“Do you like the resting place that’s been prepared for you?”

Startled by the sudden voice, Clodel turned around.

“Steward, give a gold coin to the gravekeeper. It seems the Duchess is quite pleased with the tombstone.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The steward signaled a guard standing behind him, who promptly ran off upon receiving the order.

“…….”

Clodel remained silent, unable to say anything. Not just her, but everyone was rendered speechless by Kaian’s cold and seemingly angry presence.

“Come here.”

At his commanding tone, Clodel stepped back and stood beside him.

“Not on the right, on the left. Don’t you even know the basics?”

Reprimanded, she was hurriedly pulled by the arm to stand on his left.

The strong scent of the man who had tightly bound her the previous night enveloped her.

He had been quite skilled.

Kaian, a notably handsome and proud man, was rumored even in distant northern Balmond to have a different maiden in his bed every day.

His body, which had harshly spoken to her but seemed eager on their first night, was different from his words.

It was fortunate for Clodel that her husband, who took her virginity, was not inexperienced. Otherwise, under his robust frame, she might have ended up with a broken arm or leg.

When she awoke in the morning, Kaian had already left the bedroom, making this the first time she saw him since last night.

‘There was no wedding night gift, then.’

If a bride pleased her husband on the first night, baskets and boxes filled with flowers and gifts would be stacked in the corridor and the lady’s chamber.

A useless tradition of the Oberon Kingdom, but noblewomen often boasted about what they received from their husbands after the wedding night. The gifts held meanings and symbols, depending on what they were.

Expensive jewels to show off wealth, spoils from the king to display honor, or heirlooms passed down from the mother as a pledge of fidelity to the wife-to-be.

This morning, nothing lay in front of Clodel’s room, leaving it starkly empty.

There was a lot that didn’t need to be said to be understood.

Probably, starting tonight, she was certain that she would not see him in the bedroom again.

It was a pitiful situation indeed.

In the midst of all this, seeing the tombstone bearing her name, she found some comfort in thinking that at least Kaian had no intention of sending her away.

Hiding her sorrowful heart, Clodel solemnly placed flowers and wine on the graves of the Temnes family owners, unaware that Kaian was stealthily observing her from the side.

After visiting the underground mausoleum, the celebration continued from the previous day.

Yesterday, the renowned Temnes blood relatives had gathered to drink heavily, and today, the vassals loyal to the Temnes family were imbibing.

Only the participants had changed from blood relatives to vassals, still snarling like dogs.

The atmosphere, filled with discontented and drunken grumblings about the marriage with Bermont, was not much different from yesterday. Kaian, unimpressed, slowly moistened his lips with wine from the highest seat at the table.

‘Strange woman.’

What occupied his mind was Clodel, whom he had seen in the mausoleum earlier.

Kaian had arrived underground, leading a few armed guards. Their heavy armor would have undoubtedly made a loud noise upon reaching the mausoleum, but Clodel seemed lost in thought, staring blankly.

She tenderly touched the cold tombstone, looking almost admiringly and contentedly at it, as if lost in a dream of a different world.

Her expression irritated Kaian.
“Should I have made a face like that when I allowed her to fumble over my body last night?”

Kaian found himself wishing Clodel had shown more resistance instead of just closing her eyes tightly and waiting for the dreadful time to pass in his arms, which many maidens longed for.

Despite his lack of expectations, Kaian was surprisingly satisfied with his reluctant bride, so much so that he had prepared flowers and gifts after Clodel had fallen into a deep sleep.

He remembered telling his steward, who pestered him about following tradition, that “There are no flowers in the lands of Rowen to give to a Bermonte.”

After all, Clodel was his bride, his wife. Contrary to his worries about the wedding night being repulsive and hateful, he found that being sober, she wasn’t as disagreeable as he had anticipated.

Now she wasn’t a Bermonte anymore.

She was a Temnes.

Even when he briefly glanced at the woman who would lie beside him in the tomb he had prepared, he didn’t feel too bad about it, considering she was cursed Bermonte.

But he was deeply irked when he saw that she had not accepted his gifts.

It was common sense to immediately wear the wedding night gifts during the morning dressing.

If Clodel had accepted him as her husband, she should have worn the flowers he sent in her hair and the ring on her finger.

The gift Kaian had given Clodel was a large blue diamond ring his mother had received from the previous Duke of Temnes as a wedding night gift.

When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem

This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Synopsis:

“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”

Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.

Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.

While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the  Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…

Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.

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