Kasallin was beginning to understand what it felt like to be so stunned that words failed her.
She was utterly fed up, driven to the brink of madness by Shallen’s pathological victim complex and his irrational habit of blaming her for every fault.
“To think I seduced His Majesty the Emperor? I had no idea I was such a remarkable person.”
“Don’t be sarcastic and just answer the question.”
“I’m sorry, but you’re completely mistaken. I haven’t even encountered His Majesty recently.”
“Wrong. That’s not what you’re supposed to say. Try again.”
Shallen, seething with anger but trying to appear nonchalant, pointlessly paced around the room.
Kasallin quietly followed his moving shadow with a calm gaze.
“Why don’t you question Her Majesty the Queen, who entrusted me with the writing?”
“The Queen has already sincerely apologized to me. To begin with, my wife is on an entirely different level of character compared to you—she doesn’t resort to such pathetic excuses.”
She’s just a bit slow to learn, but she’s a kind-hearted woman.
Muttering this, the blind man picked up the coffee cup Kasallin had been drinking from.
He subtly examined the rim with a suggestive glance, deliberately finding the spot marked by her lipstick and pressing his lips to it.
Kasallin’s face twisted with displeasure.
“Let me say this again: I had no involvement in this reading event. My only fault, if any, was having to do the work Her Majesty should have done.”
“Wrong. Again.”
“What answer do you want to hear from me?”
“If you genuinely don’t know, that’s truly regrettable. In this situation, is there any response you should give other than ‘I was wrong, please forgive me’?”
“Shallen, you’ll definitely regret this.”
“Regret? Me?”
Shallen let out a hollow, incredulous laugh through his teeth.
“Me, regret? Sure, that’d make for an interesting novel.”
The coffee cup slipped weakly from his hand, shattering into pieces as it hit the floor.
The half-filled black liquid splashed, leaving dirty stains on his shoes and scattering everywhere.
He extended one soiled shoe, tilting his head.
“Clean it.”
“…What did you say?”
“Kneel at my feet and wipe it clean with the hem of your skirt, and I’ll let this all slide.”
Humiliation and shame filled her lungs in place of air.
She felt hot tears welling up behind her trembling eyelashes.
But fortunately, they did not spill down her cheeks.
“If you want to vent your anger, you should’ve chosen your target better.”
At some point, Parnes had approached, unnoticed, and spoke while firmly pressing down on Shallen’s shoulder.
It seemed he was on his way somewhere with his retainers, as they stood lined up at the door.
His voice was so low and menacing it felt like a blade scraping the depths of the underworld.
Shallen’s startled gaze darted toward the door handle.
The sturdy, locked door was crumpled like a thin sheet of paper.
With unsettling commotion coming from a securely locked room, those outside must have found it suspicious.
“At this late hour… how…”
Shallen, desperately trying to salvage his ruined dignity, acted as if nothing had happened.
From his expression, it seemed he at least had some awareness that his actions were vile and petty.
Parnes, ignoring his meaningless question, cast a fleeting glance at Kasallin.
…
As always, Parnes appeared calm and composed, his breathing steady, showing no signs of agitation.
Yet deep within his chest, he felt something hot and unpleasant surging up.
Kasallin looked terribly fragile.
Even in front of haughty nobles, she never flinched, always radiating confidence with a brilliant smile, but now her face seemed on the verge of crumbling into tears.
He couldn’t understand it.
Why did his insides twist every time she wore such an expression?
Why did his stomach churn with disgust whenever her pale face lost its smile, replaced by deep sorrow and anguish?
He truly couldn’t understand it.
There were probably two reasons.
Either she had cast some strange spell on him.
Or his mind had gone mad.
“If you thought a mere maid like me could sway this body, you’re gravely mistaken, Your Majesty.”
Parnes spoke, his gaze still fixed on Kasallin’s downcast eyes.
Shallen’s brow furrowed as if grappling with an incomprehensible puzzle, then began to twitch slowly.
Finally, he looked at Kasallin with eyes that seemed to say something was terribly wrong.
Was it really not your doing?
His gaze seemed to ask.
“Then why did you humiliate the Queen in front of everyone? She’s still young and inexperienced. Don’t you think that was too harsh?”
“You’re so eager to protect a young, inexperienced Queen, yet you’re desperate to tear down a diligent maid who’s merely doing her duty?”
“That was merely part of her education…”
“Why I acted as I did today—ponder that with your Queen all night long. Though I doubt the two of you, clueless about the state of the nation, could find an answer even if you put your heads together.”
Parnes cast a glance at Shallen—not quite mocking, but not smiling either—and continued.
“Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to question your Queen, who blatantly disregarded the sacred meaning of the reading event, dared to deceive me, the Emperor and its organizer, and shamelessly tried to claim a maid’s efforts as her own glory?”
Shallen, as if struck, turned bright red and couldn’t continue speaking.
Leaving him behind, Parnes turned to leave as if he had no further business, but paused to lightly tap the broken door handle.
“I broke it without thinking. Oi, you there. Pack your things and follow me. I’ll give you a new room.”
Kasallin realized a beat late that he was addressing her.
As she struggled to process the situation, flipped upside-down by his arrival, Parnes snapped his fingers impatiently.
“What?”
“I said follow me, so why are you standing there dazed? You’re usually sharp, but sometimes you lose it.”
“Oh… Yes, I’m coming.”
As Kasallin gathered her belongings and left, she glanced at Shallen, standing alone in the middle of the room.
He seemed to want to hold her back, his hand twitching with reluctance as she followed Parnes out.
The sparsely lit candles flickered in the gentle breeze, and the chandelier, connected by chains, creaked with an eerie sound.
Unlike the bright and splendid daytime, the palace corridors at night were somewhat dim, making it easy to lose one’s way.
Kasallin, clutching her belongings tightly with both hands, hurriedly followed Parnes as he walked ahead.
“Your ankle.”
As she wondered how far they were going, he spoke.
His gaze remained fixed forward, as if talking to himself, but it was clearly a question.
Kasallin answered, addressing his broad back, which seemed unusually imposing today.
“Thanks to you, it’s fully healed. I can even run without issue.”
That was the end of the conversation.
She hadn’t expected pleasantries like “Good to hear” or “Be careful from now on” in the first place.
“Here.”
After walking a while longer, he stopped in front of a door.
A servant quietly following behind opened it with a key, and upon entering, she saw a space far too grand and luxurious for a mere guest room.
A spacious balcony overlooking a tulip garden, a generous dressing room fit for a princess.
Even the adorable teddy bears occupying the bed in droves.
Now that she thought about it, this room was close enough to the Emperor’s palace to cross over directly.
He could’ve just told her to use some spare room and left.
‘Even if he acts cold, he’s really a kind person.’
She couldn’t understand why there were terrifying rumors about him being a tyrant or a madman who valued human life less than an ant’s.
He was just a bit gruff and curt, but once you got to know him, he was actually a decent person.
As Kasallin stepped through the doorway, she bowed slightly to Parnes.
“Thank you for everything.”
In the bluish darkness of dawn, Parnes’s brow furrowed lightly.
“You shouldn’t thank me.”
“Why not?”
“Because I used you.”
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘used,’ but you stepped in directly to clear up the misunderstanding and took care of me. You act like that was your plan all along. So I think I have plenty of reason to be grateful.”
Kasallin said this with a bright smile, showing her white teeth.
The sadness that had clouded her face earlier was completely gone.
Seeing this, Parnes felt an unexpected sense of relief.
The fact that a smile was blooming again on her small face…
‘I’m losing it.’
What do her moods have to do with me?
Parnes clicked his tongue and looked away from Kasallin’s face.
If he kept staring at her, the unidentified emotions swirling in his mind would only grow more intense.
As Parnes turned away silently, Kasallin reached out into the air.
“Wait, just a moment. I’d like to offer something in return—would you like some herbal tea before you go?”
“No need. Go in and sleep.”
“I don’t sleep much anyway. I’m the type to stay up studying regularly.”
“If you don’t sleep early, you won’t grow taller. You’re already so tiny you’re barely noticeable.”
“What?”
Leaving a speechless Kasallin behind, Parnes disappeared down the long corridor.
A hollow chuckle escaped Kasallin.
Somehow, she felt she could sleep in a good mood tonight.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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