The journey from the academy to the Ludwick Duke’s residence took over a week by carriage.
Despite occasional stays in villages, there were days when they camped along a road with nothing in sight.
Today was one of those days.
The entourage of about twenty from the Ludwick family, including knights and servants, found a suitable spot to set up their carriages for camping.
While setting up tents for sleeping and preparing dinner, Deon and Liche sat side by side in front of the campfire.
“…”
Usually, he would tease her about being hungry.
Already on the fourth day, Deon was quiet. Liche glanced at Deon with a sidelong look.
“What are you looking at?”
Deon asked Liche as he threw firewood into the campfire. Considering how little they had talked recently, even such a blunt tone was welcome.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Liche shook her head. Deon, who had been nonchalantly observing the sparks around the campfire, casually spoke up.
“Three years ago, you purified me in the forest of demons, right?”
“Huh? Yeah…”
“Why.”
Why? Liche puckered her lips.
At that time, Deon’s life was in immediate danger if not purified. So, without hesitation, she purified him. But instead, she received complaints from Deon. Though she felt sorry for hiding her status as a Rethiom, it wasn’t something to be questioned.
“Because leaving you as you were would have been dangerous.”
Liche answered with a flat voice.
Deon, noticing Liche’s change, tried to justify his tone.
“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that.”
Then, he brushed his black hair aside and let out a slight sigh.
“Why did I save someone like you? I dragged you into the forest to show you to the demons.”
“Don’t equate the two.”
Liche glanced at Deon. She felt sorry, resentful, and not entirely hateful.
“I saved you because I wanted to. …Because you’re my brother.”
Even if they were to go back to that day, even if she hadn’t met Pythons that day, Liche believed she would have purified Deon.
He was her first brother.
“The guy who threatened to kill a seven-year-old if he didn’t leave the castle is calling himself a brother.”
Even as he spoke, Deon furrowed his brows, seemingly irritated by his past self.
Deon’s self-reflection on the past made Liche chuckle.
“I wasn’t scared of you back then.”
“I know.”
In the softened atmosphere, Deon, whose sharp gaze had relaxed more than usual, opened his mouth.
“You’ve gotten weaker.”
“…?”
Who was saying that she had gotten weaker, especially about a Triche? If the students in the same class heard this, they would be shocked.
But to Deon, that was how Liche seemed.
Concerned about weak subjects, unable to ignore the pain of others even when knowing it would hurt. A little sister who was only kind.
Deon was worried about that side of Liche. Someday, she might leave again to save someone. She might not come back to their side forever.
For some reason, swallowing the anxiety rising in him alone, Deon casually said to Liche,
“If you think you’re going to do something dangerous next time, call me.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll do it even if you don’t ask. It’s better to help than to worry about someone who knows nothing.”
It was a tsk-worthy concern, Deon chuckled.
Knowing she cared, Liche smiled and nodded with a slight laugh.
In the distance, Blake smiled at the reconciled siblings. They seem to have made up.
“Hey, dog.”
But there was still something to poke fun at.
Deon hesitated to speak several times before asking Liche,
“Honestly, tell me. How many people knew about you being a Rethiom?”
“What?”
“You being a Rethiom. Did Zeckberth Sirdia know?”
“Oh, no.”
It’s dangerous to be honest.
Liche sensed Deon’s uneasy atmosphere intuitively and raised her head, but it was already too late.
Deon’s eyes, which had already seen through her lie, lifted slightly.
“I have to stop this.” Liche hastily lowered Deon’s eyes with her two index fingers.
Whether Liche said anything or not, Deon, unfazed, asked her again, “Robin Hoff seemed unaware, and what about Ian Dwayne Gerwer?”
“…”
Liche slowly removed her fingers from Deon’s face and rolled her eyes.
Deon, silently lowering his gaze, looked at Liche’s quiet profile.
“…”
A chilly silence hung between them.
It seemed like reconciliation today might not happen after all.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
“As expected, home is the best.”
Jed deeply breathed in the air in the lobby of the mansion. The lobby was bustling with servants welcoming back the returning family.
Jed put his hand on Phillip’s shoulder, who entered carrying Liche’s luggage.
“It’s heavy, Mr. Jed.”
“Phillip, you take a turn too. Smells different.”
“It’s different. Every time, it’s the same… Oh, it is different.”
“Really?”
“Both of you. Since it’s complicated, how about doing foolish things somewhere else?”
Anna passed by, walking straight. Phillip spoke to Jed, pointing to her.
“Miss Anna has been cold lately.”
“Foolish, Phillip. Anna has always been like that to us.”
Jed shook his head.
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
