Everyone could guess what had happened to the knights and guards who were protecting the outside… without having to look outside.
The dust had barely settled. One blurry silhouette raised a hand, pointing towards the back door, laughing victoriously.
“I brought the barrier stone just in case and threw it. Seems like a good decision, right?”
A man with an owl’s head on a human body. An demon wielding a burning sword and riding a giant wolf.
The demon of discord, Andras.
Ranked 63rd.
The destroyer who was discontent with everything except discord among humans gloated.
Then a darkskinned demon, wrapped in leopard skin, holding a long spear in his right hand and a large hawk on his left shoulder, responded. His fingers continuously tapped against each other, appearing anxious.
“Go…good job. If they escape, it would be, be, bad. He said to aim at the weakest of Artina’s lineage first. We have to kill the kid and the lady, go, go.”
Demon of the leopard, Flauros.
Ranked 64th.
A demon specialized in hunting swung his long spear, brushing away the rising dust.
“See. If I hadn’t brought the barrier stone, that kid could have run away. Through the back door.”
“Th, thank God. If we can’t clean this up now, it would be, be, problematic.”
Elysia, who had been carefully examining their weapons, clothes, features, and speaking styles, recalled something.
The 63rd and 64th ranked demons. Each on their own possessed a power that matched their rank, but when they were together, their combined strength was more than double.
Elysia clicked her teeth.
“Damn it, really.”
Even without synergy, the situation was dire, they all were about to die, yet these two demons who were strong in coordinated attacks had to come, always sticking together like twins.
“Let’s, let’s, let’s see.”
Flauros’s gaze met slowly with the people inside the mansion. His eyes slowly consuming from head to toe, like a predator. It felt like he would pounce and rip their throats the moment they averted their eyes, so no one dared to look away.
“Everyone, don’t meet his gaze!”
Elysia averted her eyes slightly, looking at Flauros’s shoulder as she warned the others.
“If you hold eye contact for a certain amount of time, the demon’s knowledge is forcibly transferred.”
Like a demon that has existed for a long time, he has vast and brutal knowledge. If that is forcibly transferred all at once, most humans will go mad and die. It was Flauros’s specialty.
“Huh? That’s dis, dis, disappointing.”
The ability to bring death with just a look was so convenient. But because of that woman exposing it, he couldn’t use it. The demon’s forehead creased in displeasure.
“It seems that woman is the lady of the Artina house. She knows well about us. Annoying.”
He heard she was a water spirit summoner. Could she be better than his fire? Andras grumbled as he swung his sword, and the reception room’s left wall instantly caught fire.
Even though the sword didn’t touch the black wall, and the wall was built with fireresistant material, it didn’t stand a chance against a demon who mainly used fire.
The fire spread quickly. A deep orange shadow fell on the faces of those staying in the mansion.
“Haha. A flame that burns golden walls. A fantasy artwork! How is it, eh?”
As Andras laughed and pointed to the wall with his sword, Flauros elbowed him.
“Don’t, don’t play around. We need to handle this qui, qui, quickly before we get interrupted.”
“Tch. That’s right. We are in the capital after all.”
“You, you can’t stand the heat. I’ll do it.”
Flauros slowly lifted his spear above his shoulder. The spear, made of bronze and stone, was more of an ancient weapon used before civilization fully developed, rather than a modern weapon.
The massive spear flew with a heavy sound. Evelia couldn’t even see the trajectory with her eyes. When she thought her ears hurt from the sound of tearing air…
Boom.
The spurting blood colored her vision.
“Ah…?”
It was a split second, like dividing one second into dozens. Evelia wondered whose blood was heating her face.
There was no part of my body that was hurting, so it wasn’t my blood. I slowly raised my trembling hands to wipe my face.
Then, my gaze slowly rose, filled with the desperate hope that it wouldn’t be what I feared.
As if betraying the wind, a wave of brown hair came into my view. It was a familiar hair color. And a familiar back.
“Vi…Vivian?”
Vivian slowly turned her head to look down at her young miss. Although unable to withstand the deep wound and the blood that surged up, she was pushing back the backflowing blood.
“Young miss…”
To dare to say, my treasure, my meaning, the daughter I dared to bear in my heart.
Because the young mistress brightened my humble old age, I wanted to at least become a small place for her to lean on.
There was no way to stop the onslaught of swords against the young master. The knights were too far away to rush to stop it, and only she, who was standing right next to the young miss, was there.
“Vivian!”
A look of horror on a face that seemed to grasp the situation. Blue eyes filled with tears in an instant. The deep despair of youth. A wideopen mouth, as if unbelievable. For Vivian, who had raised Evelia, it was an expression she had never seen before.
“Sto… Be good, my young miss.”
My young miss. My precious young miss. Why are you looking so sad?
Exchanging my life for yours is an immeasurable honor. I can dance joyfully with this death in my arms and head for the netherworld.
Vivian’s hand slowly touched Evelia’s face. The stroking touch was tender, as if cherishing.
“You must survive, you must. On the day you come of age… Place a flower that looks like you in front of my grave…”
Before she could finish her words, her powerless body slowly collapsed. Evelia tried to catch her with outstretched arms, but she couldn’t beat the weight and fell with her.
Evelia tentatively touched the face that was still warm but lifeless.
“Ah… Ah…”
She couldn’t see well. Was it because of tears? But no tears were falling.
“Vivian… Vivian…”
Then, did she want to deny this situation? Did she want to give up? Her memories with everyone here, starting with Vivian, flashed past her like a zoetrope.
The day she snatched snacks from someone’s pocket, the day she played with the knights, the day the maids comforted her crying, the day she studied letters with the butler…
“No, I can’t. It can’t be…”
With that thought, Evelia pushed herself up from the ground with her trembling little hands.
There were still so many people here.
Even if she was to lose everything, she had to stand as a master.
Those who stayed here for her sake couldn’t be allowed to throw their lives away at the sight of her broken form.
The place where she stood, even if it became a grave, had to be a grave covered at least in a shred of fighting spirit. It had to be the ground where she sowed at least one seed to bloom again.
She spread her legs shoulderwidth apart, slightly advanced her right foot, slightly pulled her chin down and set her gaze forward. As she was taught, Evelia was setting her posture and repeating it to herself.
Vivian. The flower you wanted to receive. I’ll fight hard and pick one on my way to the netherworld.
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