MC was an illegitimate child and was physically ab*sed at her father household. The duke, who claimed to be their very distant relative, took her out and raised her to be sent as honey trap for the emperor.

With his brainwashing, she grew up as a meek lady, never learned to have her own freedom to think and act. She brought her husband (the emperor) to visit the duke castle where he was ambushed and killed.

After his death, the duke became the new emperor. He r*ped and confined her inside the tower, separating her from her daughter. She committed su*cide with poison. As cliché as it sounds, he couldn't accept her death and became crazy.

So that was the story of their previous lives, which was quite long and took few chapters. The main story happens after that.

They all came back in time with the memories of their previous life. The duke tried to change his approach but her past experience had opened her eyes.

She thought that she loved the duke and did everything for him because love means sacrifice but after experiencing all, she could see that he was a selfish person.

With the help of the emperor (aka male lead), she left the duke (aka the villain) and started a new life. She regretted her past actions and didn't want to hurt ML again, so she stayed away from him. She tried to set things right and learned to live for herself.

ML was a good man. Even after he knew about the duke's plan, he refused to use her for revenge. Instead, he protected her and told her to find her own happiness. And nope, he didn't cheat on his empress for MC. It was contractual marriage since the start.

The villain, of course, didn't give up and tried to get her back. He might suffer a mental blow in the beginning after she left but he quickly gathered himself and made another shot. I don't even think that he ever loved her, but merely possessive. She was his finest doll. His craziness in the previous time could be a result from his anger and inability to face reality when everything didn't go according to his plan.

The same goes for MC past love for the duke. The so called love could be an illusory feeling born out of her gratitude and dependence to her savior, and further distorted as love, aka Stockholm Syndrome.

For people who thinks he cheated on his wife and whether there was no love between them or not isn't an excuse, you need to read the full novel or just go through the spoilers to know he never cheated on the woman who was the Empress or disrespected there relationship. Please do not form opinion without reading the novel to the end

I literally hated the side stories as Estelle, the daughter was hinted to be ending up with the Knight who loved her mother. You must be thinking how that is possible? You've to read the novel (or spoilers) in order to figure that out

Estelle disappeared in the main story but is found again and reconciled with her family I'm the side stories, for you if you feel sad for her disappearing in the end of the main story.