Original Timeline

## Johannes' Death

Shuri had pushed away all extended family members, mostly due to Johannes' warning, but they retaliated by continuously finding ways to undermine her authority and the legitimacy of her position.

A month after Johannes' death, Jeremy angrily yells at Shuri about the lover she has suddenly taken. Shuri simply reassures him that he need not worry about his inheritance as she has no interest in remarrying. He criticizes her and asks if she thinks he will allow her to get away with what she was doing. Frustrated by his words, Shuri asks him what he thinks he can do, asking whether he thought she wanted to be stuck in the manor pretending to be his mother. She angrily demands he leave her alone, that until he was the head of the family, she did not need to answer to him. Jeremy is at a loss of words and grits his teeth in anger but leaves her as she wishes.

Orchestrated by the extended family, a hearing is called in order to question Shuri and her position as the head of the Neuschwanstein family. The opposition requests that a more experienced individual be given the responsibilities instead, in order to protect the empire. Emperor Maximilian von Baden Mismarck interrupts the opposition's spiel and firmly states that the agenda had nothing to do with the imperial family. Duke Albrecht von Nürnberger then questions the validity of the hearing itself when the late Marquess had already given his young wife all the authority in his will.

After the hearing, Duke Nürnberger approaches Shuri and, when asked why he helped her, and he expresses that he did what must be done considering all the hardship she had already gone through. It was also his desire to protect the wishes of his departed friend. Although grateful to the Emperor and the Duke for stepping in, Shuri is infuriated by her inability to do anything.

The following Parliament meeting, Duke Nürnberger proposes a memorial banquet be held in Johannes' honor. He offers to handle the expenses and location himself. During the banquet, Shuri points out that she should have been the one to prepare it, but he insists she had her hands full with the funeral alone. While knowing Johannes would have made preparations in advance for any type of scenario, he reminds her that there is still much she has yet to experience, and she could take her time learning the ropes. When she returns to the group of noble ladies she had been chatting with earlier, she hears them gossip and mock her, eventually betting on how long she would last in her position.

That evening, Shuri is plagued by worries of the future and how she would survive it. She contemplates running away, but quickly resigns herself to her duty. She comes to the realization that she would have to think of other ways to survive. Her mother, Stella von Ighöfer comes to mind.

## Jeremy's Wedding

Ohera von Heinrich meets with Shuri at the estate to inform her that her fiancé Jeremy had said there was no need for her to attend their wedding. Shuri is taken aback and Ohera insists she tried to talk to him but was unsuccessful. Shuri argues that it is her duty as his mother to attend. Ohera looks at her coldly before recounting what Jeremy had told her to tell Shuri - *"Your motherly duty ends tomorrow. If you had the chance to rid yourself of that duty just one day earlier, wouldn't you take it?"* Shocked by the cold words of her stepson, Shuri goes quiet. Before leaving, Ohera voices that Shuri only had herself and her poor reputation in high society to blame for Jeremy's resentment.

The next day Shuri announces to the staff that she would be leaving for the Heidelberg villa and had no plans of returning to the estate. Gwen and Roberto are shocked and try to dissuade her, but Shuri is adamant about leaving and keeping it a secret from the children. She somberly expresses that, as it was the day of Jeremy's wedding and as his mother, she needed to give him a gift, implying that her leaving would be what he and the rest of the children would want. She quickly instructs the two to take care of Jeremy and the new lady of the estate before ushering them out of her room. Shuri begins to fantasize about the new journey she is about to embark on and realizes how free she is, now that she will finally be able to leave the pressure of her position behind. Looking down from her balcony and overlooking the estate, she happily welcomes her second life.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Manhwa: Season 1, Episode 2
2. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Episode 5
3. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Episode 9
4. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Episode 12
5. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Episode 3