“What should I answer? That I’m injured? What if he asks to see it?”
“That’s…,” Roselia hesitated to reply, causing Klaus’s brows to furrow in confusion.
The wet shirt clung more tightly due to sweat, and in her panic, she could only move her mouth dumbly without producing any sound.
Then, an unexpected voice intervened.
“He got hurt protecting me.”
Both Klaus and Roselia turned towards the source of the voice. There stood Closet, arms crossed, looking at them with a haughty expression.
“Hurt protecting you? What happened? Are you not injured?”
“Hmm… Are you worried about me?”
A peculiar standoff ensued. A barely matured fifteen-year-old girl with blue-silver hair and a tall man with blue-black hair, easily over 190 centimeters tall, stood facing each other in a tense confrontation, creating an air of unease among the onlookers.
“What happened?”
As Closet merely glared without answering, Klaus sighed and turned his focus back to Roselia. However, Closet interrupted with her own version of the story.
“I slipped getting out of the carriage. Antonio tried to protect me, fell under me, and got scraped on his back.”
Closet spoke calmly, making it almost believable. Of course, such an incident never happened. Closet had elegantly alighted from the carriage and met with the young ladies.
Why would Closet lie on her behalf? Had she realized Roselia was a woman?
Amidst her confused thoughts, Klaus seemed convinced and turned to Antonio.
“I apologize for the injury you sustained while protecting Closet.”
The reason why these siblings were so keen on apologizing for each other was unclear.
Klaus’s gruff apology was met with a snort from Closet.
“Why are you apologizing for me?”
Despite her reluctance to use the term ‘brother’, Klaus merely looked at Roselia dispassionately.
“Still, you shouldn’t be so reckless with your body.”
An unexpected comment caught both Roselia and Closet off guard. However, Klaus continued with an indifferent expression.
“Your body isn’t yours until the debt is paid off.”
The implication was clear, yet chilling. Roselia’s body was valuable only as a means to repay the debt.
Following his comment, Klaus left for his study, leaving a tense atmosphere behind. Once he was gone, Roselia relaxed her stiff shoulders with a sigh.
Despite the unfinished meal, Closet continued eating as if nothing had happened. Roselia cautiously asked her.
“Lady, why did you help me?”
Closet gestured for the servants to leave the dining room, increasing Roselia’s apprehension.
Had Closet discovered her true identity?
But Closet’s answer was slightly different than expected.
“I saw Antonio looking troubled.”
“Me?”
“I told you, I would protect you from that cold-blooded man.”
Confused, Roselia asked again, “Even though you don’t know why I’m wearing bandages?”
“Does that matter? You didn’t want Klaus to see under the bandage, right?”
Startled by Closet’s incisive remark, Roselia stiffened.
Casually observing her, Closet coolly dabbed her mouth with a napkin.
“Probably an unsightly scar or something. Regardless, you were in quite a predicament just now, weren’t you?”
Roselia couldn’t help but smile wryly at young Closet, behaving like a worldly middle-aged woman despite her youth.
“Thank you, Lady.”
“Don’t mention it. But you’ll have to accompany me to the Duchess’s tea party in three days, okay?”
“Of course.”
Pleased with Roselia’s answer, Closet beamed a wide smile, and Roselia smiled back gently.
A small village known as Algrisha existed between the capital of the Lugubelzet Empire, Vandeloup, and the Balthazar Duke’s territory.
This village served as a trade route and buffer zone between the capital and the Duke’s lands, inhabited by poor farmers who couldn’t afford life in the capital and merchants traveling between the two areas.
Stepping off a 100-Grang carriage, Roselia surveyed the village and smirked. This was the place where the Empress’s favorite first artwork would be discovered. According to the original story, the heroine, disguised as a commoner, would pass through this village in about a month, where she would fall in love with and purchase a painter’s work.
The Empress paid a whopping 500 Verang for the painting, a sum enough for an ordinary commoner to live leisurely for ten years.
That painting was Roselia’s first target.
The challenge was that the only information available from the original novel was the name of the village and the painter.
Fortunately, this was a small village, not the capital.
After gathering her thoughts, Roselia approached a fruit vendor who was arranging his stall.
The vendor, surprised by the well-dressed and handsome Roselia, stood up with a mix of curiosity and caution.
“Good day. Lovely weather, isn’t it?”
“Who might you be?”
“I… was wondering if you might know someone named Abelard Hentom?”
“Abelard, you say? Haven’t seen him around for about two weeks…”
Surprised by the unexpected response to her casual query, Roselia excitedly asked, “You know Mr. Abelard?!”
Male lead fell into her trap — and shattered when she walked away
This is also on my reread list!
This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.
Definitely worth a read, y’all!
The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.
But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.
Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.
I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.
The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.
As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.
Intro
As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.
But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…
Do you dare?
Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.
Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.
The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
