“If there is anything the North needs, I am ready to offer it as a sign of friendship, even if it’s my only daughter, Medea, haha. So, Duke, whether it’s the blue salt fields or my pink diamond mines, whatever you desire, I will grant.”
Rahert laughed heartily.
Whispers began among the employees next to me.
“Taking the Duchess as a wife would be good for the North, right? Becoming in-laws with the South might even earn the Emperor’s favor.”
“I’d ask for the pink diamond mines.”
“Our Southern Duke is so generous. Despite not being his fault, he’s willing to make such a grand gesture.”
It seemed like Medea’s plants were among them, raising their voices loud enough for the distant citizens to hear.
‘If Belpast asks for mines or salt, he’ll seem greedy. He won’t ask for Medea. Offering anything he wants… What a performance.’
Just then, Duke Belpast raised his hand, silencing everyone.
“Very well, Duke. After the burning, I will tell you my one wish.”
With Belpast’s words, Rahert once again displayed a jovial smile.
The Black Caterpillar’s corpse began to burn, soon reducing to a handful of white ashes.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the Caterpillar’s end. It seemed like the fate of someone whose life had been wrongly taken.
‘I am no different from the Black Caterpillar.’
After the ceremony, Rahert called out.
“Duke, have you decided on your one wish?”
“Yes, I have.”
“What is it?”
Duke Belpast paused, his gaze directed towards where I was among the citizens.
Duke Belpast, whatever it is, let it be something precious for your future.
I nervously waited, head bowed, knowing it was a chance he had seized even at the risk of poisoning himself.
“Give me the woman with the half mask, the confidant of Lady Medea.”
I doubted my ears.
Was that deep voice really Duke Belpast’s? Was it someone else?
I looked up, only to be startled again.
Sion Belpast was looking directly at me.
“I want the woman standing there in the half mask.”
He pointed straight at me.
“What is he doing?”
“Why would he want that monster? What’s there to see in such an insect?”
Those who knew me began to murmur.
Before I knew it, my mouth fell open in shock as I gazed at the Duke. It was then that it happened.
“That cannot be!”
“No, that’s not possible!!!”
Rahert and Medea almost simultaneously shouted out. Their tone was not just assertive, but aggressively so.
I returned to my room on the first floor of the underground, almost as if fleeing.
[Are you saying you won’t keep your promise? You declared in front of all these citizens that you’d grant me any one thing I wished for.]Duke Belpast’s words echoed near my heart.
‘Will they really let me go? Truly?’
It was then that the door was flung open violently, and someone entered my room. Turning around, I was struck hard on the cheek and fell to the ground. It was Medea.
She stood over me, not lowering her hand that had just hit me, fuming.
“You… the epitome of ingratitude. How did you manage it? What did you whisper to the Duke for him to desire you?”
Medea seemed to have lost her senses in her rage.
At that moment, I was glad I had hidden the Yellow Caterpillar in advance.
I licked my lips slightly. Blood oozed from a cut inside my cheek, but I felt no pain.
I looked at her, smirking internally. The affection she always claimed to have for me as a ‘friend’ was nowhere to be seen.
“You must refuse! Say you’d rather die than go! I… I will not let you go.”
Medea clenched her teeth, her eyes blazing with anger.
I faced her without feeling any anger or emotional turbulence. I simply observed her emotions dispassionately.
Knowing who I am, she can’t afford to let me go.
She must be regretting not having killed me sooner, as her father suggested.
Medea raised her hand to hit me again.
It was then.
“Does the Duchess have the authority to not let her go?”
Duke Belpast stood at the door of my humble room with a chillingly cold expression.
In this normally dim corridor, his black hair shone deeply under the flickering torchlight. His clear blue eyes seemed even deeper due to the intense shadows.
Duke Belpast looked at Medea almost mockingly.
“I was taught by the former Duke that the Belpast House does not go back on its word.”
He then looked at me.
Seeing his gaze, Medea spoke bitterly.
“Duke Belpast. If the pink diamond mines are not enough, what about the Rahert gold mines in the upper part of the Empire? Anything else is fine, but not this child.”
“What’s the reason?”
Duke Belpast’s eyes narrowed as if amused. Medea swallowed hard.
“She’s been my friend since childhood, long before she became my subordinate. So, I cannot send her to the cold North where she has no ties.”
“I see. So the Duchess keeps her friend in this underground room, nameless and subject to physical punishment.”
Duke Belpast’s calm words made Medea clasp her hands tightly. She was trying to maintain composure, but her lips quivered as she spoke.
“Why her? Please explain it in a way I can understand.”
“This nameless girl advised me to be wary of poison. It allowed me to surmise that there was someone in the Southern Duke’s household capable of using poison. That caution saved my life, as I only vomited blood instead of dying. This girl is my lifesaver. Do I need to say more?”
I was frozen by Duke Belpast’s frank admission.
Medea turned to look at me. Her eyes were as hot as burning coals.
“What nonsensical talk… Bella.”
Her voice trembled.
I looked at Duke Belpast. His expression was unreadable, whether he intended to rescue me from this place or leave me to die here. I was dumbfounded.
But.
I made up my mind.
“Duke Belpast, I have something I wish to discuss with the lady, just the two of us.”
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
