Love Me Just Once (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 12
Lemethel immediately frowned.
“Princess Ophelia?”
“Let go.”
“Your Highness, do you even know who this boy is?”
“I do. So please let go.”
“Are you really saying you’ll dance with this brat?”
At that, the girl looked at Lemethel with bright blue eyes. Idren was amazed that a girl who stood a full head shorter than him could stare at Lemethel so boldly.
Whenever he stood before his eldest half-brother, he always felt cowed—but this girl seemed entirely unfazed.
Lemethel spoke without hiding his displeasure.
“Hah, Your Highness always goes for the inferior sort…”
At that, someone in the room cleared their throat. Seeing the blood-red eyes, Idren realized the woman who’d coughed was a Luntalis royal.
Since a Luntalis daughter wouldn’t possibly take his side, she must have been displeased with Lemethel’s words.
Seeing that public opinion wasn’t turning in his favor, Lemethel scowled. His rough hand squeezed Idren’s shoulder tightly.
Idren’s vision blurred with involuntary tears. He clenched his eyes shut—he didn’t want to cry.
Lemethel leaned close to his ear and hissed,
“Be grateful to the princess.”
Then Lemethel shoved him toward the girl standing before them. Idren stumbled slightly before hastily straightening himself.
The girl was perfect—like delicate sugar art painted in soft hues. He didn’t want his touch to sully her.
He kept his eyes fixed on the floor, trembling. Everyone had gone utterly quiet. Without even looking around, he knew they were all watching him and the girl.
It was then that the white deerskin shoes moved.
A pair of snow-white silk gloves, matching the shoes, gently took his hand. The hem of her blue gown drifted down to cover the shoes.
Her small, warm hand—obviously that of a girl raised in utmost refinement—enveloped his own. The music began to swell again.
“Lift your head.”
She whispered to him as he kept staring at the floor.
Idren slowly raised his gaze as she instructed. A pale, pristine face came into view—vivid blue eyes and flowing silver hair. He numbly studied her delicate features.
Even the neighboring kingdom’s princess, rumored to be engaged to Lemethel, wasn’t this lovely. She was the most perfectly beautiful child he’d ever seen.
She blinked her large, blue eyes.
“Do you know how to dance?”
His ears already burning hot, Idren shook his head.
“I—I don’t.”
The girl then softly guided him on how to move. First, give me your right hand. Step back one pace, and when the music changes, step forward again.
Though her whispering voice was youthful, to his ears it sounded more like salvation than any hymn.
Though she was a full head taller than him and clearly inexperienced, the girl moved with remarkable grace—but his own clumsiness far outweighed her composure. Idren stepped on her feet three times.
Each time he crushed those undoubtedly softer white shoes beneath his own, his ears turned redder.
“I’m sorry.”
With a face that looked like he wanted to bite off his own tongue, he apologized—but she gave him the same reply every time.
“It’s alright.”
When the dance finally ended, she gave him a slight smile. It was faint, revealing no teeth.
“Well done.”
Then she released his hand. The silk glove slipped away from his rough fingertips. Though his face had been flushed with shame the entire time, at that moment Idren felt a pang of regret.
He briefly lifted his eyes one last time, wanting to imprint her face in his memory.
That was when he met Lemethel’s golden eyes flashing from afar.
Seeing that cold, furious gleam, Idren’s spine went icy.
Lemethel had promised to let him go if he danced—but it clearly hadn’t been sincere. Idren already knew well the cruelty of his half-brothers.
He needed to slip away from the banquet before they caught him. Glancing around anxiously, Idren spoke to the girl before him.
“Th-thank you for your help, Your Highness. I’ll just…”
He didn’t even finish his sentence properly. Bowing his head, Idren hastily stepped back. The girl seemed about to say something to him, but he turned and fled faster.
That was his first meeting with Ophelia.
[This is the timeline separator]The next day, he and his half-brothers returned immediately to Aglante. As it turned out, the previous evening’s banquet had been the final gathering before the summit concluded.
The three princes were deeply displeased that he’d escaped their planned humiliation with someone’s help. Idren was beaten by them throughout the entire carriage ride back.
“The princess only helped you because she pitied you.”
Especially Sineron, Lemethel’s younger brother, said it with venomous spite.
“She’d have helped anyone but you.”
Only later did Idren learn that Sineron had asked Ophelia to dance that day—and she’d refused him.
And that after he’d left, Ophelia hadn’t danced with anyone else.
The following year, Idren couldn’t attend the summit. Sineron and Roselle stubbornly refused to go if he came along.
Staying behind at the castle was better than attending the summit and facing embarrassment again, so Idren didn’t mind. Once the Grand Duke and his three sons departed, he’d be left alone with Queen Isde—but one was better than four.
Of course, not being able to see the girl who’d helped him weighed on his mind. Around that time, whenever Idren saw freshly fallen snow at dawn, he’d unconsciously think of her—the pure, pale-blue snow reminded him of her clean beauty.
Even if touching it too long made his hands freeze.
One day, he even murmured the name he’d overheard: Ophelia. Though he couldn’t speak it aloud in front of others—it was a name he hadn’t been granted permission to use—the soft, lilting word felt natural on his lips.
But the time spent alone in the castle proved harsher than he’d expected.
While the Grand Duke and his sons were away, Isde summoned him for whipping.
She didn’t wield the whip herself. The knight who’d once thrown him before the Grand Duke now served as the executioner.
After a round of lashes, the Queen Consort sprinkled water onto his wounds and said,
“When the King returns, he’ll acknowledge you as his son.”
Splash—cold, bloody water stung his raw back fiercely.
“Don’t get arrogant. It’s only so you can be sent to the border in place of my son.”
No further explanation followed, but Idren understood immediately.
Aglante had been locked in a territorial standoff with Lagal for nearly a century. The conflict was significant enough that the Grand Duke himself had once joined the battlefield.
And Idren finally understood the meaning behind that distant ceiling and the dazzling banquet table he’d encountered at age eleven.
The Grand Duke had planned to send him to war in place of his princes.
It wasn’t shocking—he’d suspected hidden motives from the start.
Before he could think deeply, the whip lashed out again.
True to the Queen’s words, before the year ended, the Grand Duke publicly acknowledged him as a prince.
[This is the timeline separator]Time continued flowing. At fifteen, Idren attended the summit once more.
He still didn’t receive particularly kind treatment, but at least the open mockery from before was gone. Since he had to be sent to the front lines, they’d given him the title of prince—and once titled, he had to be granted a certain level of respect.
He’d also grown wiser and no longer endured everything like he used to.
The older he became, the more Lemethel and his two brothers disliked him. They must have found it irritating—now that he was bigger, their blows hurt less.
And their bullying persisted even outside the castle walls. At the summit, Lemethel blocked him from attending any gathering.
Thus, though Idren desperately wanted to see how the girl—whose face he hadn’t forgotten in two years—had grown, he had no choice but to keep his curiosity buried. Lemethel had ordered knights to bar his way.
Idren didn’t bother resisting them. After all, he still had the banquet on the summit’s final day. Lemethel couldn’t possibly stop him from attending that.
Not only had his position slightly improved, but the banquet’s host—the Crown Prince of Egelbamot—had personally sent handwritten invitations to everyone.
No matter how powerful Lemethel was within the empire, he couldn’t stop the Imperial Crown Prince’s invitation from being delivered.
Well—he couldn’t stop it from being *delivered*.
Lemethel used every means possible to steal the invitation Idren had received. He ordered servants to search his room and constantly threatened and pressured him.
“If you don’t hand over that invitation right now, you’ll have a lot to answer for when we return.”
His half-brother, who looked just like their father, spoke in his characteristically gentle tone—but Idren had no intention of giving in.
He’d be sent to the border before the next year even began.
Besides, what did a few more lashes matter? He might die at the border anyway.
Idren knew his chances of surviving the front lines were extremely slim. He’d thrown a few punches before but had never properly learned swordsmanship. Sure, he was bigger than most boys his age—but he wasn’t even twenty yet.
He was merely a sacrificial lamb, meant to spare the other princes from being sent to war.
If he were in Lemethel’s place, he’d simply leave someone in that position alone—but Lemethel insisted on meddling with his invitation. While Idren was changing into his banquet attire, Lemethel sent a servant to steal it.
Male lead fell into her trap — and shattered when she walked away
This is also on my reread list!
This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.
Definitely worth a read, y’all!
The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.
But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.
Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.
I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.
The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.
As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.
Intro
As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.
But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…
Do you dare?
Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.
Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.
The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.
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Cowardice? Bitch you barely even look at him or speak to him 😦😡
Finally! Put her in her place!!! She should treat you better 😡😡😡
That caught him by surprise 😭🥺🤣 that he almost choked