“Thank you for trusting me.”
“Let’s agree that I’ll consider your request once my condition improves.”
How generous of her. This is why she is Countess Wickley.
She ensured that the person asking for a favor didn’t sound desperate. After excusing herself, she seemed to be suffocated by the veil and took it off.
Despite the blotchy redness of her skin, the countess, with her black eyes sparkling with intelligence, was very beautiful.
I smiled brightly and carefully spoke.
“Thank you, Countess Wickley. And I have one more request…”
After chatting over tea, I left the mansion around noon.
Countess Wickley saw me off. The maid, who had tears in her eyes, thanked me for helping the countess get some sunlight.
Countess Wickley gave me a quick smile while pressing down her wind-swept veil.
“Visit anytime. We can discuss current affairs or your terrible in-laws.”
I laughed at her joke.
The more I got to know her, the more she differed from the image I had imagined.
“I appreciate you agreeing to be Lilian’s chaperone. I’ll arrange some comfortable gatherings.”
“Good, I look forward to meeting Lilian.”
As Countess Wickley nodded, she seemed to feel dizzy from the longer-than-usual walk outside and swallowed a groan, closing her eyes.
After advising her to go inside, she nodded and was helped back into the mansion by the maid.
Pleased with the successful meeting, I watched her enter the building and smiled contentedly. But as I turned to leave, I saw an unexpected figure.
“Count Edmond!”
Delighted, I smiled brightly and waved the envelope in my hand, but I stumbled.
“Oops.”
Luckily, I didn’t fall but twisted my ankle. As I bent down to rub the sore spot, I heard a sigh above me.
“Is this how it is the moment I take my eyes off you?”
I looked up to see Edmond looking down at me, clearly displeased.
I pouted and straightened up.
“Just because I made a mistake, you’re overreacting. When have I ever gotten hurt in front of you, Count?”
“There was a time.”
“When?”
Edmond shifted his gaze away and rubbed his furrowed brows.
“If there was, then there was.”
“But when – ”
‘Ah, when Devon visited unannounced.’
The atmosphere grew solemn for a few seconds.
“That wasn’t my fault, though. Anyway, I’m fine, so don’t worry about it.”
Huh, Edmond removed his hand from his face and scoffed.
“You’re greatly mistaken. Who said I was worried?”
A lie. When he was rubbing his eyebrow, his face showed he was indeed concerned, even glancing at my ankle.
It seems his overprotective nature for Lilian occasionally surfaces in other ways when she’s not around.
While I felt somewhat closer to Edmond, such overprotection was neither suitable for me nor anything but embarrassing. They say you only know how to enjoy privileges if you’ve experienced them.
Trying to change the subject and ease the tension, I rubbed my flushed face with the back of my hand and offered him the envelope I was holding.
“Here, take this.”
Edmond opened the envelope with a slight surprise.
“What is this…”
“Lilian will be the star of the ball, I assure you.”
“She really agreed to it?”
“Of course.”
I lowered my head and whispered softly, winking.
“Of course, I assured her that she doesn’t need to worry about social or courtship activities. What we want is prestige. I did well, right?”
“Well, this time, yes.”
Edmond gave a lukewarm compliment, then carefully folded the document and tucked it inside his vest.
“Were there no conditions?”
“Please send a bunch of grapes from the dukedom to Countess Wickley every day.”
“That’s not difficult, but with that amount, they’ll spoil before she can eat them.”
“She’ll consume them before that happens.”
Anything to treat the skin condition.
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
