The sultry night air brushed past Parnes Escalo’s parched face.
Taking out his pocket watch, he squinted as the hands showed well past ten o’clock.
They wouldn’t break a promise, would they?
A sense of unease pricked at his heightened nerves, stirring irritation.
“Your Majesty, are you enjoying the breeze? Or waiting for someone?”
“Come to the upper ballroom and dance with us.”
A few noblewomen, hovering near the ballroom entrance with their budding daughters, approached naturally and spoke.
Their fervent desire to introduce their daughters to the Emperor was evident, but—
“Excuse me.”
Parnes, uninterested in the ball, crossed the corridor without a glance.
Duke Ludwig and the knights waiting at a distance followed him.
“Your Majesty, the ball has already begun. It’s the final event; you should make an appearance.”
Parnes seemed not to hear Ludwig’s advice.
He hurriedly strode to Kasallin’s room.
“Kasallin, are you in there?”
He expected a clatter and her cute voice calling, “Just a moment!”
But today, it was silent.
An eerie stillness sent a chill down his spine.
Perhaps she forgot the note and fell asleep, but he recalled she wasn’t one to sleep so early.
He didn’t know why, but instinct screamed at him.
Open the door now and check on Kasallin.
Parnes turned the knob.
The room’sエア was cold, and she was nowhere to be found.
“Ludwig.”
Scanning the darkened room, Parnes quietly closed the door and spoke.
“Find out where Kasallin is right now.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
At first, he thought it was no big deal.
Perhaps a whim or mood swing made her skip the ball, or an urgent matter arose.
But the news Duke Ludwig brought was enough to stun even Parnes.
“Your Majesty, it’s strange. They say Lady Kasallin is nowhere in the palace.”
Suddenly, he wondered if she’d left for the Kan Kingdom.
If she wasn’t in the palace, that was the only place she’d go.
Imagining her tiny feet boarding a carriage without looking back, an unpleasant twist gripped his heart.
A savage urge surged to drag her before him, embrace her tightly, and breathe in the scent of her pale skin.
“Why?”
What did it matter if Kasallin went home or left whenever she pleased?
Wasn’t she just a fleeting amusement to relieve his daily boredom?
Parnes felt bewildered by his own unfamiliarity.
It was the first time a violent wave disturbed his calm life.
Parnes stood, hands on the windowsill.
Cooling his head, he concluded she wouldn’t leave on a whim.
The Kasallin he knew was meticulously responsible, almost to a fault.
If she had no choice, she’d have left some farewell.
But she vanished so “suddenly.”
Like snow melting into the ground.
Like thick fog vanishing without a trace.
“Your Majesty, several Kan Kingdom carriages and knights passed through the sixth gate earlier.”
Duke Ludwig approached with a rare anxious look.
Something hot as fire and cold as ice seeped into his core.
The festival was nearing its end, and the Kan delegation had already paid their respects, so their departure wasn’t odd.
Parnes closed his eyes, breathing slowly to calm his mind.
If Kasallin had joined the delegation and left on her own, so be it.
But what if she hadn’t?
If Shallen Riche, that vile man, crossed a line he shouldn’t have.
Parnes, masking his rising fury with cold composure, headed somewhere.
His clenched fists swelled with veins ready to burst.
“Listen, everyone. Form a search party and discreetly follow Shallen Riche’s carriage.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
With a thunderous roar, the castle gates opened, and Parnes spurred his horse, charging fiercely.
As he left the palace, a sharp wind like a downpour scratched his cheeks.
“Kasallin, I have to know.”
Why does your existence confuse me so?
What do I want with you, whom I thought was mere amusement? I need to know.
So I can rid myself of you and return to the real Parnes.
Warm drops fell on her face, and Kasallin realized it was rain.
Too warm for a shower, she thought she’d died and reached the afterlife.
Her threadlike consciousness flickered like a blinking lamp, fading and returning.
“What’s happened to me…?”
As thicker raindrops pelted her face, she realized this was reality, not the afterlife.
The faint sound of a river flowed somewhere.
She hadn’t died, but strangely, her body wouldn’t move.
“No feeling in my lower body.”
This simple, stark fact plunged Kasallin into profound terror.
Surviving a fall from a towering cliff and being swept by the river was unbelievable.
There were only two outcomes.
Being torn apart by wild dogs or bleeding to death.
No matter how calmly she thought, no one would reach her in time to save her.
She didn’t even know how far she’d been swept.
“At least I can’t feel the pain.”
Sleepiness crept in.
Her eyelids grew heavy.
As the sound of pouring rain faded and her eyes began to close—
Beyond her narrowing vision, a face that shouldn’t be here appeared.
“…lin!”
The distorted sound grew clearer.
“Kasallin!”
Despite her hazy consciousness, she recognized the voice.
Far off, Parnes charged through the torrential rain like a madman.
Seeing his face, soaked with tears or rain, a fierce will to live surged within her.
With all her strength, Kasallin pulled her half-buried hand from the gravel.
“Your Majesty.”
She stretched out her hand, squeezing out a faint voice to call his name.
“Kasallin! This can’t be. How could this happen!”
Unbelievably, Parnes seemed half-mad, on the verge of losing it.
Dropping the reins and leaping from Blackgriffon, he let out a suppressed roar and embraced Kasallin.
His entire body trembled violently.
It was unmistakable fear.
“It’s okay. I’m here, so it’ll be fine. It’s not too late.”
The ever-composed beast muttered incoherently.
Kasallin was puzzled.
“Why…?”
“Shut that mouth! Please, don’t speak. Please.”
Parnes struggled to regain his composure, gasping for breath.
He carefully lifted Kasallin into his arms.
What was so dire about her condition to make him act so unlike himself?
“Your Majesty! What’s happened here?”
A voice, likely Duke Ludwig’s, echoed from afar, followed by the sound of many approaching.
They screamed in shock at the sight of Kasallin.
“Good heavens, the blood!”
“Clear the way! We must get this girl to the palace!”
“Your Majesty, this way!”
Shouts mixed with curses urged haste and speed.
Thankfully or not, her memory fragmented afterward.
She was on a windy roadside, then awoke in a room reeking of antiseptic.
People in medical gowns surrounded her, murmuring.
Something sharp seemed to pierce her skin, but she couldn’t comprehend it.
But one thing was clear.
“She’s a precious lady. We must save her.”
Parnes stayed by her side, never leaving, she faintly knew.
Late at night.
Even the sharp-eyed beasts sought their beds.
Yet a luxurious inn in the suburbs remained brightly lit.
The search party leader, cloak damp with dawn’s breeze, strode past the dining hall to the restricted upper floor.
Shallen Riche, hands clasped to his forehead, sat with head bowed, trembling as he spoke at the leader’s report.
“So, blood was everywhere, but Kasallin was nowhere to be found…?”
“My apologies, Your Highness.”
“You call that an answer!”
Shallen’s voice thundered toward the ceiling.
The soldiers flinched.
“With regret, it seems Lady Kasallin is already…”
The leader bowed deeply, unable to continue, as Shallen, drenched in cold sweat, paced the room, rubbing his face.
His ghostly pale face was filled with fear and despair.
“This can’t be. It’s a lie. A dream.”
The sudden tragedy felt like a memory erased, faint as a fleeting dream.
It was as if Kasallin would burst through the door, unharmed, any moment.
If Kasallin was truly gone, Shallen blamed the incompetent guards.
If they’d saved her faster, this wouldn’t have happened.
Thus, Shallen dodged responsibility, shunning the horrific reality.
“Your Highness! I heard from a servant. What happened? My sister fell?”
Rose, equally shocked, rushed into the inn.
Earlier, Shallen had announced an urgent matter, ordering preparations to return home early.
Like a man on fire, he gave the order and vanished, leaving no time for questions.
That wasn’t the only odd thing.
Unlike usual, Shallen rode alone in the lead carriage, insisting on going ahead, while the others followed at a safe distance.
It was the dead of night, pitch-black all around.
In that darkness, Shallen’s maddened scream echoed through the mountain path, leading to this moment.
Rose had never imagined Kasallin would die before her.
With many challenges ahead in her reign, how could she go on without her sister’s help?
“But now, at least, she won’t take what’s mine…”
A shameful thought rose like smoke in her mind, and Rose, startled, clamped her mouth shut.
Shallen, his face ashen, stared at her and said,
“Look here, Queen. Were you just laughing?”
My Arch-enemy Sealed My Memory and Said That He is My Husband
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
