambitious wife who needs to be brought down a peg before she gets too in over her head, after which he can absorb her and Cedric into his own faction. By contrast, it takes only one conversation for Marchioness Camellia to immediately peg Tia as a manipulator and schemer that rivals herself, making her extremely wary of her. Unfortunately, because of Roygar's underestimation of Tia, he mistakes Marchioness Camellia's wariness of Tia as fondness, which starts driving a wedge between them after Roygar targets the latter as collateral in a plot to take down Laurence.
The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Technically, he's officially the next in line for the throne even though he hasn't been declared Crown Prince yet. Laurence is illegitimate and has no notable backing from the nobility or the common people, while Cedric's claim is derived matrilineally despite being descended from the elder of Gregor's two younger siblings (Cedric would still be a strong contender despite this if he wasn't so widely known to be politically disinterested). Unfortunately, Roygar is not considered a much better prospective Emperor than Laurence because of his greed, which Artezia claims will lead the empire to ruin.

Grand Duchess Garnet Ruden

Garnet Ruden

The legitimate daughter of Marquess Ruden and Marchioness Camellia's younger half-sister. She is the wife of Grand Duke Roygar, making her Gregor's sister-in-law and Cedric's aunt. She is regularly referred to by her title, Grand Duchess Roygar.

Tropes

Age-Gap Romance: She's much younger than Roygar, though her exact age is never stated. Nonetheless, the two are Happily Married.
Happily Married: Zigzagged. While Roygar and her do love each other deeply and have a good relationship for the most part, Garnet has also accused Roygar of infidelity in the past and harbors some resentment for how much he coddles her.
Hidden Depths: While she loves Roygar, she secretly resents how isolated he keeps her from his political schemes. Garnet believes this because she isn't a competent schemer or political astute like her sister, something she is ashamed about. She is aware that she was deliberately raised to be this way but lacks the ability to do anything about it anymore: She was raised to be non threatening and indeed doesn't have the knowledge she would need to be a threat.
Socialite: Unlike Artezia, she has no involvement in politics and her main function is to act as arm candy for Roygar while attending various political events.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her jealousy of Lady Ford's closeness to Roygar eventually causes her sister to murder the latter to give Garnet some peace of mind. This drives Lady Ford's sister Dairy to become a willing pawn of Artezia, who helps bring about Roygar and Marchioness Camellia's defeat.
Unwitting Pawn: Garnet's lack of political tact makes her the perfect pawn for various parties to go after Roygar with. Both Artezia and Skyla successfully manipulate Garnet, creating the scenario that leads to Roygar's downfall.

Ebron Grand Duchy

Ebron Household

Saintess Lisia

Lisia Morten

A woman who is the same age as Artezia. Lisia is the daughter of Baron Morten and lived the majority of her life in a village of Ebron servants who hid after the grand ducal couple was executed for treason and Gregor conducted a purge to eliminate their household. In the original timeline, she was hailed as a saintess and engaged to Cedric. Artezia faked a prophesy and forced Lisia into marrying Laurence to give him the legitimacy he needed to become emperor. However, not being able to live in Lisia's shadow, Laurence mistreated his wife, who eventually became ill and died.

In the new timeline, Artezia swears to protect Lisia and plans to let her marry Cedric and become empress once Cedric has won the throne. Artezia meets Lisia again when she visits the Ebron grand duchy after marrying Cedric. She immediately befriends Lisia and makes her one of her ladies-in-waiting.

Action Girl: Is a crackshot with a crossbow and helps rescue Artezia and Cedric from Karam solders.
All-Loving Hero: She forgave Artezia for ruining her life on her deathbed in the original timeline and even regrets she couldn't save Artezia from her circumstances.
Best Friend: To Artezia in the first timeline. Lisia's death is what drove Artezia over the Despair Event Horizon, and is one of the reasons why she didn't bother fighting when Laurence finally turned on her.
Beware the Nice Ones: While a true kind and All-Loving Hero, she's quick to restrain Aubrey to give her a stern lecture and warning when Audrey slanders Artezia, the Grand Duchess, which could get her immediately executed. She's also proficient with a crossbow and helps Artezia and Cedric against Karam soldiers.
Country Mouse: In the first timeline she struggled to fit in the sophisticated capital after spending her life in a remote village in the North.
Death by Despair: It's implied that the illness that killed her in the first timeline was partially psychosomatic, brought about from the despair over the death of her child and the stress of having to deal with Laurence's Domestic Abuse. It's for that reason that Artezia ardently hopes that Lisia doesn't regain her Past-Life Memories, for fear of the illness's return.
Destructive Romance: With Laurence. Despite being the one person he truly loved, staying with Laurence has only led Lisia down the path of ruin, be it the destruction of her home, the death of her child, or her own death.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She is bright, cheerful and greatly admires Artezia. Even in the first timeline where she was manipulated into marrying Laurence, she forgave Artezia and further convinced her that there was someone other than Cedric who didn't possess an ounce of evil.
The High Queen: It was thanks to her dignity and grace that Laurence was even accepted as emperor.
Humble Heroine: Is the Saintess of the generation but is very humble and unlike Aubrey is very diligent in her duties as Artezia's lady-in-waiting.
Gilded Cage: What the imperial palace was for her and what likely contributed to her declining health.
Good Is Not Dumb: Lisia is kind, but she's shown to not be Stupid Good levels as she doesn't hesitate to lecture Aubrey for her acting like an entitled Royal Brat for Cedric choosing to marry Artezia and goes as far as to restrain her to force her to listen. Likewise, despite her Love Matyr status toward Laurence, even she recognizes when Laurence is too far gone to be redeemed and eventually ends his life herself.
Good Is Not Soft: She's kind and devout but she's also an Action Girl who isn't afraid to kill her enemies in order to protect her friends and allies.
Gut Feeling: In the second timeline, she instinctively knows that she can trust Artezia.
I Can Change My Beloved: Though Tia blames herself constantly for Lisia's death by forcing her to marry Laurence, Lisia actually wasn't really against it. Not only did she love him, she thought she could be a good influence on him, a thought process that carries over into the second timeline. But after she gives him a last chance of running away together, she eventually ends up killing him when it becomes clear that he will never change, even if he does love her.
Like Brother and Sister: She and Cedric are Childhood Friends and Cedric treats Lisia like a younger sister to where he often confides his troubles concerning his relationship with Artezia to her.
Love Martyr: Despite Tia's guilt, it's strongly implied that Lisia genuinely loved Laurence and really tried to make the relationship work. He even reciprocated, but being a control freak he eventually ruined her. In the new timeline, despite having only partial memories, she even gives him a second chance to just run away together with her and leave this all behind. He refuses, so she returns back to Tia and ultimately is the one that ends his life.
Modest Royalty: Is a noble, but feels much more comfortable in hunter gear due to having been raised in a distant village for most of her life.
Morality Pet:
- Tried to invoke this when she was married to Laurence in the first timeline in order to change him to be a better person. It failed, and Laurence ended up becoming obsessed with her instead.
- To Artezia. Their friendship is what helped bring out Tia's better nature and help her understand that supporting Laurence was wrong. In the new timeline, Tia goes out of her way to be protective and supportive of Lisia as a result.
Only Friend: She looks up to, respects and treats Artezia kindly. She is notably one of the only people who does so and convinces Artezia to want her to have the very best life possible in the second timeline.
Opposites Attract: And one can't get more opposite than her, a literal saint, falling in love with a narcissistic, tyrannical psychopath like Laurence. It's also a deconstruction, in that they are so dissimilar that they can't find any common ground at all and therefore have nothing to build a genuine relationship off of. Instead, Laurence is more obsessed with the idea of "owning" Lisia than being with her as an equal because that is how a psychopath like him feels "love."
Patron Saint: In the first timeline, she was a saintess with divine healing powers. Her popularity within the empire was so great that marrying her was enough for Laurence to finally be declared Crown Prince.
Protectorate: To both Artezia and Cedric. Lisia was Artezia's first and only friend in the previous timeline and Tia's inability to protect her is regarded as her greatest failure. Similarly, Lisia was some of the only family Cedric had left after the fight for the throne started heating up and people started targeting him and his loved ones, so he was just about willing to do anything to protect her, hence why they got engaged. It's for that reason that Tia and later Cedric after he regains his memories try their best to shield her in the second timeline.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: In the first timeline she died of an unspecified illness apparently caused by stress from having to deal with Laurence, who was quite abusive.

House Jordin

Aubrey

Aubrey Jordin

The youngest daughter of House Jordin, who rule Ebron in Cedric's absence. Along with Lisia, she is one of Cedric's childhood friends. Cedric used to treat her like a little sister and Aubrey fell in love with Cedric. However, after he returns to Ebron with Artezia as his wife, she is outraged that Cedric was "stolen" from her.

The Baby of the Bunch: Is the youngest of four sisters and the most immature of them.
Clingy Jealous Girl: She thinks she will marry Cedric in the future and quickly becomes incensed and vengeful when Artezia arrives at the Grand Duchy in the place she thinks she's meant to have. She does anything she can to undermine and eliminate Artezia from the picture, including abusing Artezia's own maid, damaging her property and trying to have her kidnapped and possibly killed. The latter attempt gets her executed by her own sister.
Did Not Think This Through: Harasses and insults Artezia, who as the Grand Duchess of Ebron is only below the empress in social status. As Lisia and her mother tells her, Artezia could order a random knight to behead her for slander and would be obeyed immediately without question. Aubrey doesn't take the warnings to heart, which leads to her committing treason by leaking the blueprints and hidden passages of the castle to Cardriol and her execution at the hands of one of her sisters on Cedric's orders. Even up to the moment her own family has to behead her she hasn't the faintest idea why anyone is upset.
Entitled to Have You: She just assumed that Cedric would be hers one day. And if not, he should at least pick a woman more beautiful and obviously exceptional than the skinny, unhealthy and cold-natured Tia.
Fatal Flaw: Envy. Her intense jealousy over Cedric marrying Artezia leads to her doing escalating harmful actions to undermine Artezia. Her refusal to change even when given warnings by her mother and Lisia eventually leads to her leaking blueprints and hidden passages of the castle to a stranger (Cardriol) and allows him to kidnap Artezia, which gets her tried for high treason toward Ebron and executed by one of her own sisters to salvage the family's reputation.
Foil: She's the same age as Tia, but while Tia is incredibly calm and mature, Aubrey is if anything even less mature than you would expect a young woman to be. The contrast is not lost on Cedric as it reminds him that his new bride is actually a lot younger than he is and simply doesn't behave like it.
Informed Attractiveness: She's described as being pretty, but the manhwa artwork doesn't do her any favors. Her choice in makeup doesn't either.
Precocious Crush: She thinks that because Cedric was nice to her as a kid and because she's the daughter of one of his most important vassals that naturally they'll end up marrying eventually. She doesn't realize that Cedric was being nice to her specifically because she was just a cute kid while he was already an adult and therefore the thought never crossed his mind.
Royal Brat: She behaves arrogantly because her parents babied her after she was born premature and sickly, something her sisters noticed was causing her to become spoiled but were helpless to correct on their own. By the time she enters the story she has a very inflated view of her own family's importance and behaves even more immaturely than her age would suggest, something even Cedric takes notice of as by this point he tends to forget that Tia is a lot younger than he is due to her mature behavior and thinking. Tia makes a last ditch effort to try to break this attitude and remind her of her actual social position - a young vassal of no particular value or ability entitled to certain opportunities because of her parents work - but she refuses to accept not being treated like a princess and just grows even more enraged.
Small Role, Big Impact: She doesn't last long in the story, but before she goes she: A) forces Cedric to realize that even loyal followers can take unexpected or even potentially treacherous actions if they feel they should and should not blindly be given free reign B) brings Cadriol into the story, the first person besides Tia to remember the first timeline and C) causes the consummation of Tia and Cedric's marriage, including Tia's pregnancy. Her death also brings her sister Hailey to Tia's attention, allowing her to take on a more competent lady-in-waiting under her wing.
Too Dumb to Live: She deliberately leaks the blueprints and hidden passages in the castle to a complete stranger who she's made to believe is Tia's secret lover. This not only leads to Tia being kidnapped, but all the deaths of multiple other citizens of Ebron. After Cedric finds out about Aubrey's high treason towards Ebron in a bid to get rid of Tia, he immediately orders her execution. Her shocked face reveals a complete lack of understanding as to having done anything wrong.

Mel

Mel Jordin

Aaron and Margaret Jordin's firstborn daughter. Mel worked as a guard within Ebron. After Aubrey committed treason, Mel decided to make the difficult decision to take up the literal sword her father was handed by Cedric and executed her sister for her crimes as a way of making sure her remaining family would not all be punished.

After her family was reduced to commoners, Artezia approached the Jordin family and decided to take Mel in as one of her retainers, which effectively restored her rank. Tia tasked Mel to take her parents' place and help defend Ebron in Cedric's absence.

It's All My Fault: As the oldest of the Jordin siblings, she played the biggest part in raising Aubrey alongside her parents. Naturally, this means she blames herself for how Aubrey turned out.
Kill the Ones You Love: She personally executes Aubrey after her sister is charged with high treason for betraying Artezia to Cardriol. While she doesn't hesitate, the act clearly devastates her and when speaking about it with Artezia she laments that Aubrey never got the chance to change and become a better person.
Undying Loyalty: To Ebron. To the point of being willing to personally execute her own baby sister on Cedric's orders.

Hailey

Hailey Jordin

Aaron and Margaret Jordin's third daughter. Like her older sister Fiona, Hailey worked as a civil servant in Ebron. After Aubrey committed treason, Hailey and the rest of her family were demoted to commoners. Hailey immediately stands out to Artezia due to her rationality and quick-wittedness, which is why Artezia decides to bring Hailey back to the capital as one of her ladies-in-waiting.

Artezia did not know Hailey in her first life, which is why she initially needs to assess Hailey to see if she is capable and trustworthy. At first only treated as a hostage, Hailey becomes Artezia's closest retainer along with Preil and effectively her head lady-in-waiting, since Mel stays in Ebron and Lisia leaves Artezia's side to work in the west.

Good Is Not Dumb: While she is a daughter of the wholesome House Jordin, Hailey quickly proves to be a very astute and clever person from the moment Artezia and her meet. Tia takes an immediate interest in her and for all intents and purposes becomes Hailey's mentor in political scheming.
Redeeming Replacement: To her younger sister Aubrey, as Artezia's lady-in-waiting. Whereas Aubrey was immature, foolish, and disloyal, Hailey is reliable, intelligent, and faithful to her mistress. It doesn't take her very long to become both a trusted retainer and a dear friend to Tia.
The Reliable One: She proves to be very capable from the moment she falls into Artezia's service and it doesn't take long for Tia to begin relying on her. In fact, Tia's faith in her abilities and judgement is so great that she designates Hailey to be Leticia's nanny, which is essentially her daughter's godmother in all but name.
Undying Loyalty: To Ebron, and eventually to Artezia. Despite the fact that Tia is technically responsible for Aubrey's execution, Hailey holds no grudge against her and remains faithful to her throughout the story.

Other Nobles

Marchioness Camellia

Grand Duke Roygar's biggest supporter, and the older half-sister of his wife, Garnet. She is master schemer and plotter in her own right.

The Dreaded: To most of high society and those familiar with them, being Roygar's biggest supporter and political mastermind. Notably, Artezia puts far more effort in taking down Marchioness Camellia than she does Millaira and Laurence, specifically because of this reason.
Foil: To Artezia. Marchioness Camellia was born illegitimate and treated as a maid for the first several years of her life until her father found a use for her, and has something of an inferiority complex as a result. Artezia was (technically) born legitimate and was acknowledged from her mother from the outset, but treated terribly by her all the while to the point that she developed into being The Sociopath. Both are beholden to the desires of their respective parents, but while Artezia rejected her family's toxic influence, Camellia reluctantly obeyed her father's whims until she got sick of his shit and murdered him.
Manipulative Bitch: One that's almost on the same level of Artezia. Notably, Artezia devotes more of her efforts to taking down Roygar specifically because he has Marchioness Camellia's support for a good chunk of the story.
Sympathetic Murderer: She kills her father after years of abuse, manipulation and disrespect. Making the victim doubly unsympathetic was that if her heritage was disgraceful, then her father of all people can hardly protest her existence.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: For all her competence, she is completely under the thumb of her father and is highly reluctant to turn on him for any reason. This works to her detriment, as it's what causes her daughter Skyla to turn on her and start pushing her own agenda through siding with Artezia.
The Woman Behind the Man: As Roygar's primary advisor and biggest supporter, she's the true power behind his faction. While Roygar himself is not incapable, it's clear that he wouldn't be where he is without Marchioness Camellia's help: Roygar is intelligent, but prone to making bad decisions when he smells profit.

The Kingdom of Amel

Prince Cardriol

Cardriol Amel

The first prince of Amel, the son of King Amel with his deceased first wife. Initially trying to make Amel prosper through advanced technology and trade, Cardriol eventually decided to organize and lead the pirates in the southern sea to attack merchant ships or demand protection money for passing the waters. He is at odds with his father and his stepmother, who want him dead to place their own son on the throne eventually.

In the first timeline, Artezia worked out a secret deal with Cardriol to ambush merchant ships that exported grain to the southern kingdoms, while making secret grain deals with Grand Duke Roygar, which eventually led to Roygar's execution. Once Roygar was dead, however, Laurence sent Artezia with some men to Amel to arrest Cardriol and silence him. Cardriol was then sent to his father who shortly after executed him for treason.

In the second timeline, Cardriol recalls his memories of the first timeline a few months after Artezia turned back time. Despite her betrayal, Cardriol initially plans to marry Artezia, but his plans fall flat when he hears that she has already married Cedric, which makes him realize that Artezia must have been betrayed by Laurence and somehow recalls her memories, too. He then heads north to Ebron, where he kidnaps Artezia with Aubrey's help. However, he agrees to go back to Amel and cooperate with Artezia once more to bring down King and Queen Amel, Duke Riagan, Laurence and Grand Duke Roygar.

Antagonistic Offspring: Cardriol's father and stepmother want him dead. In the first timeline, King Amel gleefully accepted Artezia's offer to arrest Cardriol and use him as a scapegoat to have him executed. In the second timeline, Artezia manages to win Cardriol over as an ally by promising him his stepmother will be assassinated soon without him being involved.
Geeky Turn-On: What he loves so much about Artezia is her intelligence. He himself is not the smartest person, but he loves a woman who can manipulate and scheme.
He Knows Too Much: Laurence betrayed Cardriol in the first timeline, because Cardriol had evidence that Laurence was involved in the conspiracy that led to a famine and eventually Grand Duke Roygar's death.
Hopeless Suitor: He is very attracted and possibly even in love with Artezia. He courted her in the first timeline but she was too laser focused on making her brother the emperor. In the second timeline, she married Cedric before they met, prompting him to try and kidnap her. Despite being aware of Tia's feelings for Cedric, he nonetheless asks for her hand, but she refuses.
Inconsistent Spelling: His name 카드리올 에이멜 is alternatively spelled Cadriol Eimel sometimes.
King of Thieves: Cardriol is the leader of a band of pirates that roam the waters around the southern kingdoms.
Know When to Fold 'Em: He seems to genuinely have feelings for Tia and was intending to reach out to her and get her out of her abusive family situation. However, when he realizes she has Past-Life Memories like him, he's reluctant but quick to accept that it could never work between them at this point: He could never trust her and she is not in the right emotional state to be won over anymore. Not to mention she's already married to Cedric by this point and she's commited to him out of graditude and loyalty for him saving her in the previous timeline. Cardriol gives up and the two reach an agreement to try to put him on the throne of his own nation to get more support since putting him in power benefits both of them.
Love Hurts: He was definitely quite upset that Artezia, like his father, let him get executed. He's still slightly grateful that Artezia at least bribed the executioner to give him a quick, relatively painless death. He was actually still willing to try to make it work out between them by hopefully getting to her before she started working for Laurence, but then has to deal with the fact that she's already stably (if not yet lovingly) married to Cedric and has to give up.
Manipulative Bastard: While he may have had some feelings for Artezia, his plan in the new timeline was to forge an alliance with Laurence by marrying her. He knew Artezia was abused and Desperately Craves Affection, which he intended to make use of to make her entirely loyal to him and then use her talents to reign supreme.
Pair the Spares: Possibly. It's hinted in the epilogue that he may be having an affair with Skyla. She seems to be his type: another schemer.
Pirate: Cardriol initially didn't plan to resort to piracy, instead starting as a trader. However, he stood no chance against an Empire-backed House Riagan, who dominated the market, so he decided to gather the pirates in the area and make them target merchant ships, especially those from the Kratez Empire.
The Scapegoat: His pirate career involved him doing the dirty work of other high ranking nobles. Cardriol was the one to pay for their crimes.
Strong Family Resemblance: Cardriol takes more after his mother. This is another reason why his father can't stand him, as he hated his first wife.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He begins an alliance with Tia not trusting her in the slightest after how it worked out last time, but goes along with it because he's convinced that their interests genuinely align and it would not benefit her to turn on him.
The Un-Favourite: Cardriol's father being the king of Amel makes him the first prince, but he has been pretty much disinherited in favor of his half-sibling simply because his father hated Cardriol's mother and heavily favors his stepmother.
Unwitting Pawn: Artezia used him to discredit Roygar in the first timeline. Cardriol himself uses Aubrey as his Unwitting Pawn to allow him to kidnap Tia, though the pair eventually work out an alliance.
Warrior Prince: Once Queen Amel is assassinated, Cardriol spares no time to declare war on the Kratez Empire and seize the port in the Riagan Duchy. However, it's mostly a ploy to open discussions and cause chaos.
Wham Episode: His appearance makes Artezia realize that she is not the only regressor. Further, other regressors are potentially potent allies, though they'll have their own agendas.

Characters / The Villainess Lives Again

Main Characters

Artezia "Tia" Rosan

Cedric Ebron

Artezia's family

Laurence

Millaira Rosan

Imperial Family

Gregor Afanashi Nestore Kratez

Katrine Riagan

Roygar Kratez

Garnet Ruden

Tropes

Ebron Grand Duchy

Ebron Household

Lisia Morten

House Jordin

Aubrey Jordin

Mel Jordin

Hailey Jordin

Other Nobles

The Kingdom of Amel

Cardriol Amel

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Characters / The Villainess Lives Again

Edit Locked

Main Characters

Artezia "Tia" Rosan

Cedric Ebron

Artezia's family

Laurence

Millaira Rosan

Imperial Family

Gregor Afanashi Nestore Kratez

Katrine Riagan

Roygar Kratez

Garnet Ruden

Tropes

Ebron Grand Duchy

Ebron Household

Lisia Morten

House Jordin

Aubrey Jordin

Mel Jordin

Hailey Jordin

Other Nobles

The Kingdom of Amel

Cardriol Amel

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