From somewhere, a voice called out urgently. Stella, about to grab the stone, turned her head quickly toward the sound.
There stood an earth fairy who looked different from the ones she saw yesterday. With white hair and wrinkled face, he seemed much older than yesterday’s fairies.
The grandfather fairy, despite his appearance, approached Stella with surprising agility.
“You must be Stella.”
“Yes.”
Stella responded politely without realizing it. The grandfather fairy sighed deeply and gestured to her.
It seemed he was asking her to sit, so Stella crouched down to match his eye level as best as she could.
“My name is Uhura. Those youngsters asked too much of you yesterday. I apologize on their behalf.”
Stella felt strange seeing such a small being speak so solemnly. She wanted to pat his head because he was cute, but it seemed that might lead to trouble.
“Was it an unreasonable request?”
“Do you know what you were about to dig up?”
“Just something.”
“I thought as much. They didn’t explain properly, did they? That’s why you recklessly approached it.”
Realizing it was not a simple task, Stella cautiously moved away from the stone tower.
It felt like evil energy was seeping from the tower, making her step back further.
“What’s inside there?”
“A cursed object sealed with the earth’s energy. It’s causing the land here to die. If this continues, we’ll all disappear soon.”
“Can’t you move somewhere else?”
At Stella’s question, Uhura laughed weakly and shook his head. Stella felt like a naive child.
“We were born from this land. We cannot leave it.”
“So, what will happen?”
“We’ll probably vanish soon. But that’s our problem. You kids, come here and apologize now!”
At Uhura’s command, two earth fairies emerged from their hiding, heads bowed, and approached Stella hesitantly.
With a defeated look and constantly wiping their eyes with their forearms, it seemed they had been scolded by the grandfather fairy before coming.
“We’re really sorry. We were only thinking of ourselves. We shouldn’t have asked you to do that.”
The little fairy with twinkling eyes, Esta, apologized first. Stella tried to recall their conversation from yesterday.
“I’m really sorry. This is to apologize.”
The plump fairy, Ark, offered a basket full of orange carrots. The basket was quite large for the fairies but small enough to fit in Stella’s two hands.
Stella was slightly moved as she accepted the basket.
“You didn’t have to do this. Now I feel bad.”
Stella thought it was lucky she didn’t touch the scary object, but she pretended to be sorry she couldn’t help.
It was sad to think these adorable creatures might vanish, but she couldn’t risk her life to help them.
As she turned to leave, pretending to be regretful, Mila’s voice suddenly startled her.
“Princess, what are you doing there?”
Startled by Mila’s sudden appearance, Stella slipped and fell to the ground. At the same time, something crashed into her back, collapsing with a loud noise.
Stella turned her head slowly with a bad feeling. The old stone tower she had backed into was crumbling down.
It had collapsed far too easily.
“Princess!”
Mila, who had been watching from a distance, ran towards Stella in panic. Stella, sitting awkwardly on the ground, slowly got up in a daze.
“Are you okay? Do you, do you have a headache, feel like vomiting, or, or, see anything terrifying?”
Uhura, who had turned pale at the sight of the collapsed stone tower, stammered in his speech. Ark and Esta, who had come to apologize tearfully, had already run far away.
“……I’m fine.”
Stella checked her palm, which had grazed the ground as she fell, and managed to respond. Though her palm was slightly scraped and wounded, now was not the time to worry about it.
The moment she realized she had touched the cursed stone tower, it felt as if all the blood drained from her body.
She was scared that evil energy might start seeping out of the collapsed tower, but nothing unusual happened other than her heart racing madly.
“Princess, are you hurt?”
Mila, who had approached in the meantime, examined Stella’s hand, asking with concern.
Although she had fallen due to Mila’s sudden call, she couldn’t blame her. Mila frowned upon discovering the wound on Stella’s palm.
“It’s okay. I just slipped for a moment.”
“What were you doing here?”
Mila took out a handkerchief and wrapped it around Stella’s injured palm, asking curiously. There seemed to be nothing worth Stella’s attention in this overgrown garden.
“Just, I saw this here.”
Stella pointed at the collapsed stone tower. She was curious if Mila could see it too, and if so, what it looked like to her.
“A pile of stones? Why is this here?”
Mila looked around once more and spoke with a puzzled expression.
Mila could see it too.
“I thought it might need to be cleared away if I’m going to tend to the garden.”
“You might get hurt handling stones like that. I’ll call a gardener. They should be able to clear it within a week.”
“A week?”
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
