No, they didn't meet like in the current life. In their past life, Shuli had found Nora crying outside at a ball, and she sat there to comfort him. And the thing is, that was the first time ANYONE had ever done that for him, because by that point in the past timeline, Nora's parents were already bewitched by the crown prince. And Shuli and him sat there talking about their struggles.

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In the end, they truly did make her death gruesome. They sliced off each of her body parts and scattered them everywhere to the point that it was difficult to even find her head and identify her. They cut her into small pieces, and Nora worked hard to solve the case of her murder, enraged, even disobeying his father.