“A nobody dares to cause me harm, so he must pay with his life.”
“……”
“The ‘Death Seekers’ have one more job to do. Christine, contact Roylot immediately.”
“……I understand, Uncle. I’ll send him a letter right away.”
‘Death Seekers’ was the name of an assassin guild cultivated by Duke Yusten to deal with his political opponents, and Roylot was the name of the guild master and the assassin most trusted by the Duke.
I answered the Duke’s order with an expressionless face and then stood up. After that, I slowly crossed the garden that had darkened as night fell.
‘Roylot, who received the Duke’s order, will risk his life to kill Viscount Miles. I absolutely won’t let that happen.’
After writing a letter to Roylot, I must immediately send a letter to inform Duke Haven of this fact. Thinking this, I quickened my pace even more.
[This is the timeline separator]Late at night, with the pale moon rising to the center of the sky, at the Haven ducal residence.
The mansion was in a festive mood with news that the head of the family, Duke Elliot Francis Haven, had successfully repelled an enemy surprise attack and received a great reward from the Emperor.
The servants gossiped about the exploits of the Duke and the White Lion Knights as told by the returning soldiers, while the maids blushed imagining how large and beautiful the jewels on the medal given to Duke Haven by the Emperor might be. Even the old butler of the mansion, who had served the Haven ducal family for a long time, had abandoned his usual gruff old man’s face and was laughing off the mistakes of the young servants and maids.
The mansion was truly in a celebratory mood.
However, Elliot, the protagonist who created such an atmosphere, looked no different than usual.
Returning from the imperial palace in the late afternoon, he declared with a stern face “three days of leave for the knights who participated in this operation, and two days for the knights and servants in the mansion, except for essential personnel” before returning to his office. And he immediately began to deal with the backlog of work.
His adjutant Oliver, placing a cup of adequately cooled tea and a meat pie beside the Duke, said:
“The mansion is in an uproar praising Your Grace’s victory and achievements, but you don’t seem particularly pleased.”
Elliot replied in a gruff voice, still fixing his gaze on the documents:
“There’s no need to make a fuss and rejoice over achievements that aren’t entirely my own.”
“What do you mean, my lord? Everything this time was accomplished by you, Duke. So you should be sufficiently pleased!”
Oliver immediately refuted his words, flaring up. Elliot raised his head to meet Oliver’s gaze and said:
“Looking only at defeating the Rugul and Yalta warriors, that’s true. I don’t intend to deny that point. But if we hadn’t obtained information about their invasion route in advance, we wouldn’t have even had the chance to achieve such results.”
“……That’s true, but……”
“In a way, the one who helped us obtain that information deserves the most credit, yet I’m the only one who received a reward. That point has been bothering me all along. Perhaps that’s why whenever I look at the medal personally bestowed by His Majesty, I feel more bewildered than pleased.”
Elliot added, looking down at the Emperor’s medal pinned to his left chest. The medal, intricately crafted in the shape of a shining platinum sun with an oval-shaped star sapphire sparkling like a star in the center, glittered brilliantly in the candlelight of the night. As he gazed at it, he suddenly recalled Christine’s two eyes filled with determination as she explained her plan in front of the fountain that day.
A blue light that wasn’t dazzling but sparkled, seemingly fragile but containing an unbreakable resolve.
‘Just like this jewel.’
Are the eyes of all those who hold and steadfastly carry out their will like hers?
He thought this while gently stroking the smooth part of the sparkling sapphire with his fingertip.
Observing his appearance, Oliver soon seemed to understand and said with a short “Ah” of realization:
“So you mean, Your Grace, that you’re quite bothered by the fact that Christine, the young lady of Duke Yusten, received no reward for this matter?”
Elliot frowned slightly and retorted:
“I didn’t go that far. I merely said I feel uncomfortable receiving an excessive reward compared to my contribution. ……And I don’t understand why you’re fixating on that young lady. Wasn’t it Viscount Miles who directly provided us with the information?”
“Is that so? To me, it sounded like Your Grace was specifically concerned about the Duke’s daughter. After all, you deliberately said ‘the one who helped us obtain the information’. If you were concerned about the Viscount, you would have said ‘the one who provided the information’ precisely.”
Oliver countered Elliot’s words with a grin. Elliot let out a short laugh of disbelief, then turned his head as if to avoid him and said:
“……Assume as you like. It seems no matter what I say to you now, you’ll misinterpret it as you please.”
“Yes, that’s right. I do have quite a vivid imagination.”
Oliver responded with a good-natured laugh to his seemingly sarcastic words. The irritation that had been slightly building dissipated helplessly at that brazen appearance. Elliot clicked his tongue before turning his attention back to the documents.
Oliver continued to grin as he observed the side profile of his brusque lord. Then, while turning his gaze to the documents on his own desk, he casually said in an seemingly indifferent voice:
“If it’s really bothering you that much, why don’t you give a nice gift to Lady Christine Yusten?”
At that, Elliot, who had been reviewing documents, raised his head and asked with a slight frown:
“……A gift?”
“Yes. As a token of gratitude for her cooperation, why not prepare something that young ladies of that age would likely appreciate? Something like rare flowers from the southern regions, or a dress made of high-quality silk from the western empire, or beautiful jewels, for instance.”
Oliver answered, still feigning indifference. Elliot’s expression became slightly dazed. Then he soon snorted and said:
“……Why should I do that?”
“Well, I’m not necessarily saying you must do so. I just mentioned it because you kept saying you were bothered about the Duke’s daughter, suggesting ‘this could be an option’.”
Oliver answered with a shrug. At the same time, pretending to review the documents on his desk, he glanced sideways at Elliot.
Then he saw the handsome side profile of Elliot, who seemed lost in thought with his chin resting on his hand holding the quill pen. He appeared to be mulling over the suggestion Oliver had made, while pretending not to. Oliver smiled faintly and focused back on his documents, pretending not to notice his lord’s appearance.
Knock knock.
“Duke, are you in?”
At that moment, there was a knock on the office door, followed by the voice of Roger, the vice-captain of the knights.
Elliot turned his gaze to the closed door and said:
“What is it?”
Soon the door opened and Roger, with a slightly flushed expression, entered the office. After briefly paying respects to his lord Elliot, he handed over a letter in his hand and said:
“A short while ago, Lady Christine Yusten sent a letter to you, Duke. According to the maid who delivered this letter, it’s an urgent matter and she hoped you would check it quickly and give a reply.”
“An urgent matter?”
Elliot asked, slightly narrowing his brows, then took the letter Roger held out. When he opened the letter sealed with wax, a single sheet of paper fluttered down onto his hand. Elliot quickly scanned it with his eyes.
[The Duke has hired an assassin to eliminate Viscount Miles. It seems the assassin will target the Viscount when he returns late at night after inspecting his territory two days from now. I intend to prevent that.……So I was hoping you could help me that day, Duke.]
Having read the entire contents of the letter, Elliot let out a short laugh of disbelief.
“Ha! ……Asking for help? Not telling me what to do?”
“……That means, in other words……”
Oliver, who was standing behind him and peering at the contents of the letter, trailed off with a blank expression. Elliot crumpled the letter in one hand and said:
“It seems Lady Christine Yusten wants to prevent the Viscount’s assassination with her own hands.”
Truly, she’s a woman without equal in recklessness.
Elliot clicked his tongue briefly, feeling inexplicably displeased for some reason. Then he immediately opened a drawer, took out parchment for a reply, and began scribbling a response.
[This is the timeline separator]The next day, at Duke Yusten’s annex.
After finishing a brief bath with the help of maids, as I was applying ointment to the wound on my arm, Annie brought me a letter.
It was a reply to the urgent letter I had sent to the Haven ducal residence last night. After wiping the ointment from my fingertips on a handkerchief, I unfolded the Duke’s letter to check its contents.
[Thank you for letting me know. I’ll handle that matter myself, so I’d prefer if you stayed out of this.]At that moment, I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
‘Telling me to stay out of this?’
I don’t understand why or with what intention he said that. I stared intently at the letter, thinking.
‘Does he mean that now that he’s gained all the benefits he can from me, he no longer needs my help? Is he trying to discard me now that I’ve become useless?’
I soon shook my head.
That can’t be it. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have said this, but would have informed Duke Yusten of my betrayal. Even as I thought this, the more I mulled over the words in the letter, the more incredulous and angry I became.
I kept laughing in disbelief, then said to Annie, who was just watching nervously as my face turned red and blue:
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
