“Why don’t you want to return to God’s embrace?”
“Pardon?”
“I understand why the princess wants to die. Anyone in your situation would want to die. But I can’t comprehend why you’re struggling so hard not to be placed in an Adelia coffin.”
“…”
“What’s the reason? Is there something I should know but don’t?”
At the time, I wasn’t in my right mind, so I didn’t realize he would find this aspect puzzling.
Of course, there was something he didn’t know. But it wasn’t something he needed to know. At least not right now.
“There isn’t, Your Highness. I simply thought I didn’t deserve to return to God’s embrace with my family, as I couldn’t protect anyone and survived alone.”
Floyd didn’t respond to that, just stared at Roxiana for a long while before nodding.
“I see. But your thoughts have changed now?”
“I barely managed to remember my father’s words and decided to accept my situation. So now I must do what I can.”
“And that’s laundry?”
“You said you don’t need a sword or shield, so what else can I do?”
After saying that, Roxiana recalled his bedroom without even a blanket and added:
“Shall I look after Your Highness’s bedchamber? So you can sleep with a blanket.”
Floyd’s face reddened.
“What are you saying?”
“You said you slept well thanks to me, that I’d be valuable in bed…”
“Don’t take a joke seriously.”
“Ah…”
Roxiana’s face also reddened. Floyd, feeling uneasy about her bowing her head in embarrassment, added:
“It’s true that I slept well thanks to the princess, but the comment about being useful as a courtesan was a joke. Did I look that serious when I said it?”
Roxiana tried to remember what expression he had worn then, but couldn’t recall clearly. Seeing her seriously bow her head in contemplation, Floyd laughed loudly.
Floyd, thinking she looked like a rabbit as she looked up at him in confusion, said:
“There’s no need to try so hard to remember. The princess has an unexpectedly whimsical side.”
“Am I… whimsical?”
“Yes. You’re whimsical, princess. Very much so.”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard such an assessment.”
“Are you displeased?”
Am I displeased?
Roxiana tilted her head slightly to the side.
In the past, she might have been a little displeased. Back then, she had to live showing the dignity of royalty, leaving no room for criticism from others.
But now, having lost everything, she felt that others’ opinions didn’t matter.
“No, I’m not displeased.”
“That’s a relief. I was worried I’d made another slip of the tongue.”
“Your Highness can make slips of the tongue with me.”
“I don’t want to. Because I don’t want to see the princess upset.”
Roxiana didn’t know how to respond to that, so she lowered her gaze. Her long, lush eyelashes cast shadows on her eyes.
“Why do you grant all my requests and treat me so kindly, yet refuse my plea not to call me princess?”
“Well…”
Floyd, looking at her profile, recalled the cheerful girl he had seen in his childhood.
The girl who unhesitatingly gave her umbrella to a stranger, and despite getting rained on as a result, smiled brightly.
Years later, when they met again, the girl had become a woman who didn’t smile, or rather, couldn’t smile. Floyd wanted to see her smile radiantly like before.
“If the princess wants to do something so badly, let’s go out tomorrow. There’s a circus that only comes during the Star Festival, and I saw earlier that they’ve already arrived.”
Roxiana was puzzled by the sudden proposal but nodded obediently. Floyd, having confirmed her answer, stood up and was about to open the reception room door when he stopped and turned back.
Roxiana was looking down at her skirt with an expressionless face, lost in thought.
“Because you’re the only person I’ve ever considered a true princess in my life. So no matter where you are, what you have, or what’s marked on your shoulder, to me, you are a princess.”
Towards Roxiana, who looked at him as if to ask what he meant, Floyd added with a grin:
“That’s the answer to your question from earlier, princess.”
+++
After Floyd left, Roxiana, left alone in the reception room, stared blankly at her feet. Recalling the time when she had shared warmth with his hand holding hers, her face felt hot.
‘He’s like a storm.’
He carried flames, but he was like a storm. When dealing with him, she felt as if caught in a typhoon beyond human control.
Swept away by his words, attitude, gaze, and emotions with no way to resist, when she came to her senses, she realized she had said and done things she never thought she would in her lifetime. It seemed she had been gradually pulled out of the darkness she thought she could never escape on her own, without even realizing it.
‘A circus…’
Roxiana had never seen a circus before.
Whenever a circus troupe visited the capital of the Kanta Kingdom, Roxiana wanted to go see it herself, but was never allowed. The reason was that the circus might be dangerous because it was dark, visited by an unspecified number of people, and had weak security.
One day, unable to bear it any longer, she tried to sneak out of the palace with her younger brother Lanian. Of course, they were caught by Robert, the guard knight, before they could even set foot outside the palace. On the way back to her room after being severely scolded by her father, she promised Lanian:
−”Someday, when I become stronger than Robert, I’ll definitely take you to the circus.”
That promise was never kept.
If she was going to die anyway, wouldn’t it have been better to die while watching the circus she had wanted to see, rather than being cut down by Lucas’s sword?
‘No, there were many good things besides the circus. Lanian experienced those things before he…’
She couldn’t bring herself to think he had been happy. It was hard to believe that her younger brother, who died a violent death before even becoming an adult, had lived a happy life.
Roxiana buried her face in her hands but didn’t cry. She just breathed slowly, trying to calm the desire for death that was once again trying to dominate her.
I can’t die yet. I have things I need to do.
As she was comforting herself like this, there was a knock, and Petria entered. Petria was carrying bundles in both hands.
“Lady Roxiana. I bought some clothes.”
It was more than just ‘some’ for the amount she had.
Petria untied the bundles and spread out the clothes inside on the sofa one by one. They were winter clothes that looked warm, though not flashy.
“I was going to go with you, but you seemed busy, so I went alone. I’m not sure if you’ll like them. I don’t have a good eye for these things…”
Petria spoke apologetically, but Roxiana knew she had tried. Even without Petria telling her, she could tell how difficult it must have been to get the money to buy these clothes.
“Thank you. I like them all.”
“I wanted to buy better ones, but I heard the Grand Duke’s finances aren’t good these days.”
Roxiana shook her head at Petria’s words, which sounded like an excuse.
“No, I really like them. So please don’t say anything to the Grand Duke.”
Petria bowed her head, feeling as if her thoughts had been read. She had been thinking that if she subtly let him know that Roxiana didn’t have a proper dress, he might provide a solution, since he was someone who hugged Roxiana so enthusiastically.
She couldn’t buy a single high-quality dress while sticking to the budget given by the head maid Eledrun. Petria wished Roxiana could wear beautiful dresses befitting her, but right now, warm clothes were more important than that.
Although she bought the best clothes among the ready-made ones, they were clothes that a noble lady would never wear. Nobles always want to be the most special.
“Ah, Petria. I’m going to see the circus with the Grand Duke tomorrow.”
Petria, who was organizing the clothes, jumped at Roxiana’s words.
“Tomorrow? Then what will you wear? You don’t have anything to wear.”
“What do you mean I don’t have anything to wear? There are so many here.”
Roxiana fingered a white dress made of thick fabric among the dresses. It was a plain dress without any pattern, color, or lace.
“I can wear this.”
Petria’s eyes trembled as she looked at it.
The Grand Duke is finally going out to see the circus with a lady, and this is the only thing she has to wear.
Roxiana seemed to think it wasn’t a big deal, but it wasn’t such a simple matter. Noble ladies would also be visiting the bustling streets for the festival, and it was clear what they would think if they saw Roxiana next to Floyd in such shabby clothes.
‘Of course, our princess would be much more beautiful than those women, but…’
Dresses are a different matter.
Noble ladies proved their worth through the clothes they wore and the accessories they adorned. She didn’t want to see our pretty and kind princess being laughed at by other women.
After worrying for a long time, Petria confided this fact to her close maid friends. As they put their heads together to worry, one of the maids who had been at the laundry earlier took out a piece of lace from a box she had placed under her bed.
“This is lace left behind by a noble lady who stopped by here before. Wouldn’t it be better if we decorated that dress with this?”
Seeing this, the kitchen maid exclaimed “Ah!” and brought her own box. It contained sparkling beads.
“I’ve collected beads dropped by the children of noble families. I think we can make the hem of the dress sparkle with these.”
“I have ribbons. Wait, I’ll go get them.”
And so, one by one, they brought out what they had been cherishing, and Petria joyfully brought the white dress from Roxiana’s wardrobe.
Without Roxiana knowing, the dress that had been just white began to change little by little. Like the hearts of the White Lily Palace employees towards Roxiana.
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.]
