A Shadow Cast in Paradise (23 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 5
“So, what business do you have with Ideana?”
Shade lowered the hand that had been propping up his chin and straightened his posture.
For some reason, his demeanor seemed unusually serious, prompting Eklas to unconsciously sit up even straighter.
Meeting Shade’s scrutinizing gaze, Eklas donned a mask of calm, smiling naturally.
“You suggested we get straight to the point, yet now you’re playing innocent.”
“That’s exactly my point. You came here to lobby for Ideana’s commercial rights—trade, finance, development, distribution, passage rights, and such…”
Eklas gave an awkward chuckle at the blunt, almost embarrassingly direct accusation.
It felt as though his hidden desires had been stripped bare.
“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of granting exclusive control over all of Ideana’s enterprises to a single party.”
“Haha, of course not.”
Eklas smiled amiably while thinking to himself,
‘No one else would dare touch anything related to Ideana anyway—why act so standoffish?’
Just then, Shade added,
“You might assume there’s no merchant guild or investor eager to lay hands on Ideana…”
Shade’s words, as if reading his very thoughts, made Eklas’s fingers tremble around his teacup.
Damn it—did the Lupus bloodline really possess some ancestral mind-reading technique?
Shade’s insight always left him flustered.
But that was all.
“Then, aside from me, has anyone else shown interest in Ideana’s business rights?”
Eklas was certain—no one else was interested in Ideana.
Ideana was simply too high-risk; others would hesitate, weighing its instability and holding back to observe the situation.
“Of course not.”
Shade lifted his teacup as he spoke.
Just as Eklas expected—empty boasting…
“But that will change now that you’ve come to me.”
“…!”
Shade leisurely took a sip of his black tea.
Eklas clenched his teeth and smiled.
“So you’re going to spread word far and wide that I came to see you? Without a shred of decency?”
“Is there ever any morality in matters of money?”
Shade uttered it carelessly.
Damn this conniving duke.
Eklas had come here discreetly, without alerting anyone else.
Even Shade, the master of this place, had seemed surprised to find him here.
‘He knows fully well why I came quietly.’
Eklas was the world’s wealthiest man, running the largest merchant guild in existence.
If word got out that he had taken interest in Ideana’s enterprises, others would inevitably follow in his footsteps.
Eklas had no desire to mix with such riffraff or face unnecessary competition.
Yet Shade intended to exploit him in reverse.
‘…He must want something.’
Eklas clenched his fist tightly as he thought.
Restoring the ruined Ideana would surely require the Vittel family’s assistance.
Yet from the outset, Shade was saying things that would offend the Vittels—clearly, he harbored ulterior motives.
‘For a former slave, his mind works far too well.’
It would have been easier if he were just a brutish warrior who knew nothing but swinging a sword.
‘Then again, if he were truly foolish, he never would have risen this far.’
His achievements weren’t born of mere brute force.
People saw Shade Lester as merely lucky, but Eklas saw differently.
He was a man who forged his own fortune.
He’d saved the life of the previous Duke Joseph Lester and been adopted into the family, then led armies strategically on the frontlines, earning great merit.
The title “undefeated hero” misled people.
They assumed it meant only skill with sword, bow, and horse.
But in truth, in half the battles he’d joined, he’d secured victory without spilling a drop of allied blood.
He was an exceptional strategist and commander—so much so that even the proudest knights obeyed the orders of a Lupus.
‘And yet, the nobles scramble to scorn him, not realizing he’s the one they should fear most.’
Or perhaps it was precisely because they feared him that they tried to crush him—driven by an instinctive dread that if they didn’t strike first, they’d be trampled themselves.
In any case, that’s what made him difficult to handle—exhausting in verbal sparring, yet undeniably intriguing.
“What do you want?”
Eklas crossed his arms irritably and leaned back against the chair.
At that, Shade set down his teacup and tilted his head slightly.
“Nothing special. Just maintaining balance on the scales, as always.”
[This is the timeline separator]Shade quietly watched the flame of a fragrant candle flicker.
He fiddled with an old scrap of newspaper, its characters faded and worn with age.
Truly, it was a yellowed, faded article.
Shade absentmindedly touched the edge of the brittle paper to the candle flame.
The dry, parched paper caught fire easily.
The old letters blackened and crumbled into white ash, drifting down.
Even the girl’s face, crudely etched in woodblock print, met the same fate.
The flame voraciously swallowed the records of the past.
Everything disappeared like that.
He opened the window, letting the last ashes scatter completely into the air, then headed to the bath.
As he slipped off the loosely draped robe, a powerfully muscled body was revealed.
Countless scars were cruelly etched into his taut skin.
So old and familiar were they that he sometimes forgot they even existed on his own flesh.
Yet today, for some reason, those marks stood out vividly.
Staring at the aged scars—like the scrap article he’d just burned—Shade turned his gaze away and moved toward the tub.
As he sank into the hot water, his long-worn fatigue began to dissolve.
The moment the water touched them, forgotten wounds stung anew, announcing their presence.
Unhealed injuries lingered on his limbs, hands, shoulders—everywhere.
After such a long war, it was only natural his body wasn’t whole.
These pains were so familiar they were almost laughable, so Shade leaned back in the tub and closed his eyes.
Yet there was one wound he couldn’t ignore.
‘Luise Ideana.’
Her image surfaced in the darkness behind his closed eyelids.
She seemed slightly shorter than he remembered, and her already frail frame had grown even thinner.
Her once radiant hair was now dull and dark, as if dyed with some cheap dye, and she spoke with a nearly flawless southern accent.
‘I almost failed to recognize you and let you slip away.’
Shade slowly opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through the hazy steam.
Contrary to his worry of missing her, he’d actually recognized her immediately.
Even with her hair dyed, hidden in the dim forest, dressed in ragged maid’s clothing—he’d sensed her presence instinctively, like a beast born with sharp intuition.
That she was Luise Ideana.
The savior who’d pulled him from the mud, the traitor who’d cast him into ruin, and the fugitive who’d dared fake her death and vanish.
How could he ever forget?
He’d recalled her face every single day since that day.
Once, Shade had given her everything.
He’d faced death dozens of times, obeying Ideana like a dog.
But in the end, all he received was betrayal.
He remembered the countless Lupus slaughtered by Ideana’s own hand.
“What did you even expect? A Lupus daring to hope…”
She’d mocked him, a well-trained slave like a dog.
How foolish he’d been to think she was different from the other Ideana nobles.
He’d ground his teeth like a beast straining against its muzzle, vowing revenge.
But damn Ideana had even stolen his chance for vengeance.
“The entire Ideana bloodline has been confirmed dead.”
Treason. Dark magic. Curses. Self-destruction.
Before he could even act, his revenge had ended in futility.
…He’d been certain it was over.
‘Yet you were alive…’
A faint smirk escaped his lips.
It felt as if his long-cold blood was finally beginning to flow again.
The moment he’d found her in the forest, he’d felt a mad, ecstatic joy.
An indescribable thrill reignited his long-dormant will to live.
At last, he had a reason to endure this tedious, wearisome life.
Now, there was something worth giving his life for.
[This is the timeline separator]Liana fingered the sensation brushing against her skin.
A sheer white silk dress, so thin it nearly revealed what lay beneath.
Completely unlike the coarse, stiff fabric of a maid’s uniform.
There was a time when she wore such garments every day.
Once, she’d found the cheap cotton maid’s dress uncomfortable, unable to adjust.
But now, the petal-soft touch of silk against her skin felt strange.
Though the mansion was warm, Liana wrapped her arms around herself as if feeling cold.
A sweet rose fragrance rose from her freshly bathed skin.
She curled tightly into herself and looked around.
A softly lit bedroom, candles casting a gentle glow.
A room of dark, unadorned wood.
The only notable decoration was a single sword placed at the head of the bed.
But its plain, black scabbard clearly wasn’t meant for ornamentation.
Anyone could see this room hadn’t been prepared for Liana.
Out of habit, Liana bit her lip.
Lowering her head, she saw her bare feet—pale and scratched.
The cold marble floor sent a chill up from her toes.
That coldness crept up her spine, settling at the nape of her neck.
Liana lifted her gaze to the window outside.
The sun had already set.
Her reflection appeared in the darkened glass.
Her face, pale as the moon in the night sky, resembled a ghost.
The white silk dress, bathed in moonlight, looked just as spectral.
Liana cautiously reached a hand toward her waxen reflection in the window.
It felt as if by touching it, she might pass through the glass and escape outside.
If only she could become a ghost and flee far from this place…
Just then, a loud creak from the hinges cut through her thoughts.
Startled by the sound of the opening door, Liana tore her eyes away from the window.
Turning her head, she saw a deep shadow spilling through the doorway.
Shade Lester.
He stood there, right at the threshold.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
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