Don't Obsess Over A Married Woman (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 16
It was partly due to the violent private tutor who had taught him swordsmanship in his childhood, but above all, it was the influence of his father, the former Duke Dieren, that weighed heaviest.
The image of his father imprinted upon Cardiel was always that of an authoritative nobleman wearing a ceremonial sword at his waist.
Ever since the very distant days of his infancy, when his memories remained hazy.
Children act based on instinct and desire until their brains fully develop.
Especially during that period, their survival instinct is so acute that, in a sense, they are said to perceive surrounding dangers even better than adults.
Such instinct in Cardiel made him fear his father, Carlos Nikolai, Duke Dieren.
Particularly, it was the single sword hanging at his father’s waist that provoked this fear.
〈Hah, you miserable wretch. Even so, I’ve raised you this much, considering you’re my own child. Yet you don’t even know how to show your father proper respect.〉
〈I was wrong, Father. I won’t do it again.〉
Even when he hadn’t done anything wrong, young Cardiel would always tremble uncontrollably whenever his father’s inexplicable yelling reached his ears.
His father would summon Cardiel—and his younger siblings—not for any real reason, but simply because he was in a bad mood, or had been drinking, or merely because something displeased him.
Each time, the scabbard would separate from the sword at his father’s waist.
Although he never actually drew the blade, this repeated symbol of violence was enough to become deeply ingrained in Cardiel’s subconscious.
The sword meant violence, and swordsmanship was the most aggressive form of offense.
Therefore, wasn’t offense truly the best form of defense?
“Huuuh.”
A deep sigh slowly drifted up from the very depths of his lungs.
That’s what Cardiel thought.
If breaths were visible, his room would be utterly polluted by layers upon layers of pitch-black sighs accumulated over many years.
A breath of resentment forged from poison harbored for over a decade.
Emotional residue, hoarded in solitude because he could never pour it out to anyone.
Yet, paradoxically, these hardened lumps of obstinacy also served as a strong, supportive foundation that had kept the boy from crumbling all this time.
Thus, Cardiel could only continue relying on his own stubbornness.
He kept repeating to himself: the only things he could trust were himself, his own decisions, and his own values.
‘This isn’t a normal state.’
Of course, Cardiel knew that as well.
He was fully aware of his own rigid self, trapped solely within his own thoughts, and of his stubborn refusal to compromise with anything—even while recognizing it clearly.
After all, he wasn’t the only one who knew. Euphemia and Celsion surely understood their eldest brother’s dogmatic nature better than anyone else.
The servants did too, as did his tutors.
Still.
‘I don’t want her to see me like this, especially not in front of my stepmother.’
That was why Cardiel concealed his true feelings before Liselotte.
Because, more than anything, he wanted to appear as a perfect, reliable, and dependable eldest son in her presence.
To Cardiel, Liselotte was someone far more special than anyone else. No—such a crude word was insufficient.
Reverence and adoration.
He loved her more than his own birth mother and trusted her more than any teacher.
‘I can’t afford to disappoint her.’
To understand Cardiel’s feelings toward Liselotte, one must go back ten years.
A terrifying father who treated his children as if they were his toys, his pet dogs, or even his slaves.
In stark contrast, Cardiel’s birth mother was an exceedingly timid woman.
〈I’m sorry, my dears. I’m so sorry I’m too weak to help you…〉
She never intervened or stepped forward, no matter how cruelly her children were treated by their demon-like husband.
No—it was closer to saying she simply couldn’t. After all, she herself was a victim of the demon who bore the title of husband.
Her fear of him drained her youth and vitality, leaving her to wither away slowly.
Though she carried the blood of a cadet branch of the imperial family, after marriage she became completely estranged from her own kin, and no one came to her aid.
The day she finally escaped the demon’s grasp after years of suffering was a rainy one.
Cardiel only learned that evening that his youngest sibling had been born—at the cost of his mother’s life.
Yet he could neither grieve for his mother’s death nor feel relief at his sibling’s safe arrival. Perhaps the opposite would have been more plausible.
A month passed like that.
Just as he began to think that the demon’s castle remained utterly unchanged despite his mother’s departure—
his father announced his second marriage. Cardiel was five years old then, and Euphemia had just turned four.
〈How pitiful.〉
Honestly, Cardiel pitied the woman who became his stepmother.
He believed her life was utterly tragic—willingly offering herself as a sacrificial lamb, lured by the noble house’s prestigious name.
He had no doubt that her radiant fair skin, her lustrous dark-violet hair, and her eyes that shone like delicate violets would soon become as grotesque as his birth mother’s had.
Yet, astonishingly, she endured ten whole years within that demon’s castle.
Of course, the journey wasn’t smooth.
For the first few months after the wedding, his stepmother paid little attention to the children.
She merely greeted them when they happened to meet or occasionally asked what they’d been doing lately.
〈Cardiel, right? I heard you’ve started learning swordsmanship. Are those bruises on your arms from training?〉
〈…Yes.〉
〈I see. But as a viscount, you don’t really need to learn swordsmanship—do you perhaps wish to become a knight?〉
〈No, that’s not it.〉
〈Oh? Even so, your training seems far too intense. Should I speak with your sword instructor about this?〉
〈…No, there’s no need. Please don’t interfere.〉
〈If that’s truly your wish, I won’t meddle from now on. Still, be sure to apply your medicine regularly, and don’t hesitate to refuse lessons that are too harsh.〉
She knew nothing.
The reason he trained with the sword was to stand against his demon of a father and protect Euphemia and Celsion.
Moreover, he no longer wanted to fear his father’s sword—the very symbol of violence.
〈Well, after all, where can you find a man who genuinely loves children born from his previous wife?〉
It was already fortunate if she didn’t despise them, let alone show affection.
Yet not long after, Cardiel realized he had gravely misunderstood Liselotte all along.
〈What on earth do you think you’re doing to Cardiel right now?〉
It was the moment when a firm leather whip and an ornate scabbard were carving dozens of red lines across young Cardiel’s back.
Her voice sounded like salvation itself to Cardiel, who lay gripping the bedsheets, swallowing his tears, unable to move under the demon’s command.
〈Ah, my beautiful wife. I’m disciplining the children right now—please wait in the bedroom for just a while longer.〉
〈Discipline? This is outright violence!〉
She strode in immediately, snatched the whip and sword from the demon’s hands, and hurled them to the floor.
Then, she wrapped a blanket around Cardiel’s bloodied, trembling body and pulled him into her arms.
Her sharp voice, shouting for the physician, felt strangely warm—so much so that tears nearly spilled from his eyes.
〈This is no concern of yours, my lady. I am merely disciplining my children as their father.〉
〈Enough with that nonsense about discipline! Whatever Cardiel may have done wrong, is it acceptable for a father to beat his child like a slave? Do you even know that slavery was abolished five hundred years ago?〉
〈Are you trying to lecture me now?〉
〈Why? Does it hurt your pride to be taught something you didn’t know? Or are you ashamed of yourself for knowingly committing such barbaric acts?〉
Realizing he couldn’t win with words, the demon, though glaring murderously, had no choice but to let the two of them go.
Even then, Cardiel still thought her sense of justice might merely be a fleeting impulse.
He told himself not to hope for kindness anymore.
That the only one who could protect him was himself.
But Cardiel’s expectations were proven beautifully wrong.
From that moment on, she continued rescuing Cardiel and Euphemia from the demon’s grasp.
〈If he ever tries to hurt you again, send someone or pass me a note—promise me you’ll tell me immediately.〉
As time passed, the violence clearly lessened.
The demon seemed to avoid the siblings entirely, and it wasn’t hard to see that all of this was thanks to their stepmother, Liselotte.
The most peaceful period of Cardiel’s childhood.
Not long after, his younger half-brother, born to his stepmother, proved just as endearing—resembling her greatly.
Cardiel vowed to cherish and care for this half-brother as if he were his own blood—just as Liselotte had done for him.
Yet that peaceful childhood did not last long.
Three years later, tragedy struck. The younger brother born to his stepmother passed away.
But Cardiel couldn’t confess before his stepmother—whose eyes were red from weeping—that the demon was responsible for his death.
Not so much out of guilt for failing to protect his brother, but because he feared she might leave the demon’s castle because of it.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
Chapter Comments (4)
Inline Comments (55)
〈There’s no adult who hides behind a child. Nor is there a child who protects an
Spoken like the hunan being she is. I like her very much
The cause of this crisis I’d just faced was none other than Leopold Hose.
After reading ‘do your best to regret’ I flinch at the name leoplod
Nah, surely not. It must’ve been pure coincidence.
“Nah” 🤣🤣🤣 I can’t picture her using such a colloquialisms
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Soo all this talk about the dungeons being a maze and very dangerous was for what???
Aww this is such a tesrjerker of a chapter 🥲🥺 . Now she knows they love her ( they made it obvious though)
This is crazy omgosh what is going onn this amount of darkness and trauma gave me whiplash. I can also see where this is going amnesia arc incoming isn’t it.