‘Golden Princess? Was she there?’
While Latifa had heard that Princess Aris and Prince Tarek had joined the procession in Mercatus, the fact that Iota’s maid was also in Tarek’s palace seemed a bit odd. Latifa asked Tatkan again.
[Prince Tarek and the Golden Princess were together.]‘Just the two of them? What about Iota?’
[Yeah. Just the two of them.]Tatkan replied, showing only two of his three fingers.
‘If it was just the two of them… No, I must be thinking weird.’
When Latifa, feeling her face heating up at the thought of only two people, managed to calm down, Hades grabbed her shoulder.
“Enough, Latifa. If the Pig Princess doesn’t make clothes, there’s no reason to stay in the palace. Let’s go back to Caleb’s estate.”
“No! I don’t want to! I said I won’t make clothes, not that I won’t wear the ones I made for Latifa! Let’s play a little longer, okay?”
As Hades suggested going back, Asti grabbed Latifa tightly, pleading.
“Can we stay a bit longer?”
“There’s no more time to play here. We have to help with the preparations for Mercatus in the market. We need to recruit performers. Well, something like that.”
Hades, scratching his head irritably and looking beyond the courtyard, blurred the end of his sentence with a somewhat awkward expression.
Latifa also followed his gaze and turned her head, a bit puzzled.
“Luhan…”
“It’s been a while, Latifa. Looks like Luhan is busy dealing with Asti’s tantrum.”
“Luhan Oppa! Hades told you to go back to the estate first, right? Latifa and I want to play a little more.”
As Luhan arrived, Asti, excited, jumped while speaking.
Clang, clang. The accessories on Asti’s body made a cheerful sound as they shook, but Latifa’s heart felt awkward.
I thought about meeting Luhan to have a conversation, but once we actually met, I couldn’t figure out where to start or what to say.
“Latifah.”
‘I don’t know how Luhan feels.’
The passionate eyes that had shown maturity had somehow changed back to a gentle color, making it impossible to discern their depths.
“You entered the palace, and yet you tried to leave without seeing me?”
Casually smiling, Luhan looked at Latifa, who, in response, raised a desert toast, feeling somewhat awkward.
“Luhan, it’s been a while. I didn’t know you were aware that I entered the palace.”
“Your beautiful scent has reached the prince’s palace, making everything in the palace sparkle even more. How could I not know?”
Latifa glanced at Hades briefly when Luhan praised himself, but for some reason, Hades remained silent, showing an ambiguous expression with only his forehead furrowed.
“Hagnu just visited. He willingly offered to delegate the rights to perform the Harcept Heroic Tales free of charge during Mercatus for you.”
“Rights…?”
When Latifa tilted her head, Asti, hearing an unfamiliar term, responded on her behalf.
“Hagnu holds all the rights to the Harcept Heroic Tales! He said he’s going to create a play? Then it’s obvious he would buy the rights.”
“Oh, was Hagnu the author of the Harcept Heroic Tales?”
“One of the great sages of the palace was the author, and Hagnu, a close friend of the sage, received all the rights before her passing.”
Approaching Latifa, Luhan answered while glancing at her.
“That man has quite a reputation. I didn’t know he would offer it for free.”
In response to Hades, who seemed surprised, Luhan spoke gently but firmly.
“Hades. Would you mind taking Asti to the prince’s palace for a moment? Irgos is there.”
“Irgos?!”
“If it’s the prince’s order.”
When Latifa and Hades were left alone, Hades, with a meaningful response, quietly pulled Asti’s shoulder, which had slipped out of Latifa’s embrace, and left the Star Palace with her.
Latifa tried to grab Hades, who seemed uncomfortable, but he immediately turned away without looking back and disappeared from sight.
“Um.”
In the awkward situation where only the two of them remained, Latifa, looking down to her toes, selected her words while fidgeting with her hands.
‘What should I say? Do you like me? Why did you act that way during the adulthood ceremony?’
“The Eastern Star Palace is simple according to Sultan Sukhtan’s taste, but it’s elegantly decorated. It’s a suitable place to watch the sunrise and sunset.”
“….”
“The last time, we came here to watch the sunset, and I saw you and Hades dancing together.”
“Ah. That day….”
Thinking of the time when they danced and kissed during the sunset, Latifa’s words got stuck.
‘Did he see that too?’
“It was beautiful. Overwhelmed by the dazzling sight, my heart was pressed to the point of suffocation.”
Without committing a crime or prying, Latifa’s heart fluttered for some reason at his serene face.
“Latifa. The position of a prince in the Grand Bazaar is quite challenging. Unlike princesses whose future is decided when they get married, as a prince, it’s uncertain and sometimes daunting.”
Luhan, with a wry smile, sat down on the railing of the Star Palace. Even though he sat casually, it exuded elegance and grace.
When Luhan lightly tapped the railing as if to suggest that she should sit next to him, Latifa hesitated before sitting beside him.
“No matter how confidently Hades supports you, facing the uncertain future can be scary at times.”
Latifa understood very well what fear Luhan was talking about.
Being ignored as an unnamed princess in the empire, wandering during the empire’s collapse, and ever since arriving in the desert, I’ve been feeling a sense of frustration.
“In front of frustration, you probably feel endlessly small. No certainty in any choice, even if you think you’ve done well, the sense of accomplishment is only temporary, and doubts about yourself resurface constantly.”
As Latifa calmly responded, Luhan, with a pleased smile, closed his eyes slightly and said,
“It feels like everything except me is quickly flowing by, as you said.”
“Even if you stay still, it keeps flowing.”
Reflecting on her own predetermined fate, Latifa chuckled self-deprecatingly.
“Hoping it wasn’t flowing meaninglessly, I prayed to the guardian deity every day. I wish to become an excellent sultan who looks after everyone in the Grand Bazaar, one who will be remembered for generations. But without my knowledge, the content of my prayers has been changing.”
“…”
“Latifa, would you listen without thinking it’s selfish?”
Unlike the subtle jasmine scent that gently tousled the hair, the minty fragrance now sharpened the senses.
Luhan gently took Latifa’s palm in his hands and said,
“Even on such an uncertain path, if I can hold your gentle and warm hand, it feels like I can stand firmly on the shifting sand dunes. For the first time, not as the prince of the Grand Bazaar, but as an ordinary man, I offered my prayers.”
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
