When it was almost a month since she entered the castle, Siana realized that she hadn’t cried for a really long time.
Before, she used to cry three or four times a day, so much that she had been told her eyes would be pickled with salt to stop her from crying again.
On the day she realized this, Siana laughed out loud for the first time. It sounded a bit strange since it was the first time except for the old days she couldn’t remember, but it was laughter nonetheless.
It was less than a week after that when a note came from her father.
It was a day when the king and queen were away from the castle.
That day too, as Siana was lying on the bed enjoying peace, she saw a small folded paper tucked under her meal that had been brought into the room.
What was written inside was her father’s words.
-Come out to the castle garden.
As soon as she saw the familiar handwriting, her hands started trembling. Her breathing quickened and her vision spun.
She got up from the bed so abruptly that all the food spilled. Hot soup splashed onto her clothes.
It was hot enough to be felt under the skin, but rather than the pain, she first thought about how she would be scolded by her father if her clothes were dirty.
As she hurriedly felt her body trying to change clothes, Siana realized that she couldn’t put on and take off clothes by herself.
With trembling hands, she pulled the bell rope. The servants who came in saw her state but said nothing and just changed her clothes.
It was a silence that would have been thought creepy if she had been in her right mind, but her head was already too full of thoughts about her father to notice the sense of discomfort.
When she saw her father’s back in the garden she went out to on shaky legs, Siana almost fainted.
“Ah, Father, you came?”
Then cold black eyes looked her up and down. It was a gaze as if looking at something inferior and lowly.
Siana froze at the coldness in those eyes. At the same time, a strong hand grabbed her wrist tightly.
Father dragged her into a secluded part of the garden. In the shade where there were no eyes watching, the first thing Siana heard was a threat.
“Do you really want to die?”
That was Father’s way of speaking. Not telling her what she did wrong and what she needed to fix, but threatening first.
And whenever she heard such words, Siana’s mind went completely blank.
To her, who was trembling and unable to say anything, Father poured out blatant condemnation.
“Now that you’re in the queen’s grasp, are you ignoring this father? If you heard I came to the palace, you should have slipped out and met me, did you intentionally not come out?”
And Father raised his hand and hit her head. With a smack sound, her vision blurred for a moment. Siana staggered. Father knew she was staggering but hit her head several more times. He seemed unable to contain his anger.
“You think you can act up believing in the queen? Wake up. Do you think anyone will take you in besides me? You who have nothing to your name…. Do you think I can’t do anything about you just because you’re in the queen’s hands!”
The violence that poured out was enough to revive the rules she had forgotten for a while.
Under the shaded tree, Siana felt deep in her bones that there had long been a law between her father and her. He commanded, and she had to follow. He dominated, and she had to obey.
So Father commanded her.
“Choose one of two: either get firmly in the queen’s good graces, or bring something that can clearly find fault with her.”
Both were things she couldn’t do with her own power. Trying to stand on her own feet, Siana stammered to her father.
“Bu, but how can I? The, the queen doesn’t even meet me…”
Then Father looked down at her with eyes cold as ice.
“You have to figure it out yourself. Wasn’t that why you were holed up without contacting this father, because you had a way to solve it on your own?”
“No, no. That’s not… I, I…”
Her vision blurred. At that moment, Siana truly felt at a loss. She needed to act in a way that would please her father, but she didn’t know how.
The frightened Siana apologized unconditionally. Father looked down at her with disgust and contempt before saying,
“Ask them to bring your nanny and maids into the castle. Say you can’t bear the loneliness alone.”
It was something anyone who knew her even a little would not agree with, but Siana just nodded unconditionally.
But before she could say such things, the queen suddenly sent her back to her father’s house.
There was no explanation. As soon as dawn broke the next day, the servants packed her things and put her in a carriage that was ready.
When she returned home like that, Father grabbed her and asked,
“Did the queen chase you out?”
“I, I’m not sure.”
It seemed like she was just temporarily sent back rather than chased out, but there was no set time for how long if it was temporary.
Knowing that she hadn’t properly found out anything, Father’s face reddened as he lost his temper.
“You fool, are you saying you don’t even know why you came home?”
Siana wanted to say that there was nothing she could do in that situation, but she couldn’t open her mouth. From long ago, her tongue turned to stone whenever she stood before her father.
And hellish time passed.
When she was in the royal castle, days flew by like an arrow, but after returning home, every moment was too long as if someone had maliciously stretched it out.
Just when she thought she couldn’t bear it any longer, the queen called for her again. It had only been two days since she came home, but Siana didn’t know if she could have held on if the royal carriage had come even a little later.
Before boarding the royal carriage, Father grabbed her arm and snarled,
“Don’t act like a mindless girl when you get there, behave properly.”
But there was no time for that once she actually arrived at the royal castle.
The queen sent her back home just three days after she arrived at the castle.
Father was twice as angry as when she first returned. He locked her in solitary confinement from the first day and starved her.
After two days passed like that and the sun rose on the third day, there was a carriage from the royal castle again.
When she arrived at the royal castle, Siana rested for exactly one day. She had no strength in her body after being starved and locked in a cold room all day.
If she had known the queen would send her back home again the next day, she wouldn’t have done that.
How hellish the third time back home was is indescribable.
Father was furious again at the fact that she hadn’t found out anything.
Receiving all of that anger, Siana counted the days one by one. She resented the queen for why she was doing this, why she was tormenting her like this, but nevertheless, she wanted to return to the royal castle.
However, one day, two days, three days, four days, a week passed and the queen did not call for her.
It was on the tenth day of those fiery days that a carriage came from the royal castle again.
[This is the timeline separator]Her condition was terrible after receiving corporal punishment for several days in a row.
Father looked her up and down and clicked his tongue. But he soon spoke as if it didn’t matter.
“It doesn’t matter anyway since the queen doesn’t even look at that thing’s face. Just wash her up and dress her decently before sending her off.”
By then, Father thought that the queen wanted to chase her away but was repeatedly calling her to the castle and sending her back because she thought there would be something to find fault with. Siana also thought his thinking might be correct.
Father told her as she was getting into the carriage to not forget to request the family’s servants from the queen.
Siana didn’t know if the queen would even look at her face, but she knew she would be hit again if she didn’t give the answer her father wanted.
“I, I’ll make sure not to forget and do so.”
Only after she said that did Father slightly soften his sharp gaze.
Looking at the scenery of Edegrun from inside the carriage she had barely managed to board, Siana thought it would be nice if she could return to the castle and lie down on the bed.
Even half an hour would be good. She wanted to rest with peace of mind in a safe place, even if just for a moment.
But as soon as she arrived at the castle, the servants told her,
“Her Majesty the Queen calls for you.”
Too surprised, Siana ended up asking them back,
“She’s calling for m, me?”
Doubting a royal order was a punishable offense, but the servant didn’t point that out and answered,
“Yes, you heard correctly.”
How could she refuse when told like that?
Even though she knew her appearance was terrible, Siana had no choice but to nod to the servant. The servant guided her to the queen’s reception room as if they had been waiting.
The first thing Siana saw as soon as she entered the room was a sofa covered in white leopard skin, and the queen wearing a red dress.
The queen, draped in deep red velvet, looked like a drop of blood fallen on white snow. Siana, who had been staring blankly at that sight for a moment, hurriedly bowed her head.
“I, I greet Your Majesty the Queen.”
“Come here and sit down.”
The queen’s voice, which she had once thought looked like sugar, truly sounded pleasant. To Siana’s ears, which had been hearing only her father’s snarls all along, it couldn’t sound any lovelier.
So Siana mistakenly thought that what was contained in it was kindness. It was because she unconsciously let her guard down, thinking she had entered a safe place.
It was the queen who broke the silence first.
“Your face is badly hurt”
The queen said to Siana, who was looking down at the teacup placed in front of her.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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